Pedestal (fanfic)

A Pokémon fanfic that starts out deceptively similar to other stories. A young trainer aspires To Be a Master, with great dreams of being the best, placing his hoped-for Pokemon on a pedestal. A year later than most trainers, he finally receives his starter... And it's a Numel. Hilarity Ensues, but not for long.

It later becomes Darker and Edgier than the games ever dreamed of, with prophecies, genre deconstructions, and the consequences of ignoring warnings. However, it still has moments of comedy.

It can be found here.

It now has a crossover with the Pokemon fic Regret which can be found here.

Tropes used in Pedestal (fanfic) include:
  • Aborted Arc: What ever happened to that red jacket...?
  • Accidental Aiming Skills: The protagonist is pro at this - especially when trying to catch birds.
  • Action Girl: Carlita.
    • Ultimately, Hanna. Her secret weapon lays waste to Nick's team, and she even beats Nick himself in a fistfight.
  • Action Survivor: It's a wonder that the protagonist is still alive at this point, especially after being mauled by Pokemon (and people!) so many times.
  • All Girls Want Bad Boys: Harlan has a massive crush on the moody feline that is Ike, to the point of choosing the go with the main character after Nick dies to stay close to him.
  • The All-Concealing "I": There are more than 150 chapters at this point and we still don't know the narrator's name.
  • Alluring Anglerfish: Most ghosts do this at some point.
  • An Arm and a Leg: Carlita's tail gets chopped off during the battle with Nick.
  • Anti-Air: Ike was meant to be this, but Kostya and Alice are used, more often than not - mostly because the protagonist doesn't believe Ike can be trusted.
  • Anyone Can Die
  • Apathetic Citizens: Deconstructed.
  • Arc Words: You will face many trials. Do not let yourself become dark. Do not get sidetracked with the injustices of the world; do not become angry and bitter. And, when the time comes, let go.
    • However, the full text was interrupted; it first ran 'And, when the time comes, let go of h—'.
  • Artifical Tail: Carlita is probably going to get one. But even with that, she still will never dance again.
  • Attention Deficit Ooh Shiny: Literally with Jude, though it's actually a shiny Pokemon. Still hilarious.
  • Babies Ever After
  • Back for the Finale: Jude makes an appearance for Oonu's funeral in the final chapter.
  • Battle Amongst the Flames: The main character has been involved in four so far: when he breaks out of the warehouse during The Tournament arc, when he faces Vaporeon in Sunyshore, the battle with Lola outside Stark Mountain and finally the battle with Nick inside Stark Mountain.
  • Battle Butler: Jacques, Cossette's loyal Gallade.
  • Battle Royale With Cheese: A minor one happened during the battle against Vaporeon, where nearly everyone except for the main character and his group get killed. Also it seems that the entire battle on Stark Mountain is this, as everyone except the main character, Lola and Nick get taken out of action.
  • Because Destiny Says So
  • Best Served Cold: Hanna seems to have spent an awful long time training up Molly to kill Nick.

"Look, if you're worried about me, really. Don't. I've been preparing this for years."

  • Big Damn Heroes: Interestingly, two examples in The Tournament arc: inverted when NamNar busts out of the building to save people, and when the main antagonist, Nick, shows up and kills his own followers to stop the fighting and probably save them from a very bloody Curb Stomp Battle.
    • Lucian at the very end of the Vaporeon Arc.
    • Sela and Vaikuntha tend to become this from time to time, most recently with the rest of the Gym leaders at Stark Mountain.
  • Big Sleep: Nick, when he's killed by Arceus

Then, he shut his eyes tight and leaned against Chase, just as the white pokémon leaned down and pressed the tip of its snout against the dragon's forehead.

  • Bilingual Bonus: Cossette and her family speak French natively, and it's been implied that Jude speaks it, too.
  • Bittersweet Ending
  • Blind Seer: Katerina.
  • Blood-Splattered Innocents: The main character, although how innocent he is at this point in the story is debatable. And more often than not, it's his own blood.
    • Cossette, very literally taken.
  • Blue Eyes: The protagonist has them. They play an essential part in convincing a delusional Nick that he's not his brother.

