Writing May's Fanfiction Challenge (Results)

How do you do the spoiler thing. I am almost done with my story but I don't know how to do it.
 
How do you do the spoiler thing. I am almost done with my story but I don't know how to do it.
Just Press the "Insert" Button in the bar above (where Bold, Italics and Underline are) and then "Insert" Spoiler :)

otherwise use this code without the *

[*Spoiler*] your story [/*Spoiler*]

I hope I helped :)
 
Here's my story ^.^
Like I already mentioned (I'm pretty sure I did :p) fanfics aren't really what I do best, but I did my best and I hope it's enjoyable xD
Good luck everyone! :D
“Houston, any changes?” Asked Zinnia, from the back of Mega Rayquaza, whom she was riding. She had been assigned the mission to fix all the damage Deoxys had done while it was rampaging around the Earth’s atmosphere.

“Houston? What’s Houston?” Replied Professor Cozmo from the Mossdeep Space Center. “We’ve no time for your mysteries, Zinnia. The computers show an anomaly not far from your position. Just fix the satellite and come back quickly.”

“It’s something I learned from my trips, Professor. I wouldn’t expect you to know what ‘Houston’ is. And about the satellite, it’s not easy to do anything at all inside of this Magma suit of yours.”

“Uhm, Zinnia? You did hear me saying something about an anomaly close to you, right?”

“It’s hard to not hear you saying anything, Professor. What do you mean by ‘anomaly’?”

“There’s nothing on my screen. It’s just dark. Nothing else. I already asked everyone else in the room and even checked the manual, there’s nothing about dark spots.”

“Perhaps…it’s nothing…?”

“That makes no sense. If it’s there, of course it’s something.”

“No, Professor, I meant ‘nothing’ as in ‘emptiness’ or something.”

“Emptiness…you mean dark matter? Or anti-matter? Either way, it’s dangerous. Come back immediately.”

“But, Professor-”

“It’s dangerous, Zinnia. Come back to the Center now.

“Alright, alright, I’m coming. Just a sec.”

And so Zinnia, unwilling to return to Earth before having finished her job, stayed out trying to fix a satellite, task she couldn’t accomplish even after months of intensive training with Professor Cozmo and special tips from the people from the Mossdeep Space Center.

“Aha! This must be it! Got it!” She exclaimed. “Now, Professor, would you mind telling me what you see on your screen?”

“I see…stars. And planets. And asteroids. Good job, Zinnia! You managed to fix that part of the satellite. Again, sorry for sending you out there. It’s just…how to say it…we lack the means to send anything at all to space at the moment.”

“It’s nothing, Professor, I understand. Now just give me some time so I can finish fixing this thing.”

“Uhm, Zinnia?”

“What is it this time?” She asked, annoyed and with a sarcastic tone. “Did I move my arm too quickly?”

Professor Cozmo ignored her tone and questions and answered her right away.

“Remember the dark matter? You know, the emptiness we talked about earlier? Well, there are actually 6 spots of those, moving. Towards you. In formation.” The fear in his voice grew as he finished his sentence. “You have to get out of there, Zinnia! Right now!

She didn’t even bother replying. She told Rayquaza to go back to Mossdeep, but the Pokémon wouldn’t move. She tried again, nothing.

“What is it, Rayquaza?”

By the time the girl realized the legendary dragon was staring at something, it was already too late. The dark matter was already moving towards her at a blinding speed.

“I’m sorry, Professor. I see it, the dark matter is coming. There isn’t anything I can-”

The connection was lost, but Zinnia couldn’t understand why. But she would have to find out later, since the dark matter was already only 10 meters away. Waiting for the end, she bravely started to talk with Rayquaza.

“I’m sorry, Ray. I didn’t listen again, and now it’s the end for both of us. If the world is menaced again, we won’t be there to protect it…I have failed in every possible way. Oh, what would Aster think of me now…”

The Pokémon made a noise, as if to say ‘don’t worry,’ and then, suddenly, the dark matter stopped right in front of them. The 6 spots started to merge into one big spot…and a shape with 4 tentacles on the sides appeared out of it, and it was fire red and leaf green. It also had a purple, glowing emerald in the center of its chest.

“BTZZZZxxghhhh. #Run /exe. Hzxyv0x1i-666. Givv rh uliyrwwvm. Gsv hxlfitv szh yvvm fmovzhsvw. ”

It was like a computer processing information, although pretty much nothing it said was understandable. Suddenly, the creature turned black, and it charged towards the girl. Then, just like the mysterious being had a couple of seconds ago, everything turned black.


