I was a little disappointed with this one. The first battle of any consequence in a while and it fell short of expectations compared to what we saw in the tournament and before it.

Still this chapter had its moments. The morbidity of Sneasel's actions and

Spoiler

Metagross' mega-evolution among them

I wanted to like Jacqueline, but she just felt like the Catwoman to Steven's Batman. Her success will depend on how well Straight elf writes her from here on out. I'll be withholding my opinion on her for now.

All things considered a fairly decent chapter if only for the plot progression which had been stagnating for a while now.

 

I don't know about you guys but the recent chapter have started to seem quite bland to me. The bit with Daisy Oak was interesting but ever since she left the story's not quite getting on as I would have thought. Kanto arc was interesting as I eagerly waited for the update but Hoenn... When I get an alert that there's an update, the first thought in my mind is let it be interesting this time. Straight Elf goes on and on about training without anything really that may be worthwhile. Amd the last chapter..... Attack on Metagross colony? If it wasn't for my previous commitment to this story and hope that it'll get better I'll have removed it from the alert list at once.

 

A new chapter was posted recently? I do agree that it is losing some of its pokemon trainer magic. Ash is going to become a part of the pokemon league and that seems to kill the best parts for me; traveling, pokemon training, exploring, etc. Ash's new career choice is a dead end after Hoenn. Ash also has too many self reflecting moments or moments where he is lost in his own thoughts. He is 11/12 not 86 and on his death bed

 

No, there was no new chapter, just a necro.

That said, I did lose most of my interest in the fic when Ash put on his super soldier suit, helmet and started training with melee weapons. I liked the pokemon trainer Ash, I have no interest in the league child soldier Ash.

Pokemon magic, huh? Much like Harry Potter magic, if you diverge too much from the original source, it can lose its charm. Guess that happened.

 

Eh, it lost all its charm for me when I couldn't ignore Ash was still a fucking ten year old any more.

Age your characters up if you want to make a super serious pokemon fanfiction ffs.

 

This really this, plus I find it really hard to buy how his pokemon got so strong so quickly. Ash didn't seem to do any too intense training (or at least nothing which I couldn't see 50+% of people doing) and he seemed to end up stronger than most lifelong trainers.

If the events of the fic took place over say 5 years I'd find it all much more believable. Training constantly for 6 months, hard but doable for most people. Managing to keep at it for 5 years, a true champion in the making.

 

New chapter up, and it seems to be dedicated to making Clerith and Hugplx's points for them. The half I read was scene after scene of adults telling Ash that he is to young for combat. Well if that is the case, then maybe ten year olds shouldn't be allowed to join special police forces dedicated to fighting dangerous criminals.

I will probably finish it later, and continue to follow the story, but this quickly turned into a guilty pleasure at best over the last few chapters.

 

I read the new chapter and I feel the story has lost the spirit that made it good....I hope it goes back to its roots

 

I haven't read the new chapter yet and I'm kind wary given the previous comments.

I loved the start, where the protagonist wasn't some special snowflake and got better through hard work and dedication. Suddenly there were Legendaries and Masters left and right.

Is there any Kanto-fanfiction where the protagonist is some nobody (camper, youngster, bird keeper, etc.) on some random route starting with a shitty pokemon like Pidgey or Poliwag?

 

Okay! That's what I'm fuckin talking about! All yall go read about the spell of the unown. Now.

 

So I just finished re-reading this ridiculously long story and realised that I had never bothered leaving a review. Which is hardly for unusual for me but still. Let's make an effort.

If it wasn't clear from me reading a story that'll be over a million words once the next chapter is released, I liked this one. Hell, I find the length to be part of the appeal since I prefer having a lot of content to sink my teeth into as long as it's content I want to read.

I'll get the negative out of the way:

Ash is young and I'm just not able to forget it. I don't care that the game and anime characters were preteens, the idea of an 11-year old boy traveling the world on his lonesome (his unremarkable companions notwithstanding) is hard to swallow. The longer the story goes on, the more things Ash accomplishes in a relatively short space of time and the more ridiculous it becomes regardless of how smart and talented he is. This has reached its peak in the Hoenn saga where Ash himself is being trained to fight, wearing the League's uniform and getting into life-or-death battles as if he were a soldier. Even the people involved seem to get that it's wrong but they're not actually stopping him, just taking a break.

It would be so much more enjoyable if Ash had been, like, 15 years old when he left, even if you changed literally nothing else.

Another thing that bothers me is that I don't actually understand Ash's ultimate goal. He claims that he wants to be a Pokemon Master (not that this comes up much after the early chapters) but I don't think it's ever explained what that means. I can guess how Fire-type Masters or Water-type Masters work but aside from a few mentions here and there, there's no clear-cut explanation on what a Master is and how to become one. The generic "Pokemon Master" is even worse since it's so broad and I don't know what Ash is doing to achieve that goal. He doesn't capture most pokemon he encounters, he studies the pokedex religiously but isn't looking to break new ground and is specifically looking to have a relatively small team.

If his goal was to become Champion, win a bunch of competitions and badges or just travel the world as a pokemon trainer then I'd get it. He's definitely doing exactly what he needs to do to accomplish that. But I don't have a clue how he's supposed to become a Pokemon Master.

Finally, I'm iffy on the interpretation of Legendaries. I'm much more used to their role in the games and manga as unique, powerful pokemon but who can ultimately be defeated and captured like any other. Traveler's Legendaries are gods and the idea of catching them is laughable. I've come to appreciate that but, at the same time, they are just so powerful it's almost ridiculous and adapting the movies means they appear a lot.

But the worst part of the Legendaries is the effect they've had on Ash which has grown increasingly worse as times goes on. I'm so very tired of him feeling Fire/Ice/Lightning inside him or hearing the Song or dealing with Mewtwo's "icy presence" in the back of his head all the damn time. It's annoying and distracting and I just end up skimming right that those segments where nothing of interest happens.

