Humans of Hoenn [Images over 500 KB]

[Dramatic Melody]

Sounds like that last bit came after lots and lots of experimentation, and hope that child aren't, in fact, naive and immature. XD

As much as I'd want this to actually be a precursor to a dystopian novel... XD

Dunno, I could easily see a kid trying to manage finances resort to criminality, so their moral codes aren't as strong as a teenager's/adult's.

Hm, good point, and you gave me an idea for a conversation! I haven't really explored crime in any of the conversations yet. Maybe I'll use Markus as inspiration for this one...

I SUPPORT BUG-TYPE TRAINERS

#bugtypes2015

I think a lot of growing up is realizing that you can be different from others. Not sure if that's what you were going for here, though.

Partly, yeah. I guess it fits with how he hasn't really realized that, and he needed a bit of a push from someone to know that he can forge his own identity. That someone just happens to be Karen.

A short but sweet addition to the Humans of Hoenn. A couple entries seemed out of place and I'm not sure if I got out of them what you wanted me to (and I pointed that out above), but you did a good job not making this too whiny or too naive, if that makes sense. I mean, naivety and immaturity are generally seen as annoying traits, but that doesn't carry over to your writing - instead it's interesting and compelling.

Thank you! Noted on the out-of-placeness of some of them. Reading through it again, I do agree that the connection of being kids isn't really strong enough to hold the entire file together, so I should've added more to that. I'm glad that you liked how the file danced around the naivety though - it's certainly an issue it tackles, but it's more of a misconception it aims to break. Thanks for the review!

For whatever reason, I first read this as "minimum wage." So this is what economics classes do to me >_<

Don't worry - I've been researching a lot of finance-related stuff for work recently, so I know exactly how you feel. XD

I feel like this is true for anyone who has to spend time away from home. I know that I didn't really realize how great it is to be able to eat delicious food whenever you want until I first spent a week away from home going to a work camp with my church.

Thanks for that! Oddly enough, this entry isn't one of the ones where I use real-life as basis - most of it was from observations and assumptions. I'm glad it resonates with someone who's actually gone through it!

On the whole, this was really cute ^_^ This may be just me, but sometimes I felt like the children had a bit of an adult vibe, with using words like "mulling" and "flattering," and sometimes the structure of the sentences just made me feel more like I was reading from an adult. Though "child" can have a broad definition (I'm going to assume this is a group of kids aged 10-13) so it's not as unbelievable, and it's still more of a personal thing for me anyway.

Thank you! I'll definitely take your notes on the voice of the children to heart. Like I said in my reply to Negrek above, voice and tone are factors that I'm still working on, and like what she said, this project is a great way to practice that. I've actually had a similar comment for another work of mine, so now I know that I should be more mindful of it. Yes, they are mostly preadolescents, but I still get that you'd want a more child-like quality in their voices. Thanks for that.

I especially thought the bug trainer was adorable, though. And it nicely ties in to the guy who wanted to meet Karen, since Bug-types aren't thought of as strong (especially not in Hoenn) but she's determined to win with them anyway. This was definitely the cutest file you've put up here (though I guess that's to be expected ) and I really enjoyed it. And, to finish off:

I don' think I could, either.

Thank you! Those two conversations seem to be the ones that work the best out of these since both you and diamondpearl876 point them out, so I'll definitely see how I can apply what I did to those conversations to the others. Thanks for the review!

This is pretty much exactly how I see it. I don't think I could ever be a coordinator myself--never mind that that's impossible anyway, pfff.

Whereas going to see a contest... yeah, that I'd be totally down for. I wonder if admission would be expensive as all frell, though.

I don't think I'd ever be a coordinator either. I'd be an avid fan of it though, and I'll probably sit with you in the audience! Though I do think they'll be as expensive as theatre tickets.

And no, nothing's impossible. Contests are real. There is no war in Ba Sing Se.

Fun fact: having scenes/interviews take place in the trick house causes me to immediately begin thinking of the trick house music. (Though this time it only lasted for a short time before being driven right back out by the 10 a.m. music from ACNL.)

I didn't think much of ACNL's soundtrack at first, but when I listened to all the hours at work I fell in love with it. My favorite's the 5 PM one. It doesn't help that Mario Kart 8 has ridiculously amazing arrangements of several themes, either.

I'd say so. Relationships of any kind can't be forced, after all.

Couldn't agree more. Thanks for the review!

 

[Praxiteles]

I LOVE THIS, FOR REASONS THAT MIGHT BE A BIT OF PERSONAL APPEAL. I actually have a lot of fondness for the way the NPCs in third generation in particular turned out, the way the dialog boxes give an extremely limited space to express character, and how the game usually doesn't manage to convey a whole lot of it, mostly using that space for little gags or foibles, descriptions of what the characters were doing, the barest hint of daily life. I'm glad theres so much work in fanfic to expand these characters into 'what they do' -- narrations of what they're involved in right now, descriptions of backstory, etc. But I feel like this HONY-style approach comes closest to what the game wanted by putting all these characters everywhere with which you can have tiny conversations -- an attempt at conveying how fleeting and partial the connection is with the people you come across in your daily life.

I think another of the things that appeals to me is that it just populates the world of the game itself. If you were writing a long fiction, you would have to take matters into your own universe, if you know what I mean. But this seems to have some of the challenge of taking the limited world that the game can represent, along with any maybe hard impossibilities that you might have to face, and creating a moving story out of it. If I'm not being too frank, I usually feel like the game is being spited when most fanfics use it to create a better story. Of course the story is objectively better, but the writer has to relegate the story of the game to a childish level of amusement that can't sustain their interest anymore. I like how your stories really are better, more moving and deeper while taking almost as little space, but you keep talking in the vocabulary of the game.

Even if the characters themselves aren't exactly compelling (I'm going off on a bit of tangent here), there's a lot of joy involved in imagining being in their situation. I think you're supposed to wonder about the life of a Student, or a Sailor, and what kind of places they see.

I also want to imagine second gos at these conversations! (Not that they're likely to happen, since this is by nature one off.) I just had a very strong feeling the picknicker in the middle of the desert didn't tell you the whole story. ; )

I loved the talk with Wally, and also the talk with Flannery. I also love that over time this project is building up such a huge heap of different kind of people with different desires and values; if there's one thing that the games don't manage to do, it's represent the experience of any trainer other than The Perfect Trainer: who comes from a small town and dedicates their life to it and gets better and better until, just as they're destined to, they beat the E4. And you can tell they really want to show company employees with pokemon, preschoolers with pokemon, busy housewives with pokemon, but it's not until you can make a good story for these characters that their worldview starts to really matter.

Or in other words, I just might be happy that this is a fanfic with no agenda or overarching plan? Yet? I really like the interview kind of formats you take, btw.

Anyway, sorry I didn't really have any critiques; I'm getting more and more out of touch with that concept these days. My fault!

 

[Dramatic Melody]

Oh my god, Luphinid? It's been such a long time!! How are you?

I LOVE THIS, FOR REASONS THAT MIGHT BE A BIT OF PERSONAL APPEAL. I actually have a lot of fondness for the way the NPCs in third generation in particular turned out, the way the dialog boxes give an extremely limited space to express character, and how the game usually doesn't manage to convey a whole lot of it, mostly using that space for little gags or foibles, descriptions of what the characters were doing, the barest hint of daily life. I'm glad theres so much work in fanfic to expand these characters into 'what they do' -- narrations of what they're involved in right now, descriptions of backstory, etc. But I feel like this HONY-style approach comes closest to what the game wanted by putting all these characters everywhere with which you can have tiny conversations -- an attempt at conveying how fleeting and partial the connection is with the people you come across in your daily life.

Heh, thanks! I never really thought about the restriction of the textboxes as a factor in their limited characterization. All the more that we as fanfic writers should expand them, yes? I think the fleetingness of the whole situation is part of the appeal of the original HONY - from a simple conversation, you get a load of interesting insights from a person that someone just happened to bump into and take a picture of. I try to capture that sort of magic with this, so I'm glad you point it out.

I think another of the things that appeals to me is that it just populates the world of the game itself. If you were writing a long fiction, you would have to take matters into your own universe, if you know what I mean. But this seems to have some of the challenge of taking the limited world that the game can represent, along with any maybe hard impossibilities that you might have to face, and creating a moving story out of it.

I do have to say that the core of this project is making the wealth of characters that the Gen 3 games have as rich as the region they reside in. It's both interesting and challenging to sort-of "borrow" each character from where they are and work with what they've got. Most of the time, I do use their limited dialogue, their team, their location, and whatever else is available for them as basis for the conversations, but I admit that there have been several times where I just got a character and made a completely unrelated story from what they present. In that case, I do make it a point to ground it in the universe they inhabit, but this latter way of approaching gives me more breathing room in the types of conversations I can create (such as in almost every conversation in File 3).

If I'm not being too frank, I usually feel like the game is being spited when most fanfics use it to create a better story. Of course the story is objectively better, but the writer has to relegate the story of the game to a childish level of amusement that can't sustain their interest anymore. I like how your stories really are better, more moving and deeper while taking almost as little space, but you keep talking in the vocabulary of the game.

That's a really interesting way of putting it, and I'll have to thank you for opening yet another layer of this project for me to explore and love. Like I said above, though, I do have to go beyond the plot of the story for many of the conversations, but I do try to make a healthy mixture of both cases.

Even if the characters themselves aren't exactly compelling (I'm going off on a bit of tangent here), there's a lot of joy involved in imagining being in their situation. I think you're supposed to wonder about the life of a Student, or a Sailor, and what kind of places they see.

That's what I hope for the readers, since I have a hell of a lot of fun doing that as the writer. The student one in particular is noteworthy since I'm planning a future File based on them.

I also want to imagine second gos at these conversations! (Not that they're likely to happen, since this is by nature one off.) I just had a very strong feeling the picknicker in the middle of the desert didn't tell you the whole story. ; )

Believe it or not, I'm also planning something like this, though this time it'll be for the Tumblr. I've been thinking of some conversations I do want to revisit. And yeah, that Picnicker in the desert sure looks like she has more in her mind. Haha.

I loved the talk with Wally, and also the talk with Flannery. I also love that over time this project is building up such a huge heap of different kind of people with different desires and values; if there's one thing that the games don't manage to do, it's represent the experience of any trainer other than The Perfect Trainer: who comes from a small town and dedicates their life to it and gets better and better until, just as they're destined to, they beat the E4. And you can tell they really want to show company employees with pokemon, preschoolers with pokemon, busy housewives with pokemon, but it's not until you can make a good story for these characters that their worldview starts to really matter.

Thank you for that! That really sums up the original project, which transformed into File 1 - a sort-of breaking down of the trainer mold and trying to bring up aspects that seem overlooked in the games. I feel like there's so many types of trainers that are still left unexplored, and this project is my way of exploring them.

