Web Original / End Run

Kanto badge design by Silver5

End Run is an Original Character Tournament taking place on deviantART and has been in existence since October 17, 2011.

The plot takes place around the 1940s and centers around an escalating war between Kanto and Johto. Raging on for years, both sides seem to have come to a stalemate when an unknown force in the form of Mew disables all forms of firearms.

However, with the discovery of 'Living Weapons' in the form of Pokemon, the war rages on with new men filling the ranks who now find themselves saddled with creatures whose powers are only beginning to be understood, thus begins the shaky relationship between humans and Pokemon at the turning of tide which will decide the fate of these nations.

This tournament is still on-going and is into its fifth round as of writing.

Round 1: Bootcamp Basics

Round 2: The Siege of Undella

Round 3: The Invasion of Ecruteak City

Round 4: Rescues and Rebellions

A Character Sheet is currently in the works.

This OCT contains examples of the following tropes:

• Abnormal Ammo: With the deadlock on all firearms, ammo literally comes from the very Pokemon the men are saddled with as living guns and shields. Some take this to a whole new level.
• Alternate Universe: In addition to the vast number of AU RPs that have spawned over the months, some of End Run's characters were imports from other original stories in the first place - Jane Delancey seems to be an example of this, as is her successor, Dao Nguyen. Even characters specifically created for End Run are now going on to be imported into different OCTs, set in different times and universes.
• Army of Thieves and Whores: Quite literally with some of the draftees.
• Artistic License: Up to eleven with the Pokemon in general. With many contestants trying to fit colorful monsters into a periodic war scenario, the results can be staggering to take in. It's harder to find a faithful interpretation of a Pokemon than it is complete modifications of them.
• Big Badass Battle Sequence: The Siege of Undella Bay and Invasion of Ecruteak City.
• Big Damn Heroes: Almost every round, though special mention goes to Adrohai Arnsgail who has made it a signature style.
• Boot Camp Episode: The entire first round of training. Hilarity ensues.
• Divided We Fall: The coming of the Rogues which introduced an entirely new faction and broke the ranks on both sides.
• Child Soldiers: While the characters have to be of drafting age, some entrants have brought this trope into play with regards to Pokémon, some of whom are depicted as being barely weaned when given to soldiers.
• Custom Uniform: Subverted, given that this applies to basically every character and there were never any specific uniforms to begin with. Compare with the examples in Shown Your Work below.
• Darker and Edgier: Mashing together World War II elements with Pokemon quite logically pulls the entire feel for the competition in this direction. Among others:
  • Realistic portrayals of Pokemon as wild animals instead of tamed pets more so that many are drafted equally unwilling soldiers. This gets the results◊ one might expect.
  • PTSD, Vivisections and torture, Military funerals, all of it fair game.
• Dress-Coded for Your Convenience: Red and warm colors for Kanto, Blue and cool colors for Johto and Green for Rogues.
• Eldritch Abomination: Koschey or A-1, the Spiritomb. Made with the souls of victims from Johto's Decossackization and hungry for more.
• Friendly Enemy: The Rogues are often depicted as this, due to their stance of no-killing, and offering aid despite clear threats of court martial for their actions (and all that implies) from their former armies.

• Impossibly Cool Weapon: Every Pokemon ever.
• La Résistance: The Rogues in general, with their message of ending the war and an alliance with Pokemon.
• Patriotic Fervor: Kanto's new Minister of Defense, Dao Nguyen, brings this in spades.
  • Though not as many spades as Phyllis Perkins.
• Perspective Flip: Like woah. As all the competitors are the heroes of their own story, who the "good guy" is depends on whose entry you're reading. Interpretations of the Rogues often vary wildly between entries because of this.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Johto Minister of Defense Rommel and Naval Commander Mizushima. Johto Brigadier Johansson and Military police Drociin. Kanto pilots Miguel and Xander and their direct counterparts Johto Pilots Mathis and Rory.
• Rousing Speech: General Jane Delancy as well as Johto's Brigadier General Frank Johansonn both rally their troops at the start of Ecruteak's Invasion. More recently, Dao Nguyen's speech to the Kanto Parliament before the Battle of Snowpoint.
• Secret Weapon: What both sides are currently searching for, as well as the main focal point of Round 5.
• Serious Business: Pokemon battling is serious business when your nation's very freedom is at stake.
• Shown Their Work: Ridiculously so in many cases, from period-specific uniforms for characters based on their actual ethnicity, proper context in dealing with POW and basic military procedure as well as medical limitations based on the time period given, to the extent that it becomes more of a war OCT than a Pokemon one.
• The Squad: Despite being a character-driven tournament, most contestants band together in each round in squads to better emulate warfare strategies.
• Urban Warfare: The Invasion of Ecruteak introduced this along with the claustrophobia and the massive loss of civilian life as well as structural damage to go wth it.
• War Is Hell: Morale took a nosedive after Undella, which functioned as a wake-up call for the more innocent recruits.

• You Can't Go Home Again: After the Siege of Undella in Round 2 which was won by Kanto, many Unova-born Johto soldiers find themselves unable to return home or receive news from their immediate family.

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