Fossil Pokemon

[OceanicLanturn]

Currently I'm tackling this new fan-fic with my ideas. It'll involve a theme called bond and blah blah blah. That's not the main point however.

I'm extremely curious to know your views on fossil Pokemon. For one, I know Fossil Pokemon are extremely rare. But in the anime episode: Archeops in the Modern World BW036, a swarm of Archeops appeared and the main archeops joined their gang and flew off.

This left me a huge question mark. Is it possible for swarms of fossil Pokemon to appear in my fan fic? My plot is to make the main character getting a wild Archen as his first Pokemon, as well as a herd of Archeops attacking him? Is it possible for a Archeops to appear in another region, say Johto (or Sinnoh in my fic?)

What are your views and thoughts on fossil pokemons? And the above questions?

[The Great Butler]

Let's work in reverse.

What are your views and thoughts on fossil pokemons? And the above questions?

Fossil Pokemon can make a good way to change up the pacing and variety of Pokemon in the story, because they are relatively unique and appear rarely. I would encourage their use, but only if done responsibly. Not everyone can find a fossil and restore it.

Now, for answering the above questions, let's jump back.

I'm extremely curious to know your views on fossil Pokemon. For one, I know Fossil Pokemon are extremely rare. But in the anime episode: Archeops in the Modern World BW036, a swarm of Archeops appeared and the main archeops joined their gang and flew off.

I don't like the resolution of that episode. The wild Archeops flock doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

But you could look at other things in that episode for ideas. The depiction of Fennel's restoration of Archen was probably as close to what goes on in the games as you'll see in the anime, and the idea of Archen not being used to modern food was a very intriguing one, I would say. Try looking at things in that episode besides the ending for ideas.

I don't think you can successfully depict Fossil Pokemon as being common in the wild like that, or at least I don't know it could be done.

This left me a huge question mark. Is it possible for swarms of fossil Pokemon to appear in my fan fic? My plot is to make the main character getting a wild Archen as his first Pokemon, as well as a herd of Archeops attacking him? Is it possible for a Archeops to appear in another region, say Johto (or Sinnoh in my fic?)

Let's break down this one question at a time.

Is it possible for swarms of fossil Pokemon to appear in my fan fic?

What you want to do is up to you. However, again, I don't know how Fossil Pokemon can be successfully depicted in swarms in the wild. Aside from that Archeops episode and scattered anomalies totaling probably less than five to seven episodes, I don't think there is much precedent for wild Fossil Pokemon in such a way. Of course, this is also the case in the games, where in almost all cases, Fossil Pokemon only appear under the ownership of Gym Leaders and other high-ranking trainers; the one big exception would be Greevil's Aerodactyl from XD.

My plot is to make the main character getting a wild Archen as his first Pokemon

I know if I was doing it, I would make the Archen come from a fossil instead of being wild. Aside from the issues I've pointed out that exist with putting Fossil Pokemon in the wild, I don't think I've seen many stories where a main character's first Pokemon came from a fossil. I think that would give you a bit of a unique angle in your story.

as well as a herd of Archeops attacking him? Is it possible for a Archeops to appear in another region, say Johto (or Sinnoh in my fic?)

I've already covered wild Fossil Pokemon, though I will admit that you've got a potential opening: what if the Archeops were artificially resurrected themselves but escaped, for example?

As for your final question, I would say sure, Archeops could appear in those regions. I would suggest you explain how they got there, though. Perhaps they were once there but went extinct and the fossils were only just discovered?

I hope I've been able to help you at least a little.

[OceanicLanturn]

Roark and Bryon himself had Cranidos and Shieldon respectively.

Brock had a fossil Pokemon in his HGSS team.

I'm pretty sure there's more but I got your point.

The point is that the main character needs to bond with the fossil pokemon. And that's the main theme of the fic: Bond, friendship and emotion (that's why I chose Sinnoh too). It seems unique that he gets an Archen at the beginning, even before reaching Orebough.

And here are two possible solutions:

a) PokeTransfer Accident
b) Something that humans can't explain (like the anime)

I dunno. If the Archen has been sticking with other Archeops, I'll have to explain where the Archen actually comes from. Fossils or Eggs. The flock of Archeops could come from two revived Archeops simultaneously breeding and stuff. I'm actually quite unsure of how to handle this.

