Blitz 2023: Hype and Rec Thread

[Negrek]

Blitz Hype and Fic Rec Thread

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Welcome to the 2023 Review Blitz hype and fic rec thread! This thread is for general Blitz discussion and hype--talk about your plans for the event, show off the prizes you've received, challenge someone to a review-off: it's all good! This thread is also your one-stop shop for reading recommendations! Here's your chance to give a shout-out to all your favorite fics and encourage people to check them out during their reviewathon this year. (Note: if you'd like to advertise your own story, instead have a look at the Self-Promo and Review Exchange thread!)

You can earn points by recommending fics! Once per week, you can earn 0.5 points by writing a 100(+) word rec in this thread, for a fic that you reviewed and that satisfies the weekly theme that week. To help us identify a recommendation you'd like to earn points for, please label it "Weekly Fic Rec" in bold font.

 

[Spiteful Murkrow]

Sliding right in for another one of these. I can heartily recommend every story that I brought up in my post on the Master's Eight thread a while back. On top of it, here's the greatest hits from my recommendations from the prior Review Blitz if you want to hit the ground running:

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The End: Rekindled by @DeliriousAbsol

Okay, so I actually had some experience with quietly reading chunks of the v1 of this story back in its Serebii incarnation, and when I went back to it as part of tending to my review hitlist last year, I was honestly really pleasantly surprised to see how much stronger of a work the rewrite is than I remembered the original being, and one that is willing to touch on the darker aspects of being set in the backdrop of the protagonists' having to fight a losing battle in a war for survival while still being able to keep an overall vibe akin to a darker YA fantasy book.

Highly recommended if you're a PMD fan and I honestly regret not paying attention to the rewrite of this sooner and not reading more of it this year, which I suppose is a sign to remedy things this Review Blitz. Since what I read of the first chapter was a good omen for where the rest of The End: Rekindled is going to go and it has a lot of charm as a story.

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Nameless by @HelloYellow17

So this was another story where I admittedly came into it with a prior taste before reading it properly, namely from having beta read the first half of it pre-submission for the 2022 Mischief and Malice Contest where I wound up literally timing out before I could read it. I'm honestly a bit embarrassed as to how long it took to go back to properly read the rest of it, since the one-shot is well written and boy does it go places as a piece written about the creation of a Shadow Pokémon that takes to its new power and identity a little too smoothly, as seen from the Pokémon's own perspective.

Highly recommended if you're a fan of the Colosseum games or even just curious about them, and it's a decent advertisement for the other works from HelloYellow's shared Orre canon such as Of Sand and Shadows. Just be sure to check your eyes for sand once you reach the end, some of it might leak out of from the Orre desert and into yours by the time you're done with it.

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In Beta by @Namohysip

Okay, I'll admit, part of this is being carried to a decent extent by personal bias since A: my day job is not far removed from the protagonist's, B: I've written a piece of my own that similarly mixes programming and Pokémon, but even putting that aside, it's a really well-done one-shot that starts with some jokes at the expense of the grind of the less sane parts of programming as a profession and winds up touching on thoughtful questions about the ethics of AI and creating life.

I mentioned elsewhere on the internet earlier this week that this story is close to a must-read as a Pokémon fan if you program as your day job or else do it extensively on a hobbyist basis... but honestly, I would extend that to fans writ large. Namo might be better-known for Plot Twist Simulator 2017 Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Hands of Creation, but the level of attention to detail and knowledge of the story's subject matter and the way that it's seamlessly tied in in an imaginative take on what the creation of the first Porygon might have been like help it take its place up there as one of the seminal works of his portfolio, if one that flew strangely under the radar for a long chunk of time since its initial posting.

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FL4K3S by @Cresselia92

Yeah, I know that this story's been recommended a decent number of times, but it was one of the more standout stories that I read last Review Blitz, so I'm standing by it. FL4K3S is a more experimental one-shot that's equal parts Wreck-It Ralph, The Matrix, Lovecraftian Horror, and a celebration of early-gen Pokémon in which we see life through the eyes of #831\1, an NPC given the power to see the world around him for what it truly is. Where the fabric of reality becomes progressively undone by a mix of coming to know things that he just wasn't meant to know and Gen 1's trusty spaghetti code and instability in action.

