Fanfic / Guys Being Dudes

"This was a cute concept one-shot I thought of while hyperfixating in preparation for Go Fest 2022 which somehow became the longest thing I'd ever written up to that point and reinvigorated my thoughts about how the Pokémon Go universe and its characters worked. So, yeah! It's cute, gay, emo, and has the Enforcer ethos you love in a...much happier setting than the WHATverse."

Blurb from the author's Neocities.

Guys Being Dudes is a Pokémon GO Slash Fic written by Enforcer at Draggian Universe, also known as Nonexistent Yeets.

In the months following Pokemon GO Tour: Johto, Team GO Rocket Leader Arlo has been deteriorating courtesy of his angst about his history with Candela. Sierra gets sick of it and gives him a single instruction: You Need to Get Laid.

So he does. With Spark. During the Go Fest 2022 kickoff event.

What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

It was published on September 30, 2022 and can be read on the author's Neocities here.

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Tropes Being Dudes:

• Abandoned Playground: Spark and Arlo hang out at one of these near the park Go Fest is taking place at during Day 2 so they'll technically be at the park, but difficult for Spark's colleagues to find.
• Absent-Minded Professor: Arlo is smart enough to have spearheaded Team GO Rocket's Shadow Pokemon program and oblivious enough that not only does he have to have someone walk with him to remind him of oncoming pedestrians and low-hanging trees, he doesn't notice impending Death from Above when he's busy doing research on his phone.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Along with several characters gaining Emo tendencies, Arlo and Candela's previous relationship and its weight on them both is given more elaboration than the source material.
• Adaptational Gender Identity:
  • Arlo's gender isn't elaborated on in canon. He's explicitly stated to be a Transgender man here.
  • Spark is still a man, "more or less", but mentions not fully connecting with any label, including "nonbinary".
  • Blanche is referred to with neutral pronouns in canon, but their gender identity is left up to interpretation. Here, they're explicitly stated to be nonbinary.
  • At the time this fanfic was written, Rhi hadn't gotten a gender confirmation in English, but most sources described them as male. They're nonbinary here.
• Adaptational Jerkass:
  • Candela is notably meaner than she is in canon, displaying more snark and petty behavior towards her coworkers and more direct dislike of Arlo beyond her canonical feelings about her former friend joining Team GO Rocket.
  • Sierra is written as Affably Evil in her canon dialogue. Here, she states that she joined Team GO Rocket to crush people's dreams and is the least sympathetic of her trio.
• Adaptational Nationality: No one's nationalities are stated in canon. Candela and Arlo are stated to originate in regions from elsewhere in Pokemon canon, Orre and Kanto respectively.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: Arlo maintains his canonical arrogance and displays more Card-Carrying Villain tendencies, but is revealed to be a nice, Endearingly Dorky person underneath with most of his arrogance being a facade.
• Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: Nothing is revealed about Candela and Arlo's past in canon other than that they used to be friends and on Team Valor together. Here, they're ex-lovers.
• Adaptational Sexuality: No one's sexualities are elaborated on in canon. Here, Arlo and Candela are explicitly bi, Blanche has an Original Character partner who is only referred to neutrally, and Spark has been attracted to both Arlo and the same OC. Cliff is heavily implied to be gay and it's suggested he joined Team GO Rocket because of his attraction to Giovanni.
• Affectionate Gesture to the Head: Both members of the main couple regularly pet or run their fingers through each other's hair.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Gender-Inverted with Spark. He describes both of his love interests as having "dark and edgy vibes". Arlo specifically works for a criminal organization and Candela mentions Spark's ex as having possibly been a supervillain.
• Allergic to Love: Sierra mentions that seeing Spark and Arlo happy makes her feel physically ill, along with Shaymin's cuteness and good vibes in general.
• AM/FM Characterization:
  • Arlo's taste in music leaning towards the more emo end of Post-Hardcore and being described by Sierra as an "amalgam of angsty boys with squeaky voices whinily describing their exes, distorted guitar riffs that used a maximum of 3 chords, and screaming" demonstrates his Emo Teen personality and that both his evil status and obsession with Candela may be as much performative as anything.
  • Spark listens to Nightcore and girly dance-pop, demonstrating that he's In Touch with His Feminine Side, unabashedly enjoys "uncool" things, and in the case of the Nightcore, tried his best to find common ground with his dark and edgy ex despite their opposing tastes.
