He is a She by JustBluePanda

Genre: Adventure, Drama, Pokéfic, Romance

Current Length: 7 Chapters, Complete

Schedule: N/A

Quote: "If I hadn't had fear, then I also wouldn't have been able to know what it's like to have bravery in my heart. Bravery awakens when you're consumed by fear." -Red

Taking place in an alternate universe, Green, Blue, Red, and Yellow were all good friends growing up until Red and Yellow gets attacked by a wild Scyther. Red sacrifices himself, so Yellow could be safe, but as a consequence, these two are torn apart. Five years later, Yellow is encourage to go on a Pokémon Journey. There's just one problem: she encounters Red, who thinks she is a he (no title pun intended).

Warning: I was given the okay by the author to give spoilers, and I will touch on some major spoilers.

Also, please note, I have not read any of the Pokémon Specials Manga (if I could, I would being how awesome these types of Pokéfics are; however, I just don't). With this in mind, I do not really know how the characters act in the manga vs. anime (Pokémon Origins Anime, if we're being specific). I do appreciate how close the last scene in the book mimics the MewTwo episode, and (according to the limited knowledge I do have of the Manga with the Pokéfics I've read) how Green and Blue's dialogue in the prologue is towards each other. That was really nice to see, especially since I could pick up on those sorts of details. It's definitely the kind of book that any Pokémon fan could pick up and read, whether they know a lot or very little about the manga.

Now, with this in mind, I do not know the people in this manga very well, so my knowledge is limited. I appreciated how Red and Yellow were given descriptions as to what they wore. While I know what Red looks like (from the anime/Let's Go games/being Ash's counterpart), the same can't always be said for Yellow (or at least, when I first read a Pokéfic about her, I didn't know what all the main characters from the manga looked like. Since then, I've figured it out, but it's still nice to have in there).

This creates a problem though. Red and Yellow are the only ones described. Other descriptions are left out. The biggest example of this is Chuchu. This could've been common knowledge to fans of the manga, but it took me until the Cinabar Gym Battle to realize that Chuchu was Yellow's Pikachu. I knew in the manga she had a Pikachu, but I wasn't sure if that held up here or if it was a Chinchou since she lived in Johto for a while. Since this took place in a different universe (which was shown as Yellow can't talk to Pokémon...that's what she does in the manga, right?) I wished there was more detail shown.

Of course, this problem leads into another problem: pacing. The pacing of the story is really strong in the beginning. It flows from one chapter to the next without any interruption. That is until Chapter 4 when Yellow has somehow obtained seven Gym Badges. Wait? How did the other six Gym Battles go? Did she meet up with Red after that? With this being a romance book, I would've liked to see more of their interactions, even if he had no idea that Yellow was, well, Yellow as she gave him a pseudonym, Viridian, or Viri. Even if it was a slight mention, or transition between her figuring out she wanted to become the next Champion when talking to Red turns into her training hard to obtain Gym Badges, bringing her to where she is now...there's so much missing that could've been brushed over.

And speaking of Viri, I was a bit shocked as to why Oak, Green, and Blue didn't call her out about her lie. I mean, at this point of the book, it hasn't been revealed on how Red made it out of that Scyther attack alive, nor did it mention how Yellow and Red's parents felt about each other's kids. It would've been good to hint that either Oak, Green, and Blue knew of something on why Yellow would've wanted it to be kept a secret or that they weren't even in the room because is seemed as if they had mysteriously disappeared during this sequence. Giving some acknowledgment to the scene would've been nice.

Going back to pacing, the ending seemed a bit rushed. One moment, Red is dead (or seems dead) and the next, Yellow is waiting at the port, waiting to see Red come back from Unova. Excuse me, but what the heck? Since when did Red miraculously get better? How did she know? Was it Yellow who took him out of Cerulean Cave after he had barely caught MewTwo, or did someone find them and help them out? Again, I understand this is a short story, but I still need to know what happened here.

That was the biggest problem I had with this book, but overall, it wasn't horrible. I mean, I did like how Red treated Yellow in the prologue. It was easy to see that he did what he could to help her. I especially loved reading the scene about him finding Yellow during hide-and-go-seek, and then said that they could pretend that didn't happen. Now, kids are pretty competitive, so that showed that he had a bit of a crush back then. Did that carry over to when he became Champion? I'm not sure (it would've been nice to had more shipping moments, especially since this was a romance story). But, I could see where that scene would've carried over to why Yellow always liked him and everything.

