KnownParadox
Not a sphere
- Location
- Canada
I mean it's not like Killing The Vile One should be hard in this world, it's Geeta. What, is she going to throw her Gogoat at us?
Trails of Tera Steel (Kiseki-inspired Pokemon Academy Quest)
- Thread starter ArvisPresley
- Start date
- Pronouns
- He/They/She
Hey, they thought they could kill Osborne by just shooting him and look how that turned out.
- Location
- England
It was always going to be necessary. Possession or no. We will adopt Elise, and all others with claim to being her mom must be put down.
Granted, we won't have cause to adopt her until her tragic backstory is revealed. But the moment Mariana knows about the tragic backstory, it's happening.
Considering Geeta's understanding of when to make certain moves such as sending out your Toxic Spikes setter and when to use your Pokémon which gets stronger the more of your team are down, I assume if she were to try to pull an Osborne she'd reveal her survival immediately, then name her spy in the enemy faction second, then fight the civil war third.
Now, to be fair, she does apparently lead with Glimmora and end with Kingambit in her Indigo Disk rematch. So her... unoptimized order in her normal fight might be here way of holding back, since it is supposed to be a test instead of the normal Title Match like in past games.
She even trades out the Gogoat for a Chesnaught and the Veluza with a Dragapult, somewhat supporting this theory that she wasn't taking the first fight seriously.
- Pronouns
- He/They/She
I have sort of been envisioning Geeta's trash base game team as representative of ol' notBismarck dying like a normal person in game 1 and her significantly amped DLC team as representative of that being entirely a bluff and him being final boss material three whole-ass games later.
- Pronouns
- He/They/She
I still intend to do this, by the way, I've just come to the inevitable realization that my Pokémon lore knowledge has enormous gaps like every non-mainline game and also all the mainline ones released in the 2010s, so I'd be torn to shreds without dedicating months of my life to research.
Anyway on with the deepdives, this time finally out of the prologue.
So, incidentally, we're skipping a major recurring plot in ToCS in this quest, plus the traditional Starter Dungeon sequence that happens in every first game of an arc in Trails...namely an authority figure throwing you in a starter dungeon and telling you to have fun and be yourself. Estelle and Joshua at least knew they were coming to a Bracer Exam. The Special Support Section got pointed at an urban dungeon, fine enough, weird for the first day of police work but whatever. Erebonia's Class VII? Sara literally dumped nine students who'd met each other five minutes ago into a monster-filled basement via trapdoor on their first day. Piccolo-tier shit.
We also miss the opportunity of faceplanting into anyone's tits because this is an anime story made in the 2010s. Frankly, I'm happy to see that subplot go. Honestly not sure how it would work with both the "protagonists" here being genderswapped to women, even if we are all gay.
The recurring subplot is the Old Schoolhouse. Old Schoolhouses in Zemuria are universally weird and haunted, but the one at Thors Military Academy in particular is a multi-level dungeon that expands itself on a monthly basis over the course of the game like it's some kind of Persona 3 ripoff (honestly the most surprising thing about ToCS is that it released seven whole-ass years after Persona 3's original debut. I figured Falcom started designing it immediately after P3's first year sales figures came in, but maybe I'm underestimating the Vita dev cycle). The actual nature of the dungeon is...well, you know how we were comparing the Ruin Shrines in Scarlet/Violet to ToCS things earlier? It's basically a giant testing ground for worthiness for a thing I'll explain later. Not that anyone currently alive and working at Thors knew that, but plenty of other people conspire to make sure Rean gives it a good thorough exploration.
Anyway, that's not happening here. Just a fun little aside.
I went over people in detail when they showed up as get-to-know-you options so for this post I'm just going to cherrypick trivia. In this case, that Mesagoza Class VII is a lot more forthcoming than their ToCS counterparts. Rean (Elise) prevaricated about not being a noble on the first day, although in fairness, that's because he was stuck in a murderbasement with Machias, who was pointing a shotgun at him and about half a paragraph into a Saint-Juste speech when he asked. Alisa (the nearest Theodora equivalent, although notably not a noble) didn't even publically admit her family name until a couple of months in when her maid showed up. Then again, technically, she'd run away from home and was trying (badly) to stay incognito. Theodora's slate of issues is quite different.
Also commentary on starters, I guess, since I didn't do that before.
We all know Sunny now. God do we know Sunny now. Chimchar is the Fire-type starter from Sinnoh, Nemona's choice likely inspired by Nemona's fangirlism over Dawn. Eventually growing into Fire/Fighting, it's not the most OP starter in Pokémon, but it's pretty popular. Incidentally he's got an offensive type disadvantage against Roland - Nemona picks the starter weak to the player's type in Scarlet/Violet intentionally, although here it's a coincidence.
Jacinto's Swablu is an adorable little fluffy Normal/Flying bird that eventually grows into a special-attacking fluffy Dragon/Flying type. Larry uses an Altaria (the fully-evolved form of Swablu) on his Elite 4 Flying-oriented team, which is probably relevant.
Atticus' Spinarak, a Bug/Poison spider-like mon, of course ties into his seamstering hobby. Notably, he doesn't use a Spinarak or its evolution Ariados as a boss in Scarlet/Violet, although it does match his type specialty.
Theodora's Fennekin is a starter Pokémon from the Kalos games. It's a Fire-type that eventually grows into a Fire/Psychic fox-themed Japanese witch, specifically the type associated with fox spirits. Fits her trickstery personality and faceclaim of the "Golden Witch", and also coincidentally is almost a 1:1 match to Alisa Reinford's color palette of pale blonde with white highlights and red eyes.
Manuel's Water-type Horsea I mainly can comment on being a joke on Manuel's Trails counterpart being a member of the (horse) RIding Club, although it's also eventually going to grow up into surprisingly tough Dragon/Water-type Kingdra. I still haven't forgiven Clair for making me fight that thing and then not giving me the Badge after.
