* BattleButler: Jacques, Cossette's loyal Gallade.
* BecauseDestinySaysSo: This makes up a large part of the plot.

* BilingualBonus: Cossette and her family speak French natively, and it's been implied that Jude speaks it, too.
* BittersweetEnding
* BlindSeer: Katerina.

* CheerfulChild: Cossette. Carlita is the pokemon version of this.
** Completely averted with the protagonist and Benjamin.

* CliffHanger: There are some truly terrible ones, some coming right after an even worse one before it.

* DarkFic: Though not apparent at first.

* DeadpanSnarker: The protagonist and Lola.

* DeusExMachina[=/=]DiabolusExMachina: The entire [[spoiler: Arceus scene]] in the chapter 154 could be seen as this.
* {{Deconstruction}}: Of many Pokemon friendship fics.

* DoubleMeaningTitle

* EvilFormerFriend [[spoiler: Nick to the protagonist.]]

* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler: Nick.]]

* FallenHero: [[spoiler: Nick.]]

** Nick, [[spoiler: even before his [[FreakOut ''incident'']]]].
** Jude, played straight.

* GratuitousNinja: Keith.

* HandicappedBadass: [[spoiler: Ike and Carlita become this after the Stark Mountain fiasco.]]

* HotBlooded: Carlita, Des (when he gets mad, anyway).

* JustifiedTitle

* KickChick: Carlita.

* LipstickLesbian: [[spoiler: Alicia.]]
* LethalLavaLand: The inside of Stark Mountain.

* LovableAlphaBitch: Hanna, Alice to an extent.
* MacheteMayhem: Vaikuntha could go this way.
** [[spoiler: Lola recently picked up the habit as well. With actual results.]]
** The protagonist's efforts to jump and the bandwagon [[EpicFail have so far fallen a bit flat.]]
--> [[spoiler: "Wow, that was... sort of pathetic," Nick called encouragingly. "Wanna try again?"]]

* MamaBear: Alice, most trainers if their teams are threatened.
* MindScrew: [[spoiler: The nightmares.]]

* MoodWhiplash: Even lampshaded by a couple characters at various points.
* MoralityPet: The Pidgey chicks and Cossette for the narrator. Zarek, too, although for a shorter time.
** In a way, most Pokemon become this to their trainers, and even vice versa.
* MotorMouth: Alicia talks a lot, especially when nervous.
* MusicalThemeNaming: Alice.

* NeverASelfMadeWoman: Initially played straight with Hanna, but she has come into her own later in the story.

* PlayedForLaughs: A lot of the violence in the early chapters...only the [[MoodWhiplash injuries don't simply go away.]]
* PowderKegCrowd: The protagonist and his friends face the wrath of one during the [[spoiler:Gym race arc]].
* PowerTrio: (In The Beginning)
** Super Ego: Nick
** Ego: Narrator
** Id: Hanna

* PropheticFallacy: And how!

* PsychoSupporter: If they use a [[ItMakesSenseInContext Pokemon name]], chances are they fit this.
* PutOnABus: Happens to Hanna and Jude at different points during the Vaporeon arc.

* SanitySlippage: [[spoiler:Nick.]] You could make a case for him being a case of TheMentallyIll, considering he never truly recovers from his psychotic break.

* SelectiveSlaughter: [[spoiler: Nick, Houndoom, Stantler and Vaporeon. If you ''deserve'' your Pokemon, well then, you're okay in their books!]]
* SelfFulfillingProphecy

** His Garchomp, Chase, is a shout-out to Chevy Chase, voice of the landshark in the ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' skits.

* ShoutOut: One part has a small reference to WebVideo/MarbleHornets and Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos. [[ParanoiaFuel The protagonist reacts accordingly.]]
* ShovelStrike: Used to [[spoiler: kill Stantler and Houndoom]].

* SoProudOfYou: This is pretty much the last thing [[spoiler: Nick says to the protagonist before he leaves for evildom.]]

* {{Socialite}}: Hanna.
* SourSupporter: Ike. Sometimes, even Des fills this trope when his trainer gets whiny or loses track of the right way.
* SpoiledBrat: Hanna, though the fandom loves her for it.
** Cossette and Zarek fit this, too, thanks to the main character.
* StaticStunGun: Ike, most of Lola's team.

* StoutStrength: Des.

* SympatheticMurderer: [[spoiler: Nick, the protagonist.]]

* TeamMom: The protagonist. It's even been lampshaded by a couple characters.

* TheFashionista: Hanna shows shades of this.
* TheNotLoveInterest: Hanna.

