I'm pretty sure that the calculations done earlier mean that Renne is good with the current bonds action plans so forgoing her bond item should be okay here.
Assuming Renne gets 2 BP for the Mishy Plush, we should be able to get her to Bond 3 early into the second FE with consistent Bond events, so she will be available for Gym 3, but not Gym 2.
Basically, we can get 4 Renne BP before the next FE starts (counting the event that just happened which should give us two), or 5 with the cat bed. That's the difference of needing 1 or 2 AP dedicated to Bond points on the Field Exercise to make Gym 3 a 3v3, and I really want to only spend one FEAP.
Cassandra recalls Numel away from Raichu's Iron Tail. Surge's Pokemon is slow and almost lazy, but that's in relative terms—to her each attack from the Electric-Type was fast. Too fast to do anything more than play keep away with her… remaining team members. The Iron Tail sends chunks of stone and dust flying, masking Raichu's position, while Orbeetle's barriers around her keep her safe from the debris.
We start the first proper Chapter Boss Fight post with a bit of insight into the technically higher-level fight going on between the adults and Surge's horde of Electric-types, starting with some insight on what it's like to fight a much higher-level, much-faster Pokémon from Cassandra's POV. The Raichu is definitely doing a mix of toying with its opponents here and working around Electric resistances - Numel's part-Ground after all.
For a brief moment, what could only be compared to a second sun shines within that cavern. It blinds Cassandra even with her eyes firmly shut. Cries of alarm, humans and Pokemon inform her that it might've blinded everyone else as well.
Then the heat follows suit. Orbeetle keeps the worst of it away from her, otherwise she'd be dead. Through instinct alone, she recalls her starter back to her Pokeball; any further would be risking it. The heat simmers in the air until it slowly dissipates. The air now heated to a much greater degree, it almost feels like she's in an oven. She releases Numel back out to support Orbeetle, knowing that her newest Pokemon can handle the temperature.
As has been noted before, Volcarona is an extremely rare (it's not technically a pseudo-legendary, but Black/White basically treat it as one) and dangerous Pokémon - gamewise, it's got one of the highest special attacks in the franchise and learns basically every damaging Fire-type special move, including a signature move that's basically Torch Song if it was only kind of broken. Anything that doesn't resist Fire here needs the cover of barriers to not just get nuked collaterally.
Incidentally, this particular bit seems to be a custom move setting up "Sunny" battlefield weather. If I had to guess at the mechanics Arvis was using, it's an edited or customized version of Fiery Dance, which normally does a boatload of damage to everything adjacent and has a 50% chance to boost Special Attack.
A purple shadow splits apart as revealing an unharmed Leaf, whose Mismagius shielded her from the blast. Without missing a beat, the ranger goes back to ordering her Sliggoo and Wigglytuff to fight against the Plusle and Minun pair.
The variant Sliggoo is surrounded with a shield of mercury with a tendril connecting it to Wigglytuff, who's curled into a ball being used as a makeshift flail. A joint Thunderbolt strikes the Sliggoo, cracking its shell, and it retaliates by swinging Wigglytuff at the pair of Electric-types, while a green glow flows from the Fairy towards Sliggoo via their connecting tendril. Sliggoo's wounds are healing, as the Fairy rolls around crushing the Plusle and Minun duo.
Leaf meanwhile just takes it in stride and shows off that she's got her own tricks for a "doubles" fight. No real comment here other than the image of a Sligoo using a Wigglytuff as a flail while the Wigglytuff also pumps it full of Heal Pulse is incredible. Wigglytuff's never gotten the credit as a support Pokémon in Doubles that Clefairy (of all things) has, but it's similarly powerful when it comes to moves that can keep a more "DPS" mon in the fight. In any case, if it's a fight against the gimmick of twin Pokémon, it's a good matchup for Wiggly And Friend.
As for Poppy, Lady Rika's Golurk has shielded her, an earthen facsimile of its hand protecting the child, its other layer hardened to blackened rock due to the heat. The kid looks at Golurk with worry before going back to her own fight, one she's winning handily. Using the momentary distraction Volcarona's attack provided, Golurk's fist backhands Electrivire into the cavern wall, breaking apart ancient ruins and homes in the process.
The Electric-Type attempts to resist, but is pinned down as a bevy of translucent spikes and steel feathers fly forth from Skarro's wings. Golurk rears its fist back for another strike, but a pink flash causes Electrivire to disappear and reappear right next to its Trainer's side.
Superheated glass remains at ground zero, spreading like a flower, the tips of the petals being molten stone and ash, with Raichu lying in a crater at the epicenter. Unfortunately the Pokemon still lives, burned raw pink flesh rather than the same charred black corpse that the bastard made of her Araquanid.
The Pokemon turns its head towards her, and for the first time in the entire battle, she's unsettled. It looks at her with manic eyes and a matching smile, seeming to say to her, 'Please, may I have another?'
Surge grins and looks at her, a wretched look of approval in his eyes. "Not bad at all. You gotta learn when to go full tilt. If your boss is gonna start a scrap, she needs to drill this into your skulls. The only thing that matters is—"
Surge characterization here, from both him and his Pokémon. Normal people in the Pokémon world can be "battle maniacs" in the sense that they enjoy a good scrap and the thrill of playing out a combat sport with magic - Nemona being the biggest example, but obviously a significant part of the planet enjoys Pokémon battling for its own sake or it wouldn't be the central facet of the setting it is.
Surge, though? And the Pokémon he attracts and trains? They don't like battling, they like violence and killing, and worryingly, are very good at it. I'm sure the Lightning Orrean has a whole fashy combat philosophy he'd like to monologue about if Leaf would let him get a word in edgewise, but ultimately what he and his team are demonstrating here is sadism, a love of inflicting (and receiving) injury for its own sake. Very bad man characterized in very few words.
(Considering I played the entirety of a Gen 5 game between this going up and writing this review, I do want to acknowledge Surge's Pokémons' agency in this bullshit. It's possible and even likely the man indoctrinated his team into his I Like War worldview just as he apparently tried to do with Leaf in the past, but I am forced to acknowledge the fact that Pokémon have the agency to just be bastards, same as humans. Although given Surge is a Rocket, I'd give 50/50 odds on any of his Pokémon being ones who joined him willingly or got trafficked and brainwashed the old fashioned way.)
"Shut the Fuck Up! Why are you even here?!" Leaf interrupts, the look of pure hate in her eyes lending more vitriol to her words.
Surge rolls his eyes at the question and elects to snap his fingers. Raichu leaps towards him, at such speed that it appears like a thunderbolt, coming to rest beside the criminal. "Come on, kid, you're getting rusty. Use yer' noggin. Why would I be interested in some regular old contraband? What sort of cargo would I be involved in?" Surge puts extra emphasis on cargo, stretching the word out in a condescending way.
Anger, then realization, then horror flash over Leaf's face in quick succession. She swivels her head to the exit where the kids ran, still covered up by a mix of stone and steel from Golurk and Sliggoo. "Missy, go!" Leaf's shadow detaches from her and rushes towards the exit. Cassandra orders Orbeetle to cover Leaf with a shield as she runs to the ranger's side, the latter having foregone protection for a reason she can't place.
It's at this point that Leaf realizes that she hasn't accounted for the Shadow Pokémon that has undoubtedly been created by the bootleg Cipher tech here.
"Oh no you fuckin don't!" A red beam erupts from a Pokeball Surge grabbed from his belt. From it emerges a Morpeko, who immediately switches to the dark purples of its Hangry form. A purple barrier so dark it's nearly black covers the exit, stopping Mismagius, who emerges to fight the Morpeko. The look of apoplectic rage on the Ghost-type's face is mirrored by the one on her trainer's face. Leaf is shaking from how angry she is.
"You should've realized sooner, kid! Might've let Missy through if you did. You used to be the brains between you and Silver. Now, you start getting emotional and all my lessons go out the window! I miss when you were all stoic like!" A picture is starting to form of Leaf Midorikawa's profile in Cassandra's mind. The chiding familiarity with how Surge refers to them rather gives it away.
"Besides, any student of yours needs to learn how to fight Rocket if they're gonna be worth shit. Shadow Pokemon are perfect for that."
I'm gonna be real here, Surge is the most annoying kind of villain because he's the kind that reads like a 4chan post. lol y u mad. There's nothing wrong with enraging villains, of course, but I hope for a proper karmic comeuppance. Trails villains (and often Pokémon villains that aren't just cartoonishly vile, to be frank) are often quite nuanced and doing awful things for what they believe to be good reasons, whether they escape the narrative with their lives or not - Surge's life path even kinda parallels a guy from the Crossbell arc I'm rather fond of, though his rage factor never goes higher than "arrogant mob enforcer who's somehow the only sane guy in the room". Surge, however, has such a twisted worldview here that I'm hoping for a result where he just dies mad. Salty, even.
Also this is confirmation if we still needed it that Leaf and Silver were a duo working for Team Rocket under Surge's auspices as child soldiers. Indeed if we go by Game Silver and what I know of Manga Green/Blue/Leaf, Silver was the definition of angry tryhard while the young lady from Pallet Town was more of a guileful and clever anti-ish-hero. Meanwhile presumably years of therapy have made Leaf able to properly express her anger at a child abuser and (hopefully) gotten Silver to take some of the edge off.
I could do a pretty deep dive into possible parallels to a trio of "villain and his pet child soldiers" from Trails in the Sky right here but this is going to be long enough anyway and I think the dynamic we're seeing now stands on its own without me explaining half the plot of Sky SC. If Leaf and Silver had a katana battle on the Spear Pillar back in the Platinum plot though, I want to know about it.
It comes in the form of a roar. The Shadow Pokemon rears its head and long arms back as if to prepare for battle alongside an ear-splitting yell, one so loud and deafening that you're sure it can be heard throughout the ruins, past how many tons of dirt and stone. That's all the excuse Leo and Roland need to strike.
I already linked this and Arvis linked a different one, but I think this is appropriate for the gravitas and heroism of this scene. Also I wanted to remind everyone that the Trails soundtrack never misses.
The Pawniard runs and leaps at Vigoroth with claws glowing a shining metallic white. Roland rushes through the air, jaw wide and glowing with Dark TE. The sight of the two Pokemon going on the offensive knocks you out of your stupor, bringing you to focus despite the horrid taste in your mouth. You shout orders faster than your mind can ponder, running on pure instinct.
"Roland, go for its limbs! Renne, help try and stop Vigoroth from attacking! Ruby, sink its feet into the ground as far as you can!" Just as Vigoroth swings its arms as if to counter the two Pokemon, a bright pink light seizes hold of its limbs and yanks the strike away.
