User blog:Rowanfall/The Old Forums....

This is a short story about an old forum I had years ago, and how it rose to power, and how it wilted and eventually was shut down. (I think it was taken off the internet, I can't find it. I didn't think to even look for it until two years after it closed...) Anyway, everything that happened in this story really took place. The only difference is that I subsituted real names for cat names or nicknames.

Chapter 1: Rowan, a Shy Nerd
Three years back, no, it was five, Rowan was still in elementary school. She still lived in Minnesota, and wasn't very popular. Sadly, that didn't change after she graduated from Grade school and, after a long, nice summer, became a Middle Schooler.

She wasn't looking forward to school, and never did. She was a brain, a nerd, a geek, and was seeked out by bullies. Rowan, being shy and not usually confident enough to fight back, just tried to ignore them, or would complain to her older sister, older brother, or her parents.

Rowan had only one friend, Ivypelt. She was just as smart and nerdy as Rowan, but somehow was never bullied and had many other friends. Rowan tried to be friends with Ivypelt's friends, but could really never build up the courgae to talk to them. Ivypelt was a good friend, and was always trying to help Rowan overcome her social fears, but no one could cure shyness.

So, because of these things, Rowan was not looking forward to school the next day. however, little did she know that becuase of a certain Tech Ed teacher, rowan's outlook on school and friends would soon change a lot.

Chapter 2: Day 1
Rowan sat alone on the 'playground'- if so it could be called. It was merely a huge grass field with a bucket of soccer balls in the middle. Rowan was waiting for Ivypelt, and didn't dare approach any of Ivypelt's friends and ask if they had seen her. However, since it would be at least 20 minutes until the School opened, Ivypelt had plenty of time to show up for the first day of 6th grade.

Rowan had come prepared. In case Ivypelt was late, she needed something to do, and she was not athletic enough to play soccer. So, the only option was to read or play with the Nintendo DS in her bag. As she had already read the three books in her bag over the last couple of days, the video game was the only option.

Another reason people called Rowan a nerd- she was totally obsessed with Pokemon games. At this point, she only had one (Pokemon Silver, chosen because you can catch Vulpix, the best Pokemon), but still loved it. Many other kids in her school liked Pokemon, but they were all popular and no one dare bully them.

After awhile of playing, during which Rowan finally evolved her Bayleef into a Meganium, a shadow passed over her. She saved her game and stashed the game back in her bag before standing. In front of her was Ivypelt who smiled and tugged Rowan's hair.

"gotcha." She said in a teasing voice. It was a game they played, where they try and sneak up on each other and pull each other's hair. "Come on, it's time to go in. The bell just rang."

Rowan and Ivypelt pulled out their schedules. Sadly, Ivypelt had Language Arts while Rowan had Math - her least favorite subject. They walked off to their classes. After lunch and two other classes, they found that they had one lesson in common- Technical Education.

"This'll be a breeze." Rowan said, pretending to crack her knucles. "We're awesome with computer coding." And they were.

The Tech Ed teacher was a strange man named Flashfire. He was... eccrentric, to say the least. He would run around the classrom randomly, walk along the desks to get to the other side of the room, and scare his students as he entered the room. But he didn't do it to be mean- the oppisite. Rowan and Ivypelt loved this class the second they met the teacher.

Rowan was assigned a seat next to a bully, Darkclaw. Flashfire noticed her frown as he told her where to sit, and immediatley knew that Rowan didn't like him. Although Rowan didn't know it, Flashfire resolved to keep an eye on the two of them, in case of bullying.

Chapter 3: A Little sister? *Sigh*
A few weeks after Rowan had started school, nothing had gotten better, unless you count the fact that she had gotten considerably better at computer coding. She still wasn't a genius, but she was better than everyone else in ehr Tech Ed class.

Then things went wrong. Worse, actually. To explain, how about a flash into Rowan's past? :

''Rowan, 10 years old, was told to babysit her cousin while her mother and her cousin's mother went out for a few hours. It wasn't a very irresponsible thing to do, leaving a baby with a ten year old. Especially because Rowan's father was just next door, fixing the water heater (I think that was what he was doing, I can't remember) over there. If anything went wrong, Rowan could just call him.''

''Rowan was weak and always had been and always would be. She couldn't even hold the baby, so she had to wheel him around in a stroller. At first it was easy, he just wanted to watch TV. But then he started crying. Rowan couldn't figure it out, it had only been half an hour since her mother had left, and they had changed his diaper just before then, so he couldn't need a change. He had a bottle in his hands so he wasn't hungry, what could it be?''

''About and hour went by while Rowan gave the baby her toys (he got spit in every one of them... Rowan was a germaphobe and still is so that was a nightmare), changed the channel on the TV, let him play with the hamster while it was in its ball, did everything she could think of, but the baby kept crying. Rowan eventually called her dad, who came over and, somehow, got the baby to stop crying.''