Or in other words, I just might be happy that this is a fanfic with no agenda or overarching plan? Yet? I really like the interview kind of formats you take, btw.

Anyway, sorry I didn't really have any critiques; I'm getting more and more out of touch with that concept these days. My fault!

I don't really think there's an underlying agenda or plan for it - just the aim of expanding the world more and more. I hope that doesn't become a problem down the line, since I do want the focus to be on the conversations themselves rather than in how they're put together. And no problem at all!

Thank you so much for the review! I'm glad you like the project.

 

[Dramatic Melody]

File 5: Villains of Hoenn​

There is something peculiar about the title of villain. It is a title that is never bestowed upon oneself, but rather one that is thrown onto others. It is a descriptor of one whose actions do not coincide with the norm, a norm set by self-proclaimed non-villains. It is contrasted with the title of hero, and heroes are often depended on to stop the villains from winning, from getting their way.

But what are villains, really? Aren’t they the victims of the evil brought about by those who villainize them? Aren’t they the people who are brave enough to challenge the norm and its imperfections? Aren’t they the heroes of their own lives, the protagonists of their own stories? And aren’t we all just the heroes of ourselves and the villains of our villains?

"I'd stay a few steps away from Poochyena if I were you. He doesn't react warmly to most people."

"Do you mind if I ask why?"

"When one of the townsfolk found him in 113, his whole body was covered in bruises. His mouth was tied up, his fur had blank patches, and his tail was cut off. That kind soul brought him over to the Center, and it took weeks of intensive care for him to recover.

"Everyone was wondering who could've caused this since the Nurse said that his bruises could've only been inflicted by a human. That's when someone brought up how he saw a bunch of those Team Magma fools herding Poochyena down south, and how none of the Poochyena looked like they were willing to be herded.

"We all think it's their doing, those scums. They're saying that they're improving the world with their fantasies, but they're doing it in a real bad way. And it only got worse when they kidnapped Professor Cozmo and stole his research that one time. Whenever we see one of those Team Aqua fools pass by, we make it a point to make them feel as unwelcome in Fallarbor as possible."

"Oh, it was Team Aqua? I thought you said it was Team Magma who did this?"

"Team Magma, Team Aqua, whatever. They're all just a bunch of no-good villains."

“Man, I got a real bad lecture from Admin Tabitha yesterday. I was supposed to join the team for an undercover mission to Mossdeep the other day, but I had to call in sick because my Poochyena wasn’t in his A game. He was pretty beat up from our faceoff with Team Aqua last week. Since I don’t have enough money to buy Potions and vitamins, I’ve been making him rest in my bunk since then.

“So I had to back out from the Mossdeep mission last minute because he still hadn’t fully healed by then, and the mission involved a lot of battling. I didn’t want them to do anything to Poochy, so I faked being sick and got myself out of the mission team. Admin Tabitha made sure to give me the long speech on loyalty and honesty when he found out, and demoted me to a guard grunt.

“I don’t really mind. I mean, at least I’m still part of the team. What matters is that Poochy recovers properly. He’s much better now, though it’ll be a while before I let him battle again. Since I won’t be doing outside missions anymore, at least we get to spend a lot of time bonding here. And that can only be a good thing, right?”

“It’s wrong. It’s all wrong. Everything I do is freaking wrong. Joining this damn team was wrong. Letting my father pressure me into following his nonsense cause was wrong. Leaving my family behind was wrong. Attacking that parasol lady for that Numel was wrong. My entire life’s just one big goddamn mistake.

“Look at me. Look at how pathetic I am. They decide to give me the absolute worst place to guard in this hideout—I can’t even feel the left part of my body anymore. They decide to brainwash me into doing their dirty work because they know that I’m a directionless piece of scum. I’m the epitome of Team Magma—a big pile of Camerupt sh—”

“Well, did that make you feel better?”

“...actually, it did. Thanks, bro.”

“I think I’ve hit a dead end with Team Magma. Everything I do for the team has the end-goal of being promoted to admin in mind, but as each day passes, that end-goal gets farther and farther. I know that the road to success is long, but you start to question where that road is leading to if all the people you entered the team with have either quit, been fired, or jumped ship to the other team. And when you realize that Team Magma hasn’t had a change in their administration in eleven years, you’ll start asking yourself how reasonable that end-goal is.

“I know it takes action to make change, but right now I don’t know what to do to get out of this static situation. Do I ask Leader Maxie outright if I have even the tiniest chance of being an admin? Do I jump ship to Team Aqua and try my luck there? Do I quit and go on a journey like what all the young people do these days? I really don’t know.”

“There was this girl I always saw in the Lilycove Department Store whenever I went there on Saturdays. She was really pretty, and whenever I saw her, I felt this calmness that I couldn’t explain. At first it felt like she was trying to avoid me, but when the glances became more frequent, I took a chance and asked her if she wanted to have a Soda Pop with me in the rooftop. To my relief, she said yes, and we had our first rooftop date—if you can even call it a date, since all we did was talk and drink our Soda Pops. It was a really interesting talk, though.

“It became a weekly thing—I found out she only went there on Saturdays, just like I did—and I’d never had more personal conversations with anyone before. At some point I even told her about my issues with my dad, and I haven’t talked about that with anyone else before. Our rooftop dates became longer and more memorable as the Saturdays went by, and for me, the other six days became more of a waiting game for the next Saturday.

“But something this amazing couldn’t go without its consequences, and that came a few Wednesdays ago, in the peak of Mt. Chimney. I didn’t expect to see her, but I did expect her to look beautiful, even if she wore the uniform of our rival team. I caught a glimpse of her trying to avoid mine, and her dejected look was all the answer I needed. Still, I felt bad when I had to throw away a full Soda Pop bottle in the Saturday that came after, and the feeling worsened as I threw away more full Soda Pop bottles in the Saturdays that followed.”

“If by any chance she sees this, what do you want to tell her?”

“I’m so much more than this uniform, and you know it.”

“I met this guy while I was shopping in Lilycove one Saturday morning. He seemed nice, though he carried himself in an assertive way. But he had a certain gentleness in his voice when he invited me for a Soda Pop in the roof deck. We talked about our stress, our families, our dreams—basically big slices of each other’s lives. When I told him that my shopping in the Department Store was on a weekly basis, he told me that he’ll see me here at the same time next week, making sure he’ll pay for more Soda Pops. Assertive, but gentle.

“That went on for a couple of weeks, the Soda Pops becoming plentier and the talks becoming deeper. We talked about what we had in our minds, and shared things we hadn’t shared with anyone else before. What started out as waiting until the sun was too hot became watching the sun set on Lilycove Bay.

“None of my teammates knew about it, so these ‘Saturdates,’ as I like to call them, felt like my personal escape. I mean, I’m loyal to Team Aqua and all, but it’s rare to find your own thing within the team if you weren’t an admin or a promoted grunt. So this was something for me and only me. And obviously, it didn’t last.”

“What happened?”

“A while ago, we had a face-off with our rivals, Team Magma, atop Mt. Chimney. Of course, I see him in a red uniform, and of course, team policy means that I’m forbidden to speak to him ever again. I was too distraught to go to the Department Store the Saturday that followed, and all the Saturdays after that. But I’ll go there someday, when I’m ready to face him.”

“If by any chance he sees this, what do you want to tell him?”

“That I miss you. And I’ll see you soon.”

“I joined Team Aqua because I thought it would be a good way to show my love for the ocean. But, truth be told, this day in this museum has been the only time in my entire time as a grunt when I actually feel like I’m loving the ocean the way that I want to.”

“I don’t get it. Sir Archie says that humans have done so much unforgivable wrongs to Pokémon, so it’s Team Aqua’s job to eliminate these wrongs by taking away the land that the humans took away from the Pokémon. His idea of a perfect world is one where Pokémon can live free of the torments of human advancement—a world of new beginnings.

“But here I am, someone who’s tasked to train these Wailmer to be vessels for Team Aqua’s vision, a vision that implies that these Wailmer are better off without a human like me. So what is all this for? Am I training them to fight for their own freedom, a freedom they cannot attain under the hands of a human? Or is it the other way around? Are these Wailmer preparing me for the separation of humans and Pokémon in Sir Archie’s world of new beginnings? Are they making me feel the thrill of being a trainer for one last time? Or are they—

“No. I have to stop. I can’t keep thinking like this. I can’t show doubt whenever I feel that something’s off. I swore an oath to trust Sir Archie and everything he believes in, and I’m gonna stand by him no matter what. Long live Sir Archie! Long live Team Aqua!”

“The guys have it so much easier than us. They get Matt, the fun goofball who would join you for a night out in town and drink with you in bars. We get Shelly, the perfectionist prodigy who makes sure us girls work just as hard as she does.

“Don’t get me wrong—she’s an amazing admin. A lot of the progress we make in this team is due to her leadership, and I’m learning a lot about Pokémon and technology and team operations from her. But when I see the guys chilling in their bunks and hanging out with Matt, and I compare it to how we have a curfew and strict assignments each night, I can’t help but feel a bit jealous.”

“What the hell, kiddo? You’re asking me questions in the middle of an operation? Who do you think you are?”

“I’m sorry. It’s just that, uhm, I thought, all the other grunts didn’t seem to mind, and I rarely get an opportunity to talk to admins, and—”

“And we rarely get an opportunity to succeed in our missions. This is the farthest I’ve gotten in a mission of this scale, and I’m not gonna let some curious Magikarp ruin it. I won’t let you screw up my opportunity to be recognized by Archie for my hard work. Not in a million years!”

“They told me it was impossible. You shouldn’t waste your time thinking about such fantasies, Maxie. You should get your head out of the clouds, Maxie. You should start thinking about what you can actually do for a change, Maxie. Everyone doubted me, and everyone thought I was crazy for pursuing a nonsensical goal.

“But this Meteorite is tangible, irrefutable proof that all those close-minded comments were wrong. My dream of expanding the landmass is possible, just as much as that oaf Archie’s nightmare of expanding the seas. When I harness the power of this Meteorite, and when I awaken that fabled legendary Pokémon, all of those nonsensical goals they attributed to me would be finally achieved.

“And now, those same humans who mocked me are the ones parading around calling me maniac, calling me villain. But what is so villainous about pursuing dreams? What is so villainous about putting effort to achieve what you desire? Is that not what every human does in their daily life? Why chastise my dreams if everyone has that very same impossible-to-achieve dream they wish to prove as possible?

“And to think, all this hard work about expanding the landmass is for humanity’s development. Am I being a villain for helping the very humans that love to chastise their own kind’s dreams? The very humans that make it their aim to tear other humans down?

