One-Shot Contest: Weird and Wonderful
Gothitelle knows when its trainer's going to die? Iron Valiant is a mortally-wounded athlete made a cyborg to survive? Grimer arose due to X-rays from the moon? Pokémon are strange and mysterious creatures, but some of them are much stranger than others. Whether it's weird Pokédex entries, random lines of NPC dialogue, or odd choices made in the anime, there are plenty of head-scratching pieces of Pokémon lore out there. For this year's contest, let's put a spotlight on our favorite weird Pokémon facts and follow those weird bits of lore to their logical (or completely illogical) conclusions!
Story Guidelines
Your story should feature an unusual piece of lore about one or more Pokémon, and that fact should be a significant element in the story, rather than a passing reference. Both canon and original characters are welcome in this contest, and the Pokémon lore you use can come from any canon: video games, anime, TCG, licensed soft drink tie-in, whatever. If you're using any particularly obscure facts, though, it might be helpful to note what they are and their source at the end of the story, just to give the judges context. That sort of note will not count towards the word count limit! You are also welcome to cross over canons with your lore, i.e. if there's a tidbit from the anime that you think would be fun to explore in a PMD context, please feel free to do so.
Entries should be no more than 10,000 words long. Different writing programs will give different word counts, so be sure to check your story using this online calculator, which is the one I will use to determine eligibility. There is no minimum word requirement.
The story you submit should be a new one written for this contest, not one you've written previously that happens to fit the contest theme, and it should adhere to Thousand Roads' story guidelines. Please refrain from publishing your work online until the final results of the contest have been posted.
All entries are due by 11:59 PM UTC on June 30th, 2025. Not sure when that is in your timezone? You can keep track of the deadline with this handy online countdown. To enter, send your story to Negrek via PM or DM, or e-mail it to fyeahpokefic@gmail.com. One entry per person, please.
Judging and Prizes
As we did last year, we’ll randomly split entries across two separate flights: Ditto Flight and Smeargle Flight! Each flight will have its own set of judges who will rank and review all stories, resulting in two sets of top three winners. I've identified some judges already, but I'm still looking for more--shoot me a DM if you'd like to help out with the contest this year!
All entrants will have their stories featured with a brief interview in a final round-up when the results are posted, and the top three for each flight will also receive a special feature and chance to discuss their story in-depth.
Feel free to ask any questions you may have about the contest in this thread here, or send me a DM if you prefer. As always, I hope you enjoy writing for this year's contest, and good luck to all the entrants!
