A trip to Fictionland

As a child, I was drawn to the character Blue in Pokemon. To me, he was more than just a character....He seemed so real!

Blue

 He interested me so much that I thought of my own story about him:

In my Pokemon world, Blue is a talented trainer who becomes the champion, but soon loses to Red and then becomes the Viridian City gym leader. He starts out selfish and arrogant, but changes after his experiences....He loses to Red because love defeats raw power.

In his quest for power, Blue seeks the legendary Articuno at the Seafoam Islands. Yet he doesn't prepare for the journey properly, and he nearly dies by freezing in the icy mountains. Then Articuno appears and saves his life, bringing him to Cinnabar Island. That is when Blue begins to realize Pokemon are more than tools of battle....

Articuno

Then he meets Missingno, who almost destroys the world by glitching reality into a chaotic mess. With help from Red and later Crystal, Blue defeats Missingno, symbolizing the defeat of corruption within his own heart. Then, one day, Blue meets Mew, the last Pokemon to fill the Kanto Pokedex...signifying that his heart is finally pure.

Mew

Over time, Blue becomes more quiet, thoughtful, and mysterious, yet without losing his inherent strength. Still adventurous at heart, he spends much of his time away from the gym to explore and do research. He's independent, a bit of a loner, and drawn to rare Pokemon.

Crystal is another character in my Pokemon world who grows up in Violet City and attends Earl's Pokemon Academy. She has great talent as a trainer, but the other children shun her because she keeps defeating them in Pokemon battles. Earl favors her because she is a quiet, serious, and intelligent student.

Crystal

Then a boy named Lynn moves to New Bark Town and starts attending the academy. He befriends Crystal and also shows promising potential as a trainer. Lynn moved with his mother and younger sister from Ecruteak. His parents divorced because of his father's gambling problem. Originally the family lived in Celadon City. They moved to Johto for a fresh start, but the father's gambling continued in Goldenrod.

By the time Lynn turns ten years old, old enough to become a Pokemon trainer, family problems lead him to move in with his father, who heads back to Kanto. So, Lynn starts his Pokemon journey in Kanto, while Crystal's takes place in Johto. Lynn's little sister stays in New Bark Town.

Crystal becomes the Johto champion, thwarts Team Rocket's attempted comeback, and later becomes a Pokemon professor after Lynn's death in the magnet train crash. She also helps Blue defeat Missingno. Eventually she marries Faulkner, leader of the Violet City gym.

At one point I planned to develop these ideas into a long fanfic, but then my interest in Pokemon waned.

Yet even now, I wonder why fictional characters seem so real to me. Why do I often find them more interesting and somehow more pure than real people? Why do I often prefer the company of imaginary people to real ones?

Real people are all too often rude, selfish, fake, and shallow. In fiction, there are men like Jean Valjean and women like Stargirl. People like this simply aren't to be found in reality.

Stargirl

In real life, people wear deceitful masks. In fiction, characters simply are who they are. Sometimes I feel as if I belong in the land of fiction more than I belong in this rough and dark world.