Background Information:
(Please read this! Or else, you won’t understand what this fic is about!)
This is my first fanfiction ever. I never thought I’d make something like this, but I decided to do it anyway, and as of today, I’ve managed to finish 11 chapters, or as I like to call them, “episodes”.
Right now, you may be wondering, “what is this about anyway?” You’ll see, back in May 2014, I wrote a huge post here in the Anime section of the forums, about how the anime would be if I was in charge from the beginning. In that post, I described each series as I would have developed them. Some of the biggest changes would have been that: characters and Pokémon would get an equal level of importance. Characters, including Ash, wouldn’t have been oblivious to love, so yeah, there would be more ‘romantic’ situations, but they wouldn’t be the focus of the series at all. All characters would grow up about a year or so per region travelled, with the Orange Islands and the Battle Frontier arc lasting around half a year each. Instead of seeing Team Rocket on every episode, the series would have had some episodes with other “villains of the day (VotD)” or without a villainous figure at all, but merely with a more implied antagonist. Team Rocket would still be on the show, but less often than in the real anime.
I even decided that it would be a good idea to have the anime to loosely follow the actual plot of the games. Villain teams from the game are always present in the anime, but in my opinion they are nothing but casual villains who don’t have too much impact on the actual plot of the real anime.
Currently, the anime is mostly aimed at small children; my version of the anime would be aimed to people of all ages; it must appeal teens and adults as much as it appeals to small children. Hence, it would contain references and (very minimal) depictions of violence and/or alcohol (the anime would be rated TV-PG in the USA). I wouldn’t have let 4Kids touch the anime. The original opening and ending songs would have been kept in the dubs. There would have still been some modifications though; the anime’s logo would still have been replaced with the Western one, and the credits would be shown in romaji, and the karaoke/sing-along would be shown in Japanese, but along with romaji text and with its English/other language translation. There wouldn't be any edits in the animation unless they’re made to fix an actual error, and all references to Japan (such as text, food, customs, etc.) would have been kept in all the dubs.
And finally and most importantly, Ash Ketchum would have had to leave the spotlight of the show at one point. He would still show up in special episodes, but he wouldn’t be the main character anymore.
Personally, I think the real Best Wishes (BW) Pokémon anime series was the poorest of all, and I even believe that Mr. Ketchum was meant to be replaced by a new character. In my opinion, Ash was written as if he was a 10 years old dumb newbie at the beginning of the series, instead of the smarter trainer we last watched in Diamond and Pearl (DP). This kind of characterization would have been more fitting for a new character, and again, I seriously believe that the director/producers/writers originally planned to replace Ash with someone else. After all, Generation V was almost like a reboot of the entire franchise; a complete departure from what we had seen in past generations.
This fanfic will tell the story of that character that was never used. This will be an alternative story; hence, that’s why I called it “What Could Have Been…”
Also, this fanfic was originally planned to be written in a similar format as a standard Bulbapedia plot summary (The entire first episode and most of the second resemble this). However, I decided to slowly shift it into a more conventional format that allows characters to have dialogue. Still, I’m sure it’s very different from anything you’ve read. Each “episode” is divided into two acts and a third, short act that “plays” before the credits/ending. I like to call it “the stinger”, although stingers are commonly shown after the credits/ending are shown. Longer episodes will sometimes contain four acts (3 long ones and a short “stinger”). These are considered to be specials.
I write the “episodes” this way because I want you to feel like if you were watching an actual episode of the anime. As you’ll notice, I’ve included links to real openings and endings from the anime, divisions within episodes are marked as “commercial breaks” and I’ve even included a “Who’s that Pokémon?/Dare Da?” challenge, with varying “degrees of difficulty”; sometimes the hint gives the answer right away, sometimes I’ll make it very hard, and sometimes I’ll write something slightly satirical.
I plan to cover the entire BW and (hopefully, in a near future) XY series.
