The Sun Soul

A Pokemon fanfic written by 50calliberchaos..

A Darker and Edgier take on Pokemon, this fic chronicles the journey of Ash Ketchum in a more realistic, dangerous Pokemon world where death and corruption are rife. Pokemon are dangerous enough that one red Gyarados can wipe out an entire town, science has focused mainly on researching pokemon, leading to very advanced medicine but relatively little in terms of computers, transport etc, transportation is mainly on foot/per pokemon (with cars being right out, even in the core region) and there being an actual frontier to human civilization.

The story follows Ash Ketchum, but not as we know him from the anime. An early experience with Pokemon in his childhood teaches him to respect Pokemon for the dangerous nature they possess, a lesson that stays with him throughout the rest of the story. With his traveling companion Misty, a girl with a mysterious past, Ash attempts to get to the bottom of why Team Rocket are occupying Mt. Moon and trying to enter Cerulean Cave. Along the way he meets Bill the scientist, a reclusive inventor, Dawn, a fellow trainer with whom he shares a mysterious connection, Jesse and James, who are constantly at odds with Ash and Misty, and the ever manipulative Mewtwo. Warning: character deaths, violence, and gore ahead.

Tropes used in The Sun Soul include:

Action Girl: Janine. She throws herself at the enemy before she throws her Pokemon.
Aloof Ally: Mewtwo would rather Ash survive. But if he doesn't, no big deal: he has enough plans in the background that he can afford to lose one pawn.
Almost-Dead Guy: Johanna, who holds on just long enough to give Ash her Charmeleon and tell it to obey him.
Anti-Hero: Misty is a Type II/III with a Dark and Troubled Past.
Anti-Villain: Koga may have sold out his clan and his city to Team Rocket, but only so he could find a cure for his daughter's disease.
- May is shaping up to be another one.
- Giovanni is trying to present himself as one of these. He's hardly the most trustworthy character, however.
Anyone Can Die: A lot of things (people and Pokemon) die in this fic, so we'll just list the plot-relevant ones. The entire population of Pallet Town – minus Ash and Oak, but including Delia –, Cade, Misty's Staryu, Violet, Ash's Fearow, Johanna, Jessie's Charizard, Fey, and Lt. Surge. This is just from the pre-Time Skip chapters.
- In a recent chapter, Jesse and MISTY. The fanbase has been flipping their shit in the reviews.
- Even more recently, James, Ash's Butterfree, and Pikachu. Yeah, his first pokemon is dead.
- Professor Oak, Clair, and all their Pokemon are killed on Cinnabar.
- Elm's dead too, as of chapter 30, in what was probably the most satisfying death in the entire story thus far.
Armor Is Useless: Averted big time. Throughout the story armor is shown to be a main reason the heroes are still alive.
- The battle for Celadon drives this trope home like a sledgehammer where it is specifically shown that one of the things that makes the event horrific is how long soldiers have to beat on each other just to get through their opponent's armor.
- Misty's death is due in large part to her opting out of wearing armor.
- On Cinnabar, Ash's armor saves his life when the specially designed heat-shielding in the suit save him from a Salamence's breath weapon.
The Atoner: Misty, due to being a former member of Team Rocket. She claims to have been a Defector From Decadence only until she met Ash, at which point she completed her Heel Face Turn.
Ax Crazy: Cade the bug hunter. Catching pokemon and their trainers for bug food...
- Also Jessie. The only reason she doesn't try to kill everyone the minute they get in her way is because James is pragmatic enough to remind her that's not always the best course of action.
Badass: Running around, everywhere.
Badass Adorable: Pikachu, Growlithe.
Badass Normal: Most of the named cast qualify. Misty and Brock are both shown to be deadly in combat, both with Pokemon and by themselves. Officer Jenny and Erika both kick some serious ass, and let's not even start on Jesse and James.
Badass Grandpa: Professor Oak.
Battle Couple: Ash and Misty, Jesse and James.
The Beast Master: Everyone with a Pokemon, but especially Ash, who seems to command unusual respect and obedience from pokemon around him. There's a good reason for that: savants are basically beings born to be beastmasters.