Now, I'm sure that there's a creepypasta somewhere out there that's touched on similar themes, but FL4K3S does it better and in a fashion that better reflects the reality of its protagonist warping around him showing a lot of imagination on the part of its creator. Where not even the narrator is safe from the unfolding chaos of a world that is cascading into glitchy disarray that manages to make you feel uncomfortable at times even without using more visceral horror elements. It also is one of the few stories that I've read to attempt a multiple ending structure, and both of them feel like fitting conclusions to the story, if obviously wildly different in tone. For those in who need a pot-sweetener, the entire story as structured is eligible for a repeat bonus if you read and review everything of #831\1's saga.

My one regret was not having read and reviewed this story sooner, since even if she slips under the radar sometimes, Cresselia writes some good stuff. Finding Mahoun is another solid piece, but really, it's hard to go wrong with just about anything she's written.

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There were quite a few other stories that I had fun with, both in Review Blitz and on other occasions, but those four feel like a decent place to start with for the recommendation game.

 

[K_S]

The devil you know

By blackjack gabbiani

Why i'm rec'ing the fic.

Total self indulgence honestly. Good manga fic is so hard to find, much less the canon adoring efforts blackjack gives out. Starting in the turbulant times of Diamond/Pearl Adventure 5 she drops the reader into the chaotic sphere of Team Galactic. Divested of thier superior the Team is trying to hold together, but in the insanity an ambitious and morally bankrupt executive, Charon, snaps up the reigns and moves to drive Galactic to greater heights...

All for the greater good (Charons good).

Told from the perspective of Saturn, Cyrus' right hand man, the Executive is trying to keep his head above water, guild the Team to saner waters, and wrestle with his own culpability with nearly destroying the world.

Suffice to say Charons little insurection tips Saturn's planner from packed to insane... He also is having to face some hard facts about what type of man Cyrus was and what man he needs to be...

Then Charon tips his hand, and any prayer Saturn had for finding a clean path out of the quagmire is quashed. Because Charon found Cyrus, put the old Boss behind lock and key as colateral for any and all of the Team who might still harbor thier old loyalties. And he isn't above rattling the cage and twisting the knife in unhealed psychological wounds to get what he wants.

Suffice to say Saturn's in for a very bad time.

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Pmd path of valor

By ambyssin

Why i'm reccing this one.

Indulgence of a different kind.

Normally i'm pretty lukewarm towards mystery dumgeon pieces but this one caught my attention immediatly. Rich in lore, history, and insanity (seriously the mystery dungeon look like something lovecraft and king stitched together after taking illegal substances then doing a joimt writing rift together) not only is the setting packed but the characters are balanced. They have multiple motives, political views, hale from different social classes, and its felt in each imteraction. The worlds state is felt amomg the cast, the unease of war, classism, rewritten history, racism, and then toss this mess on top the ticking time bomb of a mystery dungeon apocolyptic cult. Said cult moves smartly and is legitimitly menacing with a slew of terrorfying powers that no one knows how to counter because preserving the facts fell to the wayside ages ago for shallow politicing and the consequences for that has been merrily taking names and sharpening its fangs for the inevitable chomping spree.

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Rocket

By kandykorn

Why i'm reccing it

Points to banner, avatar, location flavor text, as a broooad hint.

This spot of new blood caught my interest for fairly obvious reasons. One I am a rocket fangirl, not sugar coating it... But toss me some juvi delioquents (or what the mon world misconstrews as such, seriously a few of these kids just have mental health issues or need supportive parents) with a sliding scale of moral to amoral, have them hauled before a sullen professor whose done with everything and passing out bottom of the grung 'mon, and we're off.

Except the part where the less moral kid pulls a hiest, find a possible legend, which leads to explosions, abduction, and Rocket stepping in.

And should I meantion the hero of the tale, who'd normally and contentedly be designated as team mom/base cook has weirdly prophetic dreams about a horror adjascent (and very much dead) professor oak everytime he gets some shut eye? Its just another reason for the hero to chug monsters and energy drinks when he gets back to town.

