The Workshop Challenge: Pokemon Movie Pitch

[AceTrainer14]

Re: The Fairground Quiz: Quiz Two Has Begun!

Hello all! Before we get stuck into the awards next week, it is time to reveal the winner of the latest quiz. And the lucky, intelligent person is....

@Vivillon!!!!!
Congratulations on getting every answer correct Please contact me so we can arrange your prize.

Here are the answers:

1: Monster, crazy bitch, pinko and boss
2: Omega
3: 20
4: Guyana
5: Eclipse, Merciless, Millennium Falcon, IG-2000, Sturdy, Two for Flinching, Unpredictable, Kyorimut, Annihilator and Executor
(The following were different types of ships and did not count: Aclay, Nexu, Birth Right, Damasucs, Assassin’s Bane)
6: The Ring of Storms
7: Vermilion, Kanto
8: The Alizarin Mountains
9: Light Screen

Bonus: Kyogre and Groudon

Thank you to everyone that entered. Will see you all again in January for the next one

 

[AceTrainer14]

Re: The Fairground Quiz: Quiz Two Winner Announced

Hello all! It has been a few months since we last hosted this quiz, but to make up for my lack of activity lately, I thought I would put another one of these on!


- Questions that come from the first 10,000 words of your story do not require the chapter title in the question. You can submit questions that come from after the first 10,000 words, but you must state in the question what chapter the answer is in.
- All questions you submit must have the answers attached and a link to the relevant chapter to check. Any question submitted without these will go ignored.
- You can submit a question even if you submitted one last time, and you can still compete even if you submit a question: there will be a bonus question to answer for those that submit.

Start submitting NOW! You have until Friday the 27th to get them in. There will be a maximum of ten questions plus the bonus one, but we will start if we get at least six.

 

[Beth Pavell]

Re: The Fairground Quiz: Quiz Three Submissions Open

Remind me, are completed stories eligible for submission?

 

[AceTrainer14]

Re: The Fairground Quiz: Quiz Three Submissions Open

Remind me, are completed stories eligible for submission?

Since we didn't get a lot of submissions last time, I am willing to make this one more open, so I will accept completed stories if they were finished this year.

Try and just submit questions from stories published or updated this year (ie since January 1st).

 

[Kelleo]

Re: The Fairground Quiz: Quiz Three Submissions Open

Aw, I wanted to submit a question for my FE Awakening story series, but it hasn't been updated since late December.

 

[AceTrainer14]

Re: The Fairground Quiz: Quiz Three Submissions Open

Aw, I wanted to submit a question for my FE Awakening story series, but it hasn't been updated since late December.

Submit it and if we have space I will include it

 

[Kelleo]

Re: The Fairground Quiz: Quiz Three Submissions Open

@AceTrainer14;: Ah, thanks, I will then!

 

[AceTrainer14]

Re: The Fairground Quiz: Quiz Three Submissions Open

One more day to submit questions. We only have a few at the moment, it would be great if we could get a couple more in there

 

[Kelleo]

Re: The Fairground Quiz: Quiz Three Submissions Open

I'm surprised so few people submit anything to this, AT, I find it so much fun!

It also gets your stories some attention!

 

[AceTrainer14]

Re: The Fairground Quiz: Quiz Three Submissions Open

I am just as surprised as you are, Kelleo. We made it to the minimujm of six I wanted, but I am still disappointed we did not manage to get a full ten submissions. This is a great opportunity to promote your work and I hope more people make use of it next time!

Anyway, for now, here is the quiz:

1: In Part 4 of Happy Together in Kelleo's Fire Emblem: Awakening Stories, Ralph mentions that he and Frederick played a combat board game belonging to Frederick's father when they were kids. What role in the game did they fight over when playing it?
2: In Chapter 23 of Psychic Duelist Django: Season 2, what are the names of Django’s surviving relatives?
3: What is the name of the Magneton owned by Donovan Jude in A Sine of Things to Come?
4: In Chapter 8 of Survival Project, which pokemon does Kuiora and Atis help to evolve?
5: What does the wild Pidgeotto do to make Josh angry in Chapter Eight of The Long Walk?
6: In Lucky Egg, what part of Nani's body is permanently scarred by the forest fire?

Bonus Question: In Chapter 71 of How to Conquer Kanto in Eight Easy Steps, three Pokémon appear during the course of the chapter. Who are they?