“I only wish you would all think about that before villainizing me. Perhaps I am proof that any kind of dream, however outlandish, is possible, and you are showing your envy with criticism. Perhaps I have already won by turning all expectations of me around, and you are showing your frustration by making sure I don’t achieve my dream. Who then are the villains? Who then is the hero fighting for what he believes in?”

 

[Starlight Aurate]

I love love love love LOVE this! Villain teams of Hoenn are the best! And you just managed to capture everything so well (in my personal opinion, but I'm a total sucker for these ); this was such an enjoyable read I liked how the little blurb at the beginning really contradicts the first entry; whatever villains may be to themselves, the "heroes of their own lives," it's clear that their actions really do hurt other people. So they do deserve the bad reputation they get.

The second entry was especially heart-warming, as it shows that the grunt truly cares about Poochy. And the image of a Poochyena sleeping on his bed is just so cute ^_^

“It’s wrong. It’s all wrong. Everything I do is freaking wrong. Joining this damn team was wrong. Letting my father pressure me into following his nonsense cause was wrong. Leaving my family behind was wrong. Attacking that parasol lady for that Numel was wrong. My entire life’s just one big goddamn mistake.

“Look at me. Look at how pathetic I am. They decide to give me the absolute worst place to guard in this hideout—I can’t even feel the left part of my body anymore. They decide to brainwash me into doing their dirty work because they know that I’m a directionless piece of scum. I’m the epitome of Team Magma—a big pile of Camerupt sh—”

You just got to let it all out, bro. I know how therapeutic ranting to someone about something can be. I really feel sorry for this guy I can't really relate (thank goodness), but I can easily imagine being pressured into something you don't want to do, and being bound to teh sense of duty to family and later completely regretting it.
I also liked how you cut his curse short

“I think I’ve hit a dead end with Team Magma. Everything I do for the team has the end-goal of being promoted to admin in mind, but as each day passes, that end-goal gets farther and farther. I know that the road to success is long, but you start to question where that road is leading to if all the people you entered the team with have either quit, been fired, or jumped ship to the other team. And when you realize that Team Magma hasn’t had a change in their administration in eleven years, you’ll start asking yourself how reasonable that end-goal is.

“I know it takes action to make change, but right now I don’t know what to do to get out of this static situation. Do I ask Leader Maxie outright if I have even the tiniest chance of being an admin? Do I jump ship to Team Aqua and try my luck there? Do I quit and go on a journey like what all the young people do these days? I really don’t know.”

Poor girl. Having your life just stuck somewhere and no end in sight is really hard. And man, eleven years?! That's a LONG time (and slightly suspicious...)

“There was this girl I always saw in the Lilycove Department Store whenever I went there on Saturdays. She was really pretty, and whenever I saw her, I felt this calmness that I couldn’t explain. At first it felt like she was trying to avoid me, but when the glances became more frequent, I took a chance and asked her if she wanted to have a Soda Pop with me in the rooftop. To my relief, she said yes, and we had our first rooftop date—if you can even call it a date, since all we did was talk and drink our Soda Pops. It was a really interesting talk, though.

“It became a weekly thing—I found out she only went there on Saturdays, just like I did—and I’d never had more personal conversations with anyone before. At some point I even told her about my issues with my dad, and I haven’t talked about that with anyone else before. Our rooftop dates became longer and more memorable as the Saturdays went by, and for me, the other six days became more of a waiting game for the next Saturday.

“But something this amazing couldn’t go without its consequences, and that came a few Wednesdays ago, in the peak of Mt. Chimney. I didn’t expect to see her, but I did expect her to look beautiful, even if she wore the uniform of our rival team. I caught a glimpse of her trying to avoid mine, and her dejected look was all the answer I needed. Still, I felt bad when I had to throw away a full Soda Pop bottle in the Saturday that came after, and the feeling worsened as I threw away more full Soda Pop bottles in the Saturdays that followed.”

“If by any chance she sees this, what do you want to tell her?”

“I’m so much more than this uniform, and you know it.”

This entire thing is heart-melting. It's so sweet and cute and perfect! This and especially the next entry are some of my favorites that you've produced at all. I remember reading these a while back on your tumblr, and now that I get to leave an actual response, it's just so good. Kudos!

“I joined Team Aqua because I thought it would be a good way to show my love for the ocean. But, truth be told, this day in this museum has been the only time in my entire time as a grunt when I actually feel like I’m loving the ocean the way that I want to.”

Aw! This is also sweet and sad... bittersweet, I guess. Thing is, if I were to join Team Aqua it would totally be to express my love for the ocean. Can't imagine the disappointment and regret you get when it turns out you haven't actually been helping it the entire time you were on the team :/

“No. I have to stop. I can’t keep thinking like this. I can’t show doubt whenever I feel that something’s off. I swore an oath to trust Sir Archie and everything he believes in, and I’m gonna stand by him no matter what. Long live Sir Archie! Long live Team Aqua!”

This last line is just so perfect. This is exactly the mentality I would expect a Team Aqua grunt to have, and it's so sad because he's bound by his sense of duty but he can't stop questioning all of the questionable things that go on.

“The guys have it so much easier than us. They get Matt, the fun goofball who would join you for a night out in town and drink with you in bars. We get Shelly, the perfectionist prodigy who makes sure us girls work just as hard as she does.

Oh my gosh, this sounds exactly how I've written the admins to be in my fic XD I don't recall if this is how they were in the games (or if they were like this in the remakes?), but I really like how you and I both wrote them out to be this way. I know I haven't shown much of Matt, but the "fun goofball" who would go out drinking just sounds like how I envision him. ^_^;

“What the hell, kiddo? You’re asking me questions in the middle of an operation? Who do you think you are?”

She's got a good point.

“And we rarely get an opportunity to succeed in our missions. This is the farthest I’ve gotten in a mission of this scale, and I’m not gonna let some curious Magikarp ruin it. I won’t let you screw up my opportunity to be recognized by Archie for my hard work. Not in a million years!”

And then they battle, right?
I love how you wrote Shelly, especially since you referenced Archie and made her seem really devoted to him and the mission ^_^

"Who then are the villains? Who then is the hero fighting for what he believes in?”

This last bit makes me feel like Maxie wrote the blurb at the beginning And if not, then he at least inspired Brendan to.
This last one is good, as it does put him in a non-villainous light and really showcases his desires and goals and makes him seem like a realistic person.

...Wow, I cannot believe I quoted and commented on every single entry here. If you didn't think I was in love with these guys before... well, guess this proves it XD Thanks so much for this, I just loved this!

 

[[Imaginative]:[Clockwork]]

I'll mostly be focusing on File 5, but I have a few stray thoughts about 3 and 4.

For 3, I thought it was great how it gave focus to something that unfortunately never took off in a way that even comes close to battling's popularity, at least as far as I've seen. Reading the accounts of all these coordinators made me want to start up one of my games and enter a contest, even though they were never my strong suit. I also liked that, collectively, they really don't endorse any one point of view other than "Respect other people's views." Including a mishmash of viewpoints makes the whole thing feel much broader, which adds to feeling of these stories being from anyone and everyone who's willing to talk.

I thought 4 brought up the most interesting ideas, especially when you included May and Brendan as two of the "Children of Hoenn" at the end. I have a soft spot for the minutia of training, so in particular I liked the kid missed his bed and struggled with cooking. You also you the HGSS version of the Karen quote that I've had memorized since I was a kid playing Silver. I always loved that one, and it was fun seeing it here!

Anyway, File 5. In general, I liked how you set us up with an outside perspective of [insert team] as disgustingly evil and spent the rest of the file detailing how routine the whole operation actually is. It fit well with the theme of villainy being a matter of perspective. As a nice bookend, I also liked Maxie's speech. Maybe this wasn't the intent, but he came across to me like the type of person who doesn't realize that maybe an opinion or action that negatively affects lots of other people doesn't deserve as much respect as those that don't. Using an outside perspective to start and a boss to finish helped make it feel like we were diving into the day-to-day operations of teams that, in reality, do some pretty villainous things if you step back.

Outside of the first and last entries, I think you also got a good bit of variety in this one. You have funny ones (my favorite is the guy with the "absolute worst place to guard," which I hope was supposed to be funny or else I'm heartless), sad ones (I did feel something for the poor ocean-loving grunt), and the clever ones that connect to each other. In fact, I'd probably say this file's your best in terms of variety of characters, tones, and topics. Unfortunately, that also means I don't have a lot to criticize! In fact, the only thing I thought of was about this quote:

What started out as waiting until the sun was too hot became watching the sun set on Lilycove Bay.

Assuming Lilycove Bay is the ocean to the east, wouldn't the sun be rising there?

That's obviously a tiny issue, though. I really enjoyed them all, and I'm looking forward to more!

 

[Dramatic Melody]

I love love love love LOVE this! Villain teams of Hoenn are the best! And you just managed to capture everything so well (in my personal opinion, but I'm a total sucker for these ); this was such an enjoyable read I liked how the little blurb at the beginning really contradicts the first entry; whatever villains may be to themselves, the "heroes of their own lives," it's clear that their actions really do hurt other people. So they do deserve the bad reputation they get.

Thank you! That means a lot coming from you. And yeah, Team Magma and Team Aqua grunts are always so interesting to write stories out of. And yeah, the first entry does function as a sort of contrast to the entire thing, which is ironic seeing as it's how people usually see villains, fitting in with what the blurb was saying. More on the blurb later, though.

The second entry was especially heart-warming, as it shows that the grunt truly cares about Poochy. And the image of a Poochyena sleeping on his bed is just so cute ^_^

This one is actually what I meant as a direct contrast to the first one, but like I said above, all of them are meant to contrast what the old man is saying. And yes, Poochyena is in the Top 10 cutest Hoenn Pokemon, no question. XD

You just got to let it all out, bro. I know how therapeutic ranting to someone about something can be. I really feel sorry for this guy I can't really relate (thank goodness), but I can easily imagine being pressured into something you don't want to do, and being bound to teh sense of duty to family and later completely regretting it.
I also liked how you cut his curse short

Heh, you wouldn't be surprised if I tell you that this was one of the easiest entries to write in this bunch, although it's one of the very few where we actually see the effect of Brendan's conversation with the interviewee. And yep, can't forget that this is a kid's game, after all...

Poor girl. Having your life just stuck somewhere and no end in sight is really hard. And man, eleven years?! That's a LONG time (and slightly suspicious...)

...it's just as long as the time it took for a certain remake for a certain game to come out...

This entire thing is heart-melting. It's so sweet and cute and perfect! This and especially the next entry are some of my favorites that you've produced at all. I remember reading these a while back on your tumblr, and now that I get to leave an actual response, it's just so good. Kudos!

Thank you! These two have cemented their places in my top 10 favorite conversations of the project, and a lot of people seem to agree, too! The couple you meet in ORAS's Battle Resort really inspired me to write this pair, and I do have plans on expanding their story more since there's so much I can do with them.

