A/N: It's been a day since I wrote the last chapter of Hey! Pikachu, and I wanted to release some behind-the-scenes-type stuff. Not much, but hey, it might be interesting to someone XD Enjoy it~!

Behind the Scenes of "Hey! Pikachu"


Chapter fifteen wasn't originally meant to be the last chapter, but I quickly realized there was a definite sense of finality whilst writing it, so I changed the original title of chapter fifteen, "Wishful Thinking", to "A Sense of Finality". I also considered "Better Days", and was going to decide on it via a poll held within the family, before I wrote the ending, and decided that a far more appropriate title would be "Where I Belong".

In that chapter, I got to write some Rocketshipping, as well as some Pokeshipping. While I'm not much of a Pokeshipper (I am not an Advanceshipper, no matter what my old oneshot, "Dance", may lead you to believe.), I wanted to flesh it out a little more before I ended my beloved fanfic, and added that short little scene. I realize some longtime Pokeshippers may be disappointed that there was no confirmation that they were, indeed, at that cafe as more than just friends, but there was really no way to write it in without it seeming awkward - I mean, it's Satoshi. He wouldn't be exactly trusting of a stranger who sounded exactly like his enemy :p Or maybe he would. But in any case, I didn't want my hatred of Satoshi to shine through too much, so I decided to have the scene be brief.

While writing chapter fifteen, I started off listening to "Hey! Pikachu", but quickly changed to "Kaze to Isshoni" once it was decided that this was to be the last chapter - I felt that "Hey! Pikachu" was a little too happy for the current occasion. Not that it's meant to be sad or anything, but I still wanted something a little more sombre. I wrote myself into a corner, though; after typing "The voice was instantly recognizable", I realized that I had no idea what Kojiro's voice sounded like :p James' voice, yes, but not Kojiro's, so I quickly pulled up Movie Maker and listened to it. After that, I just let it run and wrote whilst listening to Nyasu's history (from the episode "Go West Young Meowth" - except it was in the original Japanese). I quickly saved it and then finished the chapter while listening to that.

I guess that was a factor in how it ended, with the last line - it wasn't intended to end that way. How I wanted to end it was with everyone happy, and hopefully with a sentiment that left the reader with a warm, fuzzy feeling when it ended. I think I succeeded there, but obviously I'm a little biased, being the writer. I *did* squeal my head off when I re-read it, but then again, I do that with anything Krazyship-related :p.

Another thing that changed was the conversation between Nyasu, Musashi and Kojiro. Originally Nyasu was going to ask them if they were still in Team Rocket, and they were going to either have left, or still be in it - I hadn't decided. I couldn't find a way to write it in, though, so I wrote it out and decided to make their conversation exclude any mention of Team Rocket.

An prime example of chapter editing was in chapter fourteen, "If I Said Yes". In it, the main conversation was actually written out several weeks before actually writing the chapter - I doodled out the original sketch and absentmindedly wrote a conversation at the bottom. After I'd written it, I realized that I'd pretty much written chapter fourteen. In truth, there are minute differences between the original text and what you saw in chapter fourteen, but it was changed. The difference was description between the dialogue, and also the inclusion of a slight stutter before 'yes' - it seemed more natural as I wrote it.

When I wrote chapter four, "Big Nyasu Day", no one had transliterated the lyrics of "Big Nyasu Day" - or even put up the kana. That's why I wrote that it was 'suggested listening' in the author's note - otherwise, I probably would have put the lyrics in. Originally I put "[listen to "Big Nyasu Day" whilst reading. And picture them skating. Kthx.]" right at the end, but obviously it looked stupid, so I eventually took it out.

Chapter four is notable for me stating that Nyasu and Pikachu had never fought, which is obviously incorrect. Or maybe it isn't - the fans who have seen more episodes will undoubtedly know more about it than me, the person who has only watched a few Japanese episodes and idly made fun of the English dub.

Chapter seven, "Maemuki Rocket Dan", was originally uploaded half finished, as well as error ridden - for example, the line "You've always tried to capture him too!" was originally written as "You've always tried and captured him too!". It was more to rushing than anything else, but it shows.

Another notable chapter is chapter ten, "Deep Forest". It was originally called "Together With The Wind", the translated name of "Kaze to Isshoni", and wasn't changed to it's current title until after publication. Why did I change it? Because it didn't seem to fit as well as "Deep Forest". I actually like the original title more nowadays, so obviously not all editing is good.

The original chapters aren't very good - an enjoyable idle read, perhaps, but not very gripping. I think it really starts to pick up at chapter thirteen, which is actually quite sad, considering that it ends two chapter later. Maybe someday I'll go back and rewrite those original chapters.. but for now, my other chapters take more priority over it. I'm sure anyone reading the fanfic will agree it's a little rushed, but overall it's not bad, in my opinion.

I originally started writing "Hey! Pikachu" because of my new found love of Krazyshipping. I had just heard "Hey! Pikachu" for the first time, and was convinced. I had to write something based off that song. And that's when "Hey! Pikachu" was conceived.

I remembered Fanfiction.net from my previous attempts at a fanfic - a badly written Sailor Moon story called "Chibiness". Yes, it was horrible. No, you can't see it. Anyway, I deleted "Chibiness" and uploaded "Hey! Pikachu" on the 29th of February, 2008. It was fairly active until I suddenly disappeared from FF.net - I simply had better things to do. When I returned, the small community we had was pretty much dead, but I still wrote. And yesterday, on the 9th of June, 2009, the final chapter was uploaded.

This is not the end of my fanfiction writing career. I will still continue to write fanfiction, and occasionally upload a Krazyshipping-centric oneshot. I will not, however, write a sequel or spinoff to "Hey! Pikachu". Why? Because though I like sequels as much as the next person (providing they're well written), I think that the ending is finite, and that anything else I could write would just be meaningless aside it. After so long, anything else I wrote would become a lazy story that survived on cliches. So that is why I made the decision to end "Hey! Pikachu" now rather than later.

I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.