You have a week to PM me with your answers. Only people who submitted questions have to answer the Bonus one instead of answering their own question. Good luck!

 

[AceTrainer14]

Re: The Fairground Quiz: Quiz Three Has Begun!

The quiz has come to an end! I stretched it out an little bit extra because of April Fools and I was hoping we would get more entries, but alas, things seem pretty inactive on this side.

Anyway, the answers are:

1: The knight
2: Noble, Zephyr and Melody
3: Amp
4: Kakuna into a Beedrill
5: Steals his food and knocks over his pint
6: Her right arm

Bonus question: Gallade, Pichu, Eevee


And the winner of this round is.... @diamondpearl876!!! Congratulations! PM me concerning your prize, I have some ideas for it and will see what you prefer.

Now, for a bit of feedback. Do people still want to take part in this? We had minimal entry for questions and little response for the answers, so I am just wondering if people are still interested in a quiz taking place. Let me know either here or by PM/VM and we will see what we can do to improve

 

[Beth Pavell]

Re: The Fairground Quiz: Quiz Three Finished

Well for me it was a simple case of time this time round. Even with say, six questions of moderate length that's somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000 words, ish, to read through. I just didn't have the time to do that this week

 

[Kelleo]

Re: The Fairground Quiz: Quiz Three Finished

I wanted to do the quiz too, but it totally slipped my mind. >_<

Still, congrats to the winner!

I don't want the quiz to go away, I really think it's a great idea and it's a shame not many people participate in it.

 

[CynthiaLover]

Re: The Fairground Quiz: Quiz Three Finished

I think it was just one of those odd times. But I think we should continue the quiz, as it does encourage people to check out other writings and such, not just their preferences. I think the small number of questions and such was most likely due to timing, in more that one sense. But I think we should continue the quiz, as it is fun and, in a sense, advertizes the stories more.

 

[AceTrainer14]

Hello all!

Things have been a bit quiet around here lately, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to do something a bit different. I have wanted to try for a while making monthly challenges to get people active and thinking and just having fun doing something different. So to kick off this little experiment, I thought we would do something we've all done a bit of in the past but now we can attempt officially:

REWRITING SCENES
In this challenge, you have the opportunity to rewrite a scene/chapter from a story on the site. You have until the end of September to post your rewrite here, and whichever post gets the most likes from other authors wins the prize. The prize will likely be a banner, but I will sort it out and let you all know later on.

To kick things off, as we are testing the waters I don't want to throw anyone else into the deep end. So I am going to let people take a stab at rewriting How to Conquer Kanto in Eight Easy Steps. Pick whichever scene you want, take a go at writing it how you would if it was your story, and mostly have fun.

Rules:
- Put a spoiler tag and a warning over it if your going to go down the R-rated path.
- It's more about writing in your style than it is about writing a parody: you can have fun, but don't get nasty, I suppose.
- No word limit, just write however much you want.

The monthly challenge won't always be this: next month I'll attempt something else, depending how popular this is. But just try and have fun and take a break!

 

[Olive]

Well, I make no claims to be talented at this, but I read plenty, so I figured doing the converse of that couldn't be too crazy.

On that note, he is my rendition of the prologue of How to Conquer Kanto in Eight Easy Steps

Spoiler

Prologue: Chrono Island​

September 7th, 2008


An orange ball of fire blossomed against the cool backdrop of a tropical paradise.

Up until that moment, the day had proceeded as every day did on the unremarkable Five Island.

It was not too far past noon: the day calm, the Sun beautiful, the sea tranquil, the breeze as soft as could be. By all accounts, it was as perfect a day as any of the postcards in the island’s gift shop made it out to be.

This made the explosion that emanated from the southeast corner of the island all the more unnatural.

At first some glanced in the direction of the low rumble, wondering if perhaps an unexpected storm had snuck up on the island, though the crystal-clear sky told them otherwise.

The source of the disturbance was indeed as unnatural as it seemed.

Unbeknownst to the majority of the island, a seemingly abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of the island’s lone municipality had inexplicably found itself engulfed in swirling infernos of orange and red. Already, a cloud of smoke had begun to drift into the otherwise soft-blue sky.

It wasn’t long before the blaze spread from its initial host.