  • In Blanche's car, they play inoffensive, lyric-free synth music at a reasonable enough volume that everyone can hear each other and the road, demonstrating their focus on safety and no-nonsense nature.
• Amicable Exes: Despite her bitterness towards Arlo from their past as teammates and ex-lovers, Candela still gets along well enough with him to have been willing to get drunk with the Team GO Rocket trio after Go Fest 2020.
• Anime Hair: Spark's hair is spiky all on its own to the point that it blatantly refuses to be shaped into any other style.
• Auto Erotica: There's a flashback of Candela and Arlo making out in the back of her car when he comes out to her. Spark and Arlo do the same in Arlo's car after their visit to the Sleepless Bakery.
• "Balls" Gag: On the drive to Team GO Rocket HQ, Spark and Arlo discuss this in reference to Pokeballs.
• Big Damn Heroes: Spark saving Arlo from the falling play structure.
• "Blind Idiot" Translation: In-Universe, Orre Hot Topic parody Subject Debate's Shadow Lugia shirt is supposed to say their name in Gratuitous Kantonian, but what's actually printed translates to "sex scandal". Arlo, being both of Kantonian ancestry and sophomoric, finds this hilarious and it's one of his factors in buying the shirt.
• Brains and Bondage: Arlo is just as much of an Evil Genius as in canon and gets very excited over the prospect of strapping Spark into the trunk of Team GO Rocket's Creepy Stalker Van.
• Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: Gender-Inverted with Spark, who serves as a softer and more outwardly affectionate counterpart to Arlo's Emo villain with a troubled past and difficulties showing affection.
• The Bro Code: Candela invokes this by name when describing how enraged she is about Spark dating her ex-boyfriend, who happens to also be opposite in moral alignment from them.
• Can't Hold His Liquor: After only 2 beers at the Go Fest 2020 afterparty, Arlo ends up sitting in Spark's lap and attempting to bribe the Team Instinct leader into giving him a piggyback ride. Candela points out that it's either this or that he wasn't actually that drunk and was just using it as an excuse to get to someone he liked, with the former being unlikely, as evidence for the fact that Arlo had been attracted to Spark for a while and just used getting back at her as an excuse to get close to him.
• Can't You Read the Sign?: Arlo's actions managed to get the Sleepless Bakery to put up a sign reading "No Monologuing". They also have a "No PDAs" sign, which gets used on the main couple.
• Card-Carrying Jerkass: Arlo literally has business cards reading "Professional Douchebag". Apparently Sierra printed them as a joke, but he keeps them around, implying that he doesn't find the title incorrect. His official reason is that they're well-made and accurately list his credentials and contact information, so he's not going to waste them.
• Card-Carrying Villain: 2 out of 3 members of the Team GO Rocket trio regularly refer to themselves as "evil", say they got into the business to crush people's dreams, and that sort of thing.
• Cast Full of Gay: All of the team leaders, Arlo, and Cliff are stated to be some flavor of queer.
• "Cavemen vs. Astronauts" Debate: Arlo and Candela had a Pokemon battle once over her saying This War Is Ours was superior to Dying Is Your Latest Fashion.
• Ceiling Banger: One of the factors that drives Sierra to decide Arlo needs to get laid in order to stop his descent into Emo madness is that he's been blasting Metalcore at all hours of the day and night, she lives in the room next to him, and she hasn't gotten a good night's sleep in weeks.
• Circling Monologue: Candela paces in circles around a restrained Arlo, dissecting how the Operation: Jealousy he planned againt her by dating Spark wouldn't have worked and he likely knew it, suggesting he just used it as an excuse to get close to Spark.
• Closet Key: Arlo's first response to Spark asking if he even liked guys was "Not sure. Want to find out?", implying Spark is his first male partner. It turned out that he did.
• Closet Shuffle: When Arlo smuggles Spark into Team GO Rocket HQ, he hides them in the closet in his room. The pun on the other meaning of "closet" is lampshaded by Spark and not only does Sierra see right through it, she interprets it as a Literal Metaphor and states that Arlo really didn't need to go to all that trouble to tell them he was bisexual.
• Conversational Troping: Happens several times, including Spark and Arlo discussing cliche Yaoi Genre relationship dynamics and how they don't quite fit their situation, Candela pointing out the use of She Is Not My Girlfriend in Romantic Comedy, and Arlo infodumping to Spark about Isekai during the movie they watch at the park, which we don't get to see.
• Coordinated Clothes: Elaphe got Spark an Emo band hoodie back when they were dating in hopes of being "one of those matchy couples", but Spark couldn't quite pull off the aesthetic and ended up not wearing it much.
