Fanfic / Pokémon: Nova and Antica

Combining the old with the new

A ferry was now treading the vast ocean. It's destination; the Tenla Region. The boat was loaded with trainers ready to conquer a new region, one filled with chances. But, someone had a more fervent enthusiasm than anyone else and his name is Ash Ketchum. Follow him with companions both old and new as they fight and meet old and new things. And to confront the darkness hiding beneath everyone in Tenla.

—Official summary

Pokemon: Nova and Antica is a Pokémon: The Series fanfiction written by Grade-AMasterpiece. The timeline places the story in-between Ash's adventures in Sinnoh and Unova; although, elements like Pokémon themselves from Unova and beyond are fair game to the narrative.

Our hero Ash Ketchum is relaxing at home in Pallet Town, reminiscing his time and achievements in Sinnoh, but there's never a dull moment with this kid. Professor Oak visits the Ketchum residence one day and tells him about a new region, the Tenla Region. Leaving all of his Pokémon besides Pikachu at home as per tradition, Ash sets out to conquer a new region in hopes of attaining his dream of becoming a Pokémon Master.

Combine this premise with the presence of Tenla-native Pokémon ^note  or "Fakemon" as the fanbase calls , this sounds like a standard, travel-to-a-new-region story. Sure, but there's a twist. To Ash's surprise, the first person he meets in this new land is instead an old and familiar face, Misty. Then, he finds out Gary is coming to challenge Gyms for old time's sake. Then, Brock, Dawn, and May all make their appearance. He also finds himself thrust into the middle of things minutes after arrival, and it doesn't slow up from there. Not with the threat of Team Hectic hanging over everyone's head. There is a lot more to this story than meeting new Pokémon and battling rivals, it seems.

Nova and Antica is the main installment of a saga called the "Pokémon story series". Its other components are:

• Pokémon Story: Sinnoh Journey: The inaugural story. In fact, Nova and Antica is a sequel to this story. It begins with Ash, Dawn, and Brock heading to a new town holding a Pokémon Contest. A couple key characters and plot threads are introduced here. Please keep all relevant tropes there.
• Pokémon Story Chronicles: A collection of side-stories or excerpts (called "entries") that enrich our understanding of the Original Characters introduced in this fanfiction. Although it needs no work page and much of it is referenced in the character page, its section on the recap page should more than suffice.

You may find Pokémon: Nova and Antica on different sites under the same account name: FanFiction.net, Archive of Our Own, and Deviant Art, latter of which contains all that, glossaries, and artwork of the original characters and concepts featured to breathe life into this story. It is currently dead, having last been updated in 2019.

Tropes:

• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
  • Misty and Dawn never meet each other canonically. Here, they are introduced to one another early on and therefore become two of the five members of the main group.
  • Lyra and Khoury likewise never meet Misty or May. The very first arc has them get acquainted. It's also all but stated Lyra will be a major rival to Ash in the same vein as Gary and Aaron despite that not being in the case in the Sinnoh anime adaptation.
• Ascended Extra: Meta-example. After Novak and Antia were written out of the story in an Orwellian Retcon, their roles in the first arc were taken over Lyra and Khory. The former is particularly given a tinge more characterization. This means Lyra becomes the first major rival other than Gary and Aaron to be introduced.
• Action Prologue: How does the story catch your attention early on? By having the regional villainous team attack in the very first town.
• Adventure Towns: Each town, city, or locale always has something refreshing or exciting in store when Ash arrives. To the point you can categorize arcs based on the stuff that happens within a place and/or its surrounding areas.
• Age Lift: The author has raised the ages of the canon characters. Much of the main cast are adolescents or full-blown teenagers. For example, instead of 10, Ash is 14. This retroactively means the others grew up during their travels as well. Sounds like the writer wants to ignore first episode of the B&W seasons like the rest of us.
• All There in the Manual: The writer has a whole section in his DeviantArt gallery dedicated to the additional elements and the Original Characters introduced in the story, meant for easy access to brush up on or familiarize yourself with the content. This includes commissioned artwork of his OCs. To a lesser extent, Pokémon Story Chronicles also serves as one.
• An Ice Person: Winter exclusively trains Ice type Pokémon. Her older sister, Heather, runs the Ice-type Gym of Fimbulvetr Town and uses them as well.
• Batman Gambit: On the orders of the plan's conductor Admin Penny, the Team Hectic operatives in Zumi Town arc unleash deranged bird Pokémon upon Zumi Town in hopes of causing mass chaos and confusion. This is in fact a clever ruse where the police and good samaritans will be occupied so that a team can swoop in and take in Professor Ironwood for questioning on Pokérus. Another team awaits on a private ferry to haul them away after capture.
• Bowdlerise: According to the author notes, actual firearms really made it into a version of the story. However, after a certain point, he went back and purged all mentions of firearms and rifles, and replaced with Grattlers. The stun batons, however, stayed since one adaptation depicted them quite lethally.
• The Bus Came Back: A recurring thing. The story is bringing back old friends and rivals.
• Canon Welding:
  • Misty and Brock are wearing the clothes of their game incarnations in Pokemon Heart Gold And Soul Silver according to Word of God. Same with May and her game counterpart from Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire.
  • Contest Idol Lisia is mentioned to be one who beat May in the Johto Grand Festival. She even eliminated Solidad as well. Although she is Wallace's niece, she of this writing has yet to appear in the anime, making Lisia's existence an example of this.
• Cerebus Rollercoaster: The fic generally maintains the lighthearted nature of its source material, which makes the deviations all the more evident. Generally speaking, you'll have all sorts of friendly battles and warm moments one instance, and in another, allusions to death as well as personal drama and strife.
• Childish Older Sibling: Heather Isolda is the adoptive older sister to Winter, and the former acts snarkier, hammier, and more carefree whereas the latter is soft-spoken, low-key, and mild-tempered.
• Deadline News: A variant. In Chapter 2, a Pidgeot tries to attack a news anchorwoman on-screen, but the cameraman saves her, leaving the camera to its fate. We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties immediately follows.
• Double Knockout:
  • In Ash's Gym Battle against Marina, the fate of Barboach vs. Gouzatile ends this way thanks to the latter's sheer tenacity.
  • In Ash's and Winter's first Gym Battles with Heather, all but their final two Pokémon stalemate with Heather's. Pointed out by their friends in the stand, of course.
• Family-Friendly Firearms: Some Team Hectic grunts use a conception attached to their arms called a "Grattler," which are basically laser gauntlets.
• Exposed to the Elements: In Chapter 12. You know how Dawn (and her game counterpart) tend to parade around in short skirts? The chapter deconstructs that — she catches a cold from wearing an outfit she states is similar to the one she wore to Snowpoint City, leading the guys to stop at Silverplien's house and get roped into... something bad.
• Friendship Moment:
  • In Chapter 6, Ash, Brock, Misty, May, and Dawn hold hands out to form a circle of friendship and declare their readiness to tackle Tenla.
  “Good friends, together!”
  “TENLA, HERE WE COME!”
  • In Chapter 13, Dawn and Winter share something of one with the former comforting the latter out of her slump.