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A new path
By the couch effect

Why i'm reccing it.

if i mention biase four does that mean i need to use scientific notation to indicate it or... Eh, whatever. Hi Couch!

So confession. I'm part research aide part editing assit for this fic. More off then on but thats life.

Now to tear into things. This is an anime au. Ash got his canonical win in Alola, is champion, and with no where to go that quantifies as up decides to take a break and figure out that pesky "what's next" step.

Honestly he should of stayed in Alola. Because the second he gets back and is alone he sees a crime and do gooder he is he plows in headfirst, pika at his heels, to save the day.

Just as Rocket planned.

The whole Meowth Jessie James cell 13 nonsense is just that. Nonsense. A smokescreen meant to hide the insidious hooks and spines the Kanto based syndicate has in everything amd everyone and the powers that be see Ash as both a patsy, a means to weaken Alola in the international field, and a danger. His Legend Magnet status nearly killed everyone too many times, so the games are over and Team Rocket pulled the plug.

Pinned with a crime he didn't commit, Ash is thrown to the judicial wolves, and more in a motion of pity tjan anything else Interpol steps in secreting the young man into thier ranks.

Its both the best and worst decision they've ever made.

Special note. As this fic progresses it becomes more mature. It bucks a lot of the chosen one stuff as trash and hops from white and black to grey and black as soon as chapter two.

 

[Ambyssin]

So, I actually compiled a trio of recommendations as part of the ongoing Heartache campaign. And because I'm lazy, I'm going to copy-paste it.

So, presenting... Amby's TR underrated PMD sampler platter for possible Review Blitz consumption!

For these recommendations, I'm picking fics from three different "tiers" of power scaling. So, you can check the spoilers tags if you're interested.

Spoiler: The Light Dish: Places We Call Home

Author: @windskull
Link: https://forums.thousandroads.net/index.php?threads/places-we-call-home.104/

The Light Dish refers to the fact that this is a fic where the power scaling is very low and the focus is less about pokémon constantly battling and more about the relations between the assorted members of the cast and how their lives are thrown for a loop when Nip shows up. I am not up to date with this, so perhaps calling it my light dish will prove to be an "aged like milk" moment in the future. For now, though, the "mystery" element of mystery dungeon feels like it's at the forefront. What's the deal with different settlements having specific patron pokémon. Why is our main POV character (Haru) so against this practice? How is wind going to challenge Haru's beliefs (because it sure feels like we're going in that direction)? Just what happened to drive Nip away from his old tribe? Does he even deserve forgiveness for a very specific (and often meme'd on) action he pulls relatively early in the fic?

And I'm not even touching on the allusions to a greater, interconnected world I've read so far. Name dropping organizations that would sound familiar to someone who's played PMD, but even without that familiarity are spoken with enough reverence to make you interested as to what, if any, roll they'll play going forward in the fic.

Again, maybe the action picks up later on. But for those who are hesitant to approach PMD fics because of their skew toward action, often higher fantasy or sci-fantasy nature, and feeling like you need intimate familiarity with the source material to get the most out of it, I encourage you to give this one a try.

Spoiler: The Medium Dish: PMD: Free Fiction

Author: GumPlum
Link: https://forums.thousandroads.net/index.php?threads/pokémon-mystery-dungeon-free-fiction.1205/

The Medium Dish, as the name implies, starts to up the ante a bit more in terms of what's being offered. I would say that what's been posted of the fic so far is a lot of introductory fare, establishing the setting of the story and an intrepid band of misfits who are working together for the foreseeable future. Where things get a bit heavier is that the fic is introducing legendary 'mon characters and Ultra Beasts nearly at the very start, with allusions to an entire UB civilization (and possible Necrozma worship?) that may or may not become important down the road. And some of this information comes a bit faster. Hence, it's a somewhat "heavier" fic to get into. There's also a fairly large group of prominent characters introduced fairly quickly. I enjoy it a lot — and am guilty of doing something similar myself — but I can understand where that, in combination with an original setting, would intimidate potential readers.

