Final Author Notes:

I decided to create a list of notes that I didn't include in the bottom or top AN of each of the chapters. Some of these are things I feel I didn't stress enough or assumed was obvious but probably wasn't. I might have included some of these things in other ANs, but I honestly can't remember. Anyway, I thought you might be interested in some of the thoughts that ran through my head as I wrote this:

- The Toka region is a real region in Japan- often referred to as an industrial region. I describe Toka as being a mountainous, scarcely populated, and cold region, but the real Toka region is not like this at all.

- The few places I do mention in Toka, such as Baydon, Obsidia, and the White Jade Springs are entirely fictional. The location names come from mineral names. I do this because, in Kanto, you start off in "Pallet Town", where every town is named after a color. In Johto you start off in "New Bark Town" and every subsequent town is named after a plant. So, I kept this theme just because I thought it was clever.

- Aubergine means 'eggplant' in French, btw. It is commonly used as a color name (according to Bri).

- Rita has a Zorua because there is this very convincing fan theory that N is actually a Zoroark (Zorua's evolved form). I totally buy into this. Look it up! :)

- I write Pokémon names without an 's', even if I mean it to be plural. For example, I always write 'Raticate' even if I am referring to multiple ones. I do this because that is how the anime does it in most of the episodes for most of the Pokémon and how the games do it.

- In the original, unedited version of this fic, as well as my other unedited fics such as Stand by You, I spelled the names of many of the Pokémon characters wrong (Gyarados was 'Garados' for example). Those errors should all be fixed by now, at least for 'Heroine' and 'The Journal', both of which were revised in 2019.

- Michio is supposed to look similar to "Hau" from the Sun and Moon games, but older. Obviously their personalities do not match at all; in fact, they are almost complete opposites. But if you want to imagine Michio when he was supposedly younger and ' more like Jay' then there you go. I kinda hope that he is in the anime. 2019 EDIT: Hau was in the anime and was adorb!

- Annastasia coincidentally resembles "Lillie" from the Sun and Moon games. I imagine that this is sorta what Annastasia looked like when she was younger. It will be interesting to see if Lillie appears in the anime and if she gets an Altaria, Lillipup, or Pikachu. 2019 EDIT: Lillie is a main character in the anime, had a Lillipup when she was younger, loves fairy-type Pokémon (A's favorite), becomes really close to Ash's Pikachu, and is given an Altaria as a ride Pokémon later in the series. This is on the sadder end of things but she also has PTSD from an incident when she was younger. Talk about weird coincidences.

- James was wearing glasses throughout this entire fanfic. And he does have both his ears pierced, really. I truly believe that this is canon.

- When I started writing this, Michio was from Unova. Then the news of Sun and Moon came out, and I patched things up a little. That is why a Liepard is his main partner.

- In case you forgot/didn't know, according to the anime there are three ways one can qualify to compete at the annual Indigo Plateau Conference. 1) Earn 8 Gym Badges from 'official' gyms- no, not all gyms are 'official'. 2) Take and pass the very difficult Entrance Exam. 3) Graduate from Pokémon Tech. Anika took and passed the test, which is why she can compete with the others, and why Jezz was able to compete despite spending relatively little time in Kanto.

- Rita was totally in love with A. I'm surprised you shipping maniacs didn't latch on to this the way you did with Anachio (aka Pistachio), Taken, Solmaki, Mita, and other ships that didn't officially get names.

- Was Helena present at the Indigo Plateau? Most certainly. Will she randomly show up in future fics? Most likely. 2019 EDIT: she certainly does show up randomly.

- Most of my characters are based on real people that I know. BUT, every name is made up and most people are a combination of other people mixed in with my originality and characters from other animes/books/whatever.

- As is Annastasia, my beta reader and I both have ADD, a seizure disorder, are asexual (ace), and are (sorta) blondes. We are also all vegetarians. There's really nothing else 'big' or 'important' that we share.

- Many of the participants in the development of this fic have Tumblr accounts:

+ Paradoxinyourpantshorse (aka 'Bri')- Pokémon, social justice, funny random things, 90s garbage, booster posts, cute animals, and memes.

+ Pokemonfanthings - Pokémon art of all types. Occasionally posts links to fanfics or Pokémon headcanons.

+ Teamrocketfanart (aka 'Iamsomething') - fanart related to Team Rocket (co-manager). Occasionally posts links to TR-related fanfics or TR headcanons.

+ Officialpokemonstuff (The-Collector-of-Things) - Pokémon gifs, screenshots, headcanons, clips, and other random things relating to the anime/manga/games (co-manager).

+ OdetoLava (UMBREON) – fandom-related posts, social justice, some Pokémon, and booster posts.

+ Pokemonshipsblogwithteamrocket- my original Tumblr. It is all shipping related things. In my opinion, it is not as great as the other Pokémon-related blogs I mentioned, but if you are really into shipping, you should look at this.

+ Chipotlepepperspokemonandother – this is my 'main' Tumblr account. If you message me on this blog I will most likely respond within a week, assuming the message goes through (sometimes it doesn't). I post resources for writers, Pokémon-themed posts, interesting news articles, booster posts, and occasionally something random.

+ Jezzmokap – a random blog about Jezz that Bri, Pokemonfanthings, Iamsomething, and I manage together. It all has stuff that Jezz 'would post' if he had a Tumblr account. This blog will be confusing if you haven't looked at Alola Trials or The Journal yet. Very casual posting, so don't expect updates often on this one.

- I LOVE answering questions, so please, fire away if you have any!

- Lastly, I have a playlist of songs that helped me write this story AND songs that I doscvered later that remind me of this fic:

Hero/Heroine by Boys Like Girls

How to Save a Life by The Fray

Dare You to Move by Switchfoot

See the World by Gomez

Photograph by Ed Sheeran

The Lucky Ones by Brendan James

The Scientist by Coldplay

Shake it Out by Florence and the Machine

Come to Me by The Goo Goo Dolls

Iris by The Goo Goo Dolls

Follow Your Arrow by Kacey Musgraves

Send by On My Way by Rust Root

Drops of Jupiter by Train

Up With the Birds by Coldplay

Paradise by Coldplay

Unlucky Stars by Todd Wright

Up the Wolves by The Mountain Goats

Falling Slowly by Celtic Thunder

Secrets by Mary Lambert

You're Worth It by Cimorelli

Hold You Up by Shane Miller

Nothing Left to Lose by Matt Kearney

Come Back to Me by David Cook

Daydream Believer by Anne Murray

Friday, I'm in Love by The Cure (the Glee version also is great lol)

Little Wonders by Rob Thomas

That Wasn't Me by Brandie Carlile

500 Miles by Haley and Michaels

Stand by Cassadee Pope

Team by Lorde

Crush by David Archuleta

Born to Fly by Danielle Bradbery (probably not the version you expect)

Rescue by Yuna

Somebody to Love by Kacey Musgraves (also probably not the version you expect)

The Story by Brandie Carlile

Some Nights by F.U.N.

Introducing Me by Nick Jonas (I heard this later and thought immediately of Tamaki I have no idea why)

Wake Me Up by Avicii

Cough Syrup by Matthew Shuler

I Will Follow You into the Dark by Death Cab for Cutie

All of the Stars by Ed Sheeran

Feel Again/Dog Days Are Over (Mashup) by Mike Tompkins

There are many more but these are my top listed in no particular order.

AN: Thanks for the support and I look forward to seeing your usernames in the future:)