Experience Tumblr like never before
Ok, so for people in the undertale fandom, fanfiction is typically really focused on the skeletons (+ gaster sometimes). I mean, I think the fact that we made so many fandom-wide aus is incredible, but it can feel a bit one note on occasion.
That’s why I highly recommend “Ocean on Fire”, by @theninjamouse on AO3. This fic is an amazing Grillby x reader. The reader is named, technically, but it’s just that she is going by her last name “Shore”. This earned the ship the name Shorby. Without getting into spoilers, the fic is incredibly good, and I’ve enjoyed it since the first chapter.
Now, since I don’t know how much of this may count as spoilers, and because I ramble, I’ll put the rest under a read-more.
So, not too long ago I sent Mouse an ask basically talking about how I was looking at papercraft models for Pokemon and decided Flareon and Vaporeon reminded me too much of Shorby. Aside from the obvious thing of fire elemental and fire pokemon, Shore also has huge water connections. First, she surfs, even working at the surf shop and giving some of the Undertale crew lessons. Also, (spoilers) she is a mage who can manipulate water, likely due to distant aquatic monster heritage. So between the water links, and the fact that the Vaporeon papercraft came with a surfboard, I really like the connection, and began thinking of au possibilities. NinjaMouse approved of a Pokemon au, so I’m here to tell my thoughts.
To start with, the au would probably be Shoregrillster, a.k.a. a ship between Shore, Grillby, and Gaster. (For context, in the fic Grillby and Gaster were together before Gaster disappeared.) I was thinking this because a) I like the dynamic between the three, and b) I needed a reason for Pokemon and OoF to intersect. If anyone could make that happen, it would be the mad scientist. If people think Sans could grab au versions of himself, Gaster could do something similar here.
So, I have a handful of Ideas for how this could go down, split into two categories. Option 1: Shore and/or Grillby temporarily become their respective pokemon. Option 2: Gaster somehow makes/ summons pokemon into our world. Both options have potential for hijinks.
In Option 1: It would probably go down similarly to the side fic “A Scientist, a Bartender, and a Fool”, where Gaster turned Shore into an otter. In the fic, the set up was that Gaster tried to make Shores magic stronger, and accidentally pushed her monster heritage to the surface, making her into a form better suited to that. So in this au, it would likely be something similar. My thought is that Gaster would see something kinda like the Pokemon franchise and try to see if anything from there is recreatable. (Maybe start with some of the moves pokemon could do before trying to apply science to the actual pokemon?) Either way, he ends up turning his partners into eeveelutions, probably because when his machine tried to find magic to use for pokemon recreation, It latched onto the two closest matches to pokemon types.
Of course, the plot for this one would probably go similarly to the side fic, just with the added bonus of Grillby being changed too. Also, some extra fun from Grillby and Shore having new biology. For example, Grillby would now have completely internal flames, so theoretically he could go into water. Shore would just get to enjoy basically being an otter, but bigger and with fins and gills. Also, some fun from trio trying to keep people from finding out why Shore and Grillby aren’t at work.
Now, Option 2: This one has all sorts of fun possibility! This one would probably be the result of Gaster getting interested in either artificially making monsters or meeting alternate universes. Maybe while talking with Sans or Alphys, one of them made a comment that set him off on a tangent. Either way, Gaster probably wasn’t specifically aiming for pokemon, he just miscalculated and accidentally made/ summoned pokemon.
This is where the fun comes in, as the three of them need to work out how to care for these weird little “monsters” without people learning how they got there. It helps that most of the world wouldn’t know that the pokemon aren’t monsters unless they got into an encounter or someone kept records of all monsters.
I really like this idea because it opens the door for Gaster to also get his own pokemon. In option 1, he still needed to be able to reverse the change. But in this one, he can also get his own thematically appropriate pocket monster.
I don’t have any big plot ideas, but I have been thinking of various disconnected scenes that would be fun.
- Shore and Grillby in the kitchen, panicking over how to feed their new pets
- (suggested by Mouse) Vaporeon and Shore surfing together, because yes
- Grillby working at the bar, then realizing Flareon followed him and having to keep his large fire dog out of sight of patrons, with ensuing hijinks
- Gaster getting worn out trying to fix his mistake, with the other two caring for their disaster scientist.
- Having to explain what happened to maybe 2 or 3 other people, either because they need help, or because someone found out on accident.
I did some thinking on what pokemon would best fit Gaster, and I had several ideas that would all be pretty fun. I’m honestly not sure which one I like best.
The simplest idea would be to give Gaster his own eeveelution. I would personally pick Espeon. Mainly because Psychic type seems like a good fit, and Umbreon’s associations with poison and the moon didn’t seem quite right to me. On the other hand, Espeon is considered incredibly loyal, which I liked.
My other ideas each lean more into the whole mysterious and voidy vibe.
Missingno. feels like a stretch, but I like the idea of him getting a pokemon that shouldn’t exist and feels like it would come from the void around the pokemon universe.
Another one is Giratina. I like this because Giratina’s story parallels Gasters most common fanon backstory quite well. Although, between its size and personality, it probably wouldn’t be great for story telling. The pokedex entries mention it being violent a lot.
Finally, an Unown or two would be cool. They remind me of wingdings, and are associated with language (kinda reminded me of fonts). They are weird and cryptic, and it would be funny seeing someone get jumpscared by the large floating letter with an eye. XD
In any case, this post is way too long, so I will continue with any new ideas, art, pictures, or writing in another post before my computer overheats.