The tropical forest surrounding the little-used building soon became lit up as glowing embers – carried by the inferno’s wind – rapidly planted smaller blazes throughout the thick tropical foliage.

Those Pokémon who could fly sought shelter in the skies.

Those that could not remained firmly on the ground, doing their best to stave off their fate.

Despite the initial shock of the whole occurrence, the town was quick to mount a defense.

Those with Pokémon grabbed their water types, and those without made do with buckets.

Much to their disappointment, these pseudo-firefighters arrived at the site of the incident only to find that someone had robbed them of their moment of heroism.

Witnesses would later report that five figures had emerged from the burning building, extinguishing the blaze with the aid of a pair of Blastoise before bidding a hasty flight from the scene with the aid of a handful of flying types.

In the present though, most of the inhabitants of Five Island returned to their lives.

The crises was over. What more were they supposed to do?

The next move would be up to the authorities.

Unfortunately, the island’s three lawmen were at just as much of a loss as to how to launch an investigation as the citizens were willing to.

After an hour of council and police work, the island’s sheriff concluded that the best course of action would be to let someone else determine the course of action. As such, a phone call was quickly put out to Sevii Island’s investigatory bureau.

Several hours later, the new team of smartly dressed officers and detectives were still no closer to determining the exact nature of the explosion than anyone else on the island had been.

Arson?

Maybe, but the warehouse was supposedly irrelevant to the citizens of the island.

A Pokémon?

There were no wild fire types here.

Terrorism?

Why somewhere as insignificant as Five Island?

Most of the witnesses – which consisted of a handful of bewildered trainers and elderly fishermen – noted the presence of several figures who had emerged from the inferno and vanished without a trace.

A thorough search of the still smoking ruins turned up nothing of significance to the investigation regarding either the motive or the cause.

Only a few months earlier, the warehouse had been a hive of subdued activity.

Few of the locals had any contact with the anonymous figures who came and went from the large facility. Everyone knew the outside well: its blueish paint, two stories, red-tiled roof, and quaint courtyard.

To the unwitting tourist it could have been mistaken for an oddly designed church.

Other than the tall fence of razor wire that surrounded it and the plethora of notices warding away the over-curious outsider, of course.

It wasn’t long before the town’s mayor called for the mysterious facility operating on his island to show its hand and called for the island’s sheriff to run an inspection of the warehouse.

No sooner had a search warrant been issued by the local justice of the peace, was the facility abandoned.

While the island slept, the reclusive figures held up in the warehouse slipped away, disappearing along with any trace as to what their purpose might have been.

No further attention was given to the ominous building, and the island’s inhabitants as whole chose to leave the warehouse alone.

Inspector Arthur Reynolds mulled all that information over as he surveyed the charred rubble.

He was one of Sevii Island’s veteran officers and the area’s leading expert on arson. He was tall and handsome in that weird sort of way only a well-traveled man could manage. His face was wrinkled, but his features were still perfectly defined. A head of thick, dark-gray hair topped him off.

To the casual observer, he could have been mistaken for a weathered statue in a brown trench coat.

His mental facilities were only sharpened by his age though, and he scanned the burned out building, searching for details so minute that most wouldn’t have even thought to look for them.

"John!" Arthur yelled at an officer a few meters away.

A young, blonde haired man rushed over eagerly, like a Growlithe waiting for its trainer to throw a ball for it to fetch.

"Yes sir?" he asked chirpily.

Arthur gazed down at the junior office and internally sighed; he was reminded of himself at a young age: bright eyed, cheery, ready to solve mysteries and make history.

But now Arthur was nearing his fifties, and though the joy he took from solving cases had never left him, he was tired. It was kind of like eating the same thing for lunch every day; after a while it all tasted the same. He could have tolerated the monotony of the more boring cases he often faced, but it was the other category of cases that was beginning to wear on him. He had seen too many horrors, especially over the past few months. He had been doing this for decades, and the crimes were just as senseless now as they were back then.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, tucked quietly behind the part that focusing on the work at hand, was a little voice, wondering if maybe this case would be his last.

"I think we should wrap things up for the night. We’re losing light and are never going to find anything turning over ash in the dark," Arthur explained gruffly.

"Shall we keep people on site to guard?" John asked.

