"Plainly Tested" - A Pokémon: Johto League Champions fanfic Story Written by Freedom Fighter Author's Commentary (09.23.02) The purpose of this extra chapter is to give you an insight of what I was thinking during the course of writing this fanfic. I do cover numerous points from the fanfic itself, so if you have yet to read it, then please go and do so... no need to go and spoil everything. [Introduction] After buying "Pokémon Gold," my originally interpretation of Whitney was not favorable. In the game, she was the leader of a gym of a giant metropolis. All of her assistants' Pokémon, as well as her own, were among the cutest in all Poké-dom. And Whitney cried when you beat her. What kind of an image is that? Why was she even given the job of gym leader? For crying out loud (no pun intended), you had to get her friend Bridget to get her to stop crying before you could even get the Plain Badge. And her Miltank was somewhat tough, but not overbearingly so. Not the kind of gym leader I was expecting to face third in the game. Boy, does the anime screw up gym leader personalities. Sure, there were quirks that were added to Brock (flirting with every girl he sees), Blaine (who shoots off riddles like no one's business), and Giovanni (who runs Team Rocket, although no one outside the organization knows that). But giving Whitney a 180-degree personality switch was really unexpected. From a crybaby to a headstrong woman who felt confident behind her nearly unbeatable Miltank. And this is just the guy side of me talking... but she turned into quite the attractive woman. Whitney still had her flaws. When it came to directions, she was quite a ditz. And may just be the humdrum of repetitive Pokémon episodes talking, but she didn't use that many moves. Still, her character raised eyes. I mean, I hadn't seen a gym leader this likable since, well, Blaine on Cinnabar Island. And thus came the inspiration for the first fanfic in the Pokémon girls series. [Idea Central] Although it took the anime to convince me that Whitney was a likable character, this entire fanfic is based on the game more than the anime. From the anime, I kept Whitney's personality to the letter, as well as her three Pokémon. After all, three Pokémon are better than two. From the game, I used the incarnations of the other gym leaders. And probably more importantly, the gym assistants were used in this fanfic. Especially the girls from the Goldenrod gym. They were a very important part of this fic. So you read a fanfic based more on the game than the anime... which you all took in stride and with no problem at all. Which made me happy. As for the central plot of "Plainly Tested," it's based on some other Pokémon fanfics that I have read in the past year or so. Among those are Ace Sanchez's "Pokémon Master" (naturally, what Pokémon fanfic reader hasn't read that one) and Damian Silverblade's still-unfinished "Awakening the Earth's Fire." Of course, it's a bit closer to the latter than the former, and none of the gym leaders get killed, become evil, and other stuff like that. But the idea was to center the fic around Whitney, and keep you, the fans, guessing as to which gym leader would go down next and how. I'm glad to say that in the end, everything worked out right. And I'm doubly glad to all of you for reading and reviewing. Now, to clear up any misconceptions and/or mistakes over the course of the story, here are the individual notes for the chapters. [Chapter 1] 1) Interpretations of the Kanto League gym leaders, such as how Erika and the Waterflower sisters are shown in the opening introduction, are based on the anime versions... instead of the game versions that the Johto League gym leaders were interpreted. 2) As in all of my Pokémon fanfics to date, I tend to assign last names to main characters. For Whitney, I gave her the last name of Emerson. Somewhat bland, but hey, she does train normal-type Pokémon. Why not have a normal last name? I could've gone something like Smith or Thompson, but that's too normal. As you'll see though, a few other last names that I assigned later on were not as encouraging. 3) Case in point... Bugsy's assigned last name is Montgomery. Not exactly the best choice, but it's not bad. Compared to what else you'll see later on... 4) For those of you who couldn't figure it out... Whitney didn't hear her phone ring in the studio because, naturally, the signal that the radio station gives off as it broadcasts interferes with the one in her cell phone. [Chapter 2] 5) Gym leader last name #3: Lance Yamasuke. Can you tell that I was going for a Japanese last name? Once again, okay but not great. And it does get worse... 6) Number four: Morty Oharu. Don't ask what I was going for with this one, because frankly, I forgot. 7) Oh, and before I forget... the Elite Four is based on the one in Pokémon Gold/Silver/Crystal. Keep that in mind for those of you who have never played those games and were wondering who some of the new members were, especially when they play a slightly bigger part later on. 8) Sometimes, Whitney will use abbreviations to shortcut messages to her assistants and vice versa. Some are easier to recognize than others. I'll be translating them as I go through. In the scene where Whitney has just come out of her office, where she runs into Bridget, Whitney tells Bridget to "Drop and hold for now, okay?" Bridget replies, "DAH'd 'til after work, Whitney." DAH refers to 'drop and hold,' or to be grammatically correct, 'dropped and held.' 9) Shorthand Message #2: GB2U - Get back to you. I mention it even though Bridget does say it out loud after Whitney tells her the abbreviation. 10) Shorthand Message #3: PB - Plain Badge. Simple enough. 11) Shorthand Message #4: Cinny - a person from Cinnabar Island. 12) Last Name #5: Chuck Morris. Another plain name. So sue me. Gee... there has to be some other way to say that. 13) As you can see, Chuck's appearance was written way before his episode aired in the U.S. Now that I look at it, it's somewhat accurate. The game and anime versions, for the most part, are similar to each other. [Chapter 3] 13) Last Name #6: Clair Barton. Any takers? Cheers? Jeers? Never mind... 14) Here's where I strayed away from the game storyline a bit. Clair doesn't have any Dragonite. She does have a few Dragonair though. 15) Last Name #7: Milton Burdley, Whitney's uncle. An homage to... do I have to say it? Come on! Isn't it obvious? 16) A load of abbreviations here. TI - trainer information, RP - research paper, NBT - New Bark Town, and GG - Goldenrod General. You probably picked them all out easily, except for the last one. [Chapter 5] 17) For those of you who can't figure this out... GoldenGirl is Whitney and BirdBoy is Falkner in the Internet chat scene. 18) Last Name #8: Falkner Airy. Appropriate, yes. A good last name? Well... [Chapter 6] 19) Last Name #9: Jasmine Limerno. Again, as was with Morty... I don't know what the heck I was thinking when I came up with that last name. 20) Unlike Chuck, we saw in recent episodes that the Jasmine in the anime acts much sweeter than the version I have in this fanfic. But so as to not turn the whole fic topsy-turvy, I won't modify Jasmine's battle scene to the anime. Besides, she's supposed to be modeled off of the game version anyway. [Chapter 7] 21) Last Name #10: Bridget Briggs, Whitney's lead assistant. Also don't know where this last name came from, but at least it sounds normal. [Chapter 9] 22) In the explanation of the scientists' plot, a paragraph was added explaining how the holographic Pokémon were able to attack... something I had originally missed in the original posting of this final chapter. That brings us to the official end of "Plainly Tested." Thanks for reading and providing all of your comments. If you'd like to see me write another fanfic starring Whitney, or even a sequel to this very fanfic, drop me a line and let me know! And next week, be on the lookout for the 2nd fanfic in the 'Pokémon Girls' series. It's called "Before I Turn This Tassel." I bet you can't guess which girl this one's about. For those of you who want a romantic story with a small dash of action and a pinch of comedy thrown in, don't miss this! See you later! Bye!