Pokémon XD Enigma Shadow Series

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

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.

Tropes used in Pokémon XD Enigma Shadow Series include:
  • Abusive Parents: Paul (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
  • Adult Fear: After Anabel's miscarriage, Rich worries that Olivia is growing closer to Nando than she is to him. See Parental Substitute below.
  • Anti-Hero: Skull is a Type IV/V.
  • Anti-Villain: Maria, to some extent.

Olivia: I don't care! If you do bad stuff to my dad and mom, I hate you!
Maria: I don't blame you.

  • 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 is the one to get his ass kicked by Rich and Anabel so they win the Grand Championship and Grand Festival. 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.
  • 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...
  • 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 Shadow Regigigas 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. He's Barry.
  • 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."
  • 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.

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!

  • Blue and Orange Morality: Skull refers to captured Pokémon as slaves.
  • Body Horror: Cyborg!J in Chapter 29. *vomits*
  • Boring Failure Hero: Awesomely averted. Rich and Anabel win the Grand Championship and Grand Festival.
    • Played straight, however, with Nando
  • 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 MIA: The Shadow Stylers are first used by Lovrina and Maria, but after they fail, they aren't used or mentioned again until Brandon brings out one to power up his Shadow Regigigas in Chapter 33.
  • Chekhov's Gun: Brandon's Regigigas, and the gong Shadow Styler that control it, were seen at the very beginning of the story and not again until Chapter 33.
  • 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), lost the Grand Festival and the Grand Championship, 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: When Satsukoro and Rosina die together, they are wearing white kimonos. White in Asian culture is a symbol of death.
  • 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 engage battle with Rich, pull out six Unova Pokémon, and curb-stomp him six to zero?!
  • Curb Stomp Battle: Rich's first battle against Satsukoro
    • Rich VS. Conway, then Paul VS. Barry in Chapter 29.
    • Rich VS. Grand Champion Amanda in Chapter 30. She uses five Unova Pokemon to stomp him so badly that he fails to even beat one.
    • Rich VS. Brandon at Castle Shadow is even worse, and would have had an ugly ending if Skull didn't come in.
  • Cyberpunk
  • Cyborg: Matt's artificial limbs and Zero's lungs
    • Also J's transformation into a cyborg by Pluto and Zero following her death
  • Damsel in Distress: Olivia and Sheena.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: Satsukoro, Matt
  • Deadpan Snarker: Skull
  • A Death in the Limelight: Ein
  • Defeating the Undefeatable: When Rich beats Satsukoro at the Battle Casino.
  • Determinator: Rich's Roserade and Matt. Not to mention Rich himself.
  • Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Maria's capture of Palkia
    • 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...!
  • 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.
  • Downer Ending: Rich dies to prevent Judy from accidentally destroying the world after she kills Dr. Yung. Anabel looks like she'll never be able to move forward and Olivia doesn't know a thing about what really happened to her beloved father. Judy commits suicide rather than spill her secrets. As if it couldn't get any worse after that, Dr. Yung is really still alive, and a group consisting of him, Mercury, Pluto, Zero and Cassy were doing the bidding of an enigmatic entity called "Father," aiming to get rid of Team Galactic and Enigma Shadow for an unknown goal. That's right, everything that happened in the entire story was a massive Gambit Pileup pulled off perfectly. The heroes' suffering was for nothing.
  • Dragon with an Agenda: Dr. Yung to Maria.
  • Dropped a Bridge on Him: Ein's heart attack.
  • 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: Maria and Yung are horrified when they find out Anabel was poisoned and miscarried her twins. They didn't do it. Or at least, Maria didn't...
  • 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.
  • A Fate Worse Than Death: J
  • Five-Bad Band: Enigma Shadow can be loosely categorized as this.
  • Five-Man Band: Rich's Nakama, of course!
  • Freudian Excuse: Paul's abusive father. Dr. Yung is also revealed to have lost his parents in the explosion that Mewtwo created on New Island.
  • Freudian Trio
  • Friend to All Living Things: Sheena, Nando and Olivia. In Sheena's case, she even has the power to purify a Shadow Pokémon!
  • 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.
  • 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: Following his final defeat at Rich's hands, Paul rejects his old ways and becomes Satsukoro's apprentice.
    • 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: Rich gets hit with this hard after Anabel's miscarriage.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Rich ends up sacrificing his life to save everyone in the final battle.
  • 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:

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!

Drew: Well, look what the Skitty dragged in!

  • 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...
    • Anabel's entire pregnancy arc. She gets sick enough to end up wheelchair-bound, ends up poisoned by another person and goes into a coma, and then miscarries twins
    • Satsukoro's whole backstory. His mother was killed during a rebellion in his homeland, and his father was killed in a rockfall. Just when he finds his true love her father sends her into another dimension. Oh, and did we mention he's immortal now and still looking for her?
  • Jerkass: Ice, Snattle, Paul, Skull, Joey...
  • Kid Hero: Olivia. She's the only one - everyone else is an adult.
  • Killed Off for Real: Ein
    • Jackie also
    • and Rich
    • Satsukoro and Rosina
  • Large Ham: CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASHERRRRRRRRRRRRR WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE!!!
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall:

Anabel: I don’t know. What does he think this is, some kind of story on the Internet?

Tropes found in Pokemon Ranger and the Gardener of Gratitude include

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