Monsters Of My Own
is a Pokémon/Young Justice (2010) Self-Insert Fic written by DesertChocolate, who also wrote Dial and Saiyan in Brockton, among others.
It is a reboot of the fanfic Adorable Murderbeasts, which was ended with an epilogue.
The story starts after the Main Character has spent four months in the Pokemon World, building a team and fighting Team Rainbow Rocket to find a way home, only for Arceus to shove him into the Young Justice (2010) universe, forcing him to start anew once more while surviving in a DC universe, alongside Mudkip, Slugma (later evolving into Magcargo), Mimikyu, Gurdurr, Tyrunt, and Alakazam.
It can also be read here and here.
This fanfic features examples of:
- Action Survivor: Mahmoud considers himself to be this.
- Adaptational Badass: Orca has all powers of whales and dolphins in this fic such as echolocation, electro- and magnetoreception and Make Me Wanna Shout - power (one of dolphins' way to hunt).
- Adaptational Heroism:
- Invoked. Knowing that the Orca in the main DC universe is a Nightwing villainess, Mahmoud takes Grace under his wing after her transformation, to give her a chance to avoid that fate.
- Clock King, a major enemy of Green Arrow, is a reformed supervillain in this reality, having retired from villainy before his first appearance in the fic.
- Adaptational Jerkass:
- In comparison to the Adorable Murderbeasts incarnation, Mahmoud is much colder and quicker to anger than his pre-reboot version.
- Again in comparison to her pre-reboot Adorable Murderbeasts version, where she was a member of the Team and a love interest for Mahmoud, Pele is truer to her traditional mythologies here, being colder, angrier, and willing to threaten terrible fates on people who displease her.
- Adaptational Superpower Change: When Slugma evolves, due to her getting a gift from Pele and native conditions of Earth-16, she evolves into a Magcargo that looks significantly different from typical Magcargo. Giovanni and Mahmoud identify it as a regional form.
- Adaptational Wimp: Compared to the Adorable Murderbeasts, the protagonist starts with a much weaker team, rather than one that has already defeated the Elite Four. Subverted with Mahmoud himself, who is low-key bulletproof to compensate.
- Adaptation Origin Connection:
- Doctor Death, partnered with Lady Dragon and the Silicon Dragons, is the one who mutates Bebop and Rocksteady into their animal forms.
- Averted In-Universe with Grace and the Atlanteans. Part of the reason Aquaman and Aqualad show up in Hawaii initially is because they heard rumors of an Orca-Atlantean swimming in the waters around the islands from the local wildlife, and wanted to see if such was true. While Grace did use data on Atlanteans with animal-forms as part of her research, she's purely from human science.
- Adorable Abomination: Mimikyu, a ghostly being who now wears rags based on other heroes, not just Pikachu.
- An Ice Person: Killer Frost has ice powers, per the norm, and can drain heat using them.
- Artistic License – Biology: Discussed. Orca thought how she can swim so fast and have such great endurance while real killer whales are much slower and have bigger muscle mass than she it and how her condition is impossible in theory.
- Badass Adorable: Mimikyu, Mudkip and Slugma are cute and can kick ass if it's needed.
- The Beastmaster: He does have a team of Pokemon.
- Both Sides Have a Point: Giovanni, when talking about why he hired Orca, points out that yes, her treatment turned her into an Orca/human hybrid, which is not a desirable trait (in theory, anyway). However, it turned her into an Orca/human hybrid that is no longer paralyzed from the waist down, which is why he's hiring her to help her get the funding and equipment she needs to cure people of injuries without those side effects.
- Boxing Lessons for Superman: Mahmoud and Orca both go to the training in mundane fighting and strategy.
- Brown Note: Mahmoud has a mild one to seeing Mimikyu's true appearance. He tries not to let it show. Mimikyu appreciates that Mahmoud still cares for her despite being afraid of her true form. She also has this effect on virtually anyone who sees her true form, as multiple criminals can attest to (once they stop gibbering in fear).
- Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Giovanni has this motivation. He figures the best way to get power on Earth 16 is through money, and lots of it. He does so through apparently legitimate means given how he doesn't view the risk of getting tangled with superheroes worth it. He's started making Potions from the Pokemon world and selling them to hospitals, with him announcing that he was also making other Pokemon cures at a gala on his yacht- such as Super Potions, Burn Heals, and more. In addition, he's funding other medical treatments, such as sponsoring Orca's experiments to help cure spinal problems.
- Distracted by the Sexy: Grace's orca form is a very muscular orca woman with large breasts. Mahmoud is stuck in a teenage body with teenage hormones.
- Emergency Transformation: Grace wasn't sure injecting herself with the serums she was working on would do anything other than kill her. It worked to cure her of her paralysis... and turn her into an orca human hybrid
- Expy:
Desert Chocolate described Smiley as "a ghost-powered Jacket from PAYDAY 2". - Fountain of Youth: Mahmoud went into the Pokemon world while in his twenties, and woke up in his teenage body. Since he wasn't in shape and didn't have his awesome beard, he was less than thrilled.
- Giver of Lame Names: Averted.
- Giovanni is accused of this at his party when he describes what his new drugs do, and are named. He defends it by saying that "Super Potion" and "Burn Heal" might not be the most scientific of names, but they tell exactly what it's supposed to do. Also, unbeknownst to all but a few, he didn't name them.
- Mahmoud defends himself to Pele when she accuses him of giving Magcargo a name that combines "Magma" and "Escargot." Specifically, he points out that he didn't come up with said name.
- The Homeward Journey: Mahmoud's goal. His attempts haven't been very successful.
- Knight in Sour Armor: Mahmoud isn't the most cheerful guy, in fact he started the story quite angry, but he tries to do right where he can.
- Kleptomaniac Hero: He has taken money, a car, and a gun from criminals.
- Loveable Rogue: Kalini, Mahmoud's agent and friend who started as a slightly shady guy.
- Magma Man: Slugma, as a Pokemon made of lava, can make use of fire and lava attacks, especially when aided by the volcano goddess Pele. She later evolves into Magcargo to defeat Killer Frost.
- Making a Splash: Mudkip can use a lot of water attacks, and is adept in the water. In addition, Aquaman and Aqualad also turn up around Hawaii to help out.
- Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: Pokemon world medicine is laughably, hilariously overpowered compared to the state of the art drugs of Earth-16, which is why Giovanni goes into the medical field to make his fortune.
- Patchwork Fic: While the story is set in the canon of Young Justice (2010), Mahmoud and his Pokemon first land in Hawaii, allowing elements from the Superboy comic during the time Superboy settled in Hawaii (Sam Makoa, Lady Dragon and the Silicon Dragons, Tana Moon, and Sidearm) to appear, while gradually adding in other heroes until eventually, the events of the show itself begin. Empress, a member of the original Young Justice (and one of the few members not in the show), also appears (as does her father Agent Fite and his partner Agent Maad), and even Temblor, an antagonist originally created for The Batman, is fought at one point. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is also included, due to the incorporation of Bebop and Rocksteady into the story.
- Person of Mass Construction: Gurdurr is the bruiser of the team, making use of his fighting moves and his steel girder to fight and deal a lot of damage. It's noted that this is odd for Gurdurr to be like this one; the Gurdurr in this story actually does like building and construction, whereas most Gurdurr tend towards more destructive natures.
- Playing with Fire: Firefly is encountered at one point, the pyromaniacal villain being primarily fought by Slugma.
- Pragmatic Villainy: How Giovanni operates. When he got to Earth-16, he realized that he was massively outclassed by the forces of Good that he decided against doing anything "Supervillainous." He's still sketchy, and it's hinted that he's charging way more for Potions than is ethical, but he knows if he tries to pull the same sort of stunts he did with Team Rainbow Rocket, it would draw the attention of the Justice League, which he can't hope to face.
