Pokemon Reset Bloodlines / Tropes 0 To E

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• 10-Minute Retirement: Looker Interlude begins with Looker telling Nanu that he's going to retire, but Nanu quickly talks him out of it.
• Abandoned Laboratory: The Pokémon Mansion used to be a place where Blaine and a friend of his did experiments. But after it was nearly destroyed in an experiment gone wrong, Blaine decided to let it become a habitat for wild Pokémon rather than repairing it.
• Abandon Ship: Much to his chagrin, Captain Crook is forced to call for this when his ship gets wrecked in the Hiker Interlude.
• Abortion Fallout Drama: In the Wicke & Nephew oneshot. Wicke is specifically noted to be a carrier of a Genetic Disorder, and due to the politics of her nation screening for a male embryo possibly affected is illegal. Because she doesn't want to gamble with a potential child's life, she accepts that she'd only have kids by adoption or stepchildren.
• Above the Influence: Belladonna refused to take advantage of a drunk and distraught Aurora.
• Absent-Minded Professor: Dr. Boxer has a tendency to accidentally hurt people with his work.
• Abusive Parents:
  • Koga apparently had an abusive father.
  • Parents who abandon/turn on their children when they turn out to be bloodliners are not unheard of.
  • Mars was raised by her aunt and uncle, who constantly berated and beat her up.
  • The full extent isn't known, but the fact that Pia is willing to drag her own son to use him as legal leverage in her divorce definitely doesn't speak well of her. Zilant himself doesn't seem to care much for her.
  • The tyrannical Nidoking from Kangaskhan Kid Gaiden exploits his children, refuses to share his food with them, and is implied to physically abuse them.
  • One of the Black Arachnid's targets was Kagemori Yosei, who aside from being a tyrannical patriarch had a long story of abuse to his daughter.
  • The Gray Poochyena's stepfather apparently forced her to use her abilities for poaching jobs.
• Accidental Misnaming: Ash never calls Butch and Cassidy by name, but he continually thinks of Butch by a different name throughout their first battle, ranging from 'Not James' to 'Bart' or 'Dutch'.
• Accidental Murder:
  • In the Mars Gaiden, Mars' uncle accidentally kills Kibou when he hits her with a club harder than he intended to.
  • The Gligarman Interlude's first chapter hints that Kyle Narec's death was this, as the mob that attacked him went overboard and sent him to the hospital, where he died afterwards.
• Accidental Truth: The Rookie Crusher accusses Ash of being an experienced trainer disguised as a rookie, and everyone in the stadium thinks he's just being a Sore Loser. Pikachu even lampshades that he's not actually too far off, though he has no way to know that.
• Accidental Pun: Commenting on Ash's Snivy, Scott calls her "a little green." He meant inexperienced, but that didn't stop Yellow and Pikachu from having a Lame Pun Reaction.
• Achievements in Ignorance: Ash and Pikachu accidentally reverse-engineer Zap Cannon while trying to use Electro Ball. Dexter is astounded to see it happen.
• Achilles' Heel: Paul manages to figure out Ash and Red's respective weaknesses during the Fuchsia Tag Tournament: Ash's Pokémon lack in raw power and durability, while Red is thrown off by unexpected factors, and plans accordingly for when he faces them.
• Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene: There are plenty of non-action moments that add so much to the story:
  • The stand out moments was the conversation between Ash and Belladonna in the Gringy City power plant that was such a game changer for the story.
  • The argument Ash and Red had on their conflicting ideals was also an emotionally charged scene.
  • During the Mewtwo Strikes Back arc, there's also the conversation between Mewtwo and Anabel inside the former's mental domain, while the latter tries to sway him to stop the fighting.
• Actor Shipping: In-Universe example with Yancy and Curtis, who often play couples in their shows. Despite this, the two make it clear they're only close friends and co-workers.
• Adaptational Badass:
  • Any canon character who becomes a bloodliner is this by default.
  • Mabel, a Character of the Day who taught Korrina lessons on Mega Evolution. In Reset she's a badass granny who won the Lumiose Conference by defeating Casey Snagem in the finals, just because one of her grandchildren asked her to.
  • Shadow Pokémon get a serious one with their debut in the Clay Oneshot: their shadow moves cannot be seen. While you can still see tackling moves, their ranged attacks are invisible super-effective blasts that can wipe out entire police teams.
  • Multiple characters have gained access to stronger Pokémon and/or Mega Evolutions they didn't have in canon.
• Adaptational Dye-Job: In-universe: a movie pitch in the April Fools oneshot makes this with several characters, including Ash portrayed by Christoph (green hair instead of black), Misty by Elesa (blonde instead of redhead) and Yellow played by Nancy (pink hair instead of blond).
• Adaptational Early Appearance: Multiple examples, which is justified considering the fact that this is an entirely different timeline.
  • Mimey started working for the Ketchum family some time before Ash went on his Pokémon journey.
  • Misty caught Horsea and Psyduck before she even met Ash in this timeline.
  • Burgundy is met aboard the St. Anne this time around.
  • Iris appeared in Kanto and started travelling with Ash long before Unova.
  • Ash has captured Aipom, Snivy, Goomy, and Roggenrola before even leaving Kanto, where he only encountered them in his second trip through Kanto, Unova, Kalos, and Unova respectively.
• Adaptational Heroism:
  • Several characters are given more likeable personalities than in canon, like Lt. Surge and Erika (in the case of their anime selves Reset primarily takes from) and Burgundy.
  • An example exists in the case of Ash's Grandfather, here named Ashton Ketchum. In the Shudo notes he was said to have left his family just the same as Ash's father. Here he did not do this and lived to see Delia grow up and died shortly before Ash's birth.
  • The Aether Foundation also is treated better than they are in canon. While their canonical game selves had a edge of falsehood to their mission, the Resetverse Aether foundation show themselves to be fully devoted to conservation work and legit in their mission. They just happen to have a woman high of toxins from another universe leading them, and even then she still does work that is truly pointed in the direction of the group's public image.
  • Reset Blake/Lack-Two is not a Sociopath.
  • The Three Island Hypno is not nearly as sinister as the games hint it is.
  • Dr. Fuji was already a sympathetic figure, but his depiction in Reset shifts him a bit further to the sympathetic side.
  • Canon immigrant Electra Artisan is depicted as nicer and more moral than her original appearance.
• Adaptational Intelligence: Several characters are shown to be smarter and more competent than in canon. See the Character page for specific examples.
• Adaptation Expansion: Many characters, locations, and concepts are given a lot more history and details on their pasts than the anime, games, or manga did.
  • Infernape's super strong Blaze ability is now a recognized condition called Hyper-Blaze (which is hinted to come in other variants like Hyper-Overgrow or Hyper-Torrent).
  • The Bug-catching Contest from Johto? Now many parks do the same.
  • The Battle Frontier? You get to see its formation.
  • Characters of the day like A.J and Jeanette appear earlier and more often, and we get to see bits and pieces of their past. Jeanette had braces before she started on her journey.
  • We get to see the early actions of Cipher before they implement their plans, including recruiting Dakim and seeking out rare and powerful Pokemon to be made into Shadow Pokemon.
  • The Pokedex in Sun and Moon mentions that the Mudbray line was once found worldwide but is now rare. In fic we see people working to reintroduce the species to Kanto's Safari Zone.
    • The same Pokedex mentioned that Skarmory Feathers were used as swords. Reset comments of how they were used.
  • The Kiawe oneshot explains why Ash's Z-Crystal broke in Episode 2 of the SM series.
  • Rotom are able to possess Pokedexes that aren't specifically made for them. It's just a lot less effective.
  • Technical Machines, or TMs, are featured in the story as Technical Manuals, in the form of USB drives that can be plugged to any computer. They contain tutorials about how to teach Pokémon different moves and can be updated regularly.
  • Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire mentioned Maxie and Archie were on the same team once upon a time. We get a name for such a team in Reset: Team Zenith.
  • The Eevee Brothers are given professions as to what they do as trainers: Rainer's a league challenger, Pyro a coordinator, and Sparky a Pokeathalon competitor.
  • The X-rays from the moon mentioned in Grimer's Firered and X entries are also tied to the Yellow Apricorns that create Moon Balls, with the rays giving the latter their affinity for catching Moon Stone evolutions.
  • The Seafolk of Poni Island are mentioned to be connected to the People of the Water as well as the creators of Pacifidlog Town in Hoenn.
  • Bond Phenomenon as a power is shown to exist for Pokémon species other than Greninja. Examples include Casey Snagem's Chesnaught, and Marshall apparently got himself a Sawk that has the ability as well.
  • In the anime, it was never explored why Misty is afraid of bugs. In Reset, it's revealed that it's because of a prank someone pulled on her while at a school trip (namely swapping her bug repellent for perfume that attracted bugs).
• Adaptational Sexuality:
  • Annie and Oakley are suggested to have an attraction to girls in this canon, something they had no hints of in their canon selves as to this dynamic.
  • Sabrina has never been hinted as being asexual in canonical material.
• Adaptational Villainy:
  • While the Spearow flock in canon was very aggressive in pursuing Ash and Pikachu, they at least had some reason, considering one of their own was badly hurt. In this timeline, however, Ash and Pikachu did absolutely nothing to them.
  • Hilda is not generally depicted in league with villains.
  • The "Snorlax hippie" from the anime is depicted here as using his Snorlax to extort money from people.
• Adapted Out: In the "Big P Pokémon Race" interlude, Dario enlists some nameless random thugs to help him with the race, instead of the Team Rocket trio as he did in canon.
• Alas, Poor Villain: Dario might have been a jerkass and a cheater, but Sabrina snapping his neck is a little too much, even for him. The worst part, she's planning on doing the same to Melvin the magician, who is nowhere nearly as bad, regardless of how pathetic of a magician he is.
• An Aesop: The Giselle Interlude has the message that what helps one person may hurt another. In this case, the Golden Generation's "tough love" treatment of Joe only made him resentful of Pokémon Tech.
• Affably Evil: Rhythm from the Black Rose Tournament Interlude is a cute, friendly, and energetic girl who takes losses well and genuinely cares about her Pokémon. She's also a professional thief and notable figure of the criminal underworld.
• Affectionate Parody: Dude Gaiden, to the Reset-verse as a whole. There are also some specific Flash Back scenes that parodies specific one-shots, one from each author of the Resetverse at the time:
  • The first scene where Dude considers asking Casey Snagem's daughters out before they leave him be parodies Johanna Gaiden where Johanna managed to leave the strange man she encountered.
  • The second scene parodies Falkner Gaiden, particularly this line:
  Narration:That capture was sure to leave its mark on history, and whoever underestimated the power of the Dude was in for a rude awakening.
  • The third scene where Dude was stranded on an island after a Gyarados attack is a parody of Laramie Gaiden.
  • The fourth scene, which had Dude meeting a Splash Bloodliner in a cave, is a parody of Lorelei Gaiden.
  • The fifth scene when the Dude interrupts an apparent kidnapping but is actually a teacher trying to get his student to do math problems parodies Clemont Gaiden.
  • The sixth scene involving an underground tournament is a parody of Black Rose Tournament Interlude.
  • The seventh scene where the Dude helps save a girl from a Team Rocket Grunt parodies Blaine Interlude.
• After-Action Patch-Up: Misty bandages Ash's wound in Chapter 2 after the Spearow and Fearow are defeated.
• Age Lift: Many examples, especially due to a rule in the new timeline that the legal age to become Pokémon trainers is fifteen years rather than ten. See the character page for more.
• Air-Vent Passageway: Two instances, both of them justified since they involved relatively small Pokémon:
  • Aipom, inside Hunter J's ship, to unlock a door for Ash and the others while making their escape.
  • Later, Snivy sneaks into the vents of the battle club to get away from the Samurai.
• All Bikers are Hells Angels:
  • Kiawe met Frax and Velvet when they helped him take down a group of outlaw bikers.
  • The Kanto Pokémon Federation shows up in the Red Three Island Interlude, causing trouble in the local town.
  • Subverted with the Bridge Bike Gang. At first, they plan to rob Luna's dad, but upon learning he's trying to make it home for Christmas in time, they decide to help him (and even get invited for dinner as thanks for their help).
• The Alliance: The Trainer and Ranger Nations have both grouped together in formal alliances; the Trainer Aligned Treaty Organization (T.A.T.O.) and the Fall City Pact (aka Ranger Union), respectively.
• All Love Is Unrequited: Misty has a crush on Ash, which is rapidly developing into something more serious. However, as of yet, Ash only thinks of her as a friend. Nevertheless, Word of God states that it won't be "unrequited" forever, and as time goes on Ash does show some hints of feelings as well, though as of pre-Fuschia they are not necessarily at the same extreme as Misty's.
• All Men Are Perverts: Erika seems awfully close to believe this. It's not completely unjustified: many of her male challengers lost because they were more focused on the girls in the gym being affectionate rather than their battles. The last straw was when a Dirty Old Man convinced his grandson to challenge Erika so he could spy on a wedding, leading her to place a ban on male trainers altogether, until she relents to let Ash fight her and he proves to be decent and respectful enough.
• Alliterative Family: The Jackrum family have members with names all with the initials JJ. Similarly, Fuko notwithstanding, the Laramie family have members with names with the initials LL.
• All Webbed Up: String Shot is often used for this purpose, both in Pokémon and humans.
• Alone Among the Couples:
  • Yancy feels this way at the beginning of the interlude, since there are many couples at the Nimbasa amusement during Valentine's Day. Fortunately, that soon changes with Nate's arrival.
  • At the start of his second interlude, Ash's Butterfree is trying to find a quiet spot to eat a berry at Oak's ranch, but no matter where he goes, he runs into a couple of Pokémon being affectionate with each other (even two of Ash's Tauros, to his shock), which reminds him of his lost mate and makes him feel angry.
• Alphabetical Theme Naming: It turns out the infamous seven brothers of Orre all have initials in alphabetical order, A, B, C, D, E, F & G. It also represents their birth order. The F brother is Felgrand, the C brother is Capriccio and chapter 27 reveals that the B brother is named Balaur.
• Alternative Character Interpretation: In-universe example. In chapter 26 Future Clemont, Latoya/Gligirl, Hapu, and Wes encounter Lusamine's collection and find out that all of the Pokemon frozen in it are critical condition and if they are taken out of their Pokemon Popsicle state they'd immediately die. Clemont and Hapu aren't sure if this was done because Lusamine did this out of practicality for it being the only way to sneak her hobby past the Aether staff, or because it was the only way that Lusamine could rationalize it in her madness. Or in other words, was this Pragmatic Villainy or Even Evil Has Standards?
• Alternate Self:
  • Several versions of Ash appear in a series of Omakes in story known as Ketchumverse. They include A Harmonia Gropius (An Ash raised like N), Don Ash (An Ash who took over Team Rocket and reformed it) and Nurse Ash (Ash as Nurse Joy), with others mentioned including Vulgar Ash (An Ash who speaks only in vulgarities), Ashton vi Unova (An Ash version of Lelouch), Ash Flare (A evil Ash who is presumably a member of Team Flare), Brain Ash (A Frontier Brain Ash), and Guardian Ash (presumably an Aura Guardian). An Ash based on Sakaki Yuya shows up in a similar omake.
  • "Evolving Fears" features an alternate Acerola who is still Queen of Alola, unlike her mainstream counterpart.
• Alternate Timeline: "Evolving Fears" takes place in a timeline where Acerola's family continued to rule Alola as royals.