Aw! This is also sweet and sad... bittersweet, I guess. Thing is, if I were to join Team Aqua it would totally be to express my love for the ocean. Can't imagine the disappointment and regret you get when it turns out you haven't actually been helping it the entire time you were on the team :/

Kind of like how a certain grunt was led to believe that they were doing something for the greater good, but after a talk with the admin of the opposing team, turned everything around.

This last line is just so perfect. This is exactly the mentality I would expect a Team Aqua grunt to have, and it's so sad because he's bound by his sense of duty but he can't stop questioning all of the questionable things that go on.

It's make for a great source of conflict in all the grunts I write conversations out of, but I do think that there will always be grunts who will put their faith in their team over their reason.

Oh my gosh, this sounds exactly how I've written the admins to be in my fic XD I don't recall if this is how they were in the games (or if they were like this in the remakes?), but I really like how you and I both wrote them out to be this way. I know I haven't shown much of Matt, but the "fun goofball" who would go out drinking just sounds like how I envision him. ^_^;

I think the first part of my review of your fic's latest chapter sums up my reply But yes, in the remakes, Shelly is made out to be the more serious and productive one of the two. Although interestingly enough, in the Delta Episode it's Matt who tries to instigate conflict, and it's Shelly who has willingly accepted Archie's change of heart.

And then they battle, right?
I love how you wrote Shelly, especially since you referenced Archie and made her seem really devoted to him and the mission ^_^

Absolutely and thanks! Pretty sure she has to show a heightened sense of dedication for Archie to make her an admin.

This last bit makes me feel like Maxie wrote the blurb at the beginning And if not, then he at least inspired Brendan to.
This last one is good, as it does put him in a non-villainous light and really showcases his desires and goals and makes him seem like a realistic person.

I'm actually going to take this as a point for improvement, since I didn't really want the blurb to side with Maxie too much. I always want Brendan to just ponder on what all of the interviewees of each of his files want to say, but now that I reread it, it does seem like he's leaning towards Maxie. Doesn't help that I wrote the blurb at around the same time I was writing Maxie's conversation, so eh. Thanks for the notes on Maxie, though!

...Wow, I cannot believe I quoted and commented on every single entry here. If you didn't think I was in love with these guys before... well, guess this proves it XD Thanks so much for this, I just loved this!

And they were all very much appreciated. I don't think I'll ever doubt your love for the teams, hahaha. Thank you so much for the review, starliteevee!

For 3, I thought it was great how it gave focus to something that unfortunately never took off in a way that even comes close to battling's popularity, at least as far as I've seen. Reading the accounts of all these coordinators made me want to start up one of my games and enter a contest, even though they were never my strong suit. I also liked that, collectively, they really don't endorse any one point of view other than "Respect other people's views." Including a mishmash of viewpoints makes the whole thing feel much broader, which adds to feeling of these stories being from anyone and everyone who's willing to talk.

Wasn't a pro in contests myself, but I always enjoyed the different sort of preparations you had to make for them, especially the Pokeblocks. And yep, I don't really think I want to imply that Brendan's taking a certain side in files like this (although with some exceptions, most especially File 4).

I thought 4 brought up the most interesting ideas, especially when you included May and Brendan as two of the "Children of Hoenn" at the end. I have a soft spot for the minutia of training, so in particular I liked the kid missed his bed and struggled with cooking. You also you the HGSS version of the Karen quote that I've had memorized since I was a kid playing Silver. I always loved that one, and it was fun seeing it here!

Thank you! Like I said above, this is one where I feel Brendan would have a strong opinion in seeing as he relates to them. And it may be one of the most overused quotes in Pokemon, but it doesn't take away from how amazing and definitive it is.

Anyway, File 5. In general, I liked how you set us up with an outside perspective of [insert team] as disgustingly evil and spent the rest of the file detailing how routine the whole operation actually is. It fit well with the theme of villainy being a matter of perspective. As a nice bookend, I also liked Maxie's speech. Maybe this wasn't the intent, but he came across to me like the type of person who doesn't realize that maybe an opinion or action that negatively affects lots of other people doesn't deserve as much respect as those that don't. Using an outside perspective to start and a boss to finish helped make it feel like we were diving into the day-to-day operations of teams that, in reality, do some pretty villainous things if you step back.

Thank you! I did feel like it was the best way to start this file, acknowledging that hey, they're humans, but this is what people generally see of them. And it does serve as a nice contrast to what Maxie says by the end. I certainly didn't intend that kind of reading, but it's a good reading of him and one I definitely think is true! There are some grunts here that do take that step back, but it's more of a personal struggle within them rather than the large-scale conflict both teams introduce to the region.

Outside of the first and last entries, I think you also got a good bit of variety in this one. You have funny ones (my favorite is the guy with the "absolute worst place to guard," which I hope was supposed to be funny or else I'm heartless), sad ones (I did feel something for the poor ocean-loving grunt), and the clever ones that connect to each other. In fact, I'd probably say this file's your best in terms of variety of characters, tones, and topics.

I actually didn't intend it to be funny, although it is indeed a silly situation! I meant it to link to one of the conversations in File 1 and be a contrast to how the Parasol Lady presents him. But yes, you have every right to laugh at his predicament. XD The sad Aqua Grunt appreciates your concern, too. Hahaha.

And I really appreciate you saying that! As you can see from my reply to Negrek's review in the previous page, it's something I'm definitely working on, so I'm glad that this file is a step in the right direction.

Unfortunately, that also means I don't have a lot to criticize! In fact, the only thing I thought of was about this quote:

What started out as waiting until the sun was too hot became watching the sun set on Lilycove Bay.

Assuming Lilycove Bay is the ocean to the east, wouldn't the sun be rising there?

…holy crap, thanks for catching that. I definitely need to edit that, haha.

That's obviously a tiny issue, though. I really enjoyed them all, and I'm looking forward to more!

Thanks so much for the review, [Imaginative]:[Clockwork]! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

 

[ChewieJ]

What a wonderful collection of stories! I hope you consider writing longer stories, if you haven't already. You have a talent in capturing the hearts of characters.

 

[Dramatic Melody]

What a wonderful collection of stories! I hope you consider writing longer stories, if you haven't already. You have a talent in capturing the hearts of characters.

Thank you! I'm glad you like how the characters are presented. I really want this to say that all those NPCs we see in the games have a lot more in them than a few lines of dialogue. And well, I have some one-shots on here right now, and some planned for the future. I can definitely say that some of them are influenced by certain conversations I've made in this project - that was definitely the case for "24 Months".

Thanks for the review, ChewieJ!

 

[diamondpearl876]

It is a title that is never bestowed upon oneself, but rather one that is thrown onto others.

Both a simple observation and a powerful one at the same time. I like it.

That's when someone brought up how he saw a bunch of those Team Magma fools herding Poochyena down south, and how none of the Poochyena looked like they were willing to be herded.

I think the part after the comma is very unique in voice. Not sure why, but I thought I'd point it out.

e Team Aqua fools pass by, we make it a point to make them feel as unwelcome in Fallarbor as possible."

"Oh, it was Team Aqua? I thought you said it was Team Magma who did this?"

"Team Magma, Team Aqua, whatever. They're all just a bunch of no-good villains."

I admit this made me laugh. XD Very clever.

“If by any chance she sees this, what do you want to tell her?”

“I’m so much more than this uniform, and you know it.”

Oh, how heartbreaking. I really like the way you're making use of both of the teams here.

“The guys have it so much easier than us. They get Matt, the fun goofball who would join you for a night out in town and drink with you in bars. We get Shelly, the perfectionist prodigy who makes sure us girls work just as hard as she does.

“Don’t get me wrong—she’s an amazing admin. A lot of the progress we make in this team is due to her leadership, and I’m learning a lot about Pokémon and technology and team operations from her. But when I see the guys chilling in their bunks and hanging out with Matt, and I compare it to how we have a curfew and strict assignments each night, I can’t help but feel a bit jealous.”

And showing the interactions between members of the same team is really well done too.

But what is so villainous about pursuing dreams? What is so villainous about putting effort to achieve what you desire? Is that not what every human does in their daily life?

Oh, Maxie. The world isn't very fair, is it?

 

[Dramatic Melody]

Both a simple observation and a powerful one at the same time. I like it.

Thanks! Always like breaking down that whole concept of villainy, especially with regards to Pokemon!

I think the part after the comma is very unique in voice. Not sure why, but I thought I'd point it out.

Awesome! Thanks for that! At least my conversations are beginning to diversify in voice even by just a bit.

I admit this made me laugh. XD Very clever.

XD thanks! I thought it would be nice to start the story with someone who just sees them for the very title I'm trying to break down with the file. Always nifty to see what the other side - and, in this case, the more conventional side - thinks about it.

Oh, how heartbreaking. I really like the way you're making use of both of the teams here.

And showing the interactions between members of the same team is really well done too.

Thanks for both of these! Imagining how teammates and rivals interact with each other was the funnest part about creating the conversations of this file. The star-crossed lovers in particular were really fun to make because of that reason - their situation just seemed like the perfect way to show how the teams' rivalry affects every part of their lives.

It sure isn't. Thanks for the review, diamondpearl876!

 

[Dramatic Melody]

File 6: Parents of Hoenn

File 6: Parents of Hoenn​

Over these past few months, I realized that in many ways, a child’s journey is also experienced by their parents. All those phone calls and letters and impromptu visits turn mothers and fathers into your journey companions. But it also works the other way around. The journeys of parents—both of the trainer variety and otherwise—are also experienced by their children, ups and downs and all.

I’ve had the honor of talking to several parents in my journey across Hoenn, and they all have a lot to say about their children and their journeys and how those two relate to each other. A journey may be filled with multiple stories, but a family is filled with multiple journeys affecting and intersecting with each other.

“Sorry about that, but I can’t focus right now. That was my sister-in-law who just called and told me that my wife just gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. I don’t even know if I can finish my shift, but I’m riding a plane to Kanto as soon as possible. Sorry, I can’t even give you a proper answer to any of your questions because I can’t stop thinking about it. Me, a father! Someone who’ll teach his daughter about the world and introduce her to Pokemon!”

“It’s all right, it’s all right. Congratulations on the baby!”

“Thanks, thanks so much. I’m holding back tears right now, but I don’t think I can hold it any longer. Come here—I know we’ve barely met, but I really need to hug this out with someone, and you’re the first one to find out. I’m a dad!”

“I’m beginning to regret joining the Pokémon Fan Club in Slateport. I joined because I wanted to talk about the love of Pokémon in a more official setting. But all the people I’ve met are either only interested in talking about their own Pokémon or are close-minded pricks who feel the need to pressure other members to like the Pokémon they like.

