HELP: Alternate name for Pokemon in my crossover/fanfic

[Greninjaman]

I am doing a Legend of Zelda/Pokémon crossover, specifically Breath of the Wild. What I am doing is integrating Pokémon into the world of Hyrule as if they are a natural part of it.
Here is my problem: What do I call them as a whole?
As I see it, I have two options:

1: Continuing using the term Pokémon.
2: refer to them by a different term.

Which is the better of the two?

 

[AetherX]

I had a similar conundrum while writing a medieval-era Pokémon fic. For a while I thought that the term 'Pokémon' wouldn't make sense, since (presumably) even in canon it was short for 'Pocket Monsters' which ceases to be a fitting name in the absence of Poké Balls. Eventually I decided to stick with calling them Pokémon for a couple reasons.

1. This is a fantasy world. Realistically, these people aren't even speaking English. We can assume that the story translates for the sake of the reader. In my setting, Pokémon were notably distinct from normal animals, so it made sense for people to have a catch-all (heh) term for them. I could "translate" that term to something like 'monster' which would probably be more accurate, but readers already know these things as 'Pokémon' so I might as well just call them Pokémon.
2. It just makes it easier. Coming up with a new term didn't really add anything to my story, but it would take away clarity. Not mention I would probably be constantly catching myself writing 'Pokémon' instead of 'monster' or whatever.

In your case I'd say it depends on how you want to use them. If they are distinct from the other monsters in Legend of Zelda and the characters know this, then go ahead and refer to them as Pokémon. But if you're effectively just writing a story where Link fights a Charizard instead of a Lizalfos, then you could lump them in with the rest of the franchise's monsters.

What I'd be skeptical of is coming up with a totally different name that is pretty much just a stand in for 'Pokémon'. You could definitely make it work, especially if you justified it in your worldbuilding, but I'd question what you really get out of it.

Or you can just call them 'Digimon' for the sake of total anarchy.

 

[Greninjaman]

I had a similar conundrum while writing a medieval-era Pokémon fic. For a while I thought that the term 'Pokémon' wouldn't make sense, since (presumably) even in canon it was short for 'Pocket Monsters' which ceases to be a fitting name in the absence of Poké Balls. Eventually I decided to stick with calling them Pokémon for a couple reasons.

1. This is a fantasy world. Realistically, these people aren't even speaking English. We can assume that the story translates for the sake of the reader. In my setting, Pokémon were notably distinct from normal animals, so it made sense for people to have a catch-all (heh) term for them. I could "translate" that term to something like 'monster' which would probably be more accurate, but readers already know these things as 'Pokémon' so I might as well just call them Pokémon.
2. It just makes it easier. Coming up with a new term didn't really add anything to my story, but it would take away clarity. Not mention I would probably be constantly catching myself writing 'Pokémon' instead of 'monster' or whatever.

In your case I'd say it depends on how you want to use them. If they are distinct from the other monsters in Legend of Zelda and the characters know this, then go ahead and refer to them as Pokémon. But if you're effectively just writing a story where Link fights a Charizard instead of a Lizalfos, then you could lump them in with the rest of the franchise's monsters.

What I'd be skeptical of is coming up with a totally different name that is pretty much just a stand in for 'Pokémon'. You could definitely make it work, especially if you justified it in your worldbuilding, but I'd question what you really get out of it.

Or you can just call them 'Digimon' for the sake of total anarchy.

Thanks. I think I will just stick with calling them Pokemon. They are distinct from the monsters of my Zelda/Pokemon fanfic. Sure the idea of taking on a Charizard sounds cool. With what I have in mind for them, I will just continue referring to them as Pokemon. Like you said, I would be constantly catching myself writing "Pokemon" instead of what I have decided to call them.

 

[Nitro Indigo]

They use "Pokémon" in Mystery Dungeon and Conquest, even though those settings don't have Pokéballs either. (Side-note: I love how Pokémon being short for Pocket Monsters is an open secret in English, but the original English Digimon theme song says it stands for Digital Monsters over and over again.)