When she finally opened her eyes, Zinnia noticed she was in a building. She looked around, and everything looked somewhat…familiar. As in, really familiar. Before she could do anything else, a red-haired girl came into the room where she was and placed a cup of tea on the small table beside the bed where she was.

“Are you feeling well, Zinnia?” She asked, a smile on her face. “You look like you saw a ghost! Ha!”

Controlling herself as much as she could, Zinnia managed to give a somewhat normal answer.

“Y-yes, I’m fine, thank you. Would you mind telling me the date, please?”

“Come on, silly, you gotta be kidding me. My birthday was yesterday!”

“Of course I know your birthday was yesterday. I just want to know what’s the date today.”

“Wouldn’t you know the date of today, if you know-”

“JUST TELL ME! I’m in a hurry,” the young girl yelled, suddenly remembering how maddening this person could be sometimes, but she couldn’t hide a little nostalgic smile that appeared right after she finished her sentence.

“Fine, fine, no need to yell. It’s January 21st, 2005.”

“WHAT?!? T-That’s impossible. I...I was…you were…”

The red-haired girl frowned in confusion, but opened her eyes wide as she arrived to a conclusion.

“Were you…attacked by a dark creature…?”

Zinnia had expected anything but this reply.

“H-How do you know that?”

“The Mossdeep Scape Center has been doing experiments with Deoxys lately, but they made a mistake and now it can transform into dark matter and cause trouble at will. If it attacked you, it means…you’ve come from the fut-“

She couldn’t finish her sentence. Zinnia hugged her tightly, with her eyes wet, and made a promise.

“I’ll find out what happened. I promise you, I’ll never let anything happen to you. Ever. I’ll never leave your side, Aster.”

And so, Zinnia set out on a journey with her Salamence and Aster, her lost best friend, to find out what this all had to do with Deoxys...and to save her dear Aster.
 
I'm sooo last minute with this, but I hope y'all enjoy it! I attempt to do a different take on the various journeys that people in the Pokémon world might take, even the dull and unawknowleged ones. I'm sorry if the ending was rather cheesy and abrupt, but I was quickly nearing the word limit and had to wrap it up quickly! Fun note, Dagmar has Scandinavian roots which loosely translates into "new day."
Title: Simple Dreams
Word Count: 1,999

All Pokémon trainers have one goal in mind – they wish to catch as many Pokémon as possible and train those Pokémon to their full potential while exploring the lands. Both Pokémon and trainer set out together, traveling city to city and battling just about anyone they come across in order to be the very best that they can be.

However, this is not my goal. So why, I couldn’t help but ponder to myself, was I doing this?

You see, while other kids my age have grand aspirations to be famous Pokémon trainers, I have a much simpler plans of continuing to work for my family farm situated just outside the cozy village of Pallet Town. Everyone in the Dagmar family, including myself, worked hard to tend to the fields in order to harvest various foods to ship to local cities. It is not the most glamorous of professions, but I find joy in what we do, and that is why I have no intentions of every deviating from my plan.

I then unexpectedly received a letter from Oak, the professor of the Kanto region who lived not too far from me. Within the letter, he described how I had come of age and how he would be more than happy to supply me with my first Pokémon and set me off on my journey. I scoffed at the notion; perhaps some people would love the idea of journeying throughout the region with a Pokémon at their side, but it just wasn’t my cup of tea. Despite my disinterest, my family insisted that I, at the very least, go and speak with Oak. I attempted to explain that it would be a waste of both our times, but they were relentless in their demands, so I now find myself paddling on my old, rickety bike towards Pallet Town.

____________________________________________________________________________

I pulled up next to the lab, letting out prolonged huff of air and wiping the droplets of sweat from my brow. The lab wasn’t too far from home, but not only did the sun’s sweltering heat constantly beat against my skin, but I couldn’t help but feel nervous for the inevitable moment where I will deny the Professor’s offers and he will become outraged. I let out a sigh, bracing myself for what will come, and pushed open the doors to the lab. I was greeted with a blast of soothing air continued coolness and the stark white lab coat of a man hunched over a table. At the sound of the door opening, he whipped his head up and around to face me and I was meet with the beaming grin of an old, grayed man.

“Ah, you must be Michael Dagmar! I’m Professor Oak,” he announced, rushing towards me and thrusting his hand into mine in one fluid motion. “I’m so glad I’m finally able to meet you!”