Still, I'd encourage TR folks to give it a try. There are significant themes of self-discovery woven into just the start of the fic and there's a lot of queer (and possibly trans) subtext in the human-turned-pokémon character. Maybe it's not quite as personally relatable if it's a pokémon. I can't speak for everyone. I do think what's available to read presents a rich world and some very interesting characters to get behind. There's a bit of action showing some crazier powers, but it's not as out there as the PMD fics with the highest power scales. Speaking of which...

Spoiler: The Heavy Dish: PMD: Hands of Creation

Author: @Namohysip
Link: https://forums.thousandroads.net/index.php?threads/pokemon-mystery-dungeon-hands-of-creation.22/

"But Amby, you rapscallion, HoC is not an underrated fic!" you shout, shaking your fist at your computer screen as if I can actually see it. (I can't.)

To that I say it most certainly is by TR standards. This fic is both heavy in the volume of material available and the fact that it is easily one of the highest power scales of any PMD fic out there. Arguably vying for the top spot with yours truly. There's a lot of action with characters displaying powers that don't even remotely line up with anything you'd see in the canon material, along with most trainerverse fics (be they drawing from the games, anime, Pokespec, or some combination).

Putting that all together, I do believe it creates this sort of intimidating aura where, as far as TR is concerned, everyone knows about the fic, but only a handful of you have actually read it. With fewer venturing toward the later parts of the fic where there are some fascinating character stories.

And the thing is... a lot of the depth and complexities at play here should be approachable. Particularly for anyone who took part in Blacklight Eternal or has been doing plot-related scenes in this campaign that Namo leads. He draws from his experience writing that fic to craft his NPCs in these campaigns. Likewise, he's definitely learned a few things from his work on this stuff that he's applied to his writing. So, the result is a fic with a steady upward progression of chapter quality. Where the characters are both entertaining and interesting to read about. And there's a lot of strong setup and foreshadowing. It's a fic where if you chose to go back and read it a second time, a bunch of seemingly innocuous lines and events take on an entirely different meaning. To have that consistency throughout a long fic like this one is impressive. And, in my opinion, deserves more love on TR.

Honorable PMD mentions
@Spiteful Murkrow's Once a Thief if you are a fan of low power scale, utilizing items heavily throughout the jorney, or Xenoblade Chronicles. I promise the last one makes sense.
@Arukona's PMD: Dual Wills as one that, from reading last Blitz, showed a steady upward march in the quality of chapters. Also when I put up a "Your favorite fic characters" thread on r/mysterydungeon the other week, one of the villains was one of, it not the most mentioned character. Which is very .
@canisaries PMD: Demon, a one-shot that offers an X-Files-esque paranormal/police procedural take on PMD. Full bias I did beta read this and it was a blast. Fits for the week 3 theme and gets you a juicy bonus point for being over 6.5k words

Non-PMD things I'll mention anyway
@SparklingEspeon's Crashing Fate because I know TR likes its Team Rocket/Giovanni stuff and this throws legendary 'mons into the mix.

 

[K_S]

weekly fic rec!

As i am having insomnia and a free moment all at once may i present a new rec... And its a New Face for everyone because i read and reviewed first!

(ok probably only reviewed, still, the bandwagon is open to jump on)

From the vast
By redspah

Why am i recomending:

Bias: -aka i read i liked i reced-

Seriously though if you want a xeno fic where humans are so othered and alien a bike causes blue screen of death, where thr cast collectivly get flumoxed by a zipper... The cast is a collection of escapee trainers mon, wild 'mon, and psuedo civilized ones. They've made pokemon mystery dungeon esk town off the beaten path, without the dungeons, a community with it's own rules and strucutres.

The back bone which seems to be "we must do better then those who take us".

Thier tranquility and morals get a sharp shake when a human drops into thier borders, looking like yeaterdays roadkill, and is swept into the grudging fins, claws, paws, and psyches of a mon medical team trying to figure out what she is, why shes there, and how to keep her alive.

Then comes the pesky issue of her trauma. A coagulation of physical and psychological. And the issie of what to do after shes stabalized.

