- There is a monster in the Alola Region.
Her name is Moon and she is eleven years old.
- Official description
Eldritch
written by TaurusVersant, is an AU fanfiction roughly following the story of Pokemon Sun and Moon (and Pokemon Ultra Sun and Moon) but with a focus on expanded world-building and a larger world to travel, the nature of Trainer’s Bonds and how they define the world and Moon’s limitless potential affects her and the world around her, and about the friendship and care between her, Lillie, and Hau as they travel together on their own shared journeys.
The established Trainer's Bonds allow humans to forge bonds to provide energy to their Pokemon, allowing them to grow faster and stronger, but costing more energy and burden on trainers with the more or stronger Pokemon they have. The characters soon come to realize that Moon has no limits to her bonds,and the story deals with the repercussions of her impossible ability in a world where there are hard limits to Trainer's Bonds.
Eldritch is complete, totaling at 62 chapters of narrative, with a bonus 3 chapters of author’s notes breaking down the characters and story, and the thought process behind the scenes for the plot, characters and worldbuilding.
Main Tags include: Lillie/Moon Relationship (very slowburn), The Very Good Moon / Lillie / Hau Friendship, and Low Tier Cosmic Horror
Eldritch contains the following tropes:
- Adaptational Early Appearance:
- Kahili shows up very early on in Moon's journey, and is shown to have returned to Alola in part due to Kukui's work on establishing a League in Alola, like in the games.
- Ascended Extra:
- Ryuki was an character that players only had a chance of meeting in the games. Here he is introduced early in the story and is one of the foreign trainers interested in participating in Kukui's league, as well as a powerful trainer of dragon-types whose strength is noted by Kukui when they meet in person. He also plays a major role in the plot and foreshadows much of the climax's big reveal.
- Sina and Dexio also play much bigger roles here, being the ones to gift Moon with a Salamencite and Keystone during their first meeting. In addition, Sina and Ryuki are revealed to be descendants of Nobunaga and face Necrozma during the climax of the story.
- Berserk Button: The Team Skull grunts learn not to insult Moon's beloved chicken-combed hat. When they do, she soundly beats them in battle with the grove owner feeling like he witnessed something no-one ever should.
- Beyond the Impossible:
- Moon's limitless potential and capability to maintain bonds with six, and later dozens of pokemon is incomprehensible to all the other trainers. Multiple times other characters slowly realize Moon seemingly has no limits, which is often meet with equal amounts shock and even fear.
- Moon is also the first person to forge a bond with a Ultra Beast, which Kukui says proves that Ultra Beasts are some kind of pokemon. And later in the story, she manages to bond with a Nihilego, continuing to shock everyone with her impossible feats as that becomes public knowledge immetiately.
- Blessed with Suck: Moon is capable of forging bonds with more pokemon than anyone else in the world, but because her capabilities are unheard of and defy the trainer bond power system, it causes people to fear her and gives her a sense of alienation. She is forced to spend a lot of time disguised and hiding her identity while continuing her island trials.
- Broken Win/Loss Streak: During Sophocles' trial, Moon suffers her first loss at a trial, and due to multiple other factors building up, ends up having an emotional breakdown due to the stress and pressure she's been under since her journey began.
- Can't Catch Up: Hau, while also noted as a once in a generation prodigy, is still outshone by Moon's limitless ability to forge bonds to the point that both him and Moon grapple with the reality that he can't continue at the same rapid pace as Moon.
- Original Character: Guild Master Pitaya of the Dragon Tamers is an original character that plays a big part inf helping Moon after her emotional breakdown. She is established as a master trainer and an expert in dragons.
- Psychic Link: The Trainer Bonds that are the power system that explains the relationship between pokemon and humans, where pokemon draw power from the bonds and trainers provide them with more potential and power than wild pokemon. It allows pokemon to grow and evolve much faster, but it takes a toll on the trainer too.