* TheStoic: Des.

* AnyoneCanDie
* ApatheticCitizens: Deconstructed.

* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: Literally with Jude, though it's actually a shiny Pokemon.
* BabiesEverAfter

* TokenEvilTeammate: Ike.
* TokenMiniMoe: Cossette.

* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Carlita and Alice.
* TorchesAndPitchforks: The [[spoiler: riot in Sunyshore]].
* TouchOfDeath: How [[spoiler: Arceus kills Nick and Chase.]]
* {{Tsundere}}: Alice.

* UnreliableNarrator: [[spoiler: Chapter 148, told by Nick as his sanity starts slipping.]]
* UnlikelyHero: Went the first started out on his journey, nobody would have pegged the protagonist as being the one who'd eventually bring peace to the region.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler: Vaporeon has shades of this.]]
** [[spoiler: NICK. He murdered Hanna's team to stop the protagonist from getting too involved with him.]]

* WholeEpisodeFlashback: [[spoiler: Chapters 151 and 152]].
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: [[spoiler: Nick]].

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Taken ''UpToEleven''.

* PlayedForLaughs: A lot of the violence is. Only to coincide with MoodWhiplash when the other characters/the readers realize that the injuries don't simply go away.

* PsychicDreamsForEveryone: It's hard to tell. But then there are the nightmares. Which takes this trope somewhat literally, as [[spoiler:a psychic caused them]].
** Earlier in the story, the protagonist regularly gets dreams visited by [[ItMakesSenseInContext stalker ghosts and goddesses of love]]. Again, taken a little more literally, as he didn't actually see the future in any of them.

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Jude ditches the main character after his WhatTheHellHero moment at the end of the Vaporeon arc. The main character does this when [[spoiler: he quits being a gym leader after the events at Stark Mountain.]]

** Sonya, towards Nathan, although her exact age is unknown.

* TheRunaway: Cossette is implied to have run away from home after having an argument with her parents, shortly after the main character moves to Sunyshore, and is currently living with him in the gym.

* TitleDrop: The main character gives an ''epic'' one during his confrontation with [[spoiler: Nick.]]

* AccidentalMisnaming: Thanks to the story always avoiding naming the protagonist, readers eventually dub them NamNar (short for Nameless Narrator). Even the AuthorAvatar starts referring to them as such.

* ChekhovsGunman: Lola. She has an EarlyBirdCameo when the main characters journey to Snowpoint, and while she gets more focus during the tournament and gym race arcs the most pivotal moment she's involved in is [[spoiler: being killed on national televison.]] Much later, it's revealed that [[spoiler: [[FakingTheDead her murder was a sham]], ''and'' she's had a hand in almost all the obstacles the main character has had to face in the story so far - such as being the driving force behind Nick's worsen SanitySlippage, the organiser of the nightmare attacks, and being one who goaded the main character into attacking Vaporeon by sending messages from Nick's number. She's also manipulated many events in the protagonists life from behind the scenes, such as fixing the tournament so that they'd achieve a gym postion and covering up their involvement in Nick's prison break. Finally she's 'the first' in the ghosts' prophecy...]]

* AccidentalMisnaming:

* ChekhovsGunman: Lola. She's first introduced very early on in the story as random goth trainer who got stranded in Snowpoint. She then pops up during the tournament and gym race arcs. Her third major apperance sees her [[spoiler: being killed on national televison.]] However the later chapters reveal that [[spoiler: [[FakingTheDead not only is she alive]], but that she's the person who's responsible for worsening Nick's SanitySlippage, she fixed the gym race slightly so the main character got a gym position, she organized the nightmare attack, she owns the Xatu that has been invading the main character's dreams lately, she goaded the main character into attacking Vaporeon by sending messages from Nick's number, she knows the truth about the prison break and helped to cover the main characters involvement in it, and finally she's 'the first' in the ghosts' prophecy...]]

* ConvectionSchmonvection: Zigzagged. In Stark Mountain characters wearing dark clothing are shown to be extremely uncomfortable and non fire pokemon have a hard time battling for long periods due to the heat. The lava is shown to be able to easily kill and destroy things. However a [[RopeBridge rickety rope bridge]] can somehow stand without bursting into flames...

* DisguisedInDrag: The protagonist cross dresses as a girl in order to get past border control.
** And to get out of the Sunyshore Gym, although he actually [[spoiler:swapped places with a specific girl to get out]].

* spoiler: AnArmAndALeg: [[spoiler: Carlita's tail gets chopped off during the battle with Nick.]]

