scrape_r_rational/data/cache2/1bhrf53.md

## [D] Monday Request and Recommendation Thread

* Author: u/AutoModerator *
* URL: https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/comments/1bhrf53/d_monday_request_and_recommendation_thread/
* Score: 25

* Created: 2024-03-18T14:00:17

### Post:

Welcome to the Monday request and recommendation thread. Are you looking something to scratch an itch? Post a comment stating your request! Did you just read something that really hit the spot, "rational" or otherwise? Post a comment recommending it! Note that you are welcome (and encouraged) to post recommendations directly to the subreddit, so long as you think they more or less fit the criteria on the sidebar or your understanding of this community, but this thread is much more loose about whether or not things "belong". Still, if you're looking for beginner recommendations, perhaps [take a look at the wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/wiki)?

If you see someone making a top level post asking for recommendation, kindly direct them to the existence of these threads.

[Previous automated recommendation threads](https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/search?q=%22Monday+Request+and+Recommendation+Thread%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all)  
[Other recommendation threads](http://pastebin.com/SbME9sXy)

### Comments:

> **u/XxChronOblivionxX** [+18]  (23 minutes later)
> 
> I've recently been on another pokemon kick after going back to finish Type Specialist. Found some more good stuff, but I'm rapidly running out of it, so I thought I'd drop my recommendations and ask for more suggestions. Not interested in Mystery Dungeon or Ash as a protagonist.
> 
> **[Hard Enough](https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/hard-enough-pokemon-si.1008721/)** - SI Pre-Canon Brock. Often cited as the inspiration for the recent surge of fics involving type specialties that start after the protagonist has already formed his Elite team, this opens a few years after Brock aborted his personal Journey to run the Pewter gym. He is succeeding wildly in this endeavor, massively expanding the Gym and a deep pool of Pokemon at all levels of power. When he is randomly selected for an exhibition match against Champion Lance, who unwisely talks shit about "the weakest gym", Brock shows the continent exactly what he's made of. This fic is paced very slow, it cares immensely about the day-by-day process of running a good Gym, and doesn't wanna just skip to the exciting parts. This produces a unique effect that is probably going to bore some people, but everything about the story is very solid and the update rate is fantastic.
> 
> **[The Friendly Necromancer](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28971960/chapters/71097216)** - Original Region, Journey Fic with a Twist. One cold and lonely night, a mistreated boy hiding from his abusive parents swears a promise with a local Shuppet he names Diya that they would leave together someday and go on a Journey across the Gym Circuit, but freezes to death shortly after. Diya evolves to Banette in their desperation to hold onto some shred of the boy, entering his body and restarting his vital functions, but it is too late for his soul. There is only one road forward, live through his body and fulfill his greatest dream of being a Pokemon trainer by themself, if a bit of a nonstandard one. This fic is an absolute masterclass of worldbuilding, easily my favorite depiction of a pokemon setting, filled with the little details that sell you on a living coherent world. Literally the only demerit is that it isn't very far in yet and is currently attempting to return from a hiatus, but what is here is still worth it. 
> 
> **[The Most Evil Trainer](https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/the-most-evil-trainer-pok%C3%A9mon-si.1054896/)** -  SI Isekai. Max from Nowhere enters the Kalos conference for the third and likely final time, desperately seeking the victory he needs to be recognized as an Elite and be granted permission to seek a Legendary and ask to be returned to Earth. Near-universally disdained for his "dirty" tactics, he faces opposition from all corners, but those things are just another obstacle to be overcome, victory is all that matters. This fic has amazing fights, showcasing Max's style of misdirection and trickery, and is the very rare isekai that understands the weight of knowing that all of your loved ones believe you to be dead, where his core motivation is to find a way home instead of living out your wish fulfillment. 
> 
