Fanfic / The Road to be a Pokemon Master

The Road to be a Pokémon Master is a fanfiction series created by FanaticLAguy06 on FanFiction.Net.

This is an AU fic to the Pokémon Anime that features strongly-written story arcs, character development, and most interesting of all: a well-developed romance. This time, Ash's main companion is Serena, his childhood friend from X and Y, joining Ash on his journey all the way back in Kanto. This, along with a more mature and smarter Ash, provides this fanfiction with a more coherent tale of Ash's journey to become a Pokémon master.

On November 14, 2020, FanaticLAguy06 had chose to discontinue the main storyline, though plans to continue the Chronicles spinoff. However, before closing the book on the series, he intends to post the outline of the story to give the readers an idea as to how it would have gone.

Series Consists Of:

• Kanto Arc
• Orange Islands Arc
• Johto Arc
• Hoenn Arc

Planned Sequels

• Sinnoh Arc
• Final Untitled Story Arc

Spinoffs

• Pokémon Master Chronicles: Showcasing the daily life of Ash and Serena’s Pokémon at the ranch.

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This fanfic provides examples of:

• The Ace: Ash's Dragonite. It's mentioned to be Ash's strongest Pokémon, and he mostly keeps it in reserve and saves it for high stakes battles.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Used for some of the characters
  • Silver, on top of being the son of Giovanni, had to deal with the social isolation that occurred once it was made public.
  • The Stantler from “The Little Big Horn” had its Mother killed by Rico.
• Adaptational Badass:
  • Pikachu learns Iron Tail via TM before his first gym battle and also occasionally uses other moves within its learnset such as Light Screen and Wild Charge.
  • Some of Ash's Pokémon who stayed in previous forms evolve.
  • Pokémon as a whole don't have limits to how many moves they can learn in this universe.
  • Serena, oh so much. Not only does she capture more and stronger Pokémon than she had in canon, but she also has Psychic Powers.
  • While in canon Misty never trained Togepi and all it did was use Metronome a couple times during critical situations, here it gets proper training and learns more moves, and it's used by Ash and Serena in battles, including Gyms and League matches.
  • Ritchie’s Zippo’s debut is as a Charizard rather than a Charmander in the Indigo League.
  • The Orange Crew. All of them. Their challenges are way harder than their anime counterparts, and they have a reputation of being Harder Than Hard.
    • Cissy has an additional challenge on top of the two shown in the anime: a Pokémon land race. Also, her target practice challenge is harder since Ash now has to ride the Pokémon he uses for that.
    • Instead of building a sled and using it on a race down the mountain, Danny's challenge is a rotation battle.
    • Rudy's challenge is the same as in canon, but Ash has to win all three rounds.
    • Luana's challenge goes from a double battle, to a triple battle in which Ash isn't allowed to lose a single Pokémon.
    • While in canon, Ash plowed through Drake's first five Pokémon with only two losses, and only had a hard time taking down his Dragonite, here Ash loses almost his entire team doing so, and when Drake is down to just one Pokémon, so is Ash.
  • Consistently shown among the Johto Gym Leaders:
    • Falkner's Hoothoot is a Noctowl.
    • Bugsy uses the same team as in the anime, except that all of them are fully evolved.
    • Jasmine's Magnemite is a Magneton.
    • Pryce's Piloswine is a Mamoswine.
  • Seems to be the case with the Hoenn Gym Leaders as well. While Roxanne keeps her iconic Nosepass, she traded her Geodude(s) for a Cradily and a Lairon.
  • The author has stated that Ash's Torkoal's battle perfomance in this story will be better than its rather lackluster one from the anime.
• Adaptational Early Appearance: Many Pokémon that have appeared in later Generations have appeared in earlier arcs. Magby, Kecleon, Crobat, Bagon, etc.
  • Serena is Ash's first traveling companion in this universe.
  • Paul appears during the Kanto arc.
  • Miette also appears in Kanto. The group meets her in Saffron City.
  • Rudy appears in Fuchsia City. While his meeting with Misty is brief, it becomes important once the group meets him again in the Orange Islands.
  • Tyson appears during the Indigo League Championship and wins
  • Harrison competes with Ash for the right to fight the Orange League Champion.
  • Aria shows up towards the end of the Orange Islands arc, in order to give Serena one last push into becoming a Pokémon Performer and giving her her canonical Fennekin.
  • Ash's Gligar appears during the Johto arc, though Ash didn't get to catch it.
  • Archie, Maxie and Shelly appear in Johto.
  • Sawyer appears during the Hoenn Arc. So do Clemont and Bonnie.
• Adaptational Late Appearance: Wally makes his debut in Verdanturf Town, while in the games you meet him for the first time in Petalburg City.
• Adaptational Nice Guy:
  • It may be easy to overlook, but Ash himself is an example of this trope. Many people probably forgot that at the beginning of the series Ash was a bratty Jerk with a Heart of Gold that could be rather entitled and disrespectful, before he became more of a straight up Nice Guy after much Character Development. While Ash in this fic could be clueless or immature, he is much nicer from the very beginning, and while in canon it took Ash and Pikachu a near death experience to begin to bond, this Ash was able to charm Pikachu with his natural kindness into trusting him before leaving Pallet Town. Plus, it would have been very unlikely for Serena to fall in love with the Ash from the beginning of the anime.
