her going a bit to high horse on the slavery thing with magical monsters that probably kill a bunch of humans all the time is a bit... messy. like how much a gun would do against something like say, an Onix is a bit insane, self protection and the likes.
if you remember the opening with that one huge Tentacruel that was destroying a city? want to bet how often stuff like that happens. that's got to be part of the job of Gym leaders and the like.
also her its a slave system for pokemon born and raised and cared for the Archanine is still more interesting mess cause not really and tis different, and they could legit just fry humans they don't like, as we see from Pikachu and his surliness at the beginning.

jesus poor Ash im surprise he aint DEADER then dead poor guy. possibly something to do with Aura manipulation? or that Pikachu was a young baby so it was more equivalent of getting tazzed, which still bad , but not as lethal, even if multiple hits would mess him up.

although based on the Lucario movie back in the day humans would have been willing to fight directly with creatures, cross fighting a Charzard with a Sword is a bit insane. doable, but instane.
course Humans also have Aura and stuff so there is that.

I liked the realism of if after three months pokemon don't want to stay they don't have to as well as care and abuse things for it.
as well as having SOMETHING of a legal system for them.
the Jennies being like a clan or something is also good fun.

the treating it like dog fighting when its more equivalent to Boxing or MMA is always annoying but fine. the implication that their are more rules and regulations on how to do things is interesting...
but like despite the technology it shoudlent be looked at like a modern world, more a steam punk equivalent so blood duels at dawn are a bit nutzo possible.

I mean hell Ash has been shown saving some abused pokemon before here and there. Paul was a prick if not quite abusive but a bit abandonment of his CHimchar was deplorable . and counts as abandonment probably from this fic.

and that dude who near legit murdered Charmander by putting him in a deadly situation was a prick. ( one of the best bits of Ash right there though)

although Ash legitimately gets into fights with literal Pokémon Deities so... hes probably not the standard we want to compare people to.

the akward if everything is a pokemon then what the hell do creatures EAT is a bit messy.
presumably super technology.

her being a gal and being quasi adopted by our own police officer is fun!
hell shes in Viridian, if you want to warfare against team Rocket that could be fun!
and hey she's living in a small town that's right before the pokemon league, her gaining friends of pokemon is nice, as well as being a little police gal that helps folks out and saves Pokémon in bad situations is a bit amazing.

good start. loved the poor dear complaining that her boobs were stolen as well as happy her teeth wernt messed up again. cause that's legitimate complaints!

Please make this a real story, I love the premise.

It's nice to see Sakura protecting Naruto.

Pokémon is slavery with extra steps.

Buen trabajo hasta ahora.
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Good job so far.

Gran inicio.
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Great start.

this is so cute and so wonderful! i'd love to see more of it! i haven't read MoR yet but i'm definetly looking forward to giving it a try now!

i really loved this! it's a fresh take on pokemon and it was really fun and interesting to read, especially the world-building! i really like aisling and im rooting for her and her (possible) future endeavors!

There is maybe one walking dead gamer fanfic that I know of, but it is only 2 or 3 chapters long. It is well written and has a good plot so far. Love this, she is really getting into being prepared. Was she panicking because she realized it was so real and figured out what is happening during the tutorial?
Hope you start this story. D

p.s planning to read Memories of Rain because I enjoyed the first chapter of this Soul Switched.

I love this one. D

A pokemon reserve/rehabilitation center sounds like a good way to go here. There's the Safari Zone, of course, where some uncommon or exclusive pokemon are, but this would be a place where pokemon didn't need to fear capture (except by Team Rocket because of course they'd get involved eventually).

It's ironic that such an endeavor could start in Viridian City of all places considering who the local gym leader is.

Starting small with Psyduck and Magmar, having them help out around the station or help patrol the city. Stop a burglary or something, then later get a report from Pallet Town and have Aisling go on down with Officer Jenny (oh hey, Psyduck can mess around in the water here). And here with Professor Oak she put forth the idea of a reserve or rehab place. Exactly where is a tossup. It would have to have a variety of places for pokemon to be comfortable, where winters wouldn't be severe. There are some places on the Kanto map, I think, that could be transformed into reserves? Maybe someplace near Cerulean City. It wouldn't have to be very large, not at first.

But that's later. Plenty of room to help out pokemon in Viridian and Pallet for now (if we use the anime version of Oak's place anyway. So many caught pokemon need a place to stretch their legs).

Anyway, being the kind old man he is, Oak might offer to take care of some pokemon she gets for now. He has connections with not only other Professors but the Elite Four as well, I think. And Officer Jenny can contact other Jennys, and Joy other Joys, etc. So here's this huge network of people who work with pokemon for a living and don't want to see them get abused. Put all of this together, and you have a way of word for a rehab place for pokemon getting out. You have a Joy over in Lavender commenting on the emotionally distraught pokemon there. You have pokemon in the Safari Zone city (forgot which) who have been abandoned after their trainers have found better 'mon. Some Gym Leaders have heard of trainers abandoned their pokemon after failing to beat them.

Suddenly, Aisling's idea is seeming more and more appealing to these authority figures. Yes, they say, a place where pokemon can recover in peace would be great. Heck, Lt. Surge supposedly fought in a war, and should know the value of such a place. I think he'd be on board. Sabrina might be the only one "out of the loop" depending on if she's all "be my doll", or if Team Rocket is occupying the city.

