Pokémon: Storm Clouds

Pokémon: Storm Clouds is a Pokémon Fanfic written by Deeman 45. It follows the journey of two teens from "our world" who are sucked into the world of the Pokémon video games. One is a Video Game enthusiast named Dan, who tries to use his knowledge of the game world to try to find a way back home; the other is Missy, his best friend's younger sister who was transformed into an Eevee and thus must deal with not only finding a way home, but also trying to find a way back to her normal body. Along the way, they get caught up in a plot involving Team Rocket (the more competent Team Rocket, not the Terrible Trio from the anime) and find out that not everything in the Pokémon world is as happy-go-lucky as the games would make it seem...

Sound cliche? Most likely. The opening chapters are known for being fairly lackluster--the author is more than willing to admit his embarrassment where they are concerned--but the story soon finds its feet, sculpting a more complicated plot. Adding to that, the progressing story fleshes out the two main protagonists into more realistic people. The same holds true for the supporting cast, who start off being somewhat archetypal, but gradually reveal deeper aspects of their personalities as the plot unfolds...

Revealing too much of the plot would be criminal, but readers can be sure to experience unexpected developments, emotionally charged dialogue and entertaining fight sequences - and a unique interpretation of the Pokémon world which may be truer to Real Life than any canon interpretation to date, while never losing the story's initial charm. All of this eventually culminates in an action-packed, gut-wrenching, and yet surprisingly uplifting climax. The final chapters were posted on May 26, 2010.

Several months later, the author announced a sequel. Titled simply "Storm Clouds II", it is set 19 years after the events of the first story. To give hints of what was to come, he posted a series of updates through his Deviant ART journals over a 13-week period regarding 'elements' of his version of the Pokémon world which are to play a role in the story. More recently, he posted A Q&A about the characters, the plot, and the writing process, with all questions asked by fans.

"Pokémon: Storm Clouds" is here or, if you prefer Fanfiction.net over deviantART, here.

"Storm Clouds II" is here, and the fanfiction.net version is here. The first chapter was posted in late January 2011.

Be sure to sort tropes into their appropriate sections. The YMMV page is also active.

Tropes used in Pokémon: Storm Clouds include:

Pokémon: Storm Clouds

  • Action Girl: Ruby most notably, and Artemis when she's pushed. Missy also counts, though thanks to her battling inexperience prefers to be a Guile Hero.
  • All the Myriad Ways: At the end of the third-to-last chapter, Missy is shown visions of the various paths her life might have taken in a Mind Rape. Almost all of them end with her dying tragically, and the ones that don't...
  • Alpha Bitch: Ruby, at first.
  • Animorphism: One of the main characters gets turned into a Pokémon in the first chapter. The main conflict for most of the story is her attempts to deal with the change and her quest to find a way back to normal. Coming back home does not, by itself, help. She finally learns that she can only return to her previous form by dying. She ends up in a state of near death but is hospitalised and lives. As a result, Missy mostly regains her human form, but several traits from her Pokémon body carry over, which she finds herself happy with.
  • Arch Enemy: Near the end of the fanfic, the Scyther tends to regard Missy as his. It's unclear whether she returns the "favor".
  • Asshole Victim: Giovanni. It took until the final chapters for Masque to finally lose the goodwill he received from the readerbase for killing him.
  • A Storm Is Coming: Given the title, this sort of situation was bound to happen sometime. That sometime happens to be the final chapters, when Masque invades the real world. True to form, it leads straight into a Battle in the Rain.
  • Axe Crazy: The Scyther is this to a tee.
  • Baleful Polymorph: Who do you think?
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Armor; Dan; Artemis; Missy. Basically any character who's usually quite kind can be dangerous if you look at them wrong.
  • Big Bad: Masque
  • Big Damn Heroes: Dan's Pokémon: despite being weakened in a recent encounter with Masque, they resolve to stop as many of the two dozen Pokémon Masque has released from killing people as possible. They save all the potential victims in the scenes they arrive at.
  • Break the Cutie: Poor Missy ends up going through a lot of crap throughout the entire story. It's not until the very end that the author finally allows her to Earn That Happy Ending.
  • Break the Haughty: Ruby, very much so.
  • Canada, Eh?: For some inexplicable--and hilarious--reason, Armor talks like this.
  • Character Development: You can bet your life savings that there's a lot of it going around - even the supporting cast aren't all what they seem to be at first glance.
  • Climax Boss: Rico for the Team Rocket hideout. Giovanni for the Saffron City ruins.
  • Combat Pragmatist: Nightshade.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Artemis.
  • Darker and Edgier: Than pretty much any Pokémon canon, except for possibly Orre. This isn't a bad thing, though.
    • Mind you, being darker than Pokémon canon isn't a terribly difficult feat. It's still far from Grimdark levels.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: Mr. Shadow, one of the supernatural inhabitants of Pokémon Tower. He's a pretty nice guy, if somewhat creepy and obviously eldritch in nature. Which makes sense, as he turns out to be the Grim Reaper.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Nightshade has elements of this.
  • Death by Irony: Masque is killed by his own Scyther.
  • Deconstruction: Of the handheld Pokémon games. Many of the games' features are examined or analyzed; the six-Pokémon rule is given an explanation, for example. Dan also engages in some Navel Gazing in the earlier chapters.
  • Decoy Protagonist/Deuteragonist: The early chapters set up Dan as The Hero, but Missy takes the role of the main protagonist the rest of the way, while Dan is a Supporting Protagonist. Word of God confirmed as such.
  • Defrosting Ice Queen: Take a wild guess. It's Ruby, if you're really that dense - and not only towards Missy, but also to the other Pokémon. Nightshade's a male variant.
  • Died in Your Arms Tonight: Missy. She comes back.
  • Disc One Final Boss: Giovanni
  • Disc One Final Dungeon: The Old Saffron City Ruins.
  • The Ditz: Artemis.
  • The Dragon: Both Masque and Rico to Giovanni. Or not...
  • Earn Your Happy Ending: A definitive example of this trope.
  • Elsewhere Fic: Like most non-shipping Pokémon fics.
  • Empty Shell: Missy gets like this during her Heroic BSOD. Then the tears start.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: Giovanni has a strong interest in human culture as seen when he criticises the heroes for damaging the ruins underneath Saffron City. He also seems to show horror when he finally glimpses the true depths of Masque's madness, right before Masque murders him.
    • Of course, the terror he displays is less because Masque is crazy and evil and more because he's about to get murdered and he knows it.
  • Evil Is Hammy + Evil Is Stylish: A large part of why Masque is so beloved.
  • Evilly Affable: Masque is so eloquent, melodramatic, and occasionally downright funny its easy to forget that he's a completely unsympathetic, hateful bastard. At least until the final chapters, when he shows his true colors.
  • Failure Knight: Nightshade and Artemis feel this way for failing to protect their trainer, but especially Nightshade, since the two of them grew up together and were best friends.
  • Five-Bad Band:
  • Five-Man Band:
  • Good Scars, Evil Scars: Both Missy and Ruby sport some scarring after their run-in with Masque's Scyther.
    • Said Scyther has his scythe cracked and broken in battle with Missy. He's initially angry about this, but later comes to appreciate it for making him more unique, and for making the scythe sharper and deadlier as a result.
  • Guile Hero: Missy herself. All of her defeats over the Scyther (and a good deal of her other victories as well) basically revolve around exploiting or tricking an opponent into doing themselves in. Of course, given that she's not actually a Pokémon, this is probably her best option in taking on the world.
  • He Is Not My Crush: Missy denies having any feelings for Dan in the early couple of chapters. She's not fooling anyone.
  • The Hero Dies: Missy, though she gets better.
  • Heroic BSOD: Missy has a really scary one when she returns back to the real world only to find that she's still an Eevee.
  • Hidden Depths: Many people - so many characters give off a very specific air of personality type, only to show more complexity, either through character development or through traits we just haven't seen yet. For instance:
    • Luke comes off as a typical teen genius, but we later learn that his invention at the start, which robbed him of his sister and best friend, sent him into a state of grief and regret.
    • Ruby appears to be just a Jerkass, but by the end of the fic she's warmed to Missy enough that she finally brings down the Scyther in retribution to him harming Missy, and even tells Missy that she'd believed her story from the start (it's unclear if she was being honest, as she believed Missy to be dying) while desperately trying to wake her after the Scyther dealt her near-mortal wounds.
    • The best example in this entire fic, however, would have to be Nightshade. When we finally learn the full extent of his backstory, and how much he's been beating himself up for failing to save his trainer from Team Rocket after the trust that was placed in him ... it may well be the biggest Tear Jerker in the entire story.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: Masque is slaughtered by his own loyal Scyther while it's in a worked-up frenzy courtesy of Missy, and when he meets Death himself, he is terrified to see himself for the monster he always was.
  • Hot-Blooded: Dan. He soon realises that it doesn't always work in the real world, where brash impulsiveness can put you in danger.
  • Jerkass: Ruby. What a bitch... Well, at least until Break the Haughty kicks in, and she mellows out.
    • Team Rocket agent Rico takes the cake, as he seems to simply exist to be an asshole. Turns out it's all a Jerkass Facade to hide his Pokémon League affiliation.
  • Jerkass Facade: Rico plays this so well - including actually capturing Missy in a Poké Ball when he learns Dan doesn't own her - that it was quite a shock to learn he was actually a mole in Team Rocket and a fairly decent guy. He later apologised to Dan for his actions.
  • Karmic Death: Masque, having Mind Raped many Pokémon into losing their sense of self and becoming his servants, ends up accidently killed by the one he probably considered his finest work. The Aerodactyl's death is also fitting - trying to slaughter defenceless schoolchildren, he is utimately inpaled on the broken monkeybars at his chosen site and bleeds out to death.
  • Kick the Son of a Bitch: Masque's murder of Giovanni is treated as a major Kick the Dog moment or even a borderline crossing of the Moral Event Horizon in-universe ... but the readers cheered because let's face it, Giovanni had it coming.
    • The sheer style with which Masque managed to pull it off certainly didn't hurt either.
    • Of course, it's not so much who he'd just murdered that counts, but the fact that he'd killed a defenceless man brutally, and in the process revealed just how little it affected him. The audience was just lucky that it wasn't a more sympathetic character who'd died.
  • Kuudere: Nightshade. Only Artemis really gets to see his dere side, and when she does ... well.
  • The Leader: Dan is a Type II for his group, Giovanni tries to be a Type IV but comes across as more of a type III for Team Rocket, and Masque is a Type I/IV hybrid for the end of the story.
  • Lovable Coward: Nemo. Subverted in that he shows signs of great courage when he needs to, and along with Missy, has the best Crowning Moments throughout the story.
  • Like a Son to Me: Blaine says this word-for-word to Dan - he allows him to keep searching for a way home because he doesn't want to "deprive another father of a son", but assures Dan that he's welcome to stay on Cinnabar Island if he never finds a way back home. Dan is notably touched by the gesture.
  • Malevolent Masked Man: Masque, obviously.
  • Manipulative Bastard: Masque's greatest achievements come from his ability to read and manipulate other people as well as Pokémon. In his finest moments (his murder of Giovanni and the way he busts out of prison he borders on magnificence.
  • Mind Rape: See All the Myriad Ways, above.
  • More Than Mind Control: Sabrina is shown to have deep insecurities regarding herself and her friendship with Erika, which Team Rocket exploits to take control of her. Unfortunately for Team Rocket, it doesn't stick.
  • Motor Mouth: Artemis, even when she's exhausted. She's grown out of this by the time of the sequel.
  • Nice Guy: Armor has a bit of a temper, but when he's calm he's the most level-headed member of Dan's team and one of the best friends you can have. Beautifully ironic, considering he's a Muk and one of the least-liked Pokémon species. Dan, Missy and Artemis also count.
  • No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Dan delivers one when Rico has captured Missy - he only relents when Rico gives him the Poké Ball.
  • Not Quite Back to Normal: Missy. This is treated as a good thing because becoming completely human would have required her to die.
  • Official Couple: Missy and Dan.
  • Oh Crap: The collective response of the protagonists and the readers at the end of Chapter 20, when Masque and his Scyther follow Missy and Dan back to their homes.
  • Pokémon-Speak: The reason why Missy can't explain her situation to the humans.
  • Psycho for Hire: Masque's Scyther is a Pokémon variant.
  • Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Dan's Pokémon team give off this vibe. A human-girl-turned-Eevee (Missy/Storm), a somewhat comical but loyal Muk (Armor), a high-and-mighty Ponyta (Ruby), a timid but courageous Seadra (Nemo), a cynical Oddish (Nightshade), and a hyper Electabuzz (Artemis). Yeah ... and you thought Ash sometimes caught the weirdest Pokémon.
  • Reverse Mole: None other than Rico.
  • Romantic Two-Girl Friendship: Implied with Erika and Sabrina. It's quite a complicated one, too ...
  • Rule of Symbolism: Is Masque--with his strange speech, strange mannerisms, and even stranger dress--completely at odds with the Pokémon world as we see it? Yeah. Why do we accept his presence in the story so readily? Well...see Fridge Brilliance.
  • Sealed with a Kiss: Mm-hmm.
  • Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: As Dan grows to better understand the realism in the world of Pokémon, he begins to realise how dark it is. The story edges even further towards cynical for much of the plot, with people and Pokémon actually DYING along the way. In the end, however, it becomes an Earn Your Happy Ending and all the main characters survive.
  • The Starscream: Masque, though not for the usual reasons.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Several, but a standout is the rather scathing one the Scyther delivers to Ruby in Chapter 15.

