Trails of Tera Steel (Kiseki-inspired Pokemon Academy Quest)
- Thread starter ArvisPresley
- Start date
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Vote Closed
Expect update in a few days
Moon Door II: Bishop's Opening
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[X] Forever Four: No
[X] Chasing the Sun: Yes
[X] Chasing the Sun: Yes
There's something to the hustle and bustle of a truly big city that Leaf will never get tired of, always something new, something different or distracting just around the corner. It's pretty common among Rangers to grow to disdain cities for being what they are, a sentiment that she can understand but never really shared.
Well, she was never that good of a Ranger herself—
"Owowowow!" Leaf yelps in pain as Missy pulls on her earlobe, putting a stop to her self-depracating spiral. Her entire team is out, even Gooey who's snoozing on the floor by her feet, alongside her on the patio of one of Mesagoza's outdoor cafes. Wiggly looks at her with a raised brow as the Pokemon lifts a cup of tea to their face.
"Sorry, let my mind wander." Her mood has been utterly shot since Friday and only the sheer volume of work she's been buried in is keeping her busy enough to avoid relapsing for the second time in under a month.
Missy eases up in her shadow as Leaf takes a sip of her latte, her second one of the day. Her seat is in the back of the cafe, and one of its big selling points is that it offers a nice view over the rest of Mesagoza. It's situated in one of the richer parts of the city, the Crown district near the Imperial Palace and where the "elite" of Mesagoza primarily reside.
From this high up, the sprawling vastness of the world's largest city can almost be overwhelming. A singular urban metropolis almost as large as the Kanto Three; Saffron, Celadon and Cerulean combined. Of the places she's been to, only Castelia can honestly compare, and that place cheats by building upwards as much as possible.
The setting sun grants a beautiful hue to the city's colors, all its buildings big and small, like gems in that gaudy crown Carlos once showed her. And like with that crown which had a massive carved gem in the middle, at Mesagoza's highest point is the very symbol of Imperial Power, the Palace of the El Campeador.
A big ol' palace complex built on the side of a mountain. While it doesn't compare in sheer size to Ecruteak's Heian or Kalos' Parfum Palace, it's the only one of them that's still actually in use by royalty and not just an over-glorified tourist trap.
Which makes it all the more irritating that Carlos is taking this long to meet up with her! He literally lives in the palace, even. Or at least in one of the manors for the Arnors scattered around the district.
Ditzy makes a gurgling sound as he crawls up her boot, having finished his own meal. The Ditto is in its pink gelatinous state, her Pokemon being too lazy to morph into another form while resting. Wiggly makes a tut-tutting noise to scold Ditto from crawling up her boots.
She leans back in her chair as she closes her eyes, basking in a rare moment of rest for her and her Pokemon, content to just exist as is. She almost dozes off, if not for the faint sound of a violin playing in the distance. It's distinct enough to be heard past the din and noise of her surroundings.
"Shadows that you cast, like the stars above. Leave without a trace, once morning light has come." She hums the song's lyrics under her breath as the sound of music approaches, a very familiar voice singing in tune with the violin.
As the source of the voice nears her spot in the cafe, the other patrons turn their head towards the violinist either in appreciation for the music or to see who's playing. Not her, though. Leaf has spent far too much time with him to know that attention is exactly what he wants.
Though from how high his voice sounds, even more so than usual, Carlos might be a her today.
The sounds of footsteps come to a stop right next to her as she still remains vehemently opposed to playing along with whatever her employer is trying to pull. The music, however, is causing Gooey to wake up from his nap. The Dragon-type looks up blearily at the new arrival, perking up once he realizes who it is and waves one of his antennae at them.
Leaf sighs, no point in trying to ignore them now. The rest of her Pokemon, traitors that they are, are already greeting Carlos, who's still waiting for her response behind her.
"Are you going by she today or…?" Carlos lightly chuckles, as they take the empty seat right next to Leaf. Alongside the royal is Psi, Carlos' Espeon; likely serving as their bodyguard with Carlos' knight nowhere in sight.
"Yes, and it's Clarice today. I do apologize for being tardy, something came up. I'll tell you once we get comfortable." Clarice is thankfully wearing something casual and rather conservative for her usual tastes. A subdued light pink suit that fits her decently long silver hair and deep red eyes, while not hugging too tightly to her slender frame.
Born Carlos Hugo Arnor, Clarice is the eldest child of Crown Princess Arcadia Anna Arnor, making her the theoretical second in line to succeed the Paldean throne. Though in practice, the succession is a lot more contested. At least from what Clarice explained to her. Leaf's friend's gender fluidity is, despite her mother's support, a closely kept secret of the immediate Imperial family.
The two of them met almost a decade ago back during Leaf's first deployment in Sinnoh, when Clarice was just a precocious little teen wandering the world without a purpose. It sometimes still baffles her how Clarice managed to become friends with someone like her.
Clarice pulls out a thin folder of documents from within the violin case Psi levitates for her. A near transparent bubble surrounds the table, shielding their conversation from any unwanted listeners. Leaf raises an eyebrow at how quickly Clarice is getting into business, usually she opens with some small talk or preamble.
"As an apology for my tardiness, do accept this. It's what I was able to gather in regards to Raifort without attracting undue attention from my uncle." Leaf nearly tears the folder out of Clarice's hands. Her own efforts to investigate Arasia came up short. The woman's Interpol record only turned up a Semifinalist spot in the 2014 Kalos Conference, a mostly successful Alolan Island Challenge and a brief stint in the Aether Foundation.
Arasia left Aether before that incident in Alola, meaning she wasn't caught up in the investigations surrounding it. Not that Leaf would have access to since it's still somehow beyond her clearance to know, either as a Ranger or as Interpol.
"She's working for your uncle?" Leaf asks as she sifts through and reads the documents. Marked on the top left is the sigil for the Servicio de Información de la liga, a Pokeball flanked by two pillars atop a stylization of a globe; that little band of spooks organized by Geeta with Imperial approval.
"Only tangentially, she's employed at Mesagoza Labs which is a subsidiary of Dorado-Medali." Leaf holds back a sigh. Despite her best efforts, she's being forced to learn more and more about Paldean politics. Dorado-Medali is a massive international conglomerate owned and run by the de Medalis; fingers in nearly every pie you can think of, Shipping, Rail, Banking, Fashion and many many others. A veritable megacorp that could almost compare to Macro Cosmos at its height, its only real domestic rival is the Mendoza Group.
Turning a page, Leaf sees the woman's employment history in the gap between working for Aether and menacing one of her students now. Left Aether in just under a year before being hired by Macro Cosmos, wherein Arasia found herself swiftly promoted, a move that reeks of corporate espionage.