I'm gonna go over the mechanical details of this fight at the end (if I still have the energy), but this is a good indication of how Mariana approaches this sort of life or death situation. For better or worse, she's the first of the humans to shake off the terror and disgust of the violence and start giving sensible orders to her team - never mind that we've literally never practiced ordering 3 Pokémon at once, or Renne at all beyond "pls do barriers". It's instinctive, though, thanks to dedicated training and a lot of only-half-aware practice at repressing fear of lethal violence.
At the sight of her own Pokemon battling, Theodora snaps out of her own stupor. "S-Sharon, help Mariana's Espurr! Elise, get the Wild Pokemon out of here! Ostia, help the attacking Pokemon!" She shouts a bevy of orders to Class VII, human and Pokemon alike.
Thea is the second human to snap out of her terror, helped presumably by her freshly caught partner's determination just as we were by Roland seizing the initiative. Also putting her charisma (and the fact that she's got Elise whipped) to work by naturally giving orders to the humans as well. Whatever her real background is, she's got the Charm and chutzpah to take control in situations like this.
A look of focus crosses Elise's face at Theodora's voice. She wordlessly rushes over to where the Wild Pokemon are and guides them towards the exit Bragg came from, closer to the encroaching Wild Hunt. With a quick gesture of her head, Elise sends Murkrow and Charcadet to help the rest of you against Vigoroth. She takes the still restrained poacher on her back and fireman-carries them towards the same exit your group came from.
Interesting that in a life or death situation Elise has no issues getting her Pokémon to fight appropriately even while acting on her own, compared to her joke of a Gym battle. Frankly just letting Murkrow pick his own moves probably helps.
"A-Argy, Poly! Stop the Shadow Pokemon, we can't let them hurt anyone!" Ostia, terror clear in their face, nevertheless listens to Theodora and instructs their Pokemon to battle. The Beldum and Staryu, eye and gem alike gleaming, rush into battle. From Poly's gem, a continuous pulse of clear crystalline water is shot out at Vigoroth and hits it square in the face, preventing it from focusing on any of the attacking Pokemon. Argy floats around, using its own powers to restrain the Shadow Pokemon with the aid of the other Psychic-Type.
Ostia having to face the contradiction of their double agenting in the form of a berserk super-Pokémon that's about to tear them and their friends limb from limb is rough. But uh. Better now than later?
14ish hearts beating as one as the whole of the team focuses on a singular goal: no one else dies today.
Actually there's several Ghosts and at least one robot here but you know what the principle is the same. Either way, the ARCUS's Combat Link feature is going to give some flashes of insight among the combatants:
the girl struggles against the knee on her back against the tears in her eyes and kowtows at the foot of the man who took her home the thing who calls itself Father all to spare her real brother and real mother who took her in despite everything now she lives a lie a lie called living
Theodora. A memory of the Duke de Medali conquering Marina Marinedo and "claiming" his "daughter", the bastard successor he'd thrown away until he needed her. She lives in a gilded cage now, servant to a monster, to protect those who really loved her.
the girl has forgotten more of her life than she has lived of it she has forgotten her first friend her first name and now she has forgotten her mother all she remembers is the woman who was her mothers sad sad face and an empty feeling where her heart should be
the child is ready to die theyre so hungry that they can no longer move theyre so hungry that they can no longer think theyre so hungry that theyre sorry that the murkrows waiting to eat will have to eat more bone than meat the last thing they see is that man with glasses approaching they think it mightve been better if they had died there
Ostia. The most desperate and destitute, given a choice between death and servitude, which is no choice at all for a child who hasn't even lived their life.
Also missed this the first time, but it's "a man with glasses" who approached them, so not Raifort or Sird. Either an OC or Faba, and I'm leaning toward the latter given that Ostia has been using a Type:NULL behind the scenes.
the girl cradles her younger sister to keep them quiet hoping against hope that the stench of rotten meat and trash will mask her scent from the mightyena prowling the encampment she covers her sisters ears from the screams and yells of terror a growl approaches and she hugs her sister tighter
the pokemon struggles and fights despite his trainer vanishing into the cold ground he fights beyond that battle he fights against the restraints and needles and all the things that pierce his flesh he fights to keep his mind from the machine that takes and strips him down until hes nothing he fights to think he fights to resist he fights he fights he fights hefights hefights hefightsfght fghtfghtght
Lokix. Or possibly and more logically Vigoroth. Pokémon pronouns being consistently [gendered]/they/it keeps throwing me off.
Come to think of it, accounting for my meta-knowledge of Elise's situation from the Trails of Cold Steel backstory, everyone here had a choice violently imposed on them that was impossible to refuse. They were attacked, or captured, or dying, and it changed the courses of their lives irrevocably. I hadn't realized that the team splits in this Field Exercise were thematic, but there we are.
"It has Facade! Watch out!" Theodora's panicked yell snaps you back to attention. Turning your gaze towards Vigoroth, the Shadow Pokemon is hunched over as if building towards something.
Thank you uh--wait who's the appropriate Persona reference here? I'm just gonna go with "thank you Fuka Yamagishi", mostly because she's saying the thing we all already meta-knowledged out beforehand, particularly when Arvis clarified how Shadow Pokémon work in this setting (no Shadow Moves, yes Hyper Mode).
And everything snaps. Vigoroth rears itself back and roars, a sound that makes you feel as if your very bones are vibrating. The dark aura surrounding the Pokemon blooms into a raging bonfire, the sheer force of which knocks you all back. The Pokemon closest to it are sent flying; it's a testament to Roland and Leo's stubbornness that they cling on, desperately holding on to the Vigoroth. It blows like a miniature typhoon, a tempest that threatens to sweep you off your feet and send you crashing onto the rocky walls and floor of the cavern.
Also it's been brought to my attention by Bulbapedia research that normally Shadow Pokémon are visually indistinguishable from normal ones, requiring a special skill or equipment to see their "dark auras". However, given that Trails characters regularly and textually comment upon each others' battle auras, I'm just gonna assume that's a thing in the crossover setting too, rather than just being visual flair for the audience.
The sound of shattering glass and stone marks Vigoroth tearing free from your group's efforts to restrain him. Its once bloodshot eyes are now a pure red, its muscles bulging as sheer power flows through them, so much so that it almost looks like it's leaking out. It resembles its more muscular evolution or even a Fighting-type like Machoke more than it does the slender and sleek form of its species.
There's a lot of good description here but the analysis is fairly short: this Shadow Pokémon is running on pure Shadow Aura and rage, immunized to pain and probably doing as much damage to herself as we are to her. This is the real evil of the technique - it takes away the Pokémon's ability to have basic self-preservation, let alone any agency.
Elise jumps in to slash at Vigoroth, but the Shadow Pokemon catches the strike with the limb it had bitten. Rin cuts deep, slicing through flesh and even scraping against Vigoroth's bone- but despite the state of its arm, Vigoroth twists its limb and flips Elise over, then lifts her up to slam her into the ground. The Shadow Pokemon uses your friend like a bludgeon, to smack away Murkrow and Roland with two heavy strikes, then throws her straight at you.
You barely even have to shout for Renne to use her psychic powers to catch your friend, but the slip in concentration gives Vigoroth the moment it needs.
It did want to hurt humans first and foremost in this state. Not that that's stopping it from tearing through our Pokémon to do so, but I appreciate the effiency of throwing a motherfucker at another motherfucker. Not to mention - Vigoroth is acting on instinct that happens to be good strategy. We're going to have to deal with opponents that can actually think and also go for lethal blows against Trainers in the future.
You recall Characadet in just the nick of time, preventing them from getting eviscerated from the Shadow Pokemon's Slash. A similar red beam sees Leo recalled by his trainer. Unconcerned at the disappearance of its opponents, Vigoroth's gaze swivels to its next target, Ostia's Pokemon.
With its right arm, it grabs at its dangling left limb from the elbow down, and rips it clean off. The sounds of breaking bone and tearing flesh make you sick, ready to hurl all over again, Theodora herself nearly pukes but manages to force it down with a queasy gulp. Ruby and the Psychic Types attempt to restrain Vigoroth once more. The pressure from their psychic grips push Vigoroth, still ripping off its arm, down onto the mud Ruby's created below—but to no avail. With a flare of its aura, the Shadow Pokemon breaks free from their control and throws its arm at Poly.
Argy pushes the Staryu out of the way of the attack and takes the hit. The projectile slams onto the Beldum, crumpling steel and knocking them away. Ostia recalls Argy before the Shadow Pokemon could follow up its attack.
Argy fainted. I'll have to check the logs but I'm guessing whatever the fuck move that counts as, it isn't Normal-type or anything resisted by Steel/Psychic.
EDIT: Comparing this to the combat log, Argy did not faint (since the hit was in fact Facade which was resisted), but got recalled out of caution anyway.
Vigoroth, with a roar, leaps once more into the air, this time towards Theodora and Sharon, a malicious glint in its deep red eyes. Psychic barriers form in front of the two, courtesy of Renne, freeing Sharon to unleash a barrage of flames at the approaching Shadow Pokemon.
"C'mon, Miss Elise! Get up!" Ostia pushes Elise to stand up as you tell Ruby to change tactics. Vigoroth is now fully unencumbered by any of your group's Psychics, letting it easily dodge and leap over Drilbur's mud traps.
"Rock Throw, as strong as you can!" Ruby nods as she digs her claws into the ground, pulling out a large stone almost as big as her head. Putting the stone between her two claws, static begins to gather as Ruby prepares to launch the rocky projectile.
We're keeping a very level head here and I can only assume that, aside from being the Quest POV, Mariana is just dissociating into next week at this point.
At the same time, Elise has finally recovered. Her eyes fall straight to Theodora, and widen in alarm as she sees the danger encroaching her friend. With an expression like she's gritting her teeth through the pain of broken bones, she throws herself up and forward onto her feet, the movement transitioning smoothly into her darting forwards at the Vigoroth, desperate to intercept it before it could reach Theodora. Murkrow and Roland follow after her, now recovered.
Said Shadow Pokemon is upon Sharon and Theodora, raw red muscles still bulging and burning, right arm rearing back in preparation for a strike.
"AUTUMN LEAF CUTTER!" There's a desperation in Elise's voice as she yells her attack. You blink, and in the time between your eyes opening and closing, she's traveled the remaining distance. A massive bloody gash cuts through the Shadow Pokemon's right side and, for a moment, it stumbles back..
I was just gonna leave a comment of "gay" here but frankly Elise remains an ideal Samurai, charging in at great pain and cost to herself to protect someone she is, however informally, sworn to.