Because theres never more than one human, there could be others... But she was clearly running from something, possibly one of her own kind....

Matters get more complicated from there.

 

[Spiteful Murkrow]

Hey everyone, with less than a day to go, I figured it was about time to get one of these out. It was actually really hard for me to settle on what to recommend since there were a lot of new fics that I started this week that I had fun with. I still had quite a bit of trouble even after tightening the list of candidates to focus more on authors that I felt were a bit unsung, but I decided to listen to my heart and a spot of personal bias for this week's lucky recommendation:

Weekly Fic Rec: Week 1
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Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Soaring Over Heaven by @Z102eternal

Okay, I'm admittedly taking a bit of a leap of faith on this one since I've read all of the first chapter so far, but man is it a memorable first chapter. Also, the author wrote it under the influence of a hefty dash of Xenoblade brainrot, which I am ever so slightly biased towards given my number two fic in terms of active effort thrown at it is a bit of a kindred spirit in that regard.

But even putting aside personal biases, there's genuinely a lot going for this fic. The setting of floating continents and sky pirates is very uncommon for a PMD story in general, the cast is memorable and charming, and the story has a mixed-media presentation with art lovingly drawn by Z102eternal himself on each chapter. There was a lot of passion and love for the craft just oozing from the first chapter alone, and from what I've heard through the grapevine, the later chapters aren't a slouch in that regard, either.

I'm fully intending to come back to this story a couple times during Review Blitz, and if you are hunting for a fun PMD story and a free Week 1 bonus along the way, you could honestly do a lot worse than spending time with a few chapters of this fic.

Honorable Mentions:

The Future Between Us by @Blackjack Gabbiani , What the Gods Gave Me by @tomatorade , Pathways to Arcadia by @Inkedust , I, Isobel by @NebulaDreams

 

[Namohysip]

Weekly fic rec: Week 1

I haven't read a whole lot juuuust yet, but I should recommend something that I'm in the process of reading called Shepard Tones. So far, I've only read the first part, and I want to remark about the way it's written being very unique for what we usually see around this corner of the fandom. No dialogue, very meandering narration, but it's very atmospheric right from the start on how it wants you to feel while reading it. I'm curious what the other two parts of this completed story has in store, so I'm going to hopefully get to the rest of it before the end of the week. At the latest, certainly by the end of the blitz!

It's dreary and subdued, but I definitely wouldn't say it was unpleasant to read. If you want to see some atmospheric writing without any dialogue, the first part would be a good pick. A quick glance at future parts suggests there will actually be dialogue later, though, so it isn't the same all the way through. Diversity!

 

[Ambyssin]

Week 1 rec goes to @Inkedust's Pathways of Arcadia. Still in its infancy at the moment, but folks on Discord seem to like the worldbuilding that Inke's put into this so far. For my standpoint, without spoiling the actual content it is a world whose lore is centered around a particular trio of legends that people who know me know I am a very big fan of. It's nice to see another PMD world where this trio has such a central role— no, the central role in its pantheon. The prologue has a nifty embedded cipher for your puzzle freaks, though a word of caution that it may not work perfectly depending on your choice of TR themes.

Also, fox frens! I will always love and appreciate stories centered on fox 'mons. They get the Amby spheal of approval. (<- pretend this is a spheal.) Even if the current main character is a bit of a grumpus. She'll come around. Disclaimer: May not actually come around.

 

[kintsugi]

Weekly Fic Rec (Week 1)

What the Gods Gave Me hype train choo choo!

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An ordinary raven wakes up one day as the legendary pokemon Latios. Unova's about to realize he's not the only one who changed.

Things you might be looking for that you'll find in this fic--xenofic, rotating narrators, strong pokemon characterization in a world with trainers, strong emphasis on character interactions, bird appreciation, unique character concepts. If you've read the 2023 contest oneshots and enjoyed A Wonderful Leaf Boat, you'll recognize some familiar faces and concepts.