• Alternate Universe Fic: In practice, this fic is essentially this more than a Peggy Sue fic, given that the Pokemon world in the new timeline is VERY different from the world of the anime. In fact, Ash himself had these thoughts on it:
  Ash was glad she didn't try to get to the center of his mind. What was there would be somewhat confusing after all, and more and more... irrelevant.
• Ambiguous Gender: In chapter 39, Ash is unsure of the gender of the Grimer showing off the egg it apparently had with a Koffing.
• Ambiguously Bi: Some historians have suggested that at least some of King Kahele's wives were romantically involved with each other.
• Ambiguously Evil: Several groups and individuals of unknown intent have appeared throughout the Resetverse.
  • The U.T.P, a mysterious group who appeared in the Johanna and Cynthia oneshots, and was briefly mentioned in the Argenta one. Their goals are presently unknown but they are trying to recruit notable and powerful trainers and coordinators. They've also been in operation for over thirteen years, considering Johanna Gaiden took place thirteen years before the story, and their appearance in the last scene of Cynthia Gaiden took place during the second year of the story.
  • Then there's Naty and her friends, who offer Red a place where he can leave his Pokémon active for training when he's not using them in exchange for his collaboration on... whatever they're up to.
• Ambiguously Human: There's a question mark over whether Bloodliners should be considered truly human or not. See the character page for more details.
• Analogy Backfire: Overlapping with Insult Backfire, Bill was given a Magikarp as a mock gift by his fellow crewmen, who told him he was "the human equivalent of a Magikarp" (unremarkable, useless, pathetic). Needless to say, those men forgot that with enough training, Magikarp evolves into Gyarados, one of the deadliest and most fearsome Pokemon known, and Bill himself follows this path as well.
• Amusement Park: Most of the Yancy Interlude takes place at the Nimbasa amusement park.
• And Call Him "George": Gladion suffers this from a wild Bewear after Tapu Koko drops him in front of it.
• And Then What?:
  • Satsuki asks Falkner what he plans to do when he catches Ho-oh and Lugia. He admits that he hasn't given it much thought yet.
  • In Chapter 31, Iris asks Ash what he will do when he reaches his goal of becoming a Pokémon Master. Ash doesn't give her a definite answer, but feels that he'll know once he gets there.
• Anger Born of Worry:
  • After Cheryl comes to, Gardenia gives her a piece of her mind for going into the Old Chateau alone.
  • Regina, Ritchie's mom, grounded him for two months for sneaking away to watch Silver's battle against Moltres.
  • Iris and Axew express this towards their big brother Dragonite after he gets badly injured in a fight with a Noivern.
  • In the Oak & Hastings Gaiden, Samuel Oak's parents had a bit of this after he and Samson had a close encounter with an angry Bewear.
• Animal Stampede: Lara and Hex make their introduction in the Big P Pokémon Race Interlude chasing a stampeding herd of Tauros. The stampede was caused by one of Dario's cronies, in an attempt to injure her so she couldn't compete in the race.
• Anime Chinese Girl: Downplayed. The Brock & Lucy Gaiden has Brock battle a girl named Marie, who has the look, but doesn't really act like the stereotype, nor does she seem to be from a China analogue.
• Apocalyptic Log: The format of "Shadows of the Jungle", detailing a disastrous expedition to Guyana to find Mew.
• Apology Gift: In his second interlude, Butterfree offers Viv a Sitrus Berry after he beat her up in a fit of anger (also so she can heal her wounds a bit). He later offers some berries to the other Pokémon he beat down in the fight club.
• April Fools: 2017 saw the release of an April Fools chapter. Unlike most examples, however, some of what happens is actually canon.
• An Arm and a Leg: In the Twenty Gyarados Bill Gaiden, Olivine City's representative lost an arm in one of Bill's attacks.
• Arc Words:
  • "Those who underestimate the power of the bird Pokémon are in for a rude awakening", in the Falkner Gaiden.
  • "Only those who push themselves are able to improve", in the Sabrina Gaiden.
  • "Steven Stone is many things. Unfortunately 'patient' isn't one of them", in the Steven Interlude.
• Arc Villain: The main story has these from time to time.
  • The Cerulean Sisters during the Cerulean Arc.
  • Belladonna and crew for the Poison War Arc.
  • Paul for the Tag Tournament Arc.
  • Sabrina for the titular Sabrina Arc.
  • And of course, Mewtwo for the Mewtwo Strikes Back arc.
• Armor-Piercing Question: In the Hala and Hau interlude, Frax asks Hau one of these:
  Frax: Who do you actually want to surpass then? Your grandpa or your dad?
• Armor-Piercing Question: During Ash's League battle against Cross, Charizard delivers one to Cross's Incineroar during their League battle; as Incineroar rants about how Cross has a clear goal to prove his strength by facing Ho-oh in battle, Charizard counters that Ash has a larger-scale goal and a plan for what he'll do with himself after achieving said goal.
• Arms and Armor Theme Naming: The males of the Dragon Tamers clan have names related to spear-like weapons.
• Arranged Marriage:
  • Kaoruko Fisher's father almost forced her into one, with Capriccio of all people. Fortunately, her eventual husband Kazuto saw through his deceptions and exposed him before it could happen.
  • The elders of the Blackthorn Dragon Clan try to set one up with Clair to secure a heir, much to her bemusement. Neither her nor the potential candidates seem interested.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking:
  • According to Dexter, Professor Garonte is wanted for illicit genetic experimentation, stealing human and Pokémon organs, trying to build several doomsday devices, and riding a bike indoors.
  • Ash finds himself musing that there are three mysteries from the previous timeline he still doesn't get; how Paul had a fan when he didn't, what his age actually was when the universe ended, and what was inside the GS Ball.
  • Later for Sabrina, it lists kidnapping, murder, and plagiarizing a move from a Pokémon Coordinator.
  • Mewtwo cites that humans are superior to Pokémon in very few aspects, like their minds and sweat glands.
• Artifact Name: While it once lived up to its name, Gringy City is now quite a nice place after extensive revitalization.
• Artifact of Doom: During the Glitch War events, ZZAZZ's fragments possess various objects that empower those who wield them, but costs them their sanity and even their life at times.
• Artistic Stimulation: Hapu suggests that Mina does art while intoxicated, which she neither confirms nor denies.
• Ascended Extra: Many examples. See the character page for more.
  Dude: Just because someone is a 'nobody', doesn't mean they can't have good adventures, or that the universe is any worse for it. Everyone's special in their own way, and have their own stories to think about and go through.
• Astral Projection: Red experiences something akin to this during the Seven Island Interlude, when he enters the Dream World and eventually makes it into the realm of the Unown. Unlike traditional examples, he's still able to touch and interact with his environment, including his own physical body when he's sleeping.
• Asshole Victim:
  • Sabrina murders Dario for attempting to sabotage his rivals.
  • Mars's uncle and aunt end up getting crushed to death by Mars' Bronzor after she finally snaps.
• Attack Animal: Military and police Pokémon often serve this function.
• Attack! Attack... Retreat! Retreat!: Played for Drama, determined to make sure that Ash is alright after hearing an explosion, Misty decides to face her fears and not let a Beedrill stop her. A trio of them follows suit, and she doesn't let them stop her either. But then, when a whole swarm in the hundreds appears, she has no choice but to run away.
• Audible Sharpness: The sound of two katanas being unsheathed and their subsequent clash against one another is what convinces Midori not to try and escape from the fashion show his female companions want to set up for him.
• Author Appeal: While it never affects the quality of his writing, you can easily guess that the prolific oneshot author Fox McCloude is an avid Ash/Serena shipper.
  • Fox himself has gone on record saying that while he does have a soft spot for Amourshipping, his favorite Ash ship is actually Pokeshipping. He's even more blatant about this, having written several one shots involving Misty including her Gaiden with plenty of ship teasing moments, as well as contributing numerous scenes building up Ash and Misty's relationship in the main story.
• Author Avatar: The April Fools chapter has Crossoverpairinglover himself appear, using a chainsaw to write the story and arguing with Execu Tivem Edlin.
• Author Filibuster / Author Tract: The writer outright states that the Gary oneshot has elements of this over fandom reactions to the Kalos League final. It also covers the Author's views on what Pokemon Master is.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Red finds a Snorlax in the Safari Zone. He wants to catch it, but hesitates because he's aware of how much they eat, and is not sure he can afford it.
• Ax-Crazy:
  • The infamous Spearow and Fearow flock on the road from Pallet Town to Viridian City are some of the last hyper-aggressive Pokémon of the pre-Oak era, and generations of inbreeding have only made them more murderous.
  • According to James, the prisons in Lavender Town are full of criminals who've been driven to murderous insanity by Ghost-type Pokémon.
• Babies Ever After: In the Holiday Special 2016, Olympia sees a vision of a possible future where an older Ash has several children with his girlfriends. While this hasn't happened yet (and it's not clear if this is the future Ash will have), she calls it an ideal good ending.
  • A dream/vision Iris has in her Pallet Town Gaiden has her and Misty, at least, having had kids with Ash, but it's less happy than the above.
• Back-to-Back Badasses: Some instances:
  • In the Clemont Gaiden, Meyer as the Blaziken Mask and his Mega Blaziken fight this way against Belmondo's goons.
  • In the Red Five Island Interlude, Red's Sneasel and Clefairy also do this while battling the Team Rocket grunts in the warehouse.
• Badass and Child Duo:
  • Downplayed with Red and Yellow, since the age difference between them isn't that wide.
  • Steven and Sawyer are a more traditional example, given the former is the Hoenn regional Champion and the latter is still a student in Rustboro's Trainer School.
• Badass Family: Many families are full of badasses.
  • The head of the Wataru Clan, Javelin, is a former Four-Star Badass, and while we don't know much of the skills of his sons, they must be pretty good. And we all know how truly skilled his grandchildren Lance and Clair are.
  • While we don't know if Bertha's daughter Roberta is a trainer or not, her son in-law Byron and grandson Roark are certainly worthy of being Gym Leaders. And there's the heavy implying Agatha is Bertha's cousin.
  • Zig-zagged with the Waterflower family; while Ondine Waterflower was an excellent trainer, her eldest son only inherited a fraction of the talent, and her three eldest granddaughters not even that. On the other hand her youngest granddaughter Misty and grandson Siebold have all the talent to be The Ace.
• Badass Finger Snap: Paul does this during his first battle against Ash. It turns out to be a nonverbal means of signaling his Grotle to use Stealth Rock. Later when it evolves to Torterra, he uses two snaps to signal a Leaf Storm.
• Badass Santa: In the Holiday Special, Mina has a dream about Santa taking on MissingNo. Given that Santa did appear in the Original series, and with his personal appearance in the second special, this trope is likely in effect.
• Bad Future:
  • Ash and his Pokémon seek to avert a potential one where Cyrus gains control of reality, like he did in the previous timeline.
  • Chapter 26 has MissingNo show Ash a vision of another possible one, which it claims used to be the future until about a week beforehand. Not many of the details are known as of yet, but the conversation shown to Ash establishes that things went very wrong in Alola, resulting in Nihilego swarms, and that there was a "Bloodline War". MissingNo then draws a picture indicating that said Bloodline War was Ash and numerous other Bloodliners taking on the Bloodline King after he kidnapped May and Serena, and that Shadow Pokémon, Ultra Beasts, Mirage Pokémon, and Primal Kyogre and Groudon were involved somehow. The final scene of the Glitch War gives a glimpse of this future in the aftermath, shortly before Wes travels back in time to prevent it]].
  • Chapter 40 sees Iris having a dream/vision where, while at least her and Misty are happy and having kids with Ash, Iris's adoptive father took offense to his and Iris's relationship after Hunter J was killed and he was rescued, gouging out Ash's right eye before they killed him.
• The Bad Guy Wins:
  • Chapter 23 ends with Belladonna killing Tokiomi Borealis as she wanted for betraying Aurora, and successfully escaping from Ash and his friends. Their victory does get soured by a tinge of Dramatic Irony, since Aurora didn't actually want her father dead, but was too afraid so say anything.
  • Twenty Gyarados Bill despite being fatally wounded during his final rampage, succeeded in ensuring that people will never, ever, laugh at him anymore, and smiles in triumph as he dies.
  • Sabrina in her gaiden, not only gets away scot-free with all the things she did in her hometown, but leaves happily knowing that she was proven right on her theory.
  • In the Gligarman Interlude, Hunter J and the Pride Sniper walk away with the money for their jobs despite technically failing to fulfill them.
• Bad People Abuse Animals: Like in canon, Damian mistreated his Charmander and eventually abandoned him (and the Misty Gaiden reveals that he also briefly owned Misty's Horsea and left him beaten up after he lost a battle). Even the TR Trio was appalled when they heard about this, and made sure to be extra mean when robbing him.
• Bad Powers, Bad People: Some Bloodliners are capable of mind controlling Pokemon, and from the Pokemon's point of view, is not a pleasant experience. Iris always knew she can do this, but never did since she found the ability to be too horrible, and Misty vows to never use it again after realizing how much her Goldeen resents her for doing so. Belladonna, however, has no qualms about mind controlling a horde of Poison-type Pokemon for her own goals.
• Bad Vibrations: In the Big P Pokémon Race Interlude, a heard of stampeding Tauros causes the ground to shake.
• Bait-and-Switch:
  • In the Holiday Special 2017 one-shot, one snip starts looking like a typical heartwarming tale, but it quickly turns dark the moment Drowning Woods is named dropped.
  • A more lighthearted example happens in "Happy Birthday, Lorelei!" when the title character gets what she thinks is an engagement ring from Frey. It's actually a Key Stone for Mega Evolution.
  • As another lighter example, Misty is initially very enthusiastic when Professor Oak asks her to take care of an Alolan Water Pokémon that was discovered in a boat that just arrived in Kanto, until she has a panic attack upon learning it's a Wimpod.
• Balanced Harem: The fic is making sure to give Ash's female companions similar amounts of screentime and development, since he'll be ending up with all of them eventually.
• Bald of Evil: The Kiawe Interlude features a bald biker gang leader with dreams of becoming a big fish and a complete willingness to preemptively attack kids.
• Bar Brawl: Apparently, Casey Snagem often got into these during his youth. He mentions to have gotten into five only in Sinnoh, and three of those involved Reggie of all people.
• Bastard Bastard: In Chapter 33, Misty encounters one of Ash's possible half-siblings who is heavily implied to take after his father.
• Bathtub Bonding:
  • The scene between Iris and Anabel in Chapter 36 has this undertone, though they're instead bathing under a waterfall.
  • Later, they have another with Misty, albeit at a pond instead of a waterfall. Misty even lampshades how girls usually talk about things while bathing together.
• Batman Gambit:
  • Steven gets the captured Zenith grunts to talk about their plans by threatening them with his Metagross' Meteor Mash, hoping that they crumble under the pressure thinking he's going to attack them. Apparently, it was Sidney who taught him this trick.
• Battle Couple: Lorelei and Frey take on a group of Team Rocket members in the Lorelei Interlude.
• Battle Harem: Not only are all of Ash's eventual girlfriends Bloodliners, but they're also (or will be) talented trainers as well.
• Battle in the Rain:
  • Much of the gym battle between Ash and Erika takes place in the rain. Justified, because Erika uses a unique form of Rain Dance to nullify most Grass-type weaknesses.
  • Later, while facing Janine, Ash's Yanma accidentally destroys part of the ceiling and the rain from outside begins to fall on the battlefield. This eventually triggers Sliggoo's evolution into Goodra.
• Bawdy Song: The author's notes of Chapter 26 have a parody of "All the Lads in Town" by the Merry Wives of Windsor.