Elise has a Honedge (Ghost/Steel possessed sword) made out of a katana, because she, like Rean, is a gigantic weeb. I'll get to the cool main character shit she does with this later. Might be something in typing here with Theodora, too, since Fire beats Steel but Ghost beats Psychic.
As someone with maxed Charm and anxiety, of course our starting friend circle wound up being the people with no social skills.
Leaf is gonna make sure that Elise stays the protagonist of the story even if she isn't the one of the quest.
Also the ARCUS is from Trails of Cold Steel, being the latest experimental version of combat Orbment as of April 1204. Obviously the Pokédex and Tera Orb functions (and the floating) are borrowed from ScarVi's Rotomphone*, but in other respects it's based on the Cold Steel device. I'd explain what a "combat orbment" is but I am just gonna summarize it as "magic wand", since it's actually the other big feature that we care about, namely Combat Links. In Trails of Cold Steel, your ARCUS units are what allow members of Class VII to synchronize their movements in combat, opening up tactical options like followup attacks, taking damage for each other, and eventually whole-field team attacks, depending on the level of emotional Bond between whichever two students are linked. That's been translated, in this setting, into the ability to synchronize consciousness with our Pokémon, a la...a lot of things, but probably mainly the Synchro Machine from Scarlet/Violet's DLC that was created to allow for Pokémon solo adventures. It's gonna be key to victory, as will bonds with both our Pokémon and our classmates, I'm sure.
*actually, since Rotomphones apparently aren't mass-market in this setting yet, the Pokémon inhabiting the ARCUSes probably is, in fact, a Rotom.
Also Wiggly is at minimum level 50 and an unwinnable boss fight if we ever piss off Leaf.
Manuel and Jacinto, like Jusis and Machias before them, are two people who would be best friends if they didn't fucking despise each other.
If Theodora ever stops smirking, shit has hit the fan. Trust me on this.
And it turns out that one person here is keeping mum about his background, and it's Jacinto, son of famously strong Gym Leader/Elite Four member/Geeta's personal office bitch Larry, who now has a last name I guess. The people with decent KNOW stats or reasons to care about politics notice this immediately, so obviously we don't. Actually a little surprised that Nemona didn't eyebrow-raise at this, although she probably already knew just from fighting him the previous day.
Yeah there's a lot more going on here than just the obvious political boundary-pushing.
But also wait, guinea pigs exist.
Arvis has established that most non-Pokémon animals that have survived in this world are domesticated food sources. RL Pokédex, go:
Fun facts about your kid's pets!
I think we all saw this happening, that is, the neat breaking into three-person cliques. Nemona being the pivot for Manuel and Jacinto's personal rivalry makes sense when you consider she dragged both of them into fights as soon as she met them, and we know the circumstances that led to us becoming friends with Ostia and Erika separately. I am a little curious if there's a reason Atticus got dragged into Theodora and Elise's orbit beyond being the last Class VII not in a clique. The phrasing kind of implies that's the case given that Elise is the make friends with everyone kind of protag, but it is still interesting.
Ah, okay, the lady from the testing facility did re-appear, albeit just in this one-off paragraph so far. "Gregoria Nemo" isn't ringing a bell for me, unfortunately. The math teacher in ScarVi is Tyme, sister to the Montenevera Gym Leader Ryme, and former gym leader herself, and the only science teacher per se is Jacq, biology teacher and creator of the local Pokédex app. She doesn't resemble either, nor any particular Thors instructor, unless I'm missing something, so this'd come from another source, or Arvis's brain.
Gregoria means "watchful", coming from Greek by way of Latin. Nemo means "nobody" in Latin, and was famously used by a fictional pirate submarine captain (and a disabled fish with a neurotic dad).
Tacos, in case you didn't know, are a Mexican dish, and definitely not a Spanish one. "Holon taco" here makes me think the card game region might be standing in for Mexico in some form or fashion...or it's just flavor text.
Anyway, Ostia loves food. Good for them, they're a growing enby. I'm gonna channel Mariana and worry that they're not getting enough to eat at home, or else some kind of flavorless nutrient paste or, worse, fast food. I definitely don't trust Raifort to satisfy this kid's desire for the physical and cultural enrichment that is good cuisine.
Not a lot useful here, but I'm still leaning toward Rotom. Since Rotom are "natural" little poltergeists rather than computer programs like Porygon, the ones in the ARCUS might be babies who are going to grow alongside our team mons.
Now that I bring it up, are ARCUS combat links cleared for League battles? Someone would have had to go through some paperwork for that considering that this version of the Paldean League doesn't even allow held items below a certain badge level. Obviously the Tera Orb is fine, but...
""Training"" is definitely some horrible brainwashing shit, not like, Pokémon training. If we're on the right track about Ostia being an artificial human, it could be outright like, programming and maintenance.
THE HEADPATS WILL CONTINUE UNTIL MORALE IMPROVES. OR INDEFINITELY.
Trying to think of a Trails protagonist who hasn't adopted a kid. Even if I pretend to forget Kevin, technically, he's the one who got adopted in his backstory.
Also trying to think of one without massive negative self-talk at the start of the story. Estelle I guess? She's green as grass and knows it but addressed most of her angst years ago.
Did you know that Basque (endonym Euskara) is the only language currently spoken in Europe that isn't either derived from or developed after Proto-Indo-European? Despite that, wikipedia tells me that, indeed, around 40% of modern Basque vocabulary is borrowed from neighboring Romance languages like French and Spanish, simply because that's how language works. It's still a really neat language.
Also, I think "late Neolithic" means something different here than it does in the real world. It's used in Trails of Cold Steel as well and seems more to refer to "the time period when the Ancient Zemurians built big-ass stone monuments" rather than "when people primarily used stone tools". In this world, it probably means "when all those ancient ruins inexplicably all over the place were built".
