Loyal to the Game:

"All Ash Ketchum has ever wanted was to be the best. Ash's dream was to be the unbeatable, greatest and grandest Pokémon Master there ever was. So now of legal age to get a Trainer's license at 16, Ash can start the road for just that. Problem? Ash is a girl and perverts are everywhere.

There's also that she's a huge trouble magnet, starting by gaining the interest of Giovanni, boss of Team Rocket, then gaining an overprotective sister, a smartass of a pokedex, and collecting gym leaders along with gym badges.

Her mother might be extremely befuddled and horrified at her daughter's luck, especially since she'd gone to extreme measures to protect her daughter by persuading Ash to dress like a guy."

Genre: Fanfiction

Rating: PG-13

X (@calliope95)'s review:

"Loyal to the Game". I've definitely never read a book like this before. It started off somewhere, and ended- currently- somewhere else.  

The cover isn't so bad. Nothing much to say there, but it's okay-ish. What really captures the attention of the readers in this book is the theme- the reverse harem/genderbender combo. Taking a marvelous detour from the main stream of fan fictions here in Wattpad, Loyal to the Game seems to bring an entirely different perspective to the Pokemon world.  

But I digress.   Pros:   The grammar. It was almost perfect- a few errors here and there, but it paints a portrait, just like that. The Japanese words inserted here and there add an extra flavor to the book, like adding chocolate fudge to vannila ice cream, which tastes wonderful. The amount reduces as the story progresses, but the language and the grammar is most certainly impressive. Also, the right spelling for some words have been used- blasé and naïve are two of them. Most of us ignore them, but they might mean something else entirely. (Like Poke and Poké)  

The comedy. Oh, good heavens, where do I start with the comedy! The right expressions have been portrayed at the right time- sweatdropping, deadpanning, facepalming, hits to the head by hand and mallet... the book just gets hilarious! If you want to read a cheerful book, come no further. It's amazing how many of the Pokemon world's favorite characters appear in this book. And they've been portrayed pretty differently, as well-   *SPOILER ALERT!*   Delia Ketchum's sensitive and maternal side, Giovanni's soft spot... I certainly have never thought of Steven Stone as a "playboy"! XD   *SPOILER ENDS*   That brings a whole new meaning to the Pokemon world.

Cons:

I understand that the main theme of themes like this book centers around a female surrounded by males trying to win her attraction- but does every male human the main character crosses have to be attracted to her? Seriously, literally every male- boy, man or old men- I encountered while reading the story have some sort of attraction to Ash. Not all men are the same, even in reverse harems- I do hope the author realizes that and corrects it in future chapters.

During most of the story, there's no indication that the scene changes. All of a sudden, a group of characters are talking, they suddenly decide to look for someone, and the scene changes to that someone. No break, no line. This could really confuse people.

* MAJOR SPOILER ALERT*

If you have a substantial knowledge of the anime and certain elements in the game, it's basically easy to predict what happens next- the book follows the anime's timeline for most of its chapters. Some people might get bored of reading such a predictable story. The author should probably include a change in the flow.

*SPOILER ENDS*

The storyline. All of a sudden, they move from Viridian to Pewter, and then Cerulean, and then Vermillion, Saffron and so on. There aren't any teleportation pads connecting Kanto cities- there are routes and roads connecting them. It is always good if you elaborate on each aspect of the journey, even travelling on the several routes, caves and waters. It adds more color and flavor to the story.

Verdict and rating: eri_quin has given fanfictions an entirely new, eccentric and unique light. The main plot is somewhat trivial, and some elements could be better, but with the right storyline in the future, this book could easily be one of the best around here- I can even go as far to say that "Loyal to the Game" might, just might land first place on Best Romance. I'm certainly waiting for the next installments of this book, and any other works eri_quin might make in the future.

Rating: 8/10, for the 15 chapters currently published.

Gren (@Grenineon)'s review:

Something I really liked about this book was the character development. Each main character had their moment to really get introduced and developed. For example: Misty. She was first very sweet to Ash, but then when guys started to hit on her, Misty's over-protective-older-sister side came out. The bond Ash and Misty had was well done; Misty acted as the perfect older sister, but when guys started flirting with Ash, she defended her. Ash was oblivious, but she was still sweet to Misty.