* ArtificialLimbs Artificial Tail]]: [[spoiler: Carlita]] gets fitted with one after the events of the final fight. However, the extent of her injuries means that she still [[spoiler: will never dance again.]]

** [[spoiler: The third and fourth come in quick succession during the Stark Mountain battle. First he face down Lola just outside Stark Mountain, and then he battles Nick deep in the heart of the mountain.]]

* BigDamnHeroes: Interestingly, two examples in The Tournament arc: [[spoiler: inverted when [=NamNar=] busts ''out'' of the building to save people, and when the main antagonist, Nick, shows up and kills his own followers to stop the fighting and probably save them from a very bloody CurbStompBattle.]]

** Sela and Vaikuntha tend to become this from time to time, most recently [[spoiler:with the rest of the Gym leaders at Stark Mountain]].
* BigSleep: [[spoiler: Nick, when he's killed by Arceus]]

* BloodSplatteredInnocents: The main character, although how innocent he is at this point in the story is debatable. And more often than not, it's his own blood.
** [[spoiler: Cossette, very literally taken.]]

* KidHero: THe protagonist brings peace to the region at the tender age of 15.

* FreakOut: [[spoiler: Nick]] suffers a HUGE one.

* ICanStillFight: Carlita quotes this as she desperately tries to stop the main character from recalling her. [[spoiler: She really can't, as she's just had her tail chopped off and can barely walk without it.]]

* IdiotHair: The protagonist is shown to have one in pictures drawn by the author.

* InnocentBlueEyes: The protagonist has them. They play an essential part in [[spoiler: convincing a delusional Nick that he's not his brother.]]

* IntergenerationalFriendship: Nick is quite a bit older than the protagonist and even Hanna.
** Somewhat the norm, though, considering Benjamin and Cossette are the only major characters who are younger than the protagonist, anyway. Most of his friends seem to be at least a year or two older.

* KidHero
* [[spoiler: LipstickLesbian: Alicia.]]

* LivingShadow: Kostya and Pollyanna both fit this regularly - but subverted a bit in that that's not their real form.

* MiseryBuildsCharacter: Out-of-story, but the author loves this trope.

--> [[spoiler: He'd be damned before he left another one of his team behind.]]

* ParentsInDistress: [[spoiler: Nick's parents were held hostage by an armed gunman who demanded that he hand himself in. Trying to rescue them is what got him caught.]]

* PowderKegCrowd

* [[spoiler:RivalTurnedEvil]]
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: [[spoiler: Nick]].
* SanitySlippage: [[spoiler: Again, Nick.]]

* SelectiveSlaughter: [[spoiler: Nick, Houndoom, Stantler. If you ''deserve'' your Pokemon, well then, you're okay in their books!]]
** [[spoiler: Don't forget Vaporeon.]]

* SmittenTeenageGirl: Hanna towards Nick in the first half of the story. Gender bent with the protagonist and Alicia in the second half.
** Also, Cossette counts as a smitten ''preteen'' girl.

* SourSupporter: Ike would qualify.
** Sometimes, even Des fills this trope when his trainer gets whiny or loses track of the right way.

* TeamMom: The protagonist. It's even been lampshaded by a couple characters..
* TemptingFate: [=NamNar=] ''actively'' avoids this at this point.

* TheReveal: The narrator's name is revealed at the end of chapter 159. It's [[spoiler:Zachary Jones.]]

* TheStarscream: Ike.

* ThemeNaming: Jude plays this straight, though some of it is a little... obscure and random.
** The Eevee litter Isabella and Alexander came from all had four-syllable names that started with vowels.

* TokenEvilTeammate: Also Ike.

* TomatoSurprise: [[spoiler: The dark-haired trainer turning out to be Nick.]]
** Not really. More like a [[TomatoInTheMirror]] for the protagonist, and a sufficiently [[GenreSavvy]] reader already suspects that [[spoiler: the dark-haried trainer might be Nick; after all he's one of the only characters we know who is dark-haired and we've seen him with a Snorunt...]]

* TouchOfDeath: Seems to be how [[spoiler: Arceus kills Nick and Chase.]]

* TwoGuysAndAGirl: For a short time.
** Mirrored in the Gym race arc, with the introductions of Vaikuntha and Alicia.

* UnlikelyHero

* [[spoiler: AnArmAndALeg]]: [[spoiler: Carlita's tail gets chopped off during the battle with Nick.]]