  • While Gary is still a jerk to Ash, he is shown to be much nicer to Leaf and Serena at the start of the series. Certainly, more than could be said for Gary Oak in the anime before his Character Development.
  • Charmander doesn't disobey Ash after evolving. Though it still refuses to fight opponents it deems as unworthy.
  • Paul recognizes Ash as a trainer after their battle in the Indigo League, but still believes that the way Ash trains his Pokémon is squandering his potential.
  • Sabrina as well. While she does have the same cold, ruthless personality as in the anime, she merely tells Ash to leave the first time he loses to her, as opposed to canon, where she shrank Ash and his friends to the size of dolls and trapped them inside a dollhouse.
• Adaptational Personality Change: Unlike canon where she is quite fond of the activity, May doesn't like shopping much.
• Adaptational Villainy:
  • Damian is even more of a jerk than the original show, and he even joins Team Rocket.
  • If the second to last chapter of the Johto Arc is to be believed, Tobias. He's considered a dangerous individual, the Pokémon League is investigating him, and Ash is told to avoid him at all costs.
• Adaptational Wimp:
  • Drake's Dragonite. In canon, it fought against four of Ash's Pokémon, managed to defeat three, and was just barely defeated by the fourth. Here, it only fights against one of Ash's Pokémon, which it is unable to beat.
  • Luana's Alakazam is only a Kadabra here.
  • Like Drake's Dragonite above, Whitney's Miltank curbstomped Ash during its first appearance in the anime. Here, it fails to defeat a single Pokémon.
• Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole: Inverted. In the Power of One, Ash could have given the GS Ball to Professor Oak when the latter arrived at the Orange Islands to meet him towards the end of the movie. Here, Ash makes sure to hand Oak the GS Ball the moment they meet.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
  • Misty, instead of James, buys the Magikarp from the Magikarp salesman in this fic.
  • Togepi imprints onto Ash and Serena rather than Misty, so they're the ones who raise it.
  • Jessie’s Seviper and James’ Cacnea end up being caught by Serena and Ash respectively.
  • Serena gets May's Beautifly and Brock's Mudkip. May, meanwhile, gets Jessie's Dustox.
  • Had the fic continued, Ash would have gotten James’ Chimecho as well.
• Adapted Out:
  • Since the story skips all filler, most characters of the day won't appear. The author will sometimes bring them into the story if he needs them to fill a certain role, and has stated that due to the vast amount of these characters, there simply isn’t any need to write in human Original Characters into the story.
  • While they do appear in the story, a lot of moments of the anime happen without the Team Rocket Trio's involvement. In fact, they go the whole Orange Islands arc without showing up even once. They're Put on a Bus for good towards the end of Johto, and with their organization dissolved, they will be absent as well for the rest of the series.
  • The Squirtle Squad. In this story, Squirtle was merely a lone punk, and it's not even hinted that he used to belong to a larger gang.
  • Chuck's Poliwrath is nowhere to be seen.
  • Surprisingly, Flannery lacks her Torkoal, which is her Signature Mon in almost all of her incarnations (Pokemon Adventures being the only exception), with a Camerupt being her ace Pokemon. The author claimed that he removed it for the sake of variety, since Ash's Torkoal would become more prominent than it was in the anime.
  • While he's mentioned a couple times, the Gym Battle against Flannery happens without her grandfather and previous Gym Leader Mr. Moore being present.
• Affably Evil: Archie and Maxie. They may be the leaders of two evil teams each, but they're really nice and pleasant individuals, and their friendship with Ash and co. is genuine.
• The Aloner: Silver is always alone, and shoos away everyone who tries to get close to him.
• Alternate Universe Fic: Serena's presence is the biggest change, but the fic features many unrelated changes not present in the anime.
• Apocalypse Maiden: Of all people, Serena. At the end of the Power of One adaptation, Lugia warns Ash that she has the potential to become his greatest enemy. And much later, Ho-Oh confirms this trope when it states that she's destined to destroy the world.
• Arch-Enemy:
  • If Giovanni's words are any indication, Ash's father, Red used to be his.
  • Ash's Taillow and Serena's Wingull start this way, being the leaders of their respective flocks, which were at war with each other. They do manage to quell their mutual hatred at their trainers' insistence.
  • Tabitha's Camerupt quickly becomes one for Ash's Treecko.
• An Arm and a Leg: The Electrike that May catches wound up getting its leg caught in the gears of a generator and it ripped right off, and because of the massive blood loss and the leg being unsalvageable, the leg doesn't get reattached. The end of the chapter implies that May, an inexperienced trainer, will have to deal with having a Pokemon with a lost limb and all the baggage that comes with it.
• Animals Hate Him: Downplayed with May. She does get along with most Pokemon just fine, but seems to have a knack for some Pokemon to be somewhat hostile towards her; there's the Running Gag of a Mudkip firing a water gun at her if she gets too close to one, and the only way to calm down the wounded Electrike of New Mauville was to let it bite May's hand.
• Ascended Extra:
  • Many Pokemon that only appeared during one episode in the anime are caught by the main characters:
    • The Haunter Ash catches for his battle with Sabrina becomes an official member of Ash’s team. Ash also catches the leader of the Houndour pack from Hour Of The Houndour, and it ends up serving as a Big Brother Mentor to Cyndaquil. And in Hoenn, Ash catches the Leader Aron from A Hole Lotta Trouble.