• Beach Episode:
  • The latter part of Chapter 36 has the main cast enjoying a day off at the beach while making a stop in the Seafoam Islands.
  • Chapter 43 also begins with the main group enjoying a beach day, before Mewtwo's Dragonite arrives to deliver the invitation.
  • Chapter 48 has a scene of the group going to a pool during the free day after the Indigo League preliminary rounds.
• Beach Kiss: Lorelei Interlude ends with one between the title character and Frey.
• The Beastmaster: Pokémon trainers, as always, count as this trope. Heart bloodliners, meanwhile, take this even further, with their ability to outright mind control Pokémon of the same type as them.
• Beam-O-War: Several instances. Of note:
  • The battle between Ash's Pikachu and Brock's Onix ends with one of these, with Onix's Bide colliding against Pikachu's Thundershock. Pikachu manages to win, just barely.
  • Later, against Hunter J's Salamence, whose Flamethrower alone manages to overpower all of Ash's Pokémon attacks combined at once. They're only saved by Charmeleon learning Fire Pledge in the nick of time, and Goomy's intervention with Bide that blasts them out of the ship.
  • The climax of the Twenty Gyarados Bill Gaiden ends with a Hyper Beam collission between Bill's Mega-Gyarados and Denki's Mega-Ampharos. The resulting explosion leaves the former two fatally wounded, and kills the latter two.
  • Sir Aaron engages in one against General DeEsper, countering a massive psychic blast with Dark Pulse. He eventually gets overpowered and is forced to dodge, although the effort leaves DeEsper exhausted afterwards.
  • In the Indigo League, the final bout of the Ritchie vs Assunta match is decided this way. Assunta's Venusaur fires a Solar Beam, which Ritchie's Pikachu Sparky counters with a Charge Beam. The latter wins in the end after a back-and-forth struggle.
• Bears Are Bad News:
  • Ursaring are hinted to be this as in canon. In Alola, angry Bewear are also very dangerous, as the then-future Professors Samuel and Samson Oak could see firsthand.
  • Played for Laughs with that wild Bewear in Alola, who takes away a squirming Gladion and his Pokémon.
• Beast of Battle: It's mentioned that throughout history, powerful Pokémon have been used this way by various militaries.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: Misty grows close to Ash partly because he's one of the first people to treat her with kindness. In her oneshot, she outright calls him one of her first real friends.
• Bedsheet Ghost: Flint and his Infernape try to disguise themselves as one to try and snap Volkner out of his Holiday funk. It doesn't work, since he sees right through their disguise. Later, it's Volkner who tries to get Flint out of his funk by doing this, and the Elite Four gets mad and tries to show him how it's done.
• Being Watched:
  • Anabel feels this way when the group arrives to Mewtwo's lair.
  • The expedition to Guyana in Shadows of the Jungle gets this feeling constantly as they venture further into the Bug-types' territory.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Ninja Riot and Marilyn Flame might be rivals, but their thoughts make it clear they are secretly attracted to one another.
• Benevolent A.I.: Pokedexes in general are this, helping to keep their trainers informed. Capture Stylers seem to act this way for Rangers as well.
• Berserk Button:
  • Koga seems to have his as Jetpack Ninjutsu.
  • The Draconids loathe Fairy-types.
  • Pan will fight anyone who calls himself a King.
  • Azalea Town seems to have a collective one in stepping on Slowpoke's tails.
• Better as Friends: Brock and Solidad went on a couple of dates, but nothing ever came of them, partly because of this trope.
• Better to Die than Be Killed:
  • Non-lethal example: one of the trainers who fought Lorelei during the exhibition matches in Mandarin Island decides to have his Electrode use Self-Destruct rather than letting Lorelei's Dewgong finish it off using Icicle Spear.
  • Played straight in the Gligarman Interlude: former crime lord Falcone Xicato chooses to commit suicide by falling off the hangar's roof rather than let himself be captured by the police.
• Big Eater: Bloodliners are this, having heightened metabolisms. It's the biggest hint at the moment that Yellow is one.
• Big Bad Ensemble:
  • Originally, the candidates for being Big Bad of the main story were Cyrus (for being the one who started the story's events), Giovanni (for being the most present), and the Bloodline King (who has been lingering around in the shadows but impacting the story heavily). As the story progressed, however, Giovanni's goals became clearer and his level of direct antagonism towards Ash decreased, leaving the Bloodline King/Ash's father to take over as the Big Bad, while Cyrus turned into a Greater-Scope Villain instead.
  • Team Cipher is the main threat of the Expanded Universe oneshots and are strongly hinted that they will join the main story ensemble later, while Team Galactic appears to be the overall Big Bad of the The Wild Boy of Sinnoh spinoff and an even greater Greater-Scope Villain for Ash via Cyrus. And then there's Lusamine, who is manipulating the events of the beforementioned oneshots from the shadows (including keeping contact with Team Skull through Guzma) and is aware of Cipher's actions, forming another ensemble with them. Not to mention that it's hinted she played a large role in the Bad Future MissingNo showed to Ash.
• Big Blackout: Belladonna and co. cause one of these in Gringy City, as part of an elaborate plan to kill Aurora's father.
• Big Guy, Little Guy: Team Zenith Admins Carly and Taylor are a female example.
• Big "YES!":
  • Jeanette's mother let loose with one of these when she found out that her daughter was a Victreebel Bloodliner.
  • Sabrina yells "I WAS RIGHT!" into the sky after Tommy confronts her, thus proving her theories.
  • Dexter in the Safari Zone, when Ash accidentally catches a Shiny Chansey.
  • Misty has one in Chapter 45, when Professor Oak offers her an Alolan Water Pokémon... at least until she seeis it up close.
• Bilingual Backfire: Gligarman responds to his suit being called a "Halloween Costume" in Italian in the same language.
• Birthday Episode:
  • The aptly named "Happy Birthday, Ash!" focuses on Ash's 15th birthday in the new timeline.
  • "Happy Birthday, Lorelei!" shows several of the titular Elite Four member's birthdays along the years, starting on her eighth one and ending on the present day.
• Bittersweet Ending:
  • The Twenty Gyarados Bill Gaiden has one. Yes, Bill's been stopped for good... but not before causing enormous amounts of death and destruction. Moreover, in the effort to stop him, he still killed plenty of people and Pokémon, including an Elite Four member.
  • So does the Laramie Gaiden. While Leeroy and Jenkins manage to set aside their differences and escape the island, they're legally barred from seeing each other ever again.
  • The Gligarman Interlude ends with the title character and the Night Watchers failing to prevent Roberts from being shot, Hunter J and the Pride Sniper slipping away from capture with their money in tow, and their contractor having the way clear for his election. However, it is stated that Roberts has a hope for recovery, the Goldenrod Police Department is going to start working along with the Night Watchers, and Gligarman has started training his daughter so she can join him (and eventually succeed him) in his fight against crime.
• Bizarre Baby Boom: Starting about 16 years ago, the number of Bloodliners in the world have radically increased, going from roughly 10 in all of Unova, to thousands. Similar numbers are present in other regions. Oddly enough, most of them are female. No one knows what caused this. Bloodliners born during this time are called the Bloodliner Baby Boom Generation.
  • A conversation Hilda has with Belladonna implies that Belladonna's father spreading his seed around so widely caused it, increasing the number of bloodliners enough to tip over some threshold and reawaken old bloodlines.
  • The original Raikou hints that similar events occurred during the Kalos war with the Ultimate Weapon three millenia ago, and also during meteor showers, hinting that these could have something to do with it.
• Blackmail: In the original timeline, Misty managed to get pictures of Ash in his Ashley cosplay. She used them to get Ash to help her out during the Princess Festival.
• "Blackmail" Is Such an Ugly Word:
  • When Ash confronts Sabrina, he calls her out on her admitting to have murdered innocent people. She replies it's more akin to weeding than murder.
  • Agatha's Gengar calls the Gastly from Maiden's Peak a con artist for his antics during the End of the Summer Festival. He replies he prefers the term "interactive storyteller".
  • When Iris calls Mandi out on coming to spy on Ash to learn how to beat him, he replies it's more akin to "see him in action first-hand".
• The Blacksmith: Forge Smith, who has Pokémon League approval to make holders.
• The Blank: Execu Tivem Edlin is described as having no face.
• Bloodier and Gorier: While it usually doesn't get to gorn levels, some battles are a good deal more gruesome than things ever got in canon.
• Blood Knight:
  • Apparently, Pokemon with Guts tend to be like this, including pokemon who Trace it.
  • Iris' Dragonite big brother is this, as per canon.
• Blunt "Yes":
  • When Iris asked her big brother if being close to death made him feel alive, he simply responded with "yes."
  • In Chapter 40, Iris gives the same response after Mandi's Exeggutor loses to Axew and he evolves, and Mandi asks her if Ash has other Pokémon who can do the same to him in the League.
• Body Horror: Dark Pestilence is/was a very virulent and contagious disease with some very nasty effects. Infecting the bone marrow, it caused jaw-like growths to form in the bones, which fed off the body's stored calcium in order to grow. Said growths quickly grew large enough to pierce through the unfortunate victim's skin.
• Bold Explorer: King Kahele, who visited many foreign lands in ancient times and came back with countless souvenirs.
• Bold Inflation: In the April Fools chapter, Execu Tivem Edlin emphasizes the word "lemon" by saying it in all caps. Lampshaded when the Author Avatar asks why he's doing that.
• Bookends:
  • The first and final scenes in Falkner Gaiden involves Falkner thinking that one should not underestimate the power of Flying-types.
  • The main plot of Dude Gaiden begins and ends at Route 29.
  • Yancy Interlude starts and ends with a date at the Nimbasa amusement park.
  • Lampshaded in chapter 51 yet defied: Misty started the chapter beating Tad with her Wingull's Shock Wave attack and it looked like she might lose to an electric attack from Marina, which the announcer lampshades. When she manages to avert this he admits he just wanted to use the term bookends that day.
• Boom, Headshot!:
  • The Bloodliner Hunter kills the (unnamed) shapeshifting bloodliner who wears the mask possessed by a shard of ZZAZZ this way. Then he empties the entire gun's load in his head to blast his brains and the maks to pieces, just to be sure he's dead.
  • Also how the original Pride Sniper meets his end in the Holiday Special 2020.
• Boring, but Practical:
  • Silver tells this to Ritchie about Dragon Rage. It's the most basic Dragon-type attack, and thus the easiest to learn, but also the hardest to master. Case in point, Silver's Salamence is capable of blasting large boulders with it.
  • During the grand trial Frax's Pikachu defeats Hala's Bewear by latching onto it and pressing continuous electrical damage into it. The Pokemon School Students have the former as their personal reaction to such a victory while Gladion sees it as the latter.
• Born Under the Sail: The Boat People are nomads who sail the seas of the Pokémon world, calling their ships home and relying on the ocean for much of their needs.
• Both Sides Have a Point: In Chapter 27, Ash and Red have an argument over whether the use of one's bloodline in a competitive battle is acceptable. Ash thinks it constitutes cheating, because he regards bloodline powers as an unfair advantage that normal humans can't compete against. Red, meanwhile, thinks that it's perfectly acceptable, since they're inherent abilities and using them isn't against the rules. He also thinks that not using them is disrespectful to one's opponent, since you're not going all out against them. The story doesn't take either side, allowing readers to draw their own conclusions. And based on the reviews, some side with Red, some side with Ash, and others still believe that their Dominion Bloodline abilities are not comparable, and that whether using one's Bloodline in an official battle is cheating or not is something that needs to be considered on a case by case basis. Ultimately, further developments resulted in both Ash and Red seeing where the other was coming from, with Red encountering someone who used his philosophy of always going all out to respect your opponents as an excuse to be a bully and Ash winning a battle that left a bad taste in his mouth after learning his opponent wasn't using his best team.
• A Boy and His X: In the Wally interlude, Wally and his Gallade have this dynamic.
• Brains Evil, Brawn Good: In the Steven Interlude, Team Zenith uses a more tactical approach to fight the Draconid warriors, who rely mostly on their sheer power.
• Bragging Rights Reward: Giovanni doesn't understand what Ash hopes to acomplish when he comes to challenge the Viridian Gym, since he technically doesn't need any more badges. Ash argues that he wants to be fully certain he is ready for the Pokémon League.
• Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: The narration in chapter 23 mentions blackouts are bad, Gyarados attacks are worse, and Gyarados attacks during blackouts are kicking someone already down and stealing their shoes.
• Break Her Heart to Save Her: Downplayed example. The reason why Blake doesn't start a relationship with Yancy is partly because of his upcoming mission to Orre, in case he doesn't come back, and partly because he doesn't want to endanger her. Yancy however takes it well and understands it.
• Break the Haughty:
  • In the Giselle Interlude, the Golden Generation suffers this after Ash and Misty humiliate them one after another.
  • Clair is fond of doing this with challengers with Small Name, Big Ego attitudes.
• Break Them by Talking: Not so much "break" as it is "get them to use their full power", but that's what Sabrina tries with Ash by revealing what she knows about his father.
• Breather Episode:
  • Between the game-changer that was Chapter 23 and the start of the Fuchsia Tag-Tournament Arc in Chapter 26, Chapter 24 serves as a break for the readers.
  • Chapters 30 and 31 are a lot more relaxed and low key than the Tag Tournament and Janine gym battle chapters, with the end of Chapter 31 showing that the story will soon be going into high action again.
  • Chapter 36 is this in the aftermath of the above, with the latter part doubling as a Beach Episode for the main group.
  • Chapters 39 through 41 serve as this, as they're set before Ash's final Gym battle against Giovanni, and the Mewtwo Strikes Back events.
  • Chapter 45 is set between the Mewtwo arc and the Indigo League.
• Breath Weapon: A number of attacks, like in canon, function like this.
• Breeding Slave: The Bloodline King's organization has many of these in order to expand its forces. At the end of Chapter 15, he orders that the Sensational Sisters be kidnapped to serve as these, since he reasons that at least one of them must have the right genetics to give birth to bloodliner children.
• Brick Joke:
  • When the Sensational Sisters see Ash walking into their Water-type Gym with a Pikachu and a Bulbasaur in tow, and worried about losing the gym over just one more defeat in an official fight, one of them wonders aloud if they should sleep with him to make him go away or lose on purpose, to the other two's disgust. Then, after a six-on-six battle where Ash and his starter team won without losing a round, one of the sisters laments that they should just have slept with him to his utter surprise and embarrassment.
  • The Koga & Janine oneshot features a kid named Profuenster who uses jetpack ninjutsu. Fast forward a few years in the main story, turns out the Profuenster family has a shop in Fuchsia that sells them.
  • On the first Holiday Special, Flint tries to snap Volkner out of his funk with the "Christmas Ghosts" act, and fails because he sees right through his disguise. The next year, he tries it and fails again, but this time because Volkner is not depressed to begin with.
  • At the beginning of the Steven Interlude, the title character dumps the paperwork he doesn't want to do on his father's secretary to attend Roxanne and her students. When he returns at the end, said secretary is not happy, and Steven quickly reminds Roxanne that they promised her students a battle to get away from the paperwork, again.
  • A couple of girls begin fighting over Ash to dance with him during his 15th birthday. Later in the main story, when Ash returns from Cinnabar, they do the same during his welcome party.
  • During Ash's match against the Rookie Crusher there's actually a small group of thugs supporting the latter. Said thugs latter show up after the fifth round coming to get revenge on Ash for defeating him, only for Ash's friends to give them a well-deserved beating for their trouble.
