Welcome to HOPL Tidbits! Here you'll find such content as:

Red's Notes: Red's comments and remarks on other Legends and their teams. Here you'll find Red's sincere opinions and reasonings onhow he acts around everyone. I gave a small example of this during HOPL chapter 29.

Legendary Teams: My explanation for each Legend's team in HOPL. Each Legend has a different team during the tournaments in HOPL. These teams change, however. Here I'll show the team each Legend had before joining the House and explain how it evolved into the one seen in HOPL. It's really cool to see their original Pokémon in all their sprite glory and how they adapted to better reflect modern battling, like changing some Pokémon for others that can Mega-evolve, changing some moves so that they have Fairy-type coverage, etc.

Writing Tidbits: As a way to add more content, I'll write here some footnote-like info on my writing process on different chapters. This includes how I wrote some character's personality or changed the game lore to make all the Legends different in their own way and have both the male and female protagonists have the same adventure without changing the original game too much. For example, Leaf is an orphan of the Great Pokémon War and was adopted by Red and his mom. Red and Leaf lived their childhood together with Blue in Pallet Town. Gold and Nate are both rash and high-spirited, but Gold is a lot cooler from his experience. Before HOPL (Before meeting Red), he was just as he is now, only more smug and confident. This changed to a cooler attitude once he was faced with the idea that he wasn't the best Pokémon trainer on earth. He's just as competitive as Red, but not as good. He's ranked #2 in the world, above Blue and Leaf, but the fact that Red is better makes him less full of himself. Nate, in comparison, isn't competitive at all. He just wants to have fun, so if he loses, he shrugs it off with a smile and asks to play again.

Without further ado, here's The Legend Files!

P.S: (I just realized) Due to Fanfiction's formatting system, the at sign before the item disappears, so if you're going to use it for Pokémon Showdown, remember to include it before every item.

Chapter 1: Pilot/FireRed

Red's Notes: Me. Might as well start there. It's a well known fact that I'm the best Pokémon trainer in the world. Why's that? Simple. I'm just faster. One of the differences between regular trainers and Legends is that we possess the ability to calculate certain battle parameters like speed, attack, defense, hp, type advantages, abilities and move mechanics like Quick Attack and Knock Off. We can all identify what to do at what times, we just have different ways of getting there. Legends like Ruby and Diamond like to attack straight away with a strong move, but others like Gold and me might want to set up for something stronger later on. Their tactic removes the chances of getting defeated before the buffing pays off, but our tactic can end entire teams with a single Pokémon and enough boosters. Sometimes it's better to attack and others it's better to boost. What defines a victory is figuring out when the right time is for what move. I just do that faster. Anyone can figure it out eventually, but I'm just faster. The other reason I'm the best is I have a team that is balanced, ready for anything and strong. With the HOPL rules I'm limited to my Kanto Pokémon, but even then I've got the best possible team that reflects my interests. My team has an answer for everything and every Pokémon in it has the stats to do its job correctly. This is the evident fall of Calem, who tried dividing his stats so that they're balanced instead of strong in a specific stat. You can't win with a team of Jack-of-all-trades, master of none. Each one of my Pokémon is a master of its own expertise, but can't do anything else. This is what having six Pokémon is for. I swear the creators of competitive battling thought of everything. This is essentially what makes victory: A team with the right tools and a trainer with the knowledge of which tool to use at what moment that does it quicker than the opponent. I made my team as strong as possible and I can identify the right move at the right time faster than the opponent can. Apart from that, it's just years of experience.

Legendary Teams: Red's Team!

