095. Ran Over

This is my fifty-seventh submission for my attempt at looneytunerian's Pokeshipping Theme Challenge.

(Due to Blogspot's formatting, you can read this theme here.)

95. Ran Over

Welcome back! Why, thank you, me. ^_^ Since I've done umpteen different breaks/hiatuses with this blog, I won't apologize again. It's kind of a given by this point, right? Anyway, let's actually talk about this theme, shall we?

With the last 6 or 7 themes of this challenge, I actually intended to not do all of them in a chibi/comedic style. Or rather, I felt they would all be too similar and kind of boring aesthetically speaking if I were to do that. That's why #97 and #99 are so different in tone to the other ones. And this theme is the last piece of my unintended trilogy of sadness. And more importantly, it's a special one. This is one of my first serious (and complete) attempts at drawing actual comics. (The only other times I've drawn some was back in high school with my friends' ideas.) I don't do it very much anymore because the planning for comics (aka - panel layout) is something that I really struggle with. So, if you read this comic and can tell just how poorly paced or laid out it is, I'd be more than willing to take any feedback you guys may have.

Something else I struggled with was to what extent I should go with Ash's current friends. You see, at the time I came up with this comic and was brainstorming the overall plot, it was during the Decolora Islands arc for the show. So, originally, I was going to have Cilan and Iris travel with Ash back to Kanto to see Misty. However, I came up with a bit of a roadblock when I realized the fact that they're all on a cruise ship most of the time. So, how would Delia get ahold of her son when he never got a PokeGear or some other wireless phone-like thing? That's when I took a break from brainstorming and did other things... which led to months and months passing by without me thinking about this comic... and then X & Y started! ... And then it continued... and then I realized that it's probably a lot easier for me to go around that roadblock since Ash was no longer travelling on a ship!

But then came the second roadblock. Namely, Serena and her whole childhood crush/current crush on Ash. I had no clue as to whether or not I should include her side of things since anything to do with Ash's love life will affect her emotionally, but at the same time I was thinking to myself that this is a Pokeshipping theme and to take focus off that would be unfair or something. Then I thought to myself that ignoring Serena's feelings is more unfair... and yeah. So, it came to a bit of a compromise with what you see within the fancomic itself. She's not ignored nor does she really steal the spotlight. At least, I don't feel like she stole the show.

Anyway, I don't have much else to say about this beyond being so happy that I finished this project within a project before my self-imposed deadline (Christmas), so I'll just let you all read and hopefully enjoy my hardwork. Thanks for taking the time to do so, if you do! :) Happy Holidays to you all, and I hope you're making good memories during this festive season!

Art © Hakui-Kitsune
Ash, Misty, Pikachu, and all other characters © Satoshi Tajiri, Nintendo, Gamefreak Inc, OLM Inc, The Pokemon Company (& International), & Pokemon USA
Fonts © Vanessa Bays & Grandoplex Prod.

Pokeshipping Theme Challenge © looneytunerian