Arasia would work for Macro Cosmos for a few years before being transferred over to the Mesagoza Cosmos subsidiary, meaning she was able to get away scot free when Macro Cosmos went under. Many of the international branches of Rose's company got scooped up by the foreign regions hosting them, a rebrand later and Mesagoza Labs continued now under Dorado-Medali patronage.
Leaf clicks her tongue as the rest of Clarice's report just details either secondhand workplace rumors, like the woman being hard to work with or demanding. To things she already knew like team composition, which if the report is to be believed, remained the same since Arasia's brief stint in Kalos; which is doubtful.
"Thanks, Clarice. At least I know where to look now." Leaf says as she hands the folder over to Wiggly, who inhales it in a single gulp for storage and safekeeping. She's long given up trying to find out how Wiggly stores things in her stomach, and Daisy's already busy with her own projects for Leaf to bother her for such a thing. Though an excuse to hear her voice doesn't sound too bad.
"It's no issue, Leaf. Now, how about you? I was briefed on what had happened and…" Leaf sighs as Missy gives her a hug with her shadowy tendrils, sensing her distress. A detail that Clarice did not miss, as a flicker of worry briefly flashed on her face.
"It feels like I'm back in Sevii whenever he crosses my mind, like I haven't moved on and made a life for myself." Some days Leaf can almost forget what she's like as a person, where she can pretend to just be a Ranger or an Interpol agent.
Surge disabuses her of that notion.
"For the longest time I was—well not okay, but I had accepted leaving him to Silver. Arguing with him over letting me help in his crusade got exhausting." Leaf looks far off into the distance, in the direction of Rime where she last saw her brother. She could always pretend to move on, to live a life past Rocket but Silver would never allow himself to do something like that.
"But after Rime and this…" From what Cass and the RMP had been able to find, that specific base she and the kids raided had been in operation for months now. Testimonies from captured poachers confirmed that Surge had been in contact with them for nearly as long. Whoever Surge is working for has plans for Paldea, and from the look of things, they're having him settle in for the long haul.
To the point that they even had him take his Luxray and Manectric back from Satellite, leaving the Rimean crime group to fend for itself. It's part of Surge's modus operandi, going back as far as when Pryce took over. He'd leave behind some of his hand-raised Pokemon to act as emergency muscle for the Rocket cells, while also having a way to keep them in line. Most of his Pokemon are strong enough to operate on their own and smart enough to boss their assigned cells around.
"You've made a life for yourself, a very impressive one I do say so myself. You shouldn't let a ruffian like him worm his way back into your world." Leaf has to stop herself from smiling as Clarice tries to lift her spirits. The kid has always had blinders on when it comes to her. A little one-sided crush since Sinnoh, though both of them know by now that it'll never go anywhere.
"Hopefully, I can manage that." She says halfheartedly, scratching at Ditzy's gelatinous head as her Pokemon purrs in delight.
"As you once said to me during my time of crisis, 'Only you can decide your future, the present can build it, the past can inform it, but it must be your choice in the end.'" She rolls her eyes as Clarice adds an exaggerated theatrical flourish to the quote. Thankfully Clarice isn't doing an impression of her alongside it.
"Don't make it sound so important! I just cribbed that from the Professor!" She whines as Clarice chuckles at her protestations. If Clarice somehow manages to say that quote to her students before she does, she's gonna be pissed!
With that, the conversation turned away from the serious topics they opened with and into a more casual direction. Asking how one another's Pokemon are faring, apparently Clarice's Meowscarada recently gave birth to a litter of Sprigatito. They're being taken care of directly by the royal's other Pokemon at least until they're old enough to go off on their own. At some point she teases Clarice by asking how things with Val are going, causing the royal to pout.
"I'm starting to feel it's hopeless, you'd think Galar would've changed things but whenever I think I have him, he pulls away embarrassed!" Clarice petulantly flops her face down onto the table between them and the Espeon rolls her eyes at her trainer's dramatic display.
"Have you considered just outright telling him what you feel?" Leaf says with no small amount of smug teasing. Clarice blanches in disgust.
"Xerneas, no, it's not natural. I want it to be perfect! A moment of tender closeness leading to passion long suppressed being released! And then….hehehehehe…" An indescribable expression (not because she didn't know what it was, Leaf just didn't want to process it) crept up on Clarice's face as she giggled. Leaf sends a pitying and apologetic look at Psi as the Espeon looked dead inside.
"Where is he, anyways? Isn't he your sworn knight and junk?" Clarice had explained it to her once. Beyond just the retinue and bodyguards expected of a member of Paldean royalty, each royal can assign for themselves a personal knight answerable only to them. Something that apparently goes all the way back to Rodrigo. Technically, the Champion is the Emperor's sworn knight, granted authority over the armies and warriors of the Empire.
"Ah yes, I almost forgot about that." Clarice cleans herself up as she leans in closer to her, a mostly serious expression on the royal's face, trying to whisper something in her as if they didn't have a sound nullifying barrier over the two of them.
"I had secured a deal with Ser Herman, that senechal Class VII captured. He'll name names and contacts for us to investigate, in exchange we're taking him and his family into protective custody." Leaf clicks her tongue at the information. A part of her smarms at letting someone like that noble get away with what they've done but she knows how the game is played. She'll just have to deal with it.
"I understand that it's disgraceful but I have reason to believe that whatever has been transpiring in Cortondo, nay all of Paldea, goes beyond a mere criminal conspiracy. The presence of Surge alone is cause for concern." Clarice's expression is now fully serious, all traces of mirth and playfulness gone.
In a low voice, Leaf responds, "Do you think it's…?"
Leaf has had a long and storied career as a Ranger and a rather short but still fruitful one as an Interpol agent.
Some things still stick in her mind years after the fact.
Sinnoh. Prior to Galactic being illegalized and after the failed Valley Windworks takeover forced them underground, records later retrieved show that they had received vast amounts of financial aid from offshore and unknown sources. Someone called Sird repeatedly came up, an obvious pseudonym.
Almia. Dim Sun Admin and former Vice Chair of the Almian Ranger Academy, and all around piece of shit, Kincaid Mirakado evaded getting captured by her junior after his attempts to unite the remnants of the Neo-Cipherist group failed. According to Katerin, someone matching Surge's description took him and left.
Alola. Aether Director Faba was arrested following the foundation's collapse. Leaf didn't know the details but the transport moving him to a secure Interpol prison in Unova was attacked leaving no survivors. His body was never found. Bodycam footage retrieved from the wreck showed an unknown assailant, wearing a strange metallic suit.
Galar. Another thing where she isn't privy to the full details, but from what Clarice told her, Rose and Oleana had been in contact with someone. Said someone provided them archeological and logistical support in the search for a Legendary Pokemon. Who that someone is remains unknown because despite the cooperativeness of the two to Interpol, they do not remember. Psychic analysis shows that their memories had been surgically tampered with to a masterful and frightening degree.