Red's Modern Team:

(anythinggoes)

Blasty (Blastoise) (M) Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpA
Mild Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Flash Cannon
- Iron Defense
- Dragon Tail

Saur (Venusaur) (F) Leftovers
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
- Giga Drain
- Leech Seed
- Sludge Bomb
- Venoshock

Zard (Charizard) (M)
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Acrobatics
- Thunder Punch
- Fire Blast
- Shadow Claw

Pika (Raichu) (M) Air Balloon
Ability: Static
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Surf
- Thunderbolt
- Quick Attack
- Thunder Wave

Snor (Snorlax) (F) Leftovers
Ability: Immunity
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpA
Lonely Nature
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Stockpile
- Giga Impact

Mewtwo-Mega-Y Mewtwonite Y
Ability: Insomnia
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Ice Beam
- Calm Mind
- Psystrike
- Aura Sphere

Red's Original Team:

(gen2ubers)

Blasty (Blastoise) (M) King's Rock
Bashful Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Reflect
- Earthquake

Saur (Venusaur) (F) Leftovers
Bashful Nature
- Giga Drain
- Leech Seed
- Sleep Powder
- Toxic

Zard (Charizard) (M) Charcoal
Bashful Nature
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Double-Edge

Pika (Raichu) (M) BrightPowder
Bashful Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Surf
- Quick Attack
- Thunder Wave

Snor (Snorlax) (F) Leftovers
Shiny: Yes
Bashful Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Double-Edge
- Earthquake
- Body Slam

Mewtwo TwistedSpoon
Bashful Nature
- Psychic
- Ice Beam
- Hyper Beam
- Thunderbolt

Red's Team is one of my favorites, if not my most favorite. First of all, I love his Snorlax because it's huge, fluffy, and hella strong. I have beaten people with only him. They make the mistake of challenging his defense and in turn, give me the chance to get my stockpiles in. Then, not much can stop him from using Earthquake, and Rock Slide to take you down. When the type disadvantage is not helping or there's no move that's super effective, Giga Impact decimates most Pokémon anyways as a last resort. It's huge bulk lets him survive through its recharge period. On the other side of the spectrum is Mega Mewtwo Y, who's Special Attack is the highest of all Pokémon. He has great type coverage with Ice Beam and Aura Sphere (who live on MMY's ridiculous SpA) and Psyshock. You can even risk using Calm Mind when you think the opponent is going to switch or is buffing himself up. Mega Mewtwo Y is also pretty fast, which lets you cover his evidently lacking defense and hp. Again, Calm Mind can help you with this. Red's Venusaur is used to reflect a more defensive approach by giving her the Leftovers, Leech Seed and Giga Drain. Actually, Red copied this Venusaur from Leaf's, who thrived on that laid-back defensive playstyle. In addition, Sludge Bomb gives a good cover for Fairy-types while also doing a good deal of damage on its own. If you RNGesus blesses you and the opponent gets poisoned by it, you can then decimate them with Venoshock. Red's Charizard is the complete opposite of this: He's supposed to get in quickly and do a ton of damage, albeit doing it riskily. Acrobatics is Charizard's best flying-type move at 110 power and 100% accuracy, which is why he has no item. He then has Fire Blast as the obligatory fire-type destroyer and Thunder/Shadow Punch as type coverage. Red's Blastoise was modeled after Blue's Blastoise. He uses Iron Defense to make it even more of a tank than it already is and has Hydro Pump+Flash Cannon as the big damage-dealers as well as another Fairy-type cover. Dragon Tail is used when either against a dragon-type or when it's better to be against Pokémon that is weaker to Blastoise. Finally, Red's Raichu has its obligatory Surf and Thunderbolt but also has Quick Attack for a sure hit and Thunder Wave to make the enemy vulnerable. The good thing about Raichu (apart from its coolness and its electric prowess) is its speed. Raichu is fast enough to outspeed most other Pokémon, which lets him paralyze the opponent without much trouble.