• Bridal Carry: Just when they're exiting the haunted house in the Nimbasa amusement park, Yancy gets scared by a Chandelure and ends up this way with Nate.
• Briefcase Full of Money: Giovanni gets one from Ein in Chapter 6, as payment for the Duel Anchor.
• Broad Strokes:
  • It's hinted in the Kiawe Interlude that Frax and Velvet go through roughly the same adventures Ash does in the SM series, along with Reset original ones. The Frax & Velvet Interlude follows the same line.
  • The Gardenia oneshot is somewhat a sequel to the Generations episode featuring the Old Chateau, though with enough different details it isn't a 1 for 1 match.
  • The Charmander Gaiden makes references to No Antidote, hinting that a similar event happened in the Resetverse timeline.
  • Ritchie Gaiden implies that his first encounter with Silver went very similar to the Pokémon Chronicles episode, with the exceptions being that his mother was also there and Team Rocket wasn't involved.
  • Steven Interlude makes references to another fic titled The Long Road for his early career as a Pokémon trainer.
  • Goh's encounter with his friend Horace is implied to have taken place in an identical, if not completely equal, manner as in canon, as well as his attending Professor Oak's Summer Camp and encounter with Mew.
  • The Indigo League Interlude implies that Ritchie went through an incident in Porta Vista involving Tentacool and Tentacruel, which Ash and his friends skipped in this timeline.
  • A few elements of the anime, while overall still present, are generally not directly discussed.
• Broken Aesop: The story has some strong and prominent themes of prejudice being wrong. Unfortunately, this is somewhat marred by Misty implying in Chapter 5 that she thinks Johto having problems with Pokémon cruelty is due to it being "a rural and conservative place"... and unlike with her prejudice against baseline humans, there's no indication that the reader is meant to see her as wrong. Thankfully, Cross has since tried to make up for this.
• Broken Bridge: When Ash and Misty come to Nugget Bridge, it's having repair work done on it (it's implied that the damage resulted from Red and Gary's Cerulean battle). This is probably a nod to the games.
• Broken Win/Loss Streak: The Rookie Crusher prided himself in having crushed eighty-seven rookies in over two decades of participating in Pokémon Leagues. That streak came to a halt when he fought Ash in the Indigo League.
• Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: Red and Yellow are a non-romantic example. Red generally acts in a quiet, subdued manner, and Anabel senses that he seems very unhappy, mostly by choice. Yellow is the one who does the talking for him most of the time, and has a more cheerful and friendly attitude. She also spends a lot of time and effort trying to get him to come out of his shell.
• Bullying a Dragon:
  • A literal example in the Red One Island Interlude. Red's Clefairy attacked Ultima's Dragonite without caring the Dragon-type was much stronger. Once Ultima decides enough is enough, her Dragonite leaves Clefairy out of commission with an Iron Tail.
  • When Mewtwo shows up, Red, Paul and Fergus call for their Pokémon to attack him, and their attacks get easily deflected back at them.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer:
  • Doctor Boxer has come up with numerous technological marvels, but he's very eccentric and doesn't quite comprehend how dangerous his experiments can be.
  • Steven Stone, the Hoenn Champion and heir of the Devon Corporation, hates doing paperwork and takes any chance he can to skip it, much to the chagrin of his father's secretary.
• Busman's Vocabulary: Falkner's family, having spent generations breeding and raising Flying-types, uses a lot of bird-related figures of speech (adapted to involve Pokémon, of course).
• Call-Back:
  • In the battle against Lt. Surge, Charmeleon leaves the field so that Pikachu can be the one to battle Raichu. Later on, during the battle against Blaine, Pikachu leaves the field so that Charizard can take on Magmortar.
  • In Chapter 39, Ash uses against Misty the same six Pokémon he used against Daisy at the Cerulean Gym, although some of them have evolved further at that point and they did not follow the same order as they were used in Cerulean.
  • In the first part of Katie Gaiden, she thinks to herself about John Archer that "he’d probably give an olive branch to a Draconid who’d probably sic a hungry Salamence to devour him", in reference to his encounter with Zinnia (though it's implied she does not know about it).
  • Butterfree Interlude II has Ash's Butterfree recalling the words of the Pink Butterfree's new mate, when he starts considering a relationship with Viv.
• Calling Your Attacks: Due to the nature of Pokémon battles, this is inevitable. However, that doesn't mean trainers can't be creative.
• Canon Character All Along:
  • Inverted with Zinnia's daughter. As it turns out, she was just named after the canon Aster.
  • The Bloodliner King and Ash's father are both characters who Ash met before in the anime that Sabrina was able to identify in his memories. The same character.
• Canon Immigrant:
  • In Chapter 29 the Zoro Farfetch'd from a oneshot fic of the authors, The (Edit) War for Ash’s Freedom to not be Betrayed, appeared in the fic, as well as the concept of Ash's Pokemon, particularly his Tauros, breeding that he first played with in another oneshot called I have HOW many Pokemon.
  • Darkern Edgier from the same story as Zoro Farfetch'd also crossed over into the story as of the Chapter 36 Omake.
  • Elwood, Aideen, Kaia, and Joshua Martin are name dropped in a Cross-written oneshot called Shudo cross Modern Ash: The Professor Who Observes his Charges, as canon immigrants from Reset. In the sequel to it, 20 Gyarados Bill and Team Zenith are also mentioned to exist in that canon as well.
  • Electra Artisan travels from the above sequel to the Reset canon in chapter 40.
  • Chapter 41 has a few characters name dropped from Cross's fic That Twerp is Trouble.
  • Ash's accidentally captured Shiny Chansey appears in Infinity Train: Blossoming Trail which Cross does co-writing in, with Yamna cameoing at the end of the sequel fic Wisteria. The Hisuian Decidueye that Ash obtains in a Blossomverse side story Ash Goes Missing also appears in the 2022 Holiday Special, though as of yet uncaptured or unmet by Ash.
• Caretaker Reversal: Ash gets badly injured saving his Pikachu from a flock of Spearow, and Misty takes him to the Viridian City Pokémon Center. Later, Misty gets poisoned by Vileplume pollen, so Ash has to take her to a hospital in Cerulean City.
• Catapult Nightmare: Happens to young Agatha at the beginning of the Agatha & Sam Gaiden.
• Catch a Falling Star: In Chapter 38 Ash is forced to catch Goodra when he gets blasted away off the arena by Blaine's Mega Houndoom.
• Caught on Tape: Harutaka was secretly recorded (by his own driver, no less) having an angry phone call with an employee where he essentially admitted that Insuricare denied as many claims as possible.
• Caught the Heart on His Sleeve: When Pike Queen Lucy meets Brock for the first time, he tries to leave after she listen to his woes about his parents' deaths so she doesn't get depressed. However, she grabs him by the arm and convinces him to hang out with her for a while.
• The Cavalry: During Chapter 34/35 Dexter brings all of Ash's Pokémon from Oak's ranch with the help of the Exeggutor he caught at the Safari Zone (who all can use Teleport) to level the playing field against Sabrina's Psychic-types.
• Censored for Comedy: In the April Fools chapter, one of the few canonical bits is obviously a sex scene between Caroline and Norman. It gets censored by repeating the word LEMON over and over again.
• Central Theme: Of the Melemele Grand Trial, the central theme is personal growth and future goals with Frax, Velvet, Lana, and Sophocles expressing concerns about or their plans for the future, while the titular trial was made more difficult for the Lono Twins because Hala had undergone personal growth recently.
• Cerebus Retcon:
  • Of all things, Marill in the Hoenn Region. Apparently they were introduced specifically as Anti-Draconid weapons due to their fairy typing as well as access to Ice moves. They are specifically called weapons of mass destruction, or perhaps more accurately Pokemon of Mass Destruction.
  • Similarly is the change from Mauville as seen in Ruby and Sapphire to the Mauville seen in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire: during the Trainer-Ranger wars the Draconids razed Mauville, implying that the city had to be rebuilt.
• Chainsaw Good: According to the Semi-Canonical April Fools Chapter, this is the tool used to write the story.
• Charity Workplace Calendar: After Mr. Goodshow injured himself, several of the Gym Leaders and Elite Four put a swimsuit calender together for him as a get better present. Only three were made, with Goodshow having one of them and Erika recieving the second as a bribe from Lorelei.
• Cheaters Never Prosper:
  • Joshua in the Oak's Summer Camp Gaiden gets caught by Professor Oak during the final exam, using his cellphone to look up the answers. This ensures that he'll never, ever, get a license or a Pokédex from Oak. Then there's when he tries to attack Sparky during his battle with Ritchie, prompting him to have his Charmander use his recently learned Dragon Rage on his Spearow.
  • In the Big P Pokémon Race Interlude, Dario tried to pull the same stunts as in canon during the Pokémon race, and the results were as expected. Even worse, because Sabrina captures and kills him for it.
  • In his first Sinnoh League Conference, Sho discovered that one of his would-be opponents was using illegal steroids and reported him to the authorities. Further investigation revealed he had also been using stolen Pokémon, leading to a two-year ban from competitions and entering locations like the Battle Hall.
• Cheery Pink: The upbeat and energetic Whitney is heavily associated with the color pink.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • Ash wins several Pokéballs aboard the St. Anne, which come in handy for "recapturing" his Pokémon and catching new ones.
  • At the start of his interlude, Sanpei writes down a copy of the Hero Greninja story in a scroll, and keeps it to himself. It later saves him when Capriccio stabs him in the chest with his kunai.
  • In the Gardenia Interlude, it's mentioned that Sho has a Full Restore he's been saving for an emergency. He eventually uses it on Rotom, after it gets severely injured during the battle against the Old Chateau's ghosts.
  • Early in the Laramie Gaiden, Leeroy's commanding officer is revealed to own a Key Stone and a Pidgeot capable of Mega Evolution. Later on, Leeroy and Jenkins find his remains and are able to use the Key Stone and Pidgeotite with Jenkins' Pidgeot partner to escape the island.
  • Cynthia finds an ancient orb in a tomb during her oneshot, which eventually ends up in the Celestic Museum. Said orb is later taken to Mars' hometown, and William Stronger comes in contact with it, triggering his visions of the future Bloodliner war.
  • Ash receives a Moon Ball from Karen in Chapter 30. In Chapter 31, after Dexter has mass-replicated it, he accidentally uses one to catch that Jigglypuff, of all things.
• Chekhov's Gunman:
  • Doctor Boxer, originally mentioned in the Clemont Oneshot, later appeared in person in Reset Bloodlines proper.
  • Felgrand appeared to be only a villain of a week in his debut chapter, but he returns in Chapter 23 and ties in to the Wham Episode that chapter was.
    • In the same chapter, Giovanni mentions he has a scientist in his payroll trying to disprove the theories about human cloning being impossible. In Chapter 37, Dr. Fuji appears, right before Mewtwo kills him.
  • Meliae was first mentioned off handily by the Pokedex in Chapter 28, along with an appearance in the Clair Oneshot. She appeared in person in Chapter 33.
  • After appearing in the Charmander Gaiden, Cross from the 20th movie would later appear in Chapter 29, about to fight Solidad. He later reappears at the end of Chapter 40 revealed as the one who angered the Zapdos who later attacked Ash and the others while they were training.
  • The Hypno from Berry Forest is driven away, and is mentioned to have stowed away on a ship in the Three Island Interlude omake. He reappears in the Five Island Interlude among the Pokémon captured by Team Rocket, and after teaming up with Red to defeat them, he joins his team.
• Chekhov's Skill:
  • Dexter mentions Ash's Aipom knows the move Astonish shortly after catching her. The move comes in handy during Ash's battle against Erika.
  • Ritchie and his new Charmander train with Silver and his Salamence to learn Dragon Rage. The attack comes into play while fighting Joshua when he tries to cheat by attacking a fleeing Sparky with his Spearow.
  • Pikachu's Iron Tail, which he learns/relearns early in the story, helps him counter Lilo's Mudsdale and its ability Stamina.
  • The 32 Grimer Ash catches in Chapter 23 along with Muk are as hug-happy as he is. This comes in handy during the Saffron Gym battle in Chapter 34/35, since it allows them to smother a group of Wobbuffet without risk of getting countered.
  • In the first part of the Gary Interlude II, Gary's Arcanine learns to use Dig as a countermeasure to Stealth Rock. This comes in handy during his battle against Melissa in the Indigo League, whose Golem sets it up and he's able to avoid damage.
  • The main story mentions that Ritchie's Pikachu, Sparky, knows how to activate the Charge Beam's power boost effect at will as opposed to at random (even while in the middle of performing the attack itself). In the Indigo League Interlude, it proves instrumental against Assunta's Venusaur, winning the final clash and the match.
• Child by Rape: Aster is all but confirmed to be this.
• Christmas Creep: Astrid mentioned in the Holiday Special 2017 that stores put up the decor way earlier than they should have.
• Christmas Episode: The Holiday Specials, featuring many short Christmas stories with several different characters.
• The Clan:
  • The Fisher Clan in Kanto is one of the most ancient and prominent families.
  • In Johto there's the Blackthorn Dragon Clan, of which Lance and Clair are the current heirs.
• Clone Degeneration: Seen in the Mewtwo Interlude with Ambertwo's body fading away inside the tank. The characters' thoughts imply Mewtwo is the only one who actually survived the cloning process. The main story later expands on this, as the human DNA is much harder to stabilize than Pokémon DNA, though Mewtwo discovers thanks to the mind-controlled Nurse Joy that Bloodliner DNA could be used to overcome this issue.
• Closed Circle: Happens in Sabrina Gaiden. Some try to flee Turquoise Town to get away from her "experiment", but every time somebody tries to escape, they find her waiting at the town's edge.
• Close-Enough Timeline: Arceus isn't as skilled with Time Travel/Manipulation as Dialga, and he knew that sending Ash to the past would create a distortion that would result in a completely different timeline, so he knew that this trope was the best outcome. Arceus mentioned that in the new timeline, Ash could have been a girl, among other major changes. For what major changes did occur, the timeline is still at least recognizable to Ash and not completely alien.
• Close-Range Combatant: Fighting-type specialists tend to favor this style for obvious reasons.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Jeanette Fisher's dad certainly has an... odd way of thinking.
• Cock Fight: Iris compares Ash and Paul squaring off at each other in Chapter 18 with two male Pokémon competing for a mate and asks Misty whether this is normal teenage human behavior, but Misty explains to her that's not what's happening. However, and no matter how ridiculous the scenario of Paul somehow "winning" her from Ash in a fight was, the mere idea of it was enough to make Misty throw up in her mouth a little.
• Combat Pragmatism: Played to varying degrees. Characters like Iris and Red believe that using bloodliner powers to win in competitions isn't cheating, since it's not explicitly against the rules, and the latter was taught by his mother that holding back against an opponent is seen as a lack of respect and insult towards them. However, it gets a bit deconstructed during the Red Two Island Interlude. Ultima points out that she held back against him because she didn't intend to cripple his Pokémon or injure them more than necessary, showing that at least for competitive battling, there is an unspoken limit on how much force you should use against an opponent.
• Comes Great Responsibility: After Sabrina discovers that she has psychic powers, her father tells her that she has a responsibility to use them to help people and make the world a better place. Unfortunately, she ended up taking these words a little too much at heart.
• Comically Small Demand:
  • A trainer named John Archer was almost offered three hundred grand for a meteorite he had, but he just wanted a meal and some pokeblocks. He later realizes that was rather foolish of him.