Characters:
(Narrator’s voice) “Today, you’ll meet Hilbert Black. He is from Nuvema, a large town located in Southeast Unova. He is already 16 years old, but he hasn’t managed to begin his adventure yet. Trainers in Unova have to pass a special annual exam so they can get their Trainer Card. Aspiring trainers have to be 10 or older to be able to take it. But Hilbert has failed it 5 times! But he hasn’t given up, and he is sure that the 6th time is the charm.” (Artwork)
(Narrator) “And she doesn’t know it yet, but she will join Hilbert in his adventure. You know her already, but we’ll still introduce her once again. She is Dawn Berlitz. She is from Twinleaf, a quiet small town in Southwest Sinnoh. She is a 15 years old Pokémon Coordinator, who along with her Piplup, will seek for a new challenge: Pokémon Musicals.” (Artwork)
So the main characters for the AltBW series will be Hilbert and Dawn. And you now may be wondering: “Why are you using them? and possibly; “why do they have surnames?” Well I decided to use Hilbert because he’s like the new version of Red. And since Ash Ketchum is based on Red, I think it was logical to use Hilbert. And I decided to use Dawn because I thought that smaller kids would need a character they could relate to; this way, this series wouldn’t feel like a different anime; there would still be a connection. And the about the surnames… well, I personally think that characters need surnames. We only know the surnames of very few characters. So Hilbert’s surname is Black for pretty obvious reasons, and Dawn will get her own surname, which will be Berlitz, a known fanon surname for her, taken from the Pokémon Special/Adventures character, Platinum Berlitz.
Many other characters from past series will show up (and most of them will have surnames!). Some will have more important roles than others. There will be also many characters that I'll create.
Additional Notes:
Here’s a link to the thread where I posted the post that started all of this. I don’t really recommend you to read it unless you don’t mind spoilers for this AltBW series. I’ve changed A LOT of things through these months, so a lot of what I say about BW will not be in the fic. Still, I plan to keep a bit of what I mention there.
Nevertheless, I will share with you a short quote from that post anyway. This portion is about the AltDP, and it’s quite important because this is my departure point; this story begins right at the end of my AltDP, so you should at least have an idea of what DP would have been:
There are no schedules; I originally had a Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule, but I quickly had to remove it. I’m currently in college, so the frequency of the episodes will vary depending on how much I'll have to work. Sometimes I’ll be able to write two per week; sometimes I’ll only be able to write two per month or so. In any case, I don’t plan to fully stop the series anytime soon. I expect to finish the AltBW and eventually the AltXY someday.
Finally, I’ll be honest. I’m far from being the best writer. English is not my native language, so sometimes my writing will be kinda off, and I’ll occasionally use words with wrong contexts, or use bad grammar… Still, I personally feel that my writing skills improve with every episode I write. I want you to give my fic a try. Hopefully, you will like it.
Thanks for reading
UPDATE:
I decided to change the title to reflect the current status of the fic, which is still covering BW. Also, I feel that "What Could Have Been" is a pretty generic name, so I decided to tweak it a bit: "(This Might Be) What Could Have Been" will be the new official title from now on.
INDEX:
(This Might Be) What Could Have Been
Pocket Monsters BW
SEASON 1: Revolution
(Please read this! Or else, you won’t understand what this fic is about!)
This is my first fanfiction ever. I never thought I’d make something like this, but I decided to do it anyway, and as of today, I’ve managed to finish 11 chapters, or as I like to call them, “episodes”.
Right now, you may be wondering, “what is this about anyway?” You’ll see, back in May 2014, I wrote a huge post here in the Anime section of the forums, about how the anime would be if I was in charge from the beginning. In that post, I described each series as I would have developed them. Some of the biggest changes would have been that: characters and Pokémon would get an equal level of importance. Characters, including Ash, wouldn’t have been oblivious to love, so yeah, there would be more ‘romantic’ situations, but they wouldn’t be the focus of the series at all. All characters would grow up about a year or so per region travelled, with the Orange Islands and the Battle Frontier arc lasting around half a year each. Instead of seeing Team Rocket on every episode, the series would have had some episodes with other “villains of the day (VotD)” or without a villainous figure at all, but merely with a more implied antagonist. Team Rocket would still be on the show, but less often than in the real anime.