“Erm, hi Professor?” I squeaked, perplexed at the Professor’s whimsical behavior. He shook my hand up and down quickly several times before releasing it and motioning to the table behind him. Upon the table sat a metallic, red and white sphere – a Pokéball.

“Well here we have your very first Pokémon,” stated Professor Oak, grasping the Pokéball in his hand and holding it out to me. “I’m sorry that you don’t have much choice in your first partner, but there have been many eager kids ready to start their journey lately and I’m fresh out of starters.”

“W-wait Professor!” I spluttered and raised both my hands up in an attempt to push the Pokéball away. “That’s not why I’ve come here. I’m really sorry if I’ve mislead you, but I came to say that I don’t need a Pokémon! I have no intentions of going on any grand journeys or fighting against gym leaders. I plan to stay here, out away from the cities, and help care for the fields. You understand that, right?”

In an instant, Professor Oak’s face went from a radiant smile to a look of bewilderment, as though he didn’t completely process what I said.

“I see...” he said simply, and then paused. I could feel the tension fill the air as he looked me up and down. Oh he’s going to be mad at me, I cringed, this is exactly what I told my family would happen. What I did not expect is when Oak let out a hearty chuckle and placed the Pokéball in my hand.

“My boy, the only thing I don’t understand is why you think a Pokémon is only for battling!” he answered, placing is hand on my shoulder.

I looked down at the sphere now clenched between my hands and then back up at him. “What? But I thought that’s why you wanted me here, so I can become a Pokémon trainer!”

Oak laughed yet again. “My, you have quite the one track mind! Yes, I would like for you to be a Pokémon trainer, but that doesn’t mean you have to run off and start this big ‘ol journey. You see, we are all Pokémon trainers, no matter what we choose to do with our lives. We grow as a person with a Pokémon as a friend by our side and together with your partner, you can learn invaluable lessons that you wouldn’t have without them – lessons of friendship, compassion, and even sometimes frustration. No matter where you decide to go with your Pokémon, you can take comfort in that they’ll always be by your side. That is what makes someone a Pokémon trainer.” He removed his hand from my shoulder and set it on the Pokéball in my hands before winking up at me. “Now, you understand, right?”

____________________________________________________________________________

The sun was slowly setting over the horizon, painting the sky brilliant colors of orange and red as I quickly rode home, enjoying the warm night breeze the caressed my face. In the basket of my bike sat a small, orange, reptile-like Pokémon with a bright flame flickering at the end of its tail. It gripped the edge of the basket with its tiny claws as its large eyes gazed upon the land before it in absolute wonderment. Finally, we came to the end of the road which was at the peak of a large hill and down in the valley below was my family farm. Golden wheat flowed in the breeze, rippling like the waves of the sea and shinning with the brilliance of the sunset above.

“Char char!” Charmander marveled at the scene before it before turning around and grinning at me, a twinkle of excited gleaming it its eyes.

“Yeah buddy, this is your new home,” I sighed contentedly, gently patting Charmander’s head as I looked forward, not only at the farm before me but the future that awaited us. Previously, I thought getting a Pokémon was the last thing I need in my life and doing so would just complicate my simple dreams. However, now I understand that each dream has its own twist and turns and it is not always what we plan, but I know I’ll always be able to face them as long as I have my Pokémon by my side.
 
And the Contest is officially closed! Thanks for the wonderful turnout! :D

My goal is to have all judging results finished by this Friday, but in the meantime, it's time for Fan Voting! Please vote for your favourite story in the contest. :) You don't have to be an author of this month's contest to vote; readers should give their voice, too! To view all entries, you may click on the author's name in the sign-up post and it will bring you to the post containing their entry. It should go without saying, but if you were an author this month, please do not vote for your own entry.

Click Here to access the fan-voting form on Google

If you do not wish to submit your vote over the Google form, you instead have the option to submit it over the forums by sending me a PM.

Fan Voting ends on Thursday, June 4th at Midnight, PDT, so you have approximately 4 full days to read all the entries and get your vote in.
 
Well, aggh, here it is.
Title: Train
No rush, the wind lingers in trees; and the window glass is untouched; and a man sits in a train’s velvet seat. The man wears a tattered trench coat colored dark auburn. He’s been watching the idleness since the trained stopped; only one passenger isn’t in the same daze, a little girl named Emily. She sat across the man curled up with her snoring Pichu. Emily has been pestering this “delightfully strange” for the past half hour, since the train stopped.

