yeah yeah cool betrayal/evil arc but tbh arin going Full Normie Mode (quitting ninja stuff altogether and just going back to the crossroads to live a domestic life) would've been a more unique way to take the story
i think it would've been really cool if in danny phantom the halfas all resembled different universal monsters
like. obviously vlad = dracula, i mean. c'mon.
dani/ellie would be a perfect fit for Frankenstein's monster. an experiment stitched together from DNA from another person. cast aside by their creator, left to fend for themselves.
idk what danny would be tho. i'm torn between wolfman and the invisible man.
the wolf man being a good metaphor for being unable to deny the monster you've become. a struggle between human and ghost, good and evil. the invisible man also fits a similar dichotomy, but falls more in line with the invisibility aspect of being a ghost-- unseen and forgotten.
hyperfixating on pokemon again, and thinking of an ash journey in paldea. obviously, a lot to think about-- where does his journey start? how much of the game plot does it follow, and how original does it get.
most importantly, what is his team like?
well, i've done my research (AKA extensive bulbapedia deep dives). and going off previous "trends" of ash's journeys, i think i can put together a likely list of pokemon that i could see on his own team-- and possible character arcs involving those pokemon-- with maybe a bit of creative liberties, of course.
1. PIKACHU
i think this is an obvious one. like, duh, of course he has pikachu. they're besties. they'd kill for each other, and they probably have before. they'd die for each other, and have multiple times.
2. SPRIGATITO -> FLORAGATO
i know this is a weird one, but hear me out.
throughout most of the series, ash gets between 1-3 of the starter pokemon. in earlier seasons when it's him, misty and brock, he's gotten all three, with the only exception being notably unova (he has the starter trios in kanto, johto, and unova). in other seasons, he's only gotten 1-2, with the 3rd going to the Region Girl, usually the more feminine one.
but. but!! he's gotten the grass type starter the most often-- bulbasaur, bayleef, sceptile, torterra, and snivy. and rowlet. so i feel like this gen would follow a similar trend, where through shenanigans ash ends up catching a sprigatito (or Sprigatito goes after him).
i'd like to imagine that this starter ends up somehow getting their hidden ability Protean, which if you didn't know, changes the user's type to whatever move it uses. which isn't handy in tera battles because the pokemon will keep their tera type but in normal battles, having a sprigatito go from grass type to, like, fairy or something would be fun! it would shake up a few gyms, for sure.
i'd also like to imagine this sprigatito evolves into floragato and decides, yep, that's enough, and doesn't want to evolve further. not all of ash's starter pokemon fully evolve.
only like six of the thirteen starter pokemon ash catches ever fully evolve. capping it at a overpowered floragato seems like it'd be in character for the classic seasons of the anime. idk plot reasons i guess
3. ROOKIDEE -> CORVIKNIGHT
Paldea is a very interesting region in the Pokemon world because it deviates just like Johto did and it doesn't have a typical regional bird pokemon. Wattrel and Kilowattrel fill in the void, but they're more like the Hoothoot/Noctowl sort of vibe. but I don't see ash catching a Kilowattrel; he's never had an electric-type other than Pikachu, and i doubt that they would try it with that
so, i offer up the alternative: his first official paldea catch is a lil' rookidee.
in this canon, ash never traveled through Galar in the "typical" way. everything with goh & the world champions still happens, and ifso factso plot stuff happens and ash ends up enrolled in the paldea schools.
rookidee fills in the "bird" pokemon slot for ash. he's caught just about every other regional bird (including a shiny Noctowl, how cool), so it makes sense that this one would end up in his care. i think it'd be cool to see ash train up a corviknight. they're cool pokemon. i had one in my shield game and her name was poe (quoth the raven evermore) and she was a BAMF. give ash a BAMF bird, as a treat.
4. NYMBLE -> LOKIX
along with the trend of ash catching the regional bird, he usually catches at least one bug-type, and i think a nymble -> lokix would really fit well into his team. they're an atypical bug-type (bug/dark) but i think it'd be cool to explore an arc where ash catches this poor little nymble who is afraid of everything to eventually help it get over its fears and evolve into a powerful lokix.
there's always at least one Problem Pokemon on ash's team, and i think a lokix that wins enough battles that it gets too cocky would be a good continuation of an arc, and cause inner team conflict.
plus i think lokix looks a little bit like mothman and i think he's cool
5. FINIZEN -> PALAFIN
finizen is a very interesting pokemon. not just the first dolphin pokemon, but the evolution is convulted in the game. you gotta be in a union group and get it past level, like, 35 to technically evolve, but nothing really changes with it until it's in battle and it transforms into it's hero form.
but a palafin just fits to me! ash is a very heroic character, and palafin is the hero Pokemon. the palafin is probably a bit of a reckless dummy like ash, who gets into fights too easily, but training with ash (despite his own reckless streak), helps mellow the pokemon out a bit. boom! character arc.
6. CETODDLE -> CETITAN
every few seasons ash gets ahold of an egg, which evolves into a really strong teammate. i think it'd be funny if ash was given an egg that hatches into this nearly 4 foot tall toddler who likes to bite things. i think it'd be really funny. c'mon.
ice is not a type ash commonly gets. he usually gets the pseudo-legendary or something equal in power to it, some sort of dragon-type. heck, in the last season, he has two dragon-types, a dragonite and a dracovish. i think it'd be a cool juxtaposition to have him come out of a season where he got so many cool dragons and give him this giant literal toddler who will eat anything it sees and is an ice-type.
and, sure, cetitan looks a lot more Mature and Serious. but it is still a toddler, deep down inside, and still bites things. ash needs a comic relief team mate, and cetoddle/cetitan fits pretty well
TRAVELING WITH: KORAIDON
this au that's forming in my brain is a mix of scarlet & violet -- idk how the school works with this, but basically, koraidon and miraidon exist together, as do the paradoxes, and both of arven's parents are emotionally distant professors who focus on research in area zero. poor guy. twice the parental trauma.
anyway, i think i see ash taking care of koraidon a lot more than miraidon. again; he's never had another electric type on his team other than pikachu. and while it'd be cool to see how a "ride" miraidon would interact with pikachu, i think koraidon's past vibes vibes better with ash's more wild nature.
i know ash has caught more than a team's worth of pokemon each generation, and i think there's still definitely room for one more wild card of a pokemon, but i can't think of any that would fit atm.
...
anyway yeah that's what i think ash's paldea team would be like!
cleaning up ao3 and orphaning a few fics. if you liked deja vu, memento mori, or half-blood half-lives, they'll be up still but i'm not going to be working on them anymore. if anyone wants to adopt them/write their own version go right ahead!