    • The second Pokémon Serena catches is the Jigglypuff that used to follow Ash and co. through Kanto and Orange Islands. She also catches the Oddish from Bulbasaur and the Hidden Village and the Spearow, now a Fearow, who attacked her and Ash in Route 1, after a second attack on their way to the Orange Islands.
    • Brock takes in the baby Stantler from The Little Big Horn due to its mother being dead.
    • May succeeds in catching the Azurill she attempted to in Ruin With A View. She also catches the Swablu from True Blue Swablu.
  • Due to being raised by Ash and Serena rather than Misty, Togepi remains in the story after Misty is Put on a Bus.
  • Teams Aqua and Magma only appeared for a handful of episodes in Advance Generation. Here, they're the main antagonists of the Hoenn arc.
• Author Appeal: While the story is an Amourshipping one through and through, the author has also stated a fondness for Advanceshipping, which gets a nod when Ash finds himself staring at May in a bikini.
• The Berserker: Ash's Aerodactyl is a deconstruction. When it feels threatened, it's overcome by primal instincts of survival, and becomes extremely savage. It's much stronger and powerful this way, but it also causes massive collateral damage and puts innocent lives in danger.
• Beta Couple: Misty and Rudy. Brock and Suzy and Gary and Leaf seem to be on the way there as well, the latter being official before the end of the Silver Conference.
• Beware the Nice Ones:
  • Serena is usually very sweet and friendly, but angering her is a VERY bad idea. See Violently Protective Girlfriend below.
  • And Silver finds out the hard way that even Ash isn't someone he should push too far.
• Big Brother Mentor:
  • Ash becomes this for Jimmy in Johto, while also doubling as a rival.
  • Both Ash and especially Serena become this to May in Hoenn.
• Birthday Episode: Each story devotes a chapter to celebrate Ash and Serena's birthdays:
  • The Kanto Arc has "Snow Way Out" (Chapter 32) for Ash and "On Top of The World" (Chapter 40) for Serena, in which they turn eleven.
  • The Orange Islands Arc has the Power of One three-parter (Chapters 17, 18 and 19) taking place during Ash's 12th birthday. No Serena Birthday here, though.
  • The Johto Arc has Serena's twelfth birthday during "Sprouting Anger" (Chapter 9), while Ash has his thirteenth birthday during the appropriately titled "An Out-Rage-ous Birthday" (Chapter 53). Serena's thirteenth birthday happens in "The Master Class Performance" (Chapter 70).
• Black Sheep: May keeps her lack of interest in Pokémon a secret due to fear of becoming this, given that the rest of her family are huge Pokémon enthusiasts (given that they're the ones running Petalburg Gym).
• Blessed with Suck: While they prove to be useful on occasion, Serena possibly would be happier without Psychic Powers.
• Break the Haughty:
  • While Gary goes MUCH further than he did in his first tournament, he still gets hit with a dose of humble pie by losing to Paul.
  • Ash got one too against Paul as well.
• Broken Ace: Silver, oh so much. He's a rather powerful trainer, but when Serena asked him what would he do once he destroys Team Rocket, he hinted he might commit suicide after that, claiming he's "tired of living".
• The Bus Came Back:
  • After leaving towards the end of Kanto and being completely absent during the Orange Islands, Giovanni returns with a vengeance in Johto.
  • Ash's Butterfree returns for one episode in Johto.
• As in the series, Brock quickly returns to the group in Hoenn after seemingly leaving at the end of Johto.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: When Brock confronts Rico the Pokémon hunter about the injured Stantler whose mother was killed and asks if he killed her, Rico responds that he has killed so many Stantlers in the past year that he has lost count.
• Canon Foreigner: Ash and his friends catch many Pokémon they didn't have in canon. Even other trainers throughout the series’ long history have Pokémon they didn’t in any other Pokémon media.
  • Ash's Hitmonchan, Dragonite, Aerodactyl, Bagon and Aron.
  • Pretty much all of Serena's mons minus Fennekin (including Eevee).
  • Brock's Kabuto and Misty's Shellder and Remoraid.
  • Paul's Donphan, Dragonair, Fearow, and Rhydon.
  • Giovanni's Hypno.
  • Whitney's Dunsparce.
  • Silver’s Tangrowth, Skarmory, Honchkrow, Shuckle and Tyranitar.
  • Jimmy's Ampharos, Yanmega, Ursaring, Quagsire, and Sudowoodo.
  • Sawyer's Slugma/Magcargo and Skarmory.
  • May's Electrike.
  • Flannery's Fletchinder.
• Canon Immigrant: Leaf, Janine, The Dex holders from Pokémon special, Lyra, The Four Rocket executives, and Riley.
  • Kanto: Blaine’s Rapidash, Sabrina’s Mr. Mime, and Giovanni’s Dugtrio, Nidoking, Nidoqueen, and Rhydon all from the original games
  • Johto: Whitney's Furret from the TCG, Morty's Misdreavaus from Pokémon Special, Chuck's Hitmontop from either the Pokémon Special manga or Black 2/White 2, Pryce's Jynx from Pokémon Stadium 2 or Black 2/White 2 and Clair's Salamance which was apparently a gift from Drake of the Hoenn Elite Four.
  • Hoenn: Roxanne's Cradily and Lairon from Black 2/White 2, Norman’s Kecleon, Loudred, and Zangoose from Black 2/White 2
• Cassandra Truth: Togetic tries to warn Serena and the others that the Sableye from the Trick House is evil, and whatever the reasons are for wanting to travel with Serena, they're no good. Sadly, nobody seems to take it seriously.