> **[The Type Specialist](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/55114/the-type-specialist)** - SI Isekai, Fairy Specialist, Multi-Region Journey Fic. Alex the Isekai Protagonist decides to go on a Journey and become a Fairy Specialist instead of trying to generalize. Burdened with advance knowledge of what is to come, but unsure who to trust, Alex tries to just avoid the plot the best they can while the actual protagonists solve it. There's no special sauce here, nothing about the premise or structure of this one is especially noteworthy, even the title is generic, and yet it's one of the better pokefics around purely on the strength of its fundamentals. Alex is a solid protagonist, every party member is distinctive enough that I remembered basically all of their personal histories bizarrely well after a multi-month gap, and the progression is satisfying. 
> 
> **[Ungilded](https://archiveofourown.org/works/46835338/chapters/117971470)** - SI Isekai Dark Specialist. Cam is isekai'd into a very sticky situation, a small village being swarmed by Ghost types, forcing him to team up with a local Poochyena to alert the nearby Rangers station kilometers away. Armed with bond they formed, and facing the significant social stigma around Dark Specialists, he starts a trek to meet with the regions Professor, and hey, he might as well try out the Gym circuit along the way. This one's also got very strong fundamentals in characterization and worldbuilding, and the one Gym Battle so far has proven it can do interesting fights. Sadly it is not very far along in it's story. 
> 
> **[Spitfire](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4539228/chapters/10331181)** - OC Postgame Hoenn Journey Fic. Hayley Summers is not particularly special, she doesn't have much money, she couldn't pass the exams for getting a Birch starter, just one of several kids from her middle school starting their Pokemon journey during summer break. Blindly trading for literally any fire type online, she gets a punk disobedient Magby that already hates her guts and refuses to listen to a word she says. This is on top of getting paired with a whiny shut-in teenager as a traveling partner, who also hates her and doesn't even want to be a Trainer in the first place. The most notable feature here is that this fic really really sells the premise of a disobedient starter, there is no eternal bond forged in a crisis, this does not just go away a few chapters in. Team Philosophy is actually a big character spoiler, but for daredevils it is >!Stubbornness, it becomes Hayley's defining character trait and battle style. For her team itself, each member so far is uniquely difficult to work with, and becoming a good trainer for them forces her to develop her patience and empathy.!<
> 
> **[My life as a youngster with a top percentage Rattata was much more successful than I expected?](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/73034/my-life-as-a-youngster-with-a-top-percentage-rattata)** - SI Reincarnation into Youngster Joey. After 10 years of prep, Joey is granted a limited Youngster license and begins his long-planned road to become the youngest conference winner in world history, spearheaded by his starter Rattata. Team Philosophy is that the species doesn't matter, Joey just needs to find the one-in-a-thousand pokemon who are as monomaniacal about self-improvement as he is, and he's gonna find that Pidgey long before he finds that Growlithe. This fic pays deep respect to the time spent on the bottom of the power ladder, spending long weeks refining the fundamentals, leveraging what scraps available to you to overcome your disadvantages and win.

>> **u/No_Dragonfruit_1833** [+10]  (2 hours later)
>> 
>> That ratata fic looks like a great idea, gonna check it
>> 
>> Edit: Joey's full name is >!Jonathan Joestar!<
>> I cant even, this was the right choice

>>> **u/XxChronOblivionxX** [+6]  (4 hours later)
>>> 
>>> Listen it isn't every day you have the opportunity to choose your own name, so you better take advantage of it.

>>>> **u/No_Dragonfruit_1833** [+8]  (4 hours later)
>>>> 
>>>> I understand, XxChronOblivionxX
>>>> 
>>>> Fun fact: i did not chose this username, i made a splinter google account and this reddit account was already connected, somehow, with two years of activity but no posts or comments

>> **u/TheJungleDragon** [+5]  (2 hours later)
>> 
>> Self-rec here: [Diplomatic Overture.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/44099640/chapters/110885952) 22.3k words, complete. Basic synopsis is that Scallion, an OC Galarian ambassador, attempts to play politics in the midst of a world that seems determined to change and throw complex schemes every which way. It's more of a little bit compared to the longfics you've recommended, but I'm still quite happy with how it turned out :)

>> **u/ProfessorPhi** [+7]  (20 hours later)
>> 
>> I feel like The Game of Champions ruined pokefics for me. Never quite enjoyed another one afterwards.

