ACK I'm so happy that people are asking questions about your au!
Could you, um. Could you please explain the turtles' Pokemon powers to me in simple terms? Donnie has "sing" but what does that look like? Can they use their powers at will? Is there a cool down period? Are they tied to weapons (initially) like they are in Rise?
He sings :] And when he sings anyone who hears his voice inevitably falls asleep. :] And the songs donnie chooses to sing are all the 80s hits!
I think uhhh Im gonna have to make refs for them to explain every move and their abilities. Cuz thisll get long really fast. But Ill explain some of the more obscure ones. With Rain Dance, donnie dances and it summons mini rain clouds that make it rain. This has a positive effect on his, raphs, and leos abilities (raph’s “Swift Swim” ability means he becomes faster. Leo’s “Rain Dish” ability means he slowly recovers/heals in the rain, and Donnie’s “Hydration” ability heals him from any status condition [burns, poison, sleep, paralysis, confusion] in the rain). Also note that each of the turtles have four moves and one ability. Leo has only ever used life dew via tears and thats not a typical way how it’s done, but he doesn’t know he can use that move. Life dew heals wounds. Facade: Leo channels his inner fake it til you make it attitude and glows an orangy color before attacking an opponent. If he’s inflicted with a status condition then his hits are twice as strong. I think those are the weird ones, but Ill have to finish refs for the rest.
Yes they can use moves at will. Unless theres an outside factor prohibiting them from doing so. (Certain moves can drain energy or prevent certain attacks)
Kinda. Using moves is like running fast or swimming or anything else. They have limits. Stronger moves require more energy therefore are used more sparingly then weaker moves. This ties in with an in-game mechanic called "power points" where every move can only be used X amount of times before healing, but i wont get into that.
Yep! They each get a weapon that harnesses the power of a legendary pokemon.
This is tied in with their Aura (which is kinda like The Force). Here we are in Pixel makes things up territory. Aura exists in pokemon, humans using pokemon moves through weapons does not. A visual representation of aura also doesnt exist. Not in this way atleast. Ive just always been obsessed with humans bonding with pokemon and being able to use their attacks.
Like in rise canon, donnie does not pick up his. He makes something different for himself instead ;]
OKAY QUESTION TIME (answer as many or as little as you like ^^)
I know it's kinda self-explanatory but I'm curious about your reasoning for choosing each of the turtles' starting moves because I can see how much thought was put into each one and all of them are so perfect
2. KRAANG???? TMNP KRAANG????? FJDDJHJDJSJSQWYSUAOOODKSKSJS (do they have designs, or are there any details you'd be willing to share? :3)
3. So if mutants like repo mantis and meatsweats are human combinations, does that mean that humans exist in this universe? Do they ever interact with the boys? Is there a version of the EPF? I'm kinda rusty on my pokemon lore but I remember there being a group other than team rocket who were kinda the overarching villains
4. Oh speaking of which— does team rocket exist in this au?
5. I also think I remember you mentioning somewhere that the boys had pokemon partners? :3
6. You've probably already answered this but do they ever battle, like at gyms?
7. Would they have a version of the lair games?
8. How are the turtles' personalities different and/or similar from canon?
9. Do they have ninpo? And by extension, is there a hamato clan? Karai? Shredder?? Are you leaning more toward rise or pokemon plot-wise?
Anyway, hope you have a good day/night!!! <3
ALRIGHT ANSWER TIME! I'll try to do all of them! <3
POKEMON MOVES EXPLANATION
Donnie has rain dance and sing bc he's a theater kid at heart. Water pulse is a placeholder. Donnie spinning his bo and projecting ice shards just looks really cool. Also "Eat Iceshard!" is a funny not-curse word Donnie uses. I had him say it in my "mystic mayhem" rewrite.
Leo relies on aqua tail heavily. He loves his tail ok, its special to him. Facade bc he's the face man! Water pulse is also a placeholder. And lifedew is a move he doesn't realize he has, but has unknowingly been using it since they were tots. He has healing tears! Its an egg move passed on if a blastoise breeds with a lapras! (disaster twins have the same poke-dad confirmed?) It's also a nod to the medic leo headcanon.
Raph's are pretty self explanatory. Razorshell looks a lot like his tonfas. Stone edge is a good rock move that just fits with his punchy nature. Except he punches the ground to make the spires appear. Headbutt and Crunch are both things unique to drednaw that I see raph doing.