• Chekhov's Gun: At the end of the Silph co. mini arc, Team Rocket managed to acquire the blueprints of the Master Ball. Much later, towards the end of Johto, Giovanni shows up, and not only reveals that Team Rocket was able to produce at least one Master Ball, but he then used it to capture the Celebi that just came out of the GS Ball.
• The Chosen One: Includes the Pokémon 2000 movie as a story, and it won’t be the last time either.
• Confusion Fu: Many trainers teach their Pokémon rather unorthodox moves.
  • Paul's Electabuzz knows Psychic. So does Blaine's Magmar.
  • Whitney's Furret knows Shadow Ball, Fire Punch and Ice Punch.
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: Archie and Maxie, the Big Bad Ensemble of the Hoenn Arc, are this to Giovanni, the Big Bad of the Kanto arc and Greater-Scope Villain of the Johto arc. While Giovanni is a ruthless mob boss whose only goals are wealth and power, will resort to lethal measures to deal with his enemies and has no delusions about being a villain, Archie and Maxie fashion themselves as Well Intentioned Extremists who think their actions will make the world a better place for both human and Pokémon, and have lines they won't cross.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Ash finds himself at the receiving end of quite few in Saffron City.
  • Despite using his entire team at once, his Pokémon never had a chance against Giovanni's Rhydon.
  • Pikachu versus Kadabra, when the latter evolves.
• The Corruption: Dark Aura, which is fueled by feelings of extreme anger and sadness, can turn Aura users into vicious, violence prone monsters.
• Darker and Edgier: The fic itself isn’t this, but it does has a few moments that the anime wouldn’t dare think of including.
  • Ash’s battle with Giovanni has life or death stakes for him and his entire family.
  • Charmander is tortured when Ash, Serena and Gary were captured at Silph Co.
  • Silver has used his Pokémon to kill several Rocket Grunts.
  • The way Pokémon Hunter Rico perishes is fairly mediocre but it’s not something you’d see in the series.
  • When the anime shows wounded Pokemon, they're usually bruises or scars that can be easily healed. The Hoenn arc features an Electrike that lost one its hind legs. No, said leg isn't reattached.
• Dark and Troubled Past:
  • Delia Ketchum of all people. Not only she used to be Giovanni's lover, and even had a son with him, but also had a hand in creating Team Rocket.
  • Grace mentions that the reason she and Serena moved to Kanto from Kalos was to run away from Serena's father. And considering the author confirmed that Serena inherited her Psychic Powers from him...
• Death by Adaptation:
  • Cassidy dies during the Team Rocket's Goldenrod Radio takeover. Similarly, Giovanni dies at the climax of the arc, and his death was confirmed as final by the author.
  • AZ and his Floette died many centuries in the past.
• Demoted to Extra:
  • The Team Rocket Trio doesn't appear anywhere near as much as they did in the anime.
  • During the Hoenn saga, Max doesn't join the team as a traveling companion.
• Dreaming of Things to Come:
  • At the beginning of the Orange Islands arc, Ash and Serena both have dreams set in the future about a shadowy figure that kills their friends, while saying that the world is dying.
  • The night before her first performance, Serena has a dream about the Performance Hall collapsing. Subverted in that no such thing happens, and the performance goes without a hitch. Double Subverted later on, when said dream does come to pass during Serena's second performance, thanks to her Psychic Powers going out of control.
• Doomed by Canon: When Archie and Maxie appear in Johto, they are very good friends, with the former even boasting about the strength of their bond. Predictably, by the time Ash meets them again, they're no longer friends.
• Door Stopper: Any of the individual stories count. The Orange Islands arc is the shortest story by far, yet it sits at 300,000 words!
• Double Date: In chapter 2 of the Chronicles spin-off, Wartortle falls in love with a female Wartortle, who is willing to go out with him if he can find a date for her female Ivysaur friend. Wartortle tries to convince Ash's Ivysaur to go with him, and at first he agrees after much pestering, but gets called by Ash before they can go. Heracross agrees to go, but is much more interested in the female Ivysaur's sap than actually going on a romantic date, so it winds up ending horribly.
• Dual Boss: Inverted with Clair. Ash and Jimmy fight her together in a double battle.
• Dying Curse: When Sir Aaron killed AZ before he could enact his plan to annihilate humanity, he claimed that a descendant of his will carry out his will and finish the job. Said descendant? Serena.
• Eating the Eye Candy: Ash finds himself doing this to May once he sees her in a bikini; he's quite embarrassed and has to remind himself about his relationship with Serena.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Archie chewed out their men for taking Serena hostage in order to cover their retreat after their robbery of Captain Stern's Pokemon Tracking Device, claiming that even if Team Aqua might resort to illegal actions to further their goals, they don't kidnap teen girls.
• Exact Words: Before Ash's second fight with Giovanni, they made a bet: if Ash wins, Giovanni disbands Team Rocket, and if he loses, all his friends would be killed. After Ash wins, Giovanni holds to his promise to disband Team Rocket... but still orders the deaths of Ash and his friends, since Giovanni never promised that they would be spared if he lost.
• False Friend: Although they're good at puffing up his ego, Gary's cheerleaders desert him when he is captured by Giovanni. They don't even alert the police.
• Fantasy Gun Control: Averted. Criminals use firearms as much as they use Pokémon.
