Pokémon Pitt AU
This is the AU information we have so far that doesn’t include specific world building decisions, character backstory modifications, or events for further in the future, and is therefore fairly short. For the full length list go here.
Master list is here.
As with all parts of this AU, it is subject to update.
Headcannons / Characterization / World Building:
Whittaker will sing lullabies to his pokemon that he learned from his mother.
Kiara’s Comfey wraps around people’s necks and releases scents to calm them down
This isn’t related to Pokemon in any way but one day Abbot overhears Santos’ nicknames and talks to her about the call signs the military gave him and his buddies, also mentions a dumb nickname for Robby and now she uses that all the time.
Santos and Mel want to be friends because of the eeveelutions but they have the same communication issues as cannon.
Mel’s Sylveon helps her with emotions and understanding other people, helping to bridge the gap in that struggle to communicate.
Sylveon also redirects Mel to a quiet space when she gets super overwhelmed, lets Mel play with its ribbons too
Robby was very grieved to see Santos’ Absol given his own.
Santos’ Phantump wanders the Pitt, it haunts those it does not like and eventually becomes friends with Dana when she finds it trying to make tea for Whitaker and Santos.
Phantump makes tea for its friends from its own leaves. It has a healing effect (according to the entry).
Whittaker and Santos have a habit of spoiling their pokemon rotten
Robby’s Hattena will switch his and Abbot's Pokémon if it thinks one of them is going to have a rough shift. If it’s Abbot's shift it switches Absol for Garchomp and if it’s Robby’s shift it switches Gengar and Garchomp. ( The important thing is they can’t kill themself if they have the others Pokémon ) (it switches Gengar and Garchomp at the very start of Season 1)
Most medical Pokémon are very in tune with what’s around them and with other medical Pokémon, especially if they’re psychic. They tend to be apprised of all the secrets around the ER because they keep each other updated. The reason Langdon got away with stealing from the hospital for so long is because he kept his Pokémon in their balls aside from emergencies.
Some Pokemon you need a license to breed or own (Munna and Musharna) or they need a license to know healing moves (to prevent preemptive healing)-there is an unlicensed preemptive healing case that has to have emergency surgery to fix
Preemptive healing- When someone heals an injury with a pokemon move without first consulting a medical professional, it can lead to things such as improperly healed breaks, severe increase for infection and especially sepsis. While pokemon are fine for healing moves, that is because pokemon have adapted to pokemon moves. People are not, and unlicensed healing moves often only heal skin deep injuries, not being able to reach all the way inside the body.
Fossils tend to be found in groups. The person who finds the group is granted one of the fossils (this is how Santos and Whitaker get Amaura and Weirdeer).
All Pokemon belonging to the hospital and not the doctors are cared for and love the hell out of the nurses
Huckleberry Finn had a Rapidash. (That’s how Santos decided Whittaker's nickname / was an added bonus)
The only people who tend to have full teams are people who need / use them in their careers and people who live in the boonies. Others can have full teams but it’s pretty rare given how expensive it is to care for so many. Robby and Abbot both have full teams as Attending doctors. They tend to leave certain pokemon with different residents/interns/students throughout the day depending on their patients, everyone gets moved around a lot. Santos has an almost-full team as a signifier of her ambition, because what pokemon a person chooses to keep/how many is still a good signifier of personality or circumstance. Whitaker got most of his team when he still lived on the farm, they are/were all working pokemon.
Mutual angst between Whittaker and his Gogoat as the trait that was most valuable (its size) has now become a curse and he has to keep it in its ball most of the time. Whittaker feels bad he has to keep it tucked away all the time and Gogoat feels bad it’s such a burden on him.
Whittaker used to regularly battle pokemon in Broken Bow, so when an enraged pokemon causes problems in the ambulance bay, it’s Whittaker that calms it down
There’s a Drampa that wanted kids to help but it couldn’t find any it got attached to so it started hanging out in front of the E.R. Eventually someone (probably Dana) persuaded it to hang out above the ambulance bay. It has since adopted all of the Pittlings. It also really likes Mcay’s kid.
At one point, Collins got into a 20 minute staring contest with a hoot hoot and won.