• The Corrupter: At least as a joke, Arlo enjoys getting Spark to do irresponsible or morally sketchy acts and discusses the possibility of "converting" him to The Dark Side.
• Crack in the Sky: A glowing one of these appears on Go Fest Day 1 as the first sign of the Ultra Wormhole that will open the following day.
• Creepy Stalker Van: Team GO Rocket's official vehicle is a black, windowless van. It's so Obviously Evil that Spark points out that they're probably just making themselves more conspicuous.
• Crossover Cosmology: XM from Ingress is real in this version of the Pokemon GO universe (doubling as a Niantic cross-reference) and is what powers up Shadow Pokemon and raid bosses. It's also referred to as "animum", a term used for Applied Phlebotinum in the author's other works, which take place in a different universe entirely.
• Crush Blush: Both halves of the main couple, especially Arlo, find their faces flushing a lot when they're around each other.
• Cry into Chest: Arlo grabs onto Spark and does this after Spark revives from passing out after saving him from a falling playground structure.
• Darker and Edgier: It's still the fundamentally idealistic world of Pokémon GO and most of the edgy content is lampshaded and Played for Laughs, but multiple characters gain Emo tendencies, the fic doesn't shy away from sexual innuendo, death threats, and pointing out that Pokemon are capable of killing humans, and everyone is more inclined to snark at their coworkers and enemies alike than in canon.
• Dating Catwoman: The main couple consists of one of the leaders of the player teams and an admin from the main antagonistic team.
• Death from Above: On a smaller scale, the Abandoned Playground Spark and Arlo have their picnic at almost falls down on Arlo after losing what stability remained to a Shaymin's Seed Flare.
• Demonic Possession: As part of their Crazy-Prepared vetting of his viability as a Love Interest for Spark, Blanche checks Arlo for this via looking for Mind-Control Eyes.
• Did They or Didn't They?: It's never stated whether Spark and Arlo had sex during the first night they spent together in Team GO Rocket HQ. They discuss it and then the scene cuts to Sierra and Cliff's annoyance at the Loud of War Sierra technically okayed them using to obscure any sounds they made.
• Did You Just Have Sex?: Sierra can't tell, seeing as Arlo always has some degree of warranted swagger and they both tend to have Messy Hair and otherwise disheveled looks.
• Disabled in the Adaptation: It's only mentioned once, but Candela and Arlo both are reimagined as having ADHD.
• Dragon Rider: Arlo picks up Spark for their first date on his Salamence, which they ride to and from the restaurant.
• Eating the Eye Candy: Spark's disguise when he has to sleep at Team GO Rocket HQ includes some very tight pants, which Arlo evidently appreciates. Both halves of the main couple also spend quite a lot of time staring up and down each other's chests.
• Electric Love: A logical extension from Spark's Elemental Motif from canon. The first time Arlo pets his hair during Day 1 of Go Fest in the conversation during which they officially declare themselves as boyfriends, he gets a static shock from it.
• Emo Teen: Arlo's in his 20s, but has all of the hallmarks of the archetype, being a theatrical young man with black and red Nonconformist Dyed Hair who listens to Post-Hardcore and spends a lot of time angsting about his ex. Several characters describe him as "edgy" or "emo" In-Universe. His most regular outfit is a baggy black hoodie and before joining Team Rocket, he owned at least one entire outfit from a Hot Topic parody.
• Endearingly Dorky: Both halves of the main couple feel this way about the other one. Spark appreciates Arlo trying so hard to be menacing, evil, and edgy and failing at such and Arlo can't help but smile at seeing the Team Instinct leader unabashedly dancing to Nightcore.
• Evil Genius: Arlo serves as the brains of the Team GO Rocket trio, being the most book-smart member and knowledgable about Pokemon and technology.
• Evil Pays Better: It's briefly mentioned that Arlo gets paid more than Candela, and presumably the other team leaders, do.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Invoked by Arlo. The voice distortion on his glasses gives his voice more depth and reverb when he takes over Pokestops. He also uses it with pitch alone when he's off the clock for gender affirmation purposes.
• Exhausted Eye Bags: When Arlo is seen in his bad state at the start of the story, his eyes are covered in some combination of dark bags and Guyliner, implying that along with not bathing or cleaning his room, he also hasn't been sleeping well.