Beast of Battle: Pokemon, naturally.
Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Averted with Officer Jenny, who is expressly shown to have suffered all of the physical effects of months in a shitty prison.
Big Bad Ensemble: at first, Team Rocket serves as the main antagonist force, but Elm and Mewtwo are giving the group a run for its money. After Elm's death and Team Rocket's Enemy Mine with Ash, Mewtwo becomes the only Big Bad.
Big Creepy-Crawlies: The Caterpies and Weedles in Viridian forest. Especially the Weedles.
Big Damn Heroes: Brock and Ash at Mt. Moon, Brock in Vermilion.
- Subverted in chapter 30, Giovanni and what appears to be a large contingent of Rockets intended to do this during the fight with Elm. They were a bit late to the party though.
Big Screwed-Up Family: Misty hails from one.
- As does Janine.
- Ash's dad is Giovanni, head of Team Rocket. Yup.
Black Widow: Misty apparently acted as one once.
Born Lucky: Ash, apparently, surviving amazing odds; falling off a waterfall among others. It's not simply luck.
Break the Cutie: "Hey kids! Let's see how badly we can traumatize Ash!"
- At this rate we're going to need to invent a "Break The Cutie Conga Line" trope.
Canine Companion: Growlithe/Arcanine
- Mightyena for May.
Cain and Abel: Misty, Violet and Kasumi, though the exact roles are in question due to unreliable narrators. Violet is agreed to be an Abel and Misty admits she was a Cain in the past, but Kasumi could have been either one. Plus Misty's Heel Face Turn and Kasumi's animosity towards her makes things more complicated.
Calling the Old Man Out: Janine to Koga. Since both are ninjas, it quickly takes a turn for the worse.
Chekhov's Army: At the Saffron City checkpoint, the group meet up with a mercenary company. Said company later reappears for the Celadon arc.
The Chessmaster: Mewtwo. If Elm and Giovanni are to be believed, he's the one behind the war between Orange/Johto/Orre and Cinnabar...
Cincinnatus: What the Gym Leaders are supposed to be like, though several of them have become corrupt. Brock himself denies this, just because he doesn't like the idea.
City of Canals: Cerulean City has this in spades, complete with the odors such a setup entails.
Cliff Hanger: An especially cruel one in Chapter 31
Clingy Jealous Girl: Janine displays some of this when she thinks Sabrina's getting too close to Ash. Vicki lampshades it almost immediately.
Composite Character: Gary apparently doesn't exist in this universe, so Ash takes his place as Oak's grandson.
Cowboy Cop: This is pretty much the golden rule of the Fuchsia Gym.
Crapsack World: Pokemon are deadly dangerous. And thanks to the machinations of Team Rocket, Elm, and Mewtwo, Kanto is becoming a steadily worse place to live (food shortages, open war over cities, the works). Ash and company are working to fix this, though time will tell if it works.
- From the stories coming from Cinnabar, the other regions may be even worse.
- The Orange Islands are in the grasp of a populist revolutionary council that overthrew the sitting King, and now has its sights set on Invading Kanto, starting with Cinnibar Island.
- Hoenn has been torn apart by a devastating civil war and is almost a total loss. May still has hope for Hoenn's future, and plans on ruling it as queen.
- As bad as those are, Orre is implied to be even worse.
Curb Stomp Battle: Oak and Clair, two of the world's most powerful trainers, swoop down on Professor Elm just off the coast of Cinnibar. They're utterly destroyed.
Dark Action Girl. Misty embodied this as the Cerulean Gym Leader, but went soft after meeting and falling in love with Ash.
- May also has shades of this, especially in the way that she betrays and kills Professor Elm.
Darker and Edgier: Everything! But to be specific, the Pokemon are really wild and dangerous wandering monsters. This means that the safest places are the cities which are protected by the gyms, but this protection comes with a price of its own: namely, the gym leaders basically run the cities. Team Rocket masquerades as a community service organization even as they cause economic havoc, take away food sources, and run horrific experiments. And that's not even getting into the characters...
Dead Line News: During the Johto/Cinnabar War, a cameraman is killed by an attacking Gyarados.
Death by Origin Story: Prior to Ash's journey, Norman, Caroline, and Max. Apparently Professor Oak was responsible^[1]. Needless to say, May is pissed.