I even decided that it would be a good idea to have the anime to loosely follow the actual plot of the games. Villain teams from the game are always present in the anime, but in my opinion they are nothing but casual villains who don’t have too much impact on the actual plot of the real anime.
Currently, the anime is mostly aimed at small children; my version of the anime would be aimed to people of all ages; it must appeal teens and adults as much as it appeals to small children. Hence, it would contain references and (very minimal) depictions of violence and/or alcohol (the anime would be rated TV-PG in the USA). I wouldn’t have let 4Kids touch the anime. The original opening and ending songs would have been kept in the dubs. There would have still been some modifications though; the anime’s logo would still have been replaced with the Western one, and the credits would be shown in romaji, and the karaoke/sing-along would be shown in Japanese, but along with romaji text and with its English/other language translation. There wouldn't be any edits in the animation unless they’re made to fix an actual error, and all references to Japan (such as text, food, customs, etc.) would have been kept in all the dubs.
And finally and most importantly, Ash Ketchum would have had to leave the spotlight of the show at one point. He would still show up in special episodes, but he wouldn’t be the main character anymore.
Personally, I think the real Best Wishes (BW) Pokémon anime series was the poorest of all, and I even believe that Mr. Ketchum was meant to be replaced by a new character. In my opinion, Ash was written as if he was a 10 years old dumb newbie at the beginning of the series, instead of the smarter trainer we last watched in Diamond and Pearl (DP). This kind of characterization would have been more fitting for a new character, and again, I seriously believe that the director/producers/writers originally planned to replace Ash with someone else. After all, Generation V was almost like a reboot of the entire franchise; a complete departure from what we had seen in past generations.
This fanfic will tell the story of that character that was never used. This will be an alternative story; hence, that’s why I called it “What Could Have Been…”
Also, this fanfic was originally planned to be written in a similar format as a standard Bulbapedia plot summary (The entire first episode and most of the second resemble this). However, I decided to slowly shift it into a more conventional format that allows characters to have dialogue. Still, I’m sure it’s very different from anything you’ve read. Each “episode” is divided into two acts and a third, short act that “plays” before the credits/ending. I like to call it “the stinger”, although stingers are commonly shown after the credits/ending are shown. Longer episodes will sometimes contain four acts (3 long ones and a short “stinger”). These are considered to be specials.
I write the “episodes” this way because I want you to feel like if you were watching an actual episode of the anime. As you’ll notice, I’ve included links to real openings and endings from the anime, divisions within episodes are marked as “commercial breaks” and I’ve even included a “Who’s that Pokémon?/Dare Da?” challenge, with varying “degrees of difficulty”; sometimes the hint gives the answer right away, sometimes I’ll make it very hard, and sometimes I’ll write something slightly satirical.
I plan to cover the entire BW and (hopefully, in a near future) XY series.