>> **u/lucidobservor** [+4]  (9 hours later)
>> 
>> I enjoyed [March Hare](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/64926/march-hare-a-pokemon-fanfiction) quite a bit. A young Buneary gets a non-specific human's memories, goes from there. Abandoned, but it stops at what seems like the end of a big arc, so it worked for me.

>>> **u/XxChronOblivionxX** [+1]  (2 days later)
>>> 
>>> Great stuff.

>> **u/MLfan64** [+4]  (4 hours later)
>> 
>> Thanks for the suggestions! I've been getting into Pokefics lately myself, so I'll definitely be trying out some of the ones on this list. Not sure what you've read already, but if you haven't checked it out already, [I Will Touch the Skies](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/61228/i-will-touch-the-skies-a-pokemon-fanfiction) is excellent. The first 30 chapters can be a bit rough, but the author really improves over time. If you dropped it, I'd recommend giving it a second chance! The worldbuilding is super cool, tinted with the a pervasive eldrich darkness. Higher level pokemon can level mountains, where humans are basically are they are in the real world, meaning any battle against wild pokemon can create injuries that last months, if not longer. 15-year-old children enter woods filled with monsters, and many don't return. Still, while dark, the world isn't hopeless. There are good people and pokemon who want to make the world better. 
>> 
>> Worldbuilding aside, the characters are also great. The most prominent 5 or so really shine in their own ways, and the pokemon all have their own personalities and struggles beyond that. And on those pokemon, the fight choreography from chapter 50 onwards is just incredible, between the strategic gym battles and brutal, chaotic fights to the death. The climaxes of the story just have a way of leaving you on the edge of your seat. Whenever there's a group of named chapters in a row, you're in for a treat. The MC's team doesn't have the strongest theme tying them together, but they're essentially all children the MC adopts.
>> 
>> &#x200B;
>> 
>> There's also [Bourne of Caution](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/36950/borne-of-caution) and [Bourne of Desire](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/46050/borne-of-desire), though they're pretty popular picks. I assume you've already read them if you're asking for suggestions. If not, I can give pitches for them.

>> **u/Darkpiplumon** [+4]  (5 hours later)
>> 
>> You may already know about it, but I do recommend [Hyphen](https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/hyphen-pokemon-emerald.9539/).
>> MC is an OC Ralts, that becomes a Pokemon trainer (Or a Pokemon-Trainer [get it?]) in order to become Champion and help it's people.
>> 
>> Much focus is granted to social and the relationship between trainer and pokemon. Slow updates though.

>> **u/Turniper** [+3]  (8 hours later)
>> 
>> Is Hard Enough moving towards anything? I think I'm like 60 chapters behind now, I don't mind slice of life if we're heading in a direction, but I've felt like it's been kinda listless since the first couple big events (Lance match/dad stuff/etc).

>>> **u/XxChronOblivionxX** [+5]  (8 hours later)
>>> 
>>> There certainly have been major events and subplots that become Brock's primary focus for awhile (>!the rather suspicious Will makes a campaign through the Gym Leaders for an Elite 4 bid, Mega Evolution is cracked in Kanto, the war against Team Rocket picks up when Mewtwo starts getting involved!<), after which we have clearly moved onto a new act that foreshadows the upcoming plots, but yeah there isn't like a defined endpoint being moved towards.

>> **u/mns2** [+2]  (a day later)
>> 
>> My friend and I really liked [The Sun Soul](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5367085/1/The-Sun-Soul) (complete) and [Game of Champions](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13407176/1/The-Game-of-Champions) (abandoned). It's been a decade since I read them, but I remember really enjoying them. They're fairly edgy, but IIRC well written. I'd also check out Pokemon Adventures (the manga) if you haven't.

