Introduction.

Salvē! "Encountering Dreams" is a story that was originally published in March of 2013. The concept was simple. A young boy goes out in the mystifying world of the Jhoto region, and befriends a talking Kabuto, and falls in love with a Ralts named "Amelia" that soon becomes a Gardevoir. Along the way he meets other characters that join him and catches other Pokemon that can talk via the attachment he eventually grows for them.

The story sucked. It really sucked.

When the story was originally made in 2013, I was 12. That's five years. That's 1,826 days of me growing, developing, and just becoming a more well-rounded person. When I first published the story, I was in a terrible state. The school I was attending at the time was a complete joke for academic and creative learning, and I had such a disconnect from family and friends that writing was one of the only ways I could escape and just have fun. This was also the reason chapters took so long to publish, which concluded to being unable to work on it at all. I had no motivation or incentive to keep writing anymore after finishing the first part of Chapter 6.

Now, don't get me wrong. Writing the first couple of chapters for "Encountering Dreams" was a wonderful experience. It stimulated my thinking skills and made me practice rhetoric in a way I think everyone should experience at some point in their youth. However, I specifically mention only the first few chapters. Not that I didn't dislike writing the other chapters, but it was around the fourth chapter or so where I started to lose my way, and started to forget the purpose and message the story was trying to deliver. Another reason I stopped writing more chapters for "Encountering Dreams" was because I didn't like where the story was going, if I'm being honest. I felt like I got way too sidetracked with meeting the other aforementioned random characters, going into that weird laboratory, and having Kabuto get captured out of nowhere. It just felt jarring to read again.

You, the readers, deserve much better than that. "Encountering Dreams" deserves better than that. This was meant to be a story about focusing the balance of friendship and love with people you're close to. I should have kept that in mind when writing chapters 4 and onward. I also made the mistake of making the main protagonist a stubborn prick but also being a kid that did no wrong, as well as being a kid that had a monster penis because I had to make that entire persona perfect.

At the same time, I don't put too much guilt on some of the choices I put in there, because I was still a tween. I was a tween that wanted to write romance. I was a tween that wanted to throw in shock for the sake of shock. I was a tween that didn't know when to tone the fuck down on capitols or parenthesis like it was some redundant algebra equation. We've all been through that phase, and mine was just expressed with this rather outdated and bleak style of writing. Which is why, after many years of keeping it stored away, and finally looking at it again, I've made the choice to redo "Encountering Dreams".

What is up now is the "2nd Edition" of the story, if you call it that. It's still obviously a huge work in progress, but I'm much more confident in how I write, and feel more articulate in the things I want to say. If any of you were here to read what was originally up for the past five years, I'm directly telling you that I promise I've changed for the better. Really! As for people who have never seen the original version of the story, don't ask. Please.

Below is a list of goals and promises I have and will be keeping in mind of while writing this new revival of the story. If at any point you think I derive too far from anything on this list, please let me know and I can change it!

- Most of the story's focus will be on the three main Characters: the Protagonist, Kabuto, and Amelia. There will be plenty of supportive and side characters, but the beef of the story is centered around these three.

- I'm going to get rid of the "Point of view" changes, as they feel unnecessary. For those that don't know, I originally had every character have segments where they "took charge" of narrating the story. At the time I thought it was clever, but looking now, it's pretty unneeded, and it feels like whiplash to how you process words since the perspective kept changing so much. For this version of the story, I'm going to have it all be told in third person, and just do a better job of expressing the characters to make up for the missing narrative.

- A new name for the Protagonist. I've changed their name to better describe the new approach tot he character. Her new name is "Vee."

- As well as a new name, the Protagonist and Amelia are now much older, so less scenes feel awkward (18-19).

- Improved formatting and grammar. I think the software I was using long ago didn't have any way of correcting that kind of stuff, and boy, does it show.

- Many Pokemon will still talk, but I'll go into better detail as to why they can in the story.

- You know, I really didn't want to take out the vulgarity of the Protagonist, but I've tried to make them much more likable. What's the point in rooting for someone that's just going to be an egotistical prick wherever they go?

- The romance is still going to be there, 100%. But, uh, let's make it way more genuine. And less gross. This part of the story is supposed to be down-to-earth, not a Walt Disney film.

- The Protagonist will, in no shape or form, grow unnatural extra-terrestrial powers. The only thing this person is going to grow is character development.

- All Pokemon up to Generation 7 will be included in the story. (Mega evolutions are uncertain.) If Generation 8 comes out before this story finishes then i'll try and add a way to connect to the region and some of the new Pokemon.

- The story is going to bring up the concept of death frequently; characters are going to die. If you've ever played or watched someone do a Nuzlocke run, it's going to be similar to that. Same goes for capturing new Pokemon.

- I'm going to go into detail on heavily serious things that could disturb or trigger people. When a chapter is going to talk about these topics, I'll leave a warning at the top.

- I have no idea if there will be Lemons or not (Sexy fun-time bits). If I ever do get to that point, that too, will have a warning at the top of the chapter.

- This story will take place in a brand new region with references and even sometimes trips to other regions. (Expect Sinnoh fanservice because I'm one of those dorks that's waiting for the inevitable Generation 4 remakes.)

- And lastly, I promise to be much more frequent in my uploads, and do a better job on when I need to delay publishing to deal with anything in real life.

Thank you again for sticking with me after all these years, and I really hope you're excited to read the revival of "Encountering Dreams".

Valē.