• Foil: Jimmy is this to Gary, pre-Character Development. While both of them are the sons of the respective regional champion, Gary was smug and cocky, traveled with an entourage of cheerleaders, and loved to be the center of attention. Jimmy, on the other hand, is (at first) not that confident in his abilities as a trainer, tries to avoid attention as much as possible, and travels with his Love Interest Marina. Also, even if they are on friendlier terms, Jimmy sees Ash the same way Ash used to see Gary.
• The Fellowship Has Ended: At the end of Johto, Ash, Serena, Misty and Brock, who with the exception of the Orange Islands arc have been together since the beginning of the first fanfic, go their separate ways, with Misty going to the Orange Islands with Rudy in order to begin her training as a Sea Guardian, Brock returns to Pewter City in order to resume his Gym Leader duties as well as his studies to become a Pokémon doctor, and Ash and Serena return to Pallet Town in order to plan their next journey.
• Fix Fic: While not the main intent, the author does fix some things he didn't like from the anime:
  • Ash actually catches Haunter this time around, and doesn't release Pidgeot, Primeape or Lapras. He does still release Butterfree and Charizard, though. Also, Ash only catches one Tauros as opposed to thirty.
  • Ash wins all his badges legitimately this time around. And while the Haunter/Sabrina clash happens the same way as in canon, it happens AFTER Ash has beaten her Kadabra and has been declared winner.
  • Misty's reason to leave the group: in the anime, she had to return to the Cerulean Gym because her sisters decided to go on vacation and left the gym unattended; here, Misty leaves for the Orange Islands not just to be with Rudy, but after winning the Whirl Cup, she's asked to become a Sea Guardian (a subset of Rangers that protect oceanic Pokemon).
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Ash's Aron's attempts at taking control of the Pokemon at Professor Oak's lab often annoy the other Pokemon, often to the point of physical retaliation (especially by Blastoise and Primape). When Ash asks to borrow Aron for a gym battle, he hears his Pokemon cheering through the screen.
• Guest-Star Party Member:
  • Leaf sometimes joins the main group at some chapters in Kanto. She became a regular member during the Orange Islands arc (the author planned to have her leave the group at some point and travel on her own again, but was unable to find a good reason for her to do so). In Johto, she stopped travelling with Ash and co. for the sake of traveling alongside Gary.
  • When Ash and co. arrive at New Bark Town, they're joined by newbie trainers Jimmy and Marina, and they travel together until they reach Violet City.
• Hate Sink: If you think Damian was bad in canon, just wait to see him here. He makes Paul look like a saint.
• Helicopter Parents:
  • While any kid can become a Pokémon trainer at ten, Norman has been delaying May's own journey for two years. He was going to let her finally go if she travelled with Brendan, but when the boy expressed his intention of going alone, he decided not to allow her. He eventually decides to call Ash and ask him to travel alongside May.
  • Norman is shown to be happy when he learns that Ash has a girlfriend, not only because that means Ash won't make any move on May, but because May won't be alone with a boy.
• Hormone-Addled Teenager: At first Played for Laughs with Brock just like in canon. However, this trope gets deconstructed in Hoenn: Ash is 13, close to 14, and he's starting to notice just how attractive May is, to the point that he has to make a conscious effort not to ogle her when she's in a swimsuit, and needs to constantly remind himself that he's in love with Serena, which leaves him rather upset. Knowing what it feels like, Ash stops treating Brock being crazy about attractive girls they meet as a joke.
• In Spite of a Nail:
  • A rather implausible example happens during the fight against the Team Rocket Trio in the Viridian forest: despite both Misty and Serena helping Ash to fight them, all of their Pokemon are soundly defeated in a rather unbelievable way so Caterpie is forced to fight them alone just like it did in canon, and then evolve.
  • Despite Ash keeping several Pokémon he released in canon as well as catching several new ones, Butterfree is still released. The author has explained that they thought Butterfree's release was too critical a moment in Ash's development to exclude/change it.
• It's Personal: When May asks Ash why he has the need to stop Teams Aqua and Magma himself instead of letting the authorities take care of them, Ash tells her about his past with Team Rocket, and how it affected not only him but his family as well, and thus, he can't stand the thought of more criminal organizations running unopposed.
• Jerkass: Plenty of them. Damian is even worse in this fic than he was in canon, the various Team Rocket executives and grunts are cruel, and as of recently, Harley makes his appearance and he's just as petty, annoying, manipulative, and mean as ever.
• Journey to Find Oneself: After Gary’s loss to Paul, he immediately leaves on his own, wanting to change from his old arrogant self for good.
• Knight of Cerebus:
  • The fic has the same upbeat, cheerful tone of the anime...until Giovanni shows up. When he does, things get unbelievably dark.
  • Chapters featuring Silver tend to be much darker than usual. And unlike the example above, Silver is technically a good guy.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia:
  • This is how Giovanni keeps his location secret: his Hypno mind wipes anybody that wanders into his hideout.
  • Weirdly enough, Serena did this to herself. The death of her father affected her so much, her Psychic Powers suppressed her memories regarding him.
• Leave the Two Lovebirds Alone: Invoked. When the group was going to get on a Ferris wheel, Pikachu and Cubone, who never leave Ash and Serena's side, respectively, suddenly decided that they wanted to be with Brock and Misty instead.
• Legendary in the Sequel: Downplayed. More "minor celebrity" rather than outright legend, but by the Hoenn Arc, Ash's achievements made him popular enough to appear on the cover of magazines. Also, Serena is sometimes recognized as the Johto Queen by people as well.
