How's it going? Thanks to all those who have reviewed and keep reviewing! January's been very good to me, not in the least because I celebrated my 20th birthday on the 14th. Not only that, but school's been comfortable, I've been blowing up Pearl and Battle Revolution with an updated team, and the next chapter is well in the works, but I want to take this opportunity to discuss a couple of things for the next chapter as well as some reasons why I've written the way I have so far.

Issues For The Next Chapter (contains lines that will be in the next chapter)

Mourning A Fallen Friend (RIP Claire Crowley 1987-2006)
"I can't believe she's gone…"—Daisy
If you recall, I said that I had my very first cliffhanger for the last chapter for a reason—and that while my material comes from my experiences in life, watching the show, and playing the games from 2003 to 2004, there will be one exception because of something that I learned about at the start of the month. When I was visiting my old high school, I learned that Claire Crowley, a friend of mine since middle school, the editor of the high school paper where I once worked as a sports columnist, had passed away at the age of 19 in December 2005. Even though it was a year after it actually happened, it still hit and shook me very hard, and I feel obligated to write a very similar event into the story in her memory, which means you'll be getting my views on what it's like when someone close passes away young and on what comes after death.

Evan Hanauer
"Before Barack Obama in politics, there was Evan Hanauer in Pokémon competition." –Carlo
On a happier note, next chapter will mark the in-story debut of Evan Hanauer pen name Evan AAML.) He requested in a review that he be in the story as a star trainer on one of the best teams in North America, and I was more than happy to oblige. He has since returned the favor by featuring me pretty darn accurately in his latest hit, Power For Within, and so in the next chapter, I am also introducing him in the story for real with a faceoff between him and myself in the finals of the Wrigley Advantage Tournament at Wrigley Field (yes,that Wrigley Field!)

Why This Story (Other than supporting AAML?)

A Retooled Idea
Not soon after I started to play the games and follow Ash and Misty on the show, I figured just about everyone, including myself, enjoyed segments from the show featuring group battles. Having started writing fan fiction privately in 6th grade (1998), I started off by writing an AAML story or two (which will not be released to the public—I was very unpolished back then) featuring myself working with Ash and Misty in a triples league. In 2003, I first came up with the club competition idea, and many of the ideas I came up then have stayed in the story, but I was arbitrarily writing it as an offshoot of one of my favorite AAML stories, Ash's Medicine (which is in the library here), and since I hadn't yet gone public, it would be another three years before I decided to write my own original beginning. So I've gone through two retooling phases—first to polish my writing and then to make the storyline more original—that have allowed me to produce this work.

The Challenge Of The Club Competition Format
The prospect of having to outline the structure and nuances of an entirely new Pokémon competition format—club competition—wasn't a turn-off at all, but instead a challenge that I welcomed. In 2005, I started reading Prince of Tennis comics in Shonen Jump, and it only fueled my desire to create the format and then answer questions of what it would mean for competitors and fans.

Displaying Sports Teams As Products Of Influences
Competitors, like all living beings, are products of their environments and influences. Consequently, teams are also products of influences. For example, the Showtime Lakers were influenced by the Los Angeles' trademark showbiz, and during the World Baseball Classic, some Team Canada players said that their team was attempting to incorporate the ferocity of hockey into its style of play. Oddly enough, this is also reflected in the Harry Potter Quidditch World Cup video game, where the national teams' special moves are inspired by popular sports and activities in the various represented countries. Not only that, but if you've watched School Of Rock, you know that musicians have their influences. All said, I wanted to take this opportunity and use the story to display teams as the product of certain influences.

Bringing Cerulean City To Life
I have a confession to make—Misty was my favorite character on the show growing up (now it's a tie between her and Ash.) As a result, two of the things I wondered about were, "What must Cerulean City seriously look like?" and "What do its inhabitants revere and enjoy?" I'd be lying to you if I didn't say I don't enjoy taking a stab at offering my answers to those questions in that story.

Dealing With The Older Sensational Sisters
I can perfectly understand if people diss Lily, Violet, and Daisy, but reading a lot of AAML fan fiction, I realized I liked stories where they don't always stick to the "stuck-up material girl" label. I also found another welcome challenge in attempting to differentiate the three of them.

Linking The Pokémon World To Our World
As I said at the very start, I got the idea from Digimon that the Pokémon world is based on real-life Japan, meaning it's not hard for me to imagine Johto, Kanto, Hoenn, and such as being part of Japan. Not only that, but it's always fun for me to read and write fan fiction that ties fictional worlds to the real world.

What do you think? Feel free to let me know in a review—and stay tuned!