Also, obviously, keep "3000 years" in mind for the rest of this quest.
The timing of when the Treasures of Ruin were sealed is actually interesting. "3000 years ago" would be equivalent to the fall of the Ancient Zemurian Civilization, when their probable Trails counterpart the Great One was accidentally created. "The Great Collapse", in this context, would be equivalent to Erebonia's War of the Lions, medieval anarchy in which Dreichels/Rodrigo rose to power both helped and hindered by the competing 'pieces' of the Great One, the Divine Knights. I'm thinking their sealing might be more relevant to the latter, even if they might have been "created" earlier. Lots of lacking data here but there's a couple historical inflection points we can keep an eye out for.
Harold. Harold.
I'm kinda wondering how serious Leaf is about "the first of its kind in Paldea". Even the most authoritarian historical monarchies tended to have scattered traditions of electing a local mayor and such (who may or may not have to share power with an appointee from the nearest feudal overlord), but given the already parallel authority of the feudal system and the Pokémon League, I wonder.
A peek into an alternate universe where we're forced to deal with these guys' issues now rather than later. Jacinto's Trails counterpart was Class Vice President and usually the one being a stick in the mud about rules. His father was also the democratically elected governor (mayor) of the capital, so that would be a parallel, except Jacinto's dad is a gym leader, so maybe not.
A peek into an alternate universe where the social butterfly gets to do her thing. Notably, she and Leaf definitely know each other personally - it's not just a parallel to Sara and Sharon's shared history in ToCS. Between that and the ??? maybe I should have campaigned harder just to figure out what's going on.
Also not sure if noble solidarity or Manuel and Elise just really wanted to avoid the job themselves.
A peek into an alternate universe in which Elise is just as overworked as Rean (who notably wasn't Class President but got constantly dragooned into work by Sara and the Student Council regardless. The equivalent here being Elise's Ranger work, I suppose.)
Also I'm enjoying that the Theodora-Atticus clique focused on Elise and our clique focused on us, with "who wins" dictated by whether we made the obvious choice or the foolish choice.
Side note, but canonically the Class VII President was Emma, on the basis of "nice girl with perfect grades". Our nearest equivalent nerd does...not have the social graces for this.
This is also Sara's job in Trails of Cold Steel, and indeed you have a monthly school combat encounter, although in ToCS, it starts with fighting q training robot, then some noble dipshits who decide to do a class duel, and only after that do you actually end up fighting other members of your party. I wonder what happened to Naranja/Uva's Pokémon battle instructor Dendra. Actually, wondering generally if everyone but Raifort has been replaced by an OC or alternate, and Raifort doesn't even seem to have a teaching position herself.
Day-long dissociative episodes are definitely normal, typical teenage nerves and angst. There is absolutely not a psychic wound in our head we're barely papering over that comes up every time we have to think about a serious Pokémon battle. Taking the high Charm option was absolutely not a double-edged blade because we're paying for our effortless rizz with having too good of social walls.
I want to point out two things here:
1. We should take Roland to Rime City. With his Infiltrator ability, he'll Get Over The Barrier no problem.
2. Tera types work differently in this Quest from Pokémon Scarlet/Violet. In that game, every individual Pokémon has a single Type it can Terastilize into. This is usually, but not always, one of its native types, and can be changed with Tera Crystals (mostly as part of S/V's efforts to avoid the old-school breeding grind to get a Pokémon whose stats, ability, nature, etc. all match what you want). In this Quest, all Pokémon seem to have up to three Tera Types which you can pick at will each time you Terastilize, which to me actually seems like a more tactically interesting route. Not sure if it means anything or if it's just Arvis's efforts to make Pokémon their own characters we'll want to keep around instead of interchangeable statlines. See also: Roland having non-shit moves before he evolves.
Gay and also come on Mary you're not being normal.
Okay, Erika's up to something after hours. Could be something innocuous like trading sleep for studying, could be being an actual magical girl, could be clinging to the wall to listen to our breathing.
I'm gonna hope for "magical girl".
Also Elise trying her best to be the protag. She's got her own issues but I think she's doing a good job so far.
A peek into an alternate universe where we're friendly rivals with the troubled kid. Likely would have still had something of an inferiority supercharge if we lost (and we only won on like a 10% chance in our eventual battle with them), but I think it would be tempered by our desire to learn just what was done to them to make them this strong, and save them from it.
A peek into an alternate universe where we just took the "gay" needle and buried it at 11, while also seeing Erika's more.......Erika side. The one who treats the subject of her attention like a beautiful bug she can pin to a card and study. I dunno, maybe I should've voted for this one given that I really wanted to avoid the course we took, but I'm also happy for the chance of any ship that develops here to be slightly more normal. We did lose to her on a bad roll later in the tournament, but I think we'd have probably actually won this one on a major battle sim, unlike Nemona and Ostia.
Listen we went for Bond Points over all, ok. And I do think training over battling was the right call for our week 1 action, and rushing the Ranger Station unlock with our other two actions worked out well.
But it is a little funny that our first battle ended up being nearly fighting the biggest genetic freak in Paldea to a draw.
- Location
- over there
are you sure the Rean standin is Elise and not Mariana?
- Pronouns
- He/They/She
Headpats are for all characters shorter than the character giving the headpats, and guess who's the tallest person in the class
- Location
- Australia
For the record; every single teacher in the Academy quit as a result of the Team Star fiasco in canon. The entire staff of Uva/Naranja is new hires.
It's theorised that this is why Gym Leaders and Elite Four members are teaching there; there won't be enough teachers hired on to run the school, so League members had to sub in.
Skeith
An Occasional Master of BS
Can't forget forcing a known Tresure Thief to be teacher as well. Seriously how bad was the bullying to have everyone quit!? Hope the VP (i think it was the VP) got blacklisted for destroying stuff.