Emily says this as she wipes drool of her skirt,” no one can keep quiet for so long, you must have been pretty lonely to not be enticed by small talk’s charm. I am great at keeping secret; okay I haven’t been able to get many chances.”

The man focuses on the lonely girl. He taps the armchair for after a few, quiet, seconds. He says,” do you like Ghost-types, or just cute pokemon.”

Emily perks up and says,” well my dad doesn’t like Ghost-types since though pokedex says un real things, like a pokemon coming alive when a spirit possess a doll. And I don’t only like cute pokemon, one day my Pichu is going to be a ferocious Raichu. So anything you care to share Mr.”

The man shrugs, he reaches into his coat and pulls out a Aegislash. The pokemon rests next to the man. Emily’s eyes widen, thoughts of Dad’s lessons disappear. Her hands pick at the Aegislash’s shield. The man laughs at the girl’s intrigue.

Thump are heard from the front of the car.

The man glances at the door. Surrounding passengers begin to quiver, and careful words exchanged with double meanings. Team Aqua is outside that door, hopefully looting, the calmest explantaion. The thumps came from Dr.Viole and some grunts stopping a hero.

A pathetic attempt at being a hero, 40-something man tried lunging at the grunts with only a Mudkip. Dr.Viole sits next to a curled up woman, and a grunt does the same.

He says,” calm down, we aren’t going to hurt you.”

A grunt says, ”Unless they don’t pay the ransom.”

Viole puts on a sully face,” you know, why are we even doing a ransom? We have the prize, yet our new leader wants to milk it. “

The grunt shrugs, ” It’s all for the cause.”

“To make the world a better place we try to steal as many leaves as we can, disgusting.”

An odd exchange ends and the grunt leaves his estranged leader. The grunt looks at the car behind them, another group of shaking passengers, everything seems fine. Emily’s eyes do not see the same. The man is the interesting passenger of the entire train.

Emily says,” sound like Dad is having some trouble, wonder how he will feel when he finds I snuck on.”

“I would still be mad.”

“You were the one who got me on the train.”

“…”

“Any life stories?”

“There were two boy who were best friends.”

“I don’t need fairytales to sleep anymore.”

“One carried a sword, and the other a burden.”

Emily leaned toward the man with closed lips.

The man continues,” The other’s burden was that his mother recently died. The swordsman boy did not want his friend to be sad, so together they searched for a star. One day, in a dark forest, they found their star, but before they could wish, the two fought.”

Emily relaxes like a Cheshire,” so, you are looking for your friend, but how long ago was this-or maybe it happened recently, this is such a fun story. The sword is obviously your pokemon over there, trying to play with double meanings.”

The man shrugs, and returns to the view of the breeze. Emily went to play around with the history of the man; maybe Dad would know him. Emily looks at the car’s front door.

Emily says,” what is your name?”

The front door of the car slides open, grunts pile through; Dr. Viole follows behind. Viole glares at his daughter, sighs, and pulls out his phone. The man stares at the Doctor.

Dr.Viole speaks into his phone, which can be heard throughout the train’s intercom,” the ransom has not been paid. Hoenn police are still deciding about are demands, but an upper told me to…”

Same grunt from before grabs the phone,” you will all be forced to stay on the train, which may become a complication as the wave of truth is coming. The seas will rise and you all must come to terms with what you’ve done. Though you may be given a chance to join Team Aqua, again if you’re lucky.”

Passengers nerves begin to bend, a tear may be seen on the stern faces. The man stands up, he grabs his Aiglish by the handle; he points the blade part of the pokemon at the grunt. Grunts have a quick conversation about the strange way to hold an Aeglish, before all of them are hit by a Shadow Ball. A hole is left with were the front door was. Dr.Viole props himself on the side of the car and throws a pokeball. Crawdaunt flashes before the man. Emily watches her father.

The man says,” the boy with the sword fought with the man because of a ephinay. His best friend had done so many cruel things to find the star, it didn’t matter if it was to bring back a mother. How many mothers were mourning right now?”

Dr.Viole yells,” Aqua Tail!”

Crawdaunt’s tail lights up marine, and swings at the man. A green shell appears over the man and his Aeglish, Crawdaunt’s tail bounces back. The man holds the Aelgish close, the Ghost pokemon generates an array of blue swords that dance around.

