The 7 Day Fic Challenge!

[WildBoots]

Day 6: a fic with an element of world-building that you liked so much you put it in your own work.


Fic: The Alola Pokedex (Entry #46: Delibird) by Persephone

Summary: A guide to the capture, care and keeping of the pokemon of Alola. Contains references to reproduction, anatomy and violence par for the course in an Animal Planet documentary or a biology textbook.

Rating: PG
Wordcount: 185,333 (average 3k per entry, entries mostly stand alone)

Most of us in this community are familiar with ADex, at least by name. It’s been sitting on my to-read list for a long time because, although I’ve read enough entries to know I really like it, I definitely haven’t read ‘em all yet. I’m going to talk about my favorite entry, and I’d love to hear which ones are other folks’ favorites!

Delibird has been one of my secret favorites since I was a kid, and this entry didn’t disappoint.

Something I appreciate about ADex is how Persephone weaves together real animals, existing pokemon lore, absurdity, and realism. For example, from today’s episode I learned: it’s very difficult to determine a real-life puffin’s sex without x-rays or surgery. Wild. Applying this to delibird became such a fun way to subvert the heavy-handed Christmas imagery in their design and get some societal world-building in, too, even though the focus here is on birds. What’s your gender? Who cares. Shack up with whoever you want.

I also loved the explanation for what this ice-type is doing in sunny Alola. It would be plenty to point to Galapagos penguins and call it good, but Persphone goes above and beyond with a very thoughtful response to how these birds would fit into that ecosystem.

Another thing she consistently does well is selecting group names for pokemon. “A carol of delibirds” is the only thing I can think of that I’ve actively lifted from a fic I like and plugged into my own. It’s too clever not to.

If you like ADex, you'll also like Coriolanus Rowland's Guide to Pokémon Husbandry by Cutlerine. The narrator in that one is chattier, snarkier, and judging you.

 

[Pen]

Legends by @Negrek
Red and Blue. Charizard and Blastoise. You can't have one without the other.

Word-count: 5,485

I'm reccing a fic that meets both the (Day 3) fire and (Day 4) water prompts—can't have one without the other, after all. Legends is by TR's very own Negrek, but since it's hosted off-forum, maybe it's new to some of you!

In Legends we meet Red's Charizard and Blue's Blastoise hundreds of years after Red and Blue have died. I only need one word to describe this fic—epic. Negrek conveys the age, skill, and sheer presence of these pokemon masterfully. They are titans, forces of nature that shape and transform nature around themselves. Negrek's prose always shines when writing battles and this battle is no exception. Their clash doesn't feel just like two pokemon fighting—it feels like water and fire themselves are fighting. Charizard and Blastoise have distinctive personalities, but the fic also gives you a sense that they are becoming avatars, becoming eternal principles of clashing elements, of battle, of the drive towards the mythical and unreachable. I really can't harp on the prose enough. I was enamored with the precise choice of verbs and the way this fic uses the landscape to achieve the sense of the epic. That loftiness is also grounded by lovely flashes of humor, such as the brood of squirtle and wartortle who spectate the battle.

What I can promise if you pick up this oneshot: knock-your-socks-off prose, a feeling of awe and vastness, and the unquenchable certainty that the legend will go on. In a more meta-sense, this oneshot is about the stories we tell and retell, the stories that compel retelling because they feel too big to be contained by a single tale, and as a fic-writer that really speaks to me.

 

[Pen]

For the day five prompt for a fic that features "surfing on a pokemon, fishing, boats, or your favorite ship."

Halycon by Windsong (See AO3 version)
Sometimes the sea itself is a gift. Sometimes the gift is something it brings you.
Ten years after HGSS, Green returns to Pallet Town to run a new lighthouse and faces the ghosts of his past.

Wordcount: 31,778

Note: The AO3 version has gorgeous chapter illustrations—just keep in mind that the final chapter of that version features a sexually explicit scene that the ffn version (rated T) does not.

This fic features . . . a pikachu surfing on a lapras, a research expedition on a boat, and a whole lot of RedxGreen feels. I discovered it today while browsing around for a different fic rec and then ended up reading the whole thing, spell-bound. The characterization is superb and the prose lovely.

