Pokémon: Storm Clouds

Pokémon: Storm Clouds is a Pokémon Fanfic written by troper Deeman 45. It follows the journey of two teens from "our world" who are sucked into the world of the Pokémon video games. One is a Video Game enthusiast named Dan, who tries to use his knowledge of the game world to try to find a way back home; the other is Missy, his best friend's younger sister who was transformed into an Eevee and thus must deal with not only finding a way home, but also trying to find a way back to her normal body. Along the way, they get caught up in a plot involving Team Rocket (the more competent Team Rocket, not the Terrible Trio from the anime) and find out that not everything in the Pokémon world is as happy-go-lucky as the games would make it seem...

Sound cliche? Most likely. The opening chapters are known for being fairly lackluster--the author is more than willing to admit his embarrassment where they are concerned--but the story soon finds its feet, sculpting a more complicated plot. Adding to that, the progressing story fleshes out the two main protagonists into more realistic people. The same holds true for the supporting cast, who start off being somewhat archetypal, but gradually reveal deeper aspects of their personalities as the plot unfolds...

Revealing too much of the plot would be criminal, but readers can be sure to experience unexpected developments, emotionally charged dialogue and entertaining fight sequences - and a unique interpretation of the Pokémon world which may be truer to Real Life than any canon interpretation to date, while never losing the story's initial charm. All of this eventually culminates in an action-packed, gut-wrenching, and yet surprisingly uplifting climax. The final chapters were posted on May 26, 2010.

Several months later, the author announced a sequel. Titled simply "Storm Clouds II", it is set 19 years after the events of the first story. To give hints of what was to come, he posted a series of updates through his Deviant ART journals over a 13-week period regarding 'elements' of his version of the Pokémon world which are to play a role in the story. More recently, he posted A Q&A about the characters, the plot, and the writing process, with all questions asked by fans.

"Pokémon: Storm Clouds" is here or, if you prefer Fanfiction.net over deviantART, here.

"Storm Clouds II" is here, and the fanfiction.net version is here. The first chapter was posted in late January 2011.

Be sure to sort tropes into their appropriate folders. The YMMV page is also active.

