I LIVE!

Alright! So...some of you may or may not remember a fic that I started awhile back called Pokemon: The Darker Side. And that I suddenly disappeared...thus causing the fic to die a very premature death.

Well, the reason for my disappearance is that I had become very ill shortly after I posted another chapter. Then Christmas rolled around...then New Years(I suppose I should also state that I discovered Chrono Trigger DS in between all this xD)...then school started back. And school is brutal in the second semester, especially when said semester includes a test that determines if you graduate and when your on the edge of having to go through an extra year of high school. I eventually made my way back here to PC, but had no time to work on/revive my fic.

But with school nearing its end, I'm happy to say that I'll be getting back to work on it soon :D I'll have to start it over again, obviously, but that's probably a good thing- I've had some time to develop a few ideas for it. I've also come up with a plot(somewhat anyway- it's not quite fully developed yet) for a new fic. I hope that they both don't turn out horrible...I know they will use many cliche elements, but they will mostly be the unavoidable cliches, such as Original Trainers and a few other small elements that are near impossible to escape from.

Wondering what my fics are about? Well, here they are, laid out as much as I possibly can without spoiling to much-

#1: Tetsuya's grandfather left him a Pokemon egg when he died. The egg has yet to hatch...and four years have passed. Tetsuya wakes up, expecting it to be an ordinary day...little does Tetsuya know that that egg is about to change his life forever.

#2: I can't say a whole lot about this one yet, only that it starts off at a school for aspiring Pokemon Trainers, and that it doesn't stay there long. The main character(who again, I have no name for yet) is about to begin his graduation test which, should he pass, he will become a certified Pokemon Trainer. I have several ideas for how events will play out after that, but all that I know for sure is that his starter will be Chikorita.
...VERY cliche, yes. However, I'm mainly doing this as a nod to the soon to be released HeartGold and SoulSilver games(and I'm thinking this will take place in Johto). And to make up for it- no, his rival will not have a Cyndiquil- in fact it wont be any Fire Pokemon at all. Instead it will be a Larvitar. As far as I know, it's not as cliche.

So if you have any suggestions, I'm all ears.

Oh, and while I'm thinking about it....does anyone know how to do the little dash hyphen thing over Pokemon?

First, the most pressing matter: To get the dash over the 'e' in Pokemon, I just copy and paste it from word (it should be in the symbols list). Not the most efficent way, but meh. Actually, I only use it in my fics. Outside of my writing, I don't bother with the dash ^^

Second: Nice to see you back. ^^

And now that's out of the way...

As for your upcoming fic, its an OT. You're treading in dangerous waters right off the bat with that, no matter what the bare facts are. So, go read the guide on what to avoid that Thesis/AC Coda X/ whatever his username is now (I forgot his new name, sorry xD) wrote. Because it's an excellent guide on what not to do in OT fics.

The Larvitar thing is good though. You're giving your rival a first-stage Pokemon that becomes supah-powerful eventually, even with the type disadvantage against Chikorita/Bayleef/Meganium. And it's not Riolu, thankfully (to me, a Riolu egg given to a character by his granddad when said granddad died is one thing; getting one for a starter is another).

(Your avatar/signature still makes me laugh sometimes, by the way ^^)

Thanks^^

Anyway, as for the guide...I have indeed read it. Several times. Let's see...I first joined in December...it's May now so...If I had to count I'd say I've read through it about five times and skimmed through it about ten O.o But I don't think it would hurt to read it again- I was going to skim again, but it might be good for me to read it again.
*goes off to read it again*

*Lanee said:

First, the most pressing matter: To get the dash over the 'e' in Pokemon, I just copy and paste it from word (it should be in the symbols list). Not the most efficent way, but meh. Actually, I only use it in my fics. Outside of my writing, I don't bother with the dash ^^

Click to expand...

Alternatively, on a computer using any Windows OS, hold down the ALT button and hit 0233 on your number pad. (Not the top row. The number pad. If you're on a laptop, that may overlap with some keys, so you may need to hold down an extra button.)

For a Linux computer, it's ALT U0311, using the top row. I'm not sure about Macs.

As for the ideas themselves...

An OT fic can, yes, tread in cliché waters, but it all really depends on how you do it. Yes, Thesis's guide is cool to go by, but if you've read it enough times and if you've gotten yourself familiarized with the OT genre enough to know what is a cliché, you shouldn't encounter too many problems, I think.

An egg is an interesting idea, but yeah, I'd say be wary about what it hatches into, not so much for "this is going to be cliché, isn't it?" reasons as it would be "this is going to be Stuish, isn't it?" reasons. In other words, Eevee, Dratini, Riolu, the kinds of Pokémon you don't usually use as a starter... all might end up a little cringe-worthy. If I'm reading this right and it is Chikorita, that's fine. In fact, I'm not sure why you have reservations about it. To be honest, there's really not enough love for Johto starters, I think. Usually, it's the Kanto or Hoenn starters that get the most love, with Sinnoh coming up behind only because it still didn't exist for as long as the others. Johto? Not so much. So, yeah, don't worry about that part too much because you're all right.

As for the Larvitar, it's an interesting concept to give what would normally be a powerhouse, eyebrow-raise-worthy starter to the rival instead of the main character, and it's very classy that you chose a starter Pokémon for the main character that would at least have a chance against the rival starter's final evolution.

I think the only thing I'm a bit uncomfortable with is the trainer's school part. A lot of people start their fics off with the kids in a school for aspiring trainers, and to be honest, I've yet to see one fic that has one that doesn't follow essentially the same kind of formula (as in, with the kids maybe attending one class, but ultimately, with the only point to having the school scenes be the graduation/handing-out-of-starters part and maybe to establish the fact that the trainers had ordinary lives before setting out). Not that I'm being negative or pessimistic already about it. It's just that I always tend to facepalm with those scenes because they feel so pointless, particularly because other than in Electric Tale of Pikachu, it's not canon that it's necessary to attend a special school or set of classes in order to get a license. (In fact, in the anime's canon, special trainer schools like Pokémon Tech sometimes are alternatives to trainer's journeys, rather than a lead-up to it.) It won't exactly be marks against your story. It's just something to be wary about when writing the first chapter(s) of your fic.