Team Star's backstory hasn't happened yet. IIRC, the entire teaching staff of the school retired in shame of how that was handled and all the teachers we meet in game where hired after that.
- Pronouns
- He/They/She
Alright, I did know we were still pre-Operation Star, but...I didn't actually pay enough attention in class to realize that every single teacher was new, not just Clavell. Might've speedrun the actual Pokémon game part of the game.
That explains a lot, including why all the teachers so far are OCs (or Leaf) and also, indeed, why an Elite Four member is teaching art in the game.
CedeTheBees
Probably high right now
- Location
- Somewhere
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Haven't actually played ScarVi. What's the deal with Team Star?
- Location
- Australia
They're a bunch of kids who were bullied, and the teachers all turned a blind eye. This led Cassiopeia (Penny) to bind them all into a group called Team Star.
They developed a kind of Pokémon/weapon called the Starmobiles, which are super-powered Revavroom that act as their powerful Ace Pokémon in the games. They challenged their bullies to a fight, but the bullies never actually… eventuated; they were cowards, at the end of the day, and fled rather than confront their victims after they rose up.
The Deputy Director tried to cover it up, pinning it all on Cassiopeia. He was fired eventually, though, and all the teachers at the school followed him out the door- but not before wiping the records clean of their actions, leaving everyone else clueless about what's happened. Penny remained at school, and rumours were spread claiming that Team Star had actually been the bullies all along and had been expelled.
Director Clavell is eventually hired on as the principal. Cassiopeia eventually hires Julianna/Scarlet, the protagonist of Scarlet/Violet, to go and convince Team Star to disband and forget about her, since Cassiopeia is still planning to leave back to Galar and act as the scapegoat for their actions. Director Clavell catches wind of this, though, and tags along to investigate what actually happened.
Eventually, Julianna does eventually solve the issue, and Clavell lets out the official version of events. Penny remains at school, Team Star returns, and everyone's happy, etc.
For reference; Penny is also the niece of Chairman Rose, the villain of Sword/Shield. She's unrelated to his crimes, though. It's just a neat note.
There was some serious bullying going on, and team star formed to basically scare off the bullies. When they confronted the bullies it resulted in a scandal that resulted in basically everyone resigning, the records on what happened being burned, and the team leader taking full responsibility and leaving to prevent the rest of team star from leaving. Team star continues as the team hopes that by continuing it they can meet their leader again. In the game itself they are being a bit of a nuscance and so the team leader having returned has the player character go and forcibly disband the group in order to prevent the team from getting expelled as none of the current staff knows why they exist due to the whole records being destroyed business.
- Location
- United States
Feel like mentioning one of the sources you learn about Team Star and why was from the former principal of the school who during the game is teaching one of the Team Star leaders, I think it was piano...The VP erased the records behind the principal's back.
I've only played through Scarlet and Violet so info from other sources I don't really know.
I've only played through Scarlet and Violet so info from other sources I don't really know.
Ryumancer
Dragons Are Romance
Fun fact! It's actually pretty frail by Dragon standards. Even having a wonderful defensive typing whose only weakness in the old gens was Dragon itself, with Fairy joining in as of modern times... Isn't really enough to warrant calling it tough, tbh.
That would be rather amusing...
- Pronouns
- He/They/She
Fun fact, ScarVi is the only game I've played with Fairy types. I suppose with two weaknesses rather than one, plus jack of all trades base stats, it is no longer my childhood nightmare, but at least it's not quad weak to Ice like some other, more popular dragons.
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Also one of two people in Class 7 who will probably have access to Mega Evolution with their starter (the other being Ostia, who is they dont get Argy to mega I'll be genuinely shocked. Even if it's forced Lysandre style.)
Huh, today I learned.
Not sure if anyone mentioned it, but "Class VII Thus Far" was updated yesterday with at least 2 new additions.
1. Ostia's second Pokémon is a Staryu called Poly
2. Atticus has a Crogunk named Kotaro
- Location
- Philippines
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I think it only works on mobile?
Also, Poly's been added since the last update.
Last edited:
- Pronouns
- He/They/She
It does not. If you're still seeing images on the "Class VII" info post, it's because your browser has them cached.
Month 1 Week 4 Weekdays
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[X] Plan: Roland gets Buff
-[X] You Can't Run from a Trainer Battle
-[X] Advanced BATTLE
-[X] Roland
-[X] Nemona
-[X] You Can't Run from a Trainer Battle
-[X] Advanced BATTLE
-[X] Roland
-[X] Nemona
It's during occasions like this, that you're really grateful that you've grown used to waking up early in the morning. As you look over the instructions Wiggly left behind (you're gonna hug that furball once they get back) you continue to prepare breakfast for Class VII. The instructions, thankfully, also contain what you're supposed to serve during breakfast and dinner during the days that your Instructor and her Pokemon are gone.
Without saying a word you smack Roland with a ladle to stop him from trying to eat some of the berries you're gonna use. The little hellion grumbles, already after having been woken up early to help you. You look at the clock. 5:30 AM. Classes start at 7:30 AM, and your classmates usually start to wake up after 6 AM.
With some exceptions.
"Are you sure you don't need me to help, Mariana?" Elise asks, having gotten back from her jog.
You level a flat look at her, all but asking her if she's ever cooked before. From how sheepish she looks, the answer is probably no. Sighing and thinking about the mountain of work you're going to be doing, you finally relent.
"You can help set the table and later wash the dishes." You say with the most authoritative voice you can muster. Elise solemnly nods and gets to work.
Monday's morning itinerary was Berry Omelettes with Kalosian Toast. You're really thankful for the Cooking Club lessons, shame you won't have a club meeting this Friday. With the cooking finished just in time for some of your other classmates to wake up, both you and Elise start on washing the pans and utensils you used to cook.
