Author's Note/Post-Mortem
I feel as if I must apologize to you all, when I had first starting writing this fic back in December 2016, I had every intention of finishing my own version of Back to Protect. I was (and still am) rather taken with time travel fiction of all kinds, whether it be original novels like The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, movies like Back to the Future, and fanfiction where the main character gets to do a redo of their life in order to make better choices. So why am I apologizing instead of writing this fanfiction, you may ask?
I frankly don't think I can actually finish this one.
Don't get me wrong, I somewhat enjoyed writing this fic for you all, and I do want to eventually write and finish what TVTropes likes to call a Peggy Sue, however I realize that I do not really enjoy writing Pokemon (or anything similar) fanfiction, as much as I would like. Why, you ask?
I'm pants at writing action scenes when it comes to this franchise.
It's not for lack of trying either, I've spent nearly 7 months trying to figure out how I'm going to make the battles, not only in this chapter but in this fic in general, something that's not dreadfully boring to you, my dear reader. And believe me, I really do want to make it interesting to you, but there are only so many pokemon attacks I can call out before even I get bored. Considering how there was going to be at least two major fights (in the form of gym battles) every chapter in this fic, that weakness in my writing was going to add up real quick and turn off a lot of you from reading further. I actually cringe while writing the action in this fic, because I can't seem to figure out how to meet my own standards for action, and given how much action there is in Pokemon, every chapter is painful to write. Not only that, but I've actually never liked the action in any Pokemon fanfic that I've ever read, period. I mostly just skip it all to get to the dialogue or to the description of the scene. I could of course just write a fic that doesn't have any pokemon battles in it, and call it a day, but then it wouldn't really be Pokemon now would it? So it is probably for the best that I let this fic die quietly and instead try writing another Peggy Sue in another franchise where the focus of the writing isn't in an area that will make me want to print out one of those fliers that says "Bang head here" on it, and actually use it.
With that in mind, I ask myself, where do I go from here, now that I've turned my back on Pokemon?
I'll probably end up doing fanfiction either in Harry Potter (which is a lot heavier in the dialog and scene building department), The Legend of Zelda (which, while action heavy, can be easily written without too much of it), or a crossover between the two franchises. I would consider The Lord of the Rings but I don't think I could spend thirty minutes describing the landscape each chapter. You'll know what I decide once I post my next fic to my profile.
Before I wrap this up, allow me to provide one last thing for those of you disappointed with me not finishing this fic: an outline of sorts so those of you that want to take it up in my stead and continue in the direction that I was going to take it in, can do so. I had sort of settled on three acts (yes, I cut it down from the five acts I was going to do previously. The story just flowed better that way, to be honest), and several arcs of sorts within each act. A lot of the specifics were in the air as I was either following the original material of Back to Protect, or making stuff up as I go along. That isn't to say the entire story was being made on the spot, I did plan a few events after all, but a lot of the finer details while I was writing just came to me. Now obviously, you don't need me to tell you that these next few paragraphs pretty much spoil the entire story for you, so be warned if you want to wait for someone else to actually finish this. Also, I don't need to tell you that Team Rocket is omnipresent throughout all three acts, they wouldn't be Team Rocket otherwise.
The first act follows canon fairly closely. Going by regions, the first act comprises Kanto, The Orange Islands, and Johto (each region being a separate arc). There are of course a few main differences. Firstly, Ash catches a shitload more pokemon than his first time around (and I mean a shitload more), he also trains them up as much as he can. Secondly, Misty has Aura powers as well. After the second movie, Ash helps Misty unlock her aura, and in doing so causes her to gain her memories from the future (this was more a way to get her to be as mentally old as Ash, then anything else). Thirdly, Johto would have had a focus on Ash and Misty rekindling their relationship. Fourthly, at the end of Johto, Misty will follow Ash to Hoenn after craftily making the Pokemon League place a substitute gym leader in the Cerulean City Gym. The reason for this is rather simple: She, as Ash's wife, is not going to let Ash face what's coming all by himself. And finally, Team Rocket won't follow Ash around for Pikachu, but they will follow him for his other pokemon. Throughout the entire act, Team Omni will be keeping tabs on Ash, as well as researching the lore of all the different regions (Kanto, The Orange Islands, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos, Orre, etc...).
The second act will have Ash really buckling down and focusing most of his energy on training his pokemon as well as himself, as he is running out of time. The Second act consists of just two arcs: Hoenn, and the Battle Frontier. Ash will once again meet, and travel, with May and Max (though May will be wearing her ORAS outfit, much Ash and Misty's bewilderment). Team Omni will spend most of the Hoenn arc continuing their research into the lore of the different regions, but they will discover the legend of Dialga and will begin building their forces during the Battle Frontier arc so that they can take control of Dialga by stealing the time gears. This act is mostly just preparation and such. May and Max, of course, leave after the Battle Frontier like in canon.
The third act is where things really start to become different. It will be composed of four arcs: Sinnoh, Fear, Omni, Epilogue. Sinnoh, Fear, and Omni all take place in Sinnoh, the Epilogue takes place back in Kanto. Sinnoh starts off like in canon, with Dawn joining Ash, Misty, and Brock in their travels. After the first encounter with Team Galactic, Ash and co. encounter Team Omni for the first time, and as the arc progresses they encounter Team Galactic and Team Omni more and more. Eventually, a full blown war breaks out between Galactic and Omni, with Ash and co. as well as Team Rocket caught in the middle. Eventually, Team Omni beats Team Galactic, and Team Omni begins stealing the Time Gears from around the world. At the end of the Arceus movie, Team Omni steals the 18th and final Time Gear, causing time to stop, Dialga to revert to its primal state, and Ash and co. get sent into Mystery dungeon universe (thus beginning the Fear arc). Ash and co., now all Pokemon (I'll leave their forms up to you), have to collect all the time gears and quell a raging Dialga, all while eluding Team Omni. Once they finish collecting all the time gears, they get sent back to the normal world (beginning the Omni arch) where they have to fight a full scale war, alongside the pokemon league, against Team Omni. They eventually manage to defeat Team Omni, with everyone miraculously alive, and thus the epilogue arc begins. I don't have anything written for the epilogue, so I also leave that up to you.
Hopefully, this will satisfy some of you who would have wanted to know where this story was headed. I'm really sorry that I wasn't able to complete it. I won't delete this fic, because it was my first attempt at a fanfic, and leaving it up will serve as a sort of reminder, as well as to show how far my writing has come since I started.
Sincerely yours,
Davkilla101