Planes of Existence is a Pokémon Mystery Dungeon fanfic by Ryu Taylor the Ferret. After finishing the Hope and Faith trilogy, Ryu decided to try his hand at creating a brand new world, basically retrying the whole thing with more refined writing skills. The OC cast of the Hope and Faith trilogy returns (in name and species only) in a brand new adventure.
Planes of Existence is set on the planet of Pocketurn (a portmanteau of "Pocket" and "Saturn"). A young Eevee named Pelame aspires to be a historian, and a young Riolu named Pugno aspires to be a royal guard. When these two meet, they find themselves in the middle of a great quest where potentially everything is at stake. So reads the general plot synopsis of the story.
The first major story arc is the Team Static arc, which takes place from Chapter 1 to Chapter 10. It deals with Pelame, Pugno, and fellow Llyria Academy students Blessing and Torden's struggle against Team Static, a group dedicated to resisting evolution.
The second major story arc is the World Travel arc, which takes place from Chapter 11 to Chapter 35. It contains Pelame's adventures abroad with the Trailblazing International Guild of Historical Studies. Along the way, she finds out more about the Alpha Bloodline she's a part of, as well as the Dark Blessing.
The third major story arc is the Twilight World arc, which takes place from Chapter 36 to Chapter 55. It deals with Pelame's struggles with the Twilight Kingdom and her discoveries regarding the true nature of the Dark Blessing, including the true identity of its creator.
Ryu Taylor is currently writing its next major story arc. The story can be found on DeviantArt
and on FanFiction.net.
- The Atoner: Paras is willing to do whatever it takes to atone for what he did after Pelame saves his life, talks sense into him, and dispels his Dark Blessing.
- Badass Adorable: Pugno is a rather formidable opponent for a Riolu.
- Benevolent Boss: Paras cares deeply for his underlings. Within seconds of Scyther joining, the leader already offers him Kee Berries. But then, he lets the Dark Blessing change his approach...
- Beta Couple: Torden and Blessing seen to be this at first...until Blessing's Incompatible Orientation is revealed. Eventually, she gains Treasure as a girlfriend.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Anyone under the Ville Agent Programming, most notably Pugno.
- Break the Cutie: Pelame slowly goes through this through the entire series as events do not go in her favor, especially in the World Travel arc. Said events of the arc include her: constantly having to deal with the Dark Blessing when all she wants to do is be a pacifistic researcher in the Trailblazing International Guild of Historical Studies, conflict with one of the members in said guild (though this is one of few things that resolves favorably for her), ending up in an avalanche that takes her to a hidden country that preaches the Evils Of Free Will, making a promise to find a friend of the leader of TIGHS group only to have that friend die protecting her, and, oh yeah, ending up betrayed by her king, causing her to not only be branded a traitor to her home country but also her boyfriend and father! Pelame has had it rough.
- Breather Episode: Chapter 51 coming before the final battle against the Twilight King and after Pelame first learns she's descended from Nihilda, and involves the characters relaxing and a romance scene.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Torden gives an epic one of these to his horribly outdated father.
- Casting a Shadow: What gaining the Dark Blessing roughly does, as it allows a Pokémon to enchant their moves with demonic power and use a few extra dark powers as well.
- Crossover: A very loose example. The in-universe TV show "Riptide" is based on a roleplay group of the same name.
- Darkest Hour / The Bad Guy Wins: At the end of the Twilight World Arc, Nihilda has returned, the planes of existence have merged, most of the world's population has been killed off, and the world is going to disappear by next Genesis Day.
- Dark Is Evil / Light Is Good / Dark Is Not Evil / Light Is Not Good: Played with throughout the entire series. Our main protagonists are Alphas with powers of Light 'em Up while our main antagonists have the Dark Blessing with powers of Casting a Shadow but it's a bit deeper than this. There have been several examples of Alphas doing stupid or downright evil things (the five Alphas Pelame met during her time as a researcher, the leaders of the Micronation of Stepalas), while there is one example of someone with the Dark Blessing who has done good (Pugno's combat instructor). However, said someone only did so by ignoring the instincts the Dark Blessing gave and so the Dark Blessing is still the de facto antagonist force of the series.
- Drunk with Power:
- Paras falls into this when he gains the Dark Blessing. Before, he was peaceful in his approach, but after the Dark Blessing, well...
- Mustard Jr. gleefully revels in the power the Dark Blessing gives him.
