My alias is James. The only way you're going to get my true name is to prove yourself trustworthy. There's only a few people on this site who know my real name, and they earned it.

I'm from Oklahoma. If you ever have a chance to visit Oklahoma, don't. Go elsewhere. There's nothing here. Although now I'm no longer in Oklahoma. My current station (I'm in the Air Force as of last November) is in Mississippi. I haven't really been here long enough to judge.

I'm an avid reader, and a gamer. I like progressive metal and rock, and my favorite band is Dream Theater.

I'm a 22 year old male.

I changed my avatar. As Brian's Trainer Card is not valid since he changed his team, I decided to just do something new. THIS picture is by Warlordess, the author of Illicit Saints, which you should read. It's a scene from the aforementioned story. I'd tell you who the characters are, but that would spoil things, wouldn't it? Anyway, it's a very touching scene, one of the best in the story, and I like it. So it's my avatar now.

Hey! Listen! If you're really into OCAD and the whole Spiritverse, go check out Where the Universe Is by my very, very, very special friend Bittersweet Romanticide. (Read Hero while you're there, too.) Anyway, she actually wrote a story set IN the Spiritverse, centered on Brian and Natty and how they interacted between chapters six and seven. Oh, and it's great. So... yeah. It's my universe, and what I say goes, right? And I say it's canon. So there. Now go read it and enjoy.

I love Pokemon. I like some other animes, like Death Note, Bleach and Yu-Gi-Oh, but none so much as Pokemon. Oh! And Avatar. That one was really good. And Gurren Lagann, which I watched last year. Awesome.

I like Pokemon, and I like Pokeshipping. I don't care about any of the other shippings. I don't necessarily hate them, but Pokeshipping is what I liek(also Mudkips xp), so that's what I'm going to write.

Well, that's about it for me. Most of the rest of this profile is me blathering on about stuff. If you're interested in my stories, skip to the bottom, as there's some stories there, and above them, the bottom of the profile will have some info about said stories.

I like Paul. I realize he is evil, but he is the epitome of a real person playing Pokemon. He doesn't care about his pokemon, he only wants to get them stronger at any cost, he thinks every trainer he meets is weaker than him, and he's usually right, but the best part is that whoever is writing Pokemon recognized that he should win battles with his straight-up awesomeness, even against ASH! I like to think that Ash would never, ever beat me, because he trains his pokemon to love and stuff. I think that's why he hasn't won a league since the Orange Islands, because the creators recognize that, while loving Pokemon would certainly make you a better PERSON, it almost necessarily makes you a worse TRAINER. Of course, Ash does win some battles against Paul, unless I'm very mistaken, and Ash is still my second-favorite character (sorry, but he'd need an extra truckload of awesomeness to beat Misty), but Paul is a close third.

Okay, apparently the above paragraph inspired a story by Warlordess (who is awesome; the story's called A Question of Principle, if you want to read it. But even if you don't, go read all the stuff she's written, she's a great writer.). So, in case anyone sees that and comes here to see what I wrote about it, the original thing is what I wrote above. I didn't change it. But I am going to clarify my position on the subject of the Trainer/Pokemon bond.

In the games, you don't have to worry about your Pokemon being happy, or getting tired, or being injured too much to train, or hurting themselves permanently. They're not real. You can train them for, literally, days straightif you want to. And they'll grow to maximum potential. But real Pokemon aren't like that. They aren't just bits of code in a Gameboy. They're real, living, breathing creatures. They don't get to level 100 in three days, or indeed at all. They have no maximum. You can't EV train them, you have to teach each one to get better in attacking, defending, becoming more agile, using their inner abilities... it's a long process. Now, training something that isn't you is a difficult thing to do. You can't train it too hard, or it'll get hurt, or tire out. If you go easy on it, it won't reach it's full potential. You have to find that line between the two, that edge where it's really doing all it can do to get better, and hold it there. You can't let it slack off, even if you do love it. You have to use a light touch, too. Nobody loves a slave driver. And love is another factor in Pokemon. Because Pokemon aren't fighting for themselves, at least not entirely. They fight for their trainer. And one of the best, if not the best motivator is love. So you do have to love your Pokemon, and they should love you back. These two qualities, I believe, are the most important for a Pokemon trainer: the willingness to push your Pokemon to be their best, and the heart to love them as you do yourself, and gain that love in return. The best trainers, the true Masters, are those trainers who can find the balance between the two. Because having too much of either hurts you.