Halycon is a story of healing, and those are very much my jam. But what really sets the fic apart is the nuance and depth it gives to Green's life and relationships, and the slow, quiet way the fic moves Green from a place of loneliness and pain to one of friendship, love, and peace with himself. Crucially, it avoids the trap that so many ship-fics fall into and does not make the whole story revolve around a single relationship. The most touching part of the fic for me was the slow untangling of Green's fraught relationship with his grandfather, Professor Oak, and the understanding they're eventually able to reach. All of the supporting cast in this story are given a chance to shine, and the overall effect is of a full, textured world.

This is also not one of those stories where the pokemon feel incidental! The pokemon characters are very compelling in their own right, from Green's absolutely charming eevee, to the taciturn ampharos lighthouse keeper, to Red's pikachu, who has an arc of his own taking place in the background. The fic also features some cool pokemon research world-building and an intense battle sequence on a boat.

If you like character-centric fics, the ocean, difficult relationships, healing, pokemon researchers, pokemon physical therapists, eevee that give the best kisses, come check this one out!


(@kintsugi pls let me know if this rec qualifies me for a first-born)

(@Starlight Aurate I know you're a golduck fan— this fic has a very cool golduck who serves as a research associate specializing in monsoons!)

 

[WildBoots]

Day 7: Bloc party! Share a fic that features trainers and pokemon having a good time!

 

[WildBoots]

Day 7: a fic that features trainers and pokemon having a good time!

Fic: It Happened One Night by girl-like-substance
FFN | AO3​

Summary: It's the Box Foundation's annual winter party, and all of the box network admins have flown to Cerulean to get drunk together. But they're rapidly discovering that their problems have come along with them – and that a mysterious stranger seems to want to solve them all ...

Rating: T (drinking, language, implied off-screen sexual encounters)
Wordcount: 11.5k (one-shot)

I never thought I'd read something by gls that I'd call fluffy ... but here we are. The characters here definitely have some problems (anxiety, alcoholism, and oops a ghost on the loose) but (spoilers!) everything works out for the better in the end. It's especially nice to see because I don't think anybody in this fic is straight, and I live to see them all finding a way to live their best gay lives. Who they are is part of their happiness.

It Happened One Night does the thing that fic is perhaps best at: taking underdeveloped canon characters and giving them an actual story. The only characters in this fic are the box network folks, some of whom I'd even forgotten about or didn't know existed. In-game, yawn, give me an eevee and go away. Here they each have a lot of personality. I especially enjoyed Molayne, both how he sees the situation around him and how others see him. You get to know each of the major players well because the fic jumps around to each, each perspective change giving you slightly more information about what's happening underneath the small talk and partying.

You'll like this fic if you like ... human-centered stories, ghosts, characters fixing their problems by speaking up, mysterious strangers, and awkward nerds being awkward.

 

[WildBoots]

☀August Prompts ☀
Summer of Fics

​

Day 1: Let’s go to the beach! Share a fic that is set in Alola, features Alolan pokemon, or includes a major scene on a beach.
Day 2: Weather-ball! Share a fic in which the weather is important.
Day 3: Heatstroke! Share a fic featuring fire-type trainers or pokemon.
Day 4: Cool off and hydrate! Share a fic featuring ice- and water-type trainers or pokemon.
Day 5: Surf's up! Share a fic that features surfing on a pokemon, fishing, boats, or your favorite ship.
Day 6: Cocktail time! Share a fic with an element of world-building that you liked so much you put it in your own work.
Day 7: Bloc party! Share a fic that features trainers and pokemon having a good time!

Day 1 Recs: Share a fic that is set in Alola, features Alolan pokemon, or includes a major scene on a beach.

- Tapu by Farla
- Silver Bird by saphira and shruikan
- Blood is Thicker Than Water / Saving Lillie
- Guiding Light by Ambyssin
- Beasts and Beauties by Diet of Wurms
- Untitled by NiteWrites, a comic, and Strong by Snatent

Day 2 Recs: Share a fic in which the weather is important.

- Freezing Point by Pen
- Final Gambit by Wolflyn
- Fractured Elements by Cynsh

Day 3 Recs: Share a fic featuring fire-type trainers or pokemon.

- Blaze by LittleMissFirebright
- scales by aikotters
- Rebirth by Shadow of Antioch
- In Search of Haven by Canis

Day 4 Recs: Share a fic featuring ice- and water-type trainers or pokemon.

- The Legend of Faye by Niesse
- The Wisteria Files by SilverRockets
- Legends by Negrek
- Will Somebody Stop These Kids? by icomeanon6

Day 5 Recs: Share a fic that features surfing on a pokemon, fishing, boats, or your favorite ship.