"Hmph. Not bad." The first trio to wake up for breakfast were Manuel, Atticus and Theodora. You take Manuel's compliment with the spirit it was given.
"Where'd you say Miss Leaf was headed for the week?" Asks Theodora, likely fishing for gossip. And you're all too eager to provide, unable to help yourself.
"What business does she have in that city state in the first place?" Manuel asks in between mouthfuls of omelet. Theodora gives one of her classic cryptic smiles before responding.
"What indeed…" You get the feeling that Theodora enjoys being all-mysterious like.
With their meals done, the three head off to prepare for the day. You did have to wave off Atticus from volunteering to help wash the dishes. He eventually and reluctantly acquiesce to your refusal, saying that they'll go back to his room.
As the two nobles head out the dorm, Jacinto descends down the stairs almost as if on cue. You have a gut feeling that he likely woke up much earlier but decided to stay in his room in order to avoid the two nobles. Before sitting down though, Jacinto decides to turn on the TV.
The morning news seems pretty normal aside from more reports of poachers in Cortondo, which worries you. Poachers were a real nasty problem in the Highlands, often preying on the rare Pokemon only found in that part of the region. Your clan had little lenience and mercy for the ones that managed to find and catch.
Eventually the morning news settles on playing clips from Champion Geeta's speech to the Diet from last night. The only member of the Imperial Family in attendance was Crown Princess Arcadia, who stood out with her line's iconic silver hair. As with any event necessitating the presence of the Arnors, she's yet again standing in for the aged Emperor Eugene Vasco Arnor, who's mostly been confined to the Imperial Palace for the past few years.
Princess Arcadia is the heiress apparent of the Empire, despite being over forty years old herself. She was the Champion of Paldea around 30 years ago and was an eager supporter in court of reforming the Empire. She's also the one who backed Geeta's appointment as Champion of Empire following some incident a decade ago.
Unlike in other regions, an ascension of a Champion is based on the reigning Emperor or Empress appointing one, after having chosen from the Champion ranked Trainers in the region. Historically the position had been dominated by either the Arnors themselves or by the Three Great Houses. Geeta Heraclea's appointment as Champion made her the first commoner-born to hold the position in Paldean history. Thus her title, La Primera. The First.
During your musings, Erika and Nemona had woken up (much earlier than they usually do) to eat breakfast. The news was still talking about the Geeta and the Diet and how the Champion put forward another Infrastructure Bill.
"The Imperial Reform Party had been been convinced to support the bill despite worries about the budget and increased RMP influence by party whip and Elite Four member, Minister Larry Laurea—"
The TV screen goes black as it was shut off by Jacinto. Who looks rather embarrassed at having done so.
"Why'd you turn it off? I was still watching." Ever since your History Instructor's added news of current events to your recitation, you've made an effort to at least be aware so you won't embarrass yourself like that poor kid who didn't know the Emperor's name.
"Well it's getting kind of awkward since more people have, well, y'know—"
"Don't bother hiding it, we know your dad's Elite Four. Nice omelet by the way, Mary." Erika shouted with an omelet still in her mouth. You stamp down the urge to wipe her jaw with how messy she's eating.
Jacinto for his part looks between a mix of embarrassed and horrified. "You guys knew!?"
"Well duh. I've memorized the names of all the Elite Fours in most regions. I wonder when Saguaro is challenging Poppy next…" Nemona muses to herself, having already finished breakfast. A compliment would've been nice but if she didn't say anything, then your cooking probably wasn't good enough.
"Does everyone know!?" Jacinto was beet red from embarrassment, now you're starting to feel sorry.
"If it makes you feel any better, I and Mariana didn't know.." Elise provides to which you nod in support. You also don't really spend that much time with Jacinto in the first place. He storms off, heading out of the dorms.
"I was trying to keep it from him but it is of little use now." Atticus complains while washing the dishes—
Your head quickly turns to face him. How'd he manage to sneak by you!? Atticus gives you an almost apologetic smile. Damnit, you're the Class President, it's your responsibility!
With breakfast coming to a close (and you unable to wrest away cleanup duties from Elise and Atticus), you feed the leftovers you piled onto a plate to Roland, who gobbles them all up. You also pack some food you specifically made for Ostia. It feels bad how often they're left out from the Class VII dynamic because of Raifort. Hopefully the Field Exercise will help in making them feel like they belong in the class.
The day's classes pass by without incident or anything of note happening. You've gotten used to the routine of an academic life. You wake up, get ready for class, hang out with your friends, do your routine with Renne, go to sleep, repeat for an entire week. Sometimes with space for things you wanna do in your free time.
You do pass by the Maria Hall to borrow some beginner language books about Paldean and Andosin.
With Leaf gone, you're currently stuck at the dorms after class. A lot of the chores that Wiggly did are now your responsibility. Thus with you stuck inside for the rest of the week, it's high time you taught Roland how to read.
Pokemon Literacy is a rather fraught subject mostly because it's directly tied to Pokemon Intelligence. From what you remember from your lessons, most fully-evolved Trainer Pokemon know how to read or at the very least can fake it well enough. Psychic and Fairy types take to reading the easiest out of all the Pokemon types. Doremi and Chimu knew how to read and so did your brother's Mudsdale and Mudbray.
Not every Pokemon that can learn how to read wants to, though. Ravs can recognize words and letters well enough, but he always flies off whenever you or your siblings invite them to Sunday School. You know that Roland is a pretty smart Pokemon. You also know that he's rather selective on what words he sees or remembers.
Case in point, your current teaching session had him recognize the word 'Battle' when written down. For now you're practicing word association, writing down the Andosin for 'Berry' and 'Sleep'. His two favorite things aside from battle. You mostly keep the words related to the trio of topics. Because whenever it strays, Roland doesn't get it as easily.