• Eye Color Change: According to Arlo, his eyes used to be blue before turning red after he finished his work on the first Shadow Pokemon. It's backed up by a picture from before he joined Team GO Rocket, but it's unclear if his eyes turned red due to corrupted XM exposure or if he's wearing colored contacts.
• Fake Relationship: This was Arlo's original plan in seducing Spark. Suffice to say, it didn't go as planned.
• Fictional Counterpart: While some things, like online services and bands, exist in their forms on Earth, companies appear to be replaced with counterparts. Subject Debate and the Sleepless Bakery serve as counterparts to Hot Topic and Insomnia Cookies, respectively.
• Forgets to Eat: Arlo admits to doing this himself and Spark mentions that Blanche also tends to.
• Fratbro: Arlo used to dress and behave as one of these while dating Candela, which he's deeply embarrassed about.
• Flashback: While he's unpacking his old clothes from Subject Debate in Orre to wear on Go Fest Day 2, seeing a sticky note from Candela starts Arlo on one about their past relationship.
• Forgotten Birthday: Spark doesn't usually celebrate his birthday because it falls during Go Fest preparation season.
• Freudian Threat: Candela threatens to rip Arlo's balls off if he ever does anything to hurt Spark. Seeing as the intended recipient of the threat is transgender and thus lacking in that body part at the time the threat was made, it doesn't quite land.
• Gaydar: Despite not having direct knowledge of Arlo's being into guys, Candela is able to quickly assess based on his reactions to her interrogation and reports of his behavior that his attraction to Spark is not only legitimate, he's had it since at least 2020.
• Geeky Turn-On: Arlo ends up using "I love you so much" as a catchphrase whenever Spark does something that fits his particular brand of geekdom, like addressing him as "dark lord" or making a Falling in Reverse reference.
• Genius Slob: Arlo is knowledgable about hacking and Pokemon and serves as the head of his organization's R&D department. His room is an absolute disaster area, with his floor usually being covered in stolen Pokeballs and laundry and it's implied by Candela that it may have been years since he washed his sheets. He's seen at the beginning of the story not having changed clothes or showered in weeks.
• Genius Sweet Tooth: According to Arlo, his late-night research is powered by cupcake deliveries from the Sleepless Bakery.
• Glove Snap: Blanche does this before interrogating Arlo about his and Spark's relationships and it's specifically lampshaded as "like how doctors do in movies before they shove something up someone's anus".
• Goggles Do Something Unusual: Arlo's glasses seem to do just about everything but correcting vision, including having Augmented Reality capabilities, answering phone calls, obscuring his voice, and becoming Scary Shiny Glasses.
• Grammar Nazi: Arlo regularly corrects other people's grammar, which Spark finds endearing. His colleagues just find it annoying.
• Green Thumb: As in Pokemon canon, Shaymin has the power to regrow dead plants and restore polluted land. This is expanded to being able to remove pesticides as well, with the park grass it restores coming back dotted with native ground cover and wildflowers.
• Hard-Drinking Party Girl: Candela brought a keg to Go Fest 2020, against Pokemon League regulations and her dialogue about it with Blanche suggests she's done similar things before. Based on the notice directed towards her in Blanche's car, she drinks regularly.
• He Cleans Up Nicely: After first appearing having worn the same hoodie for several weeks and using body spray instead of showering, Arlo does laundry, cleans himself up, and appears for his first date with Spark in a suit, prompting this reaction from the Team Instinct leader.
• He Is Not My Boyfriend: Said by both halves of the main couple about each other. Lampshaded in its nature as denial by Candela.
  "Arlo, remember when you used to take me to watch rom-coms because it made you feel like the ultimate cishet guy? ...I'd like you to name one of those rom-coms in which someone said someone wasn't their boyfriend and/or girlfriend and wasn't wrong."
• His Boyfriend's Jacket: At one point, Arlo ends up wearing one of Spark's hoodies. Played With in that it isn't a hoodie Spark usually wears; it's one his ex gave him when they wanted them to have Coordinated Clothes.
• Heroic RRoD: Spark experiences intense pain and passes out after his Big Damn Heroes moment rescuing Arlo from the falling Abandoned Playground, until Shaymin heals him.
• Hey, That's My Line!: Arlo has this response after Candela calls him and Spark "twerps", a common line used by Team Rocket members throughout Pokemon canon.
• Holding Hands: Spark and Arlo hold hands during their entire visit to the night market while trying to invoke Make-Out Kids.
• Hold Your Hippogriffs: While insulting Arlo's haircut, Candela references a "flock of Wingulls".