Characters:
(Narrator’s voice) “Today, you’ll meet Hilbert Black. He is from Nuvema, a large town located in Southeast Unova. He is already 16 years old, but he hasn’t managed to begin his adventure yet. Trainers in Unova have to pass a special annual exam so they can get their Trainer Card. Aspiring trainers have to be 10 or older to be able to take it. But Hilbert has failed it 5 times! But he hasn’t given up, and he is sure that the 6th time is the charm.” (Artwork)
(Narrator) “And she doesn’t know it yet, but she will join Hilbert in his adventure. You know her already, but we’ll still introduce her once again. She is Dawn Berlitz. She is from Twinleaf, a quiet small town in Southwest Sinnoh. She is a 15 years old Pokémon Coordinator, who along with her Piplup, will seek for a new challenge: Pokémon Musicals.” (Artwork)
So the main characters for the AltBW series will be Hilbert and Dawn. And you now may be wondering: “Why are you using them? and possibly; “why do they have surnames?” Well I decided to use Hilbert because he’s like the new version of Red. And since Ash Ketchum is based on Red, I think it was logical to use Hilbert. And I decided to use Dawn because I thought that smaller kids would need a character they could relate to; this way, this series wouldn’t feel like a different anime; there would still be a connection. And the about the surnames… well, I personally think that characters need surnames. We only know the surnames of very few characters. So Hilbert’s surname is Black for pretty obvious reasons, and Dawn will get her own surname, which will be Berlitz, a known fanon surname for her, taken from the Pokémon Special/Adventures character, Platinum Berlitz.
Many other characters from past series will show up (and most of them will have surnames!). Some will have more important roles than others. There will be also many characters that I'll create.
Additional Notes:
Here’s a link to the thread where I posted the post that started all of this. I don’t really recommend you to read it unless you don’t mind spoilers for this AltBW series. I’ve changed A LOT of things through these months, so a lot of what I say about BW will not be in the fic. Still, I plan to keep a bit of what I mention there.
Nevertheless, I will share with you a short quote from that post anyway. This portion is about the AltDP, and it’s quite important because this is my departure point; this story begins right at the end of my AltDP, so you should at least have an idea of what DP would have been:
At the beginning of Sinnoh, Ash would be 15 and Brock would be 18. Dawn would be 14 instead of 10. Dawn's role in the anime would stay the same. Her role was already important in the actual DP, so it wouldn't change too much in my version. In any case it could be even a bit larger. Brock's role would need to be greater than just being a supporter comic relief character. He must do something, like studying Pokémon biology or so. Let's remember that in DP he decided to become a doctor rather than a breeder. Team Galactic's presence will be as strong as Magma and Aqua's, and a good chunk of Sinnoh's filler will be replaced by episodes focusing on Team Galactic's destruction. Cue final battle at Spear Pillar and a second trip to the Distortion World in the anime. And something very nice: Ash would catch a legendary Pokémon, although it'd most possibly be one of the Lake trio rather than Dialga or Palkia. The Wallace Cup mini-arc would carry a good chunk of importance in Dawn's plot, and I could see May joining the group for a short period before going to a region far away: Unova, where there are no contests; instead there are Pokémon Musicals, which would be greatly enhanced from their game counterparts. Dawn becomes interested in going there...
And to the enormous joy of all Pokémon fans, yes, Ash Ketchum would finally WIN the league, defeating Tobias in an intense two-part episode with a special opening sequence, and would become the great Champion of Sinnoh, concluding his participation in the anime as the main character...
There are no schedules; I originally had a Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule, but I quickly had to remove it. I’m currently in college, so the frequency of the episodes will vary depending on how much I'll have to work. Sometimes I’ll be able to write two per week; sometimes I’ll only be able to write two per month or so. In any case, I don’t plan to fully stop the series anytime soon. I expect to finish the AltBW and eventually the AltXY someday.
Finally, I’ll be honest. I’m far from being the best writer. English is not my native language, so sometimes my writing will be kinda off, and I’ll occasionally use words with wrong contexts, or use bad grammar… Still, I personally feel that my writing skills improve with every episode I write. I want you to give my fic a try. Hopefully, you will like it.
Thanks for reading
August 16, 2014
UPDATE:
I decided to change the title to reflect the current status of the fic, which is still covering BW. Also, I feel that "What Could Have Been" is a pretty generic name, so I decided to tweak it a bit: "(This Might Be) What Could Have Been" will be the new official title from now on.
February 3, 2015
INDEX:
(This Might Be) What Could Have Been
Pocket Monsters BW
SEASON 1: Revolution
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