Pokémon: Storm Clouds
": You know, I would tell you to not bother, that by overexerting yourself with a wound like that you could very likely keel over from exhaustion, except that I don't care and I'd love to see you suffer. I hate your type, little, do you know that? All your talk about training and practice and striving to be the best day after day after day...hah! All that training was for one reason only: to hide your shameful weakness. You started off weak, you little meal! It took quite a bit of effort to reach where you are now. Whereas I-I was born strong. Before my first birthday I had an impressive number of victories chalked up against powerful wild pokemon. Powerful pokemon; pokemon that hunted my species! I showed them that I am no prey. Before my first year passed I had killed, weakling! Killed! Human and pokemon alike! Legions of pokemon have fled from my blade. And what do you have to your name, weak one? A few victories in one-on-one battles in the safe haven humanity provides for you with their little rules? With their honor and ethics and all their safety? And even those slight triumphs were only earned after effort on your part. Do not hide what you are. The weak should not masquerade as the strong!"
 * Action Girl: Ruby most notably, and Artemis when she's pushed. Missy also counts, though thanks to her battling inexperience prefers to be a Guile Hero.
 * Alpha Bitch: Ruby, at first.
 * Animorphism: One of the main characters gets turned into a Pokémon in the first chapter. The main conflict for most of the story is her attempts to deal with the change and her quest to find a way back to normal..
 * Arch Enemy: Near the end of the fanfic, the Scyther tends to regard Missy as his. It's unclear whether she returns the "favor".
 * Asshole Victim:
 * A Storm Is Coming: Given the title, this sort of situation was bound to happen sometime. That sometime happens to be
 * Axe Crazy: The Scyther is this to a tee.
 * Baleful Polymorph: Who do you think?
 * Beware the Nice Ones: Armor; Dan; Artemis; Missy. Basically any character who's usually quite kind can be dangerous if you look at them wrong.
 * Big Bad:
 * Big Damn Heroes: Dan's Pokémon:.
 * Break the Cutie: Poor Missy ends up going through a lot of crap throughout the entire story..
 * Break the Haughty:.
 * Canada, Eh?: For some inexplicable--and hilarious--reason, Armor talks like this.
 * Character Development: You can bet your life savings that there's a lot of it going around - even the supporting cast aren't all what they seem to be at first glance.
 * Climax Boss: Rico for the Team Rocket hideout.  for the Saffron City ruins.
 * Combat Pragmatist: Nightshade.
 * Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Artemis.
 * Darker and Edgier: Than pretty much any Pokémon canon, except for possibly Orre. This isn't a bad thing, though.
 * Mind you, being darker than Pokémon canon isn't a terribly difficult feat. It's still far from Grimdark levels.
 * Dark Is Not Evil: Mr. Shadow, one of the supernatural inhabitants of Pokémon Tower. He's a pretty nice guy, if somewhat creepy and obviously eldritch in nature.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Nightshade has elements of this.
 * Death by Irony:
 * Deconstruction: Of the handheld Pokémon games. Many of the games' features are examined or analyzed; the six-Pokémon rule is given an explanation, for example. Dan also engages in some Navel Gazing in the earlier chapters.
 * Decoy Protagonist/Deuteragonist: The early chapters set up Dan as The Hero, but Missy takes the role of the main protagonist the rest of the way, while Dan is a Supporting Protagonist. Word of God confirmed as such.
 * Defrosting Ice Queen: Take a wild guess. . Nightshade's a male variant.
 * Disc One Final Dungeon: The Old Saffron City Ruins.
 * The Ditz: Artemis.
 * Erika as well. Also, both are also deeper than the initial impressions they give off would have you believe.
 * The Dragon: Both Masque and Rico to Giovanni.
 * Elsewhere Fic: Like most non-shipping Pokémon fics.
 * Empty Shell:
 * Even Evil Has Standards: Giovanni.
 * Evil Is Hammy + Evil Is Stylish: A large part of why Masque is so beloved.
 * Evilly Affable: Masque is so eloquent, melodramatic, and occasionally downright funny its easy to forget that he's a completely unsympathetic, hateful bastard.
 * Failure Knight:.
 * Five-Bad Band:
 * 1st half of the story:
 * Big Bad: Giovanni
 * The Dragon: Rico. Also doubles as.
 * Evil Genius: Masque. Also doubles as.
 * The Brute: The Scyther
 * Dark Chick:, largely due to More Than Mind Control
 * 2nd half of the story:
 * Big Bad:
 * The Dragon:
 * Evil Genius:
 * The Brute:
 * Dark Chick:
 * Five-Man Band:
 * The Hero: Missy, naturally. (The author even said, during a Q&A time, that Dan was a Decoy Protagonist in the early chapters including the opening, and that Missy herself is the story's main protagonist).
 * The Lancer: Ruby, of the rival variant.
 * The Big Guy: Armor.
 * The Smart Guy: Nightshade.
 * The Chick: Artemis.
 * The Heart: Nemo.
 * Mission Control: Dan.
 * Good Scars, Evil Scars:
 * Guile Hero: Missy herself. All of her defeats over the Scyther (and a good deal of her other victories as well) basically revolve around exploiting or tricking an opponent into doing themselves in. Of course, given that she's not actually a Pokémon, this is probably her best option in taking on the world.
 * He Is Not My Crush: Missy denies having any feelings for Dan in the early couple of chapters. She's not fooling anyone.
 * Heroic BSOD: Missy has a really scary one when
 * Hidden Depths: Many people - so many characters give off a very specific air of personality type, only to show more complexity, either through character development or through traits we just haven't seen yet. For instance:
 * Luke comes off as a typical teen genius, but we later learn that his invention at the start, which robbed him of his sister and best friend, sent him into a state of grief and regret.
 * Ruby appears to be just a Jerkass, but by the end of the fic, and even tells Missy that.
 * The best example in this entire fic, however, would have to be . When we finally learn.
 * Hot-Blooded: Dan. He soon realises that it doesn't always work in the real world, where brash impulsiveness can put you in danger.
 * Jerkass: Ruby. What a bitch... Well, at least until Break the Haughty kicks in, and she mellows out.
 * Team Rocket agent Rico takes the cake, as he seems to simply exist to be an asshole.
 * Jerkass Facade:
 * Karmic Death:  The Aerodactyl's death is also fitting - trying to slaughter defenceless schoolchildren, he is utimately inpaled on the broken monkeybars at his chosen site and bleeds out to death.
 * Kick the Son of a Bitch:  is treated as a major Kick the Dog moment or even a borderline crossing of the Moral Event Horizon in-universe ... but the readers cheered because let's face it,   had it coming.
 * The sheer style with which managed to pull it off certainly didn't hurt either.
 * Of course, it's not so much  that counts, but the fact that.
 * Kuudere: Nightshade. Only Artemis really gets to see his dere side, and when she does ... well.
 * The Leader: Dan is a Type II for his group, Giovanni tries to be a Type IV but comes across as more of a type III for Team Rocket, and
 * Lovable Coward: Nemo.
 * Like a Son to Me: Blaine says this word-for-word to Dan - he allows him to keep searching for a way home because he doesn't want to "deprive another father of a son", but assures Dan that he's welcome to stay on Cinnabar Island if he never finds a way back home. Dan is notably touched by the gesture.
 * Come the sequel, the deaths of both Blaine and Dan's father during the interim makes this Harsher in Hindsight.
 * Malevolent Masked Man: Masque, obviously.
 * Manipulative Bastard: Masque's greatest achievements come from his ability to read and manipulate other people as well as Pokémon. In his finest moments (his and  he borders on magnificence.
 * Mind Rape:
 * More Than Mind Control:
 * Motor Mouth: Artemis, even when she's exhausted.
 * Nice Guy: Armor has a bit of a temper, but when he's calm he's the most level-headed member of Dan's team and one of the best friends you can have. Beautifully ironic, considering he's a Muk and one of the least-liked Pokémon species. Dan, Missy and Artemis also count.
 * No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Dan delivers one
 * Official Couple: Missy and Dan.
 * Oh Crap: The collective response of the protagonists and the readers at the end of Chapter 20, when
 * Pokémon-Speak: The reason why Missy can't explain her situation to the humans.
 * Psycho for Hire: Masque's Scyther is a Pokémon variant.
 * Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Dan's Pokémon team give off this vibe. A human-girl-turned-Eevee (Missy/Storm), a somewhat comical but loyal Muk (Armor), a high-and-mighty Ponyta (Ruby), a timid but courageous Seadra (Nemo), a cynical Oddish (Nightshade), and a hyper Electabuzz (Artemis). Yeah ... and you thought Ash sometimes caught the weirdest Pokémon.
 * Reverse Mole:
 * Romantic Two-Girl Friendship: Implied with Erika and Sabrina.
 * Rule of Symbolism: Is Masque--with his strange speech, strange mannerisms, and even stranger dress--completely at odds with the Pokémon world as we see it? Yeah. Why do we accept his presence in the story so readily? Well...see Fridge Brilliance.
 * Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: As Dan grows to better understand the realism in the world of Pokémon, he begins to realise how dark it is. The story edges even further towards cynical for much of the plot, with people and Pokémon actually DYING along the way..
 * It helps, of course, that the story was hugely inspired by Pokémon Special, the Darker and Edgier canon counterpart of both the Tv Series AND the games.
 * "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Several, but a standout is the rather scathing one the  delivers to   in Chapter.
 * Pokémon-Speak: The reason why Missy can't explain her situation to the humans.
 * Psycho for Hire: Masque's Scyther is a Pokémon variant.
 * Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Dan's Pokémon team give off this vibe. A human-girl-turned-Eevee (Missy/Storm), a somewhat comical but loyal Muk (Armor), a high-and-mighty Ponyta (Ruby), a timid but courageous Seadra (Nemo), a cynical Oddish (Nightshade), and a hyper Electabuzz (Artemis). Yeah ... and you thought Ash sometimes caught the weirdest Pokémon.
 * Reverse Mole:
 * Romantic Two-Girl Friendship: Implied with Erika and Sabrina.
 * Rule of Symbolism: Is Masque--with his strange speech, strange mannerisms, and even stranger dress--completely at odds with the Pokémon world as we see it? Yeah. Why do we accept his presence in the story so readily? Well...see Fridge Brilliance.
 * Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: As Dan grows to better understand the realism in the world of Pokémon, he begins to realise how dark it is. The story edges even further towards cynical for much of the plot, with people and Pokémon actually DYING along the way..
 * It helps, of course, that the story was hugely inspired by Pokémon Special, the Darker and Edgier canon counterpart of both the Tv Series AND the games.
 * "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Several, but a standout is the rather scathing one the  delivers to   in Chapter.
 * "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Several, but a standout is the rather scathing one the  delivers to   in Chapter.
 * "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Several, but a standout is the rather scathing one the  delivers to   in Chapter.