- Double-Meaning Title: "Twilight World" turns out not to refer to King Kangaskhan II of the Twilight Kingdom's bid to conquer the world, but instead to Nihilda's generations-long plan to come back to life and destroy the world.
- Downer Ending: The Twilight World arc doesn't end happily. For anybody involved.
- Evil Versus Evil: The Dark Blessing actively seeks this out in the World Travel arc by trying to pit Hot Air against Poisonpore. Shows how little anyone can take what it says seriously.
- Fantastic Racism: Well not a race so much, but Shiny Pokemon are essentially Pocketurn's equivalent of racial minorities. There's even a derogatory slur for them: Blinders.
- Fate Worse than Death / Cessation of Existence: Being Disappeared doesn't just kill someone. It also destroys their soul, meaning they won't even go to the Immoral Realm and there will be nothing left of them in all of existence.
- Foreshadowing: Paras's straining his back in Chapter 5. In fact, his chronic back pain foreshadows that the Everstones he had mined are full of Pyrite and Fluorite, the latter of which has caused him to become afflicted with skeletal fluorosis.
- Grand Theft Me: As of Chapter 33, the Dark Blessing has the ability to do this, though it still has to coax a victim into accepting itself before it can do this.
- Happily Adopted: Blessing, adopted by Professor Adorbs and later Torden to Professor Henry.
- Incompatible Orientation: Sorry Torden, but Blessing doesn't exactly swing that way.
- Jerkass Has a Point: While Mustard Jr.'s vendetta against society caused plenty of mayhem and destruction, considering those that executed him would later become antagonists, he might have a point.
- Kangaroo Court: The Court systems in the Twilight Kingdom's capital city exist to do only one thing: punish criminals. Having what is essentially the leader of the police force act as the ruling judge and not allowing the accused an attorney doesn't help much. It so far has only condemned clearly guilty Pokémon, but it's only a matter of time before someone innocent ends up in the system.
- Knight Templar: The Micronation of Stepalas is run by two of these; two Meowstic siblings of the Alpha bloodline who use their Alpha power to mind control their small population to keep the nation 'peaceful.' This peace naturally lasts all of five seconds before Mustard Jr. breaks in on the hunt for Pelame and wrecks the place.
- Keldeo is also slowly becoming one of these, and fully embraces this by the end of the World Travel arc.
- Last-Minute Hookup: Torden's mom leaves his dad and ends up suddenly marrying Professor Henry right at the end of the Team Static Arc.
- More than Mind Control: The Dark Blessing's modus operandi; it gives power to those that desperately want it and slowly turns them more insane. But as the world gets closer to Genesis Day, the Dark Blessing gains the ability to take over the body of a host. Though it still needs the consent of the victim.
- My Arceus, What have I Done?: Paras after Pelame finally talks some sense into him. Starts his path as The Atoner.
- My Boss, Right or Wrong: Averted. As soon as Scyther, Wynaut, and Snivy realize that the everstones they are using to try to stop all Pokemon from evolving are poisoned, and that their boss has gone off the deep end, they immediately join forces with the heroes to stop Paras' plan.
- Official Couple: Pelame and Pugno from the second chapter until chapter 35. Chapter 51 heavily implies that Morikain will hook up with Pelame.
- Power Nullifier: The Inopsite powering the PP-Zero Bracelets work to this effect, preventing any normal Pokemon from attacking while these are on.
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Pelame, after hearing a prophecy that she'll evolve into a Sylveon and cause the world to end, tries to make herself Disappear in order to foil that. However, when King Kangaskhan tries to make her disappear per this plan, it causes her to evolve and the world to end.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Several antagonists in the series would believe themselves to be doing good, but ultimately aren't due to taking it to an extreme. This runs from Team Static in the first Arc trying to get rid of evolution because their leader Paras's evolution would have him become a possible slave to a parasitic mushroom should he evolve to King Kangaskhan II believing that he needs to rule the entire world in order to fix it.
- Wipe That Smile Off Your Face: The Orb of Silence does this to whoever Imperators Fuoco and D'Artificio use it on. Confirmed victims included Ogilvie, Pelame, Mori, Latios, Latias, and Mustard Jr. Once it broke, every victim got their mouth back.
- Xanatos Gambit: Either Pelame Purifies King Kangaskhan and becomes the Sylveon of Light, or King Kangaskhan tries to Disappear her, causing the Alpha Power inside her to fight back and she becomes the Sylveon of Light. Either way suits Nihilda just fine.
- You Can't Fight Fate: Despite Pelame's best efforts to stop it, Nihilda still regains a physical form and begins her destruction of the world.