"I'll trust your judgment, Clarice," Leaf eventually says and lets out a sigh. A look halfway between grateful and apologetic worms its way to the royal's face, causing her to roll her eyes.
"Thank you, as always. In regards to where my dear knight is, he's currently watching over Ser Herman reunite with his family. I left Reynauld with him just in case. Once the senechal has his reunion, they'll be swiftly moved to a secure—-"
An annoyingly familiar ringtone interrupted Clarice's explanation. Giving her a sheepish look and a quick apology, the royal took the call. Honestly, she doesn't need to apologize to her, it's fine—
"He's what!?" Clarice's face grew deathly pale, the shock in her friend's expression forcing Leaf to sit up straight and lean in to listen. The royal turns to face Leaf, cupping a hand over the phone to respond to her. "The Senechal, he's—"
"Dad, are you in trouble?" Herman Godoy looks down at his daughter, Hannah, with a weary expression. She's holding his hand, her Turtwig in the baby carrier she's wearing.
He'd like to think that he did nothing explicitly wrong. That he was merely following orders as per his duties as the steward of his Lord's household in Cortondo.
But he would not have become seneschal of such an estate at such a young age if he were a fool. The Prince's evidence is undeniable, just thinking about the full picture of what he'd been party to out east curdles his stomach. Herman can't exactly claim ignorance, though. Exotic Pokemon from sources of ill repute did occasionally cross the Lord's estate and thus his record books and accounting.
"Y-yes. Don't worry, His Highness promised to keep us safe, but we'll have to move cities, alright?" His daughter turns away glumly, staring down at the floor.
At 12 years old, some people find Hannah to be rather quiet and unenergetic for her age, but she's alway been like that. It doesn't make her many friends in Sunday School, at least according to his wife. But that's fine, she'll make her own connections her own way once she grows older, hopefully better ones than his.
Speaking of, his wife, Josefa refuses to speak with him. Aside from a curt greeting when she and their child arrived, she barely acknowledged him. Spent more time apologizing and thanking Prince Carlos for his mercy.
Herman sighs as His Highness' Knight, Ser Valentine escorts his family out of the interrogation room he's been kept in for hours now. The Prince left in a hurry half an hour ago for an appointment or some other thing royals get themselves up to. Herman and his family were kept in that room until proper transport arrangements were finished for all of them.
At the Knight's side are a number of men and women dressed in the distinct uniforms of the RMP. He'd been in their custody since he was arrested by children a mere two days ago. Rude, but fortunately they were not ruffians so as to touch him directly.
A part of him still smarms at how it was Lord Cascaraffa's own bastard heir that had orchestrated his arrest. What he had was merely thought a curious class holding both a child of the Mendozas and that upjumped bureaucrat sprog had somehow managed to convince a portion of the garrison to go against their orders. Even if he's starting to doubt Lord Cortondo, it's still irritating.
Also with Ser Valentine are two Pokemon, the Prince's Meowscarada and the Knight's own Skeledirge, forming a sort of vanguard at the front. The procession's rear covered by a number of the RMP's Pokemon. At his side next to his family is a League-trained Kadabra ready to teleport him and his family away in case anything happens.
He can't particularly say whether so many precautions are needed. He's never had much interest in battling after all, his sole Pokemon was handed down to him from his father and who he officially gave to Hannah for her 10th Birthday. It was more of a formality than anything, Turtwig's been with her since she was born. His lack of interest in battling is reflected in the Grass-type who's simply too lazy to battle.
Needed or not, it does help calm the nerves a tad.
Stepping out of the doors of the interrogation room, he's led into a hallway with a view of the outside. The distinctive infrastructure and the imposing silhouette of El Campeador in the distance tells him he's in Mesagoza. Did the RMP transfer him from Cortondo overnight while he was asleep?
Next to him, Hannah makes a fussing noise as her Turtwig squirms in their baby carrier.
"What's the matter, Turty? Is something wrong?" Hannah asks the seemingly panicking Grass-Type.
"I'd listen to him if I were you, though it's kinda late for that."
Herman blinks.
One moment he was looking at a familiar world, he and his family's escort around him. Next moment he is staring at a world that makes no sense. It's as if a shroud of darkness descended over everything masking in a hazy distorted view, like looking through murky water at the tiles of a pool beneath. Around him shadows where the others, including his family, should be contorted and stretched. Occasionally solidifying into a facsimile of the person who was in the spot the shadow stood before dissipating.
But most strange, almost to the point of being terrifying, is the small boy right in front of him. Dressed in gaudy clothes and wearing face paint that alongside the light pink hair made the child look like a clown. He is also the only one that seemed real, filled with vibrant color whereas the shadows around him looked dull and grayed out.
"Who? What? Where?" Herman asks in a panicked flurry. A pit of terror and unease forming in his stomach at the sight of the strange environment.
"Big Sis says to use Fool in missions which is kinda mean. I like to think I'm pretty smart actually! That second one's kinda hard to answer. And finally, you're in a sort of distortion pocket thingie that Jest put you in. Don't worry, time doesn't pass outside. Much." The child answered in quick succession, the grin never leaving their face for even a moment. Such flippancy is infuriating, the anger distracting him from the bizarre situation he's in for a moment.
Before Herman could respond, the child continued.
"You did forget to ask Why, which is actually the most important of the 5Ws. At least you didn't ask When." A truly sinister and malicious grin grew on the child's face, stretching their features to a grotesque degree.
"If you did, I'd have wiped your brain then and there. I'd have even said 'Then and There!' as I did as a joke answer cause uh…y'know it means now and—" The sheer casualness and levity that the child said those words sent a chill down his spine.
Herman tries to back away but to his utter horror he finds that he can't move even a single muscle other than his head.
Ignoring his struggle to move, the child continues to speak. "As for the Why, well c'mon, you can take a guess! Here's a hint!" Suddenly, the child's voice grew octaves deeper, speaking as if multiple people spoke through them.
"You really shouldn't have snitched."
Terror shifted to pure unbridled fear as the implications of what the child has said set in. How did the Count even find, no, convince someone like this to work with him!
"Like c'mon, you weren't even squeezed all that much, no touching or anything and you already started squealing!? No wonder Sis is mad." The child turned to look behind him as if he wasn't alone, before turning back to face him.
He had no choice! You don't just say no to a Prince!
At least that was what he wanted to say to defend himself.
"You're all sickening! My family comes first before whatever the Count and the Dukes are planning!" Herman quickly bit his tongue as words he didn't mean to say spilled out. What?!
If it was possible, the child's smile grew even wider, they looked more like a set of teeth with a face around it, than a human kid.
"O~ooh I love when that happens! You can't lie in the Dusk, a soul is at its purest here!" The child is almost giggling at his expense, exaggeratingly wiping a tear off his eye.