Legendary battles, at least, are pretty damn awesome.

Now then, the best aspects of the story for me are the original moves trainers invent, the details of pokemon physiology and the existence of pokemon that surpass the normal expectations of what their species can achieve.

Original battle techniques may be a dime-a-dozen in Pokemon fanfics for all I know; I could probably count the number I've read on both hands. But seeing something as simple as combining Quick Attack and Wing Attack was an eye-opener for me. I've read the manga which demonstrated techniques being used in unorthodox ways but this took things further where pokemon could use all kinds of unique moves depending on their training. Such as Lance's Earth Wrecker which combines about five moves into one.

The explanations of pokemon physiology cover the nature of pokemon types like steel or ghost and the specifics of certain species like Beldum/Metang/Metagross. It takes a while for these explanations to appear as The Straight Elf finds his groove but it's interesting to see why poison types are weak to ground types i.e. their earth manipulation can rupture poison sacs which causes internal damage in pokemon. It makes it real instead of just following the game mechanics without.

And those 'paragons' of pokemon, as you've probably guessed, are the ones such as the King Under the Mountain, the First's Rhydon and the Guardian of the Moon Stone. Creatures that are presumably born like any other pokemon yet grow to stand head and shoulders above the rest of their kind until they are capable of feats that blow the mind. Legendaries are the top dogs but they aren't the only marvels in the world and I like that.

So yeah, I'm hoping that The Straight Elf continues writing and manages to recapture the story's original appeal because I'd like to follow this to the end.

It's 4/5 for me regardless. I'm wary that we're going downhill but there's a lot of good here.

 

Chapter 43 up, after a long wait.

 

spoilers, etc;

I feel like I need a palette cleanser after that. That spooky shit was almost a bit too metaphysical to me, but it was an intense read and a fun take on the spell of the Unown. They're almost too retardedly powerful to make any narrative sense - hopefully they're locked away forever. I do hope that the author's choice to go to smaller chapters works out and I'm glad we're done with legendaries for a while.

 

Yep, definitely agreed. Some of the best parts of this fic were when Ash was just exploring. I'm glad the author is planning some "back to our roots" stuff and faster updates.

 

Did anyone else lose interest after the Kanto arc ended? I used to LOVE this fanfic when I was younger but around the time Ash started hanging out with Steven I lost so much interest, I like a lot of the Traveler-inspired fanfics more than current Traveler.

 

Yeah it's lost a certain something once it moved past the focus on following Ash as a Trainer and started to follow Ash as an E4 trainee. Apparently it'll be going back to its roots somewhat soon though, so that's something.

 

The next chapter came out. The long awaited battle with Cynthia happens. And that's about the chapter. Good fight though.

 

This chapter was everything I loved about the story. Traveling, interactions with the team and world building. Traversing Mt. Mortar, the interlude with Bruiser training a rando machop, Torrent's growth with water manipulation, all great. Pryce's Mamoswine was a monster and I loved that battle - the perfect Sleep Talk Takedown was based and I'm pretty sure Dazed is still feeling the impact as I type this

Oh right, and Suicune is magnificent. That the Beasts were once mortal is fascinating.

And for the first time, we see someone with a Feather not from Moltres!

[START: TRAVELER: RECOLLECTIONS] The icy chick from the Traveler:Recollections story. Y'all should read that if you haven't. Assuming that lady comes back in the main story, when I'm sure she will, she's an interesting antagonist as she wears the crown of "The Ice Eternal". She clearly has the favor of and worships the third of the Articuno that inhabits the Seafoam Isles. She also sacrifices her followers to the glory of The Blizzard Eternal.

It also has a really good Sabrina chapter about the legends and their Concepts. Something horrific is coming with Kyogre and Groudon awakening in Hoenn, with Palkia awakening in Sinnoh with The Antithesis lurking behind it all (that I assume is Giratina given it's called a shadow. Maybe it's Yveltal? But the concept of Death doesn't match here). Recollections also implies that psychics draw on Dialga and Palkia, time and space, but I don't know if I'm reaching.

I'm not sure what Moon and Storm that bind the Sea are. Storm could be Thunderus and moon must be Cresselia?

[END: TRAVELER: RECOLLECTIONS]

This is still a 5/5. Always has been a 5/5. Likely will always be a 5/5

A Game of Champions has always been the apex and shall remain so even if all we will get moving forward are masterful synopses. But this is always the silver medal just as the Triumvirate Universe shall claim bronze.

 

For me, this story will never rise above being a time-killer. It's readable, long enough to sink teeth into, and there are some arcs. But beyond powering up and gaining new abilities, it feels like there's little in the way of character development/story. Again as mentioned above, it's not totally clear what Ash's goal is. It's not clear what the point of the story is. And the author does little to make you care – about Ash, the other characters, or their relationships. The most obvious way to see this is to draw a comparison to A Game of Champions.

One could argue that the story isn't trying to be A Game of Champions, that it's something different. In this case, though, I'd argue that the difference between them is that which makes for a great story vs. a log of level-ups and new moves learned.

That said, I'll keep reading as there are updates and I have time to waste.

 

I'm fairly sure based on the chapter its "Moon-and-Storm" not Moon and Storm. Based a line earlier in the Sabrina chapter I'm fairly sure it's Lugia.

T:R
"Moon-and-Storm hidden in the depths, ever watchful for its terrible, mindless Master's awakening. It shied away from her, warning her away with a peaceful song."
T:R

Also in the Power of One Movie chapter of Traveller, doesn't Lugia say he had placed illusions around various other legends who were sleeping? In this case "Sea/Kyogre"