Look at Ash. He has a lot of heart. A LOT of heart. He loves each and every one of his Pokemon, probably more than he does himself. And they are willing to put anything on the line for him, probably because they know he would do the same for any of them. BUT. He cares about them too much to push them hard. He does push them on, and that is why he is a good trainer. But he lets up a bit in the end, because he loves them too much to see them possibly hurt themselves training to be their best. And that bit, that last push is everything. Pikachu is a great example. Imagine, for a moment, that you could carry around a single Pokemon in your party through Red version, Silver version, Ruby version, LeafGreen version, and then Platinum version, and that Pokemon had no level cap on it. Can you even imagine how powerful that Pokemon would be? Would it lose, ever? It could easily take every single Gym Leader and Elite Four member, alone, in a row, without healing. That is what Ash has done with Pikachu, but look at him! He struggles against even one Gym Leader. That is what happens when you don't push a Pokemon to their full potential. They stagnate. They stay wherever they are. They don't get better. And Pikachu is easily Ash's most powerful Pokemon. To become a Pokemon Master, Ash must learn to put aside his love of his Pokemon sometimes, so that he can push them without remorse.

Now, we look at Paul. He is ruthless. He pushes his Pokemon to their limit every day. He captures many Pokemon and keeps the strongest, and then forces them to train and train until they are at their peak. Or are they? Because Paul lacks even a small bit of love for his Pokemon. I said he is like a person playing the games, but when the Pokemon are real, that kind of training won't work anymore. And he motivates with anger, with fear. Those will never be as good a motivator as pure, unconditional love. Anger only lasts until fear replaces it. Fear of the trainer only lasts until something comes up that is feared even more. But love... love doesn't wane in the face of fear, or fury. Love holds steady. Without the ability to gain his Pokemon's love by giving his own in return, he will never be a Master. And, further, he pushes his Pokemon TOO hard. He doesn't care if they get hurt, or if they really are too tired to continue. He pushes them to their limits and beyond, and in the end, that only leads to pain, and stunted growth. He is hard enough to push them to their limits, but he is too hard to let them stop when they reach them. Eventually, they fall through weariness and pain. In the end, his style of training will destroy them, and even Ash's Pokemon will be strong enough to defeat them. Without love, Paul will never reach his full potential.

So that's how I feel about trainers and training. That's why there will never be a Master like Paul, ruthless and cold. Ash could be a Master, but he must first learn to let his love go when it gets in the way. If he ever learns that, he will be just as unstoppable as Lance or Cynthia.

Remember, though, that neither Ash's nor Paul's style is evil. They are both a bit misguided from the best path in different ways, but they are not actually evil. It comes down to what you believe, what you are willing to do to be the best. In the end, it's just a question of principle.

Watch for my stories, everyone I know says I'm an awesome writer. I actually got some tears from my Graduation speech this year, from people I didn't even know. Of course, before I joined this site, I had never written anything for pleasure. (Not even the speech!) So that's probably something I shouldn't say without some kind of back-up... although I guess I get mostly good reviews for my stories at this point! Except for The Path I Choose to Walk. I really need to redo that so that it isn't terrible. Because it's terrible. But, hey, three out of four isn't bad, right?

Right?

The following is a list I, James, wrote. But I got all the ideas from reading Bittersweet Romanticide's fantabulous story "Canon Rape" which is basically a series of hilarious fables about what NOT to do when you're writing Pokemon fanfiction. If I were you, and I was going to write a Pokefic, I would head over there post-haste and read that story. Yes, the whole thing. So, anyway, I was reading that, and I started taking notes. Here I have compiled the 46 morals I thought were most important in that series of tales, along with a bit of my own special flavoring (don't laugh), to make a "cheat sheet" for the up-and-coming Pokemon writer. Before I begin, I have three things to say. One, if at any time this conflicts with something in "Canon Rape" (which is hilarious, by the way), trust CR rather than this list. That seems unlikely, considering I compiled this list while reading CR, but it's always possible. Second, these are guidelines, not rules. Many of them can be bent and even broken. The most important thing, in the end, is that you write a good story. These tips are only here to help you achieve that end. Breaking them does not necessarily make your story a badfic; however, it does make your story more likely to be a badfic. Third and finally, all credit for the ideas on this list goes to Bittersweet Romanticide, and if you have got this far without checking for "Canon Rape" on the story list, then you must be stupid!!