"Now, Ruby!" Not even giving it a moment to recover or counterattack, Ruby fires the electrified projectile she'd been charging up. With a deafening boom, the stone is launched towards Vigoroth, almost fast enough you feel it should make a second boom as it pushes through the air. Sharon is barely fast enough to push Theodora and Elise out of the projectile's path. It impacts Vigoroth and with a crunch, tears a massive hole in its left, piercing through its body and crashing into the wall straight ahead.
The Shadow Pokemon roars in agony- but despite everything, despite the damage and grievous injuries that it's taken, Vigoroth is still standing.
"Sharon, Fire Spin! Use Murkrow's Gust!" The Braixen sends a look towards the Flying-Type , who's on the opposite end of Vigoroth along with Elise and nods at him, putting Theodora's order into action. Pointing her wand at the Shadow Pokemon, a continuous stream of fire flows out of the wooden instrument and circles Vigoroth. It grows into a full inferno as Murkrow's flapping wings fan the flames making them stronger and stronger, to the point black marks begin scorching their way into the cavern's roof.
The fire is large enough to completely obscure and consume Vigoroth, an inferno that deafens the shouts and yells of your class, to the point you can barely hear yourself think. For a few moments you thought it would be enough. That hope is dashed as a blackened blur leaps out of the inferno and with its remaining arm slams itself into Elise's stomach, its sheer force sending her flying.
Rin's ribbon wrapped tightly around her arm. The Honedge lashes out, stabbing its blade into the ground with enough force to cut a furrow into the stone below. The abrupt movement yanks Elise to a stop before she can slam into a wall, though she's looking disconcerted and worryingly pale.
This fight is just increasingly becoming a slasher movie at this point. Also a bit of RWBY with the weapon-based momentum control. Maybe we should get a rifle...for maneuvering.
A brown-gray blur flies from your right, hitting Vigoroth square in the face. To your shock, it's Ruby. The Ground-type jabs her static-filled claws right into the Shadow Pokemon's shoulders. The light from Vigoroth's electrocution lights up the entire cavern, and smoke begins to waft off of the Shadow Pokemon, the smell of cooked flesh reaching your nose.
The real theme of our team is "Pokémon who desire to be yeeted". Hell of a way to deliver a melee Electric attack though. I also noticed that I don't think anyone is Terastilizing this fight, but Ruby going Electric at this point would've made some sense.
With a pained cry and a forced smile, Ruby's claws begin to glow brighter and brighter, until it starts to hurt your eyes, but you refuse to look away, not wanting to feel even more useless as your Pokemon fight for their lives. Suddenly the light explodes as Ruby's claws detonate, breaking Vigoroth's grip and turning their hand into a smoking stump.
You recall Ruby before she even hits the ground, cold horror in your heart.
With Ruby freed, Roland unleashes a full burst of draconic energy at Vigoroth. You recall him before Vigoroth could even retaliate, releasing him immediately back onto the field away from Vigoroth's immediate grasp but still within range of Roland's new attack.
"Hurry, Miss Thea, hurry!" Ostia desperately cries out next to you, as Theodora runs for her life. Running in a panic, Theodora's ankle bends the wrong way causing her to trip onto the ground.
So fortunately Theodora reversing her faceclaim's role in a slasher flick isn't going to get her killed, though after she's been such a carry as field commander/navigator, I imagine she's a bit embarrassed.
Suddenly a black blur emerges from one of the caverns exits and slams into Vigoroth, knocking them away from Theodora. Vigoroth lands with a heavy crash, hitting the cavern floor and sending dust and debris up around them, before immediately recovering and getting back up.
Landing right next to Theodora, skidding on the floor as it comes to a stop, is a familiar black serrated carapace, bright orange lines that radiate power flowing through the gaps in his armor, all underneath a dark shadowy aura.
Fortunately, even if there is no god, Buddha, or prince on a white horse, there is always Kamen Lokix.
You know what? I think if any chapter so far deserves to be split into two for analysis, it's this one, and this is pretty neatly the halfway point. This is also where the mechanical battle ends, though, so in the interest of not leaving too much work for myself later, I'm going to go over the battle log now before I head out for the day:
Arvis summarizes things succinctly: this was basically a mob of low-levels vs. a very much higher-level boss that hits like a truck. I'm put in mind of those old WoW videos of like 40 low-level gnomes mobbing Hogger.
Class VII Health:
Frontline: Rin (400+100 from Elise), Argy (400), Ruby (400), Leo (400), Roland (350)
Backline: Charcadet (350), Poly (400), Murkrow (350)
Support: Sharon (400), Renne (500)
Elise please love yourself. That said the problem is gonna become apparent shortly that Shadow Vigoroth's attacks mostly one-shot our Pokémon, even the slightly higher-level ones. Vigoroth's HP total is a bit more appropriate but honestly could have been higher if her attack damage was lower.
Attacks Phase:
Roland uses Crunch (1d75+75) does 62.15 damage (113*1.1*.5). Secondary Effect activates, Vigoroth receives -3 to Initiative Roll next turn
Leo uses Metal Claw (1d50+100) does 91.375 damage (136*1.25*1.075*.5)
Poly uses Water Pulse (1d75+75) does 71.775 damage (87*1.25*1.1*1.2*.5) Secondary Effect activates, Vigoroth is Confused
Renne uses Barrier. Secondary Effect activates, lowers next Three Enemy Attacks by Half
Current Vigoroth HP: 974.7
Argy uses Headbutt (1d75+75) does 75.9 damage (138*1.1*.5) Secondary Effect activates, Vigoroth receives -3 to Effect Roll next turn
Charcadet uses Incinerate (1d100+50) does 92.4 damage (112*1.1*1.2*1.25*.5) Secondary Effect Activates, Vigoroth is Burned
The Barrier activation was a godsend, even if Vigoroth did keep one-shotting people through it anyway. Getting it with Burn and Confuse in the same round would have also been a real coup, but unfortunately with Facade Burn's attack debuff is effectively a wash, and as for Confusion...
Also worth noting that we were 6.5 HP short of achieving S-rank before Vigoroth even got an attack in. I see what Arvis means by overtuning.
HP Threshold reached (70%>HP): Activate Hyper Mode
Purge Volatile Statuses. All moves hit an additional Pokemon, Vigoroth hits 3 Pokemon per attack. Will return to 2 Pokemon next turn. Facade now allowed to be used
Hyper Mode is a right bastard, letting Vigoroth hit most of our frontline on every attack for one round, as well as getting rid of status effects that don't have a little symbol in the game. Interesting that Facade was locked here.
Vigoroth uses Facade (2d100+75) and targets Argy, Poly and Charcadet. Leo substitutes for Poly. Does 386.65 damage (202*1.25*1.75*1.75(Facade Bonus)*.5(Barrier)) before Effectiveness Modifier
Argy and Leo take 289.98 damage. Charcadet takes 386.64 damage. Charcadet effectively faints.
Without Barrier, all of these would have been one-shots. Renne is a defensive carry and I love her. Our preponderance of Steel-types also really helped since that made most of these hits Resisted, particularly this one.
Autumn Leaf Cutter is definitely filling a niche in Honedge's offensive moves but I would like for Elise to pick up some of the more flashy 8L1B moves if she's feeding life force to her damn sword to use them.
Also hey we can inflict more than one non-Volatile status, that's neat.
Sharon uses Fire Spin (1d50+75) does 67.725 damage (86*1.25*.5*1.2*1.05)
Vigoroth uses Facade (2d100+75) and targets Sharon, Ruby and Murkrow. Elise and Rin substitutes for Murkrow. Does 472.77 damage (247*1.25*1.75*1.75(Facade Bonus)*.5(Barrier)) before Effectiveness Modifier
Ruby and Sharon take 472.77 damage. Elise takes 236.64 damage due to Resistant (x0.5). Ruby and Sharon faints taking 2 Wounds each, decreased to 1 by Healing Items.
End of Turn Vigoroth HP: 558.24
S-Rank Achieved
Class 7 "Wins"
So, two things here: one, the battle finished out the turn even though we'd gotten Vigoroth well below 50% HP before its second move. That's a sensible choice given both the narrative and the fact that it sells the fight as more dangerous despite the fact that we just zerg rushed through it.
Second is...chat, all that was one round. 12 actions, but a single round of them, and that was over 1000 HP damage dealt to the higher-level opponent and four out of ten of our Pokémon KOed. Fun fight, excellent narrative, but uh. Scary.
Anyway I'll do the second half of the post proper later.
Yeah... number advantage go brrr. But HOLY SHIT if this would have probably gone a whole lot worse with any other Renne option that wasnt barrier support. Jeez "level" advantage whent crazy. Vogoroth basically could beat anyone in a single hit but we basically nuked the field with like 10+ attacks. Honestly.. cant say if that was a "fair" fight or we had a "slight" advantage... either or. Whatever Arvis decides to do for future "Boss/Shadow" battles is gonna be interesting....
Edit: Also that was a single round!?
It was indeed. However, it was a total of 12 actions (now that I can count correctly) from 10 regular pokemon and one boss that double moved. As far as actions go, that's 6 rounds of a regular 1v1 League style battle.
Going over the combat log more thoroughly:
Vigoroth landed one Hyper Mode-boosted Facade each against Argy, Leo, Charcadet, Rin+Elise, Sharon, and Ruby. Argy, Leo, and Rin+Elise lived the hit due to Resisting Normal-type attacks, although Argy and Leo were recalled anyway to save them taking a Wound and possibly having narrative injuries. Charcadet might have been in a similar situation. Sharon and Ruby both fainted properly from the unresisted hit.
Elise tightens her grip on Rin's hilt, pushing herself up to steady her stance despite the pain shooting through her lower back. Her connection to Rin allows him to restore himself from any sort of damage they might take by feeding on her, but the reverse isn't true. While wielding Rin might make her faster and more durable, that really doesn't mean much when facing something like Vigoroth.
Looks like Elise probably herniated some disks from getting, you know, thrown like a javelin. Incidentally, a normal Vigoroth is 4 foot 7 inches, but considering their arms are about as long as they are tall I think getting the leverage to throw an athletic 16 year old girl is more than plausible. The fact that Mariana has like a foot and a half on this guy...eh, it's a boss, it's probably bigger.
She takes a deep breath, clearing her mind as her master taught her and focusing on what she knows.
Vigoroth should be dead. Or in shock at least. Intellectually, she knows that Shadow Pokemon are supposed to have incredible durability, but she never imagined something like this. They've mutilated this Pokemon beyond the point of recognizability. She had hoped they'd be able to restrain Vigoroth and handed them over to the authorities to rehabilitate.
I'm skipping the graphic descriptions of how badly this Pokémon has been messed up. They're good, evocative descriptions, but the summary is what Elise sees here: they should be dead. Normally, with a lot of time, effort, and specialized equipment, it should be possible to "Purify" a Shadow Pokémon, opening its heart again and removing the effects of the Shadow-ization. But at this point, being a Shadow Pokémon is the only thing keeping this Vigoroth moving, after the amount of damage inflicted upon it in self-defense.
