Begging of you to tell us about your edgy Pokémon au
This AU is set in like… a semi-futuristic version of Earth? Or the Earth of Pokémon, you know, with regions instead of countries. Anyway. In it, Pokémon are called “entities”, evolutions are “phases”, ”forms”, or “stages” (depending on the species) and referred with their serial numbers (for instance, Gastly is called Entity 96 or E-096). They also have colloquial names.
These entities are beings that don’t quite operate like other living beings, and range from ”regular animal but with weird properties SCP style” to “literal goddamn monster”. They appear to evolve rapidly and adapt quickly to their surroundings. This sounds terrifying but fret not, these entities have been present for millennia and in fact can interact with humans since they have, on average, the intelligence of a child. Among entities you can find anything: spirits of the dead, eldritch beings, aliens, angels, demons, really fat yellow rats, whatever. Think of it as a weirdly realistic take on the Dex entries. And think of these “entities” as just good old monsters.
Pokémon combats (here called Entity Combats) are less of a physical fight and more like a flashy show of the Entity’s powers. Entities only walk away from them tired or, in the worst cases, stunned; to achieve so, entities have to be taught to both listen to human orders and to not use their powers lethally. Combats are considered both a spectacle and a sport, and taken more or less seriously depending on the Region. This is where the Hunters come in.
Run on the mill people can’t just walk into the tall grass and grab themselves an Entity. For starters, you need special equipment to do so! And while most regular people can easily buy an Entity Trap, or toss a Transdimensional Capture Unit, it’s one thing to catch very big bugs and another is to attempt to catch one of the Fair Folk. Hunters are the equivalent to trainers in this AU- they’ve been training and learning from a young age the best ways to capture the Entities- and how to reason with them, which might be easy if you’re talking down a giant rat but gets tricky when what you have in your net is a hellhound. As dangerous as Entities are, and as hostile some can be, there’s nothing some psychology and good food can’t fix. To aid Hunters, Professors (people in the mid point of being biologists and occultists) study the biology (or even lack thereof) of the Entities. Here there are parallel universes and different timelines involved, so it gets tricky. For convenience’s sake, most people only have one or two entities under their care, and specific jobs will create the need for different entities. For instance, your neighbor might keep E-025, “the electric mouse”, as a pet, but the parapsychologist next door has gotten herself E-778, “the mimic”, and violence ensues.
Not everyone can be a Hunter. In the olden days, kids were sent to learn to hunt entities on their own at age ten and they often didnt make it alive. We’re talking monsters with supernatural powers here; they could get kidnapped, or killed, or… turned into something else. Nowadays, most kids are sent into the wilderness with protective gear, good quality hunting gear, and a pocket field guide so that they don’t come back home missing fingers or eyes or their soul or whatever. The whole “collect all gym badges and become the next champion” thing is nothing short of telling a kid “hey, go to the Olympics and get yourself a gold medal, hmmmkay?”. As I’ve said before, combats require training, and hunting for entities (basic life knowledge) doesn’t necessarily equal becoming a Hunter (a job) or a Combat Trainer (a hobby).
As for this field guide (the Dex), well- depending on your age it will either be a basic picture book encyclopedia of Fucked Up Animals And Things with very basic knowledge on them plus how to survive a hostile encounter- or a full-on D&D monster book but for real life. Either way, you’ll be treated to the two classifications of Entities: their Taxons, which are equivalent to the Egg Groups and related to their body plan and appearance (Monster, Dragon, Amorphous, etc…), and their Classes, equivalent to the Types, related to their abilities/behavior. Plenty of people often confuse the two, and that’s how you get idiots that don’t get that the Dragon Taxon and the Draconic Class aren’t synonymous at all. I’ve also renamed all types, btw, so now you have Beast, Pyrokinetic, Aquatic, Plantlike, Mineral, Earthen, Brute, Metallic, Airborne, Electrical, Unholy, Insectoid, Psionic, Undead, Cryogenic, Fae, Toxic, and Draconic.
Ah! Another thing! regular animals exist in this AU. It’s just that Entities, while rare, are still common enough to be kept as pets or cattle as well. Though, with how intelligent and self-aware they are, rather than pets they’re often called “familiars”.
basically it’s an edgy pokemon AU that puts the monster in pocket monsters, without forgetting that monsters can also be cute and friendly (even if some feed on souls and are made of toxic miasma).