Remember these guidelines while writing Pokemon fanfiction:
1. Pikachu exists. Stick him in your story, whether it's necessary or not. Because it is always necessary!
2. Team Rocket exists, and they are omnipresent. If your story takes place over several days, stick them in, whether it's necessary or not, even if it's just to explain why they aren't present. Have you watched the show? The only reason for them NOT to show up is that they are busy, and if they are, it had damn well better be stated.
3. Team Rocket(That is, Jessie, James, and Meowth) suck tremendously. This, too, remember. If you want a dangerous or powerful antagonist, pick someone else. Anyone else. Dawn would be a better adversary. Way better. She is somewhat competent.
4. Pikachu has a gender. Pick one and stick with it, but don't call him/her an "it." You can't be incorrect on this one as long as you pick a side. For example, while I consider him a male, Bittersweet considers her a female, and neither of us is incorrect. No one knows. People may disagree with your choice, but screw them. If they don't like it, they can write their own story.
5. Max is intelligent. If he's in your story, remember this. He's also eightish. So he's not going to know absolutely everything, because he hasn't been exposed to everything yet. Remember this too.
6. Ash is not romantic. He's never going to be. Have you ever met someone like Ash? Has that person ever been romantic? No, they have not, and if you think otherwise then you must be stupid!
7. Don't tell people you are doing your first fic. No one will care, except to instantly hate you for trying to garner pity. Let your work stand of it's own merit.
8. DON'T USE ALLCAPS. IT IS ANNOYING.
9. Be realistic about what your characters do. I realize it is a magical fantasy world filled with super-monsters, but people are still people, and they act accordingly. Remember this. Don't make people do things no sane person would ever do.
10. You are writing fanfiction. That means that the stories you create are using characters that have personalities you didn't create. Good writers will change the story to fit the characters, rather than change the characters to fit the story. You wanna do that, then make your own characters. Don't use somebody else's.
11. Don't mix cultures. Pick one and stick with it. If you want to write your characters as though they were Eskimos, then you go ahead with that. As long as they don't then break into "Konichiwa!", or "Bonjour, Messiours!", or have them talk about crap they would never know about in their culture for no particular reason.
12. Don't write about High School. Ever. There's a reason people hate being in High School. (Hint: It's because high school=suck.)
13. Avoid clichés. No one likes them. No one likes you, either, but they'll like you even less for being cliché.
14. Tell a story. I feel stupid even having to type this, it's like having to tell your calculus professor what numbers are. If you're trying to write a story and you can't remember to actually write a story, rather than some words that kind of go together, go back to kindergarten and try again, because you have failed at life.
15. They are children. Seriously. If you want them to be 'romantic,' make them older. If you want them to 'screw around,' make them adults. Even then, actually, don't be explicit about it. Be tasteful, you perverted monsters! ;)
16. Be creative. I have no witty commentary to put here, just don't do the same BS that everyone else does. Think of something yourself. You can do it! Use that big brain! Hey, there's the witty commentary!
17. Misty be strong girl! She no is weak! Write as such!
18. First kissers have no idea what they are doing. Love does not make you an expert, it makes you willing to try. So first kisses will never be the awesome, magical experience that everyone writes them as. This is almost a universal error, and a stupid one. Don't fall into that trap yourself!
19. Be logical. Or, in funnier terms, don't be a dumbass. Think about what is possible for your characters. Conform to that reality. Don't change them, change the situation around them, and then have them react to it. But do it in a way that is possible.
20. People don't randomly die, nor do they randomly get magically healed from deadly illness/injury, unless you have foreshadowed it and made it a believable part of the plot. I wouldn't do it even then, come up with a real solution if you can. If you can't, try again.
21. Arguments are caused by anger, not love(usually). So if you write an argument that ends with a kiss or other romantic device(hug, or what have you), there better be a reason for it. In the words of Bittersweet herself, "If your characters have argued a million times before, what makes this time different?" There had better be something different about this particular fight if it ends in love.
22. Blushing is overused. There are other things you can do to signal secret attraction, and not everything causes a blush. Seriously, how often do people blush, even in Pokemon? Just about never. So use blushes sparingly.
23. When writing about a competition, make it seem real. If Ash wins, there should be a logical reason for him to do so. Same if he loses. He should not win because his opponent, say, just happened to use 5 Magikarps and a Weedle in the final match, nor should he lose because his opponent has Arceus, Mewtwo, Missingno., Deoxys, Lugia, and Jesus on their team. Be convincing. Your readers will thank you for it.
24. No shipping is canon. This means that, since every shipping violates canon, it's almost the same as if no shipping violated canon. In other words, all shippings are equally incorrect. So do what you want. Except comashipping. I'll kill you if you do comashipping. Got that? I will hunt you down.