''Rowan thanked her father, who said he could watch the baby now and she could go throw her toys in the laundry. As Rowan got clothes and a towel to go take a shower and clean all the baby spitup off herself, and said to her father, "I am never having children. I hate children, and if I ever do consider it, I'll ask someone to shoot me. It's not like earth needs any more people to take up space that the animals had anyway." Rowan's father laughed, but he didn't seem to get that Rowan wasn't kidding.''

So, you can tell for this story that Rowan + Kids = big problem. So, Rowan had a hard time when her mother called a family meeting. Rowan's older siblings came, along with Rowan and her father. Rowan's mother (I can't remember the exact quote) said that she was going to have another baby.

Rowan groaned on the inside, but on the outside she did nothing. She thought, "Can my life get any worse?".

Chapter 4: The Old Forums
A few months later, Rowan was daydreaming in Tech Ed. She was thinking about how her mother had had an Ultrasound, the the baby was indeed female. Rowan secretly hoped that there would be a miscarriage or that the baby would be stillborn, but these were terrible thoughts that Rowan would regret after getting to know and love her little sister in the future. (God I hope she never reads this)

Rowan was snapped out of her daydream when Flashfire smacked a wooden stick against his metal stool to get everyone's attention. Every stundent in the room jumped, and Flashfire laughed. "Okay, now everybody, get back to work. Are you all daydreaming?"

Rowan chuckled to herself and went back to work. After a normal lesson, the bell rang for the next class, one last class before the end of the day.

"Wait!" Flashfire called to the kids who were stampeding out of the room. "Can Rowan, Ivypelt, Bebea, and Aresia please come here?"

Rowan's heart froze. She hated it when she was in trouble,a nd never got in trouble, and didn't want to start now. What could she have done? No, It couldn't be anything bad because Ivypelt was an angel, she never did anything wrong, and neither did Rowan.

After everyone else left, Flashfire motioned for the four stundent to look at his computer. He typed in a web address and hit enter.

Now, Bebea (Bee-bee-a) and Aresia(r-e-c-a, not A-risa, he's male.) were people that Rowan didn't know very well, but knew they were into something called 'Warriors" (hehehe).

What came up on the computer was... a forum? It didn't seem to be of anything interesting. "Yeah?" Bebea asked after awhile. "What are we looking at?"

"This is the old Forums." Flashfire said, "I made them years ago, but nobody ever went on them. You four are the best in the class, so I want you guys to try and get it back up on its feet. think of it as extra credit."

"Really?" Ivypelt asked.

"Would I joke?" Flashfire asked.

"Yes." Aresia said, then continued, "What would it be about?"

"Warriors?" Bebea suggested.

"We don't know anything about Warriors." Rowan pointed out, gesturing at herself and Ivypelt. "What about Pokemon?"

Aresia rolled his eyes. "Me and Bebea don't know anything about Pokemon."

"Looks like we're at a block here." Bebea said.

"How about we make it about Warriors and Pokemon?" Ivypelt asked, "You two can be in charge of the Warriors bit, and rowan and I can be in charge of the Pokemon bit."

"Warriors and Pokemon have nothing in common, itsn't that a bit wierd to have two things that have nothing in common in one forum?" bebea pointed out.

"Aren't I wierd, too?" Ivypelt raised an eyebrow. The other three nodded like it was a reasonable arguement.

"How about we title it the Pokewarriors forums?" Rowan asked, the creative one.

"Okay." the others agreed. Flashfire made three admin accounts, one for each while giving his old one to Aresia. Then Rowan made an image in Paint and uploaded it as the main picture/symbol. It was one cat sitting next to a Vulpix with a word, "Pokewarriors" written in curly writing above them.

"Perfect!" rowan said, sitting back and admiring her work, before forgetting that she was sitting on a stool and almost toppling backwards.

Chapter 5: Intro De Pokemon & Warriors Cats
Bebea and Aresia soon became great friends with Rowan, bonded through the Pokewarriors forums. One day, Rowan had her curiousity peeked by reading some of the discussions about Warriors on the forums. She asked Bebea and Aresia to introduce her to warriors, and in exchange she would introdcue them into Pokemon.

They agreed, and they lent her the books. In exchange, Rowan linked them to Pokemon sites and lent them her Pokemon video game.

After awhile, They had chosen their favorites from each interest. Rowan's favorite warrior was Graystripe (before he fell in love with a bunch of different she-cats...) and her favorite Pokemon was Vulpix (because it is the best Pokemon in the world). Bebea's favorite Warrior was Fireheart and her favorite Pokemon was Beedrill. Aresia's favorite warrior was (I totally forgot!) and his favorite pokemon was.... Togepi?!

Whenever rowan asked him why that was his favorite Pokemon, he would cross his arms and say "It looks helpless and girly, but that's a powerful little thing." And it was true, whenever Rowan played Pokemon Silver (and, later, Soulsilver) she always kept her Togepi, and from then on would name is Aresia. The same with Beedrill.

As Everyone was getting inolved with the forums, they made flyers and posted them all over the school. The flyers had the Pokewarriors symbol, but the Pokewarrior family (Obviously Rowan, Aresia, Bebea, and Ivypelt) had their own syombol. ( a A Ditto (Ivy's fave Pokemon), Vulpix, Beedrill, and Togepi sitting together next to a pool of moonlit water.)