But it's going pretty well all things considered.
'You're mothering him.'
Commentary from the peanut gallery notwithstanding of course. With Leaf and thus Missy gone, Renne is a lot more comfortable talking and communicating. You haven't tried to ask her about what happened to her yet. But you're getting used to each other's presence in a more relaxed environment. And as such, Renne is currently watching a remake of Thom and Jeri on the TV, a Unovan kids show about a Liepard and a Patrat. She seems pretty enraptured by it even if she gets distressed whenever Thom, the Liepard, loses.
The dull pain of telepathy remains, which you're starting to get worried about. It's not that painful at all anymore, but at this point you shouldn't be experiencing any pain at all. An issue for later.
"Well he's my wittle boy, aren't you?" You rub Roland's face against your own ignoring his halfhearted protests. You kiss him on the forehead, cause of how cute he is. He croons in delight at your affection. The fact that you promised to go battling during the weekends, if he behaves during the teaching sessions, also helps.
The rest of the week continues, with you getting more confident in being temporary Dorm Manager. You've even officially conscripted Elise and Atticus' help with some of the chores. If they're offering to help, might as well make use of them. Ostia is delighted whenever you give them the cooked meals from that day's breakfast.
They even briefly introduce you to their new Pokemon. Poly the Staryu. They seem really affectionate to Ostia, which the kid returns wholeheartedly. It's hilarious seeing Argy seethe in jealousy at another Pokemon being the center of Ostia's attention. You put the memory of the weird Pokeball in Ostia's bag out of your mind.
It was around Wednesday night that you finally got the file that Leaf was talking about. You were starting to worry about her so you asked if she was okay. She responded with a heart emoji and a chibi Pikachu gif giving a thumbs up. Probably the best you're gonna get out of her, huh?
You distribute the printouts during Thursday class, prompting a discussion on potential catches and new Pokemon. Of your class, the only ones without a second Pokemon are Erika, Jacinto, Theodora and Manuel. Nemona meanwhile was muttering something under her breath.
"I'm surprised you haven't gotten a Pokemon from your family's prized breeders yet." Jacinto jabs at Manuel. Oh here they go again.
"Considering your performance during the Round Robin, I'm tempted to give them a call for your sake. You'd think a Pokemon that was sired by an Elite Four's Altaria would be stronger, but I don't blame Pokemon for the shortcomings of their Trainers." Manuel's response was filled with venom, shocking the entire class. Jacinto looked incandescent with rage. Manuel gives him a look all but daring the bespectacled boy to hit back. This might actually come to blows—
"So, Nemona darling, I heard you mention something about wanting a third and maybe even a fourth member already?" Theodora raises her voice, interrupting the two boys.
"Huh? Uh, yea. Maybe not a fourth member, the schedule's already gonna be kinda tight. I was thinking of catching a third member and getting my first badge during the Field Exercise. And once we get back on Saturday, we are going back on Saturday, right?" You reread the handout and tentatively nod. "Yea once we're back, I'll challenge my second Gym, probably one of the Glaseado Range ones. Should take about a week accounting for the Gym Challenge." What.
"After that I'll challenge the other Glaseado Range Gym before the second Field Exercise, maybe the Montenevera one, though I don't have a good type against Rocks and Ghosts…" What.
"And then hopefully by the second Field Exercise, it'll be my fourth Gym Battle. I'm not sure I could train my team to a fourth Badge level in time but even if I lose, It'll be a great experience and an amazing battle!" Nemona clasps her hands together in excitement.
You feel dizzy. Four Badges by the Second Field Exercise!?
S-s-urely she's just speculating, right? She'd have to be a Red-tier prodigy to even be capable of that. Someone who'd be able to tear through a Pokemon League and challenge a Champion within a single year. Erika looks at you in worry.
"Maybe Cascaraffa? Manuel says it's a beautiful city and my parents never took me there on any of their business trips." Nemona looks wistful while talking about her family.
Nemona's declaration has sent the rest of the class into a discussion about badges and challenges, Jacinto and Manuel's argument almost forgotten. Almost. The two boys have distanced themselves as far as they could away from one another.
You take a seat. Assuming you challenge your first Gym during the Field Exercise, it'll have to be with just Roland unless you catch a third Pokemon. You already asked Renne if they wanted to try battling and they said no. You're not gonna force them on that no matter what. It'll be a 1v2 or a 2v3 with the third Pokemon. It's…possible.
You'll think about what to do in August once you get there.
"Don't take what Nemona is saying too seriously." Erika walks up to you, clearly concerned.
"Do you think she's bluffing?" You retort. Erika scoffs.
"Of course not, she's serious. She'll try for four by the second Field Exercise or die—well not literally die, you get what I mean." You giggle at Erika's botched hyperbole. You feel bad at how most of the times Erika makes you laugh, it's at her expense.
A gasp from Nemona brings everyone's attention back on her.
"Saguaro's gonna fight Poppy later tonight! Who wants to watch with me!?"
And that's how you ended up part of a Class VII live watch of the Saguaro vs. Poppy battle later that night. You're currently adjusting Erika's laptop so that Ostia would be able to watch with the rest of the class despite not being there. The fight, like most Elite Four and Champion fights, will be broadcast and recorded nationwide.
It's already Thursday night, Leaf said she'd be back by now. You're slightly worried, causing you to occasionally look at the door or check your phone for a message from your Instructor.
"A~nd I think we're all set up. Is it good on your end?" Ostia nods at your question, giving you a thumbs up. You go to take a seat on one of the chairs in the Dining Room. Checking the time, the broadcast should start soon. Fights at the level of the Conference above usually take an hour, sometimes more for battles against the Elite Four and Champion.
With setup done you decide to listen to Nemona talking about the Conference Winner, Saguaro Carnegie.