- kunāne by Kintsugi
- Halcyon by Windsong
- The Legendarian Chronicles by ChibiPika

Day 6 Recs: Cocktail time! Share a fic with an element of world-building that you liked so much you put it in your own work.

- Alola Dex (#46) by Persephone
- Survival Project by diamondpearl876
- Arbitrary Execution by Cutlerine
- No Culture

Day 7 Recs: Share a fic that features trainers and pokemon having a good time!

- It Happened One Night by girl-like-substance

 

[WildBoots]

Even though they weren't in response to the prompts from this challenge and started earlier, I also want to highlight @Cresselia92 's An Author, An Artwork series because it's very much in the spirit of the #7DayPokeFicChallenge. Her art is lovely and a great advertisement for these fics! And she's done so many.

The links below route to discord posts.

- Nickit from Fighting Nature by Cynsh
- Arcanine by Instruments of Creation by Desert Cat
- Lance and dratini from "Dragon's Dance" by Pen
- Porygon from "pcb000" by Bluwikun
- Pichu from "Song of Two Worlds" by Tanuki
- Nidoran from "Fledglings" by Spiteful Murkrow
- Charmander from "Hands of Creation" by Namo
- Chibi and Lugia from "The Legendarian Chronicles" by Chibipika
- Lucario from "The Curious and the Shiny" by Nebby
- AVulpix from "Guiding Light" by Ambyssin
- Eevee from "Dragony" by canis
- Mew from "Kuki's Tale" by Adam
- Murkrow from "some rise by sin" by Kintsugi

 

[Chibi Pika]

August 4 Prompt: Water

Will Somebody Stop These Kids? by icomeanon6​

Summary: Jason, Krissy, and Travis are young trainers who just want to do the right thing, and to them that means fighting Team Rocket. If only this didn't make the police's job harder, specifically for Jason's cousin Derek. It's the adults vs. the kids, and they're on the same team.

Wordcount: 114k, complete
Rating: T
Genre: Friendship

You go into this fic thinking it’s just a lighthearted trainer romp, and then you find yourself swept up in a delightfully complex web of interactions between six(!) developed and uniquely troubled protagonists all living unique lives and playing off each other in fun and interesting ways, all amidst a richly detailed portrayal of Johto. This fic embodies the purest essence of what it means to be a Pokemon Trainer, and why being a trainer is such an important part of childhood. It puts a ton of effort into making Pokemon Training an indispensable part of its world while also realistically examining the repercussions of characters getting into the kind of hijinks one typically expects from trainer fics, with some not-so-typical outcomes. Also it's secretly a love letter to baseball culture.

This fic has the unique quirk of all the numbered chapters being the main storyline, with the named chapters being backstory flashbacks that flesh out the cast and show how the characters got to where they are today. But don't make the mistake of thinking that the flashbacks are extraneous--they're absolutely essential for adding extra dimension to the protagonists, and getting you fully invested in their lives, hopes, dreams, and struggles. While the fic does have some adventure and suspense elements, I really want to stress that this is a character study through-and-through. Going into the finale, I was legitimately more anxious about one protagonist's crippling depression toward being stuck in a job he hated because he was too anxious to try escaping from it than I was about the fact that he was literally walking into a death match versus a Rocket executive. (Well, okay, maybe it was the fact that he didn't mind the idea of not surviving because then he wouldn't have to return to his soul-crushing ordinary life. This fic is so good, you guys.)

Anyway, I'm reccing this for the water/ice prompt specifically for one named chapter: Wyvern. The named chapters, being backstory extras, are all somewhat standalone, even though they add context for the characters' interactions in the present day. (Half of them actually started out as one-shots!) Wyvern is a heartwarming look into a boy trying to do right by his water Pokemon, even if that means swimming alongside his Horsea in the frigid ocean so that he can get a better read on the Pokemon's health, mood, and control over water (with a fantastically visceral portrayal of biting cold).

 

[kintsugi]

for day six, cocktail hour/elements of worldbuilding that inspired you, we're gonna dig a little deep.

it should be stated that there are a ton of fics whose worldbuilding has lent to my current stuff and the list itself is probably longer than this rec, but this fic holds a special place in my heart because I have vivid memories of smol-teenage me sitting up in my chair and being like, oh, wow, that's how you can adapt this franchise into something new but make it unique and interesting while also ripping my heart out of my chest, neat.

