Another Way (Pokémon Fanfiction)

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Sue, a lowly comp-sci student with no knowledge of Pokémon, must persevere within their world after waking up as a Gardevoir. With the locals and their language completely alien to her, even the refuge she receives feels uncertain.

Local deities invading her dreams and using her as a pawn don’t help, either.

As Sue uncovers this world’s scarred history, her god-mending task becomes increasingly clear, as does its difficulty. Despite that, and her limited grasp of her own powers, she keeps trying, for her goal remains the same.

To survive and make it home, no matter what.

Xenofiction Mystery / Slice of Life, told from the perspective of someone with no Pokémon knowledge at all. Major themes include self discovery, xenophobia, overcoming guilt, and forging one's own fate against the powers that be.

Information

Status: Ongoing
Year: 2023
Author: redspah

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.1/ 5.0
Followers: 225
Views: 81,085

Reviews

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Community Reviews(4)

MouseyknotRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is easily one of the best stories I’ve ever read, and was a beautiful capstone to finish of reading all of your works that have made me cry, I wanted to thank you for all of the work you have done and I am extremely excited for the next chapter to come.
darkpiplumonRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Summary: Human with absolutely no knowledge of pokemon gets transported to no-human-just-pokemon world and transformed to a Gardevoir, and understandably freaks out.
Pros aka what makes this story good and interesting:
Honestly, the main draw to reading this is being able to see Pokemon with the eyes of somebody that knows nothing about Pokemon.
The fear of being alone on an alien world on an alien body, surrounded by these creepy monsters that you cannot understand.
Trying, as a reader to recognize from the descriptions which one is which (or looking them up if you don't immediately recognize them if you're a bitch like me).
The legendaries, omg the legendaries. These deities are incredibly set up in this world. They feel like gods, they feel like all of them have a place in this pantheon, they feel Important.
There's an emphasis on trying to make this a world that works, that makes sense and you can enjoy from the MC's view and from one who actually knows what a Pokemon is (word that never appears in the story itself btw. Neither are the legendaries called by the names we know them for, they are called titles, concepts, based on their domain and what they do).
Cons aka what you may not like:
The style of the book can get a bit too description focused and verbose. It is specially noticeable compared to other more fast paced fiction on RR. The author is making and effort and doing an editing sweep to try and make this less of an issue, so let's hope it gets better.
There's also a bit of a tonal shift after the first chapters where the book has a higher level of fluff than the discovery and survival oriented beginning that may be off-putting.
Finally, the MC has this understandable lisp that, while helps understand who is speaking when, and is relevant to the story, can get a little annoying.
All in all, a very recomendable piece of fiction, especially if you like reading xenofiction or about Pokemon, but it's fine even if you do know the bare minimum or remember pla
ChicklobiteRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
I just got caught up on the story and I do overall enjoy it. This semirealistic take on intelligent pokemon and their cultures I find to be a fascinating thing to read through. I find the relationship with the mythical and legendary pokemon to the common ones and worship in this setting to also be fun. I'm a sucker for a divine drama. And there sure is a lot of drama in this story. As soon as I start to get comfortable with the current situation I get a gnarly sucker punch.
I've enjoyed trying to figure out the pokemon from the descriptions, though it certainly can be a bit of work at times. Especially with how some pokemon are. The addition of a separate webpage that explains the pokemon described in each character is a welcome thing.
Now obviously everything is not perfect. A few times I noticed words that just don't make sense in the sentence as well as the excessive use of "the once-human" and similar phrases.
While I think the characters generally are pretty complex, I think some of the antagonists could use to be flushed out a little more, Root especially.
This story heavily uses Diverse characters. Many LGBT+ relations and characters. Something that should be obvious with a single glance at Redspah's auther page. Regardless, I don't think their inclusion hinders the story in any major way.
Overall, I'm eager to see where this story goes.
just_a_lazy_mageRoyal Road
★★★ 2.5
The writing is good, so are the world building. However, there are a few things that just make this fanfic unbearable to read (at least for me):
the protagonist doesn't anything about pokemon. Why on earth would write a pokemon fanfic with the protagonist not knowing anything about pokemon?
The way the story is presented. It is VERY focused on the main character and her inner dialogs. The problem is that such an arrangement will need a very charming protagonist to succeed (like in "I am a spider, so what?") but that's not the case. She is boring and spends 99% of her time just panicking.
Ultimately, I think that it's just a wasted opportunity. Reincarnating as a pokemon is such a good idea. Imagine the inner strougles of the person: having to survive in the wild, with humans constantly seeking to capture you, while knowing that pokemon from trainers are generally much stronger than wils ones. Would you allow yourself to be captured by a trainer of your choice? Or would you refuse to ever be under someone else and try to claw your way on your own?