  • Ash wins the prize in a underground fight club and gives it to Anthony (the man who trained his Primeape in canon) and only wants one thing in return: directions to the Pokemon Center.
• Composite Character:
  • Kanto (and probably the rest of the regions as well) takes both elements from the anime and the games. For example, the Pokemon Tower is actually the seven floor tall indoor graveyard populated by crazy cultists, rather than a derelict tower inhabited by a trio of Ghost-type Pokemon seen in the anime, with said town also housing the Battle Dome as seen in the anime. For the actual characters, see the Character page.
  • Team Rocket combines elements and members from their game, anime, and manga portrayals.
  • Cipher has displayed elements and members from both its first and second appearance.
  • Mewtwo takes elements from all portrayals of it.
• Concealing Canvas: Giovanni has a safe in his office, hidden behind a portrait of himself and his Persian. It contains items and documents that will not see daylight for a long time, but are too valuable to destroy.
• Continuity Nod: The author said that he will make references to the Expanded Universe one-shots within the main story where appropriate. And some of the Expanded Universe one-shots make references to the main story or other one-shots:
  • Dan, who challenged Sabrina in the main story, first appeared in Falkner Gaiden.
  • The Reaper Serial Killer is mentioned when Dan challenged Sabrina and during Clay Interlude.
  • During Butterfree Interlude, Butterfree flew off on his own for a time. Ash remembers this at the end of Chapter 24, even if he doesn't know what happened while Butterfree was gone.
  • Profuenster was a side character in Koga and Janine Gaiden. A shop with his name on it shows up during the main story.
  • Arnold Interlude notes that some of the Spearow and Fearow Team Rocket had were especially feral looking, a nod to how Jessie, James and Meowth caught the aggressive flock in Chapter 3.
  • Belladonna spots Anna walking along with Arnold and Laila across a street in Hop-Hop-Hop Town in Chapter 26. At the end of the Arnold Interlude, Anna took Laila in. The next chapter, Anna recounts the events of Arnold Interlude to Belladonna.
  • Elwood and Aideen, having had major roles in Oak's Summer Camp Gaiden, reappear during the Fuchsia Tag Team Tournament.
  • Giselle Interlude mentions Skyla having invented a weather-move that gives the advantage to Flying-types.
  • Sabrina once wrote a school essay about Twenty Gyarados Bill's story, as told in his respective gaiden.
  • In Big P Pokemon Race Interlude, when asked whether it really was the first time he rode a Ponyta, knowing he can't talk about Time Travel, he instead references the Rhyhorn Racing he took part in during Oak's Summer Camp Gaiden and draws comparisons between that and the Big P Pokemon Race.
  • The Brock & Lucy Gaiden reveals how Lucy trained Brock to get him back to his game. Brock would eventually use some of the tricks Lucy taught him in his gym battle against Ash.
  • In Sho Interlude, while lecturing Sho on Mega Evolution, Jasmine brings up how Twenty Gyarados Bill and Denki Tekina both successfully pulled off a Mega Evolution on their first try with their first Gyarados and Ampharos respectively during the final battle where they both died.
  • In the Big P Pokémon Race Interlude, Lara and Hex mentioned how they suspected Dario of having cheated in the race of the previous year. The Lara Gaiden later expands on this.
  • The Kiawe Interlude shows a brief flashback of Hau having a tug-of-war with Frax's Munchlax over a Malasada. The scene is shown in full in the Frax & Velvet Interlude.
  • The Wicke & Nephew oneshot references the failed Aether theme song Nanu mentioned in the Looker oneshot.
  • In the Dude Gaiden, MissingNo rants about the adventures of Sho, Falkner and Sanpei in their respective oneshots, even though these happen in the future (or might even happen concurrently in Falkner's case).
  • Ritchie Gaiden mentions how Joshua went to Oak's summer camp and was kicked out for cheating.
  • Betty Snyder's brief appearance in Chapter 27 has her reference her conflict with Zilant in the Wicke & Nephew Interlude.
  • Jane Jackrum Interlude makes a couple of brief nods to the divorce conflict mentioned in Wicke and Nephew Interlude.
  • Clair Interlude mentions the Gyaradosite that Javelin took possession of at the end of Twenty Gyarados Bill Gaiden. The same oneshot shows that Clair shares Falkner's opinion on Flash mentioned in his oneshot.
  • Ash references the S.S Anne interlude's events at the end of chapter 29.
  • Chapter 31 references the events of Oak's Summer Camp when Ash and Iris encounter Joshua.
  • Steven Interlude takes place during the period of time Wally is missing, with Roxanne mentioning there are still search parties trying to find him.
  • The Ghosts of Maiden's Peak Interlude directly references the Agatha & Sam Gaiden's events, especially Tony's death at the hands of the Gengar from Drowning Woods at the beginning, as well as his eventual revenge on him decades later.
  • A.J Interlude references how the title character and Jeanette trained under a waterfall as shown in their brief scene in Chapter 25. It also ends with them departing for Cinnabar as they're later shown in the main story challenging Blaine.
  • The G-Men Gaiden has Elder experiencing visions from the past, one of which is Twenty Gyarados Bill when he begins his Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
  • The Kalosian who taught Otoshi and Marowak how to begin accessing Break Evolution later battles Drake in his own interlude. His name is also revealed here as Corentin.
  • Gligarman Interlude mentions an incident that is implied to be the death of Evanna's father, expanding on the fact that it ended up being an accident.
  • The narration at the beginning of the Sho Interlude mentions that the title character was inspired to become an Electric-type specialist by watching the finals of the Pokémon World Tournament between Elesa and Volkner. Said battle is shown in full in the Elesa Gaiden.
  • Chapter 39 references "Happy Birthday, Ash!" when Ash is caught between some girls who want to dance with him. The latter half references the promise Ash and Misty made at the end of the Misty Gaiden of having a real Gym Battle one day.
  • In Chapter 43, Red alludes to some of the events he went through during his Sevii Islands interludes, including his fight with Rosso and getting trapped in the Unown Realm. Additionally, Neesha briefly recalls her encounter with Hoenn Elite Four Drake during said interlude.
  • The Bloodliner Hunter Interlude's second-to-last scene ties in with his appearance in the Pokémon G-Men Interlude, showing him as he prepares for his hit in Mahogany Town.
  • The second Butterfree Interlude has them aplenty to the first one, being a Sequel Episode. The most notable is Butterfree recalling the words told by the Pink Butterfree's new mate about having his life ahead of him and being able to find a Second Love one day.
  • The Holiday Special 2020 has a two-fold to the Glitch War (the previously posted sidestory), with a scene that takes place immediately after the Bloodliner Hunter's scene, while Santa Claus rewards MissingNo with a gift for having saved the world from ZZAZZ.
  • Chapter 50 has a message in Anabel's Salon Maiden blog, where someone talks about their grandfather and how he survived and escaped a deserted island with a Ranger soldier, obviously referencing the events of the Laramie Gaiden.
• Continuity Porn: Cross and his fellow Reset-verse authors clearly love putting in references to different Pokémon continuities.
• Convenient Coma: Professor Oak is out for the day due to needing a medical operation and thus Misty and the others can't call for his help when Ash gets kidnapped by Sabrina. The author himself admits this was a shameful way to remove him from the plot.
• Conveniently Timed Distraction: When Misty demands to know why Ash seemed familiar to her, Ash found himself caught between a rock and a hard place. Thankfully for him, Team Rocket's attack just happened to occur at that moment.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Mahiro Harutaka from the Black Arachnid Gaiden is a high-ranking executive at an insurance company, who makes sure his employees deny as many claims as possible, and bribes ombudsman officials to interfere with investigations should people complain.
• The Corruption: Cipher's process to create Shadow Pokémon is this, stripping them of their emotions and free will to turn them into mindless, obedient and "perfect" killing machines.
• Corrupt Politician:
  • After a government official's twin children fail to pass the trainer test to the standards required by Professor Oak to obtain the Kanto Starters, he gives the prof a simple choice: give the twins starter Pokémon anyway, or he'll cut his funding. Thankfully the kids of said government officer are quite different.
  • Frederick Sweitenia. He makes a deal with the Bloodliner Hunter to hunt down Bloodliner teenagers who are going to compete in the Johto League, and hired Hunter J and the Pride Sniper as part of a plot to get rid of his main opponent in the upcoming Senator elections.
• Cosplay Café: Ash notes that maid outfits are common attire for Kanto waitresses. The Kalosian style in particular is popular.
• Covered in Gunge: Ash ends up like this when Goodra hugs him after evolving and winning the Fuchsia Gym battle.
• Covered with Scars:
  • The main villain of the Luana Gaiden is a large, revenge-seeking Rhydon with plenty of scars covering its chest.
  • Iris has many small scars all over her body.
  • The leader of the Growlithe pack seen at the end of the Ghosts of Maiden's Peak Interlude is an elderly Arcanine who has its fair share of scars over the years.
• Cover Innocent Eyes and Ears: Red instinctively covers Yellow's ears after Kaiser mutters something profane.
• Crazy Enough to Work:
  • After Ash finds himself vexed by Erika's long-lasting Rain Dance, he decides to get rid of it with his own Rain Dance. This sounds absurd at first, but it works, because the resulting downpour gets rid of the moisture in the air, which means the rainy conditions can't be sustained any longer. Erika for her part was both shocked and impressed.
  • In the semifinals of the Fuchsia Tag Tournament, Ash and Pikachu are at a stalemate against Lilo's Mudsdale, since they can't damage it from a distance with electric attacks, and they can't risk getting too close either. Ash's response: have Pikachu store as much electricity as he can in his tail, and then attack the field, sending out a barrage of rocks over Mudsdale, damaging it enough to end the battle with one last Iron Tail.
  • Later in the finals, faced against Paul's Torterra, Ash tells Red that in order to win, Red needs to evolve his Charmeleon. Red and everyone else thinks he's crazy, but Ash insists that he can see his Charmeleon has the power to evolve, and just needs the motivation to do so. Red then awkwardly gives Charmeleon a pep speech, and to everyone's shock, he does evolve.
  • In his Five Island Interlude, Red finds himself forced to gamble on this in order to make it through, once he's fallen into Team Rocket Admin Deacon's clutches.
• Creator Thumbprint:
  • Viroro-kun has a habit of using relatively obscure and minor elements (as well as a good dose of Unexpected Character) from both the games, anime and manga, either in the foreground or as background elements.
  • Fox McCloude, in addition to sharing Viroro-kun's tendency of using relatively obscure and minor elements, also slips in some Ash/Serena Ship Tease if he has the chance. He has also often demonstrated a strong dislike of cheaters and Sore Losers and portrays them in a strong negative light.
  • As seen in his Falkner and Sabrina oneshots, Ander Arias is rather fond of using a combo of Arc Words/Book Ends/Ironic Echo.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Played with. Technique Bloodliners can only use a single Pokémon move. However, some of them learn to use these moves in a number of versatile ways.
  • The first mentioned example was a historical Flamethrower bloodliner who learned to breathe freezing fire and use the move to fly with makeshift jet boots. The latter is displayed by the vigilante known as Flamestorm.
  • In the present, Vedia was able to use Shadow Sneak to hold Misty in place rather then just use it for attacking.
  • In a strategy sense, several trainers can fall victim to relying on their usual strategies even against opponents who would specifically subvert those methods. The most specific example is Red and Alexander Silph, who depend on knowledge of their opponents' Pokemon and can thus be taken by surprise if their foe does something unexpected, ranging from using an unexpected Pokemon to a Pokemon learning a new move.
• Crippling the Competition: During the Big P Pokémon Race Interlude, Dario decided to ensure his victory by preemptively injuring Lara Laramie. Fortunately, Ash volunteered to fill in for her.
• Critical Hit: Instead of just ocurring at random, in the story critical hits are explained as happening when an attack manages to land on a very specific point of the opposing Pokémon. For instance:
  • A Rattata lands a Quick Attack right on Ash's Pidgeotto's wing joint, causing a serious injury and leaving her unable to properly fly and battle for an entire week.
  • Busters are trained to know the specific weak points of the Pokémon they might have to face, so as to have higher chances of dealing them critical hits.
  • Tracey Sketchit, who admits himself not to be much of a battler, uses his observation skills to find weak spots for these, developed through his years as a Pokémon Watcher.
  • In the Indigo League, Paul's Murkrow has Super Luck, allowing him to defeat Gary's Pidgeot by landing multiple critical hits. Assunta's Fearow also has the ability Sniper (which powers up critical hits' damage), and has equipped anklets with Razor Claws to make use of it.
• Cruel and Unusual Death:
  • Anybody or anything other than a Grass-type Pokémon that gets covered in Vileplume pollen is guaranteed to suffer one of these unless they get prompt medical attention. To elaborate, the yellow pollen causes the nervous system to seize up and behave erratically, while the purple pollen dissolves tissues, starting with the mouth and respiratory system. In other words, they get liquefied from the inside out while simultaneously suffering a fatal seizure. One can only hope that most fatalities occur while the victim is unconscious.
  • Getting stung repeadedly by Beedrill is another. The victim gets swollen up like a balloon, the skin turns purple, and not even an antidote can save them. It makes the last moments so agonizing the victim actually would beg for their pain to end.
• Cruel Mercy: Mewtwo chooses not to kill Giovanni despite it being well within his power to do so. This is so he can watch helplessly as humanity falls, all while knowing that it was his fault.
• Cruel to Be Kind: The Golden Generation sees picking on Joe (their weakest link) as Tough Love to help him improve. Joe did not respond well to this teaching method and Giselle eventually realises how much Joe hated it.
• Cryptic Background Reference: Several, some of which have been explained or elaborated on, others of which have not:
  • Professor Oak made the world a better place 40 years before Ash awakened in the Reset timeline. How exactly he did it is yet to be shown, but it's known that thanks to his efforts, Pokémon are for the most part less agressive and more tolerant of humans. The G-Men Gaiden reveals that Professor Hastings also took part in it, and it's further explored in the Oak & Hastings Gaiden that they worked together using technology behind the latter's Capture Styler to develop a machine capable of pacifying aggressive Pokémon.
  • Another is the Great Offscreen War between Trainer nations and Ranger nations. Not much has been explained beyond the following points:
    • They ended decades ago and both sides are currently in a cold war state.
    • They were horrible.
    • The Draconids of Hoenn ended up allied with the Ranger nations as a result of territorial disputes with Sootopolians and this causes problems in the present day for Hoenn.
    • The incident that caused it to explode was the attack of a Gyarados school and the disagreement over catching or relocating them somewhere else so they wouldn't hurt anybody.
  • Georgia went through a mental list of gym leaders and Elite Four who had to be removed for committing crimes shortly after she was introduced. In order of increasing severity of their crimes, a Flying-type gym leader who was The Peeping Tom, a Bug-type gym leader who was a home invader and burglar, a Normal-type Elite Four who was involved in rigged matches, a Poison-type gym leader who committed sabotage, a Ghost-type gym leader who committed several murders and a Dark-type gym leader who was the leader of an Apocalypse Cult. The Ghost-type gym leader was elaborated on and it turns out he was responsible for murdering Georgia's parents as a Serial Killer, thus providing the motivation for Georgia to become a Buster.
  • An infamous criminal known as Twenty Gyarados Bill is cited as the cause of the current limit for six active Pokémon per trainer. His story is explored in his own gaiden.
  • The Fisher Clan are stated to have the Victreebel family as their signature Pokemon, with the clan winning many battles with them in the past. The Jeanette one-shot elaborated on that and it turns out the reason Victreebel is their signature Pokemon is because the founder of the Fisher Clan was a Victreebel Bloodliner.