“It’s becoming a waste of my time, especially since it’s taking away time from my family. I’d rather be spending time with my kids than with strangers I don’t even want to be with. But it’s the only moderately interesting thing about my day right now, breaking the monotony of work. I just don’t get why it has to be so toxic.”

“My wife and I adopted her when she was two years old. When we saw her in the orphanage and found out that she was left on their doorstep as a newborn, we knew we had to adopt her. She brought a lot of sunshine into our lives, and she made our home as complete as it will ever be.

“That’s why both of us dread the day when we’ll be sending her off to her journey. It’s still a few years from now, but both of us are preparing for it like we were going on our own journeys. And, in a sense, we are, since a home without her is one of the toughest journeys we could ever go through. At least my wife has her work in the Day Care to fill her days. But for me, a housewife, all it’ll be filled with is longing.

“I know neither of us will be able to prevent her from leaving for her journey. But those first few days without her are gonna be so painful.”

“The working hours are really killer with this team. It’s obvious that it’s handled by people who don’t have children.”

“What do you mean?”

“We only get one day off each week, and we can’t even spend all twenty-four hours of that day properly since we have to be back in the base by curfew. That only gives me so much time to spend with my son. The meager paychecks I get here all go to him, sure, but that doesn’t compare to actually watching him grow up and being there for him. My husband’s been a real trooper raising him alone most of the time, and I can’t help but feel jealous of all the time he gets to spend with him.

“I love Team Magma, I really do, and I have huge amounts of respect for my admins. But I don’t know how much longer I can endure not having time for my son. I feel like if I don’t get more days off—and I doubt I will—I’m gonna be filing my resignation papers sooner rather than later.”

“I miss having battles for the heck of it. I remember Trainers’ School when I’d spend entire break times battling my classmates just for fun. No specific goal to aim for, no limitations on how I battle, no pressure from anything. Just battling for the sake of battling.

“But ever since I signed up to be a warm-up fighter for the Battle Frontier, all my battles have been this methodical bore. I’m one of the guys that trainers fight at the start of their challenges, and naturally, beating me will be far easier than the rest of the people in the challenge. So I now have a team that isn’t caught by me but assigned to me, and they’re all made to have weak moves and bad move variety so the challenger doesn’t get discouraged early on.

“If I’m not getting beaten up by overpowered challengers, I’m training my Pokémon in this strict regimen that keeps them from being too powerful. It’s a really robotic process, far from the joy of training that you’re used to. They have all the specifics in place, right down to the number of battles my Pokémon should have. It’s taken out all the fun of battling for me.

“You may ask me, why don’t I just back out from the job? Well, for starters, it pays really well, and it allows me to support my wife and kids. And, well, there’s really no better reason than that, especially since my nine-year-old’s gonna start her journey real soon. I have to make sure we have enough funds to support her, and the only way I can do that is if I stick with this job.”

“I made the tough call of selling my Pokémon to the black market the other day. We were months behind rent, and my wife’s already working eighteen hours a day. I knew it was an elephant in the room she didn’t want to acknowledge, but when I found out that our daughter wouldn’t be able to enroll in Trainers’ School if we lacked the funds, there was no question about the decision.

“It was hard since it was a Tentacool I had befriended. I randomly encountered it while I was out fishing at sea. I’m not a trainer, but it made for great company for the day. When I found out that it was valued a ton because it was Shiny, my wife told me that it would help ease months’ worth of spending. I opposed it a whole lot, but my daughter’s education comes first over my shallow happiness.

“The sale really helped. My daughter’s enrolled for the next school year, and we paid up all our debt and even covered the next three months’ worth of rent. And after all that, we even had some left over for some indulging. I still miss Tenty, but seeing my family happy makes me much happier.”

​

“What has been the most interesting part of your journey so far?”

“Battling my daughter without her knowing that I was her mother.”

“Is it all right if I ask for more details?”

“Her dad got me pregnant, and I didn’t want the baby. But he insisted on keeping her as his own. So I obliged, and I went my own way without getting involved in her life. Her dad would sometimes send me pictures of them as a family—him, his wife, and my daughter—along with invitations for superficial events like birthdays and school graduations. I never bothered responding to any of them.

“Before I knew it, she was old enough to go on her journey, and it didn’t surprise me that we would eventually bump into each other. She certainly got the good looks of her father, but the way she carried herself, the way she asked for a battle, and the way she commanded her Pokémon—she definitely got the strong attitude of her mother.

“We had a great battle, probably one of my top ten battles in my entire journey, and that’s saying a lot. Even though I was going all-out offensive with my Camerupt, she kept on pushing our limits with her Grumpig. It was like she knew exactly how I battled, and it really showed—her own playstyle was predictable for me, too, and that’s how I outplayed her. But I told her that she was a great trainer, and that I looked forward to battling her again in the future. I had to lie and say that I didn’t collect Match Calls to reject her offer because I thought it would be too much for her if I told her the truth. And if I had an easy way of talking to her, I’d probably crack and spill everything to her then and there.”

“What would you like to say to your daughter?”

“I hope you have an awesome journey. Even though you don’t know me, and you probably never will, I’m still one of your biggest fans. And I can’t wait for the rematch. I won’t make it easy next time!”

“His father left me for another woman. Last I heard, he flew to Kalos with her. I don’t know if he’s had a family or more affairs or both. I don’t really care anymore.

“But his absence hasn’t been forgotten. My son keeps on asking me about him, telling me that all the kids in Trainers’ School had fathers and that he wonders where his is. All I tell him is that he’s on his own journey in a faraway land and that he’ll be back once that’s over. He then asks me how he could talk to him, and I usually ignore him, but one time I shrugged and said he could write him letters so he wouldn’t keep on pestering me about it.

“So now, I have this whole box of letters that he’s written over the years, all of which he thinks have been sent to his dad but I’ve really only been storing in my drawer. I know it’s wrong, but my curiosity gets the best of me, and I read what he has to say. Most of the time it’s just telling him how his day went and asking him if his day was any better. Sometimes it’s asking him what his favorite Pokémon is or which starter he should pick when he goes on his own journey. But there are those letters where he asks when he’s coming back and says how he misses him even if he doesn’t know him. And I dread thinking about those, because I know it just makes telling him the truth that much harder.”

“I used to work for Team Aqua. What a huge mistake that turned out to be. The term they called us—’grunt’—was very fitting, since all we were allowed to do was grunt in affirmation of whatever nonsense the admins threw at us. And I sacrificed a whole lot just to join that stupid team—and to this day, even when I’ve left it years ago, the sacrifice still continues.”

“How so?”

“When I joined Team Aqua, I had to leave my whole family behind, something they weren’t happy about. They told me explicitly that if I joined the team, I wasn’t allowed to see them anymore, nor was I allowed to contact them at all, and that included my son.

“He was just about to begin high school back then, so all these years I couldn’t imagine what it must have been like for him to grow up without a father. When I was still a grunt, the only possession I could truly claim was mine was a picture of him when he was eight years old. And when I left Team Aqua, that’s all I brought with me, but it came with so much more.”

“What’s the fondest memory you have of your son?”

“Every night when he was still a kid, I sung him a lullaby to sleep. It was always the same song, but he never got sick of it.”

“Do you still remember the lyrics?”

“It has a lot of lines, but my favorite is the start: ‘Dear son, my angel, it’s time to sleep / You know my love for you runs very deep’. Sometimes I sing it to myself, too, just to remind myself that there was a time when I wasn’t this lonely.”

“Right from the start, I knew that balancing being a Gym Leader with being a father was going to be tough. I try following this schedule I’ve set for myself—Gym in the day, home by night—but one way or another the Gym finds a way to break that schedule. It breaks my heart every time I have to cancel plans with your mother because of an overload of challengers, or whenever she calls saying you’re home and I can’t guarantee having dinner with you.

“But the one thing I’ve always promised myself is that I’m going to be there for my family, no matter the cost. I may not be present physically, but I never forget to call your mother in between challenges, and I always look forward to your calls every night telling me about all the interesting people you’ve interviewed for that day. We both bump into a lot of people each day, but I know you’ll agree with me when I say that nothing beats talking to family.

“I hear about so many fathers leaving their wives and children to pursue their own journeys, and I think that’s very selfish of them to do so. What’s the use of being successful if you don’t have people you love surrounding you? I don’t think I could ever call myself a Gym Leader without you two.”

“I won’t lie to you. I won’t make you think that I go through the days without missing you and your father. I won’t delude you by telling you that I’m perfectly and unarguably happy being left in this house all alone. I won’t make you think that seeing you on your journey and seeing your father in that gym is easy for me. I love you too much to lie about any of those things to you.

“What I will tell you, with all the honesty in my heart, is that I don’t want any of those things to supersede your journey. It won’t be right for a mother to restrict her child from doing anything because of her own reasons. It’s a weighty and multi-layered issue, and I won’t say that it’s ideal for me, but I assure you that all mothers will agree with me when I say that the difficulty of letting go is nothing compared to the satisfaction of seeing our children grow and succeed. And if you not being here means that you’re having a meaningful journey, well, I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

 

[[Imaginative]:[Clockwork]]

I guess after Children of Hoenn, it was just a matter of time before the parents got their turn, huh? I'm glad, though, since focusing on people who aren't all devoted to Pokemon training in one way or another allowed you tell some really diverse stories and cover some new ground. My personal favorite is the protagonist's mother (I think I said it when I reviewed 24 Months, but the games' moms are so interesting to me because of all of their untapped story potential). It just feels like it has some real emotion behind it, which is nice.

While there was a good variety of situations and people, I did notice most of these mostly boiled down to the parents loving their children. Which is fine, but it seemed to make them all relatively happy endings, meaning the tones of each interview weren't as distinct as they usually are. A lot of them ended with a message of "It's hard, but it's worth it," y'know? This had the effect of highlighting the two sadder ones (the woman with the letters and the ex-Aqua member) and making me want to hear more from those people. So while it's great that it made those more interesting, the rest become a little more homogeneous because of it. Then again, I'm very sleepy, so maybe I wasn't picking up on all the details I should've been. ^^;

Still, they were all very touching. As usual, you show a knack for openers and closers, and there are always several people per file that I want to see full stories for. For whatever reason, the mom who gave her daughter up for adoption hit me the hardest, and it just instantly created some vivid images of each of their journeys and lives and the intense battle. The Magma grunt was cool, too, and it used a different angle to shed even more light on the day-to-day operations you explored in the last file. Great work like always!

 

[diamondpearl876]

Over these past few months, I realized that in many ways, a child’s journey is also experienced by their parents. All those phone calls and letters and impromptu visits turn mothers and fathers into your journey companions. But it also works the other way around. The journeys of parents—both of the trainer variety and otherwise—are also experienced by their children, ups and downs and all.

