Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ In Lieu of Perfection ❯ The Perfect Story ( EndNotes )

[ A - All Readers ]

During the course of writing this, I have suffered much distractions and writer's block. No words came out, I blame my real life commitments like exams. When the words finally come, they did not come in a gush either, more like little glimpse of what it could be. Thus, you would probably notice a drop in standards half-way, I apologize and hope for your understanding for someone juggling academic and leisure writing at the same time.

Please note that much of this is, in fact, written before the story actually ended. I find that it helps my thinking and planning as I go along.

'In Lieu of Perfection' was first posted on Serebii.net, then on Fanfiction.net under the name 'The Perfect Proposal'. It was a total flunk. Zero replies, little notice, it soon sunk into the depths of page who-knows-what.

My opinion then was that I need to do something to attract readership. I took a look at it and renamed the story to 'In Lieu of Perfection' and for Serebii.net, remove the frankly, very boring prologue (which interestingly I still left here in Mediaminer since I never expected much hits here anyway.). Boy, did the readership soar, not THAT much, but definitely an improvement. I was at least able to attract one of the most acid-tongued of reviewers, Yami Ryu in Serebii.net and survived. I now wear the 'I survive Yami Ryu' badge with pride.

I would like to thank those who have reviewed the story, especially StardragonX for willingly becoming my poor, poor beta-reader. Though I stopped hearing from you, I appreciated all of it.

Now in my tradition (not much but I hope it would last), let me go into the different themes and issues within the fanfiction.

Pokemon

Why Pokemon? Mainly because I had a revival in the interest due to playing Pokemon Emerald. And due to my love for Blaziken and Gardevoir. Then, I found this Japanese site dedicated to Blaziken x Gardevoir shipping. I fell in love with the idea.

Throw in the influence of PDL's Adventures of Sabrina... I slowly plot out my idea. The idea of bringing to fiction the game mechanics is actually an idea for a couple of fanarts. One of them would be the trainer and his Milotic in mafia suits taking down Spindas, leaving a trail of soaking wet or frozen pokemon behind. The caption would be 'EV Training.'

The other picture would be a Gardevoir hugging her trainer and weeping while the trainer gestures to a Banette lying seductively on a bed. Of course the caption would be 'Breeding for Will-O-Wisp' That became the focus for this story.

As with Vegrandis, my bad art skills are in the way. So I let my writing do the talking.

The titles

I have followed a pattern throughout in the naming of the chapters, even for this endnotes. The Perfect Pokemon, The Perfect Escape, etc, etc... Please think about it. The title of this fanfiction is 'In Lieu of Perfection'. Looking back at the chapter titles, are any of these perfect? Is the plan perfect? Or the escape? And finally, ask yourself, is the ending perfect?

One of the themes I quite liked within this story would be the quest for perfection. As a player of Pokemon, I understand the urge and desire to strife for the perfect pokemon, be it through trading and training. Perhaps in this frantic quest for perfection, we are forgetting about something else, to actually enjoy the game and the process. Perhaps you might argue that part of the fun is to get this perfect match winner. But I personally find that this quest saps the fun out of it. Especially if you are looking at recommendations from forums and websites. The game should be enjoyed by your own will and skills, not on the detailed researches of others. If all you want is to explore, so be it. Nothing is stopping you.

Similarly, isn't this what it is in real life too? Everything you do is dictated by someone else and must be perfect? This coming from me, from the little red dot. It seem to me that in our desire to be perfect, we cease to be perfect.

Naming

Blaze is a n00bie name for a Blaziken. Precisely the effect I had wanted. He was the first pokemon, so as n00bie trainers go, they give a n00bie name that they thought sounded cool. As the trainer progress, the names become more elegant, names like Hikari and Kireihana.

The loss of innocence on the trainer's part resulted in the nameless ones. Pokemon with no name to them, the emotionless fighting machines.

Komicer as a character

Yes, he is modeled after myself. I am guilty as charged over all those events. All characters are in one way or another, taken from my experience in playing the game. Especially Blaze and Hikari. I actually restarted a game to 'do some research' and to pick the pokemon's nature at random. Blaze turned out to be rash in nature, highly suitable for the story. Hikari was the first female Ralts to be caught. She was adamant by chance and it stuck.

The side characters

For me, the side characters are the ones that I enjoyed writing most. Not Hikari or Blaze. But those like the cold stoic Scizor, the trembling Kireihana, the bumbling Team Rocket, the over-enthusiastic Nurse Joy or even the slightly grumpy Chansey. Maybe it is because they are not the leads, there is no pressure to so-call develop them into well-rounded characters and I can play around with their personalities as I like it, allowing for somewhat exaggerated but fun characters.

Perhaps that's why some people prefer Scizor to Hikari. You're not alone.

Sequels

No. Though little side stories are a possibility, such as Blaze and Hikari's first encounter...

Unfortunately, this would probably be my first and last ever attempt in writing a Pokemon fanfiction. It had been a fun experience doing this, getting good comments from traditionally acid-tongued critics on both Fanfiction.net and Serebii Forums and interacting with all of you readers. I would leave these characters in the hands of another writer, should someone capable wants to delve deeper into this world. Whoever you are, do a good job!

Thank you and good bye.

It's back to anime... or Fire Emblem (?) for me!

KC Komicer