The man says,” the boy with a sword fought his best friend, but with a few sly tricks his friend prevailed. But the star realized of his friend’s sickness, it flew back to the heavens.”

Dr.Viole says,” uhh, Night Slash!”

Crawdaunt’s swipes at Aeglish with its claw, streaks of black, as the night, flow behind Crawdaunt. Crawdaunt snickers, then Aegislash swings to its opponent. Red aura consumes Aegislash’s blade. Crawdaunt is hit, and faints.

The man walks to Dr.Viole,” Sacred Sword…”

Viole,” Last pokemon too, funny how a train full of pathetic heroes can weaken my pokemon. Granted I wouldn’t call myself a trainer.”

“I’ve watched you for awhile, your feeling ill about all of this. Didn’t even tell your daughter, yet raised a curious one. Tell me where your new leader is hiding out.”

Emily runs out of her seat and hugs her dad. Viole pats her head, then says,” Victory Road.”

The man begins to walk out, ”the boy with a sword’s best friend threw him off a cliff, out of anger, and the burden. As a ghost, I thought of revenge a lot. Funny, though meeting a daughter who can forgive lies, it does something to somebody’s heart.”

A breeze lurches, and the man walks into the forest.
 
And the Contest is officially closed! Thanks for the wonderful turnout! :D

My goal is to have all judging results finished by this Friday, but in the meantime, it's time for Fan Voting! Please vote for your favourite story in the contest. :) You don't have to be an author of this month's contest to vote; readers should give their voice, too! To view all entries, you may click on the author's name in the sign-up post and it will bring you to the post containing their entry. It should go without saying, but if you were an author this month, please do not vote for your own entry.

Click Here to access the fan-voting form on Google

If you do not wish to submit your vote over the Google form, you instead have the option to submit it over the forums by sending me a PM.

Fan Voting ends on Thursday, June 4th at Midnight, PDT, so you have approximately 4 full days to read all the entries and get your vote in.
What, i missed by...alright.
 
Finally, here is my story.
I, like all ten year old kids, have always dreamed of going on my own pokemon journey through the Kanto region. All though most families could not pay the fee for a starter pokemon my family was rich. My father owned an environmental company called Green Rocket. His company's goal was to protect the lives and welfare of pokemon everywhere. He opened up many parks and forests restricted to pokemon and members of his organization. He even helped fund the Oak project. Do to his contributions, the professor gave us have price on the starters. I was so excited to start my adventure that I overslept. I woke up at ten in the morning and then sprinted all the way to the lab witch was about a mile away. when I got there they were out of the starters but the professor gave me another pokemon. I thought I would get a pikachu but instead he returned from outside with a nidorino. I was so excited that I ran out of the lab and went to fight a pidgy, and got my butt kicked. I returned to the lab beat up so the professor healed my pokemon. He told me that I needed to learn the basics of battling and that he would challenge me outside. He told me that the first rule of battling was to make sure your pokemon's health didn't drop to zero.He then threw out his own pokemon gengar. He then told me that different moves have different powers and types. The types of moves you use on certain types of pokemon could have different effects. He then told his gengar to use shadow ball and my nidorino took a lot of damage. He said that move was actually neutral effective and my nidorino was just low level. By battling pokemon gain experience and when they gain enough experience they level up. The max level for all pokemon is level 100. After that I finally set off on my journey. I learned in Pewter city that the Kanto region had eight gyms. These gyms had some of the most powerful trainers in the world. If you managed to defeat the gym leader you would earn a badge to signify your strength and courage. I couldn't wait to prove myself and ran towards the local gym to take on the challenge. I made my way to the gym leader and he accepted my challenge. I first threw out my newly captured meowth and he threw out his geodude. We fought intensly until my meowth came up on top. I thought that was it but he then threw out his onix. It was a hard fought battle but I eventually won and got the boulder badge. I was well on my way to success. I then went out through the Kanto region so I could battle all the gym leaders and earn all the badges. In one year I finally obtained all of the gym badges. I returned home to show my parents and to make them proud of me. But, that was the day my whole life changed. I was running to my house when I saw embers rising up in the sky. I started to sprint thinking that it was my house. And it turns out it was my house. I ran in trying to find my parents. I called out my pokemon to help me. I finally found my father in the living room. He and some of Green Rocket's grunts were trying to catch this weird pink cat pokemon. I stared in horror as my father ordered his grunts to attack the innocent pokemon. He turned around and saw me there and told me that this pokemon killed my mom. I turned to my left and saw my mom laying still on the floor. But I knew better. I threw my pokemon out and ordered them to attack my father's men. I knew that pokemon was innocent. My father's men tried to fight back but my pokemon were too strong. Then my father punched me and his men shot my pokemon with guns. I have never been so scared in my entire life. Then the pokemon flashed and an energy beam came out of the pokemon's body and everything went black. I woke up in the morning and saw the pink pokemon floating over all of the unconscious bodies. That was the day I saw pokemon differently. I saw them for what they really where. Pokemon are mindless beasts that are murder machines. Every day from then on I hated pokemon. I resented them. I recreated my dad's company into a gang who's ultimate goal was to find that mysterious pokemon and use it to rule the world and to destroy all pokemon in the whole world. I forgot to mention my name. My name is Giovanni.
 