I’ve had the honor of talking to several parents in my journey across Hoenn, and they all have a lot to say about their children and their journeys and how those two relate to each other. A journey may be filled with multiple stories, but a family is filled with multiple journeys affecting and intersecting with each other.

I think this file has a lot of potential and I'm excited to read it, but the opening is a bit choppy. It just seems like you were trying to hard to figure out an opening.

“Thanks, thanks so much. I’m holding back tears right now, but I don’t think I can hold it any longer. Come here—I know we’ve barely met, but I really need to hug this out with someone, and you’re the first one to find out. I’m a dad!”

Sweet but also terribly sad that he's having to hug a stranger and not his wife.

Well, for starters, it pays really well, and it allows me to support my wife and kids. And, well, there’s really no better reason than that, especially since my nine-year-old’s gonna start her journey real soon. I have to make sure we have enough funds to support her, and the only way I can do that is if I stick with this job.”

It seems so obvious, but I've never actually thought about parents working to fund a child's journey. Hmm.

“I made the tough call of selling my Pokémon to the black market the other day.

There's always one part in your files that really gets to me and kicks me in the heart. SIGHHH

“Battling my daughter without her knowing that I was her mother.”

This section might have actually inspired something for my own fics. Love it.

The term they called us—’grunt’—was very fitting, since all we were allowed to do was grunt in affirmation of whatever nonsense the admins threw at us.

I laughed.

All in all, you did a good job showing the diversity of families I'd imagine seeing in Hoenn. I do agree with Clockwork when they say it's all a bit too lovey-dovey. Not all families wanted/want their children. There's not always love between family members. So because of that lacking the file was a bit on the unrealistic side, but a great read nonetheless. Keep it up!

 

[Starlight Aurate]

In reality, I first read this about an hour after it was posted, but life caught up to me and so I waited until now to reply

The first story was so adorable; I've never had any kids myself, but my sisters and some of their close friends have and I know the joy that comes from parenthood. It's so cute!

The Magma grunt one was one of my favorites (if this wasn't going to be obvious ), mainly because it shows how torn this woman is between two ways of life--her family, and fighting for what she thinks is right. I always love the depth you add to these teams; it's really inspiring!

t’s a really robotic process, far from the joy of training that you’re used to. They have all the specifics in place, right down to the number of battles my Pokémon should have. It’s taken out all the fun of battling for me.

Hm. Reminds me of how some certain school systems work. I know kids who have gone through ridiculously-rigorous schedules simply because it's what they need to do to move on to the next stage of their lives, even though a lot of the times the strictness of it discourages any sort of innovative thinking. Don't know if you intended that, but I got those sort of undertones from this.

The sailor one was really sad I appreciate that this guy was able to prioritize his family over others, but it leaves me wondering what might have happened to poor Tenty.

“But his absence hasn’t been forgotten. My son keeps on asking me about him, telling me that all the kids in Trainers’ School had fathers and that he wonders where his is."

Awww Reminds me of a guy I met one time who went through similar things (growing up with just a mother and never knowing his father), and how he told me that he had felt really deprived having to live without a dad.

I also really love your file about the ex-Aqua member. I find it funny how you and I have it operate similarly here--they can't contact or see their families--but in the Team Magma file, she gets a day off each week that she gets to spend with her son. Even though a lot of basics about the teams are similar, I find little differences like these make them all the more interesting.

I know that the above two posters said that this file was a bit too lovey-dovey and less realistic because of it, but especially since this came after the Villains file I think that the cuteness and happiness is refreshing. That noted, it made the sad parts even sadder, but those parts also made the happy bits more joyous. I really enjoyed this file, and I can't wait for the next one!

 

[Dramatic Melody]

I guess after Children of Hoenn, it was just a matter of time before the parents got their turn, huh? I'm glad, though, since focusing on people who aren't all devoted to Pokemon training in one way or another allowed you tell some really diverse stories and cover some new ground. My personal favorite is the protagonist's mother (I think I said it when I reviewed 24 Months, but the games' moms are so interesting to me because of all of their untapped story potential). It just feels like it has some real emotion behind it, which is nice.

Yep, they obviously have even more interesting stories given it's more than just about themselves Thanks! I remember saying it in the Author's Note on 24 Months, but that conversation with the mom was one of the conversations that inspired me to revisit and eventually finish the one-shot (alongside your A Hundred Tries).

While there was a good variety of situations and people, I did notice most of these mostly boiled down to the parents loving their children. Which is fine, but it seemed to make them all relatively happy endings, meaning the tones of each interview weren't as distinct as they usually are. A lot of them ended with a message of "It's hard, but it's worth it," y'know? This had the effect of highlighting the two sadder ones (the woman with the letters and the ex-Aqua member) and making me want to hear more from those people. So while it's great that it made those more interesting, the rest become a little more homogeneous because of it. Then again, I'm very sleepy, so maybe I wasn't picking up on all the details I should've been. ^^;

Ah, duly noted. I find this really funny since I remember telling American--Pi in their review of Stationary that I've been veering toward writing more emotional and sad stories lately, so I didn't notice that this file overall is pretty light-hearted and cheery. I think I focused too much on making the individual situations distinct but I failed in making the content more diverse than "It's hard, but it's worth it." Thanks to your sleepy head for pointing it out!

Still, they were all very touching. As usual, you show a knack for openers and closers, and there are always several people per file that I want to see full stories for. For whatever reason, the mom who gave her daughter up for adoption hit me the hardest, and it just instantly created some vivid images of each of their journeys and lives and the intense battle. The Magma grunt was cool, too, and it used a different angle to shed even more light on the day-to-day operations you explored in the last file. Great work like always!

Heh, thanks! The Magma grunt's one of the newer conversations here and it's a subject I really want to explore in future conversations, too, since most (if not all) of the grunt conversations I've written so far have been talking about themselves or each other, as you see in the last file. Thanks for the review, [Imaginative]:[Clockwork]!

I think this file has a lot of potential and I'm excited to read it, but the opening is a bit choppy. It just seems like you were trying to hard to figure out an opening.

Ahahaha, you caught me there. I was writing and rewriting this opening since I didn't know how to approach it, and it ended up with me picking the one that sounded the least cringeworthy. XD I was thinking of making it more personal seeing as the file ends with Brendan's own parents, but I scrapped the idea and, well, I ended up with that. Very much noted on the introduction, though.

Sweet but also terribly sad that he's having to hug a stranger and not his wife.

Didn't even realize that point since I thought this was the happiest of the files, which is why I put it at the start. D:

It seems so obvious, but I've never actually thought about parents working to fund a child's journey. Hmm.

We see a very, very small flicker of it in the Johto games, where the protagonist's mom saves the money for them and sometimes buys (ideally) helpful items with it. A lot of the moms are also the ones who give you little things like Running Shoes, Town Maps, and your Bag, so I thought they must have some material contribution to when their child begins their journey.

There's always one part in your files that really gets to me and kicks me in the heart. SIGHHH

XD Tenty appreciates the concern.

This section might have actually inspired something for my own fics. Love it.

Yay!

I laughed.

At least you're positive about it.

All in all, you did a good job showing the diversity of families I'd imagine seeing in Hoenn. I do agree with Clockwork when they say it's all a bit too lovey-dovey. Not all families wanted/want their children. There's not always love between family members. So because of that lacking the file was a bit on the unrealistic side, but a great read nonetheless. Keep it up!

Very much noted on the increased cheeriness of the file's tone, and yeah, I really should have included more files where the parent-child relationship isn't all sunshine and rainbows. Thanks for the review, diamondpearl876!

In reality, I first read this about an hour after it was posted, but life caught up to me and so I waited until now to reply

In the same way, I saw your review the day it was posted but only got to now to replying it, so I guess we're even. XD

The first story was so adorable; I've never had any kids myself, but my sisters and some of their close friends have and I know the joy that comes from parenthood. It's so cute!

Heh, this is all conjecture for me, too, but I'm glad it comes off as realistic.

The Magma grunt one was one of my favorites (if this wasn't going to be obvious ), mainly because it shows how torn this woman is between two ways of life--her family, and fighting for what she thinks is right. I always love the depth you add to these teams; it's really inspiring!

You don't say? XD And thanks! As you probably already know, Magma and Aqua grunts are just filled with so much potential for backstories, so it's always fun whenever I decide to write a conversation on one of them.

Hm. Reminds me of how some certain school systems work. I know kids who have gone through ridiculously-rigorous schedules simply because it's what they need to do to move on to the next stage of their lives, even though a lot of the times the strictness of it discourages any sort of innovative thinking. Don't know if you intended that, but I got those sort of undertones from this.

Ah. Didn't really make that parallel myself, but I always thought that there has to be some sort of strict regimen that those first few trainers go through to make their Pokemon laughably easy to beat. I guess it's to the same effect, only it's a bit heavier since it affects both trainer and Pokemon. Makes me want to explore it more, so thanks!

The sailor one was really sad I appreciate that this guy was able to prioritize his family over others, but it leaves me wondering what might have happened to poor Tenty.

Thinking of making a follow-up to this one, actually, of the trainer who received Tenty. Haha.

Awww Reminds me of a guy I met one time who went through similar things (growing up with just a mother and never knowing his father), and how he told me that he had felt really deprived having to live without a dad.

Thanks! Really glad this comes off as realistic since I had a hard time making this conversation.

I also really love your file about the ex-Aqua member. I find it funny how you and I have it operate similarly here--they can't contact or see their families--but in the Team Magma file, she gets a day off each week that she gets to spend with her son. Even though a lot of basics about the teams are similar, I find little differences like these make them all the more interesting.

Didn't mean it that way, unfortunately. He couldn't contact his family because the family wouldn't let him, not because Team Aqua wouldn't let him. But I agree that Team Aqua would be far stricter here in terms of how much grunts get to see their loved ones seeing as it's Team Magma that's fighting for humanity. So at least we're...50% thinking alike? Haha,

I know that the above two posters said that this file was a bit too lovey-dovey and less realistic because of it, but especially since this came after the Villains file I think that the cuteness and happiness is refreshing. That noted, it made the sad parts even sadder, but those parts also made the happy bits more joyous. I really enjoyed this file, and I can't wait for the next one!

Thanks! Like I said above, I didn't really mean it to come out as lovey-dovey (in that I only realized it once [Imaginative]:[Clockwork] and diamondpearl876 pointed it out ) but I'm glad it was a good read for you. The next file's actually going to veer toward the sadder side of the emotional spectrum, so I guess this can be a calm before the storm sort of thing? Haha. Thanks for the review, starliteevee!

