A Backwards Grin is a Pokémon: The Series Self-Insert Fan Fiction by Flairina.
Being dropped into another world doesn't always have rhyme or reason. Still, would it have been too much for just a little information to go off of? Alas, this particular human falls asleep in bed and awakens in an unfamiliar forest in the body of a Mawile, with nothing and nobody to explain how or why. Or where or when, for that matter. This leaves her with only three priorities: surviving, finding a way back home, and perhaps most difficult, avoiding being captured by a Trainer.
It can be found on SpaceBattles
, Sufficient Velocity, and Archive of Our Own.
Mawile is also the co-star of Backslash, a Crossover fan fiction with Hyphen where she partners with Astra the Kirlia. It can be read on the SB and SV threads linked above, as well as here on AO3.
A Backwards Grin provides examples of:
- Big Eater: Seemingly as a natural trait for her species, Mawile needs a meal about as substantial as her own size to be satisfied.
- Cliffhanger:
- Chapter 3 ends with Mawile being captured against her will, by Paul.
- Chapter 5 ends with Mawile musing on finding her way to civilization, and realizing that PokéDexes like Paul's have maps built in.
- Chapter 6 ends with Mawile being recalled, seemingly foiling her planned escape...except she's still awake.
- Chapter 8 ends with Mawile realizing that in attempting to steal her own Poké Ball from Paul, she accidentally stole Chimchar's, and the monkey with it.
- Chapter 9 ends with something attacking Mawile from behind.
- Cosmic Plaything: If the fact that she's in this situation in the first place isn't enough, Mawile reflects on this in Chapter 4 after she coincidentally crosses paths with Ash and Paul simultaneously. Of course, she still has no idea why.
- Don't Wake the Sleeper: Mawile in Chapter 7, as she's attempting to steal a few things from Paul and escape.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: Paul's attitude, and while Mawile attempts to bear it for the sake of growing stronger, she runs out of patience in less than a day.
- Enchanted Forest: Bewilder Forest, the location where Mawile wakes up, is home to a resident Stantler population who use their illusions to keep people or Pokémon from finding the way out.
- Mama Bear: Literally. It's mentioned offhand that Mawile killed and ate a Teddiursa while hunting. In Chapter 3, Mama Ursaring comes after her in a murderous rage.
- Predation Is Natural: And trapped in a bewildering forest with no way out and frequently finding barren berry bushes, Mawile has no choice but to accept it, hunting other Pokémon for food. And something on an instinctual level gets rid of most of the guilt.
- Pun: In reference to Mawile's massive jaws, every chapter title is some kind of mouth-related joke or phrase, while the interludes are attack names.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Mawile's mindset and goal from the moment she's captured by Paul; she hates the idea of having a trainer in the first place, but Paul is out of the question.
- Supernatural Fear Inducer: Mawile's Ability is Intimidate, which scares away most Pokémon she tries talking to until she realizes how to turn it off.
- Talking Animal: At the end of Chapter 16, Mawile reasons that she can invoke this trope due to being in the anime 'verse, which means that there's a precedent in Meowth from Team Rocket. Chapter 17, however, shows that the process is excruciatingly slow and difficult.
- Talking with Signs: Mawile is no longer able to speak like a human, but she's still able to write. She uses this to properly communicate with the Nurse Joy of Jubilife City.
- Training from Hell: Mawile is put through this after Paul catches her, and it initially seems to be just torture by way of his Elekid repeatedly shocking her for not using Fairy Wind fast enough. However, Paul later uses this experience to make her learn Thunder Fang, briefly making her reconsider whether to leave him. Emphasis on "briefly."
- Tranquil Fury: The Jubilife Nurse Joy's reaction to hearing everything Chimchar has to say about Paul's "training methods."