Opposite Vigoroth is Lokix, the Bug-type standing over Theodora after saving her from the Shadow Pokemon's attack. Elise is grateful for that. She was simply too weak and too slow to make it in time to have stopped it herself.
The Lokix hasn't changed much from when she last saw him a few days ago. He has more injuries. Parts of his carapace are missing, likely from battling the poachers as part of the Wild Hunt. In the gaps between each segmented exoskeleton flows bright orange energy, the same color as his eyes.
Elise is our bud not just because she's the main character, but because she's got the same kind of depression we do. Any misfortune, straight to self-recrimination.
I'm not sure what Lokix's orange glow is actually about - he's shown off a kind of black light for both Dark Terastilization and when his Shadow-ness starts to overwhelm him, but I guess the orange glow is specific to Showdown Mode (aka, when a Lokix uses 100% of their legs). Maybe it's his Battle Aura, which as I mentioned is a thing in Trails.
Vigoroth launches itself at Lokix with its good foot. The Shadow Pokemon's arm is reared back for a punch. Lokix side steps the attack, moving so quickly that he sends a shockwave of air where he used to be. Lokix responds by rapidly kneeing Vigoroth in the gut, causing the Shadow Pokemon to roar and spew blood. Forcing itself past the bevy of strikes, Vigoroth grabs one of Lokix's back legs, lifting him with one arm and launching the Bug-type at the cavern's stone wall.
Lokix lands with a heavy crash, dust and stone erupting from the impact crater. The Pokemon immediately rights himself and quickly dodges out of the way of Vigoroth's follow-up attack. The Shadow Pokemon leapt after Lokix, embedding its stump in the wall as it misses, causing a good chunk of its arm to get stuck in the hard stone.
And now we're in the cutscene battle - big enraged monster vs. smaller but hesitating little guy. I'm not gonna link Masquerade again, I think we've got the idea.
Elise prepares her own stance in support of Lokix, doing her best to hide the grimace on her face. She hesitates as Theodora glares at her from across the cavern, an expression all but demanding she stop. Theodora can scold her as much as she wants later.
Suddenly Lokix faces her and makes a chittering sound with his mandibles, then looks around repeating the same noise to the other Pokemon in the cavern. Roland, Poly and Murkrow all look hesitant but slowly back away from Lokix and Vigoroth. Whatever the Bug-Type said, Rin's ribbon begins to relax, his grip on her arm loosening. She's able to breathe much easier, and she can already feel the blood rushing back to her face.
"What's going on, Rin?" she whispers in a low voice to her Honedge, hoping for an explanation.
'I shan't interfere in a battle between brothers. The insect shall deal with the accursed one. Come, let us tend to our wounded.' Rin explains through their bond as he returns to his sheathe. Right; Charcadet probably needs some quick medical attention. They should have enough potions to at least last their wounded Pokemon until they can get them to a Pokemon Center.
Pokémon Honor and Bro Code enforce Class VII's departure from the combat, at least for now. The more socially-aware students, at least, will have picked up what we've already been told as the audience - Lokix and Vigoroth's shared background as part of the same Trainer's team.
"Are you guys alright? How about you, Thea?" she asks her friends. Theodora's expression seems to struggle between an irritated glare aimed towards her and a look of pure relief.
Ostia and Mariana are busy attending to their injured Pokemon while they still can. Argy's situation wasn't as bad as it looked from afar, though they struggle with floating and are still slightly injured. The Beldum is even insistent that it could still fight if needed. Ruby is fully unconscious though, with Mariana's face trapped in that self recriminating and guilty look she occasionally has. A Potion and bandages has stabilized their condition, but the Drilbur will definitely need an overnight stay and then some at a Pokemon Center.
Ostia and Mariana's other Pokemon are exhausted from the battle but otherwise seem to be unharmed. According to the latter, Renne is spent after maintaining so many barriers over so many Pokemon for so long, especially ones that can weaken Vigoroth's strikes. Mariana had set the Espurr on the ground since she needed both her hands free to tend to the wounded Pokemon.
The trio of still fighting floating Pokemon maintain a sort of perimeter between the group and the ongoing battle between Lokix and Vigoroth, all three of them seem ready to attack if either Pokemon approaches her and the others.
Theodora hands Sharon and Leo's Pokeballs over to Mariana, as well as the bag of potions and other healing items that she'd been carrying with her. Group 1 had used a decent number of the supplies they brought with them to heal the various Wild Pokemon they freed, but there are still some Super Potions left to use for their Pokemon.
Mariana releases Charcadet first. The Fire-type is in rough condition, with their flame burning weakly and their limbs dented or bent in odd directions. The Potion does decent work, closing wounds and mending some of the cracks in their miniature armor, limbs creaking and returning to what they should appear as. She'll likely have to stay in a Pokemon Center as well. Hopefully it won't be long before Charcadet can reunite with the rest of her family, or at least the ones they rescued today.
But still, it could've been worse. "Thank you, Renne, for helping defend us. I wouldn't know what would've happened if you hadn't been here." Elise thanks the Psychic who is struggling to keep her eyes open, her head swaying back and forth, already halfway to falling asleep from exhaustion.
I think the title of Theodora and Elise's romance novel should be Pride & Practicality - Thea's pride is wounded at being singled out here, but also she's practical enough to realize she was about the McFucking Die. Although if someone other than Elise was narrating this they might have phrased it more like her tsundere shifter getting stuck in neutral for a second.
The battle damage report is basically narrating what we parsed from the combat logs. Ruby, Sharon, and (actually remembering to check the total HP numbers this time) Charcadet are full faints. Argy was a "close enough", Rin+Elise took about half health, Leo somewhat more than that. Renne is narratively done with the fight, and Roland, Poly, and Murkrow are still forming a defensive perimeter at full health (because none of them got hit).
A roar brings her attention back towards the ongoing fight, Vigoroth finally manages to push Lokix away and free itself from its predicament. Vigoroth smacks the Bug-Type away with a nasty backhand that directly strikes Lokix at the side. The attack crumples part of his carapace, his hard exoskeleton unable to withstand such a hit from Vigoroth. Knocked back, Lokix jabs his hind legs into the ground behind him to arrest his momentum and prevent himself from flying back any further.
Just in time, too. Vigoroth immediately follows up its backhand by attempting to grab Lokix's head. It's only stopped by an axe-kick that puts a massive slash across Vigoroth's chest and tears part of its jaw off, faint orange energy trailing the hind-leg the Bug-Type used for the kick. Both Pokemon stumble from the attack, but Lokix recovers first and thus capitalizes on his advantage with a dropkick that sends a shockwave through Vigoroth as it connects.
The Shadow Pokemon is knocked off its feet, not given a moment to respond as Lokix nimbly lands and follows up with a leg-sweep and kick that punts Vigoroth backwards, impacting another cavern wall hard enough that it bounces and ends up crashing, sprawled out onto the cavern floor. Yet despite the opportunity, Lokix doesn't immediately go in for a follow up like before. Instead he remains standing where he was prior, wobbling slightly as the orange light across his body flickers.
"He's losing his advantage, he won't be able to maintain this for much longer." Theodora suddenly says, her eyes transfixed on the battle.
Despite the heavy punishment Vigoroth has taken throughout the battle, the Pokemon remains standing, now having forced itself up after Lokix's attack. A deep indent resembling the soles of the Bug-type's hind legs on the Shadow Pokemon's chest.
'The insect is holding back. Fighting one's brother with the intent to kill does not come easy to the insect. If he does not finish this soon, the other brother will triumph.' Rin finally speaks up through her bond with the Honedge. She winces at the words. Of course Lokix would try to restrain Vigoroth like they did.
"Rin says Lokix is holding back, they're hesitant to take Vigoroth out." Theodora grimaces as she hears Rin's observation. Elise looks at the two Pokemon with sadness in her heart. Were they both Pokemon belonging to the same trainer?
"Leo's done, could you help me with Sharon next, Theodora? Not really sure how to handle head injuries." While the two of them were distracted watching the battle, Mariana and Ostia finished up bandaging and healing Leo. The Steel-type, while unconscious, is in better shape than expected.
Which reminds Elise that Leo is looking for his father, also abducted by the poachers. If what Moreau and Surge mentioned earlier is true, then it's likely Leo's parent and a bunch of other stolen and kidnapped Pokemon are already gone, taken to who knows where.
"Right, of course. Elise, darling, keep an eye out for us. Loathe I am to admit it, but you and Rin are the best suited to defend us or intervene in the battle if needed." Theodora explains while turning away from the battle to face her.
Kinda curious if anything is going on with Leo losing-consciousness-but-not-Fainting other than narrative convenience. Faking surrender is Kingambit's signature move, after all. Maybe he's practicing.
The lighting within the cavern is dim, many of the orbal lamps still within it having been damaged by the stray blasts and attacks from the battle. But even under such conditions, Theodora's deep blue eyes almost seemed to shine, almost hypnotically so from her perspective. Just staring at Thea makes some of the day's exhaustion leave her body.
Witch and prince, sorceress and knight, maiden and maiden. There's a level of connection here beyond anything Elise is emotionally ready to conceive of, and I'm fully prepared to get overly invested in this. I'm DMing Arvis stupid overanalysis right now in fact but I'll save it for when we get to the plot twists in their individual stories.
Huh it took me this long to realize that G-Witch intentionally inverted the prince/witch dynamic from Ut--off-topic.
Elise closes her eyes and focuses. Through Rin she can sense a quiet despair in Lokix's movement. A sense of futility permeates his being, only remaining in motion through pure inertia.
Lokix lands in front of the recovering Vigoroth, as if to stand over it. The Shadow Pokemon's absurd durability allows it to remain in the battle despite its numerous injuries. Lokix makes a noise with his mandibles, indecipherable to her but the emotion within it carries the desperation all the same.
She catches Thea staring, almost distracted as she keeps stealing glances at the battle.
Vigoroth roars, any hint of intelligence having long vanished. It lifts itself to strike at Lokix, the Bug-Type raising his blood-covered hind legs as if to decapitate the Shadow Pokemon.
The orange light flowing through Lokix's body, once bright upon his arrival, flickers then stops.
Lokix stumbles, losing his balance. The swings of his legs go wide, missing Vigoroth's head entirely. One of them cleaves the last dangling remains of Vigoroth's left arm clean off. The other cuts into Vigoroth's shoulder blade, but fails to penetrate deep.