Wait both mine and Noviceofpokemon's stories wont be counted. I thought today was the last day to turn in our stories. Do we get an account penalty for not finishing the fanfic in time beacause if that is then i can defend myself because my story took a long time to make.
 
@PKPokemon & @NoviceOfPokemon

Gah, I'm so sorry! The error was fully mine, I assure you. I live in Europe, which is many hours ahead of "PokéBeach time" (US Pacific) and because of this, I sometimes get dates confused. The end of the Contest should have been 30 minutes ago, not a full day ago. Both of your entries will be fully counted with no penalties.

I have also updated the Fan Voting form to add both of your entries to the list. If anyone has already voted for a previous entry and would like to change their vote, please PM me.
 
Quick clarification on the winner posting:

Like the Create-A-Card contest, The Fanfiction Challenge winners will be posted with the new contest announcement for July. :) The winner's story will get linked in that post, and full critiques will be posted in this thread at that time. Sorry for the extra wait, but this is a new contest, so we're still feeling our way through it and figuring out what things will work best.

The fan-vote winners will still be posted shortly after the voting period ends, about a day from now.
 
eh, I'll take it. gg all, see you in ten days?
 
GGWP

Really, great job everyone! I had a fun time writing the story and thoroughly enjoyed reading through everybody's work :D
 
I'm really surprised I even placed! Congrats to everyone, especially Green, he really deserved that win; the story was mind bogglingly good!
I really enjoyed looking at the stories others wrote, too, their concepts and writing styles were all so different from the last!
 
here's the story I scrapped, it doesn't really deserve its own thread

"You lose, Jupiter. Stand down, both of you, or I can't be held responsible for what I do next."

I hated to admit it, but the kid had me. He couldn't have been any older than seventeen, but he was good. Really good. The way I saw his Torterra do battle, I knew he would make good on his threat. I glanced over at my partner, who had just recently been trounced herself. I was tell she was gritting her teeth behind those lovely red lips of hers; she was just as sick of losing to this guy as me. Still, I never would have expected what came out of her mouth next.

"OK! That's it for me!" She threw her arms up and started to walk past our pursuer, out of Stark Mountain.

I grabbed her by her hand, spun her around before Lucas, Charon, or his escort could grab hold of her. "Wait, Mars, what are you talking about? Where do you think you're going?"

Mars jerked away from me, then reached for her belt. She took all but one of her Poke Balls from her belt and handed them to Lucas, then turned to me. "I'm going to look for Master Cyrus. Without him to lead us, this organization isn't worth being a part of. Seems like they'll let anyone be a commander these days," she said, casting a not-so-subtle glare at our newest commander. He was a garbage trainer, but he was book smart. Charon was the one who put the idea of the Distortion World in Cyrus's head, so to say that Mars disliked Charon was a bit of an understatement. "The Distortion World, was it called? I should go there, right? I'm quits with Team Galactic."

Lucas's jaw hit the floor. I ran in front of the cave entrance, blocking her exit. "Mars, wait! You can't just leave! Who's going to lead in Master Cyrus's absence if not you?"

"Not my concern," she said plainly. "If you're that worried about the future of Team Galactic, Jupiter, you can deal with it." For a moment, the five of us stood there in a bit of a stunned silence, no one knowing what to say or do next. Charon tried to slip away, but a quick Razor Leaf from Lucas's Torterra stopped him from disappearing any deeper into the mountain cave. Mars stepped forward, face to face with me once again. "Move, Lisa," she spoke softly, using my real name. She knew I had a soft spot for her and liked it when she called me by my real name, so she made a point to do it whenever she really wanted something. "Or leave with me. You know Galactic is finished - no reason to go down with the ship. Turn in your Pokemon and leave with me. I'm only keeping Purugly - my first Pokemon," she added, moving its Poke Ball out of reach when Lucas made a grab for it. "Received long before I was ever part of Team Galactic, so cool your jets, kid."