Those big blue eyes, so wide, so trusting, so confused.

  • Broken Pedestal: The plot and much of the character interactions later in the story thrive off of this trope.
  • The Bus Came Back: For Hanna at the end of the Vaporeon arc.
  • Butt Monkey: The protagonist. Let's face it, life for him isn't exactly peachy.
  • The Cavalry: Played straight for both sides during the battle with Lola on Stark Mountain.

Sela: "Looks like I'm playing cavalry again, huh?"

  • Cerebus Syndrome: It starts off as a cheerful, humorous story about a trainer starting his Pokemon journey, but soon there's more blood than Pokemon battles. It Got Worse from there.
  • Character Title
  • Cheerful Child: Cossette, and sometimes even Carlita.
    • Completely averted with the protagonist and Benjamin.
  • The Cheerleader: Hanna doesn't lampshade it; she proclaims it, drags others along with her, and even dresses for the part.
  • Chekhov's Gunman: Lola. First introduced way back in the beginning as a random goth trainer who got stranded in Snowpoint. Then pops up again during the tournament and gym race arc. Then is killed on national televison. However the latest chapters have revealed that, not only is she alive, she's responsible for worsening Nick's Sanity Slippage, she fixed the gym race slightly so the main character got a gym position, she organized the nightmare attack, she owns the Xatu that has been invading the main character's dreams lately, she goaded the main character into attacking Vaporeon by sending messages from Nick's number, she knows the truth about the prison break and helped to cover the main characters involvement in it, and finally she's 'the first' in the ghosts' prophecy...
  • Cliff Hanger: There are some truly terrible ones, some coming right after an even worse one before it.
  • Coming of Age Story: The story starts off technically when the protagonist is ten. Five years so far have passed.
  • Conflicting Loyalty: The main character is torn between desperately believing that Nick can be saved and taking him out for the safety of the region.
  • Convection, Schmonvection: Somewhat averted. In Stark Mountain characters wearing dark clothing are shown to be boiling and non fire pokemon have a hard time battling for long periods due to the heat. It can also easily kill and destroy things. However a rickety rope bridge can still stand without bursting into flames...
  • Cosmic Plaything: Implied ever since Arceus had a cameo. More strongly implied with the "Starly dream".
    • More than implied now. It's just not the MC that's the plaything - it's Abigail and Nick.
  • Creator Cameo: Chapter 94.
  • Curse Cut Short: Fairly often, although more and more in recent chapters due to the rating going up.
    • Chapter 121 starts off with a "Holy freaking sh—", the first time the protagonist has resorted to such language.
  • Dance Battler: Carlita to a T. Not any more. Without her tail, the doctors aren't even sure she'll be able to manage a slow waltz.
  • Dark Is Evil: The dark-haired trainer turned out to be Nick, and we find that out just before his Freak-Out. He has also been stated to wear dark clothes from then on out.
    • In Chapter 147, it is implied that the dark-haired monster might actually be Lola.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: Rather, ghost types aren't evil. Mostly.
  • Darker and Edgier: Duh.