There's a lot of good things to say; my favorite part of this fic so far has been watching the cast bounce off of each other. The first few chapters pretty efficiently set up everyone's personalities, ideals, flaws, etc; the next set of chapters is doing a good job of throwing everyone in a bucket and shaking it to see what comes out.

 

[tomatorade]

First week fanfic rec.

Once a Thief

It's not very on theme because I had startted reading it a while ago, but the chance to catch up was there regardless and I had a lot of fun.

Broadly, it's an adventure PMD fic that focuses on a group of outlaws teaming up with a living macguffin and trying to beat the military to a promised treasure. Outlaw-focused PMD fics are shockingly hard to come by, and this fic is about everything I wanted out of the premise.

Its tone errs on the side of PMD with some exception for darker themes, but it stays fun throughout. The characters are great for the most part great--able to bounce off each other well, and keep me interested in unfolding backstories. And of course, the world feels fully realised and immersve. It's very dense, in a good way.

Also shoutout to Basic Mineral Components

Great, bittersweet oneshot about Roxanne's probopass

Spoiler

dealing with and trying to understand her death

.

 

[Starlight Aurate]

A New Path by TheCouchEffect is my recommendation for this week's theme! It follows the story of what happens to Ash years after he's won the Alola League championship and is having a hard time finding motivation for anything else. His world slowly devolves into chaos and danger after he is falsely accused from murder, and winds up involved in trying to stop Team Rocket's plots on a much larger scale than he had ever dreamed.

Overall, this story is action-packed and a lot of fun! It delves into how ruthless Team Rocket is willing to be to further its agenda and takes a darker spin on canon characters when they've grown up. I definitely recommend this to any Rocket fans or fans of the anime canon.


I'll also add in A Wonderful Leaf Boat by tomatorade, originally written for the 2023 Aeons and Avatars contest. Despite revolving around a legendary, the mood remains calm and slow-paced, and almost has more slice-of-life sort of feel. It focuses on the heartwarming, and heartwrenching, moments between a mother and her child, and how the child learns to process things like grief as he grows older and takes on more responsibilities. Definitely recommend to anyone looking for an emotional piece!

 

[HelloYellow17]

Weekly Fic Rec

Sliding in at the last second to rec Nekodatta’s fic, Timeslip!

This is a fantastic fic with a truly unique and fascinating premise. It expands on professor Turo and professor Sada from Scarlet and Violet, but with a big AU twist in which he accidentally stumbles into her time—14,000 years in the past. Their dynamic is great, even with a language barrier, massive cultural differences, and thousands of years between them. I’m only 3 chapters in so far, but man I am HOOKED and can’t wait to see where it goes. The story alternates POV, so you get to see inside both of their heads. It also includes more Paradox mon than what we see in the games, which is tons of fun! I highly recommend this fic to anybody interested in these characters and fun time travel shenanigans!

 

[kintsugi]

Weekly Fic Rec: Week 2

I realized this would be more helpful if I posted this early instead of late! big brain

Broken Things is a story about not being okay, how we got there, and how we're getting out. It is also delightfully bingeable, updates frequently, and has solid worldbuilding and characterization to back it up.

Things you might be looking for that you'll find in this fic--rotating narrators, good-hearted characters floundering through a somewhat inoptimistic world, xenofic, LGBT rep, backpacking knowledge, worldbuilding speculation on if a salamence could rip a city in half, the triumphant catharsis of metagrossing your problems away, Alola, a very good fox. The pokemon toe a delicate line of retaining very inhuman behaviors while remaining characters, which is always a treat. The fic is not bright at all times but it has distinct moments of victory over its problems, and the resulting catharsis feels well-earned and satisfying.

obligatory cw--there's not infrequent discussion of heavy themes, discrimination, suicidal ideation, etc. The individual chapters are well-tagged but if you intend to stay for the long haul it's best to know this going in.

 

[K_S]

Week two recomentations

1) Alola pokedex
Love national geographic, nature documentries, of just one specific mon.
Well here is the tale for you. This series of reports on them in glowing detail. Twines in world history (drawing from real world areas, mythologies, and events, and whipping up some very specific swaths for the regions) and makes a cohesive whole that feels very much in place in an official science journal. Its like justor for the pokemon world and theres a ton of entries. Wanna comb by type, its sorted. Looking for plot idea for your own work, theres tons scattered about. Looking for psuedo latin puns, look no further than the mon's official names.
Personal favorite entrys so far: malamar and vikivolt.