Blastoise and Garchomp both followed abbot into the military, and struggle with PTSD, and sometimes if they have a panic attack they will run off to a secluded place so no one thinks they’re going to hurt others.
I imagine one point where Jack has a flashback and ends up in a quiet corner of the hospital with his Garchomp and Blastoise wrapped around him, still protecting him when his mind has become his enemy
There is an incident with a Beheeyem, and it ends with both Whittaker and Santos having to see one another’s trauma. After they get sent home, they end up together on the couch talking about it over ice cream and say yes to the dress. Umbreon is the one who breaks them out of it (dark types for the win, also as a little nod to Horizons).
Someone on staff is bitten or attacked by a patients pokemon, prompting a fight with the police about them seizing the pokemon
Abbot trained Robby’s Absol to act as a suicide alert animal and it regularly alerts to both him and Robby
Whittaker takes Gogoat and Wyrdeer on rides through the woods to keep them exercised, Santos later joins him on Wyrdeer and they race
The first time Santos rode Wyrdeer, it nearly bucked her off because she was messing around, trying to do silly stuff like hang off the saddle. Nowadays it gets grumpy if Santos doesn’t go on rides with it for a while.
Whittaker used to frequently loan out his pokemon to businesses that need Pokemon help both for cash and to make sure they are on the street for as short of a time as possible, when he moves in with Santos, he still does but it’s more to make extra money than because he can’t take care of them all at the same time
Santos’ Pokémon tend to act very friendly with the people Santos likes which creates a comedic vibe of ‘this girl is bullying me but her cat is rubbing against my legs and she has no problem with that’.
Phantump meets Drampa very fast in its haunting of the Pitt, and it gets adopted immediately. At some point Santos tries to find Phantump and that’s how she learns about it.
At some point, (maybe during the MCI), there’s an emergency and Santos has to work on a patient alone, she goes completely silent and works in perfect tandem with Espeon, Umbreon, and Absol working as her helpers to give her materials (Espeon), be a second set of eyes from another angle (Umbreon, they have a system of calls/cries to direct Santos), and alert if something is going to go wrong (Absol). Not sure who notices this.
The longer things go on the harder it is for people to tell who’s Pokémon is whose. Between Amaura hanging out with Javadi, Espeon and Umbreon hanging out with Mel and Whittaker, Phantump being everywhere, Robby lending his Pokémon to everyone, Langdon’s Pokémon hanging out with Phantump or Santos, there being two Absols, and more™, Santos, Robby, Dana, and Whittaker are about the only people who know everyone’s teams.
Gloria comes down one day looking for Robby and finds an Absol, she tells it to take her to her trainer. It takes her to Santos. It was Robby’s Absol. This is a repeated incident.
Different hospitals have different policies on Pokémon for the doctors, some allow any Pokémon with medical certification, some allow only one Pokémon per person, some allow Pokémon based on the doctor’s rank, some assign doctors Pokémon, some don’t allow doctors to bring their Pokémon at all, some only allow Pokémon at certain times or for certain procedures, or any combination of the above. Robby and Abbot fought hard for doctors to be allowed their Pokémon in the Pitt, because in emergency medicine basically anything can be helpful and the emotional support + second set of eyes a Pokémon provides is dead useful for 12+ hours shifts.
Because of breeding and training restrictions and such, fairy, psychic, dark, and dragon types are much more rare, while everything else is just more rare. Water, normal, ground, rock, grass, and flying are the largest groups of Pokémon when it comes to sheer number.
Santos is REALLY good with Pokemon in exchange for being terrible with people, and Whittaker is really awkward with pokemon because he hasn’t had normal experiences with Pokémon.
Phantump teaches Langdon’s pokemon how to break out of their pokeballs. They now regularly break out to screw with him and to go play with phantump
Every single one of Langdon’s pokemon adore Santos for helping him, albeit indirectly (and for being a lot like him), and give him the stink eye when he gets pissy with her.
His furfrou gets therapy dog training during his addiction rehabilitation and helps to manage his withdrawals.
