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10/08/2007: Okay, guys.

Opinion poll! There will be quite a few of these here, I assure you.

Okay, so chapter 37 has a Gym battle of sorts. Carl vs. Mark, May and Alan (yes, Alan too; Carl wants to see his Pokémon, so to speak, for the sake of not revealing anything important). The question is, should he do this individually (with possibilities for a scene with Mark and Alan together while he battles May, possibly a continuation of their battle from chapter 36, and a scene with Mark and May while he battles Alan - not sure exactly what should be happening here, though, since I've already planned when their next battle will be)? Or should he do a big six-on-ten fight (why it's ten, again, will be explained in the chapter) where all the Pokémon are battling at once? I'm really undecided, so yes, your opinions will count for something. Which do you think would be more interesting to read?
COMMENTARY DONE

Comments

T-man (10/08/2007 23:00:00)
All out battle would be awesome. Plus, I'm not sure on this 'O couse, but All-Out means less time to do. Plus, we don't have much of All-Out madness battling D:
Happypants3 (10/08/2007 23:00:00)
For each person to have an individual fight will stretch the chapter out quite a bit, but to have an Ultimate Showdown takes a lot of thinking; either some Pokemon will be forgotten or they'll all fight in a substandard fashion. On the other hand, the Volcaryu and Suicune fights were amazingly executed, so what can I say? :3

Either way, the resulting chapter should be totally awesome <3
Butterfree (10/08/2007 23:00:00)
Doing the battles individually will not be quite as drawn-out as it sounds, since they would not be six-on-six battles - more like three on three and four on four. Aside from that, I would not be writing all three of them out. On the other hand, I think it would make a little more sense and be more characteristic of Carl to just go with the six-on-ten.
Vanishing Rayquaza (10/08/2007 23:00:00)
6 on ten. Obviously.

Sorry, but I really like the big battles, they're probably more fun. But those individual scenes are good too.
zapdos shadow (10/08/2007 23:00:00)
Six on ten would be really cool and it gives more oppertunities for creative group combination attacks.
Negrek (10/08/2007 23:00:00)
I would not recommend a full six-on-ten melee, as I have written several five-on-five melee battles for my 'fic, and each chapter that contained one was at least twenty-five pages long. They're very fun to write, but they are LONG, and you're talking almost twice the pokémon at once.
Butterfree (10/08/2007 23:00:00)
Well, my battles have never really been that long, although I do worry about it being very hectic and even harder to keep track of all the Pokémon than during the legendary battles. :/

Now I'm toying with the idea of having May battle Carl alone, leaving Mark and Alan to maybe continue their battle in the meanwhile, and then the boys take on Carl in a slightly easier six-on-six mêlée. Or maybe I could make it essentially two three-on-three battles, with three of Carl's Pokémon taking on Mark's three and three on Alan's…
Zora the Terminian (10/08/2007 23:00:00)
Well, much as I love the excitement of your big brawls, it can get confusing. More than one battle may take longer, but it'd be easier to keep track of, and like you said, it may not be as long a read as we think. I vote more than one battle.
Chrom (10/08/2007 23:00:00)
When you did the Thundaryu battle, there were too many Pokémon active at once to follow properly, and I personally got a little confused. Maybe it's just me, but I'd prefer reading three individual battles to one massive one. Besides, we'll get enough of those massive battles anyway with fighting the legendaries.

So, bottom line, I'd go with the individual ones.
eevee_trainer (10/08/2007 23:00:00)
I say individual battles, just because my little brain can't really stay with a big one. :-)
AoiroFox (10/08/2007 23:00:00)
Hm, that's tough. Six-on-Ten would get hella' confusing, though it may suit the character better, and it's be good character flaws/development to see how Mark copes with such a huge battle when he can have so much trouble with just two pokemon - but three individual battles would be a lot easier on the readers.

…Six on ten, I suppose. *shrug*
lullelulle (10/08/2007 23:00:00)
Now you have you´re chance to put in the only thing that accualy is missing in this fantastic fic *dramatik music*
love. Personally I think that while Mark is battling there should happen something between Alan and May, but its you´re call. Anyway your fic ownes everything!!!
Butterfree (10/08/2007 23:00:00)
We'll see about that. :P
pokemon_drl (10/08/2007 23:00:00)
I like the suggestion of the May vs Carl, then the six on six melee battles. I like medium-sized things, so I don't want a large battle,but I don't want a small battle, either. I'm also suggesting this because so far, nobody has.