Survival Project, by diamondpearl876 (FFN | Serebii)
This trainer is different. Everyone knows it, but no one can explain it.
word count: 173k, complete

Told in alternating perspectives by the different pokemon on a trainer's team as they journey through Johto, this story is haunting and beautiful. The prose is just really good, y'all. And like, do you want completed journeyfic? This is technically a completed journeyfic. They made it. They journeyed. Sometimes they even got badges and stuff. The story is complete. But it's also really not a journeyfic and in that regard the story really shines--this is about the characters, human and pokemon, who get dragged along on this journey and end up finding and revealing themselves along the way. It was a really bold take back in 2011 or whatever, but it still holds up now--the actual earning of the badges and fighting of the pokemon isn't what makes a story great, so in this story all that stuff just gets jettisoned for character development and heartbreak.

The prose is really good and its premise/execution tend to blow me away. Each character has a unique feeling narrative voice, they all bounce off of each other in really interesting ways, and in general the juggling of the character dynamics is masterfully done. If you want the sad misadventures of: a trainwreck trainer, a morose hitmontop, a storytelling totodile, a bird with 10000% absolutely nothing to prove, an elekid with 10000000% absolutely nothing to hide, and the sentret who tries to keep them all together, yes, this is it, hello, read it. Top tier good stuff, feels like no other fanfic I've read but it's undeniably fanfic and absolutely steeped in the weird complexities and questions of the pokemon world.

For me the influence is relatively undeniable, to the point that I have incorporated memes into my online vernacular, drawn aggressive shitposts, and even shitposted an entire short story to make a pun on aforementioned meme, but --the real worldbuilding bit is specifically about how sentret canonically are heavily focused around their tail/how it allows them to be better scouts for their surroundings/their kin, whereas that element gets dropped from furret design/lore altogether. So what does it mean when a sentret finally evolves? The answer is sad, and it made me sad, and it in the short term it made me want to write about military sentret and in the long term it made me think about how pokemon physiology and pokemon culture would be inherently intertwined in ways that human culture wouldn't even think to consider.

 

[Namohysip]

I'm having a lot of trouble thinking of just the right prompt for some of these, but! Despite skipping over it previously, I thought of the perfect one for day 2!

A story where the weather is important...

That reminds me of Cynsh's Fractured Elements!

This story is PMD, but it doesn't actually feature Dungeons of the sort you'd expect from the games. Inspired largely by Talgoran's Power Trip for many of its world building elements, Fractured Elements follows a Riolu and an amnesiac human-turned-Chimchar. And as with any human that becomes a Pokemon, it seems that a mysterious crisis has followed him.

In this region, humans are not seen in a positive light, and in fact it our Chimchar, Fen, is encouraged to keep it a secret and a need-to-know basis. Meanwhile, the weather has continued to get stranger and harsher as time went on, to the point where the Absol are crying out in warning. The origin of these worsening weather patterns, and how Fen has to do with any of it, is what leads this cozy-starting story into a serious exploration of humanity's ego.

Warnings: Teen, for some mild to moderate blood and violence, some language, and some death and heavy themes.
Word count: 203k, complete.

 

[Chibi Pika]

Day 6 Prompt: Worldbuilding

Arbitrary Execution by Cutlerine (FFN | Serebii)​

Summary: Nine years late, Artemis is finally getting ready to escape home and begin her transition. But in her haste to run from her old life, she runs straight into something much, much worse: an Indigo League secret that threatens the very fabric of reality.

Wordcount: 184k, complete
Rating: T
Genre: Drama/Adventure

Honestly, this story has it all. A fascinatingly nuanced lead thrust way in over her head into crazy events outside her control while trying to find her way through them, well-developed secondary characters, killer suspense, lush description, and an unbelievably creative premise. I love the balance this fic manages to strike by portraying a world where Pokemon training is ubiquitous and accessible... and also thoroughly entrenched in League bureaucracy. It really got me to think about how to write a region that’s shaped by the institution of Pokémon training, and the kinds of League accommodations that would have to exist in order for training journeys to even make sense.

I almost kind of feel like I shouldn't spoil what this fic is actually about, since it has one of the most powerful first-chapter hooks I've ever seen, a twist that leaves you every bit as dumbstruck and horrified as the protagonist. But I will say that if you know a bit about Gen 1 exploits, then the title of the fic might give you some suspicion. Yep, it's horrifying glitchy eldritch abomination reality screw time.