Closing in, Vigoroth bites down and closes its maw on Lokix's own missing stump of an arm, the sickening sounds of crunching carapace and squishy meat fills her ears. The Shadow Pokemon's right arm strikes Lokix's stomach, going straight through the other side, impaling the Bug-type. Then Vigoroth started pulling.
The mouth, jaw clenched tight around Lokix's arm pulls him towards the left while the hand impaling him pushes the right, both movements tearing Lokix in half. The Bug-type had mostly been silent during the entire battle, not even making any sounds or grunts of exertion like the Pokemon of Class VII during their battle. But now, Lokix is screaming at such volume that it seems to echo all across the cavern. A haunting chittering noise that could stay in a person's memory for the rest of their life.
Elise moved before she could think on what she was doing. She doesn't need Rin wrapped around her arm to do this.
"I am going to save everybody. If I can't save everybody, I'll save the person in front of me over and over until I die."
-the thousand masks of the anime hero
I'm not posting any "Rean is being a badass" music here because, frankly, Elise has only scarcely begun to Do Things and is unlikely to stop for the next four games. No matter how much we might wish she would.
In a flash she's right next to both Pokemon, almost tripping due to underestimating how difficult pulling this off without being directly connected to Rin would be. But without even saying a word she slashes at Vigoroth's neck, cutting first through Lokix's arm before reaching its destination.
The sheer volume of muscle makes cutting through difficult, Rin barely makes it in before his blade is stopped. But that part doesn't matter. Lokix's trapped arm detaches from the rest of his body. The momentum and force pulling the Bug-type in one direction sees him flung off his impalement on Vigoroth's arm to be thrown like a beaten and broken ragdoll, dust and stone overturned in their wake.
Shocked cries, human and Pokemon, ring out throughout the cavern before it once more descends into action.
Roland, Poly and Murkrow close in to unleash their attacks at Vigoroth with Lokix out of the way. Emerging from Elise's shadow, the Dreepy smashes his tail, aglow with Dragon TE, right into Vigoroth's face. The attack hits Vigoroth straight in the eyes, blinding the Pokemon who roars and swings its arm around to try and hit her and Roland, who zips away.
Elise isn't going to let Lokix sacrifice himself to his former friend without a fight, and with her inspiration, neither are our remaining Pokémon.
Fun fact because of how insect vascular systems work, cutting a leg off of one is usually fatal, but I'm pretty sure in this case Lokix is just of the opinion that "I've still got four left."
Also given how fond he is of Shadow Sneaking around the battlefield I think Roland is going to learn to chill in peoples' shadows sooner than later. Probably would have already except he likes being a neck pillow and eating all our anxiety.
With Vigoroth distracted, Elise dodges away and rushes to reach Lokix's side. Kneeling down, she takes a look at its injury and grimaces. It's dire, a gaping hole where Lokix's stomach is supposed to be. For him to even have a chance of surviving, Lokix needs to be in a Pokeball stasis as fast as possible.
Elise grabs an empty Pokeball from her bag and shows it to Lokix. "I'll only be temporary but this is to keep you from—"
She's interrupted by Lokix weakly putting up his arm as if to stop her from pushing the Pokeball onto him. A weak and utterly exhausted noise crawls its way out of the Pokemon's mandible, at such a low volume that she could barely hear it over the din of the battle.
'Hmmph, resigning yourself then? I shan't stop you.' Rin whispers through their bond, reacting to what Lokix said.
Rin wraps his ribbon around her as she prepares to face it head-on. She lifts Rin in a stance to counter any overhead from the Shadow Pokemon, her face utterly calm despite the trepidation she feels in her heart.
Behind her Lokix makes another weak noise, almost irritated. 'I shan't bother. The girl can be quite stubborn. Besides, this is not a fitting death for a warrior like you.' Is Lokix telling her to get away? Her grip on Rin's hilt tightens.
No. She's not gonna let any more people die, human or Pokemon.
She's forced to adjust her footing as Vigoroth pushes her even further towards Lokix, the Shadow Pokemon even ignoring Roland crunching onto its neck, tearing burned meat in his effort to help her. Murkrow lethargically swings his wings, throwing feathers at Vigoroth's back, sheer exhaustion slowing his movements and attacks. Poly is no longer floating, the Staryu standing on two of its edges unleashing weak weak bubbles to try and support the others.
Another step back, as sweat falls down her brow, she grits her teeth to try and push Vigoroth back but even on its last legs…
A silver blur slams into Vigoroth's side, giving her the opportunity to push the Shadow Pokemon away and knock its arms away from Rin's blade. Argy reorients themself before floating away to join the other three Pokemon still in any sort of condition to help her.
A light pink barrier covers Elise before fading and becoming dormant, only set to activate when an attack from Vigoroth makes contact. With it, she's a lot more confident now and decides to go on the offensive. Putting as much force as she can behind it, she slashes at Vigoroth's chest while the Pokemon's guard is down, cutting a deep gash, building upon what all of them had done to damage them so she can try and reach either a lung or its heart.
But as Rins scrapes through ribs and bones, she feels something try to push her away, as if the same force animating Vigoroth despite the horrific damage done to it is doing all it can to prolong its life. What could've been a finishing blow is now turned into merely a vicious one, as her slash finishes emerging from her opponent's chest.
"Do you want to die!?" Theodora's shouting voice rings out from across the cavern. Elise resists the urge to turn her head, too focused on fighting back against her opponent.
"Are you just letting it end here?! Letting Bragg and the people who did this to you and your team get away!?" Oh, Theodora wasn't addressing her, she's trying to speak to Lokix. Despite herself she spares a brief glance to look at Thea's direction and her eyes bulge out of their sockets to see her friend running towards her and thus the battle. What is she doing!?
Behind her Lokix makes a low rumbling noise, accompanied by the sounds of limbs shuffling and dirt shifting. But she can't pay attention to that. In front of her Vigoroth goes in for a Crush Claw, at such speed that Elise isn't sure she can dodge it in time. She grits her teeth to prepare for the pain, willing to take any punishment if it keeps the others safe.
Something pushes her aside, a force behind her shoves her away from Vigoroth's incoming attack. A part of her heart grows still thinking it might've been Theodora, but a different worry takes its place the moment a black carapace comes into view. Lokix, weak orange energy coursing through his body, and with a gaping hole in their abdomen. The Bug-type meets the Shadow Pokemon head on, his hind legs poised to strike for one last exchange in the long exhausting battle.
Her ARCUS glows
Goodbye,Vigoroth. Tell Marida I'm sorry
With a swift slash from his hind legs, the serrated limbs decapitate Vigoroth clean through the neck. And, like puppets with their strings cut, both Pokemon collapse onto the ground. One, a corpse, a Shadow Pokemon deprived of everything that makes a person what they are. If Elise's eyes weren't playing tricks on her, she can almost see the ghost of a smile on Vigoroth's ruined visage. The other, a corpse to be, at least without medical attention.
Utterly spent, Lokix faints but before his head could hit the dirt, a Pokeball impacts him, capturing the Bug-type. Tracing its trajectory, Theodora threw it, likely to try and save the Pokemon. With a single click, the Pokeball snaps shut and shines to indicate Lokix had been captured. Hopefully the stasis can keep them stable long enough until they get them to a center.
With Vigoroth gone, she only now notices the pain in her chest, exhaustion finally catching up to her. But she ignores it. Looking up to Theodora's outraged but worried face, Elise manages to force a smile on her face to reassure her friend. Sparing a glance to Mariana and Ostia, she sees the former on her knees hugging the latter as well as both of their Pokemon in sheer relief.
As the first Ursaring of many makes its way through the cavern entrance, one of Charcadet's friends on the Normal-type's back, it finally sets in for her as well.
Surge's burner rings, one connected to the little network they had set up, a way for the various agents to quickly communicate without any Peeping Toms listening in.
Battle's still in a stalemate anyways, might as well take it.
"Surge here." He doesn't have to say anything for Dreizhen, his Alolan Raichu, to block out sound around him, preventing Leaf and the others from hearing his little conversation.
"Where are you? There's a complication." An over-exaggerated Kalosian accent speaks out from across the line. Sird's brand new identity to ingratiate herself with those expats.
Sird. No last name as far as he could find, and not her real name either. His best guess on her is that she's a Church spook that went off the reservation. He'd been working with her as far back when he was a Gym Leader and her an Admin of the Rockets. He hadn't known she was a rat for his current employers back then. If he had, he'd have wrung her little neck out.
I already went over a lot of this at the time of post, but as a refresher, Sird is a recurring Pokémon Adventures manga antagonist who showed up working for every evil team from the first four Generations. It seems she pulled a similar trick here, and rather than her agenda never really getting explained, it seems she was working on behalf of our big bad evil organization, Xanadu, as Agent Temperance. Also right now, she seems to be up to her old tricks with either Team Flare or some other Kalos-oriented group. Surge describes them as "expats", so it's either someone else or Team Flare is in a somewhat different position than their game-canon one as an influential, for lack of a better word, political club within Kalos.
Resisting the urge to call her accent stupid (not that Sird would care), Surge responds. "Badajoz Base, Intel was right, Primera sent at least one of her four to here to flush us out. Also got a little reunion with the tyke. What's the sitch?" Leaf is officially getting downgraded from kid to tyke, she's fuckin regressed. The tyke's got all sorts of moral nonsense in her head now, the soldier that he raised buried deep.
He's gonna have to find the time to fix that. Ugh, more work. Ein, his Raichu, makes a noise of agreement below him.
Surge is of course referring to Poppy, and also of course is being a paternalist dick about Leaf moving away from his brainwashing. I want this man buried alive.
"One of the Count's seneschals got arrested. He had a number of documents and hard drives that got confiscated. Important ones. Cascaraffa's bastard might've been involved." Ugh, fucking nobs. Goldsmith needs to get his allies in line. This shit is getting obnoxious.
Cascaraffa's bastard being Manuel - this was the end result of Team 2's work. We've seen this guy's fate in a post I've already covered, and I've already explained the "Goldsmith" codename, but for the sake of having everything in one place...
Goldsmith was the, for lack of a better word, magical alias of Kinzo Ushiromiya, the deeply abusive and memetically obsessive patriarch of the Ushiromiya family from Umineko: When They Cry, whose selfish decisions and general lack of regard was the root cause of most of that story's conflicts, whether he ever understood the consequences of his actions or not. He was also quite literally filthy rich, which made the choice of moniker both somewhat literal and a stupid pun on his name. It's clear that this character's shadow is heavily impressed upon the Duke de Medali, just as the character of Beatrice (the story's more apparent antagonist, at least at the start) is impressed onto Theodora.
tl;dr I think we're gonna have to kill this guy, Steven.
