A Hero Rises by @Pokemonlover1229

Genre: Fanfic, Pokémon

Chapters Reviewed: 10 chapters (currently has 21 chapters)

Update Schedule: Once a week, sometimes more

Quote: "But still, I have to try. I want to be the next Kalos Champion just as badly as anyone else. I owe it to my Pokemon to try my best. Landon may be my friend, and I may have complicated feelings for him, but he's my competition none-the-less, and I will beat him." ~Valerie

A Hero Rises is about a girl, Valerie, and her best friend, Autumn, as they are about to leave home to go on their Pokémon adventure in the Kalos Region. During their travels, they meet many different Pokémon, and encounter many challenges. Both girls, and many of the friends that they meet along the way, want to be the next Kalos Champion, but only one can truly achieve it.

If there is one thing I absolutely love about this book is the relationship between Autumn and her partner, Piplup. There are a few times where I see a Starter Pokémon not get along with their Trainer in fanfic. When it does happen, I absolutely love it. As you can probably tell, Autumn and Piplup don't get along, but it's to the point where Piplup won't even listen to Autumn. Seeing him not get along with his Trainer is very entertaining to see.

Another relationship I enjoy seeing is the sibling relationship between Valerie and Lizzy. It's very sweet and heartwarming. Seeing that Valerie made a promise to Lizzy, it makes me wonder what she is going to keep it, or if she'll forget as it's not really mentioned or thought about later in the book. In addition to that, the phone calls they make to one another is sweet. While there aren't many scenes with the two—as Lizzy is too young to go out on a Journey with her sister—I appreciate when it does happen. Their sister relationship is just the cutest!

I really liked seeing the amount of detail in this book. There were times where I could mentally picture everything that was going on. While there were times that there could've been a bit more details, there was usually enough for me to imagine what was going on.

This book also had the unique start as the two Trainers didn't get their Pokémon from the Professor, but rather, the Pokémon were given to their homes. Originality and detail are great to see in a Pokéfic; however, there's a slight problem. There are missing details on why the girls were given their Pokémon like this, how this was possible, and why they didn't get their Trainer Cards with this (and when and how they obtain their Trainer Cards is still a mystery too). These questions may seem insignificant, but as I continue to read, I start to wonder these questions, which can be distracting. It would've been great if there was a tidbit, even a small paragraph, explaining this in the beginning of the book. Remember, as a writer, you have to assume the reader only knows the information that is given on a page, and nothing more. If you remember this rule, then details like this will be easier to create.

The chapters were very long, which, I didn't really mind as most of them seemed flow very nicely. Some chapters, I think, could've been cut in half, but I could see why the author kept it as one chapter. Because the chapters were longer, there were a lot of grammar errors. I will admit, not one of my own stories are clean of errors, but that's why there's editing. Even the readers have tried to help by pointing out the mistakes, but they were never corrected. If a mistake is found, it should be fixed as soon as possible.

Some general mistakes to look out for are simple grammar rules and knowing third person versus first person. There are some grammar rules, like missing commas or misspellings that have happened throughout the story. I get it. These can be hard to catch, but again, that's why it's good to edit a few times before and after the chapter's been published. I know the writer originally wrote this story in third person and switched it to first person, but there were multiple times where the incorrect pronouns were used. This made it confusing to read at times. Again, a little bit more editing can help.

I'm not saying that editing will be easy, nor will it be perfect after one edit. Since chapters are on the longer side, there are going to be more mistakes, sometimes seeming like there's an infinite amount. All you can do as a writer is continue to edit.

There are also some inconsistencies in the story. This isn't so much in regards to the storyline as much as it is the format. In a few of the chapters, there were some paragraphs that are indented, while others are not. Neither one is right or wrong when it comes to writings on Wattpad, but it's best to just chose one and go with it. The same rule applies to cannon words. Some words, like Cyndaquil, Pokémon, and Piplup, are capitalized, but not always. Personally, I like it when all words that come from Pokémon lure are capitalized, but as long as it's consistent, I don't mind either one.

One thing in regards to the storyline that seemed a bit forced was the romantic relationships that happened between the main characters. Part of the reason is that everyone is described as "hot" or "beautiful". There are more words to describe how a person looks than just how attractive they are, and this can usually be inferred if a character has girls/boys fawning over them. These words are usually placed on a character if they're going to have some sort of role in a romantic relationship.

One of the first Trainers Valerie and Autumn meet is Landon. He's very flirtatious and within a day, Valerie is already smitten with him. While that's okay to have in a book, there are parts to this relationship that just come off as distasteful. After all, it wasn't long after this interaction between Landon and the girls when they meets the young President/Professor Hawthorne, who Autumn starts to like. It just seemed really weird that these girls fell in love with basically the first guy they saw. While I give props that Hawethorne doesn't travel alongside Valerie, Autumn, and Landon, these two girls still fell in love a bit too fast, even if they don't become official right away

Even more so, I found it a tad cliche that the first girl Trainer they met had an immediate liking to Landon and was disrespectful to both Valerie and Autumn. This girl, Athena, is described as pretty, and has the typical mean girl persona. What makes it worse is that Landon is oblivious to this. These events all happen in the beginning of the story. It's because of that, I wish things were spaced out a bit more, and not so rushed in terms of relationships. Sure, they can have a crush on each other and feel jealous, but try not to make it seem like it happens all at once, or put it on overload. It's when a relationship grows overtime that people can get really engaged, and just because the characters aren't dating doesn't always count.