  • A Day in the Limelight: Both Hanna and Nick have one.
  • Dead Little Brother: The catalyst for Nick's Freak-Out.
  • Deadpan Snarker: The protagonist, Lola, other characters on rarer occasions.
  • Death by Origin Story: Benjamin's mother was executed for being in Team Galactic. His father is in prison for life.
    • Abigail, the first person to undergo Arceus's test, is the first person to fall victim to the rabid Abomasnow
  • Deconstruction: Of many Pokemon friendship fics.
  • Deus Ex Machina/Diabolus Ex Machina: The entire Arceus scene in the chapter 154 could be seen as this.
  • Died in Your Arms Tonight: The mercenary's girlfriend, Zoe, dies this way after being shot by Vaporeon.
  • Disguised in Drag: The protagonist cross dresses as a girl in order to get past border control.
    • And to get out of the Sunyshore Gym, although he actually swapped places with a specific girl to get out.
  • Double Meaning Title
  • Early-Bird Cameo: Lola gets introduced way back when the main character and Hanna first visited Snowpoint City, and only pops up again during The Tournament arc. Also, the Electabuzz that the main character owned for all of 10 minutes comes back later with a more important role, as one of Lola's pokemon.
  • Enemy Mine: The protagonist teams up with the mercenary who attacked him early on in the story in order to infiltrate Vaporeon's hideout. He gets betrayed, as some of his friends suspected he would.
  • Even The Boys Want Him: Nick, the protagonist.
  • Evil Former Friend Nick to the protagonist.
  • Eye Scream: Ike gets his eye slashed and is therefore blinded.
  • Eyes of Gold: Nick, Matthew, Ike.
  • Face Heel Turn: Nick.
  • Failure Is the Only Option: The only way for the story to end peacefully at this point is if Nick goes to jail or dies. Considering the protagonist's feelings towards him and the fact that he already bailed him out of prison once before...
    • He dies. Via Arceus.
  • Fallen Hero: Nick.
  • Famed in Story: Played straight with the protagonist, though it's an unfortunate thing as it could reveal his friendship with Nick.
    • Nick, even before his incident.
    • Jude, played straight.
    • Vaporeon is a TV celebrity and Arianna seems to be pretty well known in fashion circles, if Hanna's reaction is anything to go by.
  • Fan Girl: Implied with Hanna's remark in chapter 16. She has also been shown to root for the protagonist and Alicia's relationship, even going as far as to help him out.
    • Cossette, to an extent.
  • The Fashionista: Hanna shows shades of this.
  • Featureless Protagonist: The protagonist can be seen as this, sometimes. Not any more! Now we have his full name, gender and several pieces of art by the author to give us an idea of his appearance! So what if it took 150+ chapters?
  • Flat What: Nick's reaction to hearing that Matthew is dead. Possibly deconstructed, given the circumstances and description of how flat the word was.
  • Fluffy the Terrible: The Tyranitar that Hanna uses against Nick is called Molly.
    • Is this a Shout-Out to Molly Weasley?
  • Four Is Death: There are four Pidgey chicks when the main character adopts them. Is it that surprising that not all of them make it? Poor Oonu and Woonu...
  • Freak-Out: Nick suffers a HUGE one.
    • Most of Sunyshore and the remaining Gym race trainers suffer one during the media attack.
    • Benjamin has one after he kills someone for the first time.