>>> **u/jaghataikhan** [+1]  *Primarch of the White Scars* (4 days later)
>>> 
>>> wipe reply lock vase future degree existence dinosaurs north aspiring
>>> 
>>>  *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*

>> **u/Dufaer** [+3]  (10 hours later)
>> 
>> I skimmed the start of the quest [The Polite Lie We Call an Empire](https://forum.questionablequesting.com/threads/the-polite-lie-we-call-an-empire-pok%C3%A9mon.13463/) on Questionable Questing a while ago and it seemed really good. Unfortunately, as I am not interested in any of the Pokémon catching/training/fighting stuff, and this is quite the slow-burn, I lost interest somewhere along the way. On the plus side, this is a gritty "Pokémon Dark Ages" quest in a setting original to it with lots of politicking, unique cultures and good characterization. It's over three years old, over a million worlds long and still regularly updating.
>> 
>> [Pokémon Mercury ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/44996500/chapters/113218813) by Thundamoo covers her usual themes (cute girls doing traumatizing stuff, loss of humanity and dealing with it, societies normalizing atrocities). This time, the protagonist is a human who got turned into a Pokémon, making her mentally a non-person as a side effect. It's pretty good, as Thundamoo usually is, but don't expect many updates.

>>> **u/ReproachfulWombat** [+6]  (a day later)
>>> 
>>> The Polite Lie We Call an Empire is alright. The writing is good quality, and the worldbuilding is interesting, but the writer has an annoying habit of using characters as authorial mouthpieces to dunk on his readers whenever they make a 'stupid' vote. It's very jarring when you're just trying to read the story.

>>>> **u/Darkpiplumon** [+8]  (a day later)
>>>> 
>>>> Ah, yes. The Marked for Death effect.

>>>> **u/Tell31** [+1]  *A Practical Guide to Evil* (a day later)
>>>> 
>>>> I just checked, it’s crazy long over 1mil word count

>> **u/Tibn** [+1]  (6 hours later)
>> 
>> Does the skullduggery from the mc of the most evil trainer ever get substantially better than the simple tactics in the first chapter of using mirror coat and counter on a wobuffet which somehow understands how to aim an explosion to propel it at a specific target, and using an electrode’s high speed stat to explode before his opponent can do anything all while banking on his opponent not bringing any hard-counters to his most famous pokemon?

>>> **u/Turniper** [+3]  (8 hours later)
>>> 
>>> There are some fun tricks but most of them are pretty silly by physical realism standards. I'd recommend reading it up through the tournament arc but I didn't find it compelling after that.

> **u/Dr_Horace_Dusselhut** [+7]  (7 hours later)
> 
> A couple of weeks ago, some rational Mass Effect fanfiction was recommended, two of which I have now read and liked (Psi Effect and Die for the cause; the latter more than the former which felt really more like HFY), so I wanted to ask for more such recommendations, preferably without any Halo crossover.

>> **u/GlueBoy** [+5]  *anti-skub* (a day later)
>> 
>> I like [Transcendent Humanity](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9271192/1/Transcendent-Humanity) a lot, and [Mass Effect/Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri](https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/mass-effect-sid-meiers-alpha-centauri.221597/) veers a bit into crack territory but is still pretty interesting.

> **u/Do_Not_Go_In_There** [+10]  (3 hours later)
> 
> [*Sublight Drive*](https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/sublight-drive-star-wars.1095425/) (Star Wars SI-OC) is shaping up to be interesting. >!Palp's made his move to screw over the peace faction, so the MC is going back to war.!<
> 
> [*Enduring the Storm*](https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/enduring-the-storm-asoiaf-stannis-si.1133392/) (ASoIaF Stannis!SI) is an interesting fic that recently started. The MC is an SI, but they've no knowledge of ASOIAF. The story starts with the MC under siege in Storm's End, and they have no idea that Davos will eventually slip past the blockade with his onions. Also, Rhaelle, Stannis' Targ's grandma is still alive, which is going to change some things.