Scyther: You know, I would tell you to not bother, that by overexerting yourself with a wound like that you could very likely keel over from exhaustion, except that I don't care and I'd love to see you suffer. I hate your type, little Ponyta, do you know that? All your talk about training and practice and striving to be the best day after day after day...hah! All that training was for one reason only: to hide your shameful weakness. You started off weak, you little meal! It took quite a bit of effort to reach where you are now. Whereas I-I was born strong. Before my first birthday I had an impressive number of victories chalked up against powerful wild pokemon. Powerful pokemon; pokemon that hunted my species! I showed them that I am no prey. Before my first year passed I had killed, weakling! Killed! Human and pokemon alike! Legions of pokemon have fled from my blade. And what do you have to your name, weak one? A few victories in one-on-one battles in the safe haven humanity provides for you with their little rules? With their honor and ethics and all their safety? And even those slight triumphs were only earned after effort on your part. Do not hide what you are. The weak should not masquerade as the strong!

    • Later the Scyther himself gets one from Missy, it's a very epic one.

Scyther: Hide while you can, foolish one, you can't crouch there forever. And when you come out, my blade will be waiting.
Missy: How it must sting to be you, to be such a useless pokemon.
Scyther: Useless? You dare say that to me? You, who cowers beneath a shield even as we speak? You, who has never done anything but run or hide? You, who-
Missy: I know which pokemon Masque really trusts: the one he relied on to get him out of prison. The Hypno. Your master trusted him over you.
Scyther: ...That, has a remarkably simple answer. The Hypno's abilities were special-no, not special, he is not better than I am-they were just...just better suited for that particular situation.
Missy: Really? Do you honestly think you couldn't have handled it?
Scyther: I-
Missy: You know you could have, didn't you brag to me when we first met that you have killed humans and pokemon in abundance? That uncountable numbers had fled from you in terror? You could have broken in there handily, and killed Masque's oppressors before they knew what was happening. But you didn't-because Masque doesn't value you like you want him to. To him, you're just a tool, and not a particularly useful one at that. To him you're just a rusted, dull, blunt-
Scyther: Lord Masque thinks highly of me, more highly than anyone or anything else! How dare you say that? Get out from under there so I can rip you to pieces!
Missy: Masque thinks your garbage, and do you know why? Because of me. For all your claims to be invincible, for all your bragging and pride, I've beaten you twice. That's why you searched me out in this rain; not for revenge, but to prove to yourself that I'm not better than you. My victories over you eat you alive, and you know it. And even if you do kill me, even if I'm dead and gone, your damaged, imperfect blade will always be there: an eternal reminder of my triumph over you.