"You're a riot, but I gotta do my job now, y'know? Just gonna make sure a couple of your memories can't be recovered even by that Psychic Gym Leader. Don't have time for anything long lasting so this will absolutely, positively hurt." Like a ghost, the boy didn't even move his legs to approach him, try as Herman might, the child casually approached and with it , his inevitable doom.
Crack
The sound was a small thing. Barely audible. But in the utter silence of his strange environment, it was deafening. Right on the child's waist is a small crack, light seeping out of it. The boy stared at it in surprise and a small amount of curiosity, as if it's the first time he's ever seen something like it.
Crack
The crack spreads, and curiosity turns to panic.
Then, accompanied by the sound of glass cracking and a feline roar, the world shattered.
Herman blinks and he's once more returned to the real world. In front of him, mere feet away, right where the boy was standing in that bizarre vision is a truly bizarre creature. Or is it a Pokemon?
Gaudy bright, almost blinding colors on a body connected to white limbs with the texture of rough cotton rather than skin or flesh. Right where the creature's head should be is instead a glowing orb covered in numerous colorful dots and floating above an empty spot surrounded by a frilly neck. It is also struggling against the large number of burning strings trapping it and its long spindly arms and legs.
The others haven't moved from where they were, confirming what that had said about time not passing in the real world. The exceptions to this are the two Pokemon right beside Ser Valentine.
His Highness's Meowscarada is restraining the strange Pokemon with a ludicrous number of strings emerging from the Pokemon's signature yoyo on Grass-Types right arm. Perched atop it is the strange fiery bird that is always with Ser Valentine's Skeledirge, its eyes are aglow with energy, flames crawling down it and spreading across, but not burning, Meowscarada's yoyo.
Whatever joint technique both Pokemon are using, it's preventing the strange creature from fading away. Whenever it tries, becoming see-through in the process; the bird and with it the strings glow an unearthly purple, burning the strange Pokemon forcing it to stop.
"You again! We're prepared for you this time!" Ser Valentine grunts as his Skeledirge slithers surprisingly fast towards the strange Pokemon. The Fire-Type wraps itself around the still restrained creature like a serpent, its claws dig in on it and Skeledigre's clamps down on its large spherical head. The creature continues to glow and struggle against the two Pokemon binding it.
It seems Ser Valentine's voice manages to bring everyone back to their senses as sounds of alarm ring out from behind Herman. Of them, the Kadabra is the first to react. The Psychic reaches out to grab him and his family to teleport them away from the chaos slowly playing in front of him.
"NONONONO! BIG SIS IS COUNTING ON ME!"
A series of bizarre ill-congruent noises rapidly emanate from the strange creature. Closer to a video being distorted than it is to a Pokemon's cry.
The strange Pokemon glows blindingly bright, with such intensity that it scorches some of the string binding its limbs and sets Meowscarada and Kadabra aflame, causing the latter to flinch away while the former merely adjusts its yoyo and tightens its grip on bizarre creature. The glass and tiled floor surrounding the creature black and are scorched from the heat, creating a noxious smell of burning glass and ceramic in the air. Only a number of hastily established barriers from one of the RMP Pokemon prevents the humans from getting hurt by the scorching light, it still however forces him and others to look away.
Herman grabs his daughter and wife, pushing them behind him; away from harm. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees the creature's head balloon in size straining the grip Skeledirge's jaw had on it.
The ball head glows.
Finding trying to bite down on its opponent futile, Skeledirge roars causing a shadowy barrier to form in front of Herman and the others, reinforcing the one already made of the spare RMP Psychic.
And then the head explodes.
The blast causes Skeledirge to be thrown away, impacting the hallways wall with such force, the Fre-Type is sent right through. The remaining string binding the creature being burned as well. Shadowy barriers protect Meowscarada and Ser Valentine from the brunt of the attack as the surroundings around them burn or are destroyed by the explosion. The glass in the hallway's mirrors are scorched, then shattered in quick succession as Herman and the others or also thrown away by the force of the blast, the shadowy barriers, saving them from the worst of it.
Flung towards a wall, Herman impacts it and cries out in pain. The heat of the explosion has turned the surroundings unbearably hot and even if they were spared from the worst of the blast, the heat is still extremely painful.
Blinking away the spots of white in his eyes Herman hears Josefa and Hannah cry out his name. They were flung towards the RMP, meaning alongside Skeledirge's barriers that they were unharmed as best they could be from the blast.
Having pushed away the attacks against it temporarily, the strange creatures turns to him and—
Herman blinks and once more he's returned to that utterly strange world. A distinctly unhappy and injured child, the same one from earlier, in front of him. Slowly closing cracks remained across his body, light seeping out of them.
"Dangitdangitdangit! Sis is gonna be sososososo disappointed! I was gonna take my time, find a way for you to live, but now—" The child, face set in a genuinely angry scowl, pulls out a comically large mallet from nowhere. The child prepares to swing, right at him.
For a brief moment, the real world flashes once more, the strange creature lifting an arm to strike at him, Meowscarada desperately trying to break whatever grip it has on him, despite its injuries.
In that infinitely long moment lasting singular seconds before the mallet—arm hit him, memories flashed before his eyes.
It was not of life like he had expected but of moments taken and removed, now returning at such close proximity to the one who took them.
It was a few months ago. His Lord had been having important guests over and he was swamped with work and exhausted from arranging the preparations for it. Herman is meticulous enough to know which rooms are in use and which aren't at any exact moment, so as he entered a room he thought empty to rest for a moment, he had found it actually occupied to his surprise.
It's not a room typically used by the other servants for their own breaks and it's out of the way enough that the Lord and his guests, the Dukes Medali and Cascaraffa, would not be using the room as a secondary as their discussion moved.
But it was occupied.
He cannot remember the faces and voices, those were scrubbed clean prior, but there were a few of them. The boy was among them certainly and they all seemed casual and laid back as if they were in conversation with one another. Like they were not expecting anyone to be near.
It was a careless slip of a word. One Word. Three Syllables. Innocuous on its own but clearly of grave importance to the occupants of that room. For it is a Name. And with a name, someone or something can be known and thus can be seen.
With what force of will he can muster, he utters the word, hoping that one of the RMP or His Highness' Knight can hear it.
"XA—"
In the real, the arm was mere inches away from his head.
"-NA—"
He's sorry that he's failed his family, that he's leaving them behind. It wasn't supposed to end like this.
"-DU."
But end it did, and end he did.
Chasing the Sun: With Mariana planning to challenge her second gym either during the month or during the Field Exercise, she'll have to make a choice on which it will be. Or maybe even both at the same time.