25. Make sense. Nonsense is the enemy.
26. Develop your characters.
27. Be descriptive!
28. Ash is a sore loser. This one is particularly important to remember, because it's easy to forget. So don't.
29. Nobody's perfect. If one of your characters is perfect, fix that. Give them some character flaws. The characters from the anime have flaws built-in, but if you're creating new ones, be sure they have some negative aspects.
30. Normal people do not understand Pokemon perfectly. Simple things, like "Hello" or "Okay!" are perfectly fine and understandable. But if Pikachu talks for two minutes, Ash is gonna get lost. He can't speak Pikachu-ian, and neither can almost anyone else.
31. Avoid stereotyping your characters.
32. If you write in a battle, write it well.
33. Crossovers almost always suck. End of story. There are very, very, very few people who can do a good crossover, and very, very few crossovers that can work at all. Odds are, you aren't one of the few, and odds are even if you are, you don't have one of the good ones. If you are and do, good for you. If not, stay the hell away from crossovers.
34. Don't do things that have already been done a billion times. No matter how good a spin you put on it, if people have seen it before, they won't care.
35. Don't do family fics with Ash. He's not going to settle down and raise a family. He's going to be a travelling trainer. Even if he marries someone (coughcoughmistycough), he's still gonna be a free bird, and this bird you cannot chaaange, wooooah, and this bird you cannot change, lord help him, he can't chayayayayayayayayange! Ohhhhh, he can't change, he's gonna fly free bird, yeah!
...Sorry, I'm not quite sure what happened there. Anyway, if Ash ever does settle down, it's going to be a long time from now. So don't have him starting a family at twenty-four, unless he's just visiting them now and then before going on his adventures. Probably not the best father behavior, but then, Ash isn't perfect.
(By the way, in my opinion Ash would probably only marry someone who would be willing to keep travelling on the road with him, oh, say... Misty, perhaps? Just saying.)
36. If you want to be in your story, remember that you aren't perfect, and the story isn't all about you. You can be a character if you do it well (BR taught me that), you can even be important to the story, but remember that the world does not revolve around you. If anyone, it revolves around Ash.
37. Stop trying to use the stuff from the games(Hold items, IVs and EVs, type immunity, turn based combat, all that stuff) when you're writing about the anime. The same rules do not apply, especially the Pokemon type immunity crap, because, and this is so good I'm going to quote it directly: "He’s fucking Ash Ketchum. He turned to stone and was resurrected by tears, bitch! He’s saved the world more times than freaking Jesus, alright? We can safely assume he can do whatever the hell he wants." So, yeah! Rules need not apply! Aim for the horn!
38. Each character has a style of speech, and you should use that style. In other words, Ash is not a cowboy, don't make him talk like one. Make Ash talk like Ash.
39. No deus ex machina. Let me explain. You have (hopefully) been writing a logical series of events, or plot, into your story. When you get to the end, you have to keep using logic. You can't magic the problems away, or have Mew or Jesus or Santa come fix everything and make it all better. Well, you can, but it makes you fail-tastic. If you publish a story in which you magically resolve all the problems at the end, you are a crappy writer, and you receive 100 billion EpIc FaIl points. So end your story with logic and reason, not fairy-tale BS.
40. Siblings rarely hate each other, and the ones on Pokemon never, ever do. Don't act like they do, don't write as though they do. They can be angry or annoyed or disturbed by their siblings, but true, deep hatred is always out of character.
41. There is no reason to make up new Pokemon. There are 493 of the little bastards! You can find one that you can use in your plot, no matter what you need it for. You also probably don't need to make up new moves. If you need a move to do an effect, take an old move (there are an assload) and reinterpret it! If you can't find any move that could even possibly cause your desired effect, figure out something else. Only make up new moves as an absolute last resort. And even then, you might consider just changing around the plot instead. People will hate you less.
42. Wherever Pokemon takes place, it isn't present-day Earth. By that rule, do not bring Earthican things into the story. For example: In Pokemon-land, Albert Einstein did not exist. So Ash is not going to mention him. He's not going to call someone "Einstein" to mock or praise them, because he's never heard of Einstein, because in his continuity EINSTEIN NEVER EXISTED. Keep things like this out of your story.
43. The Pokemon anime and the Pokemon manga are waaaaaaaay different. If you can do a good crossover, that's fine. If you can't, don't. And don't mix up the two. Ash is not Red. Misty is different in each continuity. Live with it. Embrace it.
44. Relationships take time and effort. Ash and Misty will not spend five years apart and then fall in love in an afternoon. Think about what would actually happen.
45. Meowth exists in Team Rocket, so don't forget about him. In fact, since he can talk, he should probably be on par with Jessie and James in terms of importance. If you need them alone, think of a good way to get Meowth away for a little bit. Just don't act like he's not there when by all rights he should be.
And Finally:
46. If you're gonna rape the canon, you'd better have either a damn good explanation, or a damn good shelter to hide from the fanboys and fangirls. We are legion.