• Long Bus Trip: Unlike the series, Ash's Charizard doesn't return for the Silver Conference.
• Long-Distance Relationship: Misty and Rudy have one. Though it stopped being one once Misty left the group after Johto.
• Loves Me Not: Leaf does this regarding Gary in chapter 77 of the Johto arc.
• Love Triangle:
  • Played for Laughs. Like in canon, Ash's Chikorita has a crush on him. Unlike canon, Ash has a girlfriend.
  • It was later revealed that, when they were young, Yellow had a crush on Red, while Riley had a crush on Yellow.
• Heroic BSoD:
  • Gary's loss against Paul in the Indigo League leaves him very depressed. Thankfully, by the beginning of the Johto arc, he has recovered.
  • Ash's loss against Silver was even worse, since it was the most emotionally intense match Ash ever fought.
• In Love with Love: Totodile makes Chikorita realize that it really doesn't love Ash in a romantic way, and only acts that way because Ash was the first human who showed it some kindness.
• Internal Reveal: In Chapter 71, Serena learns about her being descendant of King AZ, and her role as an Apocalypse Maiden.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: The reason behind why Riley helped Yellow with getting Red to notice her, despite Riley having a crush on her.
• Mirror Match:
  • In Kanto, Ash has faced quite a few of these, such as his fight against Giovanni, and his fight against Ritchie.
  • Ash fights Drake's Dragonite with his own Dragonite.
  • Starting from Johto, Ash will sometimes try to defeat a Gym Leader's strongest Pokemon with the same species, if he has it, such as Falkner's Pidgeot, Morty's Gengar or Chuck's Primeape.
• Mutually Unequal Relation: Between Serena and Lisia in the Hoenn arc. Lisia thinks that she and Serena are "besties" (or at least, acts like such), while Serena considers Lisia an annoying weirdo at best.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • Melody's reaction upon realizing that what she thought was harmless flirting with Ash, actually caused a huge wedge between Ash and Serena.
  • Two chained moments in chapter 14 of Hoenn:
    • Tired of seeing Wurmple pampered by May at the expense of Torchic and Azurill, Torchic dares Wurmple to evolve into Cascoon instead of Silcoon (like May was expecting) to prove that she only cares about it because she wants to have a Beautifly. Torchic's point is (initially) proved right when May throws a huge tantrum, but it quickly regrets it when it sees how utterly devastated Cascoon ended up.
    • During her tantrum (induced by the Cascoon evolution), May unconsciously reveals that she doesn't care about Pokémon at all. This causes Cascoon to abandon her, and Torchic and Azurill to try to find it on their own. Upon seeing their Pokémon gone, May is horrified, and regrets her words before going to look for them, hoping she can set things straight.
• My Species Doth Protest Too Much: A Zangoose that Sableye encounters has no interest in fighting Serena's Seviper, being peaceful in nature^note Seviper and Zangoose are mortal enemies, and will fight each other at first sight. Sableye, wanting to induce despair in the heroes, uses Torment on it and makes it attack Seviper (and by extension anyone that gets in its way). Once Serena and Seviper defeat and capture Zangoose, it returns back to its friendly disposition when out of its Pokéball.
• Mysterious Past: Serena, both in and out of universe, including to herself, since she's unable to recall anything from her life before moving to Pallet Town. She knows she used to live in Vaniville Town, but she doesn't remember what said town or even her former house look like. It was later revealed that the trauma of her father dying caused her Psychic Powers to seal away every memory regarding him. Said trauma also prompted Grace to move away from Kalos.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Leaf is based on the female protagonist in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen, while her mother, Rose, is based on Green (the girl) from Pokémon Adventures.
  • Serena nicknames her Charmander "Charla".
  • Paul using a Donphan during his battle with Ash at the Indigo League recalls Donphan's Early-Bird Cameo in Pokémon: The First Movie.
  • Serena’s musing about wondering if the gang will ever know what’s inside it pokes at the anime for never doing anything worthwhile with the GS ball.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: On chapter 31 of the Hoenn arc Serena's evil Sableye used Torment to send a wild, peace loving Zangoose into a frenzied rampage, hoping for a fight between it and Serena's Seviper, which inevitably happened. However, the end result was Serena and her Seviper managing to mend their relationship a little and grow closer to each other.
• Nightmare Sequence: Ash has quite a few, especially after Giovanni threatens Delia's life.
• Not Allowed to Grow Up: Averted to hell and back. Ash and Serena (and presumably, Brock and Misty as well) do get older, and some of the chapters focus on celebrating their respective birthdays (see Birthday Episode above).
• Not Quite Flight: Brawly's Hariyama can use Whirlwind on itself in order to make itself float and to fly for short periods of time.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Ash is uncharacteristically furious with May after her tantrum when her Wurmple evolved into Cascoon instead of Silcoon. Serena notices that Ash being so angry is a rare sight to see.
• Open Mouth, Insert Foot: Ash's attempt at a Pokévision video in the Orange Islands arc. He doesn't do too well when being recorded. He freezes up and stutters and when talking about Togepi:
  Ash: This Togepi is my baby. Well...it isn't really my baby. It actually came from a Pokémon egg. It's like my baby, though. Heheheh. Yeah. I guess that means I'm not its real father, but I'm like a father to it. I mean...it would be kind of silly if two humans gave birth to a baby Pokemon, right? Heheheheh? Besides, I'm not married. I have a girlfriend named Serena, but we...we haven't done anything to have babies yet! I mean, to have a baby, we have to have...