"Hardly necessary in a place like this, but since you volunteered you can take the first shift. I’ll see if I can get that beach bum of a sheriff to get his people to take over after you," Arthur said, and John nodded and rushed off.

The detective sighed and watched him go, and then gave the ruins one last look before tucking his hands into the pockets of his coat and walking stiffly back to his car.

Hopefully the light of a new day would shine some light on the mystery. If not, at least Arthur could catch some sleep.

The inspector had just drove away in his cruiser, when a charred and debri-covered portion of the warehouse's floor began to stir.

A small hatch, unnoticed by the initial inspection of the scene, soundlessly was pushed open. A pair of hands soon emerged, gripping the edge, and a whole figure soon followed.

It was a young man: a white lab coat rested over an otherwise unremarkable outfit; a pair of large, dark glasses covered a pale face; and a head of slicked-back, black hair rested atop his head.

He would have effectively pulled off the sleek look he was going for had it not been for a fresh gash above his left eyebrow and the portions of his white lab coat that had been singed black.

The scientist gently closed the hatch and – after making sure the coast was clear – proceeded swiftly through the burnt facility to what had previously been his personal office.

The room was damaged beyond his recognition. His once stately desk was a charred chunk of wood, the imported carpet he had specially requested was reduced to a few singed tufts, and his file cabinet looked like an aluminum can that someone had tossed into a campfire.

In an act that his ever-rational mind knew was futile, he retrieved his laptop, which he had kept stored in a hidden compartment of the desk, hoping that it was somehow still functional.

One didn’t have to be a computers expert to see that the slab of warped, black plastic was beyond use. The hard drive was in a similar state.

He threw the worthless machine onto the floor in frustration, disregarding the possible attention the noise might draw.

He had not had time to back up his work before the attack, and the assailants had efficiently seen to it that what few computers the facility was still operating were destroyed. His only hope had been that his personal laptop had somehow remained hidden and unscathed.

The scientist knocked himself firmly on the head for having deemed it too risky to save the data to a cloud server or even put a copy of it on a flash drive.

Grasping at straws now, he pried open the distorted drawers of his file cabinet.

Most of the contents were either signed beyond legibility or crumbled to dust as he attempted to grasp them. To his delight – and surprise he had to admit – a handful of folders tucked in the far back had miraculously escaped serious damage.

He retrieved them almost reverently, as though he were being handed a religious relic, and then hastily made his way back to his hiding place, once again taking care to avoid any unwanted attention.

Once safely hidden away from the world, for the time being anyway, he switched on the bunker’s lights, which flickered ever so slightly from a lack of use.

The bunker had been built for functionality, not comfort.

It contained only the bare essentials that he figured he would need in a crisis just like this, a crisis he had planned for but hoped he would never have to face.

There was a desk, a large cabinet contained basic scientific equipment in another corner, a bookcase with essential volumes he needed, a bed, a stack of boxes with canned meals and other necessities, and an outdated computer. All of which were coated in dust, giving the whole metal chamber the feeling of a tomb.

It wasn’t much, but it would work until he could figure out his next move.

For now though there was work to do.

"So, what have those cretins left me with…" he mumbled as he took a seat at the room’s small desk and flipped through the folders.

As he did so, he smoldered over what had transpired in the past few hours. His lab, his last refuge in the entire world, had been destroyed and possibly years of work along with it.

The first folder proved worthless, containing nothing more than a stack of papers with his letterhead, From the desk of Gideon, printed neatly at the top of each.

His scowl only deepened as he continued to flick through the remaining folders, finding only designs for machines that were long destroyed and plans for defunct and now impossible projects.

"Rubbish!" Gideon roared as he threw the folders across the tiny room.

Papers soared from their folders and scattered in the air, landing in a mess on the floor. Gideon didn't care about any of it though.

Not the noise. Not the mess.

He was ruined. He might as well have been burnt to crisp in the fire just like the rest of his hopes and dreams…

A bright glare broke into his fuming.

Surprised, Gideon turned and spotted the culprit immediately; a single computer disc, held in a transparent case, rested on the floor along with the rest of the scattered files.

He picked up the disc and glanced at its label, hoping for a clue as to what it might hold. A swirling black and purple design greeted him.

Gideon cleared his head for a moment, allowing the sense of hopelessness that had engulfed him only a second before to ebb. He though back over the past several chaotic weeks that had culminated in this moment.