• Hope Crusher: Sierra claims that she joined Team GO Rocket specifically to crush people's dreams.
• Human Shield: When Rhi jokingly, without anyone knowing it's a joke, threatens Arlo with their plasma cannons, he ducks behind Spark as a meat shield.
• I'd Tell You, but Then I'd Have to Kill You: Arlo says this as a joke when Spark asks about how he can do Scary Shiny Glasses without blinding himself.
• If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...: Candela makes a Freudian Threat of this nature to Arlo concerning Spark, and acknowledges it as a cliche.
• The "I Love You" Stigma: Until the very end of the fic, Arlo feels weird whenever he says "I love you" to Spark, even in a joking context or when it's to annoy someone else.
• Indirect Kiss: Spark and Arlo have one of these during their picnic on Go Fest Day 2 when they share a protein bar.
• Interrupted Intimacy: Candela and Blanche approach to introduce Rhi and question why Spark wasn't at the emergency meeting on Day 2 while Spark and Arlo are making out. Invoked on Candela's part since it let them get in while the couple were distracted.
• Jerks Use Body Spray: Arlo does, fitting his card-carrying douchebag status and middle school boy personality and several jokes about it are made at his expense by both sets of team leaders. It becomes plot-relevant when a Shaymin absorbs it. Turns out it's toxic enough that it supercharges the Pokemon's Seed Flare.
• The Lad-ette: Candela is described by Arlo as a "jockbro", has Hard-Drinking Party Girl tendencies, mercilessly teases her coworkers and enemies alike, and invokes The Bro Code by name in reference to her issues with Spark dating her ex.
• Lame Pun Reaction: Arlo groans whenever he sees Spark's Instagram, which he calls his "Instinctgram".
• Large Ham: Arlo's lines while taking over Pokestops are...grandiose, to say the least, and he accentuates them with overblown pretentious gestures. He apparently wrote them shortly after his breakup with Candela, which might explain some of it.
• Last Het Romance: While the gender of Spark's ex is never specified, apparently after their relationship, they realized they didn't like men and proceeded to leave him for Blanche.
• Loud of War: In case Spark and Arlo have sex during the first night they spend together at Team GO Rocket HQ, Sierra specifically gives Arlo permission to blast whatever music he wants as loud as he wants in an effort to avert Right Through the Wall. So, Arlo, being the Troll he is, chooses to blast a meme song that Sierra hates, heavily implied to be "Old Town Road", at maximum volume.
• Luminescent Blush: Arlo blushes deeply when Spark chooses to interpret one of his Pokestop takeover quotes in a BDSM context.
  "Team GO Rocket's domination is inevitable. Submit and you may be spared."
  "All right, then. If that's what you're into! My safeword is 'cheeseburger pizza'."
  Arlo's glasses abruptly returned to being transparent, revealing that his face was almost as red as that streak in his hair.
• Magical Girlfriend: Jokingly discussed by Arlo after Spark, probably jokingly, mentions the possibility of his hair always being spiky because he's part Zapdos on his mother's side.
• Make-Out Kids: Spark and Arlo specifically invoke this during their visit to the night market on Spark's birthday, by his request because his ex had too much dignity to do it with him. They spend the entire time holding hands and making out in specifically visible locations, just in the name of invoking the trope and being obnoxious.
• The Makeover: After Arlo comes out to her as a Transgender man during the Flashback to their relationship before Team Valor, Candela decides to take him to the mall for one of these to get him some more masculine clothes.
• Manchild: Arlo is in his 20s and has the personality of an Emo Teen as well as enjoying making innuendos a bit too much. Spark acknowledges it, deciding that he, being a Transgender man, "couldn't be a preteen boy when he was a preteen, so he's making up for lost time".
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Whatever Spark did to save Arlo from the falling Abandoned Playground isn't explained. Arlo points out that him seemingly demonstrating Super-Strength isn't implausible for someone saving their loved one, but his hair glowing and the pieces of the playground looking like they were struck by lightning don't have as easy of explanations.
• Men Can't Keep House: Arlo's room is an absolute mess. The floor is covered in laundry and stolen Pokeballs, he's implied to not wash his sheets regularly, and the area around his computer is the only part he cleans. He also needs to be reminded to take his leftovers out of the communal fridge before they develop their own ecosystems.
• Merchandising the Monster: Cypher and Shadow Lugia are apparently popular enough in their home region of Orre for the resident Hot Topic parody to sell merchandise featuring them.
