Training Day by blue___22

Genre: Pokéfic

Current Chapter Length: 1 Chapter, Complete.

Update Schedule: N/A

~First Place Winner of the Clever Quill Contest!~

~People's Choice Award Winner!~

Summary: The one in which Clair is tasked to train Silver...unfortunately.

Training Day is such a wonderful read. I just love, love, LOVE how this story starts out. It talks about this ancient word, Summall, which is really nice because it's a word the author made up. To be honest, I was convinced it was a real word because of the vast vocabulary that is used in the story. I absolutely love it when stories do that, especially since I got to learn a new word or two while reading. It's hard to come by that in Pokéfic.

Another thing that I absolutely loved was that this book was centered around a Gym Leader who isn't featured a lot in Pokéfic: Clair. Now, it's been a while since I've played a Gen 2 game (back when HGSS came out, so do the math on how long ago that was, and that was how long it has been) but looking back on it, I'd always wondered why she isn't a major character used in Pokéfic. I mean, think about it. This girl is cousins with Lance, a member of the Elite Four, and both are Dragon-type Trainers, a type that was pretty much OP early on in the games (and a type I could probably overuse in any Pokemon game). Seeing that the writer chose to write about this character makes me happy, but it also makes me realize why she would be overlooked.

Part of that being that there is a rift between Lance and Clair. Clair is overlooked because of her cousin (who, is a much more notable character than she is). Now, I will say, this book doesn't paint a clear picture on what exactly happened between the two of them until the end. It goes straight into the elders taking away her gym rights and having to train Silver in the meantime to learn from her mistakes as a Gym Leader. As a reader, I wish I could've seen something that would've lead up to that. Maybe a Trainer and her arguing right before she is called to see them, or an intro do that. I just wanted more because it came kind of sudden.

And that's another thing that came up during this story: why was it Silver that she had to train? He just seemed like a random choice to me. Silver was in the middle of his journey, and wanted to defeat Crystal. His personality to what the games perceive him to be was off too as he didn't come off the same. Unlike Clair (who has all rights to be modified as she has a minor role and no outstanding features about her) Silver is pretty much a cut and dry character. As a reader, I was expecting this cold Trainer, and here, he kind of reminds me of Blue by the way he's a bit cocky in the beginning, and seems better than Clair.

But he still had his own personality, and that's something that needs to be noted. He doesn't seem like a character with no personality, which is something I can see a lot of in one-shots. Silver is one to come off as this cold, "I-don't-really-care" kind of personality (unless a fic shows a different side of him because of the romance) but here, he seems to kind of care and puts forth the effort to help Clair. He doesn't have to, but he does. While this could've been a change from before the fic, since this is a standalone, I wish he would've stayed true to his original character because he seemed different. While the personality wasn't something I had expected, it was still there, which is a good thing.

The last thing I'm going to point out was the amount of time skips/scene breaks that happened through the one-shot. I'll admit, it's tricky writing a one-shot because you want to tell a whole story in a limited space; however, there was almost too much. This isn't just in the amount that was told, but the depth that each character could have. I craved more, but almost for it to be a short story rather than a one-shot, because the scene breaks were almost too much.

There is a lot of stuff that went into this fic that could be improved, but at the same time, it was still an enjoyable fic to read. I loved the conversations that went into the story. That was something this story was pretty strong in. You could tell how each character interacted differently with other characters. I really enjoyed seeing that. It helped show how characters the characters grew throughout the story.

Another thing I enjoyed was the scene breaks (not in the way that they were everywhere, but in regards to their appearance). I know this is something so simple, but they reminded me of dragon scales in a way. It was very aesthetically pleasing. Whenever writers put the extra effort into books like that, it's very appeasing.

Overall, there was a lot of good going for this story. I thoroughly enjoyed it. There are a few things that needs improving in my opinion, but it's still very good for a one-shot. It's because of that, I was very pleased to see this book entered in the Clever Quill Contest, where the author was awarded First Place and was given the People's Choice Award. Since the writer did receive first place, I had the chance to do an exclusive interview to talk more about the one-shot, Training Day, and about her writings in general.

JunieWeathers: Hello. Thank you again for participating in the first ever Clever Quill Contest. Your story, Training Day, was a very interesting and wonderful story to be told. What inspired you to write it?