2) Legendarian chronicles
Its starts with an embassary to lugia, theres an appocolypse on the horizon, legends are summoned to a coincil. Looking bleary eyed at the messenger Lugia would like to get anothet milennia to sleep in. He also would like to swat the little pest... But that wouldn't be very legendary would it? So its time to get up, comb through the mess of humanity, pick a chosen one, and get things on.
But the end of the world isnt going to be so tame.

In the world of humans Rockets playing god. Children are both Rockets victims and fighting back. And theres a zapdos chu? Sanities out to lunch and theres a pitched battle in a zeplin.

Things get crazier from there.

 

[Flyg0n]

Weekly fic rec:

Drowning

So do you dig Hoenn? Are you a fan of charming and delightful partnerships between human and pokemon, and love your pokemon stories with a strong dose of pokemon as characters? And do you ever wake up in a cold sweat thinking "the RSE pokemon games did an inadequate job expanding on the beliefs and inner operations of Team Aqua and Team Magma, creating a dynamic where their goals feel nonsensical and hard to comprehend from any rational and logical standpoint and thus feel more goofy than believable"?

Drowning is a fic that takes the base concept of the excellent ruby and sapphire games and their conflict and treats that as the building blocks of something rich and deep. The conflicts, ideologies and inner lives of each team are richly explored as the main character, a naive but well meaning member of Aqua named Maressa struggles with conflicting loyalties. Aqua and Magma and their leaders are believable and well developed characters with very understandable motives.

The story also features drowning, and some delightful angst and whump as Maressa is put through a wringer both physically and emotionally.
Yet the story never feels grim or over the top, but rather is filled with plenty of levity and delight, particularly in the interactions of Maressa and pokemon. Technically the fic could use a Flygon MC too, but hey, I can forgive that in light of all the other good this story has!

 

[Spiteful Murkrow]

Hey everyone, it's cutting a bit close to the deadline, but I figured that there was still the better part of a day for my recommendations to look over them, not that you'd need a ton of time to read mine this week:

Weekly Fic Rec: Week 2​

Kieran’s Final Stand [Battle theme lyrics] by @elyvorg

I honestly hesitated with whether or not to nominate this one since the combined reviewable wordcount of the fic was less than 1000 words, but between it being from an uncommon genre for fics here and the overall quality of what is there, I felt that it was worth the nomination anyways.

To start with, Kieran's Final Stand is effectively a songfic, showing off just what was going through Kieran's mind during two pivotal battles in Teal Mask and Indigo Disk to the beat of his battle music. It works far better than it has any right to. The lyrics are sequenced tightly with the songs' melodies, and after elyvorg went and added hovertext for timestamps, it's pretty easy to get a feel for how it flows. The overall package does a very good job of getting into Kieran's mind and showing him grappling with his insecurities in live-time as his attempts at growing stronger for self-validation hit a wall with the player character, in all of its concerning, wince-inducing glory.

Be warned that both parts of this fic heavily spoil the DLC content of S/V, and you should not read this until after beating the Blueberry League in Indigo Disk if you care about that. But if you already have and you're looking for a little quickie to throw onto your reviewing pile, you could do far worse than Kieran's Final Stand, and you might even find yourself singing along with it before long.

Honorable Mentions

Postcards by @WildBoots , Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Dual Wills by @Arukona , Places We Call Home by @windskull , Final Gambit by @Panoramic_Vacuum

 

[Arukona]

Right, time to slide in recs for this week and make up for the fact that I forgot to make a post last week. There's two fics I read this week that I'm really struggling to decide between both of them for just how jaw-droppingly brilliant they were. But weighing it up between them, I think I ought to give it to...