 

[Meridian]

Day 1 - Beach / Alola
-
Untitled by NiteWrites. Ao3.
Comic of the same concept.
Content Warnings: Themes of trauma and suicide.
Summary: "Acerola tells Nanu a story he doesn't hear."
-
The fic itself is a nearly 600 word oneshot about Nanu's backstory, and the same concept was later done in comic form, although it's a different depiction. The content warnings for this fic would be themes of suicidal ideation and depression, and spoiler warnings for Nanu's backstory. I think it would be a good fit for anyone who wants to read a short character study piece that looks at how Nanu became kahuna. I really enjoy the bonus page of the comic, and when I think about this fic it reminds me of when abbean joined the discord server, as they were the one to originally link the comic! I think I really value both the fic and the comic for examining dark themes that the pokemon setting rarely touches on, and that's the going trend with the honorable mention of this post too. Both give me some courage to actually write about darker themes whether they be desperation as a result of being unable to cope with trauma, or child abuse.
--
Honorable Mention, Alolan Forme (doing these when I had trouble choosing)
Strong by Snatent. Ao3. 5k.
Content Warnings: Child abuse and verbal abuse
Summary: "A young Guzma returns from his island challenge and tries to readjust to living in his parents' house. Strongly recommended you finish Sun & Moon before reading, just in case. "
-
Another oneshot, and it's one that looks at what follows when Guzma comes back from his island journey, and how that leads him to start Team Skull. Content Warnings would be child abuse, as there's a focus on that being part of Guzma's backstory. If you want something that's a bit heavy like the one before, but focuses on Guzma as a tragic figure, I think you'll enjoy this one. Pokemon journeys are generally a transformative experience, but returning to a living situation like the one Guzma does is something that's hard to expect would end well.
--
// Hopefully I'll manage to complete this challenge. Or at least remember to fill out the prompts for the others and write a summary like I did for these two. I promise I won't be doing only angst fics for this, but I really haven't read many alola fics so that's why it ended up this way.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Whoops, last minute save. Thanks for this, Johto!

Day 3: Heatstroke! Share a fic featuring fire-type trainers or pokemon.

My first recommendation is by one of our own, @canisaries! In Search of Haven is a PMD-esque oneshot with post-apocalyptic vibes. The protagonist, Annie, is a charmeleon in a band of survivors looking for a utopian shelter from the endless ghosts that threaten them. Like other fire types, of which there are a few in the fic, her ability to create impromptu light sources is of great value in a setting where ghost-type pokémon pose a threat to any and all living mon.

Haven was suggested to me because I'm known to appreciate a good bit of f/f fluff, and the relationship between Annie and Patch the poochyena is a sweet one indeed, which I thought was well-characterised and deepl endearing. However, I came away from the fic with many other aspects standing out in my memory. While reading Haven I repeatedly told Canis that I wanted to doodle some of the key scenes, many of which left such an unusually strong visual impression on me despite the prose medium. I won't spoil any, but I was continually absorbed in the events of the story in a way that's quite uncommon for me when reading fic.

This fic is at once a charming adventure, a harrowing trial by fire, several different forms of effective horror, and weirdly wholesome. Good prose, solid dialogue, and great characterisation. An absolute pleasure to read, I highly recommend.

Read it!

Day 5: Surf's up! Share a fic that features surfing on a pokemon, fishing, boats, or your favorite ship.

Another one by a community member, @Chibi Pika's Legendarian Chronicles is a fic I'm only partway through but the meat of which I have become more familiar with via extensive discussion. LC is my current walk-and-read fic, and I'm enjoying it tremendously. It's a breeze to read, and there's a lot to love: fun and interesting action scenes, a tight scope to begin with and hints of a grander scope to come, a sympathetic protagonist with a lot of growing into her role to do, agency and personality for pokémon characters, and absolutely gorgeous chapter art every single chapter. It's also quite the epic!

I confess that I have a soft spot for LC because of my friendship with the author and our many long conversations about similarities between our fics. I don't wish to spoil, but we both have slow burn arcs of fraught reconciliation and recovery from lives of violence, we both have considerable scope creep, and we both have a love of awful things happening to people poorly equipped to deal with. Sister fics? Sister fics.