• Hates Their Parent: Ash expresses clear bitterness about his father leaving him and his mother but would rather not go into detail.
• Humans Are Good: Ash believes in the inherent kindness of people.
  Ash: You ask me, just take it as you go. Most people are good folks, so it’s not like you have anything to worry about. Even Ian can be a nice guy.
• Making a Splash: Marina, Gym Leader of Morwenna City, uses all Water types.
• Original Character: Although the story liberally brings in long-established canon characters, expect to find many of these as well. Justified in that it's a new region to explore. Original characters are needed to take the roles of NCPs, Gym Leaders, etc. And that's merely on the human side of the spectrum. Fakemon are also present.
• Orwellian Retcon: The author rewrote and edited the first six chapters on May 31st, 2019. Not only did this result in the deletion of one chapter, it resulted in the removal of two Original Characters, Novak and Antia, who were replaced with Lyra and Khoury.
• Premiseville: Each place containing a Pokémon Gym sports a name and theme relating to the Gym Leader's preferred type.
  • Morwenna City: Although the word "morwenna" can mean "maiden", it can also mean "waves of the sea". Morwenna City itself is very aquatic, sporting an aquarium, a famous lake, a cool fountain in the middle of its grand park, and Gym Leader (whose name is Marina, another reference to water) who specializes in Water types and does aquatic shows at said lake.
  • Fimbulvetr Town: "Fimbulvetr" refers to the harsh winter that lasts twice as long as usual and signifies the beginning of Ragnarok in Norse myth. The town itself, as well as the surrounding area, is very cold and blanketed in snow. Heather uses Ice types, and so does her young sister Winter.
  • Ifrit City: In certain Middle Eastern cultures, an "ifrit" also refers to a type of fire jinn. Starting with Aparra Village, the road to the city becomes hotter as remarked by a few characters. The city itself is also built atop a dead volcano. All this implies that Sojiro, Gym Leader of Ifrit City, may use Fire types.
• Primary-Color Champion: Ash's new outfit predominantly features red and blue with a little black for good measure.
• Putting the Band Back Together: Expecting Ash to meet brand new travelling companions? Dead wrong. Misty, Brock, May, and Dawn have all come to Tenla. Ash is more than overjoyed to have this nostalgic homecoming.
• Red Baron: The Gym Leader titles, of course.
  • Marina: The Aquatic Acrobat.
  • Heather: The Permafrost Princess.
• Rewrite: Nova and Antica is actually a rewrite of a different fanfic entitled Pokémon Story 2: The Great Adventure. The basic premise is the same, but if you endeavor to peek in the original version (it's accessible on FanFiction.Net), you'll see that... it was for the best.
• Sickly Child Grew Up Strong: Winter as a child held no special talents of note, wasn't a good talker, had a weak body, and suffers from unspecified mental issues. Nowadays, while remnants still linger, she nevertheless grew up to be a respectable Lady of War with strong Pokémon and a penchant for battling.
• Standard Evil Organization Squad: Team Hectic.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Irian, Tenla's Contest MC, is pointed to look similarly similar to Marian from Sinnoh.
• Two Girls to a Team: Gender-Inverted. Because Misty, May, and Dawn are altogether now, Ash and Brock form the sole males of the troupe. As in canon, Brock is still the Team Mom aiming to be a Pokémon doctor and/or breeder and is The Smart Guy as the oldest and most mature. Ash is The Heart who acts as the crux of his closest friends.
• Vengeful Ghost: In Chapter 12 "The Abandoned Route", Ash and the other members of his posse encounter Master Silverplien. Although he acts cordial and helps into his house when they're lost, he is in fact a vengeful revenant bent on "saving" people from the harshness of life. Why is he like this? He and his family had their lives unceremoniously taken by Team Hectic.
• Worldbuilding: The story takes place in the brand new, original Region of Tenla. It will inevitably showcase its own mythology, history, and culture that the story will slowly unveil to the readers.
• Wham Episode: There's a reason this fic contains a Cerebus Rollercoaster.
  • Chapter 3: The Pokémon Team Hectic captured? Arbok, Weezing, and Victreebel are among them. Victreebel's lover was even heavily implied to have been killed. Team Hectic, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Tenla.
  • Chapter 12: When Cerebus Syndrome kicked in a little bit more. We have a bloodthirsty Pokémon, a vengeful revenant trying to "save" people, Winter's depressing self-esteem issues, and several allusions to death. Not to mention, it's confirmed Team Hectic had a hand in the fates of Silverplien and his family.
• Willfully Weak: The Tenla Gym Leaders will ask challengers of their skill level and the number of Tenla badges they have obtained. Depending on the answer, they will hold back and use relatively weaker Pokémon to at least make an earned victory possible. The threshold seems to vary. For example, Marina and Heather will use their stronger Pokémon against any trainer like Paul or Winter who brought along their own powerhouses, while Metacia flat-out refuses anyone who doesn't have at least 5 badges of Tenla.