* [[ArtificialLimbs Artificial Tail]]: [[spoiler: Carlita]] is probably going to get one. But even with that, she still [[spoiler: will never dance again.]]
* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: Literally with Jude, though it's actually a shiny Pokemon. Still hilarious.

* BattleAmongstTheFlames: The main character has been involved in four so far: when he breaks out of the warehouse during The Tournament arc, when he faces Vaporeon in Sunyshore, [[spoiler: the battle with Lola outside Stark Mountain and finally the battle with Nick inside Stark Mountain.]]

* CharacterTitle
* CheerfulChild: Cossette, and sometimes even Carlita.

* ChekhovsGunman: Lola. First introduced way back in the beginning as a random goth trainer who got stranded in Snowpoint. Then pops up again during the tournament and gym race arc. Then is [[spoiler: killed on national televison.]] However the latest chapters have revealed that, [[spoiler: [[FakingTheDead not only is she alive]], she's responsible for worsening Nick's SanitySlippage, she fixed the gym race slightly so the main character got a gym position, she organized the nightmare attack, she owns the Xatu that has been invading the main character's dreams lately, she goaded the main character into attacking Vaporeon by sending messages from Nick's number, she knows the truth about the prison break and helped to cover the main characters involvement in it, and finally she's 'the first' in the ghosts' prophecy...]]

* ClimacticBattleResurrection: A minor one happened during the battle against Vaporeon, where [[spoiler: nearly everyone except for the main character and his group get killed.]] Also it seems that [[spoiler: the entire battle on Stark Mountain is this, as everyone except the main character, Lola and Nick get taken out of action.]]

* ConflictingLoyalty: The main character is torn between [[spoiler: desperately believing that Nick can be saved and taking him out for the safety of the region.]]
* CosmicPlaything: Implied ever since [[spoiler: Arceus]] had a cameo. More strongly implied with the [[ItMakesSenseInContext "Starly dream".]]
** More than implied now. It's just not [[spoiler:the MC that's the plaything - it's Abigail and Nick.]]
* ConvectionSchmonvection: Somewhat averted. In Stark Mountain characters wearing dark clothing are shown to be boiling and non fire pokemon have a hard time battling for long periods due to the heat. It can also easily kill and destroy things. However a [[RopeBridge rickety rope bridge]] can still stand without bursting into flames...

* DanceBattler: Carlita to a T. [[spoiler: Not any more. Without her tail, the doctors aren't even sure she'll be able to manage a slow waltz.]]

* DarkerAndEdgier: Duh.
* DeadpanSnarker: The protagonist, Lola, other characters on rarer occasions.

* EyeScream: [[spoiler: Ike gets his eye slashed and is therefore blinded.]]

** We also have [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Chekhov]], [[Series/DoctorWho Who]], [[Creator/IsaacAsimov Patru]], [[Literature/IHaveNoMouthAndIMustScream Harlan]], [[Creator/JulesVerne Jules]], and [[TheTwilightZone Ser]], which is short for Serling.

''Pedestal'' is a {{Pokemon}} fanfic that starts out deceptively similar to other stories. A young trainer aspires ToBeAMaster, with great dreams of being the best, placing his hoped-for Pokemon on a [[TitleDrop pedestal]]. A year later than most trainers, he finally receives his starter... And it's a Numel. HilarityEnsues, but not for long.

--> ''You know what? Life sucks. I've been training for about four years now, and I've seen a whole lot of crap. [[KnowYourVines I've got scars from poison ivy]], [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes half-resolved neurosis about water]], [[AnimalsHateHim I've been beaten by more Pokemon than I can frankly remember]], [[ItMakesSenseInContext I've had holy water thrown at me]], [[BreadEggsMilkSquick I've had to cross-dress more times than I'd admit to in other circumstances]]...still, I've had bad luck since I can remember. It wears on you. This big stuff is...different. You can ignore it or you can fight against it. Either way -- [[ButtMonkey life sucks]].''

* WritersCannotDoMath: The poll to announce the public's predictions for the winner of the gym race is as follows: 17% for [[TheStoic Lola]], 15% for [[TakeAThirdOption the race being cancelled]], 13% for [[BewareTheNiceOnes Vaikuntha]], 10% for [[HairTriggerTemper Sela]], 8% for Keith, another 8% for [[ButtMonkey the protagonist]], 5% for [[TheAlcoholic Archie]], 3% for [[LipstickLesbian Alicia]], and another 3% for [[BrattyHalfPint Benjamin]]. This adds up to a total of 82%, so apparently 18% of voters were not counted.