And so, I'd like two battles with May vs Carl and boys vs Carl.
Shadow Serenity (10/08/2007 23:00:00)
"Well, my battles have never really been that long, although I do worry about it being very hectic and even harder to keep track of all the Pokémon than during the legendary battles."

IMO, doing it as a large melee would take away the some of the significance of the legendary battles. I'd say Carl using three, and each Mark, May and Alan use one, and there's a 3 on 3 for ya. XP You know, maybe I'll use that one. o.O;

Anyway… I like that idea of May Vs. Carl, then Mark/Alan Vs. Carl. May doesn't exactly seem the type to enjoy teaming up for things anyway, so this way wouldn't go against that. *shrug*
Leon (10/08/2007 23:00:00)
Single battles, it allows you to put more detail into the fight, with less work on your part.

And I think it would be a better read, rather than having to remeber what 16 Pokemon are doing at one time ><
GentleArtillery (10/08/2007 23:00:00)
x.x those all-Pokémon-out-at-the-same-time battles are quite confusing in my opinon, so I'd rather see smaller battles. But if that is what Carl likes as a person, you go on writing it.
My idea would be two normal battles, one with Mark, and one with Alan and May co-operating, but I don't see how they would.
If there should be any romance, I don't know what - Mark/May and Alan/May would be boring (especially Alan/May, as there are those "signs" about them, and it would be kinda Ron/Hermione-ish). Sorry that I'm excluding Alan/Mark..
It would be okay if any of those fell in love but then broke up though.
Sorry if I am confusing/stupid or something, I tend to act like that when commenting fics.
Butterfree (10/08/2007 23:00:00)
Shippers amuse me. Oh, yes, they do.

Psst. A hint. Just how much fluffy romance have you seen me write so far since I started writing fanfiction?
AoiroFox (once again) (10/08/2007 23:00:00)
Oh, dear GOD, I would close the window and block the site immediately if you give this fic fluff, Butterfree. It'd be bad enough for me if there was romance anyway, but fluff would simply drive me insane. Fanfiction relationships are nearly always horribly cliche and unrealistic.

…I'm on my knees BEGGING you here, man, no AlanxMay fluff… I honestly can't stand either of hem anyway. >>;;
GentleArtillery (10/08/2007 23:00:00)
(Butterfree:) Thought so too =3 But I was kinda "anxious" anyway because I'm that as a person, and fluffy romance would almost destroy the fic.
Butterfree (10/08/2007 23:00:00)
You seriously don't need to worry here, m'kay? Even if I didn't generally despise anything more romantic than Scyther/Nightmare (which is, uh, not particularly so), Mark and May are still both twelve years old and way too young to be falling in teh twu wub with anyone at all (I'm looking at you, Phillip Pullman). Alan is kinda borderline, but there isn't exactly anyone left then for him to get fluffy with even assuming he has a slight crush on May, which he might. Unless he were into Poképhilia, and I'll tell you right now that no, he's not.

Even if May weren't twelve years old, had a crush on Alan to some degree and they admitted that to one another and got together in some kind of a relationship, it would definitely be far from fluffy, considering how May has a very bad temper, expresses anger with violence (see elbowing Alan, kicking Lapras, etc), would much rather spend her time battling than watching romantic sunsets, and is generally extremely non-fluffy - she's the type who yells "GET A ROOM!" when people start french kissing in public. Alan would have to consider himself lucky if she occasionally kissed him on the cheek when she was happy after winning a battle. If they got together, this would last about two chapters before they would realize it's not working at all. May is not ready for any kind of intimate relationship. May and Alan can function as friends because she can keep a reasonable distance from him. As a couple, no. He gets on her nerves far too easily, and as I pointed out earlier, she responds to this with physical violence. Not a good recipe for romance, and definitely not fluffy romance.

