[Bay Alexison]

Originally Posted by Hitoshizuku

Sorry for the late reply! (I thought I already responded, but obviously not, haha)

@ Bay
Reviewing all the SWC stories must've been a lot of work. I def appreciate it. Not sure where the grammar error you pointed out is, actually...is it from the older version I sent you? (I know that had some embarrassing mistakes, haha).

Yeah, I was afraid the battles might've dragged on a bit (though I was actually most worried about Sammy's battle in that regard - any thoughts on that?). I can see how Bruiser's battle would've been gotten rather monotonous since she tends to use the same attacks over and over (guess who forgot Bayleef had vine whips ). Do you think it would help to mix up the attacks a bit more?

As to the ending, here is an explanation:

Spoiler:

Short version: The humans at the end aren't real. They're illusions created by the Ninetales and Vulpix.

tl;dr version: The episode "Just Waiting on a Friend" had a Ninetales that created an "illusionary" human via psychic powers. I extrapolated the same power to the Ninetales and Vulpix in this story.

Basically, the blonde trainer girl (Makoto) is an illusion created by the Ninetales (Kin), while the boy who was talking to Red is an illusion created by the Vulpix (Gin). This is why Makoto can understand Pokemon (if you look before, she appears to understand what the Pikachu is saying at several points).

So these illusionary humans can pose as trainers. This not only allows the Ninetales and Vulpix to avoid getting captured by other trainers, but also to take in the "leftovers," i.e. fellow Pokemon who would not be accepted/used by normal trainers, and give them a chance to battle. You might guess that the Ninetales would be sympathetic to these "leftover" Pokemon, as she's blind herself.

Hm, when I read it I thought Sammy's battle wasn't that drag out like Bruiser's, but I guess Sammy's can be a little faster. Been busy lately, but I can read over the battles again when I have some free time and maybe give a couple pointers on how to make them faster if you want. Still love the way you did Sammy's thoughts, though. And as for mixing up attacks, yeah that would be a good idea. You can always look at Serebii, Bulbapedia, Veekun, and other Pokemon websites that have info on the different attacks the Pokemon can use (level up, TMs, move tutors, egg moves, etc.)

And okay, I get the ending better now. I do know what happened at at episode, but a bit confused how what happen in that episode relates to this story. ;