Dream World Abilities

[Chibi Pika]

This is something I've been thinking about a lot lately. The 5th generation introduced a wonderful new element into competitive battling in the form of alternate abilities for most Pokemon, but how would one go about having these come into play in a fan fiction? In game canon, Pokemon can only have the alternate ability if it actually came from the dream world, which severely limits the amount of fic plots that could realistically have them.

Has anyone else thought about using Dream World abilities in fics? How would you go about it?

Myself, I'm tempted to give DW abilities to the Legendaries in my fic. They're portrayed as one of a kind and super ancient (in my headcanon, they are reborn like phoenixes at the end of their lifespan), so it wouldn't make sense for there to be another member of the species somehow appearing from the Dream World. Or perhaps I could make it that some of the reincarnations have the alternate ability, but others don't, seemingly at random. And since no one had ever caught a Legendary prior to the fic's beginning (with good reason...) it's not like there's much information on what abilities they ought to have.

I don't know, it's something I've wanted to play around with, and was wondering if anyone else had given it any thought.

~Chibi~;249;;448;

 

[Agonist]

I've always pictured their Dream World abilities as sort of a rare ability, so to speak. Possible to find in the wild, just much rarer than their normal abilites. In fact, when Black and White were announced, and having Hidden Abilities was made public, I first thought that it meant that maybe there was a slim chance of finding a Pokemon with its Dream World ability. In terms of a fanfiction, this approach makes more sense to me than a Pokemon falling asleep and finding a Pokemon in its dream. Not to mention, it's much easier to put into writing that way.

As for your idea of giving legendaries their Dream World abilities, why not give them both at the same time? For example, with Mewtwo, its normal ability is Pressure, and its hidden one is Unnerve. I can easily imagine Mewtwo having both characteristics, with its immense psychic abilites being somewhat like Spritiual Pressure in Bleach (hence Pressure) and also at the same time, unnerving. Same is applicable for other ones such as Moltres, which has Pressure and Flame Body. Again, given its presence as a legandary, and having greater powers than your typical Pokemon, it makes sense for Pressure, while making physical contact with it would certainly give you a chance of being burned, considering a large portion of its body is engulfed in flames.

 

[Diddy]

Dream World abilities were pretty much introduced to make sucky pokémon less sucky. Think of it as a balance patch to a fighting game, tweaking a character in a small way can have a massive effect on how good that character is competitively. For example, Makoto went from being one of the worst characters in Super Street Fighter 4 to being one of the best in the Arcade Edition patch.

Sableye and Ditto being two great examples of this kind of tweaking. Delibird being a bad example (It's DW ability is Insomnia when it already has Vital Spirit :s)

When you take that into account, you can infer that they only introduced them this way because it would almost force people to use the online service (giving them more traffic etc) and that it was something that you felt you could 'earn'. A Drought Vulpix is all the sweeter when you've worked to get it for example. So in fanfiction, I'd most likely make it so they're pretty much just regular abilities, unless it's the aforementioned Drought Vulpix or something similar with a "Legendary" ability then I'd probably make it exceedingly rare. A Prankster Sableye would be pretty commonplace though (considering it's usage is only really effective in competitive play).

The Dream World isn't something I'd make into a massive headcanon thing. Not to knock Professor Fennel's work, but it's an online gameplay mechanic, nothing much more.

 

[Psychic]

Now that you mention it, has anyone posted a fic that dealt with the dream World lately? I certainly don't read as much fic as I should, but I have yet to hear of anyone writing about it. Kind of a shame, really. (Prompt for the new contest, anyone?)

Anyhow, I see nothing wrong with using the Dream World ability. I think both your and Agonist's ideas are perfectly fine. (I mean, you don't often see Pressure coming into play in fics much anyway.) Honestly, I don't think this is something you need to worry about in regards to sticking strictly to canon, in part because I don't think many people would care or even notice. XD

And heck, I'll be honest: I had an idea for a fic ages ago where it becomes a minor plot-point/piece of character development where a trainer's Rhydon draws an electric-type attack through its horn and thus receives the nickname Thunderhorn. Mind you, this was before Abilities actually came into existence. When they did, I realized that Thunderhorn was essentially using the Lightningrod ability and the moment lost its potential to be special or shocking in my mind. I figured one solution might just be for the trainer to assume Rhydon had a different ability, or for this Rhydon to have two. I don't see why it couldn't be possible for the odd Pokemon to have more than one, after all.

In short, I say don't worry about it. I am serious about someone doing a Dream World fic, though. Someone? Anyone?

~Psychic

 

[The Great Butler]

In short, I say don't worry about it. I am serious about someone doing a Dream World fic, though. Someone? Anyone?

~Psychic

Well, it depends, really. What part of the Dream World do you mean, just the Hidden Abilities or the entire thing?

What I'm personally planning to do is present the Hidden Abilities in almost all cases as untapped potential within each Pokemon, and show an organization developing a way to unlock that potential.

 

[Agonist]

In short, I say don't worry about it. I am serious about someone doing a Dream World fic, though. Someone? Anyone?

Ysavvryl's ClicheStorm has a Dream World Minccino iirc, but other than that I haven't seen any, although i haven't been reading too much fics lately.

 

[Firebrand]

In my writing, I think I've used a drought ninetales and a speed boost carvanha, but both were just cameos. I think the way it's described is just a rare breed. The ninetales are uncommon, and the protagonist of the story notices that the swarm of carvanha he is fighting off don't all have the customary rough skin ability.