• Mess of Woe: In his angsty state at the start of the fanfic, Arlo has neglected to shower, change clothes, or clean his room in weeks.
• Mind-Control Eyes: According to Blanche, when someone is possessed by a Pokemon, their eyes may appear an unusual color or not reflect and they won't blink when exposed to bright light.
• Misfit Lab Rat: Arlo is imagined as an overgrown Emo Teen here and retains his position as Team GO Rocket's main scientist.
• The Missus and the Ex: Arlo runs into this situation on Go Fest Day 2, with Spark as the Missus and Candela as the Ex, in a variant in which the Missus and the Ex were already friends and coworkers without his involvement.
• Named After Somebody Famous: Seeing as he's established as a Falling in Reverse fan, Arlo's Charizard, Ronnie, is probably named after Ronnie Radke.
• Non-Human Non-Binary: Ambiguously Human Ultra Space traveler Rhi identifies themself as nonbinary because they don't understand the humans of Pokemon Go's world's concept of gender.
• Not a Morning Person: Arlo isn't exactly coherent when he wakes up on Go Fest Day 1 and it's stated that it will take 2 hours for him to become fully sapient.
• Oh, My Gods!: At one point, Blanche swears to "whatever is listening".
• One Head Taller: Spark is substantially taller than Arlo. Justified by the latter being Transgender.
• Older Than They Look: When Arlo and Candela were dating as young adults, he regularly got mistaken for a middle schooler.
• Operation: Jealousy: Arlo initially plans this in his relationship with Spark, under the principle that Candela seeing him with someone else will drive her to win him back, combined with him dating her coworker making it impossible to avoid and Spark being a man leading Candela to fear that she was his Last Het Romance and try even harder to win him back upon fear that she "turned him gay". None of this goes as planned.
• Parking Problems: The Team GO Rocket trio end up parking their Creepy Stalker Van at a shopping center next to the park Go Fest takes place at because it's rather large and Sierra refuses to park next to anyone.
• Playing with Fire: Arlo's Charizard gets ready to power up a Blast Burn when he turns to attack the Shaymin for nearly getting him killed by knocking over the Abandoned Playground and getting Spark injured saving him. The Charizard is also shown to boost his powers by dropping wood shavings from the playground into the flame on his tail.
• Politically Correct Villain: Not only are all of the Team Rocket representatives we see completely accepting of Arlo being transgender and dating a man, their healthcare plan also covers gender-affirming surgeries and they support name changes.
• Power Glows: After Spark does something that might be activating Shock and Awe powers to save Arlo, his hair glows.
• The Power of Love: Somehow, Spark manages to demonstrate Super-Strength and possibly Shock and Awe powers when Arlo is in danger of Death from Above when the Abandoned Playground gets hit with Shaymin's Seed Flare and is about to fall down on him.
• Psycho Ex-Boyfriend: Among other reasons, Arlo initially joined Team GO Rocket because he wanted to see Candela suffer and defy everything she stood for after they broke up.
• Pun:
  • Spark calls his Instagram his "Instinctgram".
  • "Over The Edge", the title of the first chapter, both refers to Arlo's deteriorating mental state at the start of the fic and is a pun on "edgy".
• Punch-Clock Villain: Arlo is very into the aesthetic of being a Card-Carrying Villain and regularly refers to himself as "evil", but treats the actual Shadow Pokemon manufacturing and Pokestop takeovers like any other job. He even refers to being "on/off the clock".
• Punk in the Trunk: Spark gets transported to Go Fest in the trunk of Team GO Rocket's Creepy Stalker Van, both to hide him from view and because they don't have seats in the back.
• Purely Aesthetic Glasses: Arlo's glasses don't correct his vision and it's suggested by Spark that he might just wear them to look more intimidating, but they do have other purposes including Augmented Reality and obscuring his voice when he's doing Pokestop takeovers.
• Queer Colors: Candela has a pin of the Team Valor emblem in the bisexual flag colors.
• Queer Establishing Moment: Arlo is established as being Transgender when he asks about where Sierra left his binder after doing his laundry.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: The main colors of Arlo's outfit and hair, as in canon.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: As in the source material, Team GO Rocket's Shadow Pokemon have these. Arlo also does. It's ambiguous why, but it's implied it may have been due to exposure to corrupted XM while creating the Shadow Pokemon.
• Revenge Romance: This is why Arlo chooses Spark, one of Candela's coworkers, for his Operation: Jealousy. Or at least that's what he tells himself.