I'm going to be sure about the wild Archen part though, because I actually need to give the main villain's first appearance in that chapter, and the theme of bond is going to be put to test there.

As a matter of fact, I tackled chapter one. I'm saving the explanation for Chapter Two, where I'll definitely give some quality time to Fennel (and maybeh Juniper)

Anyways, thanks for the input.

[dirkac]

Roark and Bryon himself had Cranidos and Shieldon respectively.

It was implied that both dug them up in the Underground, and revived them in Oreburgh.

Brock had a fossil Pokemon in his HGSS team.

It was revealed in FRLG that he dug them up in Mt. moon.

I'm pretty sure there's more but I got your point.

The point is that the main character needs to bond with the fossil pokemon. And that's the main theme of the fic: Bond, friendship and emotion (that's why I chose Sinnoh too). It seems unique that he gets an Archen at the beginning, even before reaching Orebough.

And here are two possible solutions:

a) PokeTransfer Accident
b) Something that humans can't explain (like the anime)

But there is no such thing in Sinnoh, and too far away, most likely, to fly there.

I dunno. If the Archen has been sticking with other Archeops, I'll have to explain where the Archen actually comes from. Fossils or Eggs. The flock of Archeops could come from two revived Archeops simultaneously breeding and stuff. I'm actually quite unsure of how to handle this.

I'm going to be sure about the wild Archen part though, because I actually need to give the main villain's first appearance in that chapter, and the theme of bond is going to be put to test there.

As a matter of fact, I tackled chapter one. I'm saving the explanation for Chapter Two, where I'll definitely give some quality time to Fennel (and maybeh Juniper)

Anyways, thanks for the input.

Yeah... Comments for first part in bold.

I already told you a little bout this, and you will have to really give a logical explanation, because otherwise your fic won't make much sense in general.

[Dragonfree]

Of course, this is also the case in the games, where in almost all cases, Fossil Pokemon only appear under the ownership of Gym Leaders and other high-ranking trainers;

Not really. True in the early games, yeah, but since the fourth generation there have been regular NPC trainers carrying fossil Pokémon - maybe you'd class Ace Trainers as "high-ranking", I guess, but hardly the random Ruin Maniacs. But I wouldn't think that constitutes evidence for them existing in the wild - there are public places that resurrect fossils and nothing stopping those trainers from having gotten their hands on some.

It's not inconceivable that enough fossils would have been resurrected and released in the past to start a breeding population in the wild; it's a bit overly convenient if you throw in something like that just so your trainer can get a wild Archen, but it's plausible enough. I can't see why he can't bond with a Pokémon he resurrected from a fossil, though.

[Gothitelle K]

I usually treat fossil Pokemon as gifts. Meaning that the characters can't catch them but they can receive them as gifts and in this case, it's usually from their boyfriends, a friend or a construction worker. So yeah, like the games, I do treat them like a rare commodity. That's why I don't have them out in the wild. But this is only my universe.

[elyvorg]

I would think it would be at least somewhat plausible that, perhaps, a small colony of Archeops (or some other fossil species) managed to survive extinction and has been living for all this time in some remote location where few humans ever find them and therefore most people just assume they're extinct. After all, there are such things as "living fossils"; Relicanth, for example, is based off the coelacanth, a real life fish that's changed very little since prehistoric times and is still alive today. Horseshoe crabs, the basis of Kabuto, are also still around in the real world, even though in the Pokémon world Kabuto is apparently extinct. So for it to turn out that, in your Pokémon world, one or two fossil species aren't quite as extinct as you'd expect, it could just about make sense - provided you're careful with it. It's going to be a bit difficult to swallow that everyone believed Archeops to be an extinct species if there's a flock of them living just around the corner from Oreburgh, after all (and that's not even getting into the fact that its prehistoric habitat was in Unova, not Sinnoh).