She was right - Team Galactic was finished. Cyrus was gone, Mars had just quit, and Charon might be smarter than everyone else here combined, but he's not suitable to lead. Speaking of, where the hell was Saturn? No time to worry about that now. I wanted to grab Mars and pull her close and shout yes, of course I'll come with you, but a Commander of Team Galactic needed a bit more tact than that. I made a big deal about letting out a breath, took out my Poke Balls (minus one), and presented them to Lucas. "Following Mars's lead at anything irks me, but... I'm quitting to do my own thing, too." I couldn't help but smile, knowing what that was going to entail. "Team Galactic's just no fun without Master Cyrus around." I looked around Lucas, to Charon. "So, old-timer, go ahead. Do what you want with Team Galactic."

Mars turned to Lucas. "There you have it. We're going back to being ordinary girls. You can mop up whichever way you want." She pushed her way past me and left Lucas and his Torterra to start mopping. I quickly followed her outside before Lucas came to his senses and decided to cash in on a four-for-one Galactic Special.

We hightailed it out of there on foot. It would take too long to hunt for a flying Pokemon in this area, and neither of our Pokemon were in any shape to fight, in any case. Once we were far enough away, we slowed down and started to walk, ignoring the ash that gently fell from the gray sky above. It would still take another hour or so to reach the Survival Area, so we chatted to pass the time. "Mars, why did you do it?"

She looked up at me, giving me a brief flash of pretty brown before she looked back to the ground to stop the ash from getting in her eyes. "Do what? Quit?"

"Yeah. Aside from Cyrus, you're the strongest person in Team Galactic. Why not lead yourself and put Charon out on his ass?"

Mars laughed. "Yeah, that'd be nice, wouldn't it? I think it's more satisfying to see Charon get arrested by someone a third his age and probably the same amount of intelligence, you know? Really stick it to him where it matters." For a moment, we continued to walk in silence, letting the sounds of wild Pokemon and ash underfoot fill the air. Then she spoke again. "Do you think Cyrus could still be alive? I mean, you saw what happened at Spear Pillar. That giant monster, what did Cynthia call it? Scared me half to death."

"Giratina." I would never forget that thing's name. Scared the hell out of me, too.

"Yeah. Grabbed Cyrus and pulled him into that hole. I thought we understood everything about Dialga and Palkia. Cyrus's plan really looked like it was going to work and then... maybe we were in over our heads, you know? Like, we pissed off some evil shadow god, and Cyrus paid the price. I'm not sure I want to be a part of that. That's another reason why back there I decided that enough was enough." A beat. "Plus, I have had it with these uniforms. But all of that's in the past! Now we're just two ordinary girls wandering the world."

"...Says you. An "ordinary girl" you're not. You weren't second in command for nothing, you know..."

What should I do now? Is leaving on a journey the right idea? OR SHOULD I JUST SCRAP THIS ARGHHHHHHHHH
 
Just for fun, I thought I might share something with you guys while you're waiting for results. :)

Back when I first joined the Creative Works at the beginning of this year, I had a proposal for a contest I wanted to hold that would be about people creating Pokémon OCs for various themes. At the time, I didn't know about the FFC, so in the end, I just decided to host this contest instead of pushing to start my other one. However, the "sample" story that I wrote when creating the contest to use as an example happened to be one that also fits this month's FFC theme, too!

So, I thought you all might like to see a story that I might have created for this contest. It comes out to a little over 900 words, so it would have fit within the word limit, too. :p It's kind of a stereotypical story, I suppose, but it was fun to write. :3

My name is Reika, and I’m from Fortree City in Hoenn. My father’s a Pokémon Ranger, and he’s often away from home for days or weeks at a time, staying in the wild to study and protect the various Pokémon that live in the deep forests around us. My mother used to be a Ranger, too, but she gave up that life to stay home and take care of my older brother and me. Even at a very young age, I remember her taking us out and showing us various types of Pokémon in the trees and the sky. She would lure them to come near us with berries, and sometimes we could even pet them. Pokémon have always been a part of my life since as long as I can remember.

I just wish they would like me more.