Chapter 6: WOW! They Fill Up Fast!
After a few months, the Pokewarrior forums were popular. They were jam-packed of users, mostly from our school and was surprisingly active. Rowan wondered why, as every other time she had tried to start a website, it had failed, but this ridiculus forum had succeded.

Flashfire was impressed, and even gave the Pokewarrior family extra credit in Tech Ed. Rowan had forgotten all of her problems, and, best of all, she wasn't the center of all buling anymore.

She was popular.

She wasn't sure why or how, but when the whole school seemed to have joined the forums, they saw the Pokewarrior family as royalty.

Rowan was truly happy.

Then things went wrong... again.

Chapter 7: Double Whammy (Random switch to first person)
Many months later, school was over, but the students all kept in touch over Pokewarrior forums. (In fact, i may exaggerating a bit. Not all the school had joined, just most in my grade) Bebea had another Warriros site she was on, and requested some people join there.

And then came along another friend, and this was a plus, as he was called Plusle!

He quickly wormed his way into the Pokewarrior family, and we welcomed him.

Then came something terrible. My mother almost died. How you ask? I'll tell you, be patient!

She went into labor, and was taken to the hospital. I worried all day at school, and when I returned home, I found that my sister was watching me while my brother was out and my father and mother were at the hospital.

Now, as many of you know, I have an Anxiety Disorder. Think of that as my sister is telling me that my mother is in danger of dying. I had a complete mental breakdown, and my sister couldn't calm me down for hours.

I figured the only way to calm myself down was to check on the forums. Plusle and Bebea were on, and I told them, and they gave me sympathy, but it didn't help. However, it made things worse when Bebea sent me a link to Ivypelt's latest post.

I said that she had to leave. Her parents had banned her from the forums because a few kids swore on there. I called her in real life, and she said the news got worse. She was moving away.

I nearly had a heart attack (not literally.). My mother could be dying and my best friend was moving away? I thought things this terrible only happened in movies and dramatic books!

Chapter 8: Emily
My mother lived, thank god even though I'm not religous, and brought home a little girl named Emily. I would always avoid doing more than playing with her for a bit, mostly because of germaphobia, but for another reason, too. I think I might have somehow linked her to being the attempted-murderer of my mother. I quickly got over this, however,a dn became a loving older sister to Emily.

As the school year started and more and more users joined the Pokewarrior forums, I slowly began to recover from the loss of my best friend. I still had the forums and the rest of the Pokewarrior family. I told everyone about my new little sister.

I showed the site to Emily, and gave her a few pictures of Pokemon to play with. She seemed to like Pidgey best, so I made that her signature Pokemon. (Most of my friends and family knew mostly of 2nd and 1st gen pokemon)

Life was good.

Chapter 9: The downfall
This came out of nowhere. No warning, no nothing. One day, I found half the users banned from my forums. I checked around, and It turned out that I had banned them!

I quickly unbanned them and wondered about the situation. I told the Pokewarrior family about it, and a few of my close friends on the forums, but nobody had any idea except.... a hacker.

It happened again. I eventually decided that I would fix everything, then make a new account.

Then that account was hacked. This time he banned many users. I complained to Flashfire, but he had no power over it. There would only be one solution.

I had to delete my account and leave the forum.

I could see no other option. I am pretty good with computers, but I couldn't track any hackers, and I couldn't afford a professional to do It for me. I quit.

People were outraged that two of the main admins had quit. In fact, Bebea and Plusle quit as well, saying that it just wasn't the same anymore. The last admin I am eternally grateful to, Aresia. He tried to keep the forums alive, but many quit because the Pkewarrior family were their friends. The few left were barely on and Aresia started coming on less and less.

The Pokewarrior family met at school in real life (Except Plusle, whom we didn't know in real life) and decided. It was over. We closed down the site and locked it so no new users could come. The last few soon grew bored and left, and the Pokewarriors Forums was gone.

Chapter 10: Epilouge
If it weren't for that hacker, Pokewarriors forums might still have been up today. But it doesn't matter. I moved to where I live now, and having all those friends and followers helped me become less shy and more open, more willing to make friends.

About two years after Pokewarriros Forums was closed, I wanted to visit it one mroe time, but it was gone. The search came up blank/. I never found out what happened there, if one of the family had deleted it off the internet somehow, or what, but It made it seem as though it never existed. But it had existed.

this may sound silly, but I loved those forums. Because of them, I had more than one friend. If it hadn't been for those forums, I wouldn't even be on this wiki, I would never have been introduced to Warriors, and I would never even have had any friends after Ivypelt moved.

When I play Pokemon today (This is gonna sound cheesy and dumb), I nickname all on my Pokemon after the Pokewarriors family:

Mareep: Plusle

Beedrill: Bebea

Togepi: Aresia

Vulpix: Rowan (I actually nickname the vulpix my real name but you don't need to know that...)

Ditto: Ivy

The End

Was there ever a website that changed your life completely?

Rowan fall  All trees fall sometimes  10:37, March 23, 2012 (UTC)