    • Masque gives one to Giovanni in a great scene that illustrates the difference between a Big Bad and a mere Wannabe. (There are a lot of these in the fic.)

Masque: Are you so shocked by murder, Giovanni? Pitiful. You are like a vulture flying high above a pack of predators, waiting to pick off whatever they leave you. You can’t kill. You’ve ordered plenty of deaths to be carried out, but you’ve never done it yourself. Any weakling can order an execution, but it takes a certain caliber to actually join the firing squad. You should have known your ambitions would attract souls much blacker than yours.
Giovanni attempts to attack Masque with his pokemon, which refuses to obey him.
Masque: Just like most of the fighters in this organization, that pokemon had been conditioned by me. Over the process I instilled a desire to serve you, to be sure, but behind that I hid something else. The pokemon of Team Rocket will never act against me…Do you remember what I once told you? ‘You cannot control a marionette with only one string’. You dared to think you controlled me?! All of your enforcers have been conditioned by me before they see use. That’s one string. You allowed terror of me to grow within your organization, so that many of your followers feared me more than you. Another string. Despite the fact that I often acted against your interests, you never took action, signaling to me and to others that I had a certain leeway out of your jurisdiction. That's a third. You never did the dirty work yourself, instead delegating it to those even more amoral than you…like myself. That’s four. I’ve made you dance this way and that for years now, Giovanni. You were my plaything. Well, now you and your organization bore me. I’ll cut your strings.

  • Trapped in TV Land: Most of the story takes place in the world of the Pokémon games.
  • True Companions: Dan's other Pokémon become this for Missy. It's a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming when all of them, even Ruby, strive to bring her out of her Heroic BSOD. It becomes even more moving when you realise that they sacrificed their homeworld, their own sense of normalcy, and their chances of finding potential mates and having children in order to follow Dan and Missy back home, even when they don't need to. All they need now is a cheesy speech.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: Read the comments on deviantART: the fandom was going nuts trying to figure out what exactly Luke was up to.
  • Xanatos Gambit: Masque uses one when he allows himself to be imprisoned. He has his Hypno hypnotize the guards into releasing him and then has it wipe their memories so that they forget he was there. Thereby allowing him to move around freely while everyone thinks he's imprisoned.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Masque pulls this on Giovanni, cementing himself as The Starscream and the story's Big Bad.