Changes: Blastoise changed Reflect for Iron Defense for a more personal boost. He then switched Earthquake and Ice Beam for Flash Cannon and Dragon Tail for another Fairy counter and a tool for when Blastoise gets switched on, which happens often. Charizard switched Double-Edge for Acrobatics so he has a flying-type cover and a move that doesn't harm him in the process. He then switched Earthquake and Rock Slide for Shadow Claw and Thunder Punch because those covered the types Charizard most often encountered. Red initially copied Leaf's Venusaur, but later changed the moves to better reflect his more offensive approach. Raichu only ever switched his Bright Powder for and Air Balloon when it first appeared for a ground-type cover it desperately needed. This way, they can't one-shot him with Earthquake and he temporarily has no weaknesses. Snorlax changed his moveset when Shadow Ball became a Special Attack move and the rest of his moves changed when better alternatives appeared. Giga Impact replaced Double-Edge because it does more damage but the damage depends on the opponent (who might try to challenge Snorlax's defense) and Rock Slide replaced Body Slam for more type-coverage. Mewtwo's Psychic changed for Psyshock, which is objectively better in every way. Then it forgot Thunder Bolt in favor of Aura Sphere, which used Mega Mewtwo Y's Special Attack stat and covered for that type. Then, Hyper Beam became Calm Mind for a further boost because Hyper Beam put Mewtwo at risk (low def+low hp). Out of all his Pokémon, Red's Mewtwo benefitted the most out of Mega-Evolution because of the ridiculous SpA.

Nicknames: Red's Venusaur was named after Leaf's Venusaur (In real life, it was named after the one Red has in the Adventures manga). Red nicknamed his starter, Charizard, by shortening it, just like all his other nicknames (I made this one up, but it fits. I just wanted Charizard to be Red's starter and Blue is the only one that didn't name his starter). Red's Snor was nicknamed in the same fashion (Snor was the Snorlax Red caught on Route 12). Pika's nickname stayed the same even when it evolved into Riachu. Probably because it's the Pokémon closest to him and when he sees his original Pikachu, he's reminded of the little kid he once was. The nickname Pika reminds him that it's the same Pikachu he had when he was a little boy (Again, the name comes from the Adventures manga. It still makes sense though). Because Red's Blastoise was bred and modeled after Blue's Blastoise, he kept the same nickname (Leaf/Green's Blastoise in the manga). Mewtwo is the only one without a nickname, Mewtwo never shared any special bond with Red apart from the desire to win. Actually, Red and his Mewtwo share a lot in common, but don't like each other that much. They see each other as equals and respect each other, but they're never friends.

Writing Tidbits: Let's get this out of the way: The Red you see muttering around HOPL is not the real Red. It is a facade. It's a mask he uses to make himself untouchable. When he first started his Pokémon journey, he was exactly like the one in the Adventures manga: cheerful, adventurous and impulsive. However, he was also extremely competitive. This started with Blue, who made it his mission to be always be his rival. Red would always go out of his way to be the very best, like no one ever was. He still wanted to have fun with his cute Pokémon friends, though, and this didn't always agree with his competitive nature. The moment it all changed though was around the middle of his journey. The first impact was meeting Blue at Pokémon Tower in Lavender Town. The fact that Pokémon could actually die shattered his innocent young mind. Suddenly every battle was a lot more real. Red had never had consequences this hard. He began to struggle in battles. His optimism, his high spirit, the fire that burned in him during battle. It was all gone. Leaf wasn't even there to console him, as she was in Celadon City at the time. They were supposed to meet in Saffron, but Red just went straight to Vermilion City on his own. This was the final nail in the coffin. He challenged Lt. Surge and lost. Lt. Surge laughed in his face and said something about his father, who he had met during the war. This. This is the exact moment he snapped. The kid was on the verge of tears before Lt. Surge said those words. Afterwards, he looked up at him with his cold red eyes that now burned in anger. He did not say a word, only adjusted his cap and walked out of the gym. He released all of his Pokémon except for Zard and Pika and built a better team. Before the sunset, Red came back to Lt. Surge's gym and challenged him once again. This time he did so without saying a word. He simply walked in and released his Raichu in front of him. The rest was history. He now keeps this cold exterior to protect his real self. Removing this might make him more predictable in a battle, which is why he doesn't even talk during battles. Any movement might convey an emotion, which might convey an intent, which might lead to his next move. The only times he ever lets himself go is with Blue, Leaf and to a lesser extent, Gold and Krystal. Also his mom. So never call him cold or emotionless, that just means he's ready to fight you.

WOOO! I did not expect to have this much fun writing this! I mean, it took more time and effort than I thought it would, but WOW! I love this now! This is happening! The Legend Files is a thing!