"It better not be one of that Alolan's freakshows." He knows he has no room to judge, Leaf is in the same fuckin room after all, but he raised her and the others as Soldiers. Like how good ol' Orre taught him, refined by his years of service to the Don. He's half-convinced that the freak's a nonce but Sird says he isn't and she's the one who makes it her business to know that sort of shit.
We've met a freak with an Alolan Pokémon (Ultra Beast) since, and these assets are presumably being provided by Faba, whom later circumstantial evidence indicates is also a Xanadu asset now. Surge thinks he's a pedo (for the Americans in the audience, that's what a nonce is), but he at least is aware that he lives in a glass house when it comes to indocrinating and enabling child soldiers. Surge just thinks it's different because he's a Nazi.
Dreizhen returns sound from the outside and he takes a little gander on the state of the battle. Hmm, not bad. Leaf was always a fast-learner and she's never the one to forget lessons. Drei, his Electrivire is in an utterly fucked state. Two-weeks recovery at minimum. Zwanzig, his Morpeko, is faring better, though her only job is keeping Missy away from coming to the rescue of those brats.
"Not bad at all, consider yourself passed with flying colors!" he yells from his little alcove in the massive cavern, not bothering to listen to what new expletive Leaf or the cop calls him. Though he does wonder if he can get that tot with them to swear? Plans for later.
"Till next time, Leaf!" He yells as Dreizhen finishes activating Miracle Eye to get him past the Dark and Ghost barriers. A miniature tear in reality masquerading as a third eye, where just looking at it makes him wanna puke. With their path clear he teleports out, frowning as he barely catches Leaf not bothering to curse his name, her and Missy immediately running off to rescue her new brats.
No matter how bad Psychic types have allegedly been nerfed in the games (oh no, they're middle of the road instead of completely dominant like when I was twelve), I gotta say, they're ideal utility types for villainous escape plans.
Pushing past the bothersome headache from exerting herself too much, Renne examines the scene before her.
The various freed stolen or kidnapped Pokemon are reuniting with their friends and family in the Wild Hunt. Many of the latter are in rough condition, scars and wounds from recent battles, missing limbs or eyes in some cases patched over by what supplies the Wild Hunt had managed to scrounge up or what her human and the others she calls friends had handed over to help.
But even in her state she can see it, a vast tapestry being woven before her eyes. The yellow threads of relief and joy from loved ones that were brought back together. Teddiursa crowding around an Ursaring who's making sure the little ones are free of any wounds or injuries. An Amoongus half-heartedly scolds a number of its pre-evolutions for wandering off and getting captured. A Tranquil plucking messy feathers and taking care of a placid Pidove, too overwhelmed with joy to even react.
The child who tagged along with her human's class and who smells of iron looks over the preceding with a smile on her face.
And yet the edges of the yellow grow blue, shifting as the tapestry continues to grow. There is great sorrow in the air, tinging the reunion with a bitter sour taste. A blue Pawniard like Leo sends her minion scurrying to look further into the ruins.She knows she will not find anything but desperation pushes to try. A sole Lurantis silently hugs a single crying Fomantis, a tragedy clear as the colors that flow from their tears. The Charcadet that is with the one named Elise, having woken up from their injuries, comforts a Treecko. The gray melancholy of a farewell between the two of them.
The adult who she remembers as the trainer of Ruby's Numel friend, who in a quiet corner of the cavern, mourns alongside her Pokemon for the one they've lost.
Yet there still remains a seething unrest which paints the tapestry a deep red, amongst the masses of Pokemon, wild or otherwise. The Wild Hunt is over. Soon, the natural order of the wilds shall reassert itself as best it can. From what her mother taught her, it will fail. Something like this will scar the Pokemon of this province for years to come. A clutch of Woobats discuss the fate of their colony and their home, defiled as it was, their many enemies poised to strike at the weaknesses shown that day. That Spidops they fought with mere days ago fresh off an argument with the Theodora human, both claimed that they would be better equipped to see Lokix healed. The Insect had lost and yet there was a contemplative look on her face, mandibles scrunched in thought.
Life goes on, even after all this tragedy. Chaotic, messy, violent life. And Theodora winning an argument with a spider, at least until she learns how to turn her webs red. She's likely to, as Lokix planned, be the top dog in the area, and is hopefully now well-equipped to help the other Wild Pokémon defend themselves against whatever the next fucking nonsense will be.
At a little corner of the cavern are Mariana and her friends. At the insistence of the two named Elise and Theodora, a small grave had been dug for Vigoroth, with one of the Ursarings using a strange capacity to control the earth to facilitate such. Renne feels nothing but sadness thinking of the ape.
A creature utterly twisted to be unrecognizable by his loved ones, from what she could hear of Lokix's pleas to them during the battle. A mind deprived of all capacity for thought with the exception of violence. Even the anger she had felt when the ape had nearly crushed Ruby has long faded. The wyrm is quiet. From the red hanging like a pallor over him, she can tell he is still angry, and not at her for once. It is tinged with the purples of fear and worry, for Mariana and Ruby alike.
"...Thank you." Roland looks as if merely saying those words to her is like pulling teeth from his maw, and yet here he is, doing it. She nods in understanding before turning away from him again.
She focuses on Mariana, her…trainer, and thinks. The colors of the human's emotions are muted from the day's exhaustion. Beyond the ever present kindness and worry for the little one who smells weird, she senses a strange color in Mariana's heart. It is orange, a similar shade to what she has occasionally sensed in Ruby. Not quite fear but something close. It's a sticky clinging substance to her eyes and as she focuses, she sees it vanish , suppressed inside of Mariana's mind.
During the haze of the battle she remembers a brief moment where she had touched something in Mariana's mind. Something that shielded parts of her human's mind. It seems similar but different to a mental shield, which from what her mother had taught her is meant to protect a mind from privation from hostile Weavers. It was brief but she saw something that she is sure even the human does not know herself.
And this is Renne as good as telling us about the black box of trauma in Mariana's brain. She's taking it upon herself to explore that, and I think it's good for her to do so. With luck, we can help each other.
'Mariana, may I ask you something?' Her trainer turns to face her, excusing herself from the makeshift funeral to approach her. Out of habit, Renne puts her little arms up for Mariana to carry her in her arms.
"What is it, Renne?" Her trainer asks, oh so kindly. It's almost saccharine just how kind and patient Mariana is towards her. She does not deserve it at all.
'Sometime, but not now, I wish to speak with you about some things.' Willing her strength, Renne briefly pulls that curse her captors had placed on her, that hexagonal symbol appearing in front of the two of them before vanishing. A blasphemy of the Star Child's power, sickening to even look at.
Does anyone in this party love themselves? Anyone?
*Roland and Ruby raise their hands and wave*
Okay you two are perfect and I love you but can we please get ourselves, our classmates, and our cat some therapy.
This is also somewhat confirmation of something we worked out - the Phantasmal power is directly tied in to Terastalization, "the Star Child's power", almost certainly referring to Terapagos, the ultimate source of the Terastal phenomenon, at least as it manifests in crystals.
Understanding flashes on Mariana's before settling upon her typical look. "Of course, take as much time as you need to explain it." Hmmph. With their little conversation over, Renne relaxes into Mariana's embrace, doing her best to resist falling asleep. She can sense Roland floating over to wrap himself around her trainer's neck.
Despite the battle's conclusion she remains uneasy, she feels that this is merely a portent of things to come.
[X] Plan Essentials and ALL the Bonding Materials
-[X] Feline Pokemon Bed (10K)
-[X] Weekly Special! TM Protect (40K)
-[X] Basic Pokemon Food (Minerals) (25K)
-[X] Kofu Coupon (7.5K)
-[X] Wooden Blade (7.5K)
-[X] Colored Pencils (7.5K)
'From what you've told me, Mariana, Trainers and their Pokemon battle to strengthen themselves through insight gleaned only from combat. Yet there's very little of that to be found here.' Renne levitates a clump of popcorn to her mouth as she makes her observations telepathically.
"Not every battle is like the ones you saw at the Gym. For most Trainers, they can be pretty casual affairs," you respond, taking a handful of popcorn for yourself. You and Renne make for a cute little sight as she's seated on your lap, hugging the bucket of popcorn, peeking over it as she watches the Tournament go by.
A lot of the competitors are locals and first time trainers. Despite the cash prize, most of the contestants hold a pretty casual air to them. Only a few trainers have that competitive look in their eye, and even fewer of those hold a badge.
Intellectually, you know that your pace is pretty insane for the average trainer. Most people spend months getting to where you are now, many trainers dedicate the first year of their Journeys to getting a badge or two. But a part of you still feels unsatisfied with your progress.
Well it is what it is. You scratch Roland's head to wake him from his nap around your neck. He wiggles in delight at your attention, causing you to giggle from how his tail tickles your neck.
"You're getting used to telepathy aren't you, Mariana?" Seated next to you is Erika with her own smaller bucket of popcorn, though she sometimes goes and takes a piece or two from your bucket. You really don't mind, you sorely underestimated how big a large-sized bucket would be.
"Yea, they're no longer as bad as when Argy first started communicating with me." A little bit of a white lie, though not by much. While no longer in the territory of the out and out headaches you used to get, they still hurt a little. More like the feeling of something squeezing the back of your head.
You release the breath you were unknowingly holding as you see Erika relax. She's been a little overbearing since the Field Exercise ended. You always feel a little bad causing her to worry about you, especially since it's the first time since said Field Exercise that the two of you are hanging out together.
"Still, I'm surprised she's already so experienced in telepathy with humans. Usually most Pokemon take a while before they're proficient at it." Renne turns her head, eyes narrowed at Erika, who's doing her best impression of an innocent smile.
"Maybe it's different per Pokemon? My Mom had a Chimecho but she's never communicated with me in the way Renne has with me. Or how Cornelia communicates with you." Spending time with Renne has taught you enough of her tells when she wants a conversation or topic to end. For some reason though, Erika looks a little flustered at the last part of what you said.
"W-well, Cornelia is different, yes…Not telepathy, per se—" Erika gaze shifts rapidly between you and her Carbink, who's looking with what you can guess to be a raised eyebrow.
The sound of a bell ringing interrupts her, signaling the end of the current round of matches and the beginning of the quarter-final matches. As if on cue the tournament buzzer you were provided with comes to life.
"Sorry, Erika. My next match is coming up. Keep an eye on Renne for me alright?" Lifting the Psychic Type off of your lap, who meows slightly in complaint at being moved, you set her and the bucket of popcorn down on your seat. Renne gives Erika a judging look before returning her gaze back to the arena. Your friend in response purses her lips in irritation.
You hold back a sigh, it was a little optimistic to think that Renne would get along with all of your friends immediately. She liked Theodora and Elise well enough, though that might've had something to do with—
Shaking your head to stop yourself from getting distracted, you wave to Erika before heading off to your match in the tournament's quarterfinals. She returns it with a wave of her own, her gaze lingering on you as you turn away to head down into the arena.
