Pokémon XD Enigma Shadow Series

The Enigma Shadow series by The Great Butler is a long-running cross-canon Pokémon fanfiction focusing on the adventures of Rich Mistbloom, his wife, Anabel, and their daughter, Olivia, as they fight the forces of the organization Enigma Shadow. There are currently three parts, but the writer considers XD^3 the best of the three, and no real knowledge of the first two installments is necessary to enjoy the story (as past events are referenced as needed), a mix of science fiction, thriller, and action, with plenty of exciting, hot-blooded Pokemon battles mixed in. Recommended for fans of any of the mentioned genres or those just looking for an epic story. It can be read here or here.

The other story in the Enigma Shadow series, Gardener of Gratitude, has a slightly different tone and setting- a Two Fisted Tale in the spirit of Indiana Jones or National Treasure, centering on royal intrigue, powerful artifacts, and even more powerful Pokemon. Gardener is a Spin-Off focusing on Matt Chiaki, a character from XD^3, and his adventures in La Ciudad Dorada. It's shorter than XD^3 but retains the twists and turns of its parent story, and no knowledge of XD^3 is required to enjoy it, as it stands pretty well on its own, though the events and characters of XD 3 are referenced in it (and likewise for Gardener in XD^3). Read it here or here.

The author has stated his intent to write followups to Gardener in the future, and one such sequel, The Firestorm Rebellion, has been revealed for 2011. This was later elaborated on in a March 23, 2011 update that revealed the project, under the name "Operation GEAR", will comprise of three stories starring Matt Chiaki and an older Olivia. The Firestorm Rebellion started the series on June 21, 2011.

Please note that Japanese names are used occasionally, due to the six-month release gap between the Japanese and English games and anime. Though, as the first chapter was posted in 2007, there's really no excuse for spelling Hoenn as "Houen". Don't let that bother you.

"Olivia: I don't care! If you do bad stuff to my dad and mom, I hate you! Maria: I don't blame you."
 * Abusive Parents: (well, his dad, at least) and Matt and Amanda, who eventually ran away from home.
 * The Ace: Rich.
 * Averted somewhat, his facade greatly decreases over time as his regrets come to the forefront.
 * Action Girl: Anabel
 * A Death in the Limelight:
 * Adult Fear:
 * A Fate Worse Than Death:
 * Anti-Hero: Skull is a Type IV/V.
 * Anti-Villain: Maria, to some extent.

"Crasher Wake: Well...to be honest, I just love fighting with my Pokémon! Queen Shadow lets me fight as much as I want, and pays me handsomely for it!"
 * Ascended Meme: Youngster Joey shows up with his top-percentage Rattata in Chapter 23.
 * Attempted Rape / I Have You Now, My Pretty: Sheena versus the drunk casino patron in Chapter 31.
 * Author Appeal: Subverted. Nando, one of the author's favorite characters, plays a fairly prominent role, but makes little significant impact on the story, is not given any backstory (unlike everyone else), and . Maybe to avoid him becoming a Creator's Pet?
 * Ax Crazy: Do NOT piss off Skull unless you want him to ram his bone through your head.
 * Badass: Rich. Nando. Satsukoro. Matt. Anabel. Amanda. Skull.
 * Badass Adorable: Anabel, Matt and Amanda.
 * Baleful Polymorph: Joe's transformation into an Empoleon (twice). He gets better.
 * Berserk Button: Seeing a Rattata is one for Rich's Roserade.
 * Also, don't make advances on Anabel in front of Rich.
 * Eldes' very presence sends Skull into a rage. Case in point: "I never wanted to see your ugly face again, human! You are the person I hate more than anything and this time I'm going to KILL YOU!"
 * A subtle one, but Paul calling Silver's Magnezone useless and his Nidoking weak in the tag battle tournament proves to be one of the only things that can make Nando angry.
 * Big Bad: Maria
 * Big Damn Heroes: Skull of all people pulls one in Chapter 33 when he saves Rich's Roserade from being decimated by Brandon's and even brings Anabel, Matt, Nando and Sheena with him!!
 * Big Eater: Anabel when she's pregnant. Lampshaded by Rich: "I remember when she was carrying Olivia. We were competing in a Pokémon Contest, and I swear, during every break between rounds she must've inhaled an entire cake. Each time."
 * Big "What?": Everyone's reaction when the identity of the strange masked Coordinator "B" is revealed.
 * Bishonen: Nando and Satsukoro. The drunk casino guy in Chapter 31 even lampshades it when he calls Nando "the prettiest man [he's] ever seen."
 * Bi the Way: The aforementioned casino guy makes advances on both Nando and Sheena. Then again, he was drunk and thought Nando was a girl, so it might not count...
 * Blood From the Mouth: Non-lethal version when Anabel does this after being affected by Shadow Sky in Chapter 31.
 * Blood Knight: Skull and Crasher Wake.