Lola: I hid some security tapes from a certain prison incident.

  • Freudian Trio: (In The Beginning)
    • Super Ego: Nick
    • Ego: Narrator
    • Id: Hanna
  • Full-Name Basis: At the point of her introduction, it was almost exclusively Sela Schaffer. More and more, it's Nick or Nicholas Sayre, too.
  • Grey and Gray Morality: The main villain only snapped and killed in revenge of his little brother's death because the government did absolutely nothing about it, even when it happened before (and to the main character!). Many characters have voiced sentiments agreeing with his basic ideals, even if he took things too far.

"Not to mention the fact that when you get to be this high in the world, especially in today's training climate, we're all about five minutes from pulling a Nick Sayre."
"No we're—"
"I don't know where you were, but I was in Sunyshore fighting off trainers and Pokemon with my goddamn fists when that riot broke out. You were all fighting tooth and nail against each other. And judging on your Luxray's behavior, you're not a perfectly innocent trainer, either," she snapped, cold once more. I reeled back, caught off guard by the personality change. "The fact of the matter is that each and every one of us has the potential to turn just as bad, if not worse, than he is. All it takes is the proper trigger. For him, it was Matthew."

    • Although he now has followers who completely agree with him, possibly more than he himself agrees.
    • The 'good guys' also have done horrible things. The main character himself has killed a Pokemon, is more keen on stopping his ex-best friend instead of his fanatical followers, Shadow Sneaked an entire camera crew to who knows where and never bothered to care about where they potentially ended up, may or may not have been indirectly responsible for the deaths of at least eight Pokemon, and, of course, could very well be responsible for Nick becoming a monster and causing the rest of the tragedies, anyway.
  • Groin Attack: Hanna uses one during her fistfight with Nick.
  • Handicapped Badass: Ike and Carlita become this after the Stark Mountain fiasco.
  • Heroic Self-Deprecation: The main character, more and more as the story wears on.
    • Lampshaded by Arceus, of all things.

"...even if some of its members can be slightly self-depreciating at times."

  • Hoist by His Own Petard: Vai gets stabbed with one of Koel's feathers.
  • Hold Your Hippogriffs: Any time a real-world idiom that references an animal is used, the appropriate Pokemon is substituted.
  • Holy Hand Grenade: Arceus is more or less used as a willing weapon.
  • Hot-Blooded: Carlita, Des (when he gets mad, anyway).
  • I Can Still Fight: Carlita quotes this as she desperately tries to stop the main character from recalling her. She really can't, as she's just had her tail chopped off and can barely walk without it.

"I can still fight! I—I'm not bleeding anymore, see?"

  • I Have Your Wife: Happens a lot. The cops keep Benjamin with them in order to draw out his parents, who were members of Team Galactic, after they started an armed siege when the organization fell. Vaporeon holds the mercenary's girlfriend hostage in order to ensure his loyalty. Lola does this to Alicia to get the the main character's side to withdraw their pokemon during a battle. Finally, Nick's family was held hostage to get him to hand himself in to the authorities.
  • Idiot Hair: The protagonist is shown to have one in pictures drawn by the author.
  • I'm a Humanitarian: Several lines of ghosts, most notably the Duskull line, have been stated to eat humans as part of their diet. Dusclops can speak in human tongue specifically to lure children to them. Kostya just evolved, and he suddenly doesn't need his translator anymore.
  • Important Haircut: Cynthia cuts her hair short after the Champions Tragedy.
    • During the Gym race, Hanna cut her hair, too.
  • Improbable Weapon: Skarmory feathers have become an increasingly popular alternative to swords.
  • In the Back: Lola stabs Vai this way during the chaos of the Stark Mountain battle.
  • Incompatible Orientation: Archie and Alicia, and their respective relationships with the protagonist.
  • Intergenerational Friendship: Nick is quite a bit older than the protagonist and even Hanna.
    • Somewhat the norm, though, considering Benjamin and Cossette are the only major characters who are younger than the protagonist, anyway. Most of his friends seem to be at least a year or two older.
  • Ironic Episode Title: "It Is Cruelty To Be Humane To Rebels" in the chapter where Stantler and Houndoom are murdered, "Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This" for the nightmare chapter, "A Horizon To Catch Up To" for the protagonist's Moral Event Horizon, and many others.
  • Jade-Colored Glasses: Definitely in place on our protagonist, especially considering that most recently, he has been more worried about where to put the bodies and actively wished for Vaporeon's death.
  • Justified Title
  • Karma Houdini: Depending on whether or not you believe she was lying, Lola qualifies. She masterminded at least most of the major plot points and was even behind several deaths, albeit indirectly. And while she dies, she wanted to die. She died happily, knowing she was able to get one last, great rise out of the protagonist. Aside from some mild injuries, she didn't suffer any sort of karma.
  • Karmic Twist Ending: Arguably, most of the ghosts' warning turns out to have this to some degree. The protagonist was effectively put on trial by the public during the Gym race arc, he purposely was out trying to become as dark as possible to avoid psychic locks, he's been nothing but sidetracked to the point that Arceus had to drop in on his dreams to try to set him back on track, his personality has become much more cynical and distant, and he still hasn't let go of Nick. The real kicker is that he is even aware of the last one, and simply is unable to. The only part of the prophecy that's been completely played straight so far is that they told him not to die - but it's unknown whether that was the ghosts' attempt at humor or honestly a part of the warning.
  • Kick Chick: Carlita.
  • Kid Hero
  • Lipstick Lesbian: Alicia.
  • Lethal Lava Land: The inside of Stark Mountain.
  • Living Shadow: Kostya and Pollyanna both fit this regularly - but subverted a bit in that that's not their real form.
  • Lovable Alpha Bitch: Hanna, Alice to an extent.
  • Machete Mayhem: Vaikuntha could go this way.