And even if they were deeply in love enough to make May go suddenly OOC, they have far better things to worry about (such as, oh, saving the world), and if they started wasting their time kissing or getting fluffy, Chaletwo would basically tell them to piss off to some hotel if they're just going to be delaying Mark's important mission. They would never get OOC enough to just say "OMG FINE WE WILL GO AND KISS AND BE FLUFFY IN CLEANWATER CITY WHILE YOU TRY TO SAVE THE WORLD ALONE SOMEHOW :DDD". They'd apologize, stop it, and continue while keeping the romance to any potential times where Mark is not watching (and thus the reader would not hear of it).

So uh. Not gonna happen. Sorry, cakeshippers. As for Mark/May… they are both twelve-year-olds with radically different personalities, no interest in one another and absolutely no chemistry between them. Uh. No. Scyther/Nightmare is plenty enough romance for this fic in my opinion, anyway. :P
GentleArtillery (10/08/2007 23:00:00)
@.@ Sorry for causing you that trouble. You didn't need to write a novel about it, but now I'm completely sure that it will be safe to continue reading this fic.
And the Philip Pullman reference - Lyra and Will, I assume? <.< (I haven't read any other books by him)
zapdos shadow (10/08/2007 23:00:00)
Wow maybe there should be a special comment thread thing for people who want to discuss the characters because it certainly seems like a lot of people do including me but this comment thread thing was made for discussing the battle.
Hacker42 (10/08/2007 23:00:00)
Did anyone else notice how incredibly off topic that got? Anyway, I think smaller battles would be nice. All of these scenes with twenty pokemon flying aroun hitting each other hurt my head.
Joe, The Talking mr. Mime(i am back bwa haha) (10/08/2007 23:00:00)
Uh, I guess you could have Mark, May, and Alan fight Carl with just two Pokemon each, and Carl with six Pokemon. That way it won't get so confusing with 16 or so Pokemon every where.
T-man (10/08/2007 23:00:00)
What about Alex and Mark >:->

What is it's
Carl Vrs. Alex
Then, Carl Vrs. Mark and May?
Butterfree (10/08/2007 23:00:00)
GentleArtillery: Oh, I know I didn't have to write a novel about it. But it was so much fun. :P

And yes, Will and Lyra. "OMG WE ARE TWELVE YEARS OLD AND WE ALL OF A SUDDEN LOVE EACH OTHER MORE THAN ANYBODY HAS EVER LOVED EVEN THOUGH WE HAVEN'T EVEN ENTERED PUBERTY, JUST BECAUSE THE AUTHOR THINKS IT WON'T BE TWAGIC ENOUGH TO HAVE US SEPARATED AT THE END IF WE'RE 'JUST' FRIENDS! LET'S MAKE OUT! :D" Seriously, what the hell? I can see twelve-year-olds perhaps liking one another and maybe holding hands and kissing on the cheek (although even that would be pushing it in my mind), but to have them suddenly talk like they're the ultimate authorities on love is just plain ridiculous. That little bit of realism-out-the-window completely wrecked His Dark Materials for me. <.<

zapdos shadow and Hacker42: Heh, I don't really care that much if this gets off-topic. :P As long as there isn't a better place to discuss it in, anyway.

T-man: He's called "Alan". Not Alex. Alex is Mark's childhood friend. Do not confuse. For a moment I thought you were talking about him, actually, and was thinking, "Wait, why the hell would he be… oh, he means Alan."

As for an Alan and Mark relationship, Mark is twelve years old too, you know. Them being gay… uh, think what you like. :P

Joe and T-man: Now I think I've come to the conclusion I'm going to make May battle Carl alone and then Mark and Alan together, because that makes a lot of sense and would make for less confusing battles. However, it is vital to the plot of the chapter - or rather, the reason they're battling Carl at all - that all those ten of Mark, May and Alan's Pokémon will fight Carl at some point (so two, two and two on six would not work), and while May is very likely to prefer battling on her own over having to cooperate unless she absolutely has to, Alan has no motive to ask to fight Carl alone, so it wouldn't really make sense.

At least, thanks to everybody for giving their opinions. I think I've figured it out now. :)
KamikoRemu (10/08/2007 23:00:00)
Uh, I know the poll is kind of over, but…
What about May and that guy (I'm pretty sure his name is Vinent or Viktor or something- the guy from Scorpio?)? Just like… One crushing on the other or something?
Butterfree (10/08/2007 23:00:00)
Victor the Mutark trainer? :P You'll see quite a bit more of him a little later in the story. Right now he and May don't exactly know each other well, however.

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