Also, I loved how this story italicized everything that had happened in the past. It gives a nice distinction on whether or not they were kids or they were Trainers. This choice of style was really nice. Also, something that I found really enjoyable was the choice of vocabulary. I love reading books where I learn a new word or two (and in most Pokéfics, I don't always get that). I probably learned two or three new words as I had to look them up, and by the looks of things, they were used correctly. That was nice to see.

I know I harped a lot about pacing and everything, but this book was a very enjoyable read. I mean, that could be the fact that I'm a sucker for when it comes to romance stories, and this one made me want to keep reading on from the beginning to the end as I wanted to know if Red had the same feelings for Yellow. There was also the fact that he didn't recognize her with her at on (which, I'm sure is somehow a nod to the manga, but wow, c'mon Red!) and that was somewhat amusing to read. I mean, I guess Viridian would've been a gender neutral name, so I guess he had that going for him. I guess I just wanted more between these two, and I would not have minded if this story was a bit longer due to that fact.

After reading He is a She, I'm glad that JustBluePanda has agreed to do an interview to talk more about the story.

JunieWeathers: What inspired you to write this story.

JustBluePanda: You see, I couldn't find stories (or maybe I wasn't just checking that much) about SpecialShipping or RedXYellow. This shipping is one of the most popular pairings from the Pokémon Adventures Manga and also one of my personal favorites too. The manga didn't give a clear relationship between the two for it only hinted to the readers that Yellow harbors a romantic feeling towards Red while he isn't fully aware about it. On the other hand, fanfictions and fan comics I had read depicts that they are already a couple or perhaps only dating and they play differently compared to the manga. Comparing the canon to the fanfictions and fan comics, I can tell the huge difference of fan service and I'm one of those fans who wants to see more of their relationship cuz they're so cute together. In the end, this is the most fun part of writing wherein you as a writer get to decide the events or scenario will happen to your favorite ship.

Junie: That's really interesting, and you're right, there are a lot of SpecialShipping books, but hardly any that show how they got to be a couple. What kind of challenges did you face when writing this story, and how did you overcome them?

Panda: Challenges... Hmm, since this is my first time writing a short story, I had a hard time limiting the words because I'm used to tell stories as long as it can be. It may sound like I'm contradicting my comfort zone but I took this as a challenge as a way of improving myself as a writer. Also, this story is mostly centered on drama and romance which is also my first time writing it, (although I have written a tinge of romance on my journey Pokéfic)I want to to see pushing myself to the point wherein my readers could feel the emotion and the love that my story can give.

Junie: I'm glad you went out of your comfort zone and pushed yourself through it. That's pretty neat. What was your favorite part about writing this story?

Panda: My favorite part would probably be after when Yellow and Green heard the news from Daisy about Blue's misfortune. All of my main characters are there in one scene and there's also the revelation of Viri, or rather Yellow's true identity. There's so many emotions I incorporated on that chapter from Green getting extremely worried about Blue after what Mewtwo did to him, Red couldn't hold his anger of what the particular Pokémon did to his friend, and especially the throwing of lines between Red and Yellow. The group of friends are all in there while their acting father of all, Professor Oak is also there and I can't unsee them as a family caring towards one another.

Junie: That was a great scene. Really, this book has many great scenes in it as there was a great cast of characters. Which character did you enjoy writing about the most?

Panda: If only I had to pick one among them, I chose Red. He learned the aspects of bravery and fear. He had the courage back then to protect Yellow from the hot-blooded Scyther but then got consumed by fear when death almost had him. But, as years passed by, he eventually learned that he shouldn't let his weaknesses rule over him so he moved on and continued taking the path of becoming the Champion in which he succeeded. Another thing, he seems to be the total package but still has his own flaws. He's an ideal hero possessing power and courage as a Trainer upon dealing with Team Rocket by himself, a good leader to their group of friends, a studly young man in which his female friends can't even deny and a titleholder being the Kanto Champ. But, just like what I've said, there are a few parts that made him not perfect at all. I made him a little bit dense for not realizing who Yellow really was when they met again, and for being slow to pick up other's emotions such as when Yellow's blushing because of him. Somehow, I made a character out of him in which I became a little proud of myself.

Junie: That's pretty cool. Is there anything else you'd like to share about your book?

Panda: First of all, this is not a story involving the third gender or whatsoever as some may confuse it with the title "He is a She". You'll find out if you read the whole story. Hence the word SpecialShipping written on the story description, this will be centered on the characters of Pokémon Adventures Red and Yellow along with several other characters with additional details from the Pokémon anime and games. Shippers of Red and Yellow (also with Blue and Green) and Pokémon Adventures fans will surely love this. There are also inspiring quotes and moral lessons you can get/learn as you read on. :)