Whittaker's Ponyta learns to nibble at Langdon whenever he’s an ass to Santos. She now has to get trained not to do this to asshole patients.
Langdon didn’t let his pokemon out of their balls outside of emergency situations because they would try to get him help.
Phantump once hid in Robby’s hoodie for the day at Dana’s suggestion, and he was so tired he just thought his hattena was in there when it was on his shoulder the whole time. When he realized, he just set Phantump in Santos’ lap and went to take a nap.
Ponyta is a little dramatic baby that glues herself to Whittaker, and later on Santos and Robby until someone needs her to do her job.
How The Safety and Handling Certification Works
In order for a pokemon to be able to be alongside their trainer in a public space, they need a licence to prove that trainer can handle their pokemon and stop it from causing any harm to others, and that the pokemon is capable of behaving around other pokemon it may or may not like. This certification often comes in ID form for people and a badge, lanyard, or bracelet-equivalent for pokemon. But even with the license, it is up to the discretion of a workplace to allow employees and visitors to have pokemon able to roam. This is called the Safety and Handling Certification, also known as SHC. In the ED, employees can have their pokemon out, but patients cannot unless the pokemon is a service animal, in which case they must have the proper vest
If someone wishes for their pokemon to accompany them in public spaces, especially in areas such as work environments, both the human and pokemon need to complete the Safety and Handling Course and receive a certificate.
The SHC is a big ol piece of paper, like a birth certificate or the driving course completion certificate.
A person needs to be carrying a ‘trainer licence’ that shows what pokemon are registered to them, and acts as proof they have the SHC and all required vaccinations.
People are only allowed to have six pokemon total. Any more than six need to have a legal reason for owning, such as agricultural work or breeding purposes. The handler must also be audited every few years or so to ensure all pokemon have been properly cared for. Owning more than six pokemon and not telling the state can land you some pretty hefty fines.
The reason why people cannot own more than six pokemon is because they are very difficult to care for, especially larger and more dangerous species. Having so many can be a danger both to the pokemon and the handler.
The SHC course consists of three steps:
Step one is an exam about what types can interact safely and how to redirect a pokemon if it is clear they are about to panic. This one only needs to be taken every few years, kinda like a drivers licence
Step two, the pokemon itself is taught how to interact with other pokemon, as well as self soothing techniques for more nervous or quick to anger pokemon,
Step Three, a test for both person and pokemon where multiple pokemon are brought in and freak out, the duo’s performance is observed by an examiner and rated (also like a driver’s licence)
It's administered by the Department for Pokemon Safety, or the DPS
These courses are done by governmental facilities, like the DMV but pokemon (good god why is this just getting your drivers licence for pokemon)
Getting this done can take a few days, but unlike the DMV, these facilities are actually pretty fast-paced and you don't have to schedule months in advance to get an appointment.
There are very few places where Pokemon are allowed without the SHC, Most are PokeVets, SHC facilities, or behavioral correction places, and a handful of other stuff.
Pokémon’s Jobs
Ponyta was super excited to get therapy animal training because during Whittaker’s med school she had a whole bunch of energy but nothing to do, so she’d nip at him whenever he wasn’t taking care of himself
Gogoat- transportation and protection
Absol- danger warning, (Robby’s is also a) suicide alert
Musharna- anesthesia
Galarian ponyta- panic attacks, healing, medical alert
Sylveon- autism aid
Alolan Ninetails- prosthetic support
Season One Events:
Robby has his Absol accompany Jake to Pittfest to keep an eye on him, and Absol was REALLY insistent on going, Robby thinks it was just excited to go and ignored Absol’s tells
Some of Santos’ Pokémon keep people having a bad day company in a parallel to how Robby and Abbot leave their Pokémon with whoever needs medical help. Generally Absol stays with Santos when they’re in the Pitt but Espeon and Umbreon consider it their duty to help their friend / trainer make more friends, so they spend time moving between the other three Pittlings in season 1 before the MCI; Amaura helps with people it particularly likes and stays with Javadi for most of season 1, it started right after she ‘crashed’ in episode one. Javadi is very confused by this behaviour.
Langdon’s pokemon actively try to get Santos to realize his addiction.