Mikey break dances when he uses lava plume. Rapid spin bc rise mikey is always going into his shell. Smokescreen is probably the most ninja move they have. I forgot if the 2012 mikey reference was intentional. Bodyslam seems strange but, cmon. Mikey's used to falling on top of his brothers all the time. Ofc he'll weaponize it for anyone else.
THE KRANG
Yes. The krang went through many iterations. I believe the latest I have are that they are nihilego/deoxys fusions. A nihilego tries to control/consume a deoxys and it backfires. The space virus that created deoxys corrupts the nihilego, turning them from a species lacking any free will outside of survival to something more consciously malicious and intelligent.
HUMANS
Humans exist! The turtles have a similar situation regarding humans to the original show. As in they hide away. But some human pokemon characters become important to this au. Burgh, dr. fennel, the submas twins, iris, n are just a handful i had planned! Oooh and Hunter J. ;]
The EPF exists as pokemon's International Police. Haven't decided whether to keep Looker and Bishop separate characters or merge them together.
TEAM ROCKET?
I had a Giovanni cameo in my comic rewrite of "mystic mayhem", but I don't think I planned anything for team rocket. For now they are disbanded.
THE TURTLE'S POKEMON
They do get pokemon! Raph has stufful, Leo sprigatito, Donnie builds his own porygon and mikey has larvesta! They get more pokefriends down the road but these are the first ones they get
GYM BATTLES?
Raph's whole dream is wanting to be a pokemon trainer. He wishes he could challenge pokemon gyms and participate in the pokemon league. Sadly being a mutated pokemon doesn't really allow him that. So yes to them battling but no to them battling gyms. They're still a secret from the larger society.
THE LAIR GAMES
Good question. In my notes I have "happens but i wont write it". I'd imagine it'd be the same but more games that would allow them to use their pokemon abilities. Donnie's sing is banned
CANON VS TMNP PERSONALITIES
I try to keep to their canon personalities, but there are some subtle changes. Most changes are a direct result of The Incident that happens ten years prior to the series. Splinter is probably the biggest change. He is a lot more paranoid and overprotective. He ping pongs between being absent and overbearing. Like canon, he loves his sons and would burn the world for them, but he's still a traumatized mess that hasn't been the best father.
NINPO AND THE HAMATO CLAN
They don't have ninpo, but they have something similar. The hamato clan exists and they are a long line of Aura Guardians. And (stay with me here we are now in pixel makes things up territory) every hamato has a legendary patron that influences what they can do with their aura.
Yes to karai. She doesn't die right away and helps the turtles train like how she was supposed to if s2 didn't get cut.
And yes to shredder. All I'll say is eternatus and the darkest day.
RISE OR POKEMON??
As for which I lean most towards...I wanna say rise. I sometimes worry I lean too heavily on rise but I think it's just a byproduct of me not committing to a typical rise pokemon crossover. The rise lore influences the pokemon lore and vise versa. I keep both pokemon characters and rottmnt characters. The overarching plot was a merge of the two properties. So maybe its equal? I'm not afraid to warp pokemon to fit rise if that makes sense. But sometimes I feel like rise holds me back and i should give in more to pokemon. This is actually a constant struggle with this au for me ^^'
Does your au have its own version of the hidden city ?
Yep! The hidden city is located in the Dream World. Which for those that dont know, was a browser game linked to pokemon bw/bw2. Its sadly now lost media. I took the general concept and repurposed it to be more fantastical and other worldly, but here's what its based on
I still need to come up with concept art of this bc tmnps version does NOT look like this outside of the floating islands.
But ya, here's my description of the location in my notes:
The Hidden City is located in a realm called the Dream World, a pocket dimension that exists outside of reality. This realm is home to fusions, gijinka, hisui pokemon, paradox pokemon, pokemon with hidden abilities, and extinct pokemon. Time works parallel to the real world.
The Dream World consists of multiple floating islands. The Hidden City is located on one big island with multiple levels and layers. Some of these levels go below ground. In the middle of the city is the Tree of Dreams and is one of the doors to the real world. Draxum’s lab is located on one of the outskirt islands. Nobody knows what happens to pokemon who fall off through the cloud cover and into the void below. Rumors have it that that’s Darkrai’s realm of nightmares.
The guardian of the dream world is Cresselia. She helped create it as a way for “yokai” to live in peace. There are many shrines dedicated to cresselia. The “yokai” see her as a deity.
There are a couple ways to enter the Dream World. Hidden Grottos, Dream Mist, the Entree, and on a rare occasion–sleeping.
Does your AU take place in o specific region or do the turtles travel?
The au takes place in castellia city, unova which is essentially pokemon's new york city!!