• Out of Focus:
  • A sadly unavoidable side effect of Ash and Serena catching so many Pokémon, Serena's especially, since she battles much less than Ash, and thus they have even fewer chances to shine. By midway Johto, most readers had probably forgotten about her Hitmonlee, Cubone and Eevee.
  • Invoked at the beginning of Hoenn. Ash says that he's going to use only mons captured in Hoenn (the League being the exception) since he wants to give them a chance. Though he makes an exception with Phanphy and Bagon, who were captured towards the end of Johto, and thus didn't have their chance to shine.
• Pals with Jesus: Across all stories, Ash manages to befriend a rather large number of Legendaries, some of them such as Mewtwo and Mew who pretty much told him to call them if he ever needs them.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Ash, Serena and Gary steal some Team Rocket uniforms to infiltrate the Rocket-occupied Silph Co. Subverted in that the disguises didn't fool anybody. The three of them still are and look like kids while every other Rocket is an adult. Plus many of them recognize Ash's face, since he had become quite infamous among them due how many times he had foiled their plans.
• Patchwork Fic: While it's mostly based on the anime, the fic includes a lot of elements from the games and the Pokémon Adventures manga.
• Parental Neglect: Ash feels this way towards his father Red, whom he only sees once per year, at best. This is resolved by the end of the Kanto arc.
• Parental Substitute:
  • Serena becomes something of a surrogate mother to a baby Cubone whose mother was killed by Team Rocket.
  • Togepi imprints on Ash and Serena as its parents instead of Misty.
• Playing House: Serena liked to play house with Ash, Gary and Leaf when they were little, with her as the mother, Ash as the father, and Gary and Leaf as their children. She claimed it was "practice" for when she and Ash were married.
• Power Incontinence: When they're triggered, Serena has a lot trouble keeping her Psychic Powers under control. In fact, at some point she unwittingly brings down the performance hall of Olivine City during a showcase.
• Precocious Crush: Lyra, who's just eight years old, asked Ash to marry her right after meeting him. She later does the same thing after meeting Gary.
• Put on a Bus:
  • Ash's Butterfree is released, just like in the original show.
  • Likewise, Ash's Charizard is still left at the Charicific Valley at the beginning of Johto.
  • Averted with Pidgeot, Primeape and Lapras this time around, however.
  • Serena's Cubone is also released upon evolving, in order to take care of a group of its own kind.
  • The Team Rocket Trio and Silver are sent to jail after the events of the Goldenrod Radio tower (albeit the latter for different reasons than the former).
  • Misty leaves the group for good at the end of Johto.
  • At the beginning of the Hoenn arc, Gary and Leaf, who have been recurring characters in all previous three stories (with Leaf being a main character during the Orange Islands) go to Pokémon Island in order to take part in the Pokemon Snap Challenge, meaning that they won't appear in Hoenn.
• Related in the Adaptation:
  • Ash, Red and Riley are all related to each other, the former being Ash's father, and the latter being his uncle.
  • Also, Silver is Ash's half brother.
  • Lysandre of all people is Serena's father. She's also revealed to be a descendant of AZ.
  • Sapphire is Caroline's sister, is married to Ruby, and their son is Brendan, which makes him May's cousin. Brendan is also Professor Birch's Grandson rather than son.
  • This also makes May Birch's great-niece, while in the anime, they weren't related.
• Relationship Upgrade:
  • In chapter 40 of Kanto, Serena confesses her feeling to Ash...and he rejects her confession. Though not because he doesn't like Serena back, but because he wants to make sure he loves Serena as much as she loves him, since he doesn't want to jump into a relationship, only to find too late that they weren't mean to be. They do become a couple after Ash defeats Giovanni in Viridian city.
  • Also, Jimmy and Marina in chapter 66 of Johto.
  • And Gary and Leaf in chapter 77 of Johto.
• Replacement Goldfish: The reason behind Riley rejecting Yellow's advances, even if he likes her back; Yellow used to like Red, but he ended up marrying Delia, so Riley feels that Yellow is setting on Riley as a replacement for Red. Not even Yellow herself is able to tell if it's the case or if she's genuinely in love with Riley.
• Ret-Gone: Giovanni's goal in the Johto arc; he wants to use Celebi to go back in time and erase Ash from existence.
• The Rival: Naturally, Ash and Serena get several over the course of the series:
  • In Kanto, Ash has Gary and Paul, while Serena has Miette, Calem, and to a lesser extent, Leaf, though the latter two are more friendly than the former.
  • Averted in the Orange Islands, where they don't have any.
  • In Johto, Ash continues his rivalry with Gary and starts a new one with Jimmy. Serena also continues her rivalry with Miette, and starts a friendly rivalry Marina.
  • In Hoenn, Ash's rivals are Brendan, Sawyer, Vito Winstrate and possibly Wally (though the author stated that Brendan and Sawyer are more rivals to each other than they're to Ash). Serena seems to have a one sided rivalry with Lisia, while May has her canonical rivalries with Drew and Harley.
• Running Gag: Every time May meets a Mudkip, it fires a Water Gun at her face. Even a freshly hatched baby Mudkip uses Water Gun on her!
• Running Gagged: From Blackthorn City onwards, Ash would always get headbutted by a certain Bagon at least once per chapter. The gag came to an end when Ash finally caught that Bagon in chapter 75.
