Son of a bitch.

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I anticipated Pikachu's death - Pikachu just didn't appear in the last couple of chapters much, so when he got more prominent this chapter, I was passively expecting it. I liked the Janine-Ash interaction leading up to the infiltration operation, and Sabrina's entrance into the story was badass, she's already a very vivid character. But seriously, when Arcanine and Charizard get fucked over too, I won't be able to take it. But at least James is finally dead.

 

I was starting to fear that the Author was going to wait until he had an entire arc written before posting. Like his Harry Potter story.

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Meh the rodent was less of its own character and more of an extension of Ash's character. I dont see his death affecting the story all that much. This is barely worth noticing compared to Misty's death a few chapters ago.

Besides Y'all are missing the best part of this chapter. Oz's first pokemon battle.

 

Yeah...

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Pikachu really wasn't built up enough, or even given a very impactful death scene, for me to be truly devastated like I could've been. Hell, Arcanine and Haunter probably have more "Ash's best pal" prominence. Pikachu's death actually felt, more than anything, like a dark and gritty and subversive story move for the sake of it being dark, gritty and subversive. Like there's a big checklist of things to do before the story's over: Kill Jesse and James, kill Misty, kill Pikachu, set up a potential second romance or something with Janine and then remind us she's dying anyway, and combined with Ash still mourning over Misty, it's never going to happen... Oh, and Giovanni's Ash's father, and Mewtwo will probably betray Ash down the line, Brock'll probably die...

Still a good story and all that, not my favouritest Pokemon fic of all time but definitely helped open my eyes a little to fics like it, but I can't say this is my favourite plot twist.

 

Whoa...

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I find it odd that no one can talk about the story without spoiler tags, and simply being as vague as possible. That said, I didn't want to be left out, so...

Loved the update. I never would've expected that to happen, but I suppose it was inevitable. I do agree with MattSilver, in that Arcanine dying would've had a greater impact, but I think 50cal was looking to shake up the fans. At this point, the deaths aren't gratuitous, but I feel like he might be leaning towards just offing everyone that pokemon fans wouldn't expect to die...

...which still might not be gratuitious, since these little monster things haven't once been portrayed as "cute" (nor should they be, given their powers).

Still a 5/5

 

I be damned.

Oz made this chapter

 

I think Pikachu is Ash's iconic pokemon in the anime, not so much in the manga IIRC, but in the story he wasn't THAT important to Ash, and didn't have a big bond like in the anime. If there was more filler to flesh out the relationship between the two then maybe but to me the death didn't hit as hard. I still like Pikachu though and now that I think about it would have liked to have seen him more. Oh well.

 

Hey guys, I think the very important thing that noone has mentioned is that...

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Butterfree died!!!1!!eleven!!1

 

I thought Oz ran like a bitch. Did I miss something?

 

Nobody really cares about Butterfree. That was like its second appearence.

SO the team as it stands is:

Charizard
Arcanine
Oz
Pidgeot
Haunter

Unless I'm forgetting something?

 

Oz indeed ran like a bitch.

 

Haunter isn't technically part of his team, is he?

 

As far as we've seen, Ash hasn't actually caught Haunter.

Course Oz ran. He's a baby, and those were monsters. Moma-Oz didn't raise no fool. Though, Moma-Oz is dead.

 

Updated. Fantastic chapter from 50caliberchaos.

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May is entering into the story. I really wasn't expecting this. Next chapters with Ash going to Cinabar would clearly rock. Also, I'm really waiting for Elm vs. Oak battle. Really wish to see it.

 

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Nice to see May, but I wonder why she's there. After all, she's from Hoenn, not Johto. If anyone should have been from there, it should have been Lyra. Wonder if Brendan will show.

 

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So.

As much as I do not like pokemon (I honestly don't), I made exceptions for this fic solely based on member recommendations. Even at that, I like it because it's a well-crafted story - well enough that someone as admittedly novice in the poke-verse can enjoy....

....But damn if I didn't have a huge geek-out moment when Zapdos got an honorable mention XD XD XD XD XD XD

I truly can't get enough of this fic.

 

I'm enjoying this fic so much more than many of the books I've read.

Naked Sabrina is always a plus.

 

Yeah, lots of fanservice in this chapter. Naked Sabrina, Zapdos, Janine all up on Ash's dick...etc.

Was disappointed that Zapdos didn't end up in a masterball, though. That'd be one heck of a replacement for pikachu.

 

Heck of a replacement indeed.

Interesting portrayal of Elm, and I loved the way 50Cal just tossed off a mention of 'legendary shadow wars' between professors. Reading his interaction with May and her mention of revenge made me picture him stroking a bald cat while kicked back in a chair in his secret volcano lair. Did anyone else get a vibe on Elm leading her on? Oak's supposed actions don't seem to mesh, although we haven't reallys seen much of him and there WAS just a mention of shadow wars between the Profs....

Greatly looking forward to Cinnbar. Had visions of Ash dropping into the middle of a battle from above and releasing an evolved Oz just before he hit the ground....much pwnage. that it's unrealistic.

Also...I've forgotten how to use a spoiler whatchamacallit. Sorry.