  • In the Big P Pokemon Race Interlude, Lara said her family lived in harmony with wild Pokemon since her grandfather's time. Laramie Gaiden would then show why that's the case.
  • Some hints regarding the origins of Bloodliners. While it hasn't been specified yet, it's strongly implied that events like Kalos' Ultimate Weapon and meteor showers in Hoenn might have influenced them. Dr. Fuji apparently had discovered how they were born, although he was killed by Mewtwo and the secret died with him. However, the Bloodline Prince seems to have discovered that some people can turn into Bloodliners artificially, as opposed to being naturally born, as some people in Saffron apparently were turned by the clash between Sabrina and Ash somehow.
• Culture Clash: Decades before the start of the main story, Trainers and Rangers came into conflict and went to war. Though they ended about forty years ago, there are still lingering problems in the present day, as shown when Betty, a Trainer, and Zilant, a Ranger, came into conflict.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • Despite the Peggy Sue title, there have been surprisingly few and far between on Ash's part as while Ash and his Pokemon keep their experience and know-how, they didn't retain their power levels and the ability to do the moves they were able to do before time reseted. The few they have given out are generally against weaker opponents like the Samurai and the Cerulean Sisters.
  • Erika utterly demolishes Morana when the latter challenges her for control of her gym.
  • Falkner's attempt at fighting Ho-Oh fizzles out after one attack, and ends with him out cold for 4 days.
  • Blaine manages to take down Raymond's entire team, using only his Growlithe.
  • Ash and Misty defeat the Golden Generation of Pokémon Tech in a series of these. It was so humiliating for them that they briefly worry Noland is quitting his job because of it.
    • Special mention goes to the Pikachu vs Cubone fight: Pikachu attacks in the same way he did in canon, except that this time he doesn't grant Cubone one single hit. To add insult to injury, for the most part of the fight he doesn't even need Ash's orders.
  • Lorelei and Frey, using only three Pokémon each, completely dominate the Rocket grunts who attack the Mandarin Island Stadium.
  • In Chapter 31, Joshua angers Ash, who proceeds to trash his entire team in a full battle, not losing even one Pokémon, and despite not being at the top of his game due to his anger.
  • Their rematch at the Pokemon League only goes a little better for Joshua.
  • The Red Three Island Interlude has the titular character swiftly dispatching the Kanto Pokémon Federation with little to no effort.
  • Iris' Axew quickly makes short work of Mandi's Exeggutor in Chapter 40. To add insult to injury, he evolves to Fraxure after winning.
  • Red's Pokémon completely dominate Rosso's in the Six Island Interlude. To add insult to injury, they're all going against type disadvantages, and Sneasel manages to defeat a Machoke without receiving a sigle scratch.
  • Mewtwo's clones, like in canon, easily overpower their counterparts. At least until Ash uses his bloodliner powers to give Charizard a boost to win in one shot.
  • When the Rookie Crusher's fans come looking for trouble with Ash, his female companions are quick to give them what they deserve in a matter of seconds.
• Curb-Stomp Cushion:
  • Iris's fight with Red went this way: She did surprisingly well despite using Axew against a Clefairy. In fact, it might not have even been a Curb Stomp at all had the Clefairy not been.....disturbed.
  • Astrid loses to Vermell 3-2, but she does faint his Mega-Steelix in the process and also forces him to use it for the first time. Notably her Pyroar's fight with Steelix ended up being this. Pyroar was quickly defeated and did not get score a knockout like her other Pokemon, but Pyroar left a burn condition that helped Absol fell Steelix in the end.
  • While Ash managed to defeat Giselle's Cubone and Graveler using only his Pikachu, her Graveler did manage to get in a good hit with Magnitude. If it weren't for Pikachu's recovery time, she probably could've capitalized on his disorientation and knocked him out of the battle.
  • Dan's Pokémon manage to take out several of Sabrina's before going down. This impresses Sabrina enough to spare his life.
  • Maylene's Medicham manages to take out Kiya's Hitmonlee and Primeape on her own, but fighting the latter left her too injured and exhausted to continue, so Maylene had her Lucario take over for her to defeat Kiya's Machoke.
  • Ash manages to win one out of three rounds against Bruno. This is partly because Bruno's Hitmontop had Intimidate, which gave Serperior an attack power boost thanks to Contrary. Pidgeot and Pikachu also manage to put up good fights against Machamp and Hitmonchan, respectively.
  • During his second interlude, Ash's Butterfree gets caught off-guard by Viv a couple times, with her proving stronger than she looked and prompting him to get serious.
• Cursed with Awesome: In the second Holiday Special, MissingNo decides to make the Poké Balls in the Dude's bag to multiply infinitely until he ends up drowning in them. Instead, the Dude manages to use them to catch a large amount of Rattata, which he gives to Joey and Tristan for their giveaway event.
• Cyberspace: It's mentioned that a Porygon Species bloodliner could enter it.
• Cycle of Revenge: Agatha's Gengar dissuades a pack of old wild Growlithe who intend to attack a human village in revenge for being driven out of their home, pointing that if they do that, more humans will come to attack them in retaliation later, and the cycle will continue.
• Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: Frax speculates that this may be the case with his and Velvet's father, though Velvet really doesn't like the idea.
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique: The reason why Z-Moves can only be used once per battle: they drain a lot of strength from the trainer, and apparently people had killed themselves trying to pull them off within hours. Bloodliners seem to be capable of using them after resting for a few minutes, although not without passing out shortly after. Ash however manages to pull off two Gigavolt Havocs in the span of minutes without passing out, even though he does evidence exhaustion and it takes a lot of power and energy restoring from both Yellow and Lucario to even do that.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Pan's sister was kidnapped from his home when he was 5, and at some point into his Pokemon journey he became obsessed with hunting down the Bloodline King, whom he believes to be responsible.
• Darker and Edgier: Than both the original anime and Ashes of the Past. Though certainly not without silliness or fluff, it nevertheless has quite a bit of grittiness and tragedy. However, at the same time, it's not as dark as stuff like The Sun Soul. The author says this balance is intentional.
  • Character deaths actually occur, like John Archer and Tokiomi Borealis.
  • References and depictions of crime happen in the fic where it would never be mentioned in the anime proper, like murder and rape.
  • Pokémon being used in wars isn't limited to pokemon fighting other pokemon. Grimer and Muk have been used to poison water supplies, Koffing have been used as bombs, etc.
  • The second Holiday Special, compared to the first. In part because the main author, by his own admittance, wasn't really writing cheerful one shots, a number of them came off as sadder and creepier than the first one.
  • Played for Laughs in the April Fools oneshot "Pokémon Reset Bloodlines - The Movie - The Fanfiction", who portrays an Anthropomorphic Personification named "Darkern Edgier" as part of a board of movie directors. Naturally, his pitches for a movie based on Ash are all rejected.
• A Day in the Limelight:
  • A Reset Interlude takes place during the main story, focusing on events that weren't portrayed during the main story, as opposed to a Reset Gaiden that functions as an Origins Episode and mostly taking place before the main story.
  • Chapters 39, 40, and 41 are devoted more to Misty, Iris, and Anabel respectively, though Ash still gets a decent focus.
• Deadly Dodging:
  • In the Clemont Gaiden, when the robot guarding them malfunctions and goes berserk, Clemont and Shinx manage to trick it into crashing against the van's doors to escape.
  • Unintentional example in the Frax & Velvet Interlude. When a wild Leavanny uses Me First and steals a Metronome-summoned Blast Burn from Munchlax, Frax manages to get them both out of the way, and the attack hits several of the surrounding wild Pokémon, also destroying part of the canyon behind them.
  • Squirtle uses an ice shard as a board to dodge the Aqua Jet attacks of a Wartortle aboard the S.S. Anne, making him crash against the ice pillars on the field.
  • In the Indigo League, Paul has to force his Cloyster to do this against Gary's Porygon, while being chased by a double Thunderbolt after getting Locked-On. It was the only way to avoid getting defeated.
• Dead Guy Junior: Zinnia named her daughter Aster after her late friend, the previous lorekeeper.
• Dead Man Writing: In the second Holiday Special, Calem receives a letter from an old man in Anistar. It turns out it's his final message for him so he can fulfill one last promise he couldn't before he passed away.
• Death by Adaptation:
  • Both of Brock's parents are dead in the new timeline.
  • While Misty's parents are not shown in canon, and were said to have abandoned them in Pocket Monsters: The Animation, they are confirmed dead in this timeline.
  • It's implied in the Koga and Janine oneshot that Koga's anime sister Aya died in her childhood.
  • Dario gets killed by a telekinetic Neck Snap, courtesy of Sabrina. Melvin the Magician and Seymour the Scientist soon follow, as well as other characters of the day.
  • Possibly the Striaton Triplets. While Dexter says they're probably dead, there's nothing conclusive. Furthermore, Iris was actually declared Legally Dead, but turned out to be alive. And then there's the way MissingNo referred to Cilan in the present tense...
  • Sabrina's mother was alive in the anime (albeit turned into a doll). Here, she died of an illness when Sabrina was two years old.
• Death from Above: Draco Meteor is this as per canon. Future Sight also manifests this way sometimes.
  • In her interlude, Solidad's Ninetales uses Solar Beam this way, firing separate beams from its tails to converge in a sphere above the opponent, and then rain all over.
• Death of a Child: There've been two notable instances so far.
  • In the Georgia Gaiden, it's mentioned that one of the Reaper's victims was a seven-year old.
  • In the climax of the Mars Gaiden, Kibou, also seven years old, is killed by Mars' uncle when he smacks her on the head with a club.
• Decapitated Army: Referenced by Steven while fighting Zevie, as he tries to prevent the latter from giving commands to his Pokémon.
• Deceased Fall-Guy Gambit: After Kibou is accidentally killed by Mars' uncle, his wife suggests they kill their niece and claim she did it. That way, they can both be rid of their charge, and justify the death of the "little witch".
• Decomposite Character:
  • Remember Ash's "Ashley" disguise? Yeah, she's a real person now and might be his half-sister.
  • Another possible half sibling, is pretty much SM era Ash. His name is Frax.
  • Aster is seen as two different possible characters by fans: The previous Lorekeeper of the Draconid Tribe, and Zinnia's daughter. In Reset there are two Asters.
• Defeating the Undefeatable: This is Head Leader Drake's main concern during his interlude, as the Orange League challengers tend to get closer to beating him every time.
• Defiant to the End:
  • When Sanpei is being held at knifepoint by Capriccio, he simply tells him that his plans won't succeed. Subverted in a way, since he survives being stabbed thanks to a scroll he was carrying.
• Depending on the Writer: While nowhere near as nuts as some multi-writer series (as no character goes from complex gray to baby-murdering psycho), there are a few characteristics that one writer will give a character that is not present in other takes:
  • Iris tends to speak without using contractions when Crossoverpairinglover writes her, a characteristic not usually seen with the others.
  • The Pokedex is generally called Dexter when written by another who isn't Cross. In addition, the way his dialogue is written differs between writers when it comes to it being italicized or not.
• Depopulation Bomb: Dark Pestilence wiped out half the population in this universe's equivalent of Europe. And they weren't painless deaths either.
• Description Cut: In Chapter 31, Aideen says "Somewhere in Kalos, Serena smiles and she knows not why". Cut to Serena, she's actually in line of a pharmacy, and she's not smiling at all.
• Deserted Island: Most of the Laramie Gaiden takes place in one, with Leeroy Laramie and Jenkins Jackrum trying to survive until they find a way to return home.
• Destination Defenestration:
  • Blaine's Magmortar blasts a Team Rocket grunt and his Gengar through a window at the Pokémon Mansion.
  • Will attempts to give Pryce a scare as a Bedsheet Ghost during Christmas. The old man sics his Sneasel, who uses Beat Up to smash him through the window.
• Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat: Discussed in Chapter 47 by Elwood in the aftermath of Ash defeating Joshua, and discussed by Iris when she confronts the other trainer directly, each of them accusing Joshua of not having faith in his own abilities.
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Downplayed, but in Chapter 50 a Moltres that attacks Ash, Anabel and their Pokémon doesn't seem to get angry at being called things like "Crazy bird" or "Oversized Pidgey".
• Diegetic Soundtrack Usage:
  • Ash apparently has all the English Dub's theme songs on his I-Tunes account, which his Pokedex can play for him.
  • Erika's Gloom hums the song "What Kind of Pokémon Are You?" when called to battle against AJ.
  • Delia sings part of "You & Me & Pokémon" during Ash's 15th birthday.
  • Jasmine Lono has "Under the Alolan Sun" as her Xtranceiver's ringtone.
  • Lorelei has "Pokémon Dance Mix" set as her ringtone.
  • Misty sings "Catch Me if You Can" in Chapter 41.
• Die or Fly: Misty learned to use Waterfall in order to save herself from hitting the rocky bottom of one.
• Dirty Mind-Reading:
  • In Chapter 30, Anabel accidentally sees Ash's memory of when he bathed with Iris under the waterfall.
  • Later in Chapter 33, she also reads the Team Rocket trio's minds, and their ordeal with James' old fianceé Jessiebelle. She's surprised to find out it's an actual thing.
  • Combined with Dream Walker in Chapter 41: she enters Iris' dream, which starts out with her doing wrestling training with Ash... and then turns into something else.
• Dirty Old Man: One of these convinced his grandson to challenge Erika so he could spy on a wedding at the Celadon Gym.
• Dirty Old Woman: According to Alish, the reason why Blaine installed anti-peeping security measures on both sides of the hot springs was because of an old woman who tried to sneak in a screwdriver.
• Disappeared Dad: Whoever fathered Ash and his many siblings, he was never around to help their respective mothers raise them, and is strongly hinted to play an important role.
  • Ash doesn't remember who his father is, though that is also partially because the timeline being messed up made it hard to remember.
  • If Red's nightmares are to be believed, his dad never bothered with him.
  • Arnold's mom revealed that she and Arnold's father only met once, he put the moves on her, and afterwards he vanished without a trace.
  • Neither the Lono twins nor Iolani know anything about their father nor ever met him. Frax thinks their dad had his reasons, though Velvet and Iolani think otherwise.
  • Hau is a different case: his father left due to disagreements with Hala, due to the latter's resistance to change and wanting to stick to the Alolan traditions too much.
• Disguised in Drag: In Chapter 31, James uses Fake Boobs and a skirt belonging to Jessie to get discounts at a knick-knack shop during Princess' Day.
• Disney Death: Some characters have been presumed dead and later turned out to be alive. Most of the time there were cases of Never Found the Body.
  • In the Charmander Gaiden, Kaia, Charmander's original trainer was presumed to have been killed by the Route 1 Spearow flock. She made it out alive, but lost her eyesight from the attack.
  • The Squirtle Squad members managed to make it out of the cave in that separated them. Joker was found by the Vermillion Officer Jenny, Thinker was taken in by Kaia, while Heavy and Scout managed to stick together for a while until they were attacked by an Ekans that tried to eat them and were separated from each other. By the Holiday Special 2018, Scout has an injured leg but is otherwise fine, and Heavy is implied to still go around looking for strong opponents to fight.
  • The Gray Poochyena gets gravely wounded by the Bloodliner Hunter, but before she's killed off she collapses her cave's entrance to cut him off. She manages to survive long enough to be rescued.
• Disney Villain Death:
  • William Stronger falls off a cliff into the sea at the climax of Ultima Interlude. However, Looker later reveals that the search parties haven't found his body to confirm his death. And as it turns out, he's pretty much alive.