I've said of LC that it reminds me of the pure joy I used to unashamedly have over cool as hell monsters fighting each other, and epic portents of legendaries and fate and so forth. It's also very much a story about 'insignificant' humans with no remarkable talents thrown into situations they're not at all prepared for. I love both, and they are synthesised wonderfully in the content I've read so far. I expect that tendency to continue.

Read it!

Day 6: Cocktail time! Share a fic with an element of world-building that you liked so much you put it in your own work.

To break the mold, this one is not by a local, but by mentalismmaria/victoryroadburnout. No Culture is a complete serial longfic about a poor replica of Mewtwo and the disabled veteran trainer hired to train him. It's a bit of a niche fic, with a focus on pokémon sapience, trauma, escaping abuse, state violence and colonialism, and other heavy themes. I've said before that No Culture is v v v v good for people who are the kind of people who would like No Culture, and completely unreadable for other sorts of people. I personally love No Culture! You may love this fic if you enjoy reading extensive mental and physical whump, M-rated human-nonhuman relationships (trust me, it's well-executed), and/or 'realistic' takes on the franchise.

In terms of plot, character, dialogue, description, No Culture was pretty darn good, overall. I felt like the title promised me greater focus on Mewtwo's cultural alienation, and it ended up focusing more on surviving trauma and resisting abuse, but I got lots of thematic content that I really enjoyed all the same. While the depth of character present elsewhere doesn't extend so well to the antagonistic figure of Giovanni, who in this story is a human supremacist, he is nevertheless written as a deeply intimidating figure, worthy of dread and revulsion. I recall finding every character wonderfully interesting.

I picked this fic because more than any other fic I've read, its takes and vibes fit my personal preferences for any reinterpretation of the pokémon world. The sapient mon are treated as actually sapient, the dark events are treated as actually dark, and the trauma is treated as actual trauma. None of this "oh they talk to me but it's fine that I own them" or "lmao killing is badass" or "trauma makes you good at things" bullshit I've seen too often in edgy fiction and have come to dislike, but complex, sympathetic characters who have moments of strength and moments of weakness.

I expect to use a few elements of the worldbuilding from No Culture in Different Eyes, and indeed have asked for and received the author's blessing for this, but to detail them would constitute a spoiler for both fics! Instead I'll just mention that our Mewtwo concepts have a lot in common, and that the Mewtwo in No Culture has enough humanity in him to count as a DE pokémorph.

Read it!

 

[WildBoots]

✏ September Prompts✏
Back to School

Day 1: It’s the first day of school! Share a fic you liked when you were younger or the first fic you can remember reading.
Day 2: First bell! Share a fic that features schools, teachers, or students OR a fic that you learned from.
Day 3: It’s super-effective! Share a fic in which type matchups matter.
Day 4: Nerd alert! Share a fic involving research or science.
Day 5: Gym class! Share a fic featuring gyms and gym leaders.
Day 6: She doesn’t even go here! Share a fic about friendship highs and lows.
Day 7: Composition Class! Share a fic with a prose style that inspires you.

Day 1 Recs: a fic you liked when you were younger or the first fic you can remember reading.
- On the Wings of Council by Topaz Soarhire
- Hoenn League: A Brendan and May Adventure by Breezy
- No Antidote by Falcon Pain
- Raven: Emerald Fist MS by Obsidian Blade
- Pokemon Ultimatum
- Keeping My Sanity: Mirrorscape by purple-drake

Day 2 Recs: a fic that features schools, teachers, or students OR a fic that you learned from.
- The Long Road by Wolflyn
- The Dragon Academy by Flaze
- Parliament of Steel by girl-like-substance
- Unoriginality 1: An Original Trainer Story by Farla

Day 3: It’s super-effective! Share a fic in which type matchups matter.
- One Last Choice by Motherflipping Oak

Day 4: Nerd alert! Share a fic involving research or science.
- A Humorous Easter by St. Elmo's Fire
- Morphic by Dragonfree
- The Alola Dex by Persephone

Day 5: Gym class! Share a fic featuring gyms and gym leaders.
- Revived by Writer4Fun
- Quiet Mountain, Retreating by manhattan martini

Day 6: She doesn’t even go here! Share a fic about friendship highs and lows.
- Find a Way Home by Equitia

Day 7: Composition Class! Share a fic with a prose style that inspires you.
- Those Who Will Inherit the Earth by love

 

[WildBoots]

​

Day 1: It’s the first day of school! Share a fic you liked when you were younger or the first fic you can remember reading.

