The Road Less Traveled
What first started as a dream, and then a "what if" scenario in my mind has now grown into a story and so much more for me. This is and will always be my primary focus as far as art or literature are concerned, as it is that important to me. The story follows group of trainers and their pokémon companions as they travel together across the pokémon world, finding adventure, intrigue, and a good deal more.
Interestingly, I came up with the title for TRLT before ever reading Robert Frost's poem which is often mistakenly called the same name. In fact, his poem is properly titled "The Road Not Taken." I however had not even heard of it until one reader sent me an email telling me (in quite unkind terms) that I had ripped off the name from Frost's poem, among other accusations. I politely thanked them for letting me know this, and after a bit of research (read: google and wikipedia) was able to tell them that they were mistaken, as I now point out here. TRLT came from a certain phrase that will come to light later on in the story, once Will (that's me) comes to realize a particular truth about the world and the roles that various people play in it.
Oh, that's another thing; I know that some people hate self-inserts and everything that they stand for, but this is one. I find it odd that anyone in the pokémon fandom can oppose self-insert fiction when the entire premise of Pokémon was based on a self-insert fantasy by none other than Satoshi Tajiri, who cast himself as the main protagonist in all of the original Pokémon media. So yeah- this is a self-insert. Will is one of the protagonists, but by no means is he the one and only main characters. It may seem at times like certain characters are merely supporting cast, but just about everyone gets their own time to shine before all is said and done.
The two parts at the very end here, Meeting Cass and On the Road Again, are not neccesarily parts 10 and 11, and to be honest, I expect them to be much closer to the current timeline of TRLT than the spoilers in both might imply. The 'X' actually was a literal letter x when I started writing them, to me indicating that I didn't know exactly when they'd fit in, and it was just coincidence that I began numbering the story using Roman numerals. At any rate, the two parts together focus largely on a new character and how she joins our cast of characters. Just fair warning however, as I hinted at above, that both Meeting Cass and OtRA are both rife with spoilers so if you don't want to miss out on some of the surprises in TRLT then you may want to give these two parts a pass until the story gets to the point that both of them actually are.
Part I: Introductions
Prologue- Memories
Chapter I- A Fortuitous Encounter
Chapter II- A Long Ways to Go
Chapter III- Preface to a Journey
Chapter IV- Old Friends, New Rivals
Chapter V- Bonding
Chapter VI- What's in a Name?
Part II: Pursuit
Chapter I- Watershed
Chapter II- Flashpoint
Chapter III- Involuntary Volunteer
Chapter IV- Shadowed Pasts
Chapter V- Alliance
Chapter VI- To Serve and Protect
Chapter VII- Catch and Release
Part X: Meeting Cass
Chapter I- Stranger in the Forest
Chapter II- Simon's Hospitality
Chapter III- Dinnertime
Chapter IV- First Impressions
Chapter V- Friend or Foe?
Part XI: On the Road Again
Chapter I- Fast Learner