- Properly Paranoid: Mahmoud takes his privacy and security very seriously, relying on teleportation and telepathy to dissuade others from following him into his base of operations. He does state that it's because he's in the DC Universe and therefore that level of paranoia is needed if he doesn't want things bursting in on him when he's not aware, but Aquaman verbally compares him to Batman when he hears about the loops Kahu jumps through.
- Reluctant Hero: Mahmoud isn't trying to be a superhero. But he can't just ignore someone who needs help, and it snow balls from there.
- Repetitive Name: Giovanni's full name is Giovanni Giovanni here.
- Rogues' Gallery Transplant: Naturally, being a Pokemon trainer in a DC world, Mahmoud encounters some DC villains.
- Due to him taking part in Hawaii, he faces several Superboy villains, these being Lady Dragon and the Silicon Dragons and Sidearm.
- Multiple Batman villains also turn up, with Deadshot being a hired minion of the Giovanni from Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, Firefly being fought in one mission where he is mainly forced to face off against Slugma, and Doctor Death appears as a partner for the Silicon Dragons. Temblor also appears at one point, encountering Empress and Mimikyu.
- Bebop and Rocksteady, classic villains of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, are mutated by Doctor Death and also face off against Mahmoud.
- Coinciding with the events of "Independence Day", Firestorm antagonist Killer Frost attacks Hawaii, only this time she does so alongside the Silicon Dragons. Mahmoud and his Pokemon join up with Aquaman and Aqualad, the heroes who defeated Killer Frost in the original episode, to battle all of them.
- Superman Stays Out of Gotham: Part of the reason why Hawaiian authorities want superheroes to stay away from Hawaii is that they both draw in other super-beings, but also because the Silicon Dragons will escalate to meet the threats lobbed against them- if League-level heroes started showing up, the Dragons would get far too dangerous for law enforcement to handle. It's why Mahmoud asks that Aquaman and Aqualad not stick around to fight the Dragons, since they would escalate from the force needed to fight a "D-Grade" hero (in Mahmoud's own words) to fight an A-grade one.
- This Is Gonna Suck: Bandits' reaction who kidnapped Grace is a simple groan-like "Fuuuuck" when they saw Mudkip.
- Too Dumb to Live: Bebop and Rocksteady (or at least, the thugs they were before they took on those identities) cheered and high-fived when they heard they were chosen because they were the most "expendable."
- Trapped in Another World: Mahmoud, for the second time. Giovanni, for the first time.
- Villain with Good Publicity:
- Giovanni seems to have built up a good reputation ever since he got trapped in the DC universe, with Deadshot becoming one of these as a hired aid of Giovanni. Lex Luthor and Mercy Graves also are this, attending one of Giovanni's parties alongside Mahmoud, Batman, and Amanda Waller.
- Giovanni also averts this, surprisingly enough, as he's not popular with the native Hawaiians.
- Villainous BSoD: One of the Silicon Dragons, Danny. Poor guy had the misfortune of being one of Mimikyu’s victims. By the time he’s found by the authorities, he’s a complete wreck driven insane by PTSD and hiding in a dumpster.
- Weirdness Magnet: Why Sam doesn't want vigilantes or superheroes running around Hawaii, ultimately, is because Superheroes draw in weirdness. Case in point, since Kahu started operating in the islands, not only have the Silicon Dragons dramatically upgunned themselves, but multiple other powered individuals started showing up, such as Orca, Smiley, Bebop, Rocksteady, and Killer Frost.
- The Silicon Dragons deliberately invoke this via their code of honor. They limit themselves to the level of force that their opponent brings out- against regular police, their thugs might be armed with standard pistols and knives, while SWAT or army forces might get them to break out body armor and assault rifles. Bringing in metahumans and extranormal forces, though, will likewise get them to bring in other metahumans and extranormal forces specifically to deal with the threat. One concern that Kahu has about Aquaman interfering is that the Silicon Dragons would upgrade to face Aquaman, member of the Justice League and known A-Grade threat to criminals, while Kahu is, in his own words, a D-Grade superhero.