>> **u/Dragongeek** [+19]  *Path to Victory* (4 hours later)
>> 
>> I tried *Sunlight Drive* but there's just a lot of elements that I don't like about it. 
>> 
>> The most concrete among them is the strong focus on orbital mechanics. Like, I've played *many* hours of KSP so I get all the terminology and detail that's being put on the table, but it just doesn't make any sense in the context of *Star Wars* at all.
>> 
>> This is because **the *Star Wars* universe fundamentally does not have orbital mechanics** to speak of in the first place. There is no apogee, no Hohmann Transfer, no slingshot, and even "orbit" only means "a place that doesn't fall out of space". Hell, *Star Wars* doesn't even really have microgravity. 
>> 
>> This makes the space battle action in *Sunlight Drive* suffer a huge disconnect for me. Like, the author clearly put a lot of work into them because it's a primary focus, but it just doesn't match with the setting at all and it reads like classic "[they fight]" which is boring.

>>> **u/Flashbunny** [+7]  (6 hours later)
>>> 
>>> I would have thought that adding gravity as a consideration would lead to more interesting fights than not including it, and would expect space battles that didn't include it to be much more in the vein of "[they fight]" than otherwise?
>>> 
>>> I don't think the old 80s films not taking into account gravity when doing their special effects should be taken as proof that gravity isn't a thing in Star Wars. That would be some [Bigger Luke](http://biggerluke.wikidot.com/bigger-luke) levels of media interpretation.

>>>> **u/Dragongeek** [+22]  *Path to Victory* (9 hours later)
>>>> 
>>>> The core "problem" is that the *Star Wars* setting just starts to instantly crumble if you approach it with a scientific, engineering, or physics lens. This makes sense too, because *Star Wars* isn't science fiction, it's fantasy through-and-through with a sci-fi set dressing.
>>>> 
>>>> Specifically about the ships and space in the setting, GL didn't design it to be "realistic", he wanted his setpieces to replicate WWII naval combat. That's it, and he explicitly states so. 
>>>> 
>>>> Trying to shoehorn in realistic space combat into *Star Wars* is like taking a spy thriller but instead of just jump-cutting to London or Berlin of Tokyo or whatever, the movie shows in-depth detail of the exact mundane steps that it takes the spy to physically get to this location every time they go somewhere. 
>>>> 
>>>> This just doesn't make sense in the context of the genre: when we are watching a spy thriller, we just assume that our international badass has the ability to just appear basically anywhere on Earth. That's just a feature of the genre, and there's a collective agreement between creator and audience that we can just skip showing the "realistic" logistical challenges that would actually be associated with this.

>>>>> **u/chiruochiba** [+15]  (10 hours later)
>>>>> 
>>>>> I deeply enjoy Sublight Drive and frantically devour every update as soon as it is posted, but even I recognize that introducing real physics, logic, and reason into the tactics of Star Wars is like introducing oil to water.
>>>>> 
>>>>> This is because if real physics, logic, and reason existed in the Star Wars universe then it would make zero sense for the SI to, after more than *20 millennia* of militaristic technological development in the galaxy, surprise his opponents with basic 3-D maneuver strategies such as tempting the enemy into an obvious envelopment, hiding below the orbital plain, or implementing scattershot railguns.
>>>>> 
>>>>> It's a problem of the tech and strategies of canon Star Wars being unrealistically stagnated such that the SI gets a boost merely by not having the same unbelievable handicap. I suspend my disbelief because I enjoy seeing the Star Wars characters put up against someone who uses their actual brain to win, but I do acknowledge it's a failing of the "If you give Frodo a lightsaber then Sauron should get a Deathstar" variety, i.e. the rest of the worldbuilding would need to be altered into a heavy AU in order for the SI's successes to believably fit in the setting.