 

[WildBoots]

Day 1: Share a fic you liked when you were younger or the first fic you can remember reading.

Fic: On the Wings of Council by Topaz Soarhire

Summary: Okay, I thought this whole Journey thing would be a piece of cake, catch some Pokemon, win a badge, and beat you're average Rockets with the combined IQ of my toaster! Next thing you know, I'm jumping off skyscrapers, out running forest fires and dodging ...
Rating: K+
Wordcount: 50k (abandoned)

This is by no means a perfect fic, but it still has a very dear place in my heart, in no small part because Topaz was one of the first people I encountered who a) gave me really solid critique and b) was incredibly kind. She gave me line-by-line critique by email and made me custom banners and art for my Geocities website. (Yeah, these were the early days of the internet, y'all.) Above and beyond the call of duty.

Wings of Council really set the standard for journey fic for me as a kid: the protagonist's pokemon don't obey her as a given, she does reckless shit and gets hurt, and there's a sense of a broader world beyond what's on the game map. Half of what's published here is just the inside of Sprout Tower, making it into a much more dangerous and dynamic space than any other version of it I've seen. I remember really vividly when these chapters came out! I had to beg my dad to let me use his computer to read it. She had her own little website with character art and dex entries for fakemon that popped up when you hovered your mouse over them. It rocked my world.

That said, it is definitely dead and abandoned, and our girl Tez doesn't even get to the first badge. What's there is a fun, jaunty read ... but be forewarned, haha.

 

[Starlight Aurate]

Day 1: Share a fic you liked when you were younger or the first fic you can remember reading.

Hoenn League: A Brendan and May Adventure by Breezy (Serebii | FFNet version)
Summary: Look at the title
Rating: K+
Words: 300,00+
Status: Complete

This was the first fic I ever read and it has (perhaps quite obviously) made a lasting impression on me! Though it's been a long time since I looked at it, I remember it being something easy for young kids (me at the time) to get into. I thought it was hilarious but the characters were also very rich and believable. It's a long story but is rich in plot, action, character interactions and humour. It also features everyone's favorite evil teams, Team Aqua and Team Magma, and who doesn't love that?

Like OSJ with Topaz, I'm also biased because Breezy was one of the first people who helped me out a lot when I started writing fanfic; she called me out on my flaws and gave me solid critique but was really gentle and kind about it.

That being said, even though this fic was completed 10 years ago, I still warmly recommend!

 

[WildBoots]

Day 2: First bell! Share a fic that features schools, teachers, or students OR a fic that you learned from.

 

[WildBoots]

Day 3: It’s super-effective! Share a fic in which type matchups matter.

 

[WildBoots]

Day 2: Share a fic that features schools, teachers, or students OR a fic that you learned from.

Fic: The Long Road by Wolflyn

Summary: Budding trainer Steven Stone learns the hard way that the road to the top isn't easy. Snippets of the Hoenn Champion's journey from fledgling trainer to League Champion told as a series of one-shots. Ch 18 (Epilogue) - In the aftermath of the Championship match, Steven finds time to reflect as he prepares to shoulder the weight of the next leg of his journey...
Rating: K+
Wordcount: 138k (complete)

The Long Road is the origin story of Steven Stone from smol baby to Hoenn Champion. It's told in a series of out of order--which is actually super narratively satisfying because each episode is a complete arc unto itself and it creates a sense of surprise. Wolflyn skips a lot of what's dull and dry in a journey fic and takes us straight to the most important lessons for Steven. Each chapter is also framed by selections from the Trainer Handbook, another source of lessons, insight ... and thematic relevance!

I've linked not to the first chapter but to chapter 3, which is when Roxanne makes her second appearance. We already know from earlier chapters that these two were school friends, and this chapter is Steven's opportunity to show her everything he's learned. The relationship here is a sweet one: they were childhood rivals, but it's fun. They're excited to test each other ... and to celebrate each other! The same goes for their pokemon, who have a relationship with each other and, of course, with Steven. We get to watch them learn and grow throughout, too.

This chapter shows us a more polished version of Steven who has successfully crossed the entire region. The majority of the fic that follows shows us all the mistakes he made getting there--and then takes us on to his next steps. Wolflyn isn't afraid to punish her boy Steve-o, but it always feels in keping with his character and it's always interesting! There is no shortage of conflict here. Or caves.