Alternatively, like Dragonfree said, it might also be feasible that enough fossil Pokémon have been resurrected and released into the wild to start up a new population - perhaps some lab somewhere made a project of trying to repopulate suitable areas with once-extinct species and succeeded. If that's the case, you'll have to think about how well-known this is in your world: is it just a given to everyone that there's wild Archeops flying around now even though they were once extinct? Or is it something only really known to natural history geeks who are interested in the species in question and those who happen to live near the new habitat and got used to it, so that an unsuspecting passer-by would be surprised to see them there? And think about your main character in particular, too - is he one of those natural history geeks who would have found out about the Archeops Repopulation Project because he was interested? Is that maybe why he went there to try and catch himself a wild Archen?

Those are both possible ways of making it plausible that there'd be wild fossil Pokémon in your world; however, consider: does your world absolutely need to have wild fossil Pokémon in order for you to tell the story you want to tell? You say you're planning to have your main character attacked by a flock of wild Archeops - is it vital to the story that they're Archeops, in particular, or could you use some other not-normally-extinct species to fill in that role? As for your main character's Archen, I imagine it probably is important to the story that he starts with an Archen otherwise you wouldn't have chosen it, but why does he have to catch it from the wild? Is there any reason he can't just get it resurrected from a fossil? Fossil resurrection always struck me as potentially a rather neat way for a kid to get their first Pokémon, since it's one of the few ways to get hold of a Pokémon that doesn't require you to have a Pokémon already in order to battle and weaken a wild one. Maybe this kid likes Archen and Archeops enough that he specifically wanted to start with one, so his parents took him to Unova so he could dig up a Plume Fossil and then stopped by Oreburgh on the way back to get it revived. (And also, think about - even if it's important that the fic's set in Sinnoh, does your trainer necessarily have to start in Twinleaf like usual? He could always just start in Oreburgh as soon as he gets his Archen but spend a while training before challenging the Gym.)

I also don't understand the slight implication you seem to be giving that your trainer will only be able to form that story-important bond with his Archen if he caught it in the wild. If anything, your trainer should in theory bond even more easily with his Archen if he resurrected it from a fossil. Think about it: this hypothetical wild Archen is going to have had a whole separate set of experiences, memories, friends, probably its own parents if you view Archeops as taking care of their young, from its life in the wild. When suddenly it gets caught by a human boy and expected to become his friend and go on a journey with him, well, I'd imagine it'd take Archen a little while to get used to him and warm up to the idea. But if your trainer revived Archen from a fossil, then apart from possibly some faceless scientists in a lab (depending on how you interpret the resurrection process), that human kid is going to be literally the first thing Archen sees, the first person to talk to it, feed it, take care of it and generally be there for it. It's not going to know anything else; that boy will be its whole world. That's likely going to lead to Archen forming a deep bond with its trainer very quickly.

In summary: it's great that you want your story to be about fossil Pokémon. More fics should be about fossil Pokémon! But while there are ways to make it plausible that they're living wild, making them just like any normal wild species kind of slightly defeats the point of writing about fossil Pokémon. There's all sorts of interesting facets of fossil Pokémon that can be explored, from the unique way in which a Pokémon born in a lab is likely to bond with its trainer, to the implications of having species of Pokémon that any trainer who wants can obtain one to train but that died out in the wild millions of years ago and shouldn't even really exist in this world any more.

[OceanicLanturn]

Okay Imma spoil Chapter One so it makes it a bit easier to understand.

The fic starts at Route 201, where the protag (calling him Aron) is on his way to Sandgem Town. Then he encounters an injured Archen. He tries to help it, but it screams and Archeops surround him. He is about to get attacked when a man with Magnezone zapped them all and saved the day. Aron however confronts him and tells him that he should've tried reasoning. The man teleports Aron off, and stuff happens.

I'm making it hard for Aron and Archen to bond because Archen (who is apparently a baby I guess) is scarred at his parents, families getting hurt and he refuses to bond with Aron. But he was too small to fly away, and the family of Archeops were somehow prevented from reaching little Archen.

Meh :3

[Psychic]

Okay Imma spoil Chapter One so it makes it a bit easier to understand.

