The Story
For every great pokémon trainer, their is their rival; a worthy near-equal who can match their every step and yet never triumphs in the end. Never even the protagonist of their own story--well, until now. But which one is really the rival, and which one is the protagonist, anyway? (It's all point of view.)
Feuille Morte and Blanche Almond, a pair of friends from small Feldspar Town, planned to become the best pokémon trainers ever together--and could have, if a series of unfortunate events rendered poor Feuille ineligible to receive her license. Four years later, Feuille is living on her own on the streets of Goldenrod City and Blanche is working on her studies after having conquered all eight of the Johto Gyms. However, all that is about to change when Feuille decides to steal a pokémon from the Feldspar Town pokémon research facility.
By a twist of fate, Feuille and Blanche meet again, this time as rivals. The question: who will come out on top? Still, though, it's not about whether you win or lose. It's how you... okay, it /is/ whether you win or lose. Just kidding.
Notes
Rival! takes place in something like a blend of Gameverse and Specialverse, but won't be following the plot of the games. You may also find it interesting to note that all the characters are named in keeping with certain traditions from the games/manga/show: protagonist-type characters are named after colors (e.g. Feuille Morte and Blanche Almond), while professors are named after deciduous trees or vines (e.g. Niobe Clematis).
Process Notes
This comic is assembled with a combination of Adobe Photoshop Elements 3, a Graphire 4 tablet, and Comic Life. I do each individual panel in Photoshop Elements, and then fit them into frames in Comic Life pages. The process is entirely digital, aside from some thumbnailing by hand.