[Pokémon] (SWC) Untitled

(I do this for the fun of it, from the latest GT)

July 10, 2016

It's time to begin, isn't it... I get a little bit better and then...
​

The music kept repeating itself in my head. I couldn't take it much longer. I had to listen to the breeze, I mean I at least had to try. Every second brought a Pokemon closer. Okay, you got me. I'm not a writer. Who am I even writing this diary entry for? I don't know but let's just assume someone will read it one day because although I'm not a writer I do like telling stories. This story isn't just a story though, it's real life. You know what I mean.

Anyway. You probably guessed that I'm a Pokemon Go player, shoot me. Two hours ago I encountered something incredible. By incredible I don't mean just a street without Rattata. On that note they really should eradicate Rattata. I literally want to punch the screen when I see one. The incredible thing that happened was that I encountered a Lapras. Again, that probably doesn't sound incredible. Okay, you know what? Here's what happened.

So I was listening to the breeze... or the wind? What was I listening to? Whatever, it doesn't matter. All you need to know is that I put down a Lure Module at a local PokeStop. In case you've been living under a rock (it's okay - I don't judge), PokeStops are signs or statues. Boring things, basically. So I set off the Lure Module in the middle of a nearby forest and I waited for about five minutes. I encountered what seemed like a million Rattata and then I heard a voice. Not a human voice. A Pokemon voice. It sounded kind of like my favourite Pokemon. It was more of a childhood favourite, really. I guess I grew up... and it didn't? Okay, yes that sounds stupid. It's true, though. I became someone who didn't really care for Pokemon. I didn't even NEED Pokemon, anyway. I was paying off my mortgage, I raised about ten puppies and I almost considered having kids for a second. Yeah, I had an exciting life.

And then a friend introduced me to Pokemon Go. I was feeling fat so I figured why not walk around and rid the world of Rattata? It was a noble cause, I suppose. Back to the story... it sounded almost like a Lapras. There was no trainers nearby and I'm pretty sure my phone was on silent. For some stupid reason I decided to walk towards the sound. If it WAS a real Pokemon I could always throw my phone at it and run. I just walked like 2km so I could probably outrun a Lapras. Lapras can't even run anyway. What was I cautious about?

Nothing, apparently. It was only a Lapras plushie... that somehow couldn't make any sound. It DID get the song out of my head though, so it was probably just something I imagined. I took the Lapras plushie with me. I did check if anyone was looking - they weren't. Even if there were people nearby they wouldn't have looked at me. Nobody other than my puppies has really... looked at me. You know what I mean? Of course my puppies haven't looked at me in THAT WAY but at least they remember me. They know I'm a person. I'm not just some random human... I'm more than that. This is getting too sappy. So I took the plushie home. It sat on my bed for about 20 minutes. I looked at it and remembered what I went through with Lapras, and Pokemon as a whole.

I might be somewhat antisocial (and just a tiny bit egotistical) now, but I wasn't always like that. When I was younger I had friends. I also had Pokemon. The only time I was alone was when I played Pokemon. None of my friends bothered with that. I had strawberry blonde hair and a purple streak. Does that scream nerd to you? (It doesn't.) The nerds played Pokemon and they SEEMED to have more fun but we had popularity. Key word there is "had". Eventually the nerds took over the school (don't ask me how) and although I'd have loved to play Pokemon, dance around like an idiot and know the square root of 70 - it just wasn't me. I belonged with my group, and they belonged with their group. If any of my friends knew I played Pokemon I might as well have given up any chance of ever having friends.

Funny thing the past is. You can try and pretend something never happened but you're only fooling yourself.

They eventually caught me. I told them some lie and... you know how the story goes. I mean you can assume what happened. The fallout was huge. 'Early 2000s primary school popularity' huge. I was alone. The nerds (the kings of the playground) didn't want me. I was a former popular kid and I kind of bullied one of the ugly kids. She had a third eye (it was RED), like wtf. Thinking back to that incident... I think she was just Indian. Anyway, I was an outcast. I decided to stop playing Pokemon - it destroyed the only shred of friendship I thought I would have ever known and started to enjoy the idea of being permanently alone.

I did make a few friends over the last few years but I wasn't that close with any of them. They weren't even friends, really. They were co-workers. I'm glad I was told about Pokemon Go, though. I loved Pokemon. I really did. It just hurt too much to go back to Pokemon. But... I made that decision. I could have apologised to the nerds. I could have bred them a sick Gengar. I REALLY COULD HAVE. Yeah, I realised I was being an idiot.

That's when I took Lapras back to its rightful place in the forest. I also completely ignored three Rattata and got an egg from the PokeStop... and someone actually talked to me. It felt like Christmas.