The grammar was pretty good. There were good descriptions and little-to-none typos. Something I didn't like, though, was the use of Japanese words. Sometimes there were lines of dialogue saying "Honto ni?" or "Hai..." The language should either be all English or all Japanese; not Engrish.  

Some story elements were clichéd or redundant. Ash was a total Mary Sue. Every single guy was attracted to her. Literally. They flirted, thought highly of her, and complimented her appearance. She won her battles against tough Gym Leaders, and she even won her first battle against Giovanni...with an untrained Pikachu. Giovanni had the type advantage and his Pokemon was stronger, yet he still lost. Sure, it was reasonable she beat Misty, but Giovanni? No. Just no.  

The reason why Ash's mom wanted her to cross dress wasn't that strong, it being to protect her from guys - namely pedophiles. Delia - Ash's mom - insisted upon it so Ash wouldn't make the same mistake she made; get pregnant as a teenager. The decision was made abruptly yet definitive, yet half of the time Ash went out as herself, which diminished the importance of the plot point.  

Overall: this book was great! Despite all of the clichés, the grammar and development was good. I recommend it to any anime/Femash lovers.  

My rate: 7/10

Interview with the author:

Q: Why do you write?

A: I just truly love writing. It's something I've been doing for a little over 13-14 years, ever since I discovered fanfiction. I remembered discovering a humorous Harry Potter fanfic on an HP fansite late at night, around midnight, and just laughing insanely through the entire thing. From there on, I dove into reading fanfiction before I eventually was curious about writing one of my own fanfics and discovering how much I truly enjoyed writing. I never looked back from that and just continued writing and honing my style and craft over the years.

Q: What's more important in your opinion: characters or plot?

A: Definitely characters. It's far less common to find stories that really delve into characters, and really focus on them rather than the plot. Even less common to find stories that balance the two. The thing is, it's truly important to have the audience connect to your characters. You want them to feel with them and emphasize, otherwise you'll be creating a lifeless story that no one will care about who they are and what will happen to them, and they'll just want to reach them end. It's also incredibly important to make them, as an English student would note, "dynamic" and not be one-dimensional or completely unrealistic.

Q: Do you work out an outline or a plot or do you prefer just see where an idea takes you?

A: I'm very flexible about this. I will have a plot, or a vague sense of one and start writing. Sometimes I will then write out a series of "chapter outline summaries" detailing an outline of at least a handful of chapters, and a summary of events that will happen in each chapter. Sometimes I will just come up with an idea and just go with it, and sometimes eventually do one of my chapter outlines later on if I feel like it.

Q: While you are writing, do you ever feel as if you are one of the characters?

A: I'm thinking about this question in a different way than it's being asked, probably. This is very important in a way, because whenever I write, it's important I put myself in the character's shoes and have to imagine and feel every reaction, every thought, feeling, etc. It's hard sometimes, especially on emotionally draining stories. It's not that I feel like "I" am one of the characters, but that I specifically put myself in their situation and try to really connect to the character, and therefore doing my best to make sure the audience will be able to connect with the character.

Q: Could you give us an insight into your main character.

A: I love genderbenders and am incredibly addicted to them. I always find it fascinating to flip that gender/sex equation, and see how others would react to a character if they weren't male anymore. There's also the point of double standards, generalization of gender roles, the typical and maybe even cliché outlook towards girls, and various girl versus boys issues.

For my story, Ash is now female. In some ways, that makes Ash a bit more softer, though even canon!Ash can be rather sweet and soft. I try to keep the core of canon!Ash in there a bit, but an AU causes Butterfly Effects that changes things, the more things change. Ash tries to be happy and optimistic, and genuinely is most of the time. However, due to her past –a more deeper and expanded view of canon!Ash's past with his parents –she heavily feels a loneliness inside that's hard to get rid of. Her father has abandoned her and her mother, and at a young age that affects one traumatically, especially given her mother's response to the abandonment afterwards and how Ash had to deal with all that. It made her mature more, take on more responsibilities, and ultimately gain a lot of abandonment issues.

Q: Do you read as much as you write and if so, who are your favorite authors and books?

A: I used to really read a lot. I used to practically devour books within a day of getting them, and had an old bookstore where I went in bought a few books and came back later on to return them and trade some of the return sales in to help buy more books. Nowadays, my passion is really for writing and I spend each day writing tons of material. 