"He's generally an attritional fighter, his entire team except for Pachirisu have recovery options but that one makes up for it by being really good at paralysis and offense. Sometimes when he thinks he needs it he'll switch up to hyper offense, attacking viciously and using said recovery to eke out a couple more seconds of damage on his opponent. It's how he won the Conference. He only made his challenge to Rika last week though."
The Conference is the culmination of a Trainer's Journey lying at the end of a Yearly Circuit. It occurs every June and lasts the entire month. All Trainers with Eight Badges in the Paldean League are eligible to take part in that year's Conference, though once they do so they'll have to challenge all Eight Gyms again to take part in another Conference. Most Trainers who do get all Eight Badges only participate in the Conference once. The ones who are Conference 'regulars' participate regularly for the fame and prestige either for their corporate sponsors or to garnish their careers for employment with the League.
According to Nemona, Saguero is a Conference first-timer with this being the third year of his Trainer's Journey. Surprisingly he isn't a Mesagoza graduate, usually half of the Trainers taking part in the Conference in a year are Academy Graduates.
Conference winners are given the privilege of undertaking the Champion Assessment. Where they'll have to fight the Elite Four and the current reigning Champion so that they can be considered a Champion Rank Trainer. The Conference winner has until the start of the next Circuit in August to issue their challenge, once they do they can't back out and have to fight the Elite Four until they either make it to the Champion and win or they lose.
Hearing it all be explained by Nemona really makes a Trainer's Journey even more daunting than it already was.
"It's starting!" Nemona announced. Half of your classmates have a notebook to write down Nemona's commentary. You're not really all that fast of a transcriber so you're just gonna listen as best you can.
As discussion quieted down and the announcer introduced the two opponents, you got a good look at Saguaro. A massive well-built brick house of a man, he had black hair, a well groomed mustache and a terrifying visage. On the other side was an 8 year old. The girl looked pale, her skin almost porcelain, and she was even shorter than Ostia. She was wearing one of those fancy dresses for kids of the nobility.
They both sent out their first Pokemon: Saguero sent out his Alomomola, which instantly set up Rain Dance due to their mastery of Water TE. Poppy, meanwhile, released her Copperajah. She cheered them on, and the battlefield shook with every step the titan took.
They were in one of the Grand Arenas in the League Headquarters, which overlooked Mesagoza from the cliff sides surrounding the Great Crater. The Crown Princess was watching from a pavilion overlooking the arena, as was Geeta and the rest of the Elite Four, who sat next to her. Also in attendance representing the Great Houses is Sophia de Cascaraffa, who according to Manuel, is his cousin who's older than him by an entire decade. He had a genuinely respectful tone when talking about her.
As the camera finished sweeping over the battlefield, giving the audience a full view of the arena, the announcer shouted.
"Begin!"
"Oh, it's over. Saguaro's lost." Nemona suddenly says, mid battle, as she stretched her arms and leaned back onto the chair.
Your class turns to look at Nemona like she just gained a second head. The fight was still ongoing, Saguaro still had four Pokemon remaining while Poppy only had two left. She had just sent out her Metagross, this was one blue unlike Argy.
"Huh?" You ask, voicing the confusion on the tip of everyone's tongues.
"All of Sabuero's remaining Pokemon have already taken a decent amount of damage, he's out of switches, and his last answer to a bulky heavy hitting Psychic-type was just taken out. Metagross are nasty Pokemon, they're smarter than humans so most Trainers just let their Metagross think up strategies on their own. The really good trainers like Steven Stone nudge their Metagross to keep them focused and prevent them from getting overconfident. Metagross are apparently really arrogant, even rivaling some Dragon types from the interviews Steven gave a long time ago. If I had to put money on it, I think Poppy's entire setup for this fight was trapping Saguero into forcing him to fight either Poppy's Metagross or her Tinkaton which she still hasn't sent out yet. They fill similar niches, though the latter is more focused on offense…"
Nemona ranted, her eyes focused on the screen. And just as she prophesied, Metagross dismantled the exhausted remnants of Saguro's team before finally going down to a Hatterene who was on their last legs. With Metagross down, Poppy sent out her last Pokemon, her Tinkaton who was fresh and ready to battle. It wasn't even a contest as in the blink of an eye, Tinkaton slammed her massive hammer onto the side of Hatterene sending them flying crashing onto the barrier.
Nemona was right. It was over.
"That..was..awesome!" Nemona squealed in delight.
"It was so close, too! If that frozen slime ocean thing Saguero tried with Alomomola, Goodra and Froslass had kept Empoleon trapped, it might've been able to prevent Goodra from getting knocked out. Goodra and Pachirisu was really his only answer to Metagross, but the fact that he got that far despite a really bad team matchup is impressive…"
The discussion and arguments continued on for another hour before people got tired and went to bed, Ostia fell asleep halfway through, and it was Argy who turned off their screen. You and Elise were left behind to clean and lock up for the night, when you heard a knock on the door and a very familiar voice.
"Mariana, are you still there? Please… don't tell me you kids actually go to bed on time. It's barely even 10 PM!" You hurriedly open the door to let Miss Leaf in. She walks in through the front, with Wiggly carrying her luggage behind her. She has, to your shock and concern, her left arm in a sling, she was wobbling slightly and her breath reeked of alcohol. She stumbles her way into the dorm, nearly falling before Elise catches her.
"Wiggly will…clean up here. You two scurry on over to bed…I'll give you your souvenirs tomorrow." Her speech was slurred and Elise was adjusting herself so that Leaf didn't put her entire weight on her..
"Do you…need anything? A glass of water? Help to get to your room or…?" You ask, worried about her condition. When she doesn't respond, you look at Wiggly and Missy, who just emerged from Leaf's shadow. Both of them shake their heads before pointing at Leaf. She's snoring.
