Incarnated Whisp
patreon
Let's Talk about the Future
🕑 Added 2025-02-01 23:03:52 +0000 UTCThe most recent chapter was posted here.
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With the current flow of the story, the Ghost Specialist is on its way to reaching a natural conclusion and thus, will be ending soon. I do not want to drag it out when it doesn’t need to be dragged out, and I really want it to have a strong, satisfying end. However, we still have a decent way to go with a few story arcs left. The final chapter won’t be out until after the Conference takes place.
(My estimation is that we’re about two-thirds to three-quarters of the way through.)
There will be no change in schedule. Expect the same, two-chapters-a-week pace alongside the occasional break. Once the final chapter is posted, however, there will be a month-long break. I will be using that time to get my plans in order while also finally finishing those long-promised epilogue chapters of the Type Specialist. They should be out around the end of that month.
Now, while the Ghost Specialist might be ending sooner rather than later, I will not suddenly stop writing Pokémon. Although I have no final plans right now, I do have a few options I’ve been considering. I might use these characters again, I might write a new story, I might write something original, or I might write something with a heavy focus on Legendaries. Or I might try to write two stories at once.
Thank you for reading. Genuinely. I really appreciate all of the comments and the support. In-story, there are some events coming up that I’ve been planning for a long, long time. I’m really looking forward to them, and I hope you enjoy them once they take place.
See you soon. Next chapter on Tuesday.
(Unrelated, but I also want to talk about Sam’s sixth team member catch, but this isn’t part of any announcement. It’s just my thoughts/perspective. Since this post is public, the break is here to hide spoilers.)
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Again, major spoilers if you haven’t read the latest Patreon chapters. Technically, this also contains a few minor spoilers for future developments, but the outcome should be inevitable by this point and they’re only hints at best.
Sam was always going to catch a Dreepy. Its inclusion in the poll was to gather a sense of when and also the reaction. However, when I was first planning everything out, the Dreepy was going to appear as part of a nebulous, far less-planned, post-Johto arc, but since I’ve realized it makes more sense to end the Ghost Specialist sooner rather than later, its appearance was bumped up.
However, one of my pet peeves with Pokémon stories is that I prefer protagonists to obtain team members that make sense, and the species they catch have to fit in-universe. The problem, of course, is that a Dreepy appearing in Johto is the exact opposite of that. Even Trevenant, in my mind, makes some sense just because the concept of a haunted tree is practically universal. Yet, a Dreepy is specifically a Galarian Pokémon, and it’s a rare Dragon Type pseudo-Legendary to boot, so having one appear in early-timeline Johto/Kanto simply feels... off.
The nonsense with so many Dragon Types was me trying to justify its appearance to myself as much as it was me trying to justify its appearance in-story. A port city was the most realistic place to include foreign Pokémon, and the presence of a bunch of poached Dragon Types felt more likely than Sam just stumbling onto a single Dreepy out on its own.
As for its position in Sam’s team, a Dragapult’s strength comes from its speed and power, but you don’t need to worry about the current status-based strategy being lost. Dragapult might be aggressive fighters, but I have a plan for how this one will fight. For a Pokémon known for its power, it has a few tricks up its sleeve that let it slot in surprisingly well for a team so based around status.
If you want a hint of what it’ll get up to, look at the few physical moves a Dragapult can learn. Of course, these plans will expanded in-story once Dreepy and Drakloak actually start participating in training sessions with Sam’s team.
Comments
Thomas Downing
I have loved this story since the start! Once you finish it, I hope you make a new one about a different Type specialist!
PlasmaticPi
Just wanted to add that the Dreepy thing seemed fine to me. I mean yeah its definitely a lucky break for him to have a chance to catch such a rare pokemon that's not Johto native. But at the same time everything else fits with the Team Rocket and Blackthorn Clan tie-ins. Like you made a really believable case as to why this could happen and why a Dreepy would ever even evolve.
MaliMi
Also surprised that the story will end so soon. If you want something else, then you could try post-journey or an si into a pokemon.
Runaway_Cactuar
I was shocked by the inclusion of Dreepy (and how the story kinda had to contort itself a bit to make it work), but if the story is ending at Conference, this makes sense. I really thought the story had the legs to go far, especially with the Oak/Pokedex thing. Heck, the Blackthorns could be set up as the next anti-progress Big Bad. But yeah, for the next story, I would recommend a different starting point than some teenager who's wet behind his ears. "Where the Moon Rises" had a great idea of a guy who finished his journey and became a Gym Leader. So maybe a generalist who just made E4/Champion and now has to run the League?
dragonslaver
Wow I really didn't expect the ghost specialist to end so soon. There are even a few plot lines still open with the new pokedex and its missing page for example. I also thought for sure that he wouldn't get through the whole league here and that there would be another run in hoenn since that's where he's from (Arceus please let me remember that right).
mhaj58
Rather than another type specialist story, a self insert legends story would be awesome. I was into a generalist but the number of Pokemon, characters, and people plot points to play with might be a nice way to go
Dark Oak
I think a story from a grunts perspective on what they would do next after their organization falls would be interesting.
Forint
I do wonder where Sam goes next. Also, if you want to try something different for the next story, you could always start post-game/post-journey/mid-level power ala hard enough. I'd like to keep the sanctity of legendaries, so a character who isn't a strong gym leader or a champion level trainer shouldn't really fuck with them.
PlasmaticPi
I'm genuinely surprised that the story is gonna end soon. I figured it would end at 2 or 3 times its current length, either due to another league arc after barely losing this one, or due to winning the league and going on a traveling spree to multiple other regions for two years with the main purpose of capturing more ghosts before taking on the elite four and Champion. I mean we have only really touched on 6 ghost type lines out of the nearly 40 non-legendary lines. Which him capturing something like Marshadow is definitely in the realm of possibility and could be an entire arc of its own.
Sea Bass
You make great work Whisp, can’t wait to see what you come up with next. An idea that might be interesting is a buddy cop series where Alex and Sam (having became a wandering elites as well in the time-skip) become reluctant partners. Both fics have shown they are not fond of each other’s types so there could be fun dynamics at play as well as character progressions. Tho enough of that tangent, whatever you do next will be great.
AkiCatR
Yeah, that's great. Was hoping for Bug Specialist next from you but if you are focusing on something else its cool too. I love your work.
