Pokémon The Long Road

[IFBench]

Chapter 7! That was such a fun chapter!

First off, Victory Road! As I've said before, the only Victory Road I've ever experienced was the one in Violet, so this was really cool! Didn't expect it to be a bunch of caves, but I guess that's really fitting for Steven!

And then Steven is subjected to a robbery! That was really cool and tense and interesting, and also SIDNEY?! Was not expecting a future Elite Four member to be part of this gang of thieves, but that's really cool and neat!

And the battle! Steven risking his entire team! Shelia disregarding the rules of the battle and attacking Steven directly! Steven discarding the rules in turn, and using his Pokemon to even protect the other thieves! Sidney exiling Shelia! Shelia's last-ditch attempt, trying to kill them all! And Steven and Sidney work together with their Pokemon to drive her away! That was all so cool!

And then Steven promises to help Sidney and the gang if he becomes champion! And I know from canon that he does, and Sidney becomes an Elite Four member! That was fantastic!

Pardon how much this review was just me gushing about the chapter, but it really was excellent!

Thank you for writing this!

 

[IFBench]

Chapter 8, here we go! This was another really fun chapter!

Steven decides to go off-route, which from what I've heard Tetra talking about, seems like a very bad idea, but it honestly turned out a lot better than I was expecting! No encounters with hostile wild Pokemon at all! Though that's probably just a difference in worldbuilding.

Baltoy is back! And they're a Claydol now! Woooo! And now they're teaming up with Steven again!

And there's Team Magma, too! Honestly wasn't sure if we'd see the teams here, but it was really cool to see at least one of them! Now I'm wondering if Steven's going to encounter, say, Aster at some point.

And Dusty is here again! Was wondering if Steven was going to see him again! That was cool! And Claydol officially joins Steven's team!

I don't know how you keep consistently making these chapters so good! They're so much fun to read!

Thank you for writing this!

 

[IFBench]

Chapter 9! Do I even need to say it's good at this point? It feels like it's just a given that every chapter of this is going to be amazing.

Wallace! He's back! He's pretty prickly, but he's here! Love the banter between him and Steven. They're both such dorks.

The baby Spheal is so adorable!

The cave sounds so cool and mystical! An entire shore completely covered in seashells, a cavern made entirely of ice! It's so cool! Pun intended!

And the escape! It was really cool and tense! Trying to beat the tide, Steven getting colder and colder, DOUBLE EVOLUTION, Steven freeing Wallace from a cave-in, and Wallace helping Steven in turn! And by the end of it they're friends! Sorta! Rivals without much animosity between them!

Another absolutely wonderful chapter!

Thank you for writing this!

 

[IFBench]

Chapter 10!

We're starting off with an injured Steven! And he immediately wants to disregard the doctor's orders. Oh boy.

And Steven was only barely able to make it to the Pokemon Center. I'm guessing this is after the chapter where he met Aron? It seems like it takes place there in the timeline.

It's really cool how the different towns' Pokemon Centers are different. Dewford's sounds pretty barebones, while Slateport's even has buttons dedicated for calling a nurse.

Steven's first day and night in the center sure does sound miserable. Not only is he probably in immense pain from his arm, but he can barely do anything, and he's unable to sleep, too. I can fully understand why he wanted to sneak out.

Heh, the bit about the Gulpin was funny. They're such weird Pokemon, and I often forget they exist.

And oh boy, an Electrike has fallen into the river in Lego City! I really like how Steven tried to catch them in order to save them!

And Steven is back to the Pokemon Center, now with a distrustful Electrike with him. Oh boy.

I'm honestly really surprised Steven was allowed to go to Mauville so quickly, but the Electrike was in pretty bad shape, so it sorta makes sense.

And Wattson gets a new electric-type, courtesy of Steven! It was cool seeing a temporary team member, that didn't leave through tragic means.

Another lovely chapter! Thank you for writing this!

 

[IFBench]

Chapter 11! WOW!

First off, the gym battle was really creative and cool! Using psychic powers to redirect attacks is an awesome concept! And I honestly thought Steven was going to lose at first, before he turned it around by using Confusion to redirect an attack!

And then there's Garrett. Garrett. Garrett Garrett Garrett AJJFAJFAFAJJFOAJFKJCALKJOA!

That was AMAZING! He seemed kind at first, but slowly the facade started to fade, until he just admits that he trained who knows how many Arons for half a year, then abandonded all but one of them. WOW I want to punch him.

That battle between Steven and him was tense. Immediately after it becomes Lairon vs Aggron, there were very clear personal stakes in this battle, and it delivered! Every matchup brought something new, and everyone gave it their all. And there was Lairon's evolution! Such a cool moment, and I love how they came back to take down Garrett's Aggron! AAAAAA THIS WAS SO COOL!!

Absolutely amazing chapter, so much fun, AAAAAAA!

Thank you for writing this!

 

[IFBench]

Chapter 12!