• Right Through the Wall: Specifically Defied by Sierra, who instructs Spark and Arlo to blast whatever music they want as loud as they want specifically so she doesn't hear them having sex if they choose to.
• Romantic Fake–Real Turn: Arlo initially claims that he's only going on the date with Spark to get back at Candela and fulfill Sierra's assignment. That quickly evaporates after their first date and a revealing video chat.
• Romantic Ribbing: Spark and Arlo get in a couple good-natured jabs at each other's expense. Candela also apparently solely addressed the latter as "Emo Trashlord" during the early stages of their relationship, both as this and because he wouldn't tell her his name.
• Safe Word: Spark's is apparently "cheeseburger pizza". Arlo points out that if they actually do anything (it's ambiguous if they do or not), "no" will suffice.
• Sarashi: Candela learned this technique during a martial arts camp and shows it to Arlo during the Flashback so he can use it to bind his chest until his dedicated binder arrives.
• Scary Shiny Glasses: Arlo's glasses can do this, and he activates it whenever he wants to look especially evil. Seeing as his glasses have a number of bizarre capabilities, it seems likely that he specifically modified them to do this.
• Selfie Fiend: Spark logs nearly everything to his Instagram and takes a lot of selfies with Arlo when they're playing at being Make-Out Kids at the night market.
• Sentimental Drunk: Card-Carrying Jerkass Arlo got reduced to sitting in Spark's lap and admitting to having followed him on Instagram back at Go Fest 2020 after only having 2 beers, according to Candela.
• Serious Business: Arlo apparently cares enough about edgelording that he thinks it should have a regulating bureau.
• Shirtless Scene: Spark spends a good portion of Go Fest Day 2 shirtless after giving his hoodie to Arlo.
• Shock and Awe: It's not exactly clear what happened, but the pieces of the fallen Abandoned Playground Spark intercepted to save Arlo are described as being charred and split like they were struck by lightning.
• Shopping Montage: Arlo has an extended Flashback of him and Candela, among other things, going shopping at a mall when he starts thinking about their past relationship.
• Shorter Means Smarter: Arlo is short enough that he regularly got mistaken for a middle schooler while dating Candela and is The Smart Guy of his trio.
• The Short Guy with Glasses: Arlo is described as short, wears glasses, and is the most book-smart of the Team GO Rocket leaders. Of course, his glasses are purely aesthetic.
• Shout-Out:
  • Arlo makes plenty of references to his music tastes throughout. Bands namedropped include My Chemical Romance, Bring Me the Horizon, Escape the Fate, and Falling in Reverse.
  • Arlo alludes to the Team Rocket motto from the Pokemon anime when Sierra claims their motto is "Team GO Rocket doesn't give a shit about your personal life."
  • After Candela called Arlo Tsundere back when they were dating, he went on a Wiki Walk after looking it up on a site that's strongly implied to be This Very Wiki.
  • Not only does Arlo play Ingress, XM is also apparently literally real and what provides the power boost to Shadow Pokemon and raid bosses.
  • One of Blanche's car magnets reads "Honk IFF you love formal logic", a reference to xkcd.
  • While Spark and Arlo are discussing the linguistics of song lyrics, they come to the conclusion in reference to "Tik Tok" that if Kesha entered and then left a party, it would produce a universe-destroying singularity.
  • A song about horses that was a meme several years prior and which both Sierra and Arlo hate, but Sierra hates more, is mentioned. Based on the fic being set in 2022, it's a reference to "Old Town Road" and its Memetic Mutation status.
  • Arlo plans to call the Shadow Pokemon schematic he's working on at the beginning of the fic Pokémon XD.
• Show Within a Show: My Edgelord Phase Summoned The Demon King Who Made Me His Boyfriend, the movie Spark and Arlo watch at the park.
• Sickeningly Sweet: Sierra says that after Day 1, if she hears one more word about how cute Shaymin is, she's going to hurl.
• Signed Up for the Dental: Along with Revenge against Candela, Arlo joined Team Rocket because their healthcare plan covered his transition, they provided room and board, and they had mechanisms for name changes.
• Slash Fic: It's a Pokémon GO fanfic focused on a romantic relationship between two male characters.
• Sleep Cute: On their first night sleeping together because there was only one bed, Arlo ends up curled up on Spark's chest with the latter's arms around him. Sierra takes a picture, both for blackmail purposes and because she does acknowledge them as pretty cute together.
• Sophisticated as Hell: As in canon, Blanche mostly communicates in Spock Speak. Unlike in canon, they are also capable of swearing, which stands out as a notable tonal shift.