Death Seeker: After Misty is killed, Ash intends to take out as many Rockets as he can kill before he's taken out. Fortunately, Janine's arrival forces him to reconsider.
Deceptive Disciple: May may be Professor Elm's protege, but she never believed the lies he fed her about how Oak murdered her family. That doesn't exactly mean that she finds him innocent, either...
Deconstruction Fic: The whole fic is essentially an examination of how dangerous a realistic Pokemon universe would be.
Defeat Means Friendship: While catching Pokemon still works this way, it's not instantaneous. For example, after catching Fearow, Ash and Misty release all their Pokemon before releasing Fearow for the first time, ready to fight it if it tries anything.
Determinator: Ash embodies determination. Even by the end of the Vermilion arc, you'll wonder how someone can endure that kind of punishment. By the end of the Celadon and Saffron arcs, you'll wonder how anyone can function as a person after what he's been through. And as of the Cinnabar arc...you get the idea.
Disappeared Dad: Ash has one.
- According to his mom, his name is Giovanni. Yes, that one.
  - He's not disappeared anymore as of the end of chapter 30.
Doomed Hometown: Pallet Town.
Doom Magnet: Two cities are destroyed while Ash is nearby. Averted in the case of Cerulean City, though.
Doorstopper: So far it is 311,246 words as of Chapter 33, so it counts.
Dragon Rider: Ash, once he gets a Charizard. Making it even more Badass is the fact that Charizard is wickedly aggressive and Ax Crazy, even for its infamously dangerous species.
- Later on, damn near everybody is flying around on a Charizard.
Dystopia: Kanto in general seems to be a mild(ish) example of one.
The Empath: Savants, more or less, are this with Pokemon.
Establishing Character Moment: Misty beheads a girl working for Team Rocket before she can say anything in front of Ash.
Everything's Deader with Zombies: Zombie pokemon even.
Expy: By the author's admission, Bill is based off Mordin Solus.
- Cinnabar Island is looking more and more like it was based on Israel. The vaguely Hebrew names around there clinch it.
  - It's described at having universal conscription, and having been at war with it's neighbours for generations, so it looks about right.
Fantasy Gun Control: It's mentioned that gunpowder weapons were experimented with, but were found to be too inefficient as well as frightening the trainers' Pokemon.
Feathered Fiend: Fearow, among others. More recently, Pidgeot.
- Dawn and later May each have Swellows.
Freudian Excuse: Koga had to watch his wife slowly waste away from Huntington's. Upon realizing that his daughter Janine had it as well (and would die even younger then her mother), he turned to Team Rocket for help.
Friend to All Living Things: Ash. He seems to command an unusual amount of respect from pokemon he catches or commands, and they seem to intuitively understand his orders. Most notable with Blastoise, who is described by Misty as rather dense, stubborn and tactically disinclined, but under Ash's command suddenly understands completely new tactics and obeys without hesitation.
Gadgeteer Genius: Professor Oak definitely qualifies, for obvious reasons.
- Ash is an interesting example. He inherited some of his grandfather's scientific talent by working with the man, though he still displays the lack of book-knowledge one would expect from a simple frontier kid with no formal training in much of anything other than Pokemon, as seen in his conversations with Erika.
- Dawn also qualifies; Oak says that she's better than Ash.
Gratuitous German: Blaine in chapter 31: "Schweigen!". Technically correct, although "Ruhe!" would be preferred by Germans.
Guest Star Party Member: The Old Crone AKA Agatha in the Lavender arc, Janine in the Fuchsia and Saffron arcs.
- Janine seems to have upgraded to full time party member, she's been around all through Cinnabar.
Gut Feeling: Savant powers manifest as an intuitive sense of exactly what needs to be done. At one point Bill tells Ash he should listen to his little thoughts that come from nowhere, because they're right.
Head Pet: Pikachu
Heel Face Turn: May in chapter 30.
Heroic BSOD: Ash suffers one when Fearow dies and he thinks Misty has died as well. He has a far worse one when Misty does die.
Heroic Dog: Arcanine, at one point.