All that aside, the story isn't horrible. This is just me nit-picking at a few things. There are good aspects of the book. The battle scenes, for example, are very interesting to read. Like the chapters, they're long, and are written in a way that the abilities and unique attack combinations are used. It's very intriguing, and nice to see, especially since the Pokémon that are battling struggle. It's never an easy win. Sometimes, the Pokémon battles are so close that it's hard to tell who's going to win or lose. Keeping the readers on their toes for that is amazing.

I also love the amount of humor that is put into this book. Adding any sort of joke into a book can be very hard, but the writer really has a great sense of humor. Every chapter I turn to, I know there's going to be some sort of line, phrase, or scene that I'm going to end up laughing at due to how funny it was.

Scene breaks is something that is also hard to use. In many books, I find writers abuse, misuse, or neglect them. This book seems to put them in the right spots, making it easier to read. It's very nice to see that because, as I said before, the chapters are longer. These scene breaks can give me a place to stop and come back to when I need to step away from the book for a little bit, but can't finish the chapter.

Something that's also very enjoyable about this story is that it follows the anime feel to Pokémon. Everything's kind of light hearted. There's no violence (unless, of course, you count the Pokémon battles and a random Bubble Beam to the face). I like that it's very happy-feeling in that way. It's hard to find Pokéfics that are in the journey, adventure-like category that doesn't have much gore in it. This book is a nice change from all that. I actually enjoyed it because how lighthearted the story can get.

A lot of readers have even expressed how much they've enjoyed the book as well.

"...Good Chapter, the Zubat made me laugh since it feels like they bombard you in the game like you described it here. Also, better with the descriptions and dialogue here..." @gofishstories

"This story is soooo goood I cant wait for the next chapter!" @Flaaffyvulpix.

"Leaves the reader waiting for suspense good job!" @pearl2407

Overall, this story is off to a good start. I love Valerie's and Autumn's humorous personalities. The happy, anime-like feel is very nice to see. There could be some more work on grammar and other aspects of the book, but that can all be edited out and fixed if taken the time to do so.

After reading this story, I'm so happy that the author has agreed to talk about her book, A Hero Rises.

JunieWeathers: A Hero Rises is a Trainer book here on Wattpad. If you had to say one thing that separates it from other Trainer books, what would it be and why?

pokemonlover1229: I think most Trainer books were away from the actual journey of wanting to become Champion or whatever their goal is, I want to focus on that while also adding other plot elements like romance and an original evil organization.

Also I don't want to make my mc a Mary Sue where everything comes super easy and she wins all the time. I want my story to be realistic.

JW: That was one thing I really liked about your book. Every character seems to struggle during their battles. Do you ever find it challenging to create battle scenes?

PL29: That's one of the most fun parts to right haha. I enjoy writing them, while it takes time to write a good battle scene, I wouldn't say that I really struggle with it. I try to include abilities, hidden abilities, etc to make things even more realistic and interesting.

JW: You definitely deliver when it comes to including abilities and everything. Could you talk a bit about the process on how you come up with a Pokémon's abilities for the battles, the moves that occur, or anything of the likes?

PL29: I keep a notebook (actually I have several notebooks I keep with different information about my story) with each important important character's Pokémon team, their moves, abilities, and hidden abilities. I use serebii.net to get the information on each Pokémon, as well as for the Pokédex entries.

JW: Having multiple notebooks and keeping up with the Pokédex entries has be very helpful! What inspired you to write A Hero Rises?

PL29: I actually started writing it when PokémonGO was a few months away from being released. I was curious as to if they would release one generation at a time or have multiple gens right off the back. I began wondering what my team would look like if I could choose any Pokémon from any gen. I got really into it, doing research and planning out my team's moves and everything. I got so excited I wanted to do something with it, so I decided to make a Pokémon fanfiction that was a bit more mature and realistic than the anime with my own original characters and story line.

JW: That's very interesting. Is there anything else you would like to share about your story?

PL29: This is a story about a new Trainer who builds powerful bonds with not only her Pokémon, but her friends as well. It's a story of learning and overcoming. It's a story about facing trials and picking yourself back up. It's a story about a girl who wants to be the best Trainer she can be, for her sake and that of everyone that's counting on her. If you want to read an exciting Trainer story with romance, action, drama, and suspense, I promise this is the one for you.

JW: Thank you for your time. If you're looking for a Trainer fic with interesting battles, romance, and adventure, A Hero Rises may be the next book for you to check out.