  "This is squarely a personal issue so completely irrelevant to either side's administration. And while we are not related by blood, we consider Spark family, so it is our duty to ensure that any suitors are worthy of him and screen out possibly dangerous candidates, especially if they are openly evil and also total douchebags."
• Sorry, I'm Gay: Arlo attempts to get on Blanche's nerves by claiming that Candela and Blanche didn't need to disguise their intentions when they drag him to the mobile lab to interrogate him about his relationship with Spark. If they wanted a threesome, he'd totally oblige. Blanche quickly shuts him down by stating that they aren't oriented in his direction and already have an emo love interest in their life.
• Squee: Spark is described as doing this upon seeing a Zapdos wall fan at the night market, which Arlo buys for him as a birthday gift.
• STD Immunity: Averted. Before leaving Spark and Arlo to do whatever it is they do when Spark spends the night at Team GO Rocket HQ, Sierra interrogates them to make sure they've both been tested and are clean. Blanche also gives Arlo a lecture about safe sex during their and Candela's vetting of him as a love interest for Spark.
• The Stoner: A stereotypical one of these is among the patronage at the Sleepless Bakery. Candela and Arlo also share a joint during his Flashback of their past relationship.
• Subordinate Excuse: Arlo theorizes that Cliff only joined Team Rocket because he was attracted to Giovanni, their boss.
• Sweetheart Sipping: Defied by Arlo when Spark wants to invoke Make-Out Kids during the couple's visit to the night market.
  "If you order a beverage with two straws, I'm cutting you off."
• There Is Only One Bed: Spark and Arlo end up sharing a bed at Team GO Rocket HQ when the former needs somewhere to stay after his Luxray destroys his bed and all of the team headquarters are full in preparation for the Go Fest kickoff.
• This Is Reality: While Candela and Arlo are discussing She Is Not My Girlfriend and how it's usually a Suspiciously Specific Denial when applied to a Romantic Comedy, Arlo claims that her point is invalid because they don't live in a rom-com. Well...
• Titled After the Song: All of the chapters except the first one are named after Escape the Fate or Falling in Reverse songs or lyrics.
• Tsundere: During their first date and video chat, Arlo alternates between displaying affection, claiming that he doesn't actually like Spark and is just hanging out with him to fulfill Sierra's assignment, and cringing with embarrassment whenever his affectionate behavior is revealed. Apparently he behaved like this while dating Candela too, since she called him this which sent him on a Wiki Walk which somehow ended in him exploring Yaoi Genre relationship dynamics.
• Vehicle-Based Characterization:
  • Arlo drives a black sports car featuring a number of bumper stickers, including a sophomoric challenge to anyone complaining about his driving, the insignia of several bands, and a faded Team Valor emblem. This establishes his immature personality, prioritization of edginess over practicality, and that he's not as disconnected from his past as he'd like to think.
  • Blanche's car is eminently practical, being a recent, but not brand new model of standard shape and featuring some decoration in the form of magnets carefully positioned to not block visibility, demonstrating Blanche's focus on practicality and safety.
• Waxing Lyrical: Candela and Arlo both end up reciting sections from "Situations" by Escape the Fate in distinct conversations. Candela also blatantly uses a line from "Caught Like A Fly" in her final conversation with Arlo on Go Fest Day 2.
• Where the Hell Is Springfield?: It's ambiguous where the setting is, or if it's even on Earth vs. the Pokemon world. Earth pop culture and Mexican food exists, but canon regions are also mentioned. All that's known for certain is that it's somewhere that it's summer and hot in June, that Team Valor HQ is within a bus trip of Orre, and that it's not Kanto, Johto, Alola, or Orre.
• Yandere: Discussed by Candela while she dissects how Arlo likely knew his Operation: Jealousy wouldn't have worked, suggesting that he just did it because he liked Spark and needed revenge as an excuse. She points out that depending on the genre they found themselves in, her response to Arlo dating someone else to try to get her back may be to kill the rebound rather than trying to win him back with a Grand Romantic Gesture.
• "You!" Exclamation: Upon Arlo's mystery love interest revealing himself to be Spark, her main rival among the team leaders, Sierra's only response is "You."
• Your Mom: The Bumper Sticker on the back of Arlo's car reads "How's My Driving? Tell it to your mom! You know, so she can relay it to me when I fuck her."
• You Need to Get Laid: Sierra deciding Arlo needs to is what kicks off the plot.