[] Before Field Exercise II
Mariana can choose which Gym she will challenge. While she won't have to journey on foot, there is still travel time to account for depending on the gym, either increasing or decreasing AP expenditure. Mariana will also have to undergo a Gym Test, a specialized exam that not only tests your Pokemon's capabilities but also other aspects that vary per gym. And last but certainly not least, the Gym Battle itself.
[] During Field Exercise II
As a proud student of Mesagoza Academy, Field Exercises provides her an opportunity to not only be prioritized in terms of wait and scheduling. But also lets Mariana skip the Gym Test entirely. Looking back on it, she's thankful that her challenge wasn't scheduled on Friday, even if she did understand why it happened. Even so, that was an exhausting Field Exercise, a part of her hopes the next ones aren't as hectic. Though what are the chances something like that happens again?
[] Both
Nemona had already booked a train to challenge her second Gym soon after Class VII returned to Mesagoza. While you're unfortunately unable and not confident enough to match a pace like that, you can try your best. It won't be easy, but achieving the things you want never are.
And with that, we are officially, finally through with Field Exercise 1
12 Hour Moratorium
Thanks to Nemastrea and Tempera for Proofreading
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XANADU: The Name of the Enemy
- Pronouns
- She/Her
In the writings of the Geomantic Church, XANADU was believed to be the true name of Xerneas' garden, of an eternal otherworldly paradise. And that after the Cataclysm, man had been expelled from it for his sins.
"Upon this garden, we shall make the Earthly Paradise."
"All in the name of guiding humanity down the right path."
"And they shall be granted Dominion over man..."
"Upon this garden, we shall make the Earthly Paradise."
???
"All in the name of guiding humanity down the right path."
???
???
???
"And they shall be granted Dominion over man..."
"Big Sis says to use Fool in missions which is kinda mean. I think I'm pretty smart actually!"
???
Hopefully it's one of the ones who's quick about it. "Chariot, out." With the call over, it means his fun is also coming to an end.
???
"Extract yourself and rendezvous with the transports. Do be subtle about it. Temperance, out." The fact she doesn't answer him means the answer is yes.
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- Location
- Plato's Cave
Oh so Pryce did take over Rocket at some point, as per the manga. Neat.
A disturbing amount of cross-region conspiracy, huh. The "strange metallic suit" that rescued Faba sounds like it's the Expansion Suit that in the XY post-game was used semi-willingly by Emma - which was developed by a Team Flare remnant (their main scientist, Xerosic). We know from Surge's POV segment that Sird is apparently in Kalos right now, so there's a connection there...
Dunno about the frozen world thing but oh fuck that's a Blacephalon - UB Burst. Horrifying in implications, especially since Leaf mentioned that the Aether Foundation incident, however it played out, is very much top secret and not being told to anyone.
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I'm gonna be so sad once the sun react is gone
- Pronouns
- He
Curiously, there are missing Tarots in this lineup.
Something special about the ones chosen? Or simply members we can't confirm the existence of?
- Pronouns
- She/Her
The Head, The Eye, and The Claw huh?
You feed me too well Arvis.
An Arnor coming down, making an introduction by singing songs while playing an instrument, truly there was no other way to do it.
This whole section has a lot of places and dates which someone should probably try and line up with the dates we have in the "Game Events" informational.
For example, a decade ago in Sinnoh?
That was the when the plot of Diamond (Platinum even.) happened, or started at least. Which means our dear Arnor, and Leaf may have both been "party members" back then aha.
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Lexica
Persevere
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Oooh, the conspiracy here is pretty spooky! And worryingly international. Would not be surprised if by the theoretical year 3 the stakes have escalated in true jrpg fashion to "now you're fighting an evil god for the fate of the world".
Very cool glimpse at the wider stakes though!
As for the vote, I'm honestly strongly favoring trying for both? As I've mentioned every time this comes up, I think doing a gym at every opportunity is just like, strictly optimal in terms of exp, even if we do lose.
Very cool glimpse at the wider stakes though!
As for the vote, I'm honestly strongly favoring trying for both? As I've mentioned every time this comes up, I think doing a gym at every opportunity is just like, strictly optimal in terms of exp, even if we do lose.
- Location
- Victoria, BC
This makes it sound like Sabrina is also a criminal. She was Team Rocket like Surge in the manga.
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I'm really torn on the vote, on one side I'm against sprinting after the Sun at full tilt, and we might not have that many actions during the month to double down on doing two gyms in the span of the next month, especially when we lose an AP to being the Class Prez for Leaf.
But... at the same time. We were forced to face a Shadow Pokemon of Badge 5 Strength, and we got out of it mostly okay, but there's only one way to ensure future encounters will be safe too, and that is to powerlevel... (I am aware "We must never be in danger again, so let's devote a lot of time to getting stronger" sure sounds like a trauma response, but it's just practical yknow!)
So to state it clearly, against chasing the Sun in the long-term... but we do need to get stronger quickly so like... I think I will be voting Both when the time comes, but I won't be happy about it.
(EDIT: And obviously we're not just doing it for Selfish reasons, we're the Class Prez! It's our duty to protect our class when things get out of hand clearly! And if anything goes wrong it will be our fault. ...I said I'm against chasing the Sun, not against unhealthy mindsets all together
)
But... at the same time. We were forced to face a Shadow Pokemon of Badge 5 Strength, and we got out of it mostly okay, but there's only one way to ensure future encounters will be safe too, and that is to powerlevel... (I am aware "We must never be in danger again, so let's devote a lot of time to getting stronger" sure sounds like a trauma response, but it's just practical yknow!)
So to state it clearly, against chasing the Sun in the long-term... but we do need to get stronger quickly so like... I think I will be voting Both when the time comes, but I won't be happy about it.
(EDIT: And obviously we're not just doing it for Selfish reasons, we're the Class Prez! It's our duty to protect our class when things get out of hand clearly! And if anything goes wrong it will be our fault. ...I said I'm against chasing the Sun, not against unhealthy mindsets all together
)
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SolarGemX
The Crystalized Sun
- Location
- Somewhere in the Cosmos
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Stares at the options.... oh distortion to the hell nah. Im aint getting involve in this soon to be dumnster fire. Its 1 am. I should be asleep. Night yall, dont let the Firewotk clown get ya and please keep all fire/poison/ghost/psychic types in their pokeballs during the vote. Water/ grass types and Nurse Joys are in standby, dont make them work more than they need to.
- Pronouns
- She/Her
No, we absolutely cannot get to the point of beating a second gym 2v3 before the next Field Exercise. We can get there by then, but not before.
However, once we get Renne to Bond 3, we can blast through multiple gyms in quick succession with an actual even number of Pokémon, so we can double-time next month.
However, once we get Renne to Bond 3, we can blast through multiple gyms in quick succession with an actual even number of Pokémon, so we can double-time next month.