"I'll get her to bed, you finish up here, Mary. Missy, could you…?" The Mismagius grabs the keys off of you before guiding Elise, who was carrying Leaf on her back, up the stairs to your instructors room.
With no forthright answers coming from Wiggly, you help her clean up and afterwards carry Leaf's luggage upstairs before going to bed.
"Good Morning, Duckletts!" When you woke up earlier that morning, Leaf's Pokemon had already moved your instructor from the sofa to her room. Right now is your first class of the day, theoretical Battle Studies with Miss Leaf.
"I hope you've all read the guidelines for next week's Field Exercise. As I'm sure you're all aware, your first Field Exercise will be in Cortondo." Your class tentatively voices their agreement. Most of you still focused on Leaf's arm, which was still in a sling. She waved off your classmates' concern earlier, saying that the arm was just from an 'occupational hazard.'
She's also wearing glasses indoors. Must be a nasty hangover.
"If we're all on the same page, then I'm gonna be handing out your groupings and location assignments for next week." Here's hoping Manuel and Jacinto aren't in the same group.
As Leaf distributes a printout map of Cortondo, your eyes narrow in on the groupings at the bottom.
Group 1: Elise, Theodora, Ostia and Mariana
Group 2: Manuel, Jacinto, Erika, Nemona, Atticus
Oh that's not good. And from the shouting going on it seems your class is in agreement. You take one last look at the handout before jumping into the fray, just to see where your group is gonna be conducting its Field Exercise for the entirety of next week.
Group 1 Location Vote:
[] West Cortondo Province: Grasslands dotted by hills and ridges overlooking the valley where Cortondo is located, most of the farmlands in this part of the province were only recently established. Part of a recent Land Reform program begun by Champion Geeta, to both distribute lots to landless sharecroppers and to increase Cortondo's agricultural productivity to support Paldea's skyrocketing population. These new arrivals often come into conflict with the traditional landholding nobility of the Province.
Across the Guadania River lies the Marida Forest, with Marida Lake at its center. While normally a popular tourist destination, increased aggression and hostility from Pokemon alongside persistent rumors and reports of poaching in the area have seen the visits to the idyllic lake plummet.
- Group 1 will be assigned to West Cortondo, Group 2 will be assigned to East Cortondo
- Biomes Available:
- Guadania River: One of two rivers leading into Lake Toletum, the massive body of water surrounding Mesagoza. Rather deep in some places. Jumping in is ill-advised.
- Northern Grasslands: Much closer to Cascaraffa Province and the Beja Frontier. Covered in hills and rocky outcroppings. Cave entrances, both mapped and unmapped, are common. The latter are regularly patrolled by RMP and local Trainer Associations.
- Northern Farmlands: Recently established, some Bug and Grass types typical of large scale human Agricultural projects have begun to migrate in. Cortondo agricultural productivity and economic exports are reliant on a working relationship with said Pokemon Types, wild or otherwise.
- Lake Marida: Idyllic and tranquil, the lake hosts a number of rare aquatic Pokemon. Though capture of them is strictly regulated. It and the forest holds one of the last operating Ranger Stations in Cortondo.
- Marida Forest: Stretching from the Guadania all the way to the mountainside leading to Mt. Niebla, Marida Forest, while old, cannot compare to places like Tagtree or Fede. Most agricultural Pokemon in Cortondo Province had migrated from here.
- Southern Grasslands: Recently slated for expansion as per the Geeta's Land Reform program. Progress on that has crawled to a halt as noble intransigence has put the program into a deadlock. Contains a number of estates and farmsteads belonging to the Count de Cortondo and the Duke de Cascaraffa.
[] East Cortondo Province: The agricultural and economic heart of Cortondo. Vast farmlands managed by humans and Pokemon, occasionally broken up forests occupied by various Pokemon operating in mutually beneficial relationships with the locals. To its north lies the former Badajoz Province of pre-Great Collapse times. Built on its namesake plateau, it was fully abandoned by the time of Emperor Rodrigo's reunification of Paldea. But the centuries of human habitation, both its presence and its absence, have left its mark.
- Group 1 will be assigned to East Cortondo, Group 2 will be assigned to West Cortondo
- Biomes Available:
- Badajoz Heights: Badajoz was a mining settlement, the natural riches of its namesake plateau feeding the settlements prosperity, and if local legend is to be believed, its eventual downfall.
- Badajoz Ruins: Attempts throughout the centuries were made to resettle Badajoz after the Reunification. But none ever came to fruition. Now, rare Pokemon of all sorts inhabit the ruins.
- Cortondo Breadbasket: How does a region feed a population of millions while remaining hostile to local Pokemon? The answer is they don't. Long standing agreements and traditions between the people of Cortondo and wild Pokemon have led to a form of cohabitation. A farmer could manage his crops while a Vespiquen Hive was nearby, its Combees scouring the skies of the field for Pokemon that are a threat to both. Anything that could threaten this relationship could be catastrophic, so catching is extremely regulated.
- Badajoz Forest: Oh hey, it's the place where you nearly got trampled by a Sawsbuck. Well traveled and watched, most of the forest is, by the standards of Paldea, safe. Emphasis on most.
This took a while to finish cause I kept getting distracted by replaying CK2
Moratorium for 12 Hours
Thanks to Nemastrea for proofreading
- Location
- England
Mariana's mom instincts are too powerful. The fact that they were, in this instance, contained is either a phenomenal showing of her willpower or the result of Erika's efforts to go from being mom'd to being wife'd.
I'm sure it's nothing to worry about. We have much more important things to worry about anyway. Like- oh hey look, Nemona's doing Nemona things!
How does a floating metal arm with a single, expressionless eye seethe? I don't know. But boy, is it doing it.
Erika knows us too well.
"Nemona bullshit? Damnit. Time to deal with the Mariana fallout."