So, the adults figure out how many pokemon they currently have that would need aid, and their types. Probably below 50 for now? So they all have opinions on where a possible reserve could be. It would need to be out of the way, yet still accessible by foot. Kanto is a pretty mountainous region, so finding a nice piece of suitable land for all the types would be difficult.

Anyway, that gets worked out, Aisling keeps accumulating pokemon, and suddenly Team Rocket strikes. Because of course they do. They chopped off Slowpoke tails for profit, why wouldn't they steal a variety of pokemon perfect for poaching? Rare or uncommon pokemon all in one place. Simply wait a little bit for all the pokemon to heal up some, then bam.

I'd like to see Gavin come back, maybe traveling with pokemon again, but mostly because they're attracted to the sound of him playing guitar. Have him be happy, working with the pokemon, and apologizing to Psyduck (or Golduck) and Magmar.

About the only painful thing here, is that it's been proven in canon that some pokemon will challenge a trainer because they want to grow stronger. They get defeated, sure, but they *they* get to travel across the land getting stronger too. Having Aisling learn that the slave/master thing isn't 100% how it works, or that some people don't have pokeballs while still have a partner, or that some wild pokemon willingly chose to get in a pokeball to join a trainer, or that pokeballs are a way of keeping pokemon safe while traveling would be nice.

Not sure what the end goal for this would be. Probably getting more regions to accept reserves/rehab places for pokemon.

(Thoughts drifted somewhat here. Whoops.)

AMAZING!

arrgh! Found it! I've been searching for this story for AGES. I just loved the premise and the sarcasm and I kept thinking how I would love to reread this story. Only I couldn't find it anywhere under the pokemon category. I must have gone through 50 pages looking for it before I gave up.
I was rereading Kaze no Uta when I saw 'pokemon' in the summary of this one and realised why I couldn't find it.
I'm so happy right now.
I really like the idea of Jenny arresting a child for being cynical and then helping a stranded child and employ her the next moment. very in character from what I recall. But the way you've written it makes it more realistic and sensible. Gosh I'm jumping around the house right now because I found your story!
I don't understand the title for this story though.

This premise is so unique. I love that you even mentioned as many issues as you have. You're completely correct this would, if portrayed differently, be one of those dystopian society's. Except, really really colourful. Like the details about laws regarding pokemon that if mistreated can leave, yet if they don't know how can they? And that despite pokemon who can speak human they don't actually use them as witnesses. And that you bring in the stockholm syndrome in regards to them.

I like Aisling as a character. She did not get caught up in the fact that she ended up in a story from her childhood and in fact actually thought about her situation realistically. And she focuses on actually setting herself up to survive first which is invaluable. A lot of people just write their characters to get caught up in the world or in finding their way home. I like the difference here. I also like that she notes that unless you attack them first or there is some kind of third party issue pokemon don't attack first. I like the focus that she may have had that you mentioned. An exploration of the world rather than a direct focus on the main characters seems fantastic to me. I also like that in the abusive situation she could still see both sides of the story. That in a way she helped the boy as well. Though I appreciate even more that she didn't lose focus on the pokemon that she was trying to help. You can also, depsite how passionate and focused she is on it, see her struggle to not just pet fluffy pokemon due to their shapes. I like that she gives them that respect.

Out of all the things you mentioned about continuing it I think I see the nature journalist/ photographer the most. Since it highlights her views that she has expressed so far. It would allow her to spread her thoughts and to give support to the arguments she makes about current society enslaving and abusing intelligent creatures which have their own thoughts and feelings. I can also see her doing the other things as well but those would only be things she could set up after getting money and actually running into pokemon in those abusive situations. I can't actually see people bringing her pokemon to her. So I think that the travelling for the journalism and photos would facilitate her running into those pokemon. It would also play into the possiblity of her finding a way home. Just without the kind of focus which would blind her to what is going on around her. I'd love to see a build up of the kinds of things she would find out about pokemon in those environments and how she would. Heck, seeing what she would think and find out about how society can actually even function as it is as a jump off from her initial observations.

Also I sort of want to see where things go with Psyduck. Cause that he renged on walking away is sort of hilarious to me though it says worrying things about his mental state. I wonder about how Aisling will cope with Psyduck basically being considered hers and how she would mesh that with her morales without abandoning him. I kept getting flashes of her trying to pay him or asking him to be a guide in the wild. I can't imagine her ever putting him in a pokeball which could lead to people trying to run off with him. Which is possible hijinks all on it's own. That and the thought of the boy actually being successful at music enough to become comfortable enough in himself that he properly apologises to Psyduck and Magmar. Maybe even help her with trying to spread information about what the capturing of pokemon does to them.

This delights me. Totally what could have happened to people either in a university situation or just a heavy night of drinking. But I am pretty sure this is not what habitually happens afterwards. The tech back pack is the bomb and the fact she is automatically on shinra's servers is both total cringe for the kind of trouble it can bring her and that they technically got hacked by a second alien. And this one was not even trying. XD I love a good SI or crossover in this so seeing this was really exciting. Love that she names the tech too. That and all the other behavioural details really bring out her personality. Talking to inanimate objects the details about going out and friends behaviour and how she feels about it. That she likes custom case prints which is another detail that is slipped in but not just randomly stated for no reason. Thank you for sharing it really all pulls together. :)