• Once a Thief, by @Spiteful Murkrow. A fic that draws on influences from the Xeno series and crosses them over with PMD, and in turn mixes in a unique aspect of PMD fics that's rarely delved into: the life of an outlaw, and how in hard times of war, some must turn to pilfering to survive. Without a doubt, the best aspect of this whole fic is its worldbuilding, and the way it depicts societies of Pokémon living in a world once inhabited by humans and them trying to make sense of all of mankind's bizarre constructions. Also beautifully worked into is the parallels of archetypes and storytelling devices used throughout Xenogears, Xenosaga, and the Xenoblade titles, and all the references worked in to the point that keen-eyed players of these games will be able to spot them at a glance. If you're a fan of the series, this fic is an absolute must-read. But even if you aren't, it's still a great read in its own right.
  
  Honourable Mention
  
  
• The other really great fic I nearly chose for this week's rec was PMD: Hands of Creation, by @Namohysip. It's a great adventure shonen fic with a sprawling cast of characters that are all great for their dynamics and unique characterisation that make most of them pretty likeable. (Keyword: most - looking at you, Star. ) It might seem like a daunting fic to read, sliding in at around 1.2 million words, but if you break it up into segments between Acts and Special Episodes, it has anywhere between 12-20 chapters between these, making the fic more digestible overall. Despite its length, the fic rarely slows down and lull periods are a rarity; there's always something going on, and there really isn't much filler to be had. And those who read far into this fic will be justly rewarded, because man does the plot get insane once you get into the later chapters. There's high-stakes action, there's gut-wrenching moments, there's lighthearted fluff, and there's a good sense of humour trickled throughout this fic. Definitely give it a shot if you haven't already.

 

[Gyeig]

Gonna throw in a recommendation for 'Do Psychic Cats Dream of Electric Sheep?' by @SparklingEspeon . Enjoyed my time with this fic a lot - it's a PSMD fic that makes some pretty compelling changes to the characters and storypoints of that fic's game world, in addition to having some pretty addictive prose in general. Very comforting read in my eyes, helped me deal with some nasty stress over the past couple of weeks. It's currently only 10 chapters long, and I'm eagerly awaiting more.

 

[Starlight Aurate]

Going to make my Week 2 recommendation Salvage, by Negrek. It details Mew's child, only known as "the child," a creature that weilds Mew's powers, including the ability to transform into almost any living creature, in it's quest to find and release Mew from her imprisonment. Along the way, it gets caught up with not-so-friendly factions like Team Rocket and Mewtwo himself. The story is excellently written, with beautiful prose, and believable characters that either have you rooting for them or hating them. It's a long story, but very much worth it, and is a great piece of fiction that is well worth your time!

 

[Dragonfree]

Going to throw in my own weekly fic rec for Negrek's Salvage, too. It's just a fic that's both an intriguing mystery and incredibly consistently entertaining, and if you're one for binging, it's 57 chapters of great stuff (unfortunately not all in the TR thread, because Negrek needs to get on that ).

What really makes it is the characters: from the protagonist, a shapeshifting wild child alternately endearingly excited about normal kid things, hilariously socially clueless, and disturbingly engaged in horrific activities; to Nate, a suffering, fiendishly clever foul-mouthed Rocket grunt who loves his Pokémon more than anything; to both of their teams all different flavors of wonderfully distinct and endearing Pokémon characters oozing charm and Pokémon-ness; to Mewtwo, who is absolutely terrifying and also a confused traumatized child learning to live; to the Three Musketeers, a band of three former Shadow Pokémon with a long established bond of friendship who can empathize with Mewtwo all too well and just want to coax him into learning there's more to life. They're all just so much fun to read about all the time; the story is chock-full of great quotable lines, dark hilarity, squirmworthy tension and some very choice whump.

Meanwhile, you can watch a fascinatingly Uncanny Valley-inhuman character grow and develop while chewing on the mystery of exactly what the child is and what happened to Mew. The story has a somewhat inaccessible opening, as the protagonist is not exactly easy to root for at the start and the initial happenings are cryptic without the surrounding context, but I'm here to tell you it's extremely worth sticking with; it starts to pick up greatly after Nate is introduced in chapter six, and chapter eleven provides backstory that makes things much less cryptic.