He almost dropped the disc when the realization of what he was holding smashed into him like a train.

"Operation Lavender," he whispered, hoping that hearing the words come out of his mouth would assure him that he was not seeing mirages.

Giddy like a child on the morning of his birthday, Gideon rushed to the room’s sole computer and inserted the disc as soon as the screen flashed on.

He remembered now, how he had scattered the project, hidden the information to prevent normal eyes from uncovering it.

All the instructions, all the lists of resources, all the places to go and people to find, everything was here. This was all Gideon needed to complete Giovanni's master plan, the real reason behind everything they had done.

He allowed himself a slight smile as he sat back and skimmed through the disc’s files.

It looked like things could still go as planned after all…

 

[Beth Pavell]

Little bit later than I intended, and I don't really have the time to do much more with it, but here's a rewrite of Chapter Thirty Three - Oh, the Analogies!



“You know what, Alaska?” Sandy announced. “I find this situation a wee bit ironic!”

“What situation?” Alaska replied.

“Well, just the other day, you were complaining about how I was walking too slowly and told me to catch up, but now you're the one lagging behind and I'm in the lead!” Sandy said, apparently rather pleased with herself. Alaska came to a halt and glared at her through the dark of the tunnel. A little voice in her head was telling her that trying to walk through Diglett's Cave with a bum leg wasn't the brightest of ideas, and that thought was making her bad temper worse.

“Sandy, are you forgetting about my leg?” she said bitterly, wincing as she raised her cane and waved it about theatrically. Sandy stared and it and gasped in her usual dramatic manner, clasping her hands to her mouth as if she'd stumbled upon a murder most 'orrible.

“Oh my god, Alaska, I am sooo sorry, I keep forgetting!” she said, rushing to give her a tight apology-hug before Alaska could object. “It's just that your head suddenly got better and we left the hospital, I keep thinking you're better, I am so sorry!”

“It's fine,” Alaska grunted, “I was just pointing it out. Now please let go of me before you snap my back in two!”

It had been three days since the attack on Vermillion harbour. No-one had officially claimed credit, but Alaska knew it simply had to be Gideon; just like with the nuclear bomb, there was no-one else who would possibly do such an insane thing. Alaska had wanted to help but had been forced to stay in hospital under doctor's orders. They said that they had to monitor her head injury, but she deeply suspected that they really wanted to know how it had happened. Alaska didn't want to reveal that it was down to Latios, for the sake of avoiding the attention that a legendary pokémon would draw. Instead she just claimed that she came from a resilient family, keeping the truth to herself. She didn't even tell Sandy, or her pokémon for that matter.

Steven had stuck around, and Alaska had heard that Red was in the city, though she never personally saw him. The ex-Hoenn Champion was unwilling to discuss the explosion, which was irritating given how open he had been up till that point. It could be that he was busy, but Alaska noticed him asking too many questions about herself to brush off the ones she asked him. Perhaps he now wanted her to help in putting a stop to Gideon, but she couldn't be sure. Besides, Alaska didn't want any more drama, so she gave him a false lead as to where they were going.

Diglett's Cave had seemed like a brilliant idea at the time. Hardly anyone actually used the cave as a road – it was dark, damp, and winding, with altogether too many dead-ends and unexpected pitfalls. There were rope bridges strung across some of the chasms cut by underground watercourses. The ground was uneven, sometimes wet, which wasn't exactly good terrain for walking with a cane.

Actually, after two hours of wandering Alaska had no idea where she was going. Sandy had sensibly bought a torch back in Vermillion, but its beam was a bit on the dim side for this cave. It might have been fine if there were pokémon about, but the damned hole appeared to be completely deserted.

“This is getting boring,” Sandy said, in very much a summary of Alaska's thoughts as they rounded another bend. The passage ahead was wider and straighter, but otherwise dove off into the endless darkness. Again.

“For once I agree with you,” Alaska muttered with a sigh, rubbing her aching leg. “Shall we sit down and see if the pokémon want to come out?”

“Ooh, yes, that sounds fun!” Sandy said excitably, throwing herself down on the cave floor. She instantly leapt back up with a shriek, clutching her butt. The torch went spinning through the air and Alaska swiftly chased it down, wondering what Sandy was screaming about. The torchbeam caught something right in the spot where she had been about to sit – a Diglett, ignored and minding it's own business up to this point.