As for favorite authors and books - I have a lot of books I like because I'm an avid reader. I'd say my favorite series would be Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, then the Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer, Lord of the Rings by Tolkien, the Immortal Nicolas Flamel series by Michael Scott, the Narnia series by C.S. Lewis, and then the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer, though mostly because of the characters. My favorite books are Phantom by Susan Kay, Lolita by Vladimir Nabakov, Give a Boy a Gun by Todd Strasser, A Boy Called It by Dave Pelzer, the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips, The Art of War by Sun Tzu, Star Wars: Darth Bane Path to Destruction by Drew Karpyshyn, the Memoirs of Cleopatra by Margaret George, and the Rose that Grew from Concrete by Tupac Shakur, etc. I'm a huge collector of books, and I love manga as well.

Q: Which writers inspire you?

A: Most of them are writers on FanFiction.Net. I have to mention Sailor Ronin Usa-chan, because they helped me in the creation of my writing style in that I began to write in the traditional Reverse Harem genre (manga/anime sense, with the fanon twist). I also would like to bring up Eirenei, who I've become great friends with and share many interests with.

Q: Do you ever get a writer's block? If so, what are your ways of overcoming and dealing with it?

A: I hate writer's block with a passion. Usually, I just push through and make myself get on with it, and tell myself I have to get it done, especially for my readers. It also helps when I'm listening to music to put me into the mood. I create playlists for many of my stories.

Q: What are your ambitions for your writing career?

A: There's nothing more I want than to become a published author. It has been a dream and goal ever since I discovered writing and knew it was something I deeply loved and obsessed over. I'm currently working on several stories, with one that's almost finished and I'm hoping to get published this year.

Q: If you had to write your book all over again, would you change anything in it and what would it be?

A: Actually, truthfully that's been done. I'd originally had much shorter, less detailed chapters for the first six and had started this story a long time ago and when I was younger. However, there were still people who really liked the story and would continue to ask for it to be update. I recently got back into Pokémon and finally decided to do a revision on those six chapters, and did a major overhaul on chapter length, details, etc. And then I wrote more chapters after chapter 7, like a madwoman. I'm much older now and my writing style and technique is different from then, hence the revision I felt really needed to be done, and the consequent chapters after that I was much happier to include.

Q: What advice would you give to your younger self?

A: Keep writing. Continue the onslaught of writing every day, whenever you can. Don't stop, and always work on your craft. And believe in yourself and your writing.

Q: What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

A: It's really important to continue writing and doing so as much and as frequently as one can. Practice makes perfect, you know? The more you write, the more experience. You'll also learn more and see how you can continue to improve on your writing. You can also shape your own style of writing this way.

Q: To finish this interview, would you like to share your favourite quote, if you have one?

A: I unfortunately have a fair few XD:

"And thus I clothe my naked villany

With odd old ends stol'n out of holy writ,

And seem a saint, when most I play the devil."

King Richard III (I, iii, 336-338), Shakespeare

Or

"The age difference doesn't matter. You're either in sync or you're not." –Joe Piscopo

And lastly:

"Hunger, a poet once said, is the most important thing we know, the first lesson we learn. But hunger can be easily quieted down, easily satiated. There is another force, a different type of hunger, an unquenchable thirst that cannot be extinguished. It's very existence is what defines us, what makes us human. That force is love."

[...]

"Love, you see, is the one force that cannot be explained, cannot be broken down into a chemical process. It is the beacon that guides us back home when no one is there and the light that illuminates our loss. Its absence robs us of all pleasure and our capacity for joy. It makes our nights darker and our days gloomier. But when we find love, no matter how wrong, how sad, or how terrible, we cling to it. It gives us our strength, it holds us upright. It feeds on us and we feed on it. Love is our grace. Love is our downfall." –The Strain

* * *

Credits:

Article written by: Ivy (@RiverIvy) and Helsu (@FloralArtistry)

Reviews by: X (@calliope95), Gren (@Grenienon)

Interview conducted by: Helsu

Special thanks to: Eri (@eri_quin)

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We hope you enjoyed this article! Unfortunately, as Ivy couldn't finish the book in time, she decided to skip this review. Hopefully she can be back for the next one.

See you in two weeks!

-Helsu and Ivy