DISCUSSION: How to write interesting fics with Ash and Red in them

[KrspaceT]

Or, how do you write such a fic that doesn't involve Red being used to make Ash 'better', because half the time when that happens Ash turns into 'Shadow Red Satoshi'. And sadly, no, that is not much of an exaggeration.

I find the best way of using the two is a Technician versus Performer set up: with Red as a Tactician and Ash the Performer, at least after Ash is a bit along post Indigo. The two are shown to be similar in talent, but approach it different ways.

From there you can explore how Ash could learn from Red, and somewhat controversially, how Red can learn from Ash.

 

[Beth Pavell]

It's something of a wide open question because Red - at least the Red of the games - has no personality. He's an outfit and a name - literally every NPC trainer in the game as more character than that. So in that sense you could do anything you wanted with Red

 

[Greninjaman]

Indeed, whereas Ash at least had some personality. Remember, the player characters are the Avatars for us, the players, meaning that we could mold their character anyway we want.

 

[diamondpearl876]

I've seen a lot of stoic & near-silent Red portrayed over the years, and that's fine. That's a solid foundation to start with, but writers tend to be afraid to go much deeper than that without further source material. I'm also of the mindset you can do anything with Red, stoic & near-silent or otherwise.