  • Falcone Xicato falls to his death off a hangar's roof, though unlike the above case, it's intentional on his part.
• Disproportionate Retribution:
  • In the Oak's Summer Camp Gaiden, a kid named Joshua gets really upset at losing to Ash in a baseball game. His response: when Ash is taking part in a Rhyhorn race, he uses a slingshot to hit Ash's Rhyhorn to make it go wild, and he could have gotten seriously hurt had it not been for Serena's intervention.
  • An angry mob tried to kill Evanna for accidentally stepping on a Slowpoke while saving a baby.
  • Bloodliner or not, Laila was kicked out of her home simply because she was good at dodging stuff.
  • While a guy jerking himself off while watching a wedding and disrupting things is inexcusable, banning every single male challenger from Celadon's Gym was still pretty excessive.
  • Mars' aunt and uncle are willing to beat her and throw her out of the house for such minor things as forgetting to take out the trash.
  • Mewtwo unleashes his psychic powers around himself when the mind-controlled Nurse Joy brings him bad news about the progress on Amber's cloning, causing her a lot of pain, though he quickly regains control an tries to soothe it himself.
• Distinction Without a Difference: While Kingler can't learn Earthquake directly, Ash is able to improvise by having Kingler use a dual Crabhammer and slam his pincers into the ground, which creates an equivalent shockwave.
• Distracted by the Sexy: Numerous male trainers were defeated by Erika because they didn't have their heads in the game, thanks to the girls in her gym being affectionate with one another.
• Divorce Assets Conflict: One is going through between Zilant's mother Pia, and his step-father Garmon.
• Do-Anything Robot: Pokedexes: they can play music, connect to the Internet, perform as credit cards, hack into government databases to obtain top-secret information and Pokéballs to register them under Ash's ownership, etc etc. Emitting lasers and fighting personally are the only two things they are confirmed to not be able to do.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?:
  • Much like with mutants in the X-Men franchise, there are a number of deliberate parallels between Bloodliners and LGBT people. This is eventually lampshaded in the Jeanette interlude: when Jeanette was about to reveal to her parents she was one of the former, her mother initially thought Jeanette was one of the latter.
  • With the names of the T.A.T.O alliance and the Fall City Pact, one can see some Cold War parallels with N.A.T.O and the Warsaw Pact.
  • The Draconid conflict in the Hoenn region is reminiscent of many real-world ethnic conflicts involving indigenous peoples.
  • In the Charmander Gaiden, Charmander's actions and thought processes regarding Damian are disturbingly similar to those of a Domestic Abuse victim.
  • The Wicke oneshot describes laws in the Ranger Nations not unlike those China has to prevent gender based abortions.
• Do Not Go Gentle: In the Twenty Gyarados Bill oneshot the soldiers facing against Bill realize they're almost certainly going to die, but decide to go down fighting, and manage to take a few of the remaining Gyarados in the process.
• Do Not Taunt Cthulhu:
  • Falkner learned this firsthand when he boasted that he was going to catch Ho-oh right in front of it. Ho-oh was not amused, and promptly sent Falkner and his Pidgeot plummetting down Mt. Silver with a simple flap.
  • So does Cross, who tried to catch a Zapdos, who promptly knocks him and his two Pokémon off the hill, ending with his arm injured.
  • When Corey tries to argue that a Pokémon cannot be a Pokémon Master, Mewtwo did not take it kindly. Later when Ash's Pokédex openly insults and taunts him, his response is to shred the device to pieces.
• Don't Ask: When Giovanni wonders why Butch and Cassidy smell like stale ketchup after they come back from Dark City, the former says this in response. Since he has other matters to attend to, he decides he can live without knowing.
• Don't Go in the Woods: Agatha & Sam Gaiden has Agatha's younger brother Tony run off into the Drowning Woods to try and catch a Gastly so he can prove he has what it takes to become a great trainer. When Agatha and Sam follow him, they have to brave some horrible danger.
• Don't Tell Mama:
  • In the Iris Gaiden, Iris and Axew convinced their Dragonite big brother to train them by offering not to tell their mother about him getting into fights.
  • In Iris's Pallet Chapter of the main story, Ash's Pokédex suggested that they keep their encounter with an angry Zapdos a secret from Delia, and everyone agrees to.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!:
  • Kiya reacts this way to Maylene defeating him and even sucker-punches her in the nose when she tries to help him get up.
  • Minuetto is a downplayed example, though it's more because he prefers to earn things rather than having them given to him.
  • Throughout his arc, this is a major Berserk Button for Mewtwo, since he tries to prove his superiority.
• Doomed Hometown:
  • Turquoise Town, where Sabrina was born and raised is featured in her gaiden. An unusual example, given that it's the protagonist herself who willingly dooms her hometown, and by the present time, it's been effectively erased from the map.
  • Fabron's village and Elder and Feu's forest sanctuary also count as this in the G-Men Gaiden.
• Doomsday Device: Dr. Julius Garonte built several of these.
• Doorstopper: The main story alone has over 800,000 words. And judging by the author's comments, it's barely even begun. Once you start factoring in the spinoff and the tie-in one-shots, it gets even longer.
• Dope Slap: Lana gets one from Mallow for a remark she makes about seeing Kiawe and Frax shirtless. It's implied that it's not the first time.
• Doppelgänger Spin: How Double Team works in the universe.
• Double Entendre: One bar patron asks Meliae if her Cloyster would like to meet his Onix.
• Double Knockout:
  • Astrid and Vermell's battle ends with Astrid's Absol and Vermell's Mega-Steelix falling at the same time. However Steelix was Vermell's second Pokemon and Absol Astrid's third, so he ended up winning the match anyway.
  • A.J.'s Sandslash ends up this way when fighting against Erika's Nuzleaf, leaving both trainers down to one Pokémon left.
  • Ash's Pikachu when he battles against Anabel's Kadabra.
  • Happens twice in the Skyla Gaiden. The first is when an eleven year-old Skyla takes on a gym challenger named Aero in order to practice. The second happens during a gym battle as actual leader, in a match against Betty Snyder. In both of these cases, the challenger was given a badge.
  • In the Brock & Lucy Gaiden, Brock's first Onix uses Bide on Lucy's Milotic, who reflects it with Mirror Coat. Neither one is able to take it, ending the match in a draw.
  • In Chapter 32, Gary's Porygon manages to knock Paul's Hypno out, but sucumbs to the poison it had been inflicted before.
  • Happens threefold in the Ash vs. Giovanni battle in Chapter 42. First, Squirtle goes down taking out Giovanni's Dugtrio, then Giovanni's Steelix uses Explosion to take out Yanma, and lastly Exeggutor goes down taking out Giovanni's Nidoking.
  • In the Gligarman Interlude, Flashstrika's Electivire ends up incapacitated along with the Pride Sniper's Seviper, the former poisoned and the latter paralyzed.
• Doublethink: Captain Crook is incredibly prejudiced against Bloodliners, considering them horrible and awful. However, he also thinks that Mizu will be decent enough to come back for her family. This contradiction is (mentally) pointed out by Scuz.
• Downer Beginning: The story opens with Cyrus dismantling the universe, killing nearly everybody.
• Downer Ending:
  • Cipher Interlude. Not only does Shawn have to continue working for Cipher, he was forced to kill Jeff by his superiors. And to top everything off, he's given possession of Mizutaro, who's been turned into a Shadow Pokémon, and will definitely be a constant reminder of what he did and the consequences thereof.
  • Mars Gaiden too. Kibou is dead, Mars has undergone her Start of Darkness, and the once kindly priest William Stronger is on his way to becoming the Bloodliner Hunter.
• Dragged Off to Hell: The Old Chateau ghosts, after the stone keeping them anchored to the world of the living is destroyed by Gardenia and Rotom, end up getting sucked by a spiraling vortex into the afterlife.
• Dramatic Irony:
  • When Iris breaks down for not being able to save her family from Hunter J, Misty feels at unease as she realizes that, had she been in Iris' position, she'd be cheering instead of crying, given the way her family always treated her. She's still unaware that her sisters were kidnapped by the Bloodline King to breed more Bloodliner children.
  • The Samurai dismissed Snivy as useless because she wasn't a Bug-type, not knowing that she had Leaf Storm and Contrary.
  • A.J. tells Jeanette that he always wanted to meet a Bloodliner. He doesn't know that Ash, Misty and Iris are Bloodliners.
  • Belladonna might have succeeded in killing Tokiomi for betraying Aurora, but she's still unaware that Aurora didn't really want her father dead, and only followed through with the plan out of fear of being left alone.
  • After Lara and Hex are revealed to be Bloodliners, the former wishes they had more Bloodliner friends, not realising they already do in Ash and Co.
  • Due to catching a fever, Ritchie was unable to attend Professor Oak's Summer Camp, missing a chance to possibly meet and even befriend Ash early on in this timeline.
  • William Stronger is firmly convinced of being on a divine mission to eradicate bloodliners. Unbeknownst to him, the one who spurred him into it is basically the equivalent of the Devil.
  • Tracey apparently visits Oak's lab on a regular basis, but Ash has never had the chance to talk to him (at least not yet).
  • Ash is convinced that nobody died on the first timeline at the period of Movie 1 during those lost hours of his memory. Little does he know he was the one who died, even if he came back to life almost immediately.
  • The Katie Gaiden ends with John Archer and Katie promising to meet in a few months to travel together. This would be the last time they'd see each other, due to John's death.
  • In the Holiday Special 2020, it's revealed that Rubrum has gotten in touch with Hilda and the Bloodliner Prince, whose goal is to make the world "a better place" for him and his siblings. He clearly has no idea what he's gotten himself into.
  • In the Remake Chapter 2 continuity, one of the first new things Ash discovers upon waking up in the new timeline is that he now has several siblings, via Delia's marriage with Kukui and Burnet, and he gets pretty happy and excited about this. Little does he know that he has hundreds, or maybe more, of siblings from his biological father's side.
• The Dreaded:
  • According to an Omake of ambiguous canonicity, the Miltank of the line Whitney use are this. To the point that using them in war was declared a War Crime. Even today they still beat many challengers, as later confirmed by the Whitney oneshot.
  • Iris' adoptive family (of Dragonites and other dragon-type mons) told her never go to Mt. Moon, since it's populated by terrible monsters that would tear her apart (the Clefairies), indicating that Dragon-types see Fairy-types as this.
  • Gyarados also have this reputation, claiming that if it wasn't for their crippling weakness to electric attacks, humans would be unable to live near the sea. So when Misty's Gyarados reveals a way to nullify electric attacks (by using Iron Tail to jab itself into the ground) in her fight against Red, he has a massive Oh, Crap! moment. The Twenty Gyarados Bill Gaiden really emphasises the point about how terrifying Gyarados can be.
  • To Misty, bugs as always, but she gains a new phobia in Vileplume after being caught in one's toxins.
  • Fire-type Pokémon used to be this, until Blaine's research proved that they weren't as dangerous as people made them out to be.
  • Hunter J is this to the criminal underworld.
  • Played for Laughs with the recurring Jigglypuff, who is this to Ash and the rest of his Pokémon. And he ends up catching her by accident.
• Dreaming of Things to Come:
  • With a little help from MissingNo, Ash and Pikachu see a vision of a possible Bad Future while asleep in Chapter 26.
  • In the Ultima Interlude, William stronger reveals that he's dreamed of the future Bloodliner War every single night. The cause for this is revealed in the Mars Gaiden as having coming into contact with the Adamant Orb.
  • In the Sir Aaron & Lucario Gaiden, while comatose after taking a Future Sight attack for Lucario, Sir Aaron experiences visions in regards to the distant future, bloodliners, and Ash.
• Dream Sue: Misty has recurring dreams about her future self. In these dreams, she can effortlessly defeat extra-scary Bug-types, has multiple legendaries in her party, and is considered a serious contender for a spot on the Elite Four.
• Dressing as the Enemy: Pokémon G-Men agents have to do this as part of their infiltration work in criminal organizations.
• Drink-Based Characterization:
  • The Clay Interlude has Pan order a glass of milk while at the Dicey Café. In this case, it's to help underscore his status as a serious badass, since he's on a hunt for the Bloodline King. That's not to say he doesn't genuinely like milk, though, and it's established that he picked up a fondness for the drink while in Johto.
  • Played for Laughs in the main story: Ash and Anabel go to a bar for their first date, and while the latter has already turned 16 and thus is legal to drink alcohol, the Pokédex thinks it's funny to take advantage of the translation app to order milk for Ash, who is still a few months away.
• Driven to Suicide: In the Gligarman Interlude, Falcone Xicato chooses to kill himself rather than be arrested.
• Drives Like Crazy: Nate implies to Yancy that he's not impressed with the rollercoaster because of someone like this.
• Drowning My Sorrows: A trainer named Gregory goes off to drink at the local bar in Blackthorn after he loses to Clair due to a lucky blow. Fortunately, she snaps him out of it before he can get a hangover.
• The Drunken Sailor: Ash and Co encounter one before meeting Ashley, another possible half-sibling, who explains he tried to recover from a political dinner that was full of concentrated hypocrisy.
• Drunk with Power: Charizard discusses this with Gigalith, recalling his own experience on how evolution can change completely a Pokémon's personality.
• Due to the Dead:
  • When he hears the reports of Iris's death, Charmander briefly stops his training. Considering just how badly he wants to regain his evolved forms, it's a big thing for him.
  • Twenty Gyarados Bill may be the reason why there is a limit on the number of active Pokemon a trainer can have on them at the same time, but the reason why the limit is specifically six Pokemon is to honor Elite Four member Denki Tekina and his six electric Pokemon who gave their lives to defeat Twenty Gyarados Bill.
  • Subverted and zigzagged in the G-Men Gaiden. Fabron doesn't bury the corpses of his family and friends, but that's partly because there are too many and he needs to get to the next town as soon as possible to warn people of Dainsleif. On the other hand, after Accentus' kills most of their friends and kidnaps the few survivors, Feu and Elder have an argument over whether they should bury them (the humans' way) or leave them to nature (the Pokémon's way) because of Feu's distrust and hatred for humans.
  • In the 2019 Holiday Special, Katie is shown visiting John Archer's grave to wish him a merry Christmas. The follow-up scene in the 2020 special reveals that Phoebe is also fond of visiting graveyards to honor the deceasad.
• Dungeon Bypass: In-Universe, Ash and Co. get to New Island ahead of everybody else by teleporting there, skipping Mewtwo's storm altogether.
• Dwindling Party: In Shadows of the Jungle, the team who goes to explore Guyana in search for a Legendary Pokémon starts with the researchers Gideon Knowles, Bertram Huges and Sonya Keys, along with three trainers hired by Giovanni to protect them, later joined by a local guide. Betram is the first to disappear, along with all of his personal effects, leading everyone to believe he left of his own violation. The guide follows shortly after, in the same circumnstances. Later, during an attack from vicious Bug-types, one of Giovanni's trainers is fatally stung by Beedrill, to the point he even begs for the others to end his pain. Later, Sonya goes missing during another attack, and following one final reprieve, the two remaining Giovanni trainers end up overwhelmed by the swarm. In the end, only Knowles remains to tells the story, writing his final entry after being taken to an underground lair where the Bug-types reside, controlled by their Hive Queen.
• Dying Smirk: In the side story "Twenty Gyarados", Bill Gaiden, after being fatally wounded by a Hyper Beam collision, he smiles in triumph along with his Mega Gyarados, as he succeeded in ensuring that nobody will ever laugh at him again.
• Dying Town: Cynthia's childhood hometown is described as being such.