"Drew: Well, look what the Skitty dragged in!"
 * Blue and Orange Morality: Skull refers to captured Pokémon as slaves.
 * Body Horror:
 * Boring Failure Hero:
 * Played straight, however, with
 * Break the Cutie: Anabel and Olivia
 * Break the Fourth Wall: Pluto and Dr. Yung are aware they're characters in fanfiction.
 * The Cape (trope): Rich
 * Casanova Wannabe: Conway.
 * Celibate Lancer: Nando and Matt
 * Chekhov's Gun:
 * Chekhov MIA: The Shadow Stylers are first used by Lovrina and Maria, but after they fail, they aren't used or mentioned again
 * The Chew Toy: Nando is a unique/indirect example in the fact that it's not getting injured all the time that makes him a Chew Toy, it's the fact that he doesn't get nearly as much spotlight as the other characters, gets zero Character Development, rarely wins a battle (see The Worf Effect below), and will most likely not show up in any future stories. Ever.
 * Chick Magnet: Satsukoro
 * Children Are Innocent: Olivia. Partially invoked by Skull: “You’re only a child so I don’t hate you as much as I hate most other humans.”
 * Cloning Blues: Ardos's Shadow Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf in Chapter 32 were cloned from the DNA of Mysterial's Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf. And they're Shadow Pokémon, too. Geez, how much more messed up could you get?
 * Color Coded for Your Convenience:
 * Cool Old Guy: Satsukoro. 500-plus years old and still kicking, baby!
 * Cool Sword: Satsukoro has one. And it's made of gold. Did we mention that it can deflect electricity?
 * The Corruption: Enigma Shadow's Shadow Pokémon.
 * Costume Porn: The outfits worn by the characters for the Grand Festival and Partnership Festival.
 * Covert Pervert: Possibly Nando, given the way he dressed up his Lopunny in the Grand Festival...and the fact that he has a Gardevoir...and the Parental Substitute role he took up briefly for Olivia...
 * Crap Saccharine World
 * Creepy Crossdresser: Conway dons a maid outfit in the Partnership Festival. Lampshaded by Barry: "Don't make fun of my costume! You're the one dressed up like a girl, man!"
 * Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Until Gardener of Gratitude, Matt is portrayed as a klutz.
 * Nando. He might be the most pacifistic and sweet-tempered member of Rich's Nakama, but when the chips are down, he can kick just as much ass as Rich or Anabel.
 * Amanda. She's blind, crippled, and has to use a wheelchair to get arou - holy Arceus, did she just
 * Curb Stomp Battle: Rich's first battle against Satsukoro
 * Cyberpunk
 * Cyborg: Matt's artificial limbs and Zero's lungs
 * Dark and Troubled Past: Satsukoro, Matt
 * Deadpan Snarker: Skull
 * Defeating the Undefeatable:
 * Determinator: Rich's Roserade and Matt. Not to mention Rich himself.
 * Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?:
 * Later, in the Grand Championship, Lynn's Absol beats the ever-loving shit out of Eldes' Latias with Flash, Shadow Claw and X-Scissor. Amazing...!
 * Damsel in Distress: Olivia and Sheena.
 * Does This Remind You of Anything?: The slash scene with Nando and the drunk casino guy in Chapter 31. See Ho Yay below.
 * Don't Call Me "Sir"!: Satsukoro doesn't like it when Luca keeps calling him Lord Satsukoro-sama.
 * Dragon with an Agenda: Dr. Yung to Maria.
 * Dropped a Bridget On Him: "I told you before...I am not a woman! I'm a man!"
 * Drowning My Sorrows: Rich in Chapter 21.
 * Early-Bird Cameo: Captain Liam Everton, who appears a few times on television late in the story, has been mentioned as an antagonist for the "Operation GEAR" stories.
 * The Empath: Sheena.
 * Even Evil Has Standards:
 * Evil Laugh: The Raikou pelt dude in Chapter 9.
 * Expy: Amanda for Nunnally.
 * Eye Scream: Why Zero's right eye is covered by hair.
 * Face Heel Turn: All the Sinnoh Gym Leaders are working for Enigma Shadow except for Gardenia and Maylene. Yes, all of them.
 * Family-Unfriendly Violence: Satsukoro cutting off the fingers of two of J's henchmen in Chapter 17. Ouch.
 * Friend to All Living Things: Sheena, Nando and Olivia. In Sheena's case, she even has the power to purify a Shadow Pokémon!
 * Five-Bad Band: Enigma Shadow can be loosely categorized as this.
 * Big Bad: Maria
 * The Dragon / The Evil Genius: Dr. Yung
 * The Brutes: The admins
 * The Dark Chick: Lovrina
 * Five-Man Band: Rich's Nakama, of course!
 * The Hero: Rich
 * The Lancer: Nando and Matt
 * The Big Guy: Satsukoro and/or Nando
 * The Smart Guy: Anabel and Matt
 * The Chick: Olivia, Sheena, and Anabel
 * The Heart: Olivia
 * Freudian Excuse:
 * Genki Girl: Olivia
 * Girlish Pigtails: Olivia.
 * Gratuitous French: Courtesy of Fantina. Oddly enough, she didn't use it in her earlier appearance.
 * “Salutations, la fille Anabel! A long time since our last meeting it has been, tout à fait vrai!” (Greetings, daughter Anabel! A long time since our last meeting it has been, quite true!)
 * “En effet, it is moi!" (Indeed, it is me!)
 * "Je demande, show me that power you keep à l'intérieur!!" (I ask, show me that power you keep inside!)
 * "Ohhhhhh, décevoir, décevoir!" (Ohhhhhh, disappointing, disappointing!)
 * "Spiritomb, le beau Shadow Rave!" (Spiritomb, [use] the beautiful Shadow Rave!)
 * Gratuitous Japanese: The Milokaross Tower in Aquane City.
 * Bilingual Bonus: Milokaross is the Japanese name for Milotic.
 * Green Thumb: Nando specializes in Grass-type Pokémon.
 * Hair-Trigger Temper: Oh my god, Skull.
 * Handicapped Badass: Anabel and Matt.
 * Happily Married: Rich and Anabel.
 * Heel Face Turn:
 * Miror B. Once an admin of Cipher, now a Contest judge.
 * Nando talks Crasher Wake into doing this in Chapter 32.
 * Heh Heh I Said Balls: "Chatot laugh at funny machine on Rich's arm! Funny machine throw funny balls! Hahahaha, Chatot say balls!"
 * Heroic BSOD:
 * Heroic Sacrifice:
 * Hold Your Hippogriffs:
 * Miror B. Once an admin of Cipher, now a Contest judge.
 * Nando talks Crasher Wake into doing this in Chapter 32.
 * Heh Heh I Said Balls: "Chatot laugh at funny machine on Rich's arm! Funny machine throw funny balls! Hahahaha, Chatot say balls!"
 * Heroic BSOD:
 * Heroic Sacrifice:
 * Hold Your Hippogriffs:

"Nando: I have nothing of any interest to you gentlemen. Please, let's work something out here... Sheena: Leave him alone! He's not interested!"
 * Ho Yay: In Chapter 31, Nando gets cornered by a drunk casino patron who mistakes him for a woman, then looks him over for valuables (and maybe something else). Topped with this pair of Double Entendres:

"Anabel: I don’t know. What does he think this is, some kind of story on the Internet?"
 * Humans Are Stupid Bastards: Skull's opinion. Not entirely without reason, too.
 * Hypothetical Casting: In a sense; every character is assigned a hypothetical voice actor.
 * I Have Many Names: At some point after he lost Rosina, Koronaku changed his name to Satsukoro.
 * Ill Girl: Anabel, Amanda
 * Incredibly Lame Pun: Chapter 23, "Every Roserade Has Its Thorn"
 * Instant Awesome, Just Add Dragons: Eldes's Latias and Latios, Rich's Dragonite, Dramega and Salamence, Nando's Dragonite and Altaria, and Anabel's Kingdra.
 * It Got Worse: boy, does it ever...
 * Jerkass: Ice, Snattle, Paul, Skull, Joey...
 * Large Ham: CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASHERRRRRRRRRRRRR WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE!!!
 * Loads and Loads of Characters: And how!
 * Love Redeems:
 * Kid Hero: Olivia. She's the only one - everyone else is an adult.
 * Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
 * Kid Hero: Olivia. She's the only one - everyone else is an adult.
 * Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
 * Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
 * Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
 * Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
 * Leaning on the Fourth Wall:


 * Leeroy Jenkins: Rich's Roserade has a bad habit of popping out of her ball at the wrong times.
 * Lethal Joke Character: Nando's Kricketune, taken almost to Willing Suspension of Disbelief levels.
 * Little Miss Badass: Olivia is shaping up to become this.
 * Love Makes You Crazy: Poor Satsukoro.
 * Lucky Seven: There are seven main characters in the story - Rich, Anabel, Olivia, Matt, Nando, Satsukoro, and Skull.
 * Luke, I Am Not Your Father:
 * Made of Iron: Matt. Jesus Christ, Matt.
 * Making a Splash: Rich specializes in Water-type Pokémon.
 * Manly Tears: Nando's breakdown in Chapter 21.
 * Massively Multiplayer Crossover: Anime, game (including totally unrelated games like Pokémon Ranger), and manga canons are used.* Meaningful Name: Rich Mistbloom.
 * Melodrama: And plenty of it.
 * The Messiah: Rich
 * Mix and Match Critter: Raiquazados (Raikou, Rayquaza, and Gyarados).
 * Mood Whiplash: All over the place.
 * Monster Sob Story: Maria.
 * Morality Pet: Anabel for Skull (although it only comes up once or twice).
 * Mr. Exposition: Nando, natch.
 * Musical Assassin: The function of the Shadow Stylers created by Dr. Yung - they're essentially Ranger-style Capture Stylers in the form of different musical instruments that infuse Shadow Pokémon with extra energy when they're played. And, of course, there's Nando, who always uses music in his Contest appeals and is never without his harp.
 * My Name Is Not Durwood: The running gag of people calling Satsukoro "Sesshomaru".
 * Never Say "Die":
 * Oh Crap
 * Older Than They Look: Satsukoro. He hardly appears older than Rich or Anabel, but he's actually 500+ years old.
 * Olympus Mons: Oh my Arceus, where do we start?
 * Maria's Shadow Shaymin (it got Snagged by Rich)
 * Dialga and Palkia
 * Matt's Heatran, Tanya
 * Eldes's Latias and Latios
 * Darkrai
 * Volkner's Shadow Raikou
 * Gorigan's Shadow Heatran
 * Mysterial's Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf
 * Ardos's clone Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf
 * 's Shaymin
 * One Pokémon Army: Skull. He held off Brandon's  with Shadow End during his Big Damn Heroes moment in Chapter 33. What more evidence do you need??
 * To say nothing of the aforementioned, which took down Rich's Dragonite, Lucario, Melodic, Porygon-Z, and Ambipom without even breaking a sweat. Yikes.
 * "On the Next...": Chapters contain episode previews narrated by characters.
 * OOC Is Serious Business: Basically any time Nando gets angry, sad, freaked out, or displays an emotion that does not involve his usual cheerful smile.
 * Papa Wolf: Rich towards Olivia.
 * Parental Substitute:
 * Pint-Sized Powerhouse: All of Lisa's Pokémon except for Bayleef.
 * The Pollyanna: Nando. Dear Arceus, Nando. He literally cannot stay upset for more than three seconds.
 * Power Gives You Wings:
 * Power Trio
 * The Kirk: Anabel
 * The McCoy: Rich
 * The Spock: Nando/Matt
 * Precision F-Strike: "You don't have a sorry bone in your damn body."
 * Psychic Powers: Anabel specializes in Psychic-type Pokémon and can also communicate telepathically. Sheena has the ability to read the hearts of Pokémon, and Rich and Satsukoro have the power of Aura.
 * Pun-Based Title: Chapter 23, "Every Roserade Has Its Thorn" and Chapter 10, "Like A Walk In The Palkia"
 * Put on a Bus: Briefly became The Bus Came Back before
 * Put on a Bus to Hell:
 * The Reveal:
 * The Rival: Paul
 * Scars Are Forever: Poor Satsukoro...
 * Sequel Hook:
 * Shout-Out: Too many to count. Among those that pop up:
 * Inuyasha
 * Code Geass
 * Super Paper Mario
 * Gurren Lagann
 * Fullmetal Alchemist
 * Bleach
 * Metalocalypse
 * David Bowie
 * Michael Jackson
 * ABBA
 * The Go Rock Quads in-story are actually based on the band, right down to playing their songs in-story and having band members as their voice actors. Not surprising considering the author states in his profiles on LJ and Serebii Forums he's a fan.
 * Matt's female Heatran is named Tanya, a reference to the character of the same name in Mamma Mia!.
 * Rozen Maiden
 * The Venture Brothers