": Hide while you can, foolish one, you can't crouch there forever. And when you come out, my blade will be waiting.
 * Later the  himself gets one from , it's a very epic one.


 * How it must sting to be you, to be such a useless pokemon.


 * Useless? You dare say that to me? You, who cowers beneath a shield even as we speak? You, who has never done anything but run or hide? You, who-


 * I know which pokemon really trusts: the one he relied on to get him out of prison. The  . Your master trusted him over you.


 * ...That, has a remarkably simple answer. The 's abilities were special-no, not special, he is not better than I am-they were just...just better suited for that particular situation.


 * Really? Do you honestly think you couldn't have handled it?


 * I-


 * You know you could have, didn't you brag to me when we first met that you have killed humans and pokemon in abundance? That uncountable numbers had fled from you in terror? You could have broken in there handily, and killed 's oppressors before they knew what was happening. But you didn't-because   doesn't value you like you want him to. To him, you're just a tool, and not a particularly useful one at that. To him you're just a rusted, dull, blunt-


 * Lord thinks highly of me, more highly than anyone or anything else! How dare you say that? Get out from under there so I can rip you to pieces!


 * thinks your garbage, and do you know why? Because of me. For all your claims to be invincible, for all your bragging and pride, I've beaten you twice. That's why you searched me out in this rain; not for revenge, but to prove to yourself that I'm not better than you. My victories over you eat you alive, and you know it. And even if you do kill me, even if I'm dead and gone, your damaged, imperfect blade will always be there: an eternal reminder of my triumph over you."

": Are you so shocked by murder, ? Pitiful. You are like a vulture flying high above a pack of predators, waiting to pick off whatever they leave you. You can’t kill. You’ve ordered plenty of deaths to be carried out, but you’ve never done it yourself. Any weakling can order an execution, but it takes a certain caliber to actually join the firing squad. You should have known your ambitions would attract souls much blacker than yours.
 * gives one to  in a great scene that illustrates the difference between a Big Bad and a mere Wannabe. (There are a lot of these in the fic.)

attempts to attack  with his pokemon, which refuses to obey him.


 * Just like most of the fighters in this organization, that pokemon had been conditioned by me. Over the process I instilled a desire to serve you, to be sure, but behind that I hid something else. The pokemon of  will never act against me…Do you remember what I once told you? ‘You cannot control a marionette with only one string’. You dared to think you controlled me?! All of your enforcers have been conditioned by me before they see use. That’s one string. You allowed terror of me to grow within your organization, so that many of your followers feared me more than you. Another string. Despite the fact that I often acted against your interests, you never took action, signaling to me and to others that I had a certain leeway out of your jurisdiction. That's a third. You never did the dirty work yourself, instead delegating it to those even more amoral than you…like myself. That’s four. I’ve made you dance this way and that for years now,  . You were my plaything. Well, now you and your organization bore me. I’ll cut your strings."


 * Trapped in TV Land: Most of the story takes place in the world of the Pokémon games.
 * True Companions: Dan's other Pokémon become this for Missy. It's a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming when all of them, even Ruby, strive to bring her out of her Heroic BSOD. It becomes even more moving when you realise that they sacrificed their homeworld, their own sense of normalcy, and their chances of finding potential mates and having children in order to follow Dan and Missy back home, even when they don't need to. All they need now is a cheesy speech.
 * What Happened to the Mouse?: Read the comments on deviantART: the fandom was going nuts trying to figure out what exactly Luke was up to.
 * Xanatos Gambit: Masque uses one
 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness:
 * It's less "You Have Outlived Your Usefulness" and more