I really like how this ones open, in the thick of the action! Steven's hiding from an angry Skarmony, and we're left wondering what he did to anger it. And then the next scene is a small flashback, showing exactly that.

And oh boy, did he anger it. It didn't stop chasing him, even after a day of him hiding in a building. And then it picks him up, and carries him all the way to a volcano for a duel.

It was a neat battle! From using pokeballs to buy time, to Steven using ash to distract the Skarmony, it was neat! And even after Steven manages to catch it, it's still hostile. Oh boy.

The glassmaker was cool, too! Don't have much to say about them, but they're neat!

Interesting way to end the chapter! Guessing Steven is going to tame Skarmony in a future chapter!

This was, while a fun chapter, not my favorite. It's still amazing, don't get me wrong! I just don't have a lot to say.

Thank you for writing this!

 

[IFBench]

Chapter 13!

Looking back, I'm realizing that about a good 85% or so of this 10k chapter was battle.

This is surprising to me, because I LOVED this chapter.

Admittedly, I bounced off a bit off of some previous fight scenes, particularly part of the Mossdeep gym battle one, but this one, well, ones, these ones were probably my favorite yet!

First off, ITEMS! Even if it's just berries, ITEMS! Part of what Tetra said I'd love about this fic is item use, and I'm finally getting to see that here! The chesto berry strategy was really neat!

And Wallace's battle with Steven was really cool! The two rivals finally facing off! The way you played around with the water and ice was awesome! I love how you had Metang get completely frozen, and it actually made sense!

Not only that, but it set up perfectly for the battle with Juan! Several things came back, such as freezing via soaking and ice, and Metang's growing psychic abilities! It was masterfully done, and so so cool!

This chapter probably has my favorite fight scene in the fic so far, at least choreography-wise. Emotionally, I like Garrett's better, but otherwise, this is my current favorite!

Thank you for writing this!

 

[IFBench]

Chapter 14!

This chapter has the honor of being the first chapter of this fic that I actually teared up at!

Just...Steven revisiting all the locations he's been to across his journey? That's one of my favorite tropes, and it was so cool to see it here! And he and his team were all so happy and content, and aaaaaaaaaa!

Even Electrike makes a return, and they're doing so much better! That and the friendship rater part were the parts that I teared up at. It was so lovely!

And the berry orchard! It was so quaint and great! Just a massive orchard of berries, of every single type. Acacia would be proud.

I was a bit confused with Metang being a Metang in one section, then a Metagross the next, with no evolution scene. I even looked back to see if I missed something, but nope.

Then, with the handbook snippet at the end of the chapter, I realized what's probably going on here. They were all so joyful, so content, that it was happiness and friendship that triggered the evolution. While it wasn't shown on page, it didn't need to be, because the impact is still there. You can tell what happened. And I really love that!

Thank you for writing this!

 

[IFBench]

Chapter 15! I might actually finish reading today!

Another really neat chapter! I wonder if Luna is going to be relevant at all later?

Nonetheless, these were some really cool battles! I was wondering what you were going to do with the Elite Four, since Sidney obviously isn't one yet, and making a few original Elite Four members is a really cool idea!

The battle with Iono's cousin was really cool! All sorts of fun tricks, especially when ITEMS got involved! The stuff with the iron ball was some of the coolest item-based battling I've ever seen! Metagross being encumbered by it, but then using it to their advantage as a pivot and as a flail! It was so cool!

And it seems like every Elite Four member is gonna give Steven an item! So cool! A Revive from Iona, and now a Full Restore from Glacia! It's really neat!

I was admittedly a bit disappointed Glacia's battle went by so quick, but it makes sense. Steven is so strong at this point, and it probably would be tedious to write out every Elite Four battle to the degree of some prior battles in the fic.

Nonetheless, amazing chapter, and I'm excited to see the other two Elite Four members!

Thank you for writing this!

 

[IFBench]

Chapter 16! WOW!

I was not expecting a surreal horror chapter in the Elite Four battles, but wow, that was so cool! It was terrifying in the same way a rollercoaster is!

It started off so normally, then got more and more twisted, and then everything started going crazy and AJAQJOJJAJAU THIS WAS THE COOLEST GHOST POKEMON FIGHT I'VE EVER SEEN!

There's so much I want to say, but I have no idea how to put the words down. I'll try my best, though.

First off, Phoebe! She starts off nervous, and then gets more and more desperate before literally collapsing, and then her Pokemon were in control of the battle! The shadows were twisting and writhing and so much cool stuff was happening and it was just AAAAAAAAA! How do you keep consistently writing amazing chapter after amazing chapter!?

And then at the end, things calm down a bit, and Steven is ready to take on the final Elite Four member...which will probably be a piece of cake. And then the champion...I wonder who they will be?

This was such a fun chapter! Longest one yet, but the length only enhanced it, didn't detract from it! It was amazing! I feel inspired!

Thank you for writing this!

