Before I get to some fun facts scout the book, I just want to thank all you wonderful readers who keep reading. I mean, it's because of all of you that I keep publishing more into the series, getting inspiration for new books, and whatnot. Plus you are all are the real MVP's for making it this far in the book, especially with the last couple of chapters.

I'll admit, between this one and the last one, this book was harder to write. I tried adding the original B&W heroes, add more pictures and other stuff to help enhance the story, along with adding more of a complex storyline. Because of that, the next book will be a bit more of a challenge as I want to raise the bar higher (if that's possible) as I want these books to get better and better.

Of course, I didn't mean for the book to end on such a sour note, but the chapters after that felt like crap writing them, and I seriously couldn't write anything but Syliva feeling like a horrible person. Trust me when I say that it would've been awful going through. I promise, the next book will have a much happier ending (if all goes as planned...)

Now, like the last author's note I did for SGBM, I'm going to share a few facts and details about this book, and a bit about the next. So, here we go.

1.) I spent way too much time in giving a meaningful name for Team Oblivion.

As you were probably reading this book, you might have noticed how much I stressed the Oblivion factor. Well, that's because I put WAY too much time into it. At one point, they were called Obsidian, but I realized this one was more fitting as this was making people mindless to control the world was their goal. Oblivion works better than Obsidian (which had NOTHING to do with that).

Other than that, the four major antagonist have meanings as well. Starting off with Lethe, his name stems from the River of Lethe in Greek Mythology, where this river would make one forget who s/he was. Fitting for the boy who was trying to do good for his sister, but could easily forget as soon as the words, "Now I must ask you, who's side are you on, Lethe?" came out of one of someone's mouth.

So ya, his character...I spent way too much time working on. But it worked. I mean, who would've guessed Sylvia had a brother? Or that the brother was completely forgotten about. Hehehe...I'm going to shut up and get to the other names.

Shadow is based on, well, shadows. They are in the dark, they follow you wherever you go. If you're anything like my puppy, you're more than likely to be scared of your own shadow. I mean, let's be real, shadows in nighttime can be scary if you're all alone. Hence why I named him that.

Shade Krait...okay first off, I needed something to go with the name Krait. Shade means complete darkness, which worked when she could knock someone out and see their nightmares.

And lastly, Dusk. First off, I didn't really spend much time on her, just that she had a Darkria and I wanted a cool name that would be Dark. I wasn't going to name her Dark because I didn't like that. Dusk is the time that the sun goes down, which is the time Team Oblivion usually made their attacks anyway. Besides, you only saw her at night, so it's fitting.

2.) Our Protagonists and Team Miasma have meanings too.

Probably doesn't come to a shock either because I put way too much thought into this. I won't get into the detail of Team Miasma, seeing as they aren't "defeated," but I mean you can probably look up words and find out, and it shouldn't really be that surprising either.

Starting with Rena. I merged two powerful  women from two different tv shows (Regina from OUAT and Lena Luther from Supergirl). Anywho, both of these characters are boss, and I wanted this character to have a powerful name, so I combined the two.

The surname, Rhea, sounded good with Rena and Rudi...later realized rrhea in med terms mean flow of, which I guess could be fitting for prequel material of Landon's character and how much these characters have to adapt to different situations.

Rudi, well...his name doesn't actually have a meaning. My brothers love football and love watching football movies. One movie they watch a lot is, "Rudy" which is a heartwarming story that even I (who hates football) actually enjoy. I liked the name Rudy. Changed the Y to an I to give him some character. It also starts with the letter R, so I mean, it fit.

Then, our main protagonist, Sylvia Gray. Gray is the color between black and white, usually symbolizing someone who's not good or bad. Doesn't make sense seeing that this girl starts out innocent. But, what happened in this book? How did it end? I'll leave it at that. For her first name, Sylvia, it's is kind of like Rudi's origin as I took it from a piece of entertainment. I was watching a musical (cuz I'm a musical theatre junkie, no lie) and fell in love with this one character who was very kind and sweet. Guess what her name was?