They dont travel in the pokemon sense. Like no going from city to city collecting badges. However they end up in other locations throughout unova including Relic castle, nimbasa city, driftveil storage, and more.
The only other region I had them travel to was to alola during what wouldve been a hypothetical rise s4. This wouldve had rise's missing space arc. Or should i say ultra space arc??
will the tmnp krang each have different move sets and will their exosuits be apart of their bodies?
Each krang from the rise movie pilots the husk of a deoxys form.
Attack for Prime
Defense for Pilot
Speed for Sister
I have concept art of this fusion, but its still in the awkward looking stage. The initial plan was to still have the nibilego be able to detach from the deoxys shell, but Im considering having them permanently merged. Either way their shape and color wouldve looked closer to lusamine/nihilego then a normal nihilego since deoxys' space virus dna corrupted them.
Never quite settled on a move pool, but they have nihilegos powers of reading memories, mind control, etc. Ill have to explore the deoxys side more beyond it just giving the nihilego higher intelligence.
FUNNY YOURE ASKING ABOUT HER NOW BC GUESS WHO HAS BEEN WORKING ON HER DESIGN THE PAST COUPLE OF DAYS.
Ngl big mama has given me a lot of trouble. I was torn over four different designs with like four different pokemon. And each species would mean something different for her lore. BUT I FINALLY COMMITTED. I'm gonna keep her design a secret for now since I'm still working on fine tuning it. But Pokemon fans MIGHT be able to guess which pokemon she's inspired by with the trivia I've given. Here's some big mama lore!
Similarities to canon: runs her battle nexus, has a lot of power in tmnp’s equivalent to the hidden city, has a history with splinter and utilized him in her battle nexus.
The battle nexus deserves its own post. Pokemon battles are normalized in this world, therefore the battle nexus itself wouldnt be controversial. But Ive found ways to MAKE it controversial (EVIL LAUGH) that would have the pokemon league¹ shutting it down if they knew about it
Now for TMNP exclusive big mama facts!
- Master illusionist. This gives her the ability to naturally transform into her human form
- She feeds on fear. Literally. It is rumored that if you listen closely to her necklace, you can hear the screams of champions in her battle nexus.
- Is one of the few yokai to use poke balls and specializes in ghost type pokemon. Supposedly these Pokemon are the lost souls of her nexus champions that died in her arena
- Her staff consists of Alpha Pokemon² (Fox as Thievul, Owl as Noctowl, Otter as Floatzel, Lion as Pyroar)
- Gus the shiny alpha granbul is her favorite and is treated more like a pet
- She regularly interacts with the surface world to scout out powerful pokemon to have in her nexus. This is how she found lou jitzu “the human who fights like a pokemon”
- Regularly hires bounty hunters to steal powerful pokemon from their trainers
- She has worked with Hunter J³
- Can create shadow pokemon⁴
And bonus info: Here's her color palette (might tweak the specific shades but the color is there)
1 Pokemon League: This is like the government branch that regulates anything pokemon related in the surface world. Hosts the yearly pokemon league, oversees the gyms, responsible for granting or revoking trainer licenses.
2 Alpha Pokemon: Pokemon from hisui (hokkaido Japan from ~500 years ago) that are significantly larger then normal. They are usually more powerful and more aggressive
3 Hunter J: A pokemon anime exclusive character that will be making an appearance in this au. I had to, she is arguably one of Pokemon's best villains
4 Shadow Pokemon: A pokemon who's heart has been closed off artificially. They lack empathy, cannot be reasoned with, and are highly aggressive. They are controlled by the will of the one who created them
I try to stay truthful to the game mechanics so if its in the game, its most likely a thing in this au. Its treated similar to how the pokemon anime handles it (the new seasons not the early ones. We really did whatever back in the early 2000s)
I dont outright state it, but the turtles natures do affect their strengths and weaknesses like it would in the game. For instance, Mikey is jolly therefore he is naturally faster then the average torkoal. However his special attacks are naturally weaker. And he favors sweet things while hating dry things.
Fun little tidbit is that the turtles personalities were not supposed to be the way they are thnx to splinter accidentally messing up the mutation process. (Jolly is a trash nature for torkoal. Mikey was supposed to be bold or something)
So yes. Stats are a thing but I treat it more natural and less videogame-esque
Items are a thing as well, but arent as relevant to the turtles since their weapons kinda take the item slot. Their weapons give them an extra moveset outside of the standard four that pokemon normally have. Hm. I mightve created a new pokemon gimick with this one