 * In chapter 29, Candice expresses regret at not following the rules, and a competitor comes from Daten City in Unova. PSG later gets several more, including Volkner's ringtone being "Theme for Scanty and Kneesocks" and Lovrina drawing Chuck on a whiteboard.
 * "My little sister can't be this powerful!"
 * Several characters use the infamous Gendo pose, most notably Matt, who has the Scary Shiny Glasses to complement it.
 * Maria invokes the "dazzling the stage" catchphrase from Star Driver and then imitates Takuto Tsunashi's powerup pose.
 * Slow Clap:
 * Smug Snake: Conway.
 * The Soulless / Empty Shell: Shadow Pokémon as a whole (an exception being Skull), but special mention goes to the (cloned) Shadow Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf in Chapter 32. After Rich's Lucario defeats it, Sheena even states that she can't sense Uxie's heart.
 * Star-Crossed Lovers: and Rosina
 * Start of Darkness:
 * Strong as They Need to Be: Nando, Nando, Nando.
 * Super-Powered Evil Side: Janus for Matt. Doubles as a Meaningful Name, since the Greek god Janus had two faces. Dialga also transforms into Primal Dialga in Chapter 26.
 * Sympathy for the Devil: "It’s pitiable, this poor clone Uxie having been born only to be a weapon..."
 * Talking Pokémon: Skull, Satsukoro's Lucario, Team Rocket's Meowth, Dialga, Darkrai, and Palkia.
 * Taking the Bullet: Rich's Roserade jumping in front of him and Olivia to save them from being hit by Janus's Heatran's Flash Cannon.
 * Tender Tears: sheds some after he finds out
 * Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Olivia's Combee has a red dot on its bottom face, which shows that it's a girl.
 * Time Skip
 * Title Drop: The second-to-last chapter is called Rich vs. Maria - The Waves of Truth.
 * Together in Death:
 * Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Dr. Yung and Paul.
 * Verbal Tic: Anabel puts an ellipse...between every few words...like this. Justified because she...is still recovering from....
 * Conway ends most of his sentences with "desu".
 * A " ~ ♪" often appears to indicate Nando speaking in singsong.
 * Villainous Breakdown: As of chapter 29
 * Villains Out Shopping: Volkner and Gorigan watching the Grand Festival, and Lovrina doing whiteboard drawings.
 * Wham! Episode:
 * Looks like this is going into overdrive towards the end. Chapter 30 reveals that, while in 31.
 * Wham! Line:
 * "That's why I'm putting my faith... in this one!!"
 * What Happened to the Mouse?:
 * Woman in White:
 * The Worf Effect: The number of times this trope hasn't screwed over Nando can be counted on one hand.
 * Xanatos Roulette: Everything Dr. Yung does
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Rich has blue hair. Anabel, Satsukoro, and Olivia have purple hair, and Dr. Yung has turquoise hair.
 * "That's why I'm putting my faith... in this one!!"
 * What Happened to the Mouse?:
 * Woman in White:
 * The Worf Effect: The number of times this trope hasn't screwed over Nando can be counted on one hand.
 * Xanatos Roulette: Everything Dr. Yung does
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Rich has blue hair. Anabel, Satsukoro, and Olivia have purple hair, and Dr. Yung has turquoise hair.

Tropes found in Pokemon Ranger and the Gardener of Gratitude include

 * Badass: Sky Forme Shaymin
 * Badass Adorable: Sky Forme Shaymin
 * The Cameo: XD3's Nando appears briefly in the prologue, winning a Ribbon.
 * The Chessmaster:
 * Disney Death:
 * Elegant Gothic Lolita: Eleanor
 * Family-Unfriendly Death:
 * Fate Worse Than Death:
 * Girlish Pigtails: Eleanor
 * Killed Off for Real:
 * MacGuffin: The Griseous Orb
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
 * Olympus Mons: Arceus, Giratina, Regigigas
 * Rebellious Princess: Rosalita
 * The Rival: Carter
 * Shout-Out: Chapter 5 contains a huge one to David Bowie, and the royal court members are named after ABBA songs.
 * Straw Misogynist: Fernando VIII
 * Third Person Person: Shaymin.
 * Took a Level In Badass: Matt. Goes from whiny and clumsy.
 * Two Fisted Tale: Everything in this story, right down to the setting, is a clear homage to this genre.
 * Xanatos Roulette: Fernando's plan.
 * Yandere: Cassy.
 * Yandere: Cassy.