“Diggla-DIG, diggla-DIG, diggla-DIG,” it said cheerfully, but suddenly ducked as Sandy flailed a foot at it.

“Silly thing, you nearly hit me!” she scolded.

Alaska couldn't help herself. She had to laugh. It wasn't a mere chuckle or amused snort, it was a helpless belly-laugh that echoed around the cave like a jubilant foghorn. She collapsed on the damp floor of the cave, laughing all the harder because of Sandy's confused expression.

“What exactly are you laughing about?”

“You nearly … sat … on a … Diglett!” Alaska explained breathlessly, clutching her sides in a vain attempt to contain herself. Saying it aloud set off another chain of laughter, tears streaming down her face. It was ridiculous, an overreaction to a mildly amusing joke, but she couldn't contain herself.

“What is so funny about that?” Sandy asked indignantly, nearly setting off Alaska again.

“Take another look at Diglett and think again about where it was going,” Alaska sniggered.

Sandy examined it by the dim light of the torch, completely baffled. Eventually, realisation dawned.

“Oh my God, Alaska, that's sick!” Sandy gasped, looking down at her friend in horror. Sandy's innocent confusion, followed by her equally innocent shock, was just too much and Alaska burst out laughing again, rolling in the rocky floor as her laughter echoed through the cave. She almost missed Sandy as she strode briskly away without so much as another word, leaving her alone in the dark.

“Oh, come on Sandy, I was just teasing!” Alaska called to no response. “Damnit,” she cursed sotto voce and grabbed her cane. Spontaneous comedy gold like that was far too good to pass up after the grim past few days; she hadn't expected Sandy to overreact to a bit of harmless silliness.

“Wait up, I can't walk that fast!” Alaska called, limping painfully after Sandy as quickly as she could. Sandy was running up a natural staircase that rose to the upper level, leaving Alaska to feel her way clumsily in the dark. “This is really unsafe, you know!” she called out, trying to use her cane for support and to scan the way ahead at the same time.

“You should have thought of that earlier!” Sandy retorted without sympathy.

“Why are you overreacting to this?” she called back. “I wasn't being mean, it was just funny!” Sandy didn't reply, and just kept outpacing her up the stairs. Alaska wasn't going to offer any apologies if Sandy wouldn't stop to listen. She fumbled in her pocket after a Poké Ball. “Paige, I need you too stop her!”

The red light from Paige's materialisation briefly lit the path ahead. Alaska had come to the landing at the top of the stairs. Paige called an affirmation and flapped off towards the torchlight. For a moment Alaska wondered if Sandy had finally stopped, but was promptly taken aback another burst of red light flashed away down the passage.

“Butterfree, Confusion!” Sandy ordered petulantly.

“Free, free,” Butterfree said, unable to really see what she was attacking in the darkness despite her Compoundeyes ability.

“Otto!” Paige gasped, crashing into something nearby as the Confusion flung her away from Butterfree. Alaska echoed her gasp of shock and hobbled forwards as fast as she could.

“Paige, are you alright?” she said. Butterfree hovered over, looking confused and shocked at what she apparently had been ordered to attack. On closer inspection, Paige looked more surprised than hurt; Alaska smiled in relief, but quickly rounded on Sandy. “What the hell was that for?”

“I don't appreciate being laughed at, and I don't appreciate you sending your pokémon to get in my way when I want to get away!” Sandy snapped.

“God, Sandy, it was only a joke!”

Sandy just sniffed dismissively. “I am sure that makes you feel better! 'Oh, Sandy, it's only a joke! Oh, Sandy calm down!' Well, I'm not going to take that from you, Alaska Acevedo! I've had enough mockery from everyone else and I expect it from them, but I never expected it from you!”

“Sandy, I never knew!” Alaska interjected desperately.

“The thing is Alaska, you just think I'm some silly innocent overgrown child!” Sandy huffed, her voice cracking slightly. “It's not just the stupid sex joke! You never discuss anything with me. You just spent the past few days in hospital and you practically ignored me! You don't trust me and I don't think you respect me either and I don't deserve it!”