Yep. Sylvia. Before watching that musical, her name was something else...long forgotten. Wish I could remember it for naming future characters.

Oh, and Nox—who also has a meaning—is based off of a Harry Potter spell, Nox. Takes away the light. Kind of like he did with Rena's love life. Too soon? Okay, next fun fact.

3.) I planned on Lethe being Sylvia's brother the minute I came up with his name.

Again, River of Lethe, the river of the forgotten. I couldn't just let that detail go to waste. At the time, I was writing part of the prequel and wrote a single sentence in it that made me rethink of everything that happened in the past. Then, I came up with Lethe's name and realized why. I don't know, I found this pretty interesting when it happened, and thought it be worth sharing.

On a side note and for future reference, Lethe will always be referred to as Lethe, but as mentioned, Lethe wasn't his birth-name. His full name is (er, was considering he'll never go by this) Andrew Landon Gray (or Andy for short). Yes, he was named after his dad and Rudi's dad.

4.) This book was originally longer.

Okay, so plan was to get at least 32 chapters, shooting for 35, and I almost split the last chapter in 2, but couldn't find a good cut for it. I mean, bright side (if you count this as a bright side) the chapters were a lot longer (some reaching over 4,000, a couple were over 4,500, and the longest being the grand total of 5,528 words long) I was on track to add more chapters, but then Chapter 29 happened.

5.) As always, Chapter 29 was the hardest.

I'm seriously not a heartless person. Shy, overly socially awkward (no lie), and a bit analytical in real life, yes. But I'm not heartless. I've dealt with grief too many times in my life to know how hard it can be.

Not getting into my life story or tell a sob story here! While I'm always willing to listen to others problems, I'm not one to open up like that. Not that it should matter; life goes on.

Anywho, I will say this one hit a bit closer to home for me. With that being said, I almost didn't finish the book, and was just going to leave you hanging on whatever chapter I had posted at that time. Rudi, believe it or not, was my favorite character to write because of his arrogance in the beginning, but as the story continued, he started to change into this lovable little teddy bear who would do literally anything for Sylvia. So, when I wrote that...I wasn't happy, and cried. It brought up too many hard memories, and everything I'd edit, it would be hard.

Chapter 29 was a sad chapter for me, but don't let that deter you away from reading the third book, whenever that comes out if you so choose to want to continue. I promise you, with the little bit I have planned out will be worth the read.

6.) Because of this book, I'm taking a break.

Like I said in fun fact five (love the accidental alliteration there), that chapter drained me. I have a plethora of ways to go around the final book, but I think for the benefit of our characters, I need a break from this trilogy.

So, what does that mean for Sylvia and Co.? There will be a third book, but it most likely won't come out at the earliest of Christmas time, but realistically, latest it'll come out is spring of 2019. Why? Well, I've got a lot of other projects I'd like to work on, college classes that needs passing, and if I can, I'd like to start a new book to enter into the 2019 Wattys. I have a few ideas as to what I'm going to write.

Not much can be released about these ideas, but I just thought I'd put it out there that I might be publishing a different book before the final book of this trilogy. The third book of Swanna Girl and Braviary Man will be coming, but it'll just take a bit. Sorry that I had to leave ya'll on a cliffhanger-like ending, but with the bit I have planned for the next book, it'll be worth it.

Until then, this book has a million little mistakes (whether it's small details, grammar, etc, chapter 30...I didn't edit it as much as 5,000 words is intimidating), so I'll be editing this. By the time I'm done, I should be able to start "drafting" the next book.

7.) Sylvia is truly going to be a member of Team Miasma.

Sylvia's a girl of her word. Not only that, but she's also on a ship taking her to some region. Whether I take the next book to another region or not is another story, but nevertheless, IF for some odd reason her path were to cross with her friends, she can no longer save them if Team Miasma wants her to do something.