 

[AmericanPi]

Hello DM! After reading "Stationary" I had to check out some of your other works, and I was pleasantly delighted to find out that you had this fic that was inspired by Humans of New York (of which I'm quite fond of). I've only read the introduction and File 6 (Parents of Hoenn) so far, and since File 6 is the most recent file, I'm going to go ahead and post a Review Game-style review of that (because personally I prefer when people review my recent writings as opposed to my older ones.).

Opening
The introduction to this file was nice, and it did its job well. It's really meaningful and philosophical, which made me interested in reading more of the file. I never thought of a parent-child relationship in that way before, which made me want to read more.

Enjoyment
I really enjoyed reading this file. As a fan of HONY I found that your fic followed the HONY format well, and offered many interesting stories. File 6 had every element of HONY that makes HONY so enjoyable. Some of the stories were happy and some were sad, but I felt that all of the stories were enjoyable and fleshed out the NPCs very well. Even though each story can stand on its own, I enjoyed the stories so much that I wanted to read more of them.

Plot
This fic is a little unusual in its format - it doesn't exactly have a central plot; rather, it's a bunch of short stories about a bunch of various people. It totally works, though. Your idea for this fanfic is awesome and creative, and in my opinion is the best part of this work as a whole (as I mentioned before, I'm quite fond of HONY). I never gave much thought to those random NPCs in my Pokemon games, but everyone has a story to tell, and I like the way you fleshed out the characters and gave each and every one of your humans stories, struggles, and successes.

Techniques
Overall, your writing style was great, but I have an idea on how to make your little snapshots even better. The idea is, in a nutshell, give more context of these interviews. Firstly, in HONY Brandon Stanton mentions the location of the people he interviews, and I think if you let us know the location of your interviews (Rustboro City, Route 103, etc.) we would have a little more context. Secondly, it would be nice if you could include what the NPC says when you talk to him/her - you know, the little snippets of text you get when you interact with NPCs? I think that would help put everything the NPC says into context, so we're not just thrown into the NPC's story. Just a suggestion.

I know a lot of this stuff is pretty general, but I just wrote down the impressions I got when I read File 6. I hope this review is helpful, though. I'm definitely looking forward to reading and reviewing your other files.

- Pi

 

[Dramatic Melody]

Hello DM! After reading "Stationary" I had to check out some of your other works, and I was pleasantly delighted to find out that you had this fic that was inspired by Humans of New York (of which I'm quite fond of). I've only read the introduction and File 6 (Parents of Hoenn) so far, and since File 6 is the most recent file, I'm going to go ahead and post a Review Game-style review of that (because personally I prefer when people review my recent writings as opposed to my older ones.).

Hi American--Pi! Glad to see you here. That's perfectly fine that you went ahead to File 6. I appreciate you taking the time to review it.

Opening
The introduction to this file was nice, and it did its job well. It's really meaningful and philosophical, which made me interested in reading more of the file. I never thought of a parent-child relationship in that way before, which made me want to read more.

Thanks! I know that I have to improve it based on diamondpearl876's comments, but it's nice to see that it's effective in introducing File 6.

Enjoyment
I really enjoyed reading this file. As a fan of HONY I found that your fic followed the HONY format well, and offered many interesting stories. File 6 had every element of HONY that makes HONY so enjoyable. Some of the stories were happy and some were sad, but I felt that all of the stories were enjoyable and fleshed out the NPCs very well. Even though each story can stand on its own, I enjoyed the stories so much that I wanted to read more of them.

Woohoo another HONY fan! I'm grateful that you're reminded of the enjoyment of HONY with this file. I always try to balance the happy and sad stories within each file, and while this file is probably one of the worse examples in that regard because of its overly optimistic tone, it's great that you still enjoyed both the happiness and sadness in it. And you saying that you want to read more out of each conversation is probably one of the best reactions I could ever get from a reader of this project, so for that I'm very thankful.

Plot
This fic is a little unusual in its format - it doesn't exactly have a central plot; rather, it's a bunch of short stories about a bunch of various people. It totally works, though. Your idea for this fanfic is awesome and creative, and in my opinion is the best part of this work as a whole (as I mentioned before, I'm quite fond of HONY). I never gave much thought to those random NPCs in my Pokemon games, but everyone has a story to tell, and I like the way you fleshed out the characters and gave each and every one of your humans stories, struggles, and successes.

Haha, when I saw that you were going to review plot, I was kind of confused at what exactly you were going to say about it seeing as there's not really much plot in the literal sense other than "Brendan goes around Hoenn to interview people." I agree that the structure is probably what would make readers take a second look at it, so I'm glad that it works for you. And yep, those NPCs with like two or three lines of dialogue seem so static and voiceless that they're just rife for exploration. I'm glad that you like it.

Techniques
Overall, your writing style was great, but I have an idea on how to make your little snapshots even better. The idea is, in a nutshell, give more context of these interviews. Firstly, in HONY Brandon Stanton mentions the location of the people he interviews, and I think if you let us know the location of your interviews (Rustboro City, Route 103, etc.) we would have a little more context.

Ah. Really interesting idea here. HONY usually does this when Brandon Stanton interviews people when he's abroad (like in that recent refugees collection which was really brilliant), and while at first it seems like it's just there to conveniently tell the reader where the subject lives, you're right in saying that it does a lot in contextualizing what the subject is talking about. Hearing something about war from someone in New York would be totally different from someone in a country that's in the middle of one.

That said, I'm not sure if that level of discussion is actually in this project right now. If I'm gonna strictly follow HONY's format, I'll be doing the location tags if ever I have a file on Humans of Kanto or Humans of Unova, or if I have conversations in the file that's set in another region in order to point out that the discussion about subjects like family or contests or villainy will be different between people that live in different regions. As it stands, though, I haven't left Hoenn yet, and outside of mentioning that some of the trainers are visiting from other regions or have relatives/friends in other regions, I don't have any plans on doing so just yet.

But that doesn't take away from your comment about adding context to the conversations, which is very valid and one that I think could really make this project even more faithful to HONY. For the most part, I haven't really taken into account where in Hoenn each of these NPCs live, and I've pretty much assumed that any differences in how they speak and think would come out of their individual character and not out of where they live. (The closest conversation I can think of that actually addresses place as a point of difference would be this recent post from Tumblr.) But if I incorporate your suggestion of putting place tags, I'd have to make sure that there's this sense of variety between these characters based on where they live, which, unfortunately, I haven't actually thought about.

So yeah, lots to think about with that suggestion, and I'm more than willing to give some more thought into making these characters even more varied based on location. So thanks so much for this comment! Can't promise you just yet that I'll be applying it in the next file but I'll definitely think about it.

Secondly, it would be nice if you could include what the NPC says when you talk to him/her - you know, the little snippets of text you get when you interact with NPCs? I think that would help put everything the NPC says into context, so we're not just thrown into the NPC's story. Just a suggestion.

Gonna go on a bit of a rant here about my project, so if you don't want to read that, just skip this part. But tl;dr: That was what I was going for with a lot of the conversations in File 1, but as the project grew, it shifted toward creating stories independent from their dialogue.

When I wrote Trainers of Hoenn for the one-shot contest, most of the conversations I had were based on what the NPCs' lines were in Pokemon Emerald. This whole project started when I wanted to expand on this Magma Grunt's dialogue, who shared the same sense of doubt and uncertainty that I explore in his conversation.

That became my basis for writing many of the conversations in File 1, but I was quick to hit a dead end when the dialogue became less and less ripe for expansion. You can only do so much in expanding "Hey, you look strong! Let's battle!" or "I'm gonna beat you!" types of dialogue that it'll be easy to lose steam. So that's why I decided to have some NPCs whose backstories are totally independent from their dialogue. That gave me much more flexibility and allowed me to include more types of characters and tackle different issues that Pokemon would never blatantly put in their games, such as divorce and same-sex couples for File 6.

Over time, I've relied less and less on their actual dialogue and more and more on creating new stories that break from the norm of what an NPC says and thinks. I still take into account things like their team and how they look and where they are (very superficially, like, I won't talk about loving the sea if the NPC is on Mt. Chimney). It's become the norm for me, so unfortunately, integrating their actual dialogue to the conversation would limit what I can do with the character.

You're still right, though, in that adding more context to these conversations would improve them. I usually take my time to let the character explain what's going on before getting into what they want to talk about, but I don't do that all the time, so I'll improve on this so that you don't feel like you're just suddenly thrown into the story.

I know a lot of this stuff is pretty general, but I just wrote down the impressions I got when I read File 6. I hope this review is helpful, though. I'm definitely looking forward to reading and reviewing your other files.

- Pi

They're very helpful, and I hope you don't mind the lengthy reactions, especially in those bits about technique. They're very helpful, and it's put a lot on my plate in terms of where to take this project and how to improve it. Thanks so much for the review, American--Pi! I really appreciate it.

 

[Dramatic Melody]

File 7: Humans of the Game Corner

Whoa, it’s been a while since I’ve updated this, and I apologize for that. The original File 7 was supposed to be posted in October, but it never really took off past a couple of previously written conversations. And with work piling up and other projects that needed more attention (e.g., one-shot contest, Yuletide), the original File 7 got scrapped and this got pushed in the background.

But hey, to make up for it, here’s the new File 7! I’m doing something a bit different with this file, so tell me what you think about it!

File 7: Humans of the Game Corner​

​

​

“You’re a real curious lad, eh? It’s true, Mauville’s Game Corner is closing soon. I can’t tell you all the details since a lot of it’s confidential, but all you have to know is that the owner made a good call in deciding to close it down. There were a lot of business-related issues coming his way, and there would’ve been more repercussions if he decided to keep the Game Corner running.

“Hey, lad, don’t get me wrong. I’m sad that it’s closing, too. I used to spend hours wasting away coins in there before I became a Gym Leader. And I still would if the League’s rules allowed it! Wahahahaha! But you can rest easy knowing that it was for the best, and I know that everyone who’s ever played one of its slot machines or roulette tables will keep the Game Corner in a special place in their hearts.”

“What, closing? Don’t believe all the rumors you hear, kid. This Game Corner’s been around ever since Mauville became a city, maybe even longer. So taking it out of the city is like taking the pearl out of a Spoink. I’m sure you heard that nasty rumor from another one of those overprotective parents who don’t want ‘bad influences’ surrounding their children. Well those killjoys need to shut their mouths and leave us be. If they don’t like it, they don’t have to ruin it for everyone who does.”

“Hey, uhh, I overheard you talking to that, uhmm, that old chef there. You all right? He can be a bit, well, intimidating sometimes. Everyone here definitely doesn’t want to get on his bad side. You can imagine what happens when he gets a losing streak going in the slots.”

“Heh, it’s all right. He may be a character, but at least he has some interesting things to say!”

“It’s nice you’re taking it in so positively. But hey, I also overheard you, uhh, talking about the closure of the Game Corner? Sorry if I seem intrusive.”