• Dynamic Entry:
  • At the climax of the Gringy City incident, Charizard breaks the door to the control room, letting himself and the other Pokémon in to rescue Ash.
  • Krabby does this against Sabrina in Chapter 34.
• Early-Bird Cameo:
  • Noland, Scott, and Tucker of the Battle Frontier all show up during Ash's first journey in Kanto, with the frontier itself still in its early stages with only 5 Brains (with Noland being the recently recruited 5th).
  • In the Cynthia oneshot, Wes and Sabrina cameo in a vision of a possible future. Wes later appeared in Chapter 23's stinger.
  • Canon Hoenn Grand Festival winner Robert cameos in a photo in the Gary oneshot.
  • The Red One Island Oneshot, via a dream, has a few on Ash's end. Namely Snorlax and Heracross, who at the point the story was set and released are not present. The story also had a cameo of a future evolution, Serperior, as well as a Pokemon Red could not identify beyond being bipedal.
  • Jigglypuff and Ritchie appeared in an post chapter Omake long before they appeared in the story proper.
  • Servine's evolution to Serperior was teased at the start of Red One Island interlude via Red's dream.
  • Ash's Froakie is briefly seen by Pikachu through a videocall between Professor Oak and Professor Sycamore, during the Indigo League, and was present in the first chapter before reality rebooted.
  • The Holiday Special 2020 gives a glimpse of Ash's Litten and Gengar, two of the mons he would have caught post-Kalos, had reality not been reset.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: The early chapters are beta'd by a different beta than the later ones, with a more snarky edit style. The first chapters are also shorter than the ones that would be more common later.
• Earthquakes Cause Fissures: In the Twenty Gyarados Bill Gaiden, Bill has "Sixteenth" use Earthquake in Olivine City, which opens up a crack in the ground that kills a Nurse Joy.
• Eating the Eye Candy:
  • Paul ogles Morana's breasts for about 13 seconds. Erika stares for more than twice as long.
  • Lana seems to enjoy seeing shirtless boys.
  • Ash admits that Misty looks good in a swimsuit. Later he gets a similar reaction about seeing Iris while bathing under a waterfall, and during the shopping spree in Chapter 31, he gets it threefold with Misty, Iris and Anabel. Then even more during Chapter 36, while they're enjoying a day off at the beach.
  • Jessie apparently has been doing it on Ash for a while, though she claims he's not her type.
• Edible Bludgeon: In the first Holiday Special, Mina has a dream about Santa Claus fighting MissingNo with a giant candy cane.
• Elegant Gothic Lolita: Duchess Leidenberg is described to be dressed as one.
• Empty Piles of Clothing: In the Chapter 44 omake, an alternate Ash and his companions end up leaving their clothes behind after Mewtwo's Dark Balls. This was a result of a single change, and it had more consequences than one could expect to that timeline.
• Enemy Mine:
  • During the Bloodline War in the Bad Future, Ash apparently teamed up with Belladonna against the Bloodline King. Privately, Present!Ash wonders what circumstances would make such an alliance desirable for him.
  • In the Black Rose Tournament Interlude, Marilyn Flame proposes to Ninja Riot a truce should a battle break out, and he reluctantly agrees.
  • To some extent Betty and Zilant fighting the Palossand was this, though they were not working together directly, neither could have stopped the thing on their own.
  • Steven has to convince the Draconids to agree to a truce to stop Team Zenith, after they steal from both of them some artifacts that could potentially destroy Hoenn and the world.
  • In Chapter 33, Ash's female companions run into Belladonna and company while looking for him. After explaining the situation, Belladonna invites herself to go along to help them find him, despite Misty and Iris not trusting her.
  • MissingNo during the Glitch War events is forced to rely on other characters to destroy the fragments of ZZAZZ for him, and even collaborates with the Storytelling Gastly in order to track them through time easily.
• Energy Weapon: Melanie's facility is protected by Bulbasaur statues that can fire lasers from the tips of their bulbs.
• Entertainingly Wrong:
  • Misty assumes Ash to be a Fighting-Heart bloodliner after seeing him use Counter. This turns out to be wrong, but given the limited knowledge she had at the time, it was a logical conclusion to draw.
  • Ash assumes Team Rocket is still after Pikachu in this timeline, because he has no way of knowing about their real mission. They, of course, are only too happy to keep him in the dark.
  • After Squirtle has his memories restored, he assumes the Charmander travelling with Ash is Charizard's offspring. Of course, he had no way of guessing the truth.
  • When Iris sees Team Rocket stalking Ash, she thinks they're planning to eat him. Considering she grew up in the wild, it's understandable why she assumed that.
  • A possibly invoked example in the Gladion Interlude: Gladion's Umbreon tries to point his trainer to a group of girls in swimsuits playing at a beach. Gladion then comments that Umbreon would prefer him to peek on them rather than reading his Alphanegan Chronicles. Umbreon was actually trying to tell him that his sister Lillie was one of them, but he slips up and nods, and then realizes what Gladion said. Cue Face Palm.
  • When Serena sees Ash and Red side by side, she assumes they're cousins, and dismissed the possibility of Ash having siblings. Likewise, Paul is convinced they're cousins based on the fact they have different surnames.
  • In Chapter 31, Iris sees Joshua and thinks that he's a shiny human.
  • Jessie and Meowth assume in the 2018 April Fools day chapter that Coprophilia means being attracted to Officer Jenny.
  • Later, they ask Giovanni if Ash is his son. Giovanni amusingly denies it, while also revealing that he does have a red-haired son somewhere else.
  • When he spots Red's Clefairy trying to approach Iris' Fraxure, Pikachu assumes the worst and tries to do a preemptive attack. They're left dumbfounded when it turns out Clefairy just wanted to apologize for his previous behavior.
  • Ash assumes that as no one died during Movie 1's event, that nothing bad happened and he shouldn't be worried about it. Anyone who's seen the film is well aware that someone did die during it: himself.
  • In the Holiday Special 2020, Professor Sycamore tries to understand Froakie's body language about the kind of trainer he's looking for, having rejected every single one. He assumes that Froakie means he wants a trainer who's experienced as opposed to a rookie one.
• Equivalent Exchange: MissingNo cites this principle when talking about the death of Brock's parents, claiming that leaving him an orphan so that he could achieve his dreams was actually doing him a favor, calling it a "bargain". It also claims that Ash and the others have had to give up something important in this new timeline in exchange for having a chance to fulfill their dreams.
• Erotic Dream:
  • Chapter 27 suggests that Serena may have had some of these about Ash.
  • Iris has one about Ash in Chapter 41, which gets interrupted by Anabel's unexpectedly entering it.
• Escape Pod: When trying to escape Hunter J's airship, Ash and his Pokémon go looking for one they can use. They find an entire hanger full of such craft, but unfortunately, J is already there.
• "Eureka!" Moment: In Chapter 27, Ash has one when he catches a glimpse of Paul, which gives him an idea of how to defeat Lilo's Mudsdale.
• Everyone Has Standards: Darkern Edgier may love all things "gritty" and "mature" to an unhealthy degree, but even he's horrified by shipping wars.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • On five separate occasions, Belladonna's mother was beaten by fellow inmates who found her treatment of her daughter abhorrent.
  • In the Black Rose Tournament Interlude, Ninja and Marilyn are fine with stealing jewels and art, but draw the line at the theft of trainer-owned Pokémon. They look down on those who do it, considering them "false thieves".
  • The Wicke & Nephew Interlude mentions that even Team Skull looks down on Pokémon abusers.
  • The Black Arachnid might be a thief, but he never steals from people who can't afford it and never harms an innocent.
  • One of Captain Crook's sailors is clearly uncomfortable with the idea of kidnapping a child and selling her for experimentation.
  • Doctor Garonte used to work for Team Aqua, until they kicked him out for unauthorized experiments on some of their grunts.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good:
  • A comparatively minor example; in his first direct battle with Ash, Paul dismisses Misty and Iris as nothing more than Ash's cheerleaders/groupies, but Ash counters that Paul could never understand why he might want to travel with friends.
  • During the Indigo League, while the 'Rookie Crusher' may be better defined as a jerk rather than evil, he assumes that Ash enjoyed defeating his first opponent in the League so easily that he made the girl cry, when Ash did his best to offer emotional support to his opponent and felt quite bad for her.
• Evil-Detecting Dog: In the Red Five Island Interlude, Red's Pokémon react with hostility to a disguised Rocket Grunt. His complaints indicate that this happens a lot.
• Evil Is Not Well-Lit: The Bloodline King's throne room is devoid of visible sunlight.
• Evil Is Petty: A relatively mild example is Joshua in the Oak's Summer Camp Gaiden. He's not above cheating to get ahead, and gets so upset when Ash beats him in a baseball game, he actually tries to sabotage him in a Rhyhorn race, fully aware that he could have gotten himself or others seriously hurt.
• Evil Lawyer Joke: Lawyers are considered one of the 5 mortal enemies of ninja, like Koga and Janine.
• Evil Overlooker: The tyrannical Nidoking from the Kangaskhan Kid Gaiden is shown on the story's image, looming over Tommy and a herd of Kangaskhan.
• Evil Uncle:
  • Felgrand and most of the other infamous Seven Brothers are strongly hinted to be this for Ash, Red, John Archer, and Belladonna, among others.
  • Mars' uncle and aunt treat her as a slave, abuse her, and try to kill her and blame her friend Kibou for it, so that they can justify killing the "little witch".
• Evil Versus Evil:
  • Team Rocket doesn't like other Pokémon thieves operating on their turf.
    • Hunter J is mentioned to be in competition with Team Rocket, and doesn't want to stay in their airspace any longer than she has to.
    • The TR Trio captures Felgrand after they find out he's been buying and selling Pokémon without authorization from their team's higher-ups.
    • Giovanni sees the Bloodline King as a threat to his own world domination plans.
  • Team Cipher tries to expand its operations into Alola, where they run afoul of Team Skull.
  • Team Aqua and Team Magma are at odds with each other, as per canon.
• Exactly What I Aimed At:
  • Steven Interlude: While fighting against Team Zenith, Sawyer sends out the Bagon he befriended at Carly and Taylor, who have their Pokémon raise a Protect to shield them from its incoming headbutt attack. Bagon misses them... and then hits the mountain wall behind them causing a rock slide that turns the tide of the battle to the Draconids' favor.
  • Akala Island Adventures: Olivia's Midday Lycanroc Lychee launches a Rock Slide attack, missing Team Skull's Pokémon. They mock the Kahuna's aim, until they realize the attack was meant for her Midnight Lycanroc, Rocky, so he can unleash a Counter on them.
  • Casey Snagem's Bond Phenomenon Chesnaught throws a shield at Mewtwo, who dodges it by teleporting out of the way. The shield ricochets off a wall and hits Mewtwo from behind. It doesn't actually hurt him, but does catch him briefly off guard.
  • In the second Butterfree Interlude, Viv fires out some String Shot threads that Ash's Butterfree dodges easily. Turns out she was actually aiming for a nearby rock to pull and hit him on the back. He later pulls a similar stunt on her at the end of the oneshot.
• Exact Words:
  • General DeEsper demanded that nobody interfered in his duel with Sir Aaron, and he stuck to it. Of course, he never said that he couldn't interfere with Lucario and Alakazam's battle.
  • Blake also uses this when he tells Yancy "You can call me Nate".
  • Frederick Swietenia argues that his contract with the Pride Sniper stated that he was to get Kellen Roberts out of his way for the election. So, even while he didn't manage to kill him, the fact he won't be able to run due to undergoing rehab means he fulfilled his end of the deal.
  • Mewtwo invokes this to justify his self-proclaimed title of "the world's biggest Pokémon Master", as he is a master of himself, the strongest Pokémon in the world.
• Executive Meddling: invoked Chapter 25 takes its time to be a Take That! to this, with the trope itself appearing as an Anthropomorphic Personification who tries (futilely) to sway the author. Though the author does note that sometimes Executive Meddling is a good thing. The Take That! is mainly aimed at meddling that makes a work worse off.
• Exotic Extended Marriage: It's mentioned that polygamy was an accepted practice in ancient Alola. As it was in ancient Hawaii in real life.
• Expecting Someone Taller: In the Black Rose Tournament Interlude, Duchess Leidenberg gets this reaction from the guests after she introduces herself, since they clearly didn't expect their host would be such a young woman.
• Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: During their second encounter, right when the Gray Poochyena has him on the ropes, the Bloodliner Hunter pulls out an object from his trenchcoat, asking her if she knows what it is. She at first dismisses it when she sees it's just a lighter, until she realizes they're surrounded by inflammable gases from the bombs she threw at them.
• Exposed to the Elements:
  • Ice Heart Bloodliners suffer no ill effects from extreme cold, so they can potentially go around in the iciest of environments without warm clothing and not be harmed at all. Case in point, Krysta was able to visit Icefall Cavern in nothing but a sports bra, some hot pants, and a pair of running shoes. She was even able to handle Nevermelt Ice without any kind of protective equipment.
  • Likewise, Flying Heart Bloodliners are capable of enduring cold wind currents high up in the mountains. Iolani, a Trial Captain from Akala Island, is able to stand in the Akalan Mountain Peak wearing the usual Alolan clothes.
• Expanded Universe: There are several tie-in one-shots that help expand the world the story is set in, a world which has come to be known as the Reset-verse.
• Explosive Breeder: Some Pokémon lines breed very quickly.
• Expy:
  • Felgrand seems to be one to Giovanni, at least his first encounter in the games. Ash finds him under Celadon City, and his Pokemon team includes an Onix, a Rhyhorn and a Khangaskhan.
  • Canonical Kalos characters Remo and Mabel ended up filling the roles that Sawyer and Alain played in the canon Lumiose Conference against Casey Snagem.
  • The "Jigglypuff in a princess dress" who beat Casey Snagem in Hoenn is probably a stand-in for Tyson's Meowth, being a normal-type Kanto Pokémon in fancy clothing who defeated a Kanto trainer in the Hoenn league.
  • The "spontaneous Larvesta evolution" is a expy of Cameron and his "spontaneous Riolu evolution", and is implied to have beaten Liligant, who is a Snivy expy who was defeated by Riolu after evolving into Lucario.
  • Snagem's daughters are (at least visually) rather obviously based on Misty, May, Dawn, Iris and Serena.
  • Jamie Oliver in role and appearance brings to mind the Striation siblings.
  • Frax's Rowlet, Rockruff and Litten are expies of Ash's Alolan Mons, but with different personalities.
• Expy Coexistence: On top of the above who share a world with most if not all of their canon counterparts, you have Ash, Red, and Ritchie all running around at the same time despite all being based on the same character. Being related, of course, helps explain the resemblance.
• Eye Scream:
  • Happens to Erika's Ivysaur in her Interlude. After AJ's Venonat hits him with Stun Spore, some of the powder gets in his eyes, causing severe irritation. This renders him unable to battle, so Erika is forced to recall him and get him medical attention.
  • A Rhydon gets a worse one in the Luana oneshot, when he gets a Bonemerang directly into the eye, ripping it out of the socket when he pulls the bone out.
  • Kaia who was the original owner of Ash's Charmander got her eyes pecked out by the Spearow flock.
  • The tyrant Nidoking in the Kangaskhan Kid Gaiden gets a stone thrown in the eye by Tommy at the beginning, and later gets similarly hit by his boomerang.
  • Iris's adoptive father did this to Ash in a dream/vision Iris had in chapter 40, basically tearing out one of his eyes when Ash declared his intentions to take Iris with him after her family were rescued..

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