Morphic
Morphic is a Pokémon fanfic intended as a Deconstruction of "Pokémorphs", a fandom term for a character with mixed human and Pokémon characteristics, generally at the level of Petting Zoo People. (Not to be confused with ordinary humans who can transform into Pokémon à la Animorphs, which are also often referred to as Pokémorphs but do not appear in the fic.)
In a World that is basically Real Life with Pokémon!, a group of scientists try splicing human and Pokémon genes to observe the results, intending to destroy them after finishing their tests and analysis of how they develop. This backfires horribly when the Stop Abortion Movement steps in and forces them to let the embryos develop and live. The scientists take them in as their own children; due to their strange mutations, life is difficult, but they manage.
...and that's where the Church of Holy Truth, a religious organization believing that the merging of humans and Pokémon is blasphemy and must be stopped at all costs, comes in.
The end result is a story that is is dark and well-written with solid, realistic characters. The Pokémorph children also have varied but realistic personalities, in many cases exploring what an average, normal person would do in the situations that the characters are thrown into.
There are also multiple "Dave and Mia discuss..." shorts, which can be found on the author's fanfiction page on her website. They involve Dave and Mia discussing various subjects, including as of writing sex, politics, and horror.
Early in the morning of April 1, 2011, a sequel written by a new author was posted. In the evening, however, it was revealed to be a hoax, and the real chapter (written by the original author) was supposedly posted. The day after, it was revealed that, too, was a hoax.
- Alternate Universe: Pokémon are not as powerful as they are in the games, and are also less important politically. (The world is not ruled by gym leaders and the Pokémon League, for example.)
- To be fair, only Pokémon Special (itself an Alternate Universe) established that the world was ruled by the League, we don't see any really powerful Pokémon because the villains use guns and everyone else with a Pokémon only use them as pets. I don't think the author even mentioned what region/country the story takes place in, nor does it really apply to the story. Of course given that this story is much more Darker and Edgier compared to mainstream Pokémon, it would probably be safe to assume that this is the case.
- Wherever it takes place, Peter does mention having started training, and at the end is slightly upset that because of the permanent house arrest, he'll never get to be a Gym Leader. It's likely safe to assume that training is still important in this universe, it just gets less mention because the story focuses more on the kids dealing with their Pokémon DNA.
- To be fair, only Pokémon Special (itself an Alternate Universe) established that the world was ruled by the League, we don't see any really powerful Pokémon because the villains use guns and everyone else with a Pokémon only use them as pets. I don't think the author even mentioned what region/country the story takes place in, nor does it really apply to the story. Of course given that this story is much more Darker and Edgier compared to mainstream Pokémon, it would probably be safe to assume that this is the case.
- Anyone Can Die: Kids are not immune to bullets.
- Big Damn Heroes: Cruelly subverted in chapter 13, where Lucy arrives far too late to save most of the kids.
- Bittersweet Ending: Mia and Will are dead and the kids are going to be under house arrest for the rest of their lives...but the Church of Holy Truth is no longer a threat, Gabriel was saved, and the kids' fates could have been a lot worse if Dave hadn't pulled strings.
- Blessed with Suck: Most of the kids, especially Gabriel, who was fused with a Slugma. Also, Katherine needs to be in sunlight constantly or she gets tired and groggy.
- Blood Knight: Every Pokemorph has at least some aspect of this—Mia the most, Lucy and Gabriel the least.
- Break the Cutie: A male variant. Gabriel is the "snap" variety; he does not take well to Brian's death.
- Chekhov's Gun: Subverted with Felicia, who is killed the instant it looks like she's going to be useful.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Monica Sellers is given a very brief mention in chapter 4. Later on, she tries to warn Dave about the Church of Holy Truth's real plans. Unfortunately this directly leads to Gabriel getting kidnapped.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Mia is a rare non-comedic example, seeing as she simply does not understand society's conventions to any real degree.
- Designer Babies: Well, duh.
- Determinator / The Unfettered: Dave. He regularly goes to court and pulls strings to the point of obsession in order to give the Pokémorphs a normal life. (This is an interesting juxtaposition with his normal Jerkass personality)
- Freak-Out: In chapter 13, Lucy when she sees that Mia is dead. It's so bad that she uses Perish Song.
- Guilt Complex: Jack and Katherine get this during the ending. The former because he was the one who led the suicidal rescue mission in the first place and the latter because she was the most "mature" of the Pokémorphs and repeatedly kicks herself for not knowing any better and stopping the others.
- Incredibly Lame Pun: In a non-fictional example, this series of comments, starting from one Mudskipper and in retrospect painfully obvious.
- Interrupted Suicide: Jack, arguing that I Am a Monster. Gabriel talks him out of it, on the basis that Gabriel deserves to die a lot more than Jack does.
- Jerkass: Dave.
- Subverted, as he is also extremely selfless when it comes to protecting the Pokémorphs, and will stop at nothing to ensure their safety and survival. The juxtaposition is rather intriguing and somewhat bizarre.
- Kid Heroes: Natch.
- Loads and Loads of Characters: Eight Pokémorphs distributed across six homes, with each home also having (usually two) parents and optional extra siblings, though not much tends to be seen of them. This wouldn't be that much in, say, a TV show with several seasons, but this is a fourteen-chapter fanfic. This in combination with the slow progress of the fic has led to many readers forgetting who everybody is between chapters.