"Wow, that was... sort of pathetic," Nick called encouragingly. "Wanna try again?"

"…I want to be alone, I want to be alone…"

  • Mama Bear: Alice, most trainers if their teams are threatened.
  • The Messiah: Vaikuntha.
  • Mind Screw: the nightmares.
    • Arguably, what the ghosts and even Arceus have been hinting at all along.
  • Misery Builds Character: Out-of-story, but the author loves this trope.
  • Mood Whiplash: Even lampshaded by a couple characters at various points.
  • Morality Pet: The Pidgey chicks and Cossette for the narrator. Zarek, too, although for a shorter time.
    • In a way, most Pokemon become this to their trainers, and even vice versa.
  • Motor Mouth: Alicia talks a lot, especially when nervous.
  • Musical Theme Naming: Alice.
  • My Name Is Not Durwood:

"NamNar, c'mere."
"Uh, who?"
"You, silly."
"That's not my name. My name is--"
"Ach! No, none of that yet."

He'd be damned before he left another one of his team behind.

It was Nick Sayre and his Garchomp, laying side by side. Eyes closed and the ghost of a smile. Chase curled around him, protective and loyal even then. Both of them dead.

  • Played for Laughs: A lot of the violence is. Only to coincide with Mood Whiplash when the other characters/the readers realize that the injuries don't simply go away.
  • Powder Keg Crowd
  • Pragmatic Adaptation: In this 'verse, you can buy Pokemon translators that let you understand your Pokemon.
  • Properly Paranoid: Well, Des is weak against water...
    • Likewise, Vaikuntha won't let Koel fight fire Pokemon.
  • Prophecy Twist: Not becoming dark doesn't mean becoming evil; it means using dark type Pokemon to hide from psychics. See Karmic Twist Ending above.
  • Prophetic Fallacy: And how!
  • Psychic Dreams for Everyone: It's hard to tell. But then there are the nightmares. Which takes this trope somewhat literally, as a psychic caused them.
    • Earlier in the story, the protagonist regularly gets dreams visited by stalker ghosts and goddesses of love. Again, taken a little more literally, as he didn't actually see the future in any of them.
  • Psycho Supporter: If they use a Pokemon name, chances are they fit this.
  • Put on a Bus: Happens to Hanna and Jude at different points during the Vaporeon arc.
  • Real Men Eat Meat: Partially subverted, in the fact that the protagonist fought with vegetarianism and killing Pokemon for food. He went back to eating them, however.
  • Rival Turned Evil
  • The Reveal: The narrator's name is revealed at the end of the last chapter.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Nick.
  • The Runaway: Cossette is implied to have run away from home after having an argument with her parents, shortly after the main character moves to Sunyshore, and is currently living with him in the gym.
  • Sanity Slippage: Again, Nick.
  • Screw Destiny: Played straight, subverted, inverted, and all around just screwed around with to the point where even the cast isn't sure what would be screwing destiny and whether or not anything they've done counts as it.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Jude ditches the main character after his What the Hell, Hero? moment at the end of the Vaporeon arc. The main character does this when he quits being a gym leader after the events at Stark Mountain.
  • Selective Slaughter: Nick, Houndoom, Stantler. If you deserve your Pokemon, well then, you're okay in their books!
    • Don't forget Vaporeon.
  • Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
  • Shout-Out: One part has a small reference to Marble Hornets and the Slender Man Mythos. The protagonist reacts accordingly.
  • Shout-Out Theme Naming: Nick fits this trope best, surprisingly enough.
  • Shovel Strike
  • Smitten Teenage Girl: Hanna towards Nick in the first half of the story. Gender bent with the protagonist and Alicia in the second half.
    • Also, Cossette counts as a smitten preteen girl.
    • Sonya, towards Nathan, although her exact age is unknown.
  • So Proud of You: This is pretty much the last thing Nick says to the protagonist before he leaves for evildom.
    • Partially subverted in the fact that the protagonist refuses to see his parents' pride in him, instead concentrating on their constant worry.
  • Socialite: Hanna.
  • Sour Supporter: Ike would qualify.
    • Sometimes, even Des fills this trope when his trainer gets whiny or loses track of the right way.
  • Spoiled Brat: Hanna, though the fandom loves her for it.
    • Cossette and Zarek fit this, too, thanks to the main character.
  • The Starscream: Ike.
  • Static Stun Gun: Ike, most of Lola's team.
  • Stay in the Kitchen: The main character bans Hanna and Cossette from coming with him to face Nick. This is justified though, as he thinks Hanna doesn't have any pokemon and Cossette has next to no battle experience and only has a crippled Gallade to rely on. This doesn't dissuade them in the least.
  • Stepford Smiler: Carlita shows signs of this when the main character tells her she can't dance.

