Inserting Myself Into the Pokémon World

DISCLAIMER 1: This disclaimer is for the moderators specifically. I wasn't sure where to put this since it's kind of fanfic-y, but kind of not at the same time, so I apologize if this isn't in the right category in advance.

DISCLAIMER 2: This whole idea of inserting oneself into the Pokémon world as an OC is definitely not my original idea, and frankly has been around since the days of Red and Green. However, this specific way of doing it, (as in, doing different subjects like Gym Leader, Frontier Brain, League Champion, etc.) was created by Bird Keeper Toby, whose videos along these lines were my inspiration for this.

Hello, folks of PokéCommunity! It's me, your friendly neighbourhood fangame dev and writer. Now, I'm sure this is something that all of of us have thought of at some point, which is "What if I was a ____ in the world of Pokémon?". I certainly have ever since I began playing Platinum all those years ago, and I thought I might share some of my own ideas. If this theme feels similar to you, it's because Bird Keeper Toby has done a pretty good series like this on YouTube that inspired me. And, I thought I'd do this because it's a fun creative writing exercise. So, with enough rambling from me, I present the first part: The Gym Leader!


I decided to do Gym Leader first because I feel like it's the most "generic" out of all of them. Plus, it's really the only one I have ideas for at the moment, and it seems like a good starting topic. I decided to have my Gym Leader to be from Kalos to reflect my French heritage, and because Kalos needs an actually good Gym Leader but also because the type of character I would be fits best with Kalos, at least in my opinion. Anyways, on to the meat of things:

Name: Erick. It wouldn't be a self-insert character without a self-insert name!
Type Specialty: Water. Water's always just been a type that really resonated with me and is probably only behind Dragon and Dark when it comes to my favourite type. Plus, the typing fits with the Pokémon I want as my ace, and the city I want my Gym to be in.
Region/City: I decided to go with Shalour City in Kalos. I always thought that Shalour should've had a Water-type Gym Leader, although Korrina's a good fit to go with the Tower of Mastery in the city. As for position in the Gym Leader order, I'm going with eighth, just because it gives me the most flexibility in teambuilding options. I'd also replace Korrina and have my Gym where hers is. I don't know why I would replace her, but I was maybe thinking something along the lines of her getting attacked by Team Flare trying to steal her Key Stone and being too injured to continue her Gym Leader duties.
Gym Layout: Because I like HMs being incorporated in gyms, to force players to teach it to one of their Pokémon unless they want to use an HM slave and go into the battle with effectively one less Pokémon because it's something that isn't done very often and I think is pretty cool, the gym is basically a Surf water current puzzle, where the currents lead to to multiple platforms, with the platform at the back being my platform.
Gym Music: Burgh's gym theme from BW2, since it has a nice calm serenity about it to go with the general peacefulness of Water-types.
Gym Leader Battle Music: I personally like the X/Y Gym Leader theme, so I'll keep it the same.
Appearance: I based this off of the player character I use in SwSh for an easy point of reference. He has medium-length wavy blue hair, and is wearing an open blue sweater, underneath which is a blue shirt with the white outline of a Blastoise. He also has black jeans and black-and-white sneakers.
Backstory: Erick grew up in a far-off region, where he eventually became an experienced Pokémon Trainer. He decided to journey through Kalos, and was enraptured by the region's natural beauty, deciding to settle down in Shalour City, eventually being appointed Gym Leader. Due to his previous experience, he was given the position of eighth Gym Leader. He is also friends with Gurkinn, who was the one who taught him Mega Evolution.
Plot Role: Erick first appears outside the Tower of Mastery after the player beats Calem/Serena there, noticing that they've obtained Mega Evolution. He mentions that although he would like to battle them, he doesn't think they would stand a chance, but comments that they should seek him out after they become stronger. He later appears with his Greninja and helps the player break into Team Flare's HQ, before mentioning that he has other duties to attend to.

His final appearance is in the Shalour Gym, where he faces the player after revealing his true status as a Gym leader, eventually losing to them and giving them the Deluge Badge and the TM for Scald. If the player visits the Gym after defeating Diantha, they'll find a note where Erick stood mentioning that the battle excited him like he hasn't in ages, and that he's set off once more to roam wherever the four winds take him. He signs off the note mentioning that he hopes he'll meet the player again.
Team: Erick uses four Water-types. I would have given him five, but I wanted to keep him at least partially in line with the other Kalos Gym Leaders. His first Pokémon he sends out is his Protean Greninja, which is my favourite Water-type starter besides the Oshawott line. Greninja will hopefully confound enemy Grass-types by using Toxic Spikes to turn into a Poison-type, and then U-Turn and dip. Greninja also has Water Shuriken for STAB, and Dark Pulse for coverage and Protean shenanigans. Next up is Lanturn, another favourite of mine, who comes equipped with Thunder Wave for paralysis hax, Scald for STAB, and Rain Dance+Thunder for STAB and boosting allied Water-type moves. It also comes equipped with the Volt Absorb ability to make it a viable switch-in option.

Next up is his Barraskewda. I can already hear some of you saying "Caduceus, Barraskewda isn't in XY!". Well, my canon, my rules. Besides, he's traveled a lot, so he's bound to have Galarian mons. Anyways, Barraskewda's strategy is to be sent in after Lanturn to reap the benefits of Swift Swim, and sweep with a varied moveset of Liquidation, Crunch, Psychic Fangs, and Ice Fang. Finally, if all the other Pokémon on his team faint, he sends in the (literal) big guns: Mega Blastoise. It has a moveset of Water Pulse, Dark Pulse, and Aura Sphere to take advantage of Mega Launcher, as well as Protect for extra survivability. If you manage to overcome the team, you win the battle, and receive the awards above.

That's it for me as a Gym Leader! I certainly liked making this, and I hope you enjoyed reading it! I've put up a poll for what I should do next, so make sure to vote there, and let me know what you think of this down below. Thanks for reading!

Hi there! So I moved this thread from Fanfiction & Writing to Writer's Lounge as the former is for prose work while this thread seems to be more like a writing discussion. If the other mods think this fits somewhere else though, go wild.

With that out of the way, a quick question. I know you originally made this for yourself as a self-insert, but would you be fine with other people do the same? I feel that way there will be more discussion and participation going on instead of just you keep posting about you self-inserting yourself in the Pokemon world. Hope that makes sense!

Bay said:

With that out of the way, a quick question. I know you originally made this for yourself as a self-insert, but would you be fine with other people do the same? I feel that way there will be more discussion and participation going on instead of just you keep posting about you self-inserting yourself in the Pokemon world. Hope that makes sense!

Click to expand...

I think it would be better for separate threads, personally. I intend to try to make all this into a cohesive storyline after I post a bit more, and maybe try to build a world around it.