- The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body: The kids' personalities seem to be, at least in part, based on the Pokémon they were fused with. In addition, it's later revealed that it also makes them feel violent and aggressive sometimes.
- And there's also an example of this that borders on You Fail Biology Forever: Katherine, due to the fact that Roselia mature much faster than ordinary humans, is physically much older than the other Pokémorphs. Okay. But the story apparently interprets physical age as mental age; she skips grades, eventually learns how to drive, and is often regarded as the wisest and most mature of the group. Except that she is the exact same age as everyone else mentally—none of that would ever be possible in Real Life.
- Her capacity for rational thought, judgement, processing power, hormone levels etc. develop at the speed of her brain, which is the same accelerated speed at which the rest of her body ages. However, she has still only actually lived in the world for ten years, the same as everyone else, making her just as inexperienced as they are.
- Sort of lampshaded by Dave in one of the "Dave and Mia discuss..." bonus chapters. He points out that while she looks and acts more like a teenager, she's still technically ten.
- And there's also an example of this that borders on You Fail Biology Forever: Katherine, due to the fact that Roselia mature much faster than ordinary humans, is physically much older than the other Pokémorphs. Okay. But the story apparently interprets physical age as mental age; she skips grades, eventually learns how to drive, and is often regarded as the wisest and most mature of the group. Except that she is the exact same age as everyone else mentally—none of that would ever be possible in Real Life.
- Missing Mom / Parental Abandonment: Jean. Ironic, as her mom specifically volunteered to take her.
- Mood Whiplash: Chapter 13. Previously, the story started drifting into an optimistic, kid-adventure-style sort of plot. But when the kids actually try to launch an all-out assault, we are reminded that kids are not bulletproof.
- And before then, Chapter 7. It goes from Jean bragging about the movie contract to Brian getting killed.
- Nice Guy: Brian and Gabriel.
- Personality Powers: Overlaps with The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body; the kids' personalities tend to match the Pokémon they were fused with. Inverted with Gabriel, however, who is a Nice Guy.
- Pet the Dog: Dave is genuinely a Jerkass, but he gets fonder of the Pokémorphs eventually (especially Jean and Mia), and in some of his interactions with Mia (mainly the Dave-and-Mia-discuss chapters), he's quite noticeably less of a Jerkass.
- Petting Zoo People: Most of the Pokémorphs are mostly human with a few Pokémon features.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gabriel internally calls Dave out on a truckload of things at Brian's funeral.
- Sacrificial Lamb: Brian.
- Sacrificial Lion: Will and Mia.
- Shout-Out: Gabriel and Brian's mystery novel has the same plot as an Icelandic murder mystery novel.
- Sir Swearsalot: There is a lot of swearing, at least 90% of which is in Dave's dialogue and internal monologue.
- Sociopathic Hero: Mia.
- Spoiled Brat: Jean.
- Take That: Part of what kicks off the plot is the mention of a series of books about a Half-Human Hybrid named "Sarah Hooter" fighting an evil organization. Why does that sound familiar?
- Thirteen Is Unlucky: Chapter 13, the Wham! Episode.
- This Is Reality: In chapter 12:
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Dave: This isn’t some fucking kids’ action movie where the good guys win. This is real life with real-life murderers waiting to murk the life out of you because the invisible man in the sky told them to do it. You’re just a bunch of kids. By God, Jean, you’re all going to fucking die. |
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Dave: Thing is, the heroes you read about in books aren’t real. There’s always a writer watching over them and making sure they win out in the end and the bad guys get caught. In the real world, we aren’t that lucky. There’s nobody watching over us, and the bad guys win all the time. |
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- Thou Shall Not Kill: Subverted hard. In chapter 13, when the kids opt to knock out or paralyze the religious extremists instead of killing them, they get up again just when the kids think they're safe. The result is not pretty. It only gets better when they start killing the fanatics.
- Transformation Trauma: In chapter 13, Jean accidentally touches a Fire Stone and evolves. However, since they're only part Pokémon, only half of them evolves. Their human body struggles to keep up, and the result is...not pretty.
- Uncanny Valley: Referenced In-Universe in chapter 13.
- Wham! Episode: Two. The first is chapter 7, in which things start going downhill fast and the Sacrificial Lamb dies, and another in chapter 13, not only because it contains extreme Mood Whiplash, but also because Anyone Can Die comes into effect.
Tropes used in the April Fools' Day "sequel"
- Alternate Universe: The "real" version was stated by Word of God to be an "alternate universe".
- Back from the Dead: Mia and Will. Not really.
- Easy Evangelism: Bubbles pulls this one on Jean. Dave is at least a bit more canny...
- Genki Girl: Bubbles who is really Isaac Daniels's Mew.
- Not as You Know Them: Almost everyone in the version by the "new" author. Justified in that the author in question never actually read Morphic, and was just given a bunch of short, one-sentence descriptions of each character. The defining moment of which is when a dead Mia suddenly has the hots for Dave and starts chasing him all over the afterlife.
- Averted in the "real" version, where the author even says she was trying to keep Dave as in-character as possible.
- Stealth Parody