I couldn't decide whether or not she was forcing herself to be cheerful.

"Carlita, you won't be able to dance again."
She was perfectly silent.

Alice: "You want me to go and talk to a hostile Garchomp?"

  • Team Mom: The protagonist. It's even been lampshaded by a couple characters..
  • Tempting Fate: NamNar actively avoids this at this point.
  • Theme Naming: Jude plays this straight, though some of it is a little... obscure and random.
    • The Eevee litter Isabella and Alexander came from all had four-syllable names that started with vowels.
  • Title Drop: The main character gives an epic one during his confrontation with Nick.

"But I'm finally going to fix that, one way or another. I'm taking you down off of that pedestal, Nick. And if I have to kill you to do that, to keep Sinnoh safe from you, I will."

"Guys, no. I want to name them! And Des—Vai, really?"
"No, Vi. It's said differently. And uses different letters," he replied smartly.
"I still will get confused and I'm the one deciding what to name them!"
Three guesses as to what they ended up being named.

  • We Used to Be Friends: Boy is this drilled home during the confrontation between the main character and Nick.

NamNar: "I thought you were my friend. I thought you were still... Good, somewhere, in there."

  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: Vaporeon has shades of this.
    • NICK. He murdered Hanna's team to stop the protagonist from getting too involved with him.
  • Wham! Episode: Chapter 57.
    • Chapter 132, as well.
  • Wham! Line: Chapter 121: "Des. Kill it."
    • Chapter 147: "I've missed you so much, Matthew."
    • The meaning of these words: "Let go."
    • Chapter 156 is full of them. The most jarring would have to be "...A slow waltz, perhaps," and "...he won't be able to see again."
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Pedestal gives an absolutely epic one to the protagonist. It snaps him out of his mindset.
    • Again: "Des. Kill it."
    • And again: the protagonist DID just murder someone in relatively cold blood. And is then more or less rewarded for it, and at the very least, forgiven by most of the cast.
    • Jude also gives one the the main character, complete with a punch to the face, after his attempts to team up with the mercenary in the Vaporeon arc go pear shaped.
  • Whole-Episode Flashback: Chapters 151 and 152.
  • Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Nick.
  • Would Hit a Girl: The protagonist smacks Lola with a Skarmory feather to shut her up while confronting Nick.

"What. I'm not afraid to hit a girl, and she's been infuriating and awful this entire night."

    • The protagonist also slaps Hanna. To be fair, she started it.
  • You Are Not Alone: Hanna lectures the main character about this after he tries to talk her down from killing Nick.

"You do not have to bear the weight of the world on your shoulders, contrary to popular belief. I am here to help you."

  • You Can't Fight Fate: The protagonist doesn't realize what he's supposed to do until it's too late, failing to avert the horrible future
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