>>>>> **u/serge_cell** [+0]  (19 hours later)
>>>>> 
>>>>> Any FTL drive instantly kill causality (quantum tunneling between similar universes can bypass causality but introduce whole host  of other existential problems), to say nothing of star scale energy output. So this problem is not endemic to SW settings.

>>>>>> **u/Dragongeek** [+9]  *Path to Victory* (20 hours later)
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Oh, I don't think wonky physics of SW and similar settings is a "problem": if you want a story with FTL drives and whatnot, that's completely fine. 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> My issue comes with mixing genres poorly. If you want to have space-magic propulsion systems that allow you to do your specific brand of space opera storytelling, go ahead, but then don't try to kludge "realistic" physics back onto it.

>>>>>>> **u/serge_cell** [+1]  (a day later)
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> I remember reading fic about contact of W40k and some mostly-realistic physics (with exception of FTL of cause)  Earth space-faring civilization from other dimension. "Realistic" were dumbfounded then W40k spaceship was flying like if the space was liquid, and after armed confrontation they barely escaped *broadside* while their weapon something like x-ray lasers and relativistic missiles designed to fight on light minutes or bigger distances. After peace was restored they were of cause horrified by W40k Empire politics and social structure,

>>>>>>>> **u/jaghataikhan** [+1]  *Primarch of the White Scars* (2 days later)
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> crawl absurd reminiscent spoon impolite different pathetic plucky reach shocking
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>  *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*

>>>>>>>>> **u/serge_cell** [+1]  (2 days later)
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> Unfortunately can not recall the name. Bit it was in Russian anyway. Don't remember even from which settings "realistic" were, or if it was original, human civilization was Culture-like with sentient AIs. IIRC Ship AI was feeling grumpy and offended about needing to hide from w40k people.

>>>> **u/ansible** [+7]  *The Culture* (7 hours later)
>>>> 
>>>> It is not so much that gravity doesn't exist in the SW universe, it is just that it doesn't matter with regards to space flight.  [I did a little math about this](https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/comments/1796n7c/comment/k54p42o/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) one of the previous times we discussed Sublight Drive on /r/rational.

> **u/Tell31** [+5]  *A Practical Guide to Evil* (8 hours later)
> 
> What stories would yall recommend with a romance plot?

>> **u/MagicWeasel** [+7]  *Cheela Astronaut* (14 hours later)
>> 
>> Another self-rec: gay vampire romance novel set in the 1940s, "Vampire Flower Language". For a year now I've been meaning to finish an epilogue novella but have been lazy about it. 
>> 
>> Rational/ist themes include immortality, communication, dealing with differences in relationships, well-thought-out vampire powers/magic items that can't be plausibly munchkined, people having their own coherent motivations, and a character who some have considered to be analogous to a misaligned AI. 
>> 
>> https://archiveofourown.org/works/13710744/chapters/31496223

>> **u/CaramilkThief** [+9]  (3 days later)
>> 
>> Here's a few I liked:
>> 
>> * [Slumrat Rising](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/65801/slumrat-rising) has a really sweet romance plot later into the story. This story has been recced before for other qualities, but I think the romance in it also quite good. The love interest continues to influence how the protagonist behaves even after they get together, and it all feels suitably epic but also authentic. 
>> 
>> * [Somebody that I used Tahno](https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/somebody-that-i-used-tahno-a-lok-si-complete.670771/) is a Legend of Korra SI fic, where the SI is into Tahno. The protagonist is never overpowered, and I really liked that he improves as a person throughout the story. The relationship in it also felt nice and organic. 
>> 
>> * [A Chance Encounter](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10171267/1/A-Chance-Encounter) is a Hiccup/Elsa fanfic with not much drama. Problems get solved through communication and both sides feel pretty mature.

>>> **u/Zeitfor** [+2]  (5 days later)
>>> 
>>> \+1 for Somebody that I used Tahno. It starts out a bit rough because of the main character's personality, but it's very intentional and written well with regards to that.

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