The Wild

[Tale]

Here's a question thats been bugging me for a while. Sorry if it has already been raised >.>

But anyway, this mainly involves OT fics.

So, theres the rookie main character, just about to start out on their journey. They are inexperienced, perhaps with a single low-levelled Pokemon at their side, and they venture into the wild to reach the next town or whatever.

Usually, a trainer would start from either New Bark, Pallet, or Littleroot, and upon venturing into the wild for the first time, they are greeted with the weakest of Pokemon, perfect to fight against considering the level of their own.

But what I'm triyng to say is, would the wild really do that? Is there some kind of unwritten rule in being a wild Pokemon stating that all weaklings shall lurk outside of the 'starting towns' and the strongest just before the elite four? What if a trainer starts off in another town, say Blackthorn for instance, they'd be killed before they get started.

It's a tough thing to consider, of course, when you're writing this stuff, you dont want your character submitted to constant attack by Pokemon far stronger than the one he/she owns, otherwise you'd get nowhere, and running away from the beasts would create quite a boring pattern.

How would you go about it? Should it all be organized, weakest first, cliche and unrealistic, or wild Pokemon of all levels everywhere, posing many problems? I'm at a loss...

 

[Ryano Ra]

Very good question. o.o Never thought about that before.

MEOWNAGE.

Let's see now...well, I think it is truly up to each and every author's individual opinion about this. For me, I start in whichever towns/cities/islands that the character comes from, making the wild evenly matches; half are inexperienced, the other half are experienced. Obviously, the young ones don't battle a lot or have mothers/fathers, who are definitely, the strong ones and will fend off trainers when they pull out a Pokeball or some other Pokemon-capturing device. Like in Littleroot, I usually use the wild Zigzagoon and Wurmple and Taillow, but I also put their evolved forms in there with them, like Linoone, Beautifly, Dustox, and Swellow.

I feel as if the wild should be equally balanced; the game obviously does that because of the levels that you start off with. But with fanfiction, you must somehow blend in a taste of reality into it, no matter the genre, mixing it with science, imagination, mythology, and lots, lots more. When writing about the trainers, you must think logically about the wild of the real world; you don't usually see packs of lion cubs running around alone, for they are weak and vulnerable. However, one might get lost from the pack, leaving her vulnerable for any type of attack. That can be used like a pack of Poochyena.

You wouldn't find a pack of youg Poochyena on their own, for the mother Mightyena will be right behind him. However, it is logical for one to get seperated, leaving the open opportunity for any trainer to capture them.

 

[+Chaos Blade+]

Tale, first of all, welcome back, my friend.

Secondly, you've posted the right thread for meh, being that I wrote tons of OT fics.

Thirdly, my response:

Okay, say you were to start the journey in Blackthorn rather than New Bark, Littleroot or Treesap Town. Who would your trainer battle? All Pokémon are at a higher level, but, since it is your fic, you can change the Pokémon's strength in those Routes. For instance, if in the anime, the Donphan were at, hypothetically, Level 28 in Route 46. You can make it a Donphan, sure, but put it at Level 5. XP It'll still be a Donphan, though, but, unlike the games, this Donphan could be deadly with Rollout and Horn Attack in the beginning of the journey. It all depends on how you want it. I would go for the uniqueness, yet cliché'd is all right as well.

+Chaos Blade+

 

[Dilasc]

The simplest way to ensure such a problem does not exist to ignore the games and ignore level factors, since they are, after all, pointless. As one of the serious OT fic writers here, I take this into account, believe it or not. Now, this may sound like an advertisement for Dust to Deceit, but it's not. It's simply bringing up reasoning through example. The only problem is, compared to the three regions everyone else uses, Kertonmel is in Mongolia, and is a very dangerous land.

In so-called, starter forest, there are Houndoom. Houndoom who are viscious, and evil enough to rape Pokemon of compatible breeding species, if only to ensure that their bloodline and genetics are passed on. Of course, no humans meet up with this beast, but the point is made that there is cruelty, and danger all about.

There's even a socalled starting 'sewer' area if you wish to coin the term, and it is where one of Kertonmel's legendary demons makes its home there. This legendary, like all of the other Kertonmel Oni, are evil, and are not afraid to kill many things.

So, all in all, no, it doesn't need to go from easiest to hardest, but we really don't like trainer fics that end in a a funeral after three chapters, do we?

 

[Negrek]

I don't have issues with starting towns or what have you--I have my characters come from wherever I feel like it (usually from Ecruteak because I'm in love with the place, but I digress...).

It makes sense, though, that you'd encounter weaker pokémon more often than strong ones anywhere. Why? Simply because the food chain is structured that way. In order to support one large predator (say your high-level houndoom) there have to be many lesser prey species, i.e. rattata, poochyena, mebbe some stantler. Unless the trainer was actively looking for the more high-level creatures (or was particularly stupid and managed to attract their attention), they would be unlikely to encounter them, whereas they'd no doubt find the weaker creatures. Sure, you'd have your occasional high-level pidgey or rattata or whatever, but they'd be unlikely to eat the trainer if their pokémon were defeated.