 

[IFBench]

Chapter 17!

Wow! Wow wow wow wow WOW!

I'm literally giggling in glee right now. That was AWESOME!

Was honestly not expecting Drake to be the champion, but it makes sense! And that battle was so cool! Rock and steel against the might of dragons!

Every matchup was tense. Armaldo against Flygon. Claydol against Flygon. Skarmony against Shelgon. Aggron against Shelgon. Aggron against Altaira. Cradily against Kingdra. Cradily, Claydol, Aggron, and Metagross against Flygon. And then finally, Metagross against Salamence.

The tide of the battle kept swaying back and forth, and it had an iron grip on me. One of the best battle sequences I've ever seen, period. It's up there with my favorites from Legendarian Chronicles and Dimensional Links! Aaaaaaa it was so good!

And then, finally, Steven comes out on top, just barely. He's become Champion of Hoenn, and that moment he sees his photo was fantastic. He's still the same person, but he's grown. Improved. Become better in a multitude of ways.

No longer is he Steven Stone, Devon heir. Now he's Steven Stone, Champion of Hoenn.

Absolutely lovely chapter.

Thank you for writing this!

 

[IFBench]

Chapter 18!

Congratulations Pano! You've made me tear up twice now!

I...honestly don't know what to say. I have so many feelings and emotions about this, but I don't know how to translate them into words.

This chapter was a perfect ending to the fic. It fulfills the purpose of an epilogue perfectly, letting things calm down. The scenes with Steven's dad, Wallace and Juan, and Roxanne...all truly fantastic. And at the end, there's the handbook, old and worn, but still having those memories within.

There's still stories left to tell, but for the most part, they're left up to the reader's imagination.

This was a truly amazing fic. It's honestly become my favorite mainline Pokemon fic. It's just...everything I could ask for in a purely mainline fic. Sure, I love PMD, but this gives me a similar amount of joy as PMD does.

Steven's Pokemon are all characters, none of them underdeveloped. Each is a joy to read, and that's not even mentioning Steven himself, or the myriad of characters he's met on his journey. It was wonderful, amazing. It's inspirational.

It was a long road, but it's come to an end.

I look forward to reading more of your writing, and look forward to your thoughts on my own fics.

Tetra was right.

I love this fic.

Thank you for writing this.

 

[Phoenixsong]

Oh boy. Here we go. It's TLR time, babey.

Chapter 1

Start as you mean to go on, eh? The very first thing we see Steven actually do is make himself late and risk a storm because of Ronk, haha. Sillies aside, though, and even with foreknowledge of how much he do enjoy a good ronk, it is great to just cut straight to one of the cores of his character. And the other, how much he enjoys interacting with his team—he even seems to have stopped because of Aron, not just his own curiosity—follows right after.

The little Aron at his feet huffed in defeat while Lileep patted its back with a tentacle in consolation.

oh no adorable lileep you've got me already

It seems like the "our eyes met and so we must battle!" thing gets taken pretty seriously here, huh? I don't know that I see that very often in more serious fics, but I'm here for it—it'll be interesting to see if anything comes of it at some point during this story. (Perhaps it does at an earlier point, and now Steven knows better than to chance it, eh?)

...unfortunately no one told the easily-startled shuppet about that, did they? The battle here is quick and nicely-paced, and I like that we get more evidence of Steven and his pokémon coming to agreements (however hastily) on how best to try and get themselves out of this. Keyword "try", I suppose! Slipping in the mud earlier was nice foreshadowing for how he'd have trouble getting to Metang here, ha.

In general the team's interactions with Steven are so sweet, and really speak to the group having a history together even though this is the first time we're seeing them. Aron braving the rain to get the linoone away from Steven, Metang immediately checking to see whether Steven's well after being exposed to 2+ hours of rain and stress, all the work they did to make the room more comfortable, preparing for a little shopping trip for some new equipment... they're just so thorough and so willing to coordinate and it's great, really.

Steven's personality comes through so well throughout this as well, even as young as he is. Quiet quips, earnest politeness, a little self-deprecation, the works. I did find that little "oh no the nav is broken, well I can just get a new one from Dad" pretty interesting, since it was such an easy thought for him. Perhaps at this point in his life Steven's still relatively comfortable with his privilege/doesn't think much of it? Or maybe it's just pragmatism because this route is currently 7.8/10 Too Much Water and he can worry about it once he's got himself heckin' dry, haha.

All in all this was a pretty "simple" starting situation, just an overconfident trainer getting a hard lesson on the route, but even this does a lot of legwork to set up the characters and relationships we're going to be looking at. I feel like this is a great starting point for a non-chronological story in particular, because not only does it leave me wondering where we're going to go from here, but it also leaves me excited that we're going to get a good, long look at how we got there in the first place. Glad I finally got a moment to jump in here—I'm very much looking forward to seeing Steven's full journey play out! Thanks so much for sharing this, Pano, and I'm glad to be along for the ride until the end.