Alaska opened her mouth, realised that she couldn't think of anything to say, and shut it again. “Sandy, I'm -”

“Don't bother, I don't need sympathy from you!” Sandy snapped. And without another word, she marched off down the tunnel, clomping furiously over a rope bridge that hove out of the dark. Alaska stood watching, feeling acutely guilty and not knowing whether to go after her or keep her distance.

“Sandy, do you want to talk about this?” Alaska tried.

“Not now, Alaska, I -”

There was an almighty dry crack, the sound of ancient wood suddenly splintering. The torch beam spun wildly, and Sandy screamed in the darkness.

 

[AceTrainer14]

Hello all.

It has been a very long time since we attempted one of these, a lack of interest and no real prizes on offer being the main factor. However, I have a more simple challenge in mind for this month, so let's see if we can get it going once more!

You may have seen the news that several companies are in a bidding war to buy the film rights of Pokemon. When discussing the idea with friends, I couldn't decide which of the studios I would want to make the movie, nor what it would be: adaptating the games, a live-action Ash, some new twist on the franchise?

So your challenge for this month is: pitch us your dream Pokemon movie!
Your pitch should include:
- a 500 word max outline of the plot of your movie. Decide if you would adapt the games, the anime or be original and go from there
- your dream cast to play whatever characters you want to be in your movie (Ash, Red, Giovanni, Misty, Leaf, Jessie and James, your choice)
- who you would get to direct and why

The best overall pitch will win a banner made by the lovely @AetherX. You have one week to submit your ideas - so be imaginative, have fun and pitch us the best movie you can possibly think of!

 

[Olive]

And here I was thinking there was no place for a second-rate film critic in a Pokémon fan-fiction community.

Spoiler

The film would have to follow an original story, if for no other reason than the simple fact that any attempt to condense the entire, or even a portion, of the plot of either the games or the anime into a roughly 120 minute movie would be an exercise in futility. As such, the story would have to be original, while still keeping sufficient source material to be genuine, yet at the same time so classically archetypical that it not only legitimizes the concept of a live-action Pokémon movie, but provides a story that can resonate with all of the diverse fans of the franchise.

Plot
The movie follows a classic premise found in one’s typical sports movie. A hometown, independently-owned Pokémon Gym is facing a buyout by the larger organization that is the Kanto League. The gym’s manager, a veteran trainer himself, realizes that if his gym is converted into an elite League training gym, the youth of his neighborhood will be stripped of one of their only joys. The Champion of Kanto makes a wager with the Coach that if he can condition a group of trainers at his gym and have them win the Kanto League Tournament, thus beating the elite trainers of official, League-sanctioned gyms, he will allow the gym to remain under the Coach’s ownership. The Coach recruits a rag-tag group of local trainers, teaches them Pokémon battling using old-school methods, they all grow as individuals, they enter as a team in the tournament, and make it to the final. Here they square off against the Champion’s personally trained team, and the two groups draw. As per the rules, the two coaches then square off in a one versus one battle. The Champion defeats the Coach in a hard fought match, and through this battle comes to understand and respect the values of the Coach. Despite having won the tournament, the Champion allows the Coach to retain ownership of his gym.

Cast
The cast would be all original characters, consisting of the following main characters:

The Coach: Ken Jenkins

His team of five trainers: Ansel Elgort, Josh Hutcherson, Allisyn Ashley Arm, Jaden Smith, Jimmy Bennett

The Champion: James Franco

Project Heads
Director: Chris Columbus
Producer: Jerry Bruckheimer

The key to finding the perfect Direction/Production duo is about finding two individuals who are simultaneously polar yet of a similar strain of cinematography and heart. With Chris Columbus you would have a sort of whimsical, childlike air to the project, perfectly capturing the undertone of Pokémon. Though Mr. Columbus is also perfectly adept at infusing action and a certain level of restrained intensity into his films. With Jerry Bruckheimer leading production, you would have the whimsy of the director filtered through the vaguely-edgy lens that is characteristic of Mr. Bruckheimer, not to mention his expertise in working on classic movies featuring athletic competitions. Thus with this combination, a truly moving sports-esque film can be created, while still holding firm to the fundamental identity that is necessary of any project pertaining to Pokémon.

 

[AceTrainer14]

I am going to extend this by 24 hours, so if anyone else wants to enter you still have the opportunity. It's something simple and fun, so just give it a go and see what you can come up with - who knows, it may inspire your next story idea?