This is all foreshadowed in a piece of symbolism I've added in the book: Sylvia's hair. Usually in books, cutting hair usually shows signs of strength and self-growth. I wanted this to mean something different. So, Team Oblivion cut her hair, showing that she is not as strong of a character as we think. Sylvia is still one to be easily manipulated as she's trying to keep her friends safe.

So, yes, once that happens, it foreshadows that she will, without question, follow Team Miasma into whatever region they travel to next in attempts to save her friends. With this being said, she will be a faithful servant to Team Miasma.

Huh, wonder how a superhero can turn bad like that? If so, how bad? Guess we'll all have to find out in the final installment of Swanna Girl and Braviary Man.

8.) Originally, I almost made Sylvia's Dad live instead, like 100%, still alive and everything.

This would've taken the place of Sylvia's Mom, but then I realized he would've been close to Landon. There's no way Landon wouldn't have known about his fake death. I figured those two would be too close growing up to know if something was up.

Anywho, so I made Jena live for a few more years before really killing her off again. Whoops. I'm a horrible person to Sylvia. Sorry.

9.) Ya'll going to hate me for this next fact: Lethe was supposed to take Rudi's place in chapter 29.

First off, that vision went through 2 rewrites that were published, but the first one seemed a bit too telling as to what was going to happen that I had to change it. Regardless, Lethe doesn't like seeing his sister unhappy that he knew the best thing to keep her alive would be to pull her out.

Unfortunately, I could never get him to get Rudi out of the way. After all, Lethe doesn't like Rudi, and he is a bit of a coward. He knew Sylvia loved him a lot, but he also knows more about Rudi's past than any of the characters (besides Rudi), and didn't want his sister to be hurt.  More to come about that later.

Another version had Landon take the place of his son, but there's two things wrong with that. 1.) I know what it's like to lose a father-like figure, and I can't have Sylvia go through that twice, nor could I let Rudi go through that. 2.) It couldn't fit. Landon's day's of fighting crime is over. He's retired, and is spending the days with his wife as breeders.

10.) I almost (romantically) paired up Nox with Rena in the end of this story.

Yuck. Cringeworthy. Gross. Disgusting. I know, but as cynical as Nox is, he did like Rena in that way, and probably still does. He just had an odd way of showing it.

Then I came up with Johnathon's character. Rest is history.

11.) Every time a character was given a choice, I didn't know which path they'd take.

This meant I had to do a bit of experimenting and think about how each decision would affect the one character, along with the rests. For example: Lethe could've very well have stayed in that cage instead of tricking his sister, causing Team Oblivion to find their hideout and take all the heroes. This would've resulted in another alternative...

12.) ...That alternative being that I made Johnathon Knox evil.

Since he left Rena's Widgets, I figured maybe he came up with Team Oblivion. Then I remembered one small written detail. Team Oblivion came around before Team Miasma, and Knox was with Rena for over a year...yah, it doesn't even make sense as I type it up, so I'm glad that didn't work out.

Unfortunately, Johnathon Knox is stuck under a gigantic pile of debris. His current status is unknown. But that'll be something to be touched up on in the next book, or better or for worse (-:

13.) The reason why I added cursing was for the sole purpose of the heated scenes.

I don't curse often. Maybe when no ones around, or when I'm in a fight with my brothers...(I mean, who can blame me? I have four younger, yet annoying, brothers. Love them to death, but they're still...GAH!)

That's besides the point, er, well actually no, that's actually what inspired me to put that element into this story. People will/won't use profanity depending on the situation. There's Sylvia, who cursed in French because cursing in another language, well, if people don't know what you're saying, then you can still come off as innocent in a way. Rudi and Rena are natural potty mouths, so I mean, they've just toned it down whenever Sylvia was around (and parents). So yah, I just feel like when things get really heated, I felt like curse words were acceptable in the story.