The East Mesagoza Little Cup, like most tournaments in Paldea, operates on a single-elimination system. Thirty two (or in some cases sixty four) contestants duke it out in 1v1s every round until only a single trainer is remaining.
For locally organized tournaments like these, contestants aren't allowed to go to Pokemon Centers to heal their Pokemon so it's more akin to a gauntlet than anything else. Apparently, it's to simulate the kind of combat a trainer out in the wild should get used to. Of being unable to heal and keep your Pokemon in top condition, testing their endurance and a trainer's team management.
At least that's supposed to be the idea.
Little Cup tournaments are primarily meant for trainers just starting on their journey or those who already have a single badge. For the former it's a good environment to get themselves and their Pokemon used to battling, especially in public, no one really expects trainers without a badge to win these after all. For the latter, beyond just it being useful to help any new Pokemon catch up with the rest of the team, the TR and the cash prize are main things luring first-badgers to these events.
According to Erika it also helps build a trainer's brand image or something. Contest and tournament prizes are the main way for first-badgers to make cash until they get their second badge, which is where companies and sponsors usually start scouting for upcoming talents.
It's also apparently why she's here, Erika's own cash reserves are running low. Well, so is yours and that is part of why you decided to go for the East Cup instead of the West. But the main one is—
Another bell signals the end of the last match of the current set. From the chatter around you, it's apparently been one of the more exciting and closer matches thus far. Though, from Nemona's familiar silhouette you doubt it was as close as people say. Her Cutiefly, while sporting a couple of bruises and marks, still seems energetic and raring to go.
The quarter finals are coming up and Nemona's only used one Pokemon.
A part of you is nervous, really nervous. There's no guarantee you even make it to finals where Nemona is waiting. But this could be your only chance this month to fight Sunny, to fight her properly, from how packed both of your schedules are. It's your best way of gauging how your progress has been compared to her.
You prepared for this a little bit. You've only really sent out Ruby so far in your most recent fights to preserve Roland's strength and energy for his rematch against Sunny. Renne doesn't need to concern herself with something as selfish as this.
You need to take every chance you can get to be a better trainer, to be a trainer that can not only help Renne but also one she deserves.
Still, thinking about fighting Nemona causes a weird feeling in your chest and face, beyond just the nerves that you're getting used to before every battle. You know winning isn't likely, given that Nemona is simply better than you. She's—
"Hey, watch it!" A familiar voice scolds you as you bump into someone. Your height and reflexes prevent you from toppling over while you hear a yelp, the person in front of you nearly falling with their arms flailing in the air.
Thankfully you were fast enough to grab onto one of the legs of the stands next to you, while reaching out and catching the arm of whoever it is you absentmindedly inconvenienced, an apology already forming on your lips.
"I'm so sorry! I wasn't paying attention!" Getting distracted like that is dangerous, Mariana, what were you even thinking about!? You help the person up, your ears heating up from embarrassment.
Paying more attention, you notice a girl in a well-cut purple Mesagoza uniform, bearing long locks of dark blonde hair so smooth that you idly wonder what it'd be like to run your fingers through it. Her hair frames an exasperated face with subtle hints of eye-shadow and some other kind of make-up you don't know enough to name, lending the girl a sophisticated air you recognize.
It's Astrid. Pushing aside the urge to make sure she doesn't hate you now by apologizing more, you pull her up fixing her footing, the noblewoman dusting herself off as you do.
You couldn't help but briefly wonder what a noble like her is doing out here in the east of the city. You haven't been in Mesagoza for long but you're familiar with the reputation parts of the city have.
Though, judging by the pair of footsteps quickly approaching the two of you, it seems she isn't alone.
"My Lady, did this ruffian hurt you!? What's your name, you—" The newcomer, around your brother's age, growls at you angrily. His hostility is met by Roland, who hisses at him with narrowed eyes.
"It's fine, she's just a friend. from the Academy. All an accident. No need to make a scene. Isn't that right, Mariana?" Astrid pushes you aside, putting herself in between you and her seeming servant. While he's still glowering at you, Astrid's disarming smile and words stops the outright hostility he was looking at you with earlier. Roland also calms down, though he continues glaring at the servant.
"Sorry for bumping into you, Astrid. I was distracted." Unable to help yourself even while apologizing, your gaze briefly flickers to look at where Nemona last was. Unfortunately she's already gone and you resist the urge to click your tongue in irritation.
"Oh, were you watching Mendoza? Her performance during her first Gym Battle was amazing! Though it is kinda inconvenient that she chose this Tournament, the one I'm in to participate in. I mean there goes my chances of winning. Kinda inconsiderate honestly…" Astrid pouts rather petulantly at that last part. You sort of understand that she's probably not being serious, but you feel wrong letting a friend of yours be spoken of in such a way.
"It's not like she knew…" you mutter before getting interrupted by the tournament pager buzzing even louder, this time joined by another one in Astrid's pocket.
"Wait, you're also competing?! Why didn't you say so!" Astrid slings her arm around your shoulder, at a slightly awkward angle to how much taller you are than the noble.
As you're dragged by Astrid to the arena, she excitedly chats and gushes to you about her Pokemon, the Ekans she had with her last time you saw her and a Snivy of all things. While you know she's a noble, from what you remember Snivy's are extremely rare in Paldea, making it likely another import.
"My Lady! Do remember your obligations, you have concerns other than battling! The Madam would be most cross if—" An ugly irritated look briefly flickers on Astrid's face from her butler's words before vanishing just as quickly. She briefly turns to her servant to tersely reassure them one more before continuing to speak with you, though decidedly less animated.
"Do you think we're gonna be the next match? You're the first person I met after the Entrance Exams, but we've never battled, have we?" Maybe you're reading the situation wrong, and even if your gut feeling is right, you probably have no right to get involved. But…
Astrid's grin briefly grows before taking a competitive, almost feral edge. A toothy grin who's enthusiasm is infectious, causing you to mirror the gesture involuntarily.
"Oh? Don't get cocky just because you already have a badge! Of the Noble Classes, only Maria and Eri can consistently beat me! Though your name also does start with an M, that might be a bad omen…" As you watch Astrid energy return, any doubts wash away.
Though why do you get the inescapable feeling that someone is glaring at you?
'What are your intentions with Mariana, child?' Erika ignores the Espurr's attempts to interrogate her, to be busy glaring at the noble brat slinging her arm around Mariana.
"It's hopeless trying to get through to her when she's like this. Believe me, I've tried." Also ignoring Cornelia's unwanted, unasked and uncalled-for comment, Erika turns her attention to the noble's butler, memorizing both his face and the crest marked on his back, symbolizing which family he's employed under.
She's nowhere near connected enough to know exactly who that girl is, and asking Mary is simply out of the question. Fortunately, the insatiable urge of Paldea's elite to show off and brag can always be relied on in these circumstances.
"Are you pulling out your laptop?! In the middle of a tournament?!" Cornelia's incredulous tone does little to dissuade Erika from her course of action, though she does briefly glance at Renne who's staring at her in what passes for an amused look amongst the Espurr.
Three Sable Fleur-de-Lys on a white field above a representation of yellow tinted seaside craggy cliffs. The former suggest Kalosian- and thus an Emigre family, the descendants of those nobles who had fled the Kalosian Revolution. Meanwhile the latter suggests a coastal heritage, which should help narrow it down further.
Fortunately for her, Kalos has a site dedicated to cataloging all the old defunct noble families of the region, consigning those ancient and august families where they belong; in historical footnotes and museums.
"I am so sorry for her behavior! Once she gets like this, it's hard for her to stop…" Erika brings her face slightly closer to the laptop screen, to stop Cornelia from distracting her. She barely registers Mary's Espurr meowing something in response, in that adorably fluffy way they do. She notices the bell ringing, signaling the start of the next set of matches even less.
She finds the site quickly, but to her irritation it loads unbearably slowly. The page itself is an ugly mess, somehow managing to impressively strike the balance of being too basic and barebones in its design, while using garish enough colors that what design it does have makes it an eyesore. A user interface only possible with sites made nearly two decades ago and maintained by an underpaid government worker about to quit or be replaced. She does eventually find an exact match for the noble crest emblazoned on the butler's back, but it takes so long that she's considering actually spending her hard earned money in that Mobile Data plan that advertisers are constantly pushing on her.
The de Ambrette's, originally hailing from the minor Kalosian settlement of the same name, were once nobility serving as Counts of Rochelle for most of the span of the Old Kingdom of Kalos. Made emigres following the Kalosian Revolution, their family's trade connections in Unova and the other Atlantean Monarchies allowed them to survive with a modicum of influence and wealth. Erika's eyes skim over the rest.
Emigre family well-connected with Paldean and Galarian Nobility. Lady Rika's lessons let her fill in the blanks and point her where to look next.
'Um, Erika…the next match is…that noble lady and M—'
Absent-mindedly, Erika brushes Cornelia off, too focused at her task to let herself be interrupted. Her mind churns at the implications and tries to connect enough dots to form a picture of that noble twerp.
"Just keep resting, Cornelia. I need you ready for the battle against Mary. Thankfully Dlanor cleared the tournament rabble for us…" She mumbles as she quickly makes a note of getting her Scyther some harder and more exciting battles, her prior tournament fights were a cake walk.
"Uh…"
'Shhh...let things proceed, I've something devious in store. Would you help me with that…Cornelia, was it?'
'I–I suppose as long as no harm occurs…'
Erika continues to ignore the ringing telepathic sounds in her skull, the noise of the arena and the nagging feeling that she's forgetting something. Moving to a different site, the official Paldean Stock Exchange, she skims through a list of companies, businesses and startups, all connected to or subsidiaries of Dorado-Medali. There she finds it.
Amber Shore Shipping, a subsidiary of Dorado-Medali operating in Northern Paldea around the Highlands and in the border regions of Rime and Kalos. Specializes in maritime trade and limited mining operations close to the West Paldean Sea. A brief check of the companies' public list of shareholders and the de Ambrette's public family rolls confirms her suspicion. Lady Rika's own network probably already knows about this, but it's good practice for her as well.
'Hm, little Ruby is holding on well despite her disadvantage. Clever little one, she is.'
'Why do I have a feeling that you're not that much older than the little hellion?'
'Shhh…Is she still distracted?'
'Yes, and you are right, this is funny.'
Now, the question is where does Mariana fit in all of this. There was some familiarity with how Mary and that Ambrette girl interacted. A little spike of irritation flashes through Erika's mind just thinking about it.
Ugh, she's being immature. Focus, Erika!
