Wild Pokémon in the Big City

Wild Pokémon in the Big City is a post-based roleplay game that ran in Tvtropes forums for a duration of 11 months from Feb 2011 to Jan 2012. The game follows a group of wild Pokémon living in the big city, trying to make ends meet and taking part in various adventures, eventually leading to a plot where a group of Dragon-type Pokémon want to take control of the city. The story stars among others Jet the Buizel and Kori the Sneasel, and Eltenios who joins the cast early on (ca. March 2011).

The roleplay has its own wiki page here.

In page 14, Jet and his group are forced to enter a tournament in the city so that they can gain information from a Porygon-Z. Jet enters with Flint, Sparks and Croc, and is the third one to eventually hit the arena. During Croc's fight in page 15, Eltenios can be seen wandering amidst the audience as he's looking to deliver a package for Flint the Tepig. His many attempts to deliver are interrupted because Flint is called in to fight or later because Flint has to fight the Tongue of Arceus later in page 26.

In the meanwhile, Eltenios talks to a Growlithe ally of Flint and reveals, among other things, that the parcel is an adorned golden plate armour for Pignite, hinted to have belonged to Flint's dad. Inspired by this, Flint asks Jet for help locating his parents, who were caught by Trainers.

When Flint is KO'd by the Tongue of Arceus Eltenios finally has a chance to deliver the package; the battles cool down a bit, and in page 36 Eltenios reveals to Flint that he got the armour from a client in rival Thorn Gang territory. He stays around so he can collect payment.

By page 40, Jet, Flint and a number allies head over to rival Claw Gang territory in order to rescue Kori. Eltenios however has gone his own way.

In page 45 and while looking for more contracts, Eltenios tries to re-enter Thorn Gang territory. To his surprise he is intercepted by a Scyther who announces a "change in leadership". Recalling his earlier errand, Eltenios attempts to talk his way into figuring the identity of the new leaders in case he can pass down this information later, but fails.

In page 50 Eltenios heads over to the old leadership's quarters, where he is surrounded by a patrol of Bug-types. The Arcanine is captured and sent into a central room in a building, up an elevator shaft; there he meets various bug-types, some former Thorn Gang members, and apparent leader Katan the Scizor. Irate by the treatment given, Eltenios snarks at the Scyther who brought him in and mocks the bugs for not knowing of the already completed errand the grass-types had sent him off to, and as a result he is promptly surrounded by blades; this however allows him to finally confirm Katan's leadership of the Thorns and -in his treatment of for lower-tier grass-types- that the change in leadership would have involved a violent takeover.

The interview with Katan going sour, Eltenios attempts to buy his way out by revealing Roserade's payment offering - Shuca Berries from a nearby terrace. Katan sees through Eltenios' attempt to escape however, he sends his mooks to attack and they take Eltenios by surprise when they attack by meelee instead of using their speed.

The Thorns gang upon Eltenios in page 55, forcing him to find secure room against a wall; Katan outsmarts the Arcanine's attempt to out-corner the group and slams him against the wall. In a last-ditch effort to gain room for running, and reminding himself of the Grass-types who had recommended him for the job, Eltenios puts the bugs in front of him and unleashes Heat Wave. While he gains some room, Katan deflects most of the attack via Protect, allowing enough bug-types to remain standing that they pile up on Eltenios and knock him out. Pleased, Katan has Eltenios picked up and tossed down the elevator shaft he came from in Apr 3 2011.

Picefas, child of one of Eltenios' courier buddies, passed down the information about the fire at the Thorn Gang HQ as they saw during a fly-by. The Tailow's father charged him with finding Sluggard and securing any courier job related to sending messages to the other Gangs. While this is going on, some of the other characters find out about the smuggling of human-made Rare Candy.

The Tailow agrees to take Sluggard to the location in exchange of being allowed to rest on the Slowbro's surf board first, which gives time for Jet, Striker and Kori to approach the building first for their own investigation. In page 59, the two Pokémon enter the building and approach the elevator shaft, finding an unconscious Eltenios in a crate of bubble wrap, but they are unable to wake him up.

Kori's group is found out by Katan and there's a short fight before Striker assures they're there to hand over their delivery; Katan allows them to get out and take Eltenios with then. The participating members are then taken to Fight Gang territory for temporary shelter while Kori sends notice of what is going on; on the way to Fight Gang territory they meet with Picefas and Sluggard in page 63, and Absol has Sluggard carry Eltenios the rest of the way.