Storm Clouds II

 * The Ace: Alvovz.
 * Animorphism/Baleful Polymorph: Looks set to remain a prominent theme, though not in quite the same way as it was in the first part. Instead of a human turning into a Pokémon,
 * And then there's
 * All There in the Manual: The author's notes have provided something of a detailed summary for what has happened in the interim without revealing anything major about the plot.
 * Angst? What Angst?: In-Universe,  actually takes this attitude in Chapter 5. When Missy quickly becomes apologetic about , he goes so far as to chastise her because he made the choice to go through with it, fully aware of what it would entail. He is shown to have divided feelings about the situation, but is so far coping pretty well.
 * Ascended Extra: In-universe, 's role compared to the last story.
 * Being Tortured Makes You Evil: This is the backstory for, with a side helping of Playing with Syringes.
 * Blood Knight: From what little we see of her character, Bellum is this.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Missy, at times, and Ripple.
 * Ensemble Cast: There is no single main character this time.
 * Generation Xerox: After Dan's father passed away during the interim, Dan inherited his old pawn shop.
 * Great Offscreen War: The Assailment, mentioned repeatedly in the author's notes and early chapters, appears to be of tremendous importance, but we don't know much about it yet.
 * Cryptic Background Reference: Thus far, the ambiguity surrounding the Assailment has meant that every mention of it is one of these.
 * Gender Equals Breed: Oddly enough, averted.
 * Grey and Gray Morality: The (New) Pokémon League vs. The Guilds appears to be one of these, as of Chapter 5. Word of God confirms that each side is biased towards another and has left certain details of their various explanations out.
 * Happily Married: Missy and Dan.
 * Heroes Prefer Swords: Alvovz sure does. Justified as he comes from a culture that appears to be similar to real-world Amish: eschewing more modern things, including weaponry, he took up swordplay to defend himself.
 * Hero Worshipper: The younger generation in the town of Fox Creek, who know that Missy and Dan are regarded as heroes, but aren't given details. This is done to keeping outsiders from investigating the town.
 * Hypercompetent Sidekick: Emily is theoretically in charge of the little excursion to Ipde, but being all of ten, Ripple is more or less really running things.
 * I'm a Humanitarian: The Feraligatr enjoys Pokémon flesh.
 * The Juggernaut: In its first appearance, the Feraligatr received several minutes of off-screen punishment from Ripple and Dulcet, then picked a fight with Artemis, Nemo, and Ivan, who were eventually joined by Ripple and Dulcet. Even five against one, including one with a type advantage, they had to resort to knocking him off a cliff to win--an action that didn't even cause him to faint.
 * Late Arrival Spoiler: Missy returns to her human form
 * The Leader: For their respective groups, Missy is a Type IV and Ripple is a Type I.
 * Mayor Pain: B-type.
 * Meaningful Name: "Bellum" is the Latin word for "war". From what little we know of her character, Bellum is a Blood Knight.
 * The Medic: Dulcet, being an Audino, acts like this in combat.
 * Reasonable Authority Figure: Most of the Fox Creek town council (save the current mayor). Bertrand deserves special mention - he openly confesses to  because , but he's not incapable of empathising with Missy when   and agrees to her proposition. Missy even notes that he usually opposes her on principle.
 * "The Reason You Suck" Speech: As per Author Appeal (apparently), Missy gives one to.
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: Dan is the Red, Missy is the Blue.
 * Obstructive Bureaucrat: The Mayor of Fox Creek tries to be this, but Missy and the other Council members aren't having any of it.
 * Older and Wiser: Everyone's getting this to some degree, but Artemis in particular has really calmed down over the years. Nemo is this of the more self-confident variety, and Ruby looks to be considerably calmer.
 * Pokémon-Speak: While mostly averted due to the large focus on the Pokémon themselves, Missy does use it (intentionally) when explaining that she was Storm.
 * Posthumous Character: Dan's father (in the "Real World"), Blaine in the Pokémon world, and of course the characters that died in the first fic.
 * Sadistic Choice: When they've had Luke rebuild his special machine to return to the Pokémon world, Missy is afraid of touching it because she'd rather not become an Eevee again. Dan offers to do so, but Missy tells him that he himself might become a Pokémon . This is promptly subverted - see Take a Third Option, below.
 * The Strategist: Ripple has a number of pre-configured battle plans she likes to utilize in combat.
 * Take a Third Option:
 * Voluntary Shapeshifting:
 * Take a Third Option:
 * Voluntary Shapeshifting:

Supplementary Material

 * Mind Screw: In his little weekly tidbits for the sequel, Word of God has generally presented information that, if vague, is still comprehensible enough. And then week seven gives us this. Bwuh?
 * Where the Hell Is Springfield?: Fox Creek is said to be "in the rural United States."

Meta

 * Retcon: The Gentle Darkness guild was originally planned to be named Ebony Darkness, but the name was changed prior to the fic's beginning due to the original name's similarity to a character from another fanfic.