Erika pulls up a number of news articles from the last couple of years about the Highlands, searching for anything about companies launching operations in the region. A couple stand out, one of them is even about a small Wild Hunt wiping out an illegal mine somewhere in the Highlands.
Erika raises an eyebrow, leaning in closer to her laptop, blocking out the outside world in its entirety, as she digs deeper into the story. After the mine was wiped out with only a couple of local mercenaries making it out to tell the story, a big stir over illegal development in the Highlands was raised by the Andosin Khural. Lady Geeta was forced into a compromise limiting mining and logging activities in the Highlands down to a handful of handpicked companies and conglomerates, a large number of them concerningly affiliated with the Medali's. Erika closes her eyes, muttering under her breath, trying to remember Lady Rika's lesson about the political balance in the region. The Andosin Clans are generally supportive of the Imperial Family due to dynastic ties, but are butting heads with Lady Geeta over the latter's centralization and industrial policies. Putting pressure on La Primera's coalition between the Crown and the Commoner class. They're kept away from the nobility's camp for now due to being repelled by the xenophobic streak prevalent among the peerage, though who knows how long that'll last—
"Wow! I can't believe Mary is kissing that noble girl right after battling her!" Renne meows loudly enough that it pierces through whatever concentration Erika might've—
what
Her head couldn't snap up faster if she had tried, her eyes wide in panic as she hurriedly scanned the arena searching for Mary and that Ambrette homewrecker. She ignores the cackling and snickering of the Espurr and her own sister, as if Mariana getting taken by an agent of Medali was funny to them!
Erika finally spots the two shaking hands, their match over. She ignores the embarrassed flush in her face at missing one of Mary's battles, instead squinting her eyes to see if Mary is okay, standing up to try and lean closer.
"So you can understand me after all. Relax human, I had merely tricked you, consider it punishment for ignoring Ruby and my human's battle." Renne purrs with the all-natural arrogance only felines are capable of.
Irritation mingles with dread and shame in Erika's chest as she glares at the Espurr, one of her secrets tricked out of her and she can't even muster enough will to be angry. She came here today for Mary and here she is missing her battles. Slowly the shame wins out and she turns away, breaking eye contact.
"So what'd you find, Erika?" Cornelia floats up between the two of them, with the best apologetic look her sister can muster. Erika sits back down with a huff and returns her laptop to her bag, burying the irritation at knowing the fact that her sister is gonna tease her for this later.
"Just the name of what noble family that girl and her butler belongs to." Belatedly, Erika realizes that she still doesn't know what that girl's name is. She got distracted chasing useless info when she could've just looked up any Ambrettes in the Academy rosters for the year.
"Why'd you do that? The rudeness of that human would've been mine and my human's concern." Renne's question turns Erika's attention back to the Espurr, the Pokemon's expression having returned to its species signature blank emotionless stare.
"B-because Mary's my best friend!? This is but the least I'd do for her." She says proudly, though not loud enough it'll bring attention to her. Though a part of her finds that she doesn't care if people hear.
Renne looks her straight in the eyes, the Pokemon's piercing stare giving Erika the feeling of being dissected, of someone seeing deep into her. She leans back in discomfort, unsure of how to respond or react and unused to someone doing this to her. Usually it's the other way around.
"Really? Is that all Mariana is to you?" Erika remains silent, breaking eye-contact by looking away towards literally anything else as Renne's words ring in her head. The Espurr finally turns away herself back towards the arena, floating up pieces of popcorn to munch on, leaving Erika alone with her own thoughts for company.
Erika thinks as she looks towards Mary, who's bidding farewell to that Ambrette girl, the latter holding an unconscious Snivy in her arms. While Mary herself is carrying an exhausted looking Ruby. The part of herself that feels guilty at missing one of her friend's battles. Friend…
Mary is her friend. Her closest friend, her first friend, and up until the Field Exercise, her only friend—though she's still hesitant to call Manuel or Ostia a friend.
But a part of Erika knows deep down that she's lying to herself. That part of her that's drawn to silly romance and couples magazines for inexplicable reasons; that part of herself that's nagging her to start the long process of learning yet another language; and that part of herself that just doesn't want to only be Mary's friend.
Just being near Mary makes her feel so light that she could float away, a dreamlike weightlessness suffusing through her. Whenever Mary smiles, her lips are only slightly parted as if she's shy about showing her teeth. But her cheeks dimple, her eyes crinkle, and her gaze softens, and Erika can't help but stare. She wants to memorize every detail, every smile, so that whenever she closes her eyes, she could still see it. All of that and more makes Erika willing to overlook and work past all the worry, all the headaches and stress that Mary can cause her, all for a reason she's refusing to acknowledge.
Erika shakes her head, unentangling her fingers from one another, having been twiddling them while deep in thought.
Soon enough she feels the buzzer in her pocket come to life, taking her out of her head and thoughts. The reason she's here in the first place, beyond just spending time with her friend, coming at last.
Erika can't allow Mary to keep slamming herself against Mendoza, throwing herself back into that same self-deprecating spiral after the first Round Robin. Especially not after the Field Exercise. And so her task is simple. She's going to have to beat Mary in a battle, force her attention away from her obsession with catching up to someone who's frankly showing no signs of stopping despite probably being the strongest first year in all of Mesagoza.
A treacherous and selfish part of her whispers in her ear, that hopefully with this, she can force Mary to look at her in the same obsessive way Mary looks at Mendoza.
Grabbing her backpack, to bring it with her she looks at Renne, snickering a little as the Psychic Pokemon seems to have the large popcorn bucket stuck on its head, with Cornelia trying to get it off.
Rolling her eyes, Erika tears at the side of the bucket with her nails, freeing the Espurr who's too busy licking at the cheese to pay her mind. Eventually, after licking herself clean of cheese and popcorn, Renne looks at her expectantly.
"I'm going to be battling soon, likely against Mary. I can't just leave you here." Cornelia floats up beside Erika, running through the battleplan with her telepathically one more time before the fight itself.
"I can float by myself, human. But I will take the suggestion in the spirit it was given. I assume you've found your answer?" Renne meows at her as Erika looks away, she mumbles 'maybe' in response. Cornelia, floating closer to her, lightly bumps Erika in the shoulder, a familiar gesture of comfort and support from her sister.
Walking down towards the arena itself, Erika soon comes face to face with Mary, who's waiting for her alongside her Drilbur and Dreepy. Erika chuckles as Renne is forced to squirm in place as Mary fusses over the Espurr being covered in cheese dust.
"So what'd you think of my battles so far?" Mary's question causes Erika to wince internally, as she scrambles to think of an answer that isn't a complete lie.
"I caught some of it, but…I was distracted thinking about you." Why did she say that. By the time the words had left Erika's mouth it was already too late. Mary looks at her with widened eyes, while both of their Pokemon turn their attention towards her. Erika's cheeks flushing in embarrassment.
"I-I mean we're gonna fight soon and all, I doubt you'd get beaten by any of the other contestants. I had to look over the strategy I'm gonna beat you with!" Erika puts as much unearned bravado as she can into words, hoping that Mary either ignores what she said prior.
To Erika's confusion, her friend lightly chuckles, shaking her head before looking her straight in the eye. In Mary's green eyes was a competitive glint, one she'd only seen a few times and very rarely aimed towards Erika. As quick as it appeared, it vanished.
"Well, it's been a while since the first Round Robin. I've been wanting to see how I'd fare in a rematch this time." Mariana says with a small smile on her face. Though Erika hopes this time that her friend doesn't get that ridiculous idea that she let her win.
"I assure you, I won't disappoint." Erika lets a little giddiness slip in her voice causing her to grin, despite her intentions to help Mariana, a part of her is looking forward to putting theory and practice into action.
The sound of the bell heralds the end of the last match before her and Mary's bout, ending their pre-battle boasting. They say good luck to another as they head to their respective places in the arena, both of them beginning their last-minute pre-battle routines. Erika can already see in her head how Mary is likely waking that layabout of a Wyrm wrapped around her neck, getting him ready for battle.
On her end, Erika makes a mental note of all her plan's major contingencies and backups, running it all over in her head one last time. Data on Roland's capabilities after Mary's battle with Katie is basically non-existent, the battle itself didn't have all that much info on the Dreepy's full capabilities, and even during this tournament Mary's been careful to have Roland preserve his strength, likely in preparation for Mendoza. So she went with the next best thing, watching other Dreepy battle online. By Erika's estimate, Roland would likely be at the middle or late 1st Badge level, with a worse case scenario of him being 2nd Badge. Battle footage of Gym Challenges involving Dreepy's at that level is rare, and a lot of them drop off at the 2nd Badge level. Which honestly makes Mary's underestimation of her skills even worse—
"Sister, are you ready?" Erika's thoughts are interrupted by Cornelia, her sister's rocky and gem studded exterior nearly glittering after having been shined earlier today all in preparation for this moment.
Erika looks first at Mary across the arena, her friend waving at her, and then towards the referee, who's waiting for Erika to say she's ready.
"Worry not, sister. I will give it my all, we've prepared for this. Besides, it's the least I could do for what happened last Wednesday." Erika blanches at the reminder, sometimes Grandmother's mission for her takes her to the obnoxious places. Despite the awkward memory, Erika can't help but smile at her sister's words of support.
Hesitatingly, Erika turns first to Mariana then to the referee, nodding as she sends Cornelia into the field. Across the arena, Roland slithers onto the ground, the desire for a rematch against Cornelia clear in his eyes.
Erika narrows her eyes and focuses on her opponent, putting away all her feelings and thoughts about her, keeping her gaze glued onto them to detect changes in expression or movement.
Time to see if her planning pays off.
The sound of the bell heralds the beginning of the battle, and with it the first step.
"Roland, rush in quickly!" Mariana orders. Her Dreepy melts into the shadows of the arena's admittedly sparse terrain. It takes a few seconds for the Dragon-type to fully dissolve, though by the time he fully evolve, Erika wouldn't be surprised if Mary and Roland could shave that to under a second.
Low scale tournaments such as this one typically don't have the resources, nor the Pokemon on hand to create and continuously repair the more highly complex and developed battlefields common in Gyms and other higher level tournaments. But the odd shrub, stone and tree provide enough shade, in conjunction with the mid noon sun, for Roland's Shadow Sneak to be a threat.
And so, removing that advantage, even temporarily, is priority one. Cornelia's stony exterior began to sharpen and shine, having begun a Rock Polish the moment the bell rang. It takes longer for Cornelia to finish Rock Polish, than it took for Roland to begin their Shadow Sneak. Ill omen, though it helps narrow down which of her and Cornelia's two plans they'll have to go with.
Cornelia doesn't need a spoken signal from her to launch Stealth Rocks all around herself, they've been practicing using instant telepathy in battle just for this. It's not