TIP: Don't ever curse when an adult is present.

14.) In case anyone missed it, Lethe is truly a caring brother, and saved Sylvia's life more than once.

He was the one who saved her in the last book, not the heroes of Unova. Why? Again, I wanted to show his protectiveness and the lengths he'd go to save his family. His heart is in the right place, even if it doesn't look like it. Since he can see into the future, he knew he needed to help her out in a sense.

Originally, I was going to have Landon be the one to save her from hyperthermia in the previous book, but that felt a bit weird. Then, as some readers predicted, I was going to have Hilbert or N be the one to do it (after all, I could really see N saving the day since he's a cinnamon roll that needs to be protected at all costs) but I couldn't do that as I wanted Sylvia to distrust them to the point where she would be suspicious of their every action. Saving her wouldn't exactly let that happen.

As for the Christmas present, well, that too was from Lethe. The sloppy signature on the bottom is his actual name, which he'll never be referred to as I can't see him as anything but Lethe from now on. Seeing that his sister was suffering nightmares, and always wanting to get close to her, he gave her the Musharna.

And, last but not least, Lethe doesn't like Rudi because he knew his past (more than Sylvia does as of the moment). With that being said, he did everything he could to break them up, including threatening Rudi when Sylvia was in Kalos, starting a fight when Sylvia was breaking him out, and other minor details I never put into the storyline as they were insignificant to the plot (lots of staring contests and minor gestures being thrown around when Sylvia wasn't looking, you know, those kinds of things).

So yah, Lethe may be a bit messed up, but one of my favorite characters to write because he's just trying to do his best.

15.) I knew about the big plot twist of this book before I knew the ending.

I'm usually one who writes without planning. This means I know the ending (or the many versions of it) and the beginning, but what happens between the beginning and the end are whatever I feel like needs to happen between. Plot twists come more natural that way (at least in other books I've written outside this account).

So, you can only imagine my paranoia when writing the plot twist of Sylvia and Lethe being siblings. I felt like I was dropping hints all too well throughout the book. When that happen, I would edit some of them out. So, the mysterious gift of Musharna to Lethe's interaction with this Pokémon when he sees her, that was a hint. Him warning his sister about Rudi, well, that wasn't jealously as much as it was him just looking out for his sister. Oh, and the countless times he was trying to get Sylvia out of harms way when he wasn't mind controlled, that was another hint.

Now, all of those aren't really telling; however, before hand, in original drafts, Lethe would say small little comments that would almost be too-telling of them being siblings. For example, Lethe's warning letter of letting Joy out, it was originally going to say something about him taking back Musharna for a bit, and that he was sorry about Sylvia having nightmares. Another time that was almost telling was when I introduced his past. He talks about his mom a lot because in original drafts, he was going to mention something about a sister, and how he could never see her until these past couple of months. He then explained how he wished he could be more like her, and how he missed her and all this other kind of sappy long-distant sibling relationship-like thing. I felt like that was too telling, lessening the original plottwist.

So, yah, knowing the plot twists were a challenge for me, but rewarding when I read the first initial comment of, "SAY THE WHAT NOW!!!???" If no one was expecting it, then phew, I did my job.

(-o-)

Anywho, at the latest, next spring (sorry for the wait) you'll find out what's going on and why this book was supposed to be longer. If you have any questions before then, please, don't hesitate to message or comment them.

I know the wait will be long, but I've got to get serious into my schoolwork next semester, so I can't afford not knowing my medical terminology, the procedures, etc etc, just because I'm writing fanfic. Don't think my future patients would like it if I was more knowledgeable in Poke-fic than getting them back on their feet.

Hope you all understand. I'll cya all next summer (hopefully). Until then, have a Happy Halloween, and take care!

*UPDATE: Swanna Girl and Braviary Man 3: The Rogue Hero has been officially posted as of August 24th, 2019. You can find the book via search bar or through my profile page.