• Saying Too Much:
  • When Ash was trying to convince his and his friend's parents that they should let them go to New Island despite the incoming storm:
    Ash: A storm doesn't scare me, Mom. Serena and I have been lost in a snowstorm before, and we turned out fine in the end.
    Grace: You two were once lost in a snowstorm!?
  • A more dramatic example is Grace and Serena's phone conversation in Olivine City about Serena's headaches and her Psychic Powers going out of control where Grace accidentally slips that she knows more than she let Serena on:
    Grace: I don't want to see you go through that... not after what happened the first time.
    Serena: What do you mean by the first time!?
• She's Not My Girlfriend: Deconstructed with Jimmy and Marina. Jimmy is so stubborn with his feelings and denial that it starts to hurt Marina’s feelings and their relationship. This is resolved before they leave the main group.
• Shipper on Deck:
  • Pretty much everybody for Ash and Serena.
  • Lyra for Marina and Jimmy.
    Lyra: Are Jimmy and Marina fighting?
    Crystal: Not now, sweetie.
    Lyra: But they're supposed to be in love!
    (later)
    Jimmy: Of course I care about Marina! She's my best friend!
    Lyra: And future wife!
• Straw Loser: While the author claimed it was completely unintentional, some readers might get the feeling that during the first few chapters Misty only exists to make Serena look better.
• Strong Family Resemblance: May looks almost identical to her aunt Sapphire, only younger and without a Cute Little Fang. The narration notes how weird it is that she looks more like her aunt than either of her parents.
• Take That!: A few towards the anime.
  • When Sabrina's father shows Ash a picture of Sabrina as a child, Ash deduces that if he has a picture of her, he has to be a relative. Sabrina's father is glad that Ash made the connection and didn't think something stupid like being her photographer.
  • When Ash expresses interest in having a Tauros, Serena brings up owning a whole herd, and both she and Ash laugh at the idea, and deem it dumb.
  • The outline of chapter 57 of Hoenn shows a pretty big one towards the infamous Thunder Armor that Ash used to win against Tate and Liza.
• That Came Out Wrong:
  • Serena promises Ash a special gift if he wins the Orange League. After he does, Ash asks about the gift, which Serena says that she will give it to him when they're alone in his bedroom in Pallet Town. She realized her poor choice of words too late, when Misty, Leaf and Tracey burst out laughing. Not helped by the fact that when Ash wondered what her gift could be the night before his match with Drake, Tracey joked it would be her virginity.
  • This gem from Eusine, when he and the gang are waiting for the Kimono Girls to change from their kimonos after their show, since they have important information about Ho-Oh and the Beast Trio for Ash:
    Eusine: I'm bursting with excitement. They can't change out of their dresses soon enough!
    (Everybody stares at him)
    Eusine: Um...yes...well...my apologies.
• 13 Is Unlucky: Inverted. Serena wins the Johto Master Class performance, becoming the very first Johto Queen the day of her thirteenth birthday.
• Token Evil Teammate: Serena's Sableye, who while seeming to the main party (sans Togetic, who sensed its true nature) as a harmless prankster, is actually a Pokémon that hates other living things, and was drawn to Serena's ESP so it can corrupt her and end the world.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Misty and Serena have this dynamic. Continued in Hoenn between Serena and May.
• Truer to the Text: This fanfic features plenty of elements and events from the games that were Adapted Out in the anime, such as Silph Co. And while Jessie, James and Meowth do appear, the Team Rocket is also much closer to the game's incarnation as well as more involved in the story.
• Tsundere: There's a Bagon in the Dragon's Den that constantly headbutts Ash. Clair said that it was its way to show Ash it was interested in him, since it usually avoids humans.
• The Dog Bites Back: After being forced to put up with Silver's verbal and physical abuse whenever they have an encounter, Ash is finally able to fight back his half-brother in Chapter 60 of the Johto Arc, drawing upon his Aura, thanks to his desire to protect his friends and family from Silver, and beat the ruthless trainer into submission.
• The Unfought: Averted. Unlike the main anime, Ash has a battle with Giovanni, twice no less, first in Saffron City, and then near the end of the Kanto saga.
• The Villain Knows Where You Live: Much to Ash's horror, Giovanni knows who Ash is, where he lives, and who are his family and loved ones.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Archie and Maxie. They're the respective leaders of Teams Aqua and Magma, but to the world they're a couple of respected scientists and researchers. Hell, they're even good friends with Ash and co. No longer the case after Chapter 20, where their true alignments are finally revealed.
• Violently Protective Girlfriend: Serena, dear god, Serena. Hurt Ash in any way, and she'll go from a sweet and caring girl to a nightmare in human form, as Mandy found out the hard way.
• We Used to Be Friends: Archie and Maxie. Both between themselves, as well as with Ash and co.
• What the Hell, Hero?: May gets a dressing down from Brock, Serena and an especially angry Ash after she throws a tantrum when her Wurmple evolved into Cascoon instead of Silcoon like she was expecting, unconsciously shouting that she didn't care about Pokémon at all.
• Why Couldn't You Be Different?: When May's Wurmple evolves into a Cascoon instead of a Silcoon, she is incensed when she realizes she won't get a Beautifly and at one point takes her anger out on Cascoon, even asking "How could you do this to me?!" But May realizes the error of her ways, she apologizes to Cascoon and they make up.
• Writer on Board: Downplayed. The author admitted that Ash beating Whitney without losing a single mon reflected his belief that her reputation as That One Boss is a gross exaggeration.

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