Blue___22: Well, I had been watching a play through of HG/SS because I've been researching that game for some of my other works, and I came across the double battle between Clair, Lance, Silver, and Crystal. And to me, I found it really interesting how Silver evolves and grows as a trainer  while he's training in the dragon's den. And, at first, the story was going to be about him, but as more and more of my personality seeped into Clair I found that I wanted the story to be about her making up for being rude after her gym battle with Crystal.

Junie: You know, that's very interesting, and it makes sense with everything that goes on in your story. What was your favorite part about writing this story?

Blue: It was trying to think up the sequence. I wanted to try something new by disjointing the one-shot and trying to make it a series of instances where it shows someone's thoughts as they grow over time, so attempting something new was really interesting. And then, of course, trying to tie it all together with the beginning and end was also really interesting.

Junie: I can see where that can be fun to write, but it also sounds like that could come with some challenges. What kind of challenges did you face when you wrote this story?

Blue: Pacing was difficult. I wanted there to be friction between Clair and Silver for some time, but I also didn't want it to be resolved too quickly. Also, trying to fit in parts about Clair and Lance's relationship to show that they were the ones who were causing this was really difficult. I wanted to approach it from the angle of someone who really doesn't know what the issue is, since most people don't always know what's plaguing them in the heat of the situation. But, it makes it harder to set up the stage for the whole Lance and Clair are fighting and they need to forgive each other thing.

Junie: I can see where that could pose a bit of a problem, especially since you had different relationships in the story. Each character was pretty unique in how they handled those. Which character was your favorite to write about?

Blue: Clair, for sure. You know, a lot of people write her off as just the 8th gym leader and don't really talk about her except for her having a bad attitude since she blew up at the protagonist of the story. I think, though, that if you look at it at a different angle, where she is someone who has worked very, very hard hard to get to where she is, and still lives in the shadow of her cousin, it makes her a lot more of an interesting person. I like the idea that she can't handle losing because she's competitive, because she has a lot of pride in what she does as a dragon master, and that she's actually a pretty cool person underneath it all. In researching her character I read all of her over the phone dialogue and she seems like a normal person. So, I tried model her after the attributes of my own personal passions and determination and went from there.

Junie: I love that you really expanded on her because she is a pretty neat character in your story, and my favorite to read about in it. You did a great job on portraying her. What is your favorite part about writing a story in general?

Blue: Honestly, it's a lot more of what I did with Clair. I love taking something small and expanding on it. So if you've read The Leader it actually stems from one line of dialogue in the original games that I asked questions about. E.g. what is Blue and Professor Oak's relationship? Is there resentment there? How does this tie into him with the gym? Or, in a similar way, I'll take a character who I think has a lot of potential and invent a backstory for them, which is basically what The Flying Ranger was about. A lot of Nintendo's characters in the Pokémon franchise, even the most interesting ones, are kind of like an incomplete shell to me. It's filling in the gaps and explaining why they are the way they are, while still trying to stay canon is really interesting. Some examples with this story are how I fill in their past and future. So for the past, I love to think of Clair and Lance having to endure really difficult things to become dragon masters, but still having that familial relationship despite that. In a similar way, I like to imagine Clair and Lance leading the dragon clan at some point together, and Silver eventually learning that it's ok to settle down and living in blackthorn. While I may not write those future things, I kind of imagine a characters life like a string of beads. Those are the ones that surround my work, the middle piece and what's seen.

Junie: That is really cool! I can definitely see where this can make writing stories fun as there are so many different stories that can be created from the Pokémon franchise's characters. Is there anything else you'd like to share about your book, Training Day?

Blue: Well, I just wanted to note that when I wrote it I made up a word called Summall which is actually a portmanteau of the words summit and fall. It was my first time trying to make up a word so I spent a good hour trying to think of how I wanted to phrase it, since I couldn't really find anything in the English language that I wanted to express how beautiful the art of forgiveness is. But doing that was really kind of cool, and I just think that it's definitely something that's on my list for possible future works.

Junie: That is amazing! It actually makes sense with your story too! Well, thank you for letting me interview you. If you haven't read Training Day, I'd highly recommend doing so as it is an amazing read.