If you like this list, copy and paste away. Just make sure that BR still gets the credit. Mmkay? These were all her ideas, I merely typed them up into a list and added some humor. Oh, and most of this list applies solely to fics about the anime, and more specifically stories about Ash and his compatriots. Obviously.

I'd like to thank everyone who has read or favorited or alerted my stories (Mostly OCAD). And I ESPECIALLY thank all those who have reviewed.

Future/Current Works: Be aware that any of these I've not started are just ideas. So some of them might be scrapped, or postponed, or changed, or even combined. These are not promises. I've got to keep my ideas somewhere, savvy?

Resurgence- This is a Legend of Zelda story.I'm working on it, but I doubt I'll put up more than a chapter or two for quite a while. I plan on doing it after I finish Basic Training, but it's not going to be as long as OCAD. I've actually finished the first chapter already, so when I'm finally ready to start on it, I'll post that chapter. And for those who care, yes, it's SariaxLink.

Unnamed Thingy Project- After or possibly during the time I'm writing Resurgence, I plan on writing a sequel to OCAD. I'm still in the plot developments stages as of yet, but an idea came to me last night while I was dreaming, so I might start outlining soon. UPDATE: I'm starting now. Um... Yeah. Prologue in process. I was going to finish Resurgence first, but I've changed my mind because I can't wait. I've got it pretty well outlined, although I still need to put it all on paper.

A Change of Seasons-Barely an idea, but it's enough that I want to write it down. Based on the DT song "A Change of Seasons." Not much more to it than that.

Kiss Me Again- Uh... it's a Toby Keith song. I hate country, but I think there's a Pokeshipping story in there. I was listening to it absentmindedly, and the story started coming, so I might write it up if I feel like it. It depends.

Oh, and don't expect me to do holiday fics of any kind. If one occurs to me, I'll write it up, but I'm not gonna force a story out that doesn't want to come.

UPDATE! Feb 8, 2011: Hey! Guess what! Basic is over, I have my computer back, and I'm back in business! Expect me to update something really soon! Probably UTP.

Goodbye, reader. Come back later, I promise I'll have a new chapter up soon...ish.

James
AKA FTEcho 4