The fic starts at Route 201, where the protag (calling him Aron) is on his way to Sandgem Town. Then he encounters an injured Archen. He tries to help it, but it screams and Archeops surround him. He is about to get attacked when a man with Magnezone zapped them all and saved the day. Aron however confronts him and tells him that he should've tried reasoning. The man teleports Aron off, and stuff happens.

If that's it, then as other posters have said, why does it need to be an Archen? Considering your summary, you can literally replace the flock with any other bird Pokemon, and the story will be exactly the same. Whether the birds are from the present day or prehistoric times doesn't actually affect what happens in the story, how the characters will act or react, or anything else. Test it for yourself: replace the Archen and Archeops in this scenario with Spearow and Fearow, and it doesn't change anything.

That's what people are trying to get at; if you want to use Archen in your story, there should be a specific reason for it, not just "well I wanted to use Archen, so I'm putting in Archen." It's fine if you want to use it, but there should be a logical reason that it needs to be an Archen, and a logical story behind how it happens. If you're making up all this stuff where "by the way, Archen exist in the wild now" just for the sake of convenience, it doesn't make a good impression. You'll have readers asking "instead of conveniently making Archen exist in the wild just so the protagonist can get an Archen, why didn't the writer just do something more simple, like reviving Archen from a fossil or using a modern Pokemon instead?" you're over-complicating things.

I'm making it hard for Aron and Archen to bond because Archen (who is apparently a baby I guess) is scarred at his parents, families getting hurt and he refuses to bond with Aron. But he was too small to fly away, and the family of Archeops were somehow prevented from reaching little Archen.

Meh :3

This is actually a pretty interesting idea, especially because Archen would likely resent and hate Aron because he separated the Archen from its family. The story of Aron trying to gain its trust and befriend it would be quite interesting if you really consider the psychology here.

But again, why does it have to be an Archen? The story would be just as interesting if it was with a Taillow or Natu, and it would make more sense with a Pokemon that actually lives in Sinnoh like a Starly or Chatot.

Essentially, you want to ask yourself "do I want to write a story about a human finding a Pokemon on the road only for its flock to attack him and thus take the Pokemon away, and their bond, or do I want to write a story about a human and a fossil Pokemon, and the unique situation this results in, and their bond?" Really, you'd be best tryiing to write about their one or the other, instead of trying to shoehorn a fossil Pokemon into your scenario.


Incidentally, if you actually want to see a fic where the protagonist has an Archen and it's done well and makes sense, check out Crack'd, or How the Love of Seafood Saved Unova by Cutlerine. it's not a focus of the fic, but it addresses the fact that, for example, a revived fossil Pokemon's health may not be very good because its diet has changed, it's not used to breathing the same oxygen and so on. Great example, really.

~Psychic

[infernape100]

Maybe Juinper has come to visit Rowan to talk about rare poekmon (i.e. fossils) and the group she brought with her has escaped.
Another thing i came up with is dependant on one thing - when is the fic set? I ask this because in Diamond and Pearl it is heard that Rowan was away for 4 years. Maybe he was in Unova an he picked up a bunch of fossil pokemon.
Those are my suggestions, whatever you decide good luck

[OceanicLanturn]

2 years after DP's timeline. I'm not switching the roster or anything, just buffing up a few places.

Anyways, thanks for your advice Psychic and everyone else. I've decided to probably replace the flock of Archeops with something else. But I'll be sure to include a fossil Pokemon near Orebough City (rampaged fossil-leak-) to give that bond feeling and plot convinience to battle Roark :3

EDIT: I'm giving the first Pokemon as Rufflet, attack by a pack of Braviary (PokeTransfer issues and released to the wild, and managed to breed a colony.

Meh thanks guys again

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

If I may, please don't name your character Aron without a very good reason for it. I hope you at least ADDRESS that he's got the name of a pokemon species.

More to the point though, if you want to have a fossil type around, maybe there's some sort of releasing going on. I mean, it's heavily implied that the guy who has the fancy garden over by Hearthome releases rare pokemon into it each day, and you gotta figure that they don't just vanish the next day. Maybe someone like him is putting them up for show and then getting rid of them. Or maybe someone is breeding a whole bunch for natures and releasing anything they don't want. Etc etc.