Pokémon Noir is a hardboiled reimagining of the Pokémon universe set fifteen years after the events of the anime’s first season, which ignores most if not all of the events of the following seasons on account of how I stopped watching the show. It depicts a very much grown-up Ash Ketchum who has become a private investigator following the criminalization of pokémon battling. When one of his oldest friends is found murdered, Ketchum finds himself investigating the case of his life, which will reunite him with figures from his past, including the good guys, the bad guys, and the ugly guys.
This project has actually been in the works since 2007, though the manuscript in its current form took shape around 2010. Back then, I wrote the first five chapters very quickly, and then lost interest in the story. It wasn’t until July of 2013 that I decided to pick up where I left off, writing the next five chapters over a period of one week. Since three years had passed between the compositions of the first half and the second half, there were some stark stylistic differences between them: most notably, the second half seemed a lot less influenced by Dashiell Hammett since I hadn’t read any of his hardboiled tales in quite awhile. With some editing I’ve tried to make the two halves match but inconsistencies may still emerge for the careful reader.
For a look at Pokémon Noir in its earliest stages of development, read this post.
Contains mature language and adult themes.
Begin “Pokémon Noir” with Chapter 1: “Catch ‘Em All”
Jump to:
Chapter 2: “The Man in the Woman”
Chapter 3: “The Girl with the Gyarados Tattoo”
Chapter 4: “The Pokémon Professor’s Peril”
Chapter 5: “Tom Yum Goong Otob”
Chapter 6: “The Route of All Evil”
Chapter 7: “On the Back of a Lapras”
Chapter 8: “Battler Rocker”
Chapter 9: “Continue Game?”
Chapter 10: “Awakenings”
is not an exit 