It didn’t always used to be that way, but when I was 9, I came down with a bad fever. I was so sick that I don’t remember much of what happened at the time, but I do know that even dad came home to sit by my bedside and help take care of me. When the disease finally passed and I was healed, I immediately ran outside to be with my Pokémon friends, but they all shied away from me. Wingulls flew away at my approach, and Kecleons would camouflage themselves and stay out of sight.

My brother said that they just smelled or sensed the lingering disease in my body and assured me that it would go away, but it never did, and I never understood why. Although they wouldn’t talk about it in front of me, I could tell my parents were disappointed in the change as well. My mother stopped taking me out with her when she went to sprinkle seed at the town lines, and my father, always bursting with stories about Pokémon he encountered in the wild, became soft-spoken when he was home and spent more and more time in the fields. Compared to my brother who was already a Trainer working at Winona’s Gym with his Natu, I was a disappointment.

When my 10th birthday came, I still intended to do my best to become a Pokémon Trainer, so I said my goodbyes and left home. My brother hugged me tight and wished me the best of luck. Waving to me from the path as I set off down Route 119 to visit Professor Birch. Perhaps he would be able to give me a Pokémon already tamed in a Poké Ball that would be willing to stay with me.

Unfortunately, my trip was simply one disaster after another. Bad weather plagued me, either with a heavy, cold rain, or dreary cloud-filled skies that held back the warmth of the sun. The wild Pokémon that didn’t ignore me would attack me, or run me off the path into the wild. I made my way down paths, through forests and fields, and even across a small desert. I stayed at Pokémon Centers at night, a small, lonely girl without even a single Pokémon to her name. When I finally made my way to Littleroot, my hopes were dashed once again. Professor Birch was not even there, and no one would talk to me or give me a Pokémon. I was a complete failure.

Afraid to go home, I continued to wander, seeing the sights. Eventually I got used to being ignored, and even came to somewhat enjoy my time spent wandering. I would let my instincts guide me and follow the path that my feet led me down.

So it was that I came to the large mountain in the sea, an island that called to me with a voice I felt more than heard. I hitched a ride and made my way to an entrance carved into the rock, for the mountain was also a building, with cave tunnels dug and polished into gleaming rooms.

And it was there that I found a Pokémon to call my own, a Shuppet, small even for its type. It didn’t cower or run or attack me, but it floated up to me as if curious. It was the first experience with a Pokémon that I’d had in over a year that was even slightly positive, and I brought down with tears of joy. The Shuppet, perhaps sensing my need, flew closer to me and I hugged it, curled up in the deepest corners of Mt. Pyre, sobbing like the little girl I still was.

I didn’t have any Poké Balls, but I didn’t seem to need one; Shuppet was willing to stay with me even without it. We left the shining halls of Mt. Pyre together and headed North. I couldn’t wait to show my parents that I had finally succeeded, that they needn’t have given up on me. But it was my brother that I went to first. He smiled when he saw me and Shuppet together. “I guess this means you’ve figured it out then.”

“Figured out what?”

He wouldn’t answer but sighed and shook his head. “Since you have a Pokémon of your own now, maybe you’d like to come with me? I’m going to Mossdeep Island to train under Tate and Liza. I think you’ll find people you like there.”

And so we left Fortree City, together, hand in hand, my Shuppet and his Xatu flying along behind us.
 
It's an incredibly written story- is it based off the concept of Hex Maniacs?
The way how you not only have character development and a basis for the journey but also a form of conclusion in the fact that the character goes on to join a gym makes it that much more effective, and the fact that you managed to fit all of that within the word limit blows me away!
 
Just to make sure people don't read this before the story, I'm putting it in a spoiler.

Reika's brother was inspired by the idea of Hex Maniacs, yes, with him being the only one who could still see and interact with his sister's spirit. Technically, Hex Maniacs are only females, so in game terms he should be a Psychic, I guess, though Psychics don't really have the ghost connection in their archetype that the Hex Maniacs do. Originally, he wanted to be a Bird Trainer like the trainers of the Fortree Gym, but it was Reika who really showed him where he true talents lie, leading to the change in his desired path and the eventual departure to train at the Psychic-type Gym.

Reika herself would certainly count as a Hex Maniac, if anything. It's really the only class that I could see an actual ghost being. :p Especially considering the ghostly Hex Maniac scene in the Fighting Dojo of Lumiose City.
 
When will the next fan fiction competition be beginning. I have some old written works on my computer that I would like to share.
 
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