Heroic Neutral: Sabrina is a gray version of this trope; she cares about Saffron's well-being above all else, and any friends of Saffron are friends of hers. Even if they are trying to kill each other.
Heroic Comedic Sociopath: Ash's Haunter.
Hero-Killer: Jessie and James. No, seriously. They have a Charizard, for Arceus' sake! Most of the reason they haven't killed Ash was because of his savant heritage^[2].
- Another, more successful Hero-Killer would be Elm.
Hero of Another Story: Dawn clearly has some adventure going on back in Sinnoh.
Hurting Hero: Oh boy, where to start?
- Pretty much every character.
I Am Saffron: Combined with Punctuated! For! Emphasis! for good measure by Sabrina.
Ice Queen: Dawn, like crazy.
- Misty fit for a while.
Ill Girl: Janine has Huntington's Disease. She takes medication all the time, and has less then a year before she's bedridden for the rest of her life. She compensates by being one awesome ninja.
Improbable Weapon User: Koga. Those eggs filled with finely crushed pepper aren't that awesome, but they work.
In the Hood: Seems to be the standard uniform for the Fuchsia Gym.
It Got Worse: Ash goes from losing his entire hometown, his mother, and entire childhood in a night to being thrown into a continent-spanning conspiracy that culminates in him being stabbed, thrown off waterfalls, attacked by Jesse and James over and over, and generally nearly killed on a fairly regular basis. Oh, and then Misty, his lover, is brutally murdered in a battle he insisted they fight. Not to mention Pikachu gets killed as well. And then professor Oak... How much worse can things get?
I Thought Everyone Could Do That: Misty expresses surprise that Ash can bond with and control Pokemon on a level that shouldn't be possible; on numerous occasions she observes that Ash performs actions with just-caught Pokemon that would have left anyone else dead. Ash is completely unaware of this until he gets told about him being a savant.
Knife Nut: Ash, Misty and Brock all carry knives. Ash in particular, who escaped a few sticky situations by throwing his.
Lady of War: Erika has a flavor of this to her. While she maintains an air of royalty about her, to the point of being a major pain in the ass, she can also be a surprisingly potent force on the battlefield if killing a Scyther is any indication.
Lamarck Was Right: Apparently being around a specific type of Pokemon can, over generations, cause humans to take on the aspects of that type of Pokemon. Then there are savants, who attune with Pokemon in general.
The Lost Woods: Viridian Forest. At a certain point, the canopy covers the sky completely, not letting any light in. The air becomes completely still. The temperature drops sharply in certain areas. The trail gets ever narrower, making it easy to get lost. And God help you if you stumble upon a silky white pod or a clearing full of them... Even Indigo Plateau Rangers, some of the toughest survivalists Kanto has to offer, aren't safe, as Ash and Misty eventually find out.
Love Makes You Evil: Koga.
Love Redeems: Misty.
Luke, I Am Your Father: Giovanni is Ash's father.
The Messiah: Ash.
- And now May.
Mon: Averted. Trainers are anything but safe, even in tournaments.
Motor Mouth: Bill.
Mutual Kill: Jesse and Misty with more than a hint of Taking You with Me on the part of the latter.
Mythology Gag: In the beginning, Ash is rescued by Professor Oak while running through - you guessed it - tall grass.
Mysterious Past: Misty. Even after The Reveal, there are huge chunks of important detail missing.
- And according to the author's comments, we won't be getting those details, because "dead characters are dead".
Ninja: All members of the Fuchsia Gym.
Nothing Personal: Stated word-for-word by Ash when he kills the Celadon security guard that stumbled on Ash and Pikachu when they were raiding for papers in Chapter 21.
Obfuscating Stupidity: When in public, Jessie and James act pretty similar to their canon counterparts.
Olympus Mons: Zapdos is somewhere between this and an Eldritch Abomination.
Omnicidal Maniac: Mewtwo. His Evil Plan is apparently to Kill All Humans with an army of Pokémon.
One Head Taller: Ash to May.
Pragmatic Villainy: James. He usually keeps Jessie in line, and has warned her that he will have no choice but to kill her if she lets her urges override common sense.
Prepare to Die: In Chapter 30, Ash and May confront Elm. Ash gives us this:

"I'm Ash Ketchum (...)You killed my mother, destroyed my home, and murdered my grandfather. Today, you die."

Psychic Powers: The usual suspects, but Ash and other savants seem to have a very subtle, yet effective, version of this.
Red Shirt: Tends to be averted. Regular joes wear armor and carry weapons that are no more or less deadly than what the heroes get. Pokemon notwithstanding, everyone is on pretty equal ground, which is, of course, what sets the heroes apart.
Relationship Upgrade: Ash and Misty get into a relationship, and have explicitly had sex. It's strongly implied that Jessie and James have had the same. Ash and Janine also have one much later on.
Please Wake Up: Ash to Misty.
The Professor: Oak, of course. Though we also see Bill, and hear about Rowan.
- Elm shows up attacking Cinnabar with a Red Gyarados.
Save the Villain: A battle between Ash and Jessie leaves the latter trapped under a large pile of debris from a collapsed metal shed, alive but clearly in a hopeless situation. Ash says that he's probably going to regret what he's about to do before coming to the rescue and taking her to the ER with him. And then she kills Misty.
Ship Tease: Ash/Janine has been hinted at a lot ever since Misty's death.
Shoot the Messenger: During the battle of Celadon, Brock, who is leading Celadon's forces, is warned by an enemy messenger that if they do not surrender, then there will be no quarter given. Brock responds by riding forward, shouting "IF!" and ordering his archers to attack. It does not end well for the messenger.
Shout-Out: Chapter 18: "Janine nodded. "Rule thirty-four of the Fuchsia Gym: Be polite and professional, but have a plan to kill everyone you meet." (Right at the bottom of the page, number 21.)
Smug Snake: Professor Elm gets results, but he seriously overestimates his sway over his right-hand-girl and pet Savant, May. This ends predictably.
Survivor Guilt: Ash shows some of this.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Ash and Mewtwo in Lavender Town. This troper finds the dynamic actually rather amusing.
- Now Ash is serving as the emissary of Team Rocket.
The Force Is Strong with This One: Savants are capable of recognizing other savants. It's described as finding a person familiar, even if you've never met.
The Reveal: Misty was once part of Team Rocket.
Time Skip: The fic goes a year ahead in time after Ash becomes Gym Leader of Vermillion City.
Title Drop: After so long, it actually gets said as the cliffhanger in Chapter 31
Took a Level in Badass: Every single character compared to their canon counteparts, due to the much more dangerous world they live in. But special mention goes to Jessie and James, who went from jokes to outright menaces. Also in-story for Ash after he becomes Gym leader.
Transhuman Aliens: Humanity seems to be set out for this as they adapt to the pokemon around them. Ash is one of these, a savant, able to bond with pokemon on a deeper unconscious level.
Unreliable Narrator: Both Kasumi and Misty give conflicting stories about Misty's past, with no indication of who's telling the truth so far.
Villain Exit Stage Left: Koga... but then again, ninja.
Villainous Breakdown: James really loses it during the battle at Silph Co.
- Elm just about craps himself during the ending of his battle with Ash and May.
Villain with Good Publicity: Team Rocket.
We Can Rule Together: Jessie and James give Ash a job offer when they first meet. To their credit, they hadn't done anything evil on screen yet.
- Kasumi also tries this on Ash, with little success.
- Koga tries this on Janine. It doesn't work, though it rattles Janine enough to bring her to tears.
- Elm tries it too. Is this like a required act for all potential villains or something now?
- Giovanni wants Ash to take the place of one of his insubordinate underlings. So that's a 'yes'.
War Is Hell: The battle for Celadon proves once and for all that Pokemon have their place in war... And that it's not a pretty place.
- And then Johto started a war with Cinnabar Island.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Koga and James. Apparently, many members of Team Rocket are this.
Wham! Episode: Chapter 22. Misty and Jessie die.
- Chapter 25. Pikachu dies. James dies. ~~Jessie might still be alive.~~ Giovanni is Ash's father.
  - Word of God is that Jessie is still dead and James saying otherwise was just his taking one last stab at Ash before the end.
With This Herring: When Ash and Misty first set out, they're given body armor by Professor Oak, which was rather crappy, but did the job well enough. This is due in part to the fact that Oak barely had any resources to scrape together considering Pallet Town was destroyed. When they get to Bill, he gives them two very nice sets of armor which Brock says even the Elite Four would like, which Ash reasons is because the Pokedex cataloguing mission they're on is incredibly dangerous and it would only make sense for them to receive such high-end gear. In addition to the armor, Bill replenishes their supplies of rations, anti-toxins, gear, etc. and parts with a joke about how they're draining what he has.
You Fail Economics Forever: Invoked in-universe. The people of Celadon city see nothing wrong with paying for timber, iron, ect., with money that they print (while exporting next to nothing). As Erika points out, this is a very bad idea.
You Killed My Father: Ash to Elm in Chapter 30. See Prepare to Die.
You Kill It, You Bought It: Ash becoming Vermillion Gym Leader, though he didn't do the deed himself. It's noted that it only worked due to extrenuating circumstances.
Zerg Rush: The "bad guys" try this in the battle for Celadon after their trainers fail to carry the day.

↑ then again, it's Professor Elm who says this
↑ which, for example, allowed him to survive a lethal Smog cloud

[1] then again, it's Professor Elm who says this

[2] which, for example, allowed him to survive a lethal Smog cloud

[1]

[2]