So... what was the point of all this? Duh. The point is that I am great at telling stories. As if there was ever a Lapras plushie. Actually, there was. I had a Lapras plushie as a kid... and Pokemon Go made me nostalgic and one thing lead to another and now I am pregnant wit--just kidding. Seriously though. I caught a Lapras in the game and it reminded me of all I had lost by giving up Pokemon. Now that I have Pokemon back in my life I'm ready to come out as a Pokemon fan and embrace the idea of making a real friend.

And that's how my story really began.

~Hilda
Future Pokemon Champion

Forever said:

(I do this for the fun of it, from the latest GT)

Click to expand...

>>Quote for notification<<

Would I be butchering the term too much to call this magical realism? I don't know; I'm not an art student. But this story feels like that. The magical things in the story are left unexplained and what we're left with is the emotional consequence of the magical event which is the greatest takeaway. And it's good because it's not science fiction; we probably don't need to know why the Lapras was (or was not) singing or if our protagonist is going insane. It's not important. The sequence of events leading to the magic Lapras helping her remember her past is the key, and I don't think the story would be better served with us knowing why the Lapras started singing.

I also quite liked the little aside where she talked about her past as a social outcast. There was this manga I read once with this sort of premise, the protagonist actually being the most unpopular kid in school for some reason or another, and it reminded me of that, if only tangentially. And I must say that you completely nailed the voice for the narrator and the description for the flashback. I particularly liked the third red eye joke. I thought that was hilarious in a laughing at ignorance kind of way.

That being said though, I didn't really like the sort of segue to flashback because Lapras' role in all this wasn't really explained satisfyingly enough despite you mentioning Lapras as the trigger. You say that she had a Lapras plushie, but that's an aside. It doesn't have anything to do with her past or how she was outed or even her life as a social outcast, at least any that's apparent because it's not really spelled out is it? I mean, you don't even mention the plushie in the flashback, and its significance is only really talked about in the penultimate paragraph and even then the connection is sparse and uncertain.

The problem here is that Lapras has no symbolic value, which is a problem because it's the big emotional trigger for the whole flashback. I could probably replace Lapras with a beeping Gameboy to similar effect. It wouldn't be better, but it also demonstrates that the trigger being Lapras has very little significance on her history as a whole, so it sort of cheapens the Lapras' role as the trigger, and, crucially, it means that either one of the story threads (singing Lapras or flashback) is rendered useless since there's no actual link between them. Soooo... yeah. That was my biggest gripe with this.

Plot aside though, I did quite enjoy the writing style. It reminded me of a Jacqueline Wilson style diary novel. I know they were for girls, but I'll read anything that's good. *shrug*

So, like I did with the other SWC entries posted here I'll c/p my comments here in spoilers and also add in a couple more comments.



Now, going to point out a couple parts I thought were rambly but I'll also mention some parts I like.

Anyway. You probably guessed that I'm a Pokemon Go player, shoot me. Two hours ago I encountered something incredible. By incredible I don't mean just a street without Rattata. On that note they really should eradicate Rattata. I literally want to punch the screen when I see one. The incredible thing that happened was that I encountered a Lapras. Again, that probably doesn't sound incredible. Okay, you know what? Here's what happened.

Click to expand...

While I was amused at that Rattata mention (indeed, so many Rattata @_@), this is one instance of the rambling. Perhaps Laparas should be saved in another paragraph or maybe the Rattata mention should be rid of altogether.



Rereading those two paragraphs, you jumped from Hilda about to talk the Lapras to backtracking them being introduced toe Pokemon Go. I feel you should mention Hilda getting into Pokemon Go, and then them putting the Lure Module and getting Lapras.

Nothing, apparently. It was only a Lapras plushie... that somehow couldn't make any sound. It DID get the song out of my head though, so it was probably just something I imagined. I took the Lapras plushie with me. I did check if anyone was looking - they weren't. Even if there were people nearby they wouldn't have looked at me. Nobody other than my puppies has really... looked at me. You know what I mean? Of course my puppies haven't looked at me in THAT WAY but at least they remember me. They know I'm a person. I'm not just some random human... I'm more than that. This is getting too sappy. So I took the plushie home. It sat on my bed for about 20 minutes. I looked at it and remembered what I went through with Lapras, and Pokemon as a whole.

Click to expand...

Even though Hilda mentions what the Lapras plushie really is at the end, this imagery is still cute. The next couple paragraphs after where Hilda mentions the fallout with her friends I believe many folks will feel this way as yeah, middle/high school popularity sucks heh. Being outcast isn't a good feeling at all.

Just as I was wrapping up this expanded review, reading Miz en Scene's comment I do agree that the Lapras could have more of a signifigance there, like for instance someone found out she has one in her house or something. I too would like to see a more stronger link between the Lapras and Hilda's flashbacks to her school days.

Despite the judges' criticism over jumping one topic to another, this is still a fun read that proves how Pokemon Go is able to bring many folks back and new ones to be interested in the franchise. Thanks for sharing this piece with us!