Storm Clouds II

  • The Ace: Alvovz.
  • Animorphism/Baleful Polymorph: Looks set to remain a prominent theme, though not in quite the same way as it was in the first part. Instead of a human turning into a Pokémon, Armor turns into a Gallade.
  • All There in the Manual: The author's notes have provided something of a detailed summary for what has happened in the interim without revealing anything major about the plot.
  • Angst? What Angst?: In-Universe, Armor actually takes this attitude in Chapter 5. When Missy quickly becomes apologetic about his transformation, he goes so far as to chastise her because he made the choice to go through with it, fully aware of what it would entail. He is shown to have divided feelings about the situation, but is so far coping pretty well.
  • Ascended Extra: In-universe, Rico's role compared to the last story. He's even attained a higher rank in the (New)Pokémon League.
  • Being Tortured Makes You Evil: This is the backstory for the Feraligatr, with a side helping of Playing with Syringes.
  • Blood Knight: From what little we see of her character, Bellum is this.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Missy, at times, and Ripple.
  • Ensemble Cast: There is no single main character this time.
  • Generation Xerox: After Dan's father passed away during the interim, Dan inherited his old pawn shop.
    • Missy's son with Dan, Ivan, has inherited more than his fair share of unusual abilities thanks to his mother's own altered genetics.
  • Great Offscreen War: The Assailment, mentioned repeatedly in the author's notes and early chapters, appears to be of tremendous importance, but we don't know much about it yet.
  • Gender Equals Breed: Oddly enough, averted. While Ivan does inherit some of his mother Missy's abilities, his Pokémon form is a Vulpix instead of an Eevee.
  • Grey and Gray Morality: The (New) Pokémon League vs. The Guilds appears to be one of these, as of Chapter 5. Word of God confirms that each side is biased towards another and has left certain details of their various explanations out.
  • Happily Married: Missy and Dan.
  • Heroes Prefer Swords: Alvovz sure does. Justified as he comes from a culture that appears to be similar to real-world Amish: eschewing more modern things, including weaponry, he took up swordplay to defend himself.
  • Hero Worshipper: The younger generation in the town of Fox Creek, who know that Missy and Dan are regarded as heroes for when they saved the town from Masque 19 years ago, but aren't given details. This is done to keeping outsiders from investigating the town.
  • Hypercompetent Sidekick: Emily is theoretically in charge of the little excursion to Ipde, but being all of ten, Ripple is more or less really running things.
  • I Just Want to Be Normal: Not a straight example, but Missy has been struggling to keep too many people from learning about her... unique condition. She left university after two years to return to Fox Creek because she was having to work even harder to hide than she had to in her hometown.
  • I'm a Humanitarian: The Feraligatr enjoys Pokémon flesh.
  • The Juggernaut: In its first appearance, the Feraligatr received several minutes of off-screen punishment from Ripple and Dulcet, then picked a fight with Artemis, Nemo, and Ivan, who were eventually joined by Ripple and Dulcet. Even five against one, including one with a type advantage, they had to resort to knocking him off a cliff to win--an action that didn't even cause him to faint.
  • Late Arrival Spoiler: Missy returns to her human form albeit with several Pokémon traits still remaining.
  • The Leader: For their respective groups, Missy is a Type IV and Ripple is a Type I.
  • Mayor Pain: B-type.
  • Meaningful Name: "Bellum" is the Latin word for "war". From what little we know of her character, Bellum is a Blood Knight.
  • The Medic: Dulcet, being an Audino, acts like this in combat.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: Most of the Fox Creek town council (save the current mayor). Bertrand deserves special mention - he openly confesses to hating Pokémon because his teenage daughter was a casualty of Masque's attack, but he's not incapable of empathising with Missy when her son is kidnapped and agrees to her proposition. Missy even notes that he usually opposes her on principle.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: As per Author Appeal (apparently), Missy gives one to the arrogant Pokémon League forces commander who arrests them for "trespassing".
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Dan is the Red, Missy is the Blue.
  • Obstructive Bureaucrat: The Mayor of Fox Creek tries to be this, but Missy and the other Council members aren't having any of it.
  • Older and Wiser: Everyone's getting this to some degree, but Artemis in particular has really calmed down over the years. Nemo is this of the more self-confident variety, and Ruby looks to be considerably calmer.
  • Pokémon-Speak: While mostly averted due to the large focus on the Pokémon themselves, Missy does use it (intentionally) when explaining that she was Storm.
  • Posthumous Character: Dan's father (in the "Real World"), Blaine in the Pokémon world, and of course the characters that died in the first fic.
  • Sadistic Choice: When they've had Luke rebuild his special machine to return to the Pokémon world, Missy is afraid of touching it because she'd rather not become an Eevee again. Dan offers to do so, but Missy tells him that he himself might become a Pokémon just as she saw while Mind Raped by the Hypno. This is promptly subverted - see Take a Third Option, below.
  • The Strategist: Ripple has a number of pre-configured battle plans she likes to utilize in combat.
  • Take a Third Option: Missy and Dan aren't sure how return to the Pokémon world without risking Animorphism again, on either of them. Armor pretty much says "to Hell with this" and offers to touch the sphere which'll transport them himself, since he's already a Pokémon and wouldn't suffer nearly the same existential angst Missy did.
  • Voluntary Shapeshifting: Missy and Dan's son, Ivan, can turn into a Vulpix at will.

Supplementary Material

  • Mind Screw: In his little weekly tidbits for the sequel, Word of God has generally presented information that, if vague, is still comprehensible enough. And then week seven gives us this. Bwuh?
  • Where the Hell Is Springfield?: Fox Creek is said to be "in the rural United States."

Meta

  • Retcon: The Gentle Darkness guild was originally planned to be named Ebony Darkness, but the name was changed prior to the fic's beginning due to the original name's similarity to a character from another fanfic.
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