“No, it’s all right! I was going to ask you about it anyway.”

“Well, I do know for a fact that many of the things that old chef said was wrong. Mauville was already a city long before they made the Game Corner. And they’re really closing this place down, too, but no one really knows when. I didn’t believe it when I first heard it, too, but I’ve been noticing the little things. The owner’s been giving us free coins more often than usual, and the prices of the coin bundles were lowered for us regulars, too. And the prizes? He’s been handing them out to us regulars like candy. I can’t count how many Mudkip dolls I already have from all the giveaways. So it’s pretty obvious to me that the closure’s gonna happen soon, but like I said, when it’ll happen exactly is still a mystery to me.”

“How do you feel about it?”

“I don’t really know. I’m one of the newer regulars, so I don’t really have a strong attachment to the place like the others. I feel sad about it, sure, but it is what it is, you know? But I’m sure if you ask the others, they’ll feel pretty heartbroken about it. Arceus knows what’ll happen when that old chef finally realizes that all the talk he’s been hearing is actually true…”

“It’s not fair! They’re taking away the one fun thing about Mauville! What else do we have? A gym, sure, but it’s not like everyone and their mother are on their quest to become the Champion. A bike shop, but the only people who like that are those weird cyclists who keep on saying ‘Rydel’ whenever they see a bike. A day care center, but can you really imagine spending hours in a freaking day care center watching Pokémon do whatever the hell they do there? I didn’t think so.

“This Game Corner’s what makes Mauville lively, what makes it worth staying here. Mauville gets visitors from every city of Hoenn, and we even have people coming from other regions, and I can guarantee you that every single one of them visits the Game Corner. And they freaking enjoy it! Sure, it’s a money sink, but that’s part of the thrill of it all. And I bet none of those crooks who decided to close this really understand that.

“The worst part is what they’re replacing it with-a food court. It would’ve been fine if it was just a regular food court, but no. Apparently, what they’re doing is making the food court some sort of battling place, too, where you fight whoever you’re eating with so you can sit down or something. In other words, they’re replacing this amazing, one-of-a-kind Game Corner with some stupid Battle Frontier reject. Who thought that was a good idea?”

“Business is cold, lad. There’s no time to feel bad about a failure when you have to make sure you’re working on the next success. The Game Corner has been a money-maker for all these years, yes, but that was no excuse for the owner to become complacent. If you ignore the sidelines, something unexpected will come and inevitably ruin your business. And that’s exactly what happened...

“Ah, it’s no use explaining everything to you. You’re too young to understand it all anyway. All that matters is that the Game Corner closing is the most profitable action to take, and the owner was smart enough to realize that.”

“Well...I guess I’m sad about it...Aw damn, I missed! Hm...yeah...it’s unfortunate...that it’s closing...What? I know I hit that 7 in that last slot. Don’t play with me, machine! Nah...I don’t think...it’s that big of a deal...Ugh, I didn’t even get a match of two. I mean...it’s not like...this Game Corner’s...my entire life or anything...Gah! I didn’t buy 1,000 coins just to lose! Ooh, you’re gonna get it, machine. You’re gonna give me back all the coins you’ve taken from me. Just watch!”

“So the rumors are true, huh? Well, that’s too bad, but I honestly think the closure is for the best.”

“How so?”

“I’m only a casual visitor-I play maybe once or twice a week-but I’ve noticed the same bunch of people each visit, and I think their addiction to this place is getting out of control. One of the regulars who miraculously isn’t here right now is one of Wattson’s gym trainers, and I have no idea how he still manages to keep his job when he spends more hours in a day here than in the gym. And that guy in the last aisle, I hear he works in the day care, but the way he talks to the slot machine sure doesn’t seem like he’s meant to handle baby Pokémon.

“A lot of these people treat the Game Corner like this escape from reality, and I think it’s been very unhealthy for them. I think taking it out of their systems would be good for them in the long run. Sure, I can understand if they’ll feel sad and miss it, but then they’ll realize just how much time and money they’re wasting by going here every day. Eventually, they’ll see that the closure is a good thing in the end. Trust me.”

“Truth be told, I’m the one who’s worst off after the closure pushes through. I mean, besides the owner of course, but I’m pretty sure I can argue that I’ll match him in terms of how much I’ll lose from the closure.”

“Can I ask why?”

“Everyone else here is only gonna lose a fun way to waste their money while I’m gonna lose my only reliable source of income. I may have unusually long hours, and the job might be the most monotonous in all of Mauville, but at least the pay’s good enough for rent in Verdanturf, and the tips I get from generous customers definitely help in putting food on the table. I pray harder than any of these chumps for them to get the big prizes coz that’s when they’re in a giving mood. When that happens, I always present myself as the one who gave them their winning coin, and it works all the time.

“But all of that’s gonna be gone soon, and I have no idea what I’ll do. The other cashiers all have previous work experience backing them up, so it’ll be easy for them to find another place to work. Me, this is my first and only job-selling coins is all I’ve ever done for the past eleven years. And now that that’s being taken away from me-damn, I really don’t know what to do.”

“I met my wife here, right at this exact spot. I was playing roulette alone, just like now, and then this beautiful lady suddenly comes in and asks if she could join me. I don’t know how I managed to fumble out a yes since I couldn’t get over how gorgeous she was. But I did, and we played together for a long time. Exactly a year later, I propose to her, right here, while I’m kneeling down on top of the roulette table. Don’t worry, I was a skinny lad before, so the table could carry me fine.

“I stopped going here for a long while after that-my money was better used for rent and expenses instead of roulette rolls. But ever since she died a few years ago, I’ve been going here every day and playing again. Something about the place reminds me of the good ol’ days. I can still picture all the times we played roulette together. Being here makes the memory more vivid, that’s for sure.

“It broke my heart when I heard the Game Corner was closing. One of the few things that remind me of her is going to be taken away from me, after all. I’ve been talking to the owner and asking him if I could buy the roulette table off of him so I could at least preserve that. He’s given me a pretty hefty price, though, so I’m not sure if that’s gonna happen. So for now, I’m playing here as much as possible, praying that I won’t go through another heavy loss again.”

“I was the youngest customer of the Game Corner at one point since Dad brought me here a lot when it first opened. He said I was his good luck charm, and he never misses an opportunity to tell me that all of the success the Game Corner has experienced was because of me. I’m sure your dad has told you the same thing when he became Petalburg’s Gym Leader.”

“Yeah, always.”

“But we both know that it’s a big discredit to what our fathers have accomplished. I’ve never met anyone who’s as hardworking and passionate as my dad. If I’m the reason for the Game Corner’s initial success, he’s the reason for why its maintained that success all these years. There were so many roadblocks he single-handedly overcame, from handling dozens of protests made by conservative neighbors to rejecting a rich businessman’s proposal of turning the space into one of his Voltorb Flip arcade, even if that would’ve given him more than enough money to retire.

“Unfortunately, this last roadblock is just too big to work around, and I definitely understand my father’s decision to close the Game Corner. It’s sad, yeah, but it’s necessary to move forward. I’ve been giving away our prize dolls to regulars and one-time visitors alike as a way of saying thank you for keeping us in business for all these years. You started with a Mudkip, right? Here, have a Mudkip doll. Let it be a way for you to remember the Game Corner even after it’s closed down.”

“There are many heartbreaks, of course. This Game Corner’s like my baby, after all, one that took a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to raise. But the harshest heartbreak of them all is how we’ll lose a space that defined a community. All the regulars have become good friends with each other, and I’ve become good friends with them as well. All the rapport we’ve built is a big reason why I always wake up eager to go to work despite all the pressures that come with the business. I’ve lost count of how many times I thought about continuing operations even if it’s gonna lead me to declare bankruptcy just because I want to keep the community alive. Unfortunately, the problems I’m faced with go beyond even that, and in the end I was left with no other choice.

“You might think I’m exaggerating-after all, what’s stopping us from seeing each other outside the Game Corner? But I’m sure you can agree with me when I say that taking the place away will never make anything that happened within that space the same again. After all, we can’t be the Game Corner community without the Game Corner, and it breaks my heart knowing that that’s where all of this is going to lead to in due time.”

 

[diamondpearl876]

Well, I didn't quite get to this on your birthday, but one day later's not bad, right? XD

“Hey, lad, don’t get me wrong. I’m sad that it’s closing, too. I used to spend hours wasting away coins in there before I became a Gym Leader. And I still would if the League’s rules allowed it! Wahahahaha! But you can rest easy knowing that it was for the best, and I know that everyone who’s ever played one of its slot machines or roulette tables will keep the Game Corner in a special place in their hearts.”

Somehow, the image of pre-gym leader Wattson playing any games at the casino is pretty amusing...

“What, closing? Don’t believe all the rumors you hear, kid. This Game Corner’s been around ever since Mauville became a city, maybe even longer. So taking it out of the city is like taking the pearl out of a Spoink. I’m sure you heard that nasty rumor from another one of those overprotective parents who don’t want ‘bad influences’ surrounding their children. Well those killjoys need to shut their mouths and leave us be. If they don’t like it, they don’t have to ruin it for everyone who does.”

Not quite sure what I was expecting after the Wattson interview, but hearing the exact opposite of what he said surprised me. XD But if you think about it, there's always someone who thinks in this way when something like this happens, so... It's pretty realistic.

And the prizes? He’s been handing them out to us regulars like candy. I can’t count how many Mudkip dolls I already have from all the giveaways.

I see what you did there...

It’s not fair! They’re taking away the one fun thing about Mauville! What else do we have? A gym, sure, but it’s not like everyone and their mother are on their quest to become the Champion

Another realistic thing I like about the section of HoH. XD I'm kind of guilty in showing that everyone in the world is trying to go on a badge quest, but I like when fics tackle the opposite idea.

“Well...I guess I’m sad about it...Aw damn, I missed! Hm...yeah...it’s unfortunate...that it’s closing...What? I know I hit that 7 in that last slot. Don’t play with me, machine! Nah...I don’t think...it’s that big of a deal...Ugh, I didn’t even get a match of two. I mean...it’s not like...this Game Corner’s...my entire life or anything...Gah! I didn’t buy 1,000 coins just to lose! Ooh, you’re gonna get it, machine. You’re gonna give me back all the coins you’ve taken from me. Just watch!”

I know someone who is exactly like this when we're at the casino. XD So this was amusing to read.

So, overall, amusing to read and there were a lot of highlights - namely the sense of community the people got from this place, and how sad they'll be to see it go (or in some peoples' cases, angry/bitter). I think my only complaint is that I might have wanted a couple more POVs from the more serious gambling addicts. I mean, there's gotta be someone who's gone here and lost it all and regretted it, but they still keep coming back, because that's what addicts do. Dunno, it may just be me who likes seeing characters in GREAT DESPAIR. XD