Eltenios wakes up in Fight Gang hotel HQ in page 64, and in page 70 decides to go around looking for battles in the complex like the others are doing, while also making inquiries about Roserade and the Thorn Gang. Unknown to him, Kori had confirmed somewhere else that Roserade was found killed. Eltenios happens upon Jet and Kori and interrupts their totally not romantic moment of planning as they want to go meet the Spook Brigade.

Much of the gang sneaks out later that night to go meet Aaron, an Espeon who leads the protags to Spook Brigade campgrounds at an abandoned hotel. They are ambushed by Licks (bad memories for everyone, not the least because of the Tongue of Arceus) and knocked out. Starting page 74, everyone wakes up in different rooms with a test for each member. Eltenios wakes up to find himself against an Ariados of name Aranos for his test. Eltenios is quickly impaired by a Toxic and he manages to press on and eventually attempt to crush the Ariados' legs with his fat muscle weight when the bug Digs to attack him; still, that was not enough to knock Aranos out before the Toxic too its toll and Eltenios was defeated.

After waking up, Eltenios meets with the others in a room where each contestant was taken in, so that they could obtain information from the Spook Brigade. While Kori and Jet face opposition in page 85, Eltenios inquires about learning a more versatile move than Heat Wave to which Sluggard suggests Flame Wheel.

During the next phase of the test, Jet gets grievously hurt and has to be extracted from the battlefield; Eltenios and Sluggard coordinate to do that while also helping Kori against the opponents. The Excadrill opponents destroy the floor causing the group to fall into a shaft, except for Eltenios who is holding Jet up against a wall to keep him safe.

With the entire building crumbling due to the battles below, Eltenios feigns anger and attacks the hosts with a Heat Wave as a distraction so that he could leap across the chasm and reach safe ground for Jet. He is caught by the Haunter host mid-leap, and their associate becomes afraid and picks Jet up; Haunter threatens Eltenios about his lackluster fighting ability and Eltenios retorts that his lie of work is moving and delivering, making Haunter realize that he tricked them into doing that with Jet. Haunter's final note on the matter is a smirk and an “Indeed”.

to be continued

• Eltenios is revealed to be a wild Pokémon from outside the city working as a courier and going into the city every once in a while to deliver packages. He won't reveal who his original employer is however.
• It is hinted that Flint's dad and Eltenios knew of each other.
• Every time Eltenios is knocked unconscious, he goes out thinking of the box of bubble wrap he found himself in after being ambushed in page 56.
• Sluggard having to carry Eltenios around and asking aloud “DEAR LORD WHAT DOES THAT THING EAT” is and Eltenios' reply of “It's all muscle” set up a trend followed for many a reinterpretation of the Arcanine of correcting for muscle when he's told that he has too much fat (or fur).
• Eltenios' moveset lacking offensive (in particular, Heat Wave being his only Fire-type move) follows his line of work, as he's a courier and not a fighter.
  • His main purpose is to avoid or flee confrontation (Agility, Roar) so that he can carry out his deliveries, and if surprised he expects to land attacks early (Reversal), test the opponent with some attacks first so he can see how to flee away the easiest.
  • This strategy does come to bite him back two times in a row - against Katan and against Aranos, both fights the opponents start being confined into small rooms and don't give Eltenios the time to test the severity of the confrontation first.
• Eltenios hints in page 91 that there are other canine mons from the wild like him looking for jobs around the city.
• Eltenios's nickname for Jet is “Buoy Boy”.
• When Haunter threatens Eltenios about his lack of fighting prowess, Eltenios rightfully retorts that he's very good at moving and delivering stuff - to the point where he tricked Haunter and Aaron into doing that with Jet. However, story-wise, Eltenios' strengths seem to actually lie in street smarts and mind games, as he's managed to extract information from all of Scyther, Katan, Aaron and Haunter in different occasions where he was the one captured or otherwise targetted.

• Roleplay thread
  • Introducing Eltenios.
• Roleplay/WildPokemonInTheBigCity (tropes page)
• Discussion thread
  • Discussion on saving Eltenios right before his encounter with Katan ca. Apr 3 2011.
  • "If this RP ever ends, I hope that some form of sequel will be made," by bamack (as per 2019, haven't heard of one)
• Signup thread
  • Eltenios sign-up