- Location
- Australia
One Grandmaster, Three Anguis, Five Enforcers. Pares things down nicely for following in a Quest.
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Alright so you're suggesting only do one gym at the Field Exercise, and in the meantime, power bond with Renne to make her useable and then do double time next month...
...It's probably the smarter choice, but it's a bit slow, and I do think we could take at least gym 2 as a 2v3. After all, both Roland and Ruby are Badge-2 already, and it wont take too much to get them to Badge-3 before we take that second gym, so we might not have the numbers but we'll have the 'level' advantage.
Another factor in our strength fo4 later gym battles would be evolution.
Roland is getting close, Extreme Speed is right around the corner and with it, Drakloak.
Renee should be ready, but her evolution is story locked at bond 4.
Ruby apparently requires a steady mineral diet, which could take some time.
Roland is getting close, Extreme Speed is right around the corner and with it, Drakloak.
Renee should be ready, but her evolution is story locked at bond 4.
Ruby apparently requires a steady mineral diet, which could take some time.
- Pronouns
- She/They
Am I caught up? No. But fuck it, there's too much meat on this bone to not do it live.
The Trails equivalent, btw, would be the Valflame Palace, because at some point they just started giving up on the Nordic theme halfway through words.
Past trauma regarding certain games' endings (and their sequels' middles) require me to write the next couple of paragraphs teary-eyed, so excuse any typos.
Prince Carlos, or today Princess Clarice, our local duplicate of Prince Olivert Reise Arnor, the common thread of I think every Trails arc, if not game (they got a cheap knockoff for Zero) up until the most recent one. I'm going to spoil a bunch of really obvious-in-hindsight plot twists for the whole Trails in the Sky trilogy in the rest of this post so buckle up for that.
I do always like to give credit to Olivert for being an out and proud bi man in a JRPG all the way back in 2004, even if the game didn't handle everything about his character with tact (please stop hitting on teenagers). Arvis has, to my great appreciation as a being whose identity never matches her actions, upped the ante with a genderfluid pr...hm. What's the gender neutral child of a monarch? Let's just use "Successor" so I can hurt Arvis emotionally, even if Clarice is likely not inheriting.
It's worth noting that, while I am comparing her to Olivert in Trails of Cold Steel, Clarice is in a bit of a different political situation. Olivert was the eldest son of the reigning monarch, but would never inherit since he was the child of a true love fling between Eugent III and a commoner, a trope that definitely doesn't get overused for angst in Erebonian noble characters. Succession instead went to his younger half-brother Cedric, and Olivert variously turned his position to his advantage in trying to support the royal family without needing to worry about inheriting. Clarice here seems to be in a bit of a different position in that there's nothing legally barring Prince Carlos from inheriting, but the public might not be ready for that yet. She's also got a parent between herself and the throne so let's just hope Princess Arcadia doesn't get on a boat any time soon.
Okay he's mostly known for being an insane ranting weirdo but that's just what being old and rich does to you.
Calling this ship bait for Leaf/Daisy Oak would normally be a stretch, but I'm starting to think it's a bigger stretch to assume any two given women aren't gay for each other at this point in the quest. At the very least, it seems Leaf probably misses the Pallet Town gang, whether she's from there in this version or not.
Who will always be my real favorite Pokémon Rival, even if he was kinda bad at it in-game?
Also I need to actually write down and memorize that Satellite is the Rime mafia group for if I ever actually do start writing Trails From Area Zero/Detective Pikablue as omakes.
(That was the closest I could come up with to a play on Trails to Azure ok leave me alone)
I mean, I wonder if any of the royal felines will come up again in the future when we have a transfer student witching it up.
Also, seems that in addition to making my gag about Sinnoh come true, Clarice was also around for the actual parallel to Trails in the Sky 1-2, the Sword and Shield plot. I really want some details there because I'm horribly biased to Sky as a subseries, if all my asides about it weren't enough of a clue.
Also I deeply pity that poor Espeon.
Anyway. Enough speculation, let's see the Big Bads' organization in action.
EDIT: See below that this isn't Ostia, but like, they have access to the same stuff, so I'm leaving this statement alone.
Oh and right. One more song from the Sky OST, and I promise, I'll go back to Cold Steel and Pokémon music next time.
EDIT: The QM has kindly informed me that The Fool is NOT Ostia. I believe that it was a reasonable mistake to make, but allow me to blow holes in my commentary with a shotgun of strikethrough.
Misgendering your assassin. Points off. Although I suppose Ostia isn't going to bother correcting him.
So, this is extremely obviously Ostia, in scary villain mode. An interesting note for canon parallels here is that while Ostia has the face of Renne, an Enforcer of Ouroboros, they've picked up the aesthetic gimmick of a different Enforcer - Renne is Enforcer No. XV - the Angel of Slaughter (because she's too chuunibyou to just call herself The Devil. Or maybe that's actually cult trauma. Hadn't thought about that until now.) The JRPG Union-mandated evil clown calling himself Enforcer No. 0 - The Fool is a fellow named Campanella. Who might actually get credit for being the canon genderfluid rep? He wears a dress sometimes, I don't know if he ever changes pronouns. He's also the only Enforcer who seems even kind of interested in personal loyalty to Ouroboros's leader, as they're a bit more mercenary, but I've rambled enough. "Big Sis" is probably Raifort, but it could be another member of this organization.
Also, this whole scene locks in a great deal of speculation (EDIT: by association, since it's very obvious Raifort is the common denominator here): Ostia and Raifort are working for THE Big Bad Organization that are going to be the main villains here even beyond the scope of the Paldean political situation (although frankly, Ouroboros in Cold Steel spends about half their time getting their shit stolen by Osborne and the other half of the time working with him because they have the same end goal anyway.) They're the ones behind Surge in the same way that Surge was the man behind the poaching operation, and they seem to have been picking up evil Pokégoons from all over. This is simpler than all those things being unconnected, but it's nice to see the full shape of the antagonists now regardless.
Ostia I love you but you've really got to work on your delivery.
I still have no idea what this place is.
Ostia's Fool's proxy, is an Ultra Beast: Blacephalon, otherwise known as UB: Burst or the Fireworks Pokémon. It's a Fire/Ghost type that explodes its own head.
Ostia a trainer in the "real world".
I wonder if part of the preparation was making sure to bring Clarice's Meowscarada. As we've seen ourselves, Dark-type moves are how you tell Ghost-type escape tricks to fuck off.
Ostia's stage presence as an assassin needs some work.
Ostia Fool was trying to just wipe his memory, but the mission comes first. The mission is how you get fed.
The Earthly Paradise.The Summit of Mt. Purgatory.
An organization in parallel to the mysterious international syndicate Ouroboros from the Trails series, down to the organization - Grandmaster, Anguis, Enforcers. And like Ouroboros, the Enforcers take codenames based on Tarot.
0. The Fool: A suspiciously similar child to Ostia in appearance and demeanor. Not an idiot, but an innocent, or a blank slate.
V. The Hierophant. "As the guide towards knowledge, insight, and wisdom, in a Tarot reading it might, for example, represent a priest, scholar, therapist, or teacher, possibly similar to the Hermit or the King of Cups cards." Raifort?
VII. The Chariot. Lt. Surge. "Succour, providence; also war, triumph, presumption, vengeance, trouble"
X. Fortune. "Destiny, fortune, success, elevation, luck, felicity."The Demon's Roulette, the Maker of Joy, God's Gift. She wouldn't. Would she?
XIV. Temperance. Sird. "Economy, moderation, frugality, management, accommodation."
I have faith that all will be revealed in time.
*(I linked the poem, but the poem is a drug-addled white man talking about a real place - Shangdu, Inner Mongolia, as it was during the 13th Century. Never change, Coleridge).
Mesagoza is, as established, probably the most populous city on PokéEarth, at least among ones Leaf or any player of the games have been to. Kanto is of course based on the Kanto region of Japan, but much less built up than the real Tokyo Metro area, which all the namedropped cities "would" be part of. Castelia, meanwhile, is a doppelganger for Manhattan in Unova. I wonder if Leaf went there for her Rangerventures or the Pokémon World Tournament.
Forget if this was namedropped before, but El Campeador is, of course, one of the many epithets of Rodrigo de Vivar, aka El Cid, aka the loose real world inspiration for Paldea's unifying Emperor. Which makes this an Emperor Rodrigo Namedrop! I should go buy some alcohol so I can take a shot now that we're back in Mesagoza.
The Trails equivalent, btw, would be the Valflame Palace, because at some point they just started giving up on the Nordic theme halfway through words.
We are definitely going on a dungeon crawl in this thing at some point.
And here we have our Prince Olivert double, as usual, entering with a song...although not as usual, he's borrowed someone else's leitmotif instead opening with Amber Amore.
Past trauma regarding certain games' endings (and their sequels' middles) require me to write the next couple of paragraphs teary-eyed, so excuse any typos.
Prince Carlos, or today Princess Clarice, our local duplicate of Prince Olivert Reise Arnor, the common thread of I think every Trails arc, if not game (they got a cheap knockoff for Zero) up until the most recent one. I'm going to spoil a bunch of really obvious-in-hindsight plot twists for the whole Trails in the Sky trilogy in the rest of this post so buckle up for that.
I do always like to give credit to Olivert for being an out and proud bi man in a JRPG all the way back in 2004, even if the game didn't handle everything about his character with tact (please stop hitting on teenagers). Arvis has, to my great appreciation as a being whose identity never matches her actions, upped the ante with a genderfluid pr...hm. What's the gender neutral child of a monarch? Let's just use "Successor" so I can hurt Arvis emotionally, even if Clarice is likely not inheriting.
It's worth noting that, while I am comparing her to Olivert in Trails of Cold Steel, Clarice is in a bit of a different political situation. Olivert was the eldest son of the reigning monarch, but would never inherit since he was the child of a true love fling between Eugent III and a commoner, a trope that definitely doesn't get overused for angst in Erebonian noble characters. Succession instead went to his younger half-brother Cedric, and Olivert variously turned his position to his advantage in trying to support the royal family without needing to worry about inheriting. Clarice here seems to be in a bit of a different position in that there's nothing legally barring Prince Carlos from inheriting, but the public might not be ready for that yet. She's also got a parent between herself and the throne so let's just hope Princess Arcadia doesn't get on a boat any time soon.
I'm not sure where Arvis is pulling the appearance of the royal family here, but this is another reminder that the Arnors of Paldea are all silver-haired, same as the Arnors of Erebonia are all blond.
I called this on Page 1, incidentally. Page. 1.
The Horseradish has been extremely busy, managing to be employed by two completely separate endgame evil organizations and bailing out of both just in time to avoid getting onto Interpol's radar. I'm guessing that she didn't exactly keep her hands clean in Kalos, either, and we've got a variety of shit implied to be going on there besides Team Flare. The Aether connection explains where Ostia has been getting their Special Friends, and the Macro Cosmos connection, well...we'll get to that in a minute, I want to talk about Thea's shitheel dad, who's apparently Clarice's shitheel uncle, for a second.
First of all, there's Geeta's version of Osborne's Intelligence Division, which apparently consists of more than the like three people that are making up Geeta's Elite Four in this version of events. Second, here's the only thing worse than a megacorp, a megacorp owned by old money nobles with delusions of royalty. The Duke de Medali's just as financially connected as he is through blood (I'll have to go check, but I guess the "uncle" status means he's currently married to one of Arcadia's sisters...this Quest needs a wiki.) Fittingly, inasmuch as he's a combination of the nastier Dukes in Cold Steel, he's also standing in for Kinzo Ushiromiya from Umineko thanks to Arvis's excellent taste in bringing in side things to this crossover, and he's mostly known for being a canny businessman who definitely wasn't blessed with a huge sum of wealth by a witch that would be ridiculous.
Okay he's mostly known for being an insane ranting weirdo but that's just what being old and rich does to you.
Calling this ship bait for Leaf/Daisy Oak would normally be a stretch, but I'm starting to think it's a bigger stretch to assume any two given women aren't gay for each other at this point in the quest. At the very least, it seems Leaf probably misses the Pallet Town gang, whether she's from there in this version or not.
Leaf addressing her childhood trauma tangentially again. It seems she and Silver really did come out of the same child soldier situation with Team Rocket, and went so far as considering each other siblings once they got out together, a parallel to a different pair of Trails characters and, well.
Who will always be my real favorite Pokémon Rival, even if he was kinda bad at it in-game?
Confirming what was implied earlier - Johto Gym Leader Pryce taking over as leader of Team Rocket in Giovanni's absence, as he did in the manga during the time period between the (rough) events of Red and Blue and the (rough) events of Gold and Silver. Also confirming that Surge's Pokémon are somehow smarter than every other adaptation's version of Surge himself. Explains how he's had his hand in multiple pies in Altantaea.
Also I need to actually write down and memorize that Satellite is the Rime mafia group for if I ever actually do start writing Trails From Area Zero/Detective Pikablue as omakes.
(That was the closest I could come up with to a play on Trails to Azure ok leave me alone)
Sorry, Clarice, Leaf is playing the wrong turbo-alcoholic Bracer-mentor-sex symbol. Try again if another one shows up with a whip.
I'm 80% sure this is a canonical Professor Oak quote from somewhere, but I ain't looking it up.
Alexa, play Sprigatito.
I mean, I wonder if any of the royal felines will come up again in the future when we have a transfer student witching it up.
Also, seems that in addition to making my gag about Sinnoh come true, Clarice was also around for the actual parallel to Trails in the Sky 1-2, the Sword and Shield plot. I really want some details there because I'm horribly biased to Sky as a subseries, if all my asides about it weren't enough of a clue.
Or to skip past all version's of this character's desire to be pegged by a female authority figure, Arvis could go with my original Olivert ship, him and his world's-most-put-upon bodyguard. I'll skip over Valentine's Trails equivalent until we meet him in person for more than two seconds, but nothing beats the romance of a royal and their Bosom Companion/Lifetime Bodyguard, which is just as much of a thing for the Erebonian Royal Family as it is here. Moreso, even, since it's specifically the Vander family that's been sword to the royal line since the days of Dreichels and Roland.
Also I deeply pity that poor Espeon.
So that's what Group 2 was up to. Also I think Arvis used "smarms" instead of "smarts" twice this post.
And here we have the lead-in to the story proper. An international group, scooping up the remains of failed villainy from decades past. Sird, the unifying factor between Teams Rocket, Aqua, Magma, and Galactic from the manga. Kincaid, the mole and second-in-command of the bad guys from Shadows of Almia. Faba, the unrepentant brains behind the Aether Foundation.
And another Trails in the Sky parallel - with full spoilers for the first game, someone gave the Liberl CIA personality- and memory-altering tech, and the guy they sold it too took until the very end of the game to realize it had been used on him. It seems something similar happened to Chairman Rose of Galar Raytheon and his sidekoh my god did Oleana steal a tank to try and spring Rose from jail? Tell me she did. I just got that that could have happened.
Anyway. Enough speculation, let's see the Big Bads' organization in action.
This guy isn't going to be around very long, but I do happen to know his name source off the top of my head: Manuel de Godoy, First Minister of Spain during the time periods when it was being destroyed by Revolutionary France. I just got soft-couped by the son of a bitch in a grand strategy roleplaying game elsewhere on this forum so I'm not treating this as auspicious.
This girl is going to be so traumatized and so mad when she shows up as a playable character in Trails of Tera Steel 3.
tbh I don't blame her. The rest of Herman's narration does not paint a picture of contrition even if he does seem to be aware that "just follownig orders" doesn't cut it as an excuse and his heart seems to be in the right place with regards to his family.
Honestly this must have been a really weird week for Herman. Everything's going normally and suddenly your boss gets arrested by your boss's boss's kid, your political nemesis's kid, Steve Jobs's kid, a random smug-ass witch, and a fashion ninja.
I'm not a hundred percent sure what's going on here, other than it being quite convenient for the mysterious assailant whose face we regularly clean with a napkin. It's also how they managed to avoid giving away their appearance to Watterson back in the field exercise too, I think. It's probably Ultra Wormhole-related, since it seems to be generated by the Ultra Beast.
EDIT: See below that this isn't Ostia, but like, they have access to the same stuff, so I'm leaving this statement alone.
Oh and right. One more song from the Sky OST, and I promise, I'll go back to Cold Steel and Pokémon music next time.
EDIT: The QM has kindly informed me that The Fool is NOT Ostia. I believe that it was a reasonable mistake to make, but allow me to blow holes in my commentary with a shotgun of strikethrough.
So, this is extremely obviously Ostia, in scary villain mode. An interesting note for canon parallels here is that while Ostia has the face of Renne, an Enforcer of Ouroboros, they've picked up the aesthetic gimmick of a different Enforcer - Renne is Enforcer No. XV - the Angel of Slaughter (because she's too chuunibyou to just call herself The Devil. Or maybe that's actually cult trauma. Hadn't thought about that until now.)
Also, this whole scene locks in a great deal of speculation (EDIT: by association, since it's very obvious Raifort is the common denominator here): Ostia and Raifort are working for THE Big Bad Organization that are going to be the main villains here even beyond the scope of the Paldean political situation (although frankly, Ouroboros in Cold Steel spends about half their time getting their shit stolen by Osborne and the other half of the time working with him because they have the same end goal anyway.) They're the ones behind Surge in the same way that Surge was the man behind the poaching operation, and they seem to have been picking up evil Pokégoons from all over. This is simpler than all those things being unconnected, but it's nice to see the full shape of the antagonists now regardless.
Herman had no idea how high up this went. He just knew he was hiding some Pokémon trafficking.
Heh. Accidentally a nicer person than you thought you were, at the end of things. Points back, Herman.
I still have no idea what this place is.
This,
Whatever the vision was exactly, the Ultra Beast was making it, and the attacks from Val and Clarice's Pokémon disrupted it. Also notable that Valentine has seen this UB before, and understandably recognizes it even if there's no sign of
I wonder if part of the preparation was making sure to bring Clarice's Meowscarada. As we've seen ourselves, Dark-type moves are how you tell Ghost-type escape tricks to fuck off.
The truth always comes in the end.
This parallel world is going to be very important to how they do things. And...it's good to know
And this is what was worth having a child murder a man for.
Xanadu*. The Eden of Xerneas.
The Earthly Paradise.
An organization in parallel to the mysterious international syndicate Ouroboros from the Trails series, down to the organization - Grandmaster, Anguis, Enforcers. And like Ouroboros, the Enforcers take codenames based on Tarot.
0. The Fool: A suspiciously similar child to Ostia in appearance and demeanor. Not an idiot, but an innocent, or a blank slate.
V. The Hierophant. "As the guide towards knowledge, insight, and wisdom, in a Tarot reading it might, for example, represent a priest, scholar, therapist, or teacher, possibly similar to the Hermit or the King of Cups cards." Raifort?
VII. The Chariot. Lt. Surge. "Succour, providence; also war, triumph, presumption, vengeance, trouble"
X. Fortune. "Destiny, fortune, success, elevation, luck, felicity."
XIV. Temperance. Sird. "Economy, moderation, frugality, management, accommodation."
I have faith that all will be revealed in time.
*(I linked the poem, but the poem is a drug-addled white man talking about a real place - Shangdu, Inner Mongolia, as it was during the 13th Century. Never change, Coleridge).
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StattStatt
Supplier of suspenders for your disbelief
- Location
- On one of your shoulders
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Do not let either
I can only hope his "crusade" is done in a responsible manner and not like a man slowly wasting away while on the hunt.
I'm really hoping, with Surge on the lose in Paldea, that we get a chance to meet up with Silver. That would be really cool.
Poor Espeon must have seen/had to listen to some shit throughout the years. The reason you would not want to be psychic and read minds.
Also of course the fucking clown child has an eldritch exploding clown alien on his team.
...Though there is a certain someone running around with a chimera made specifically to fight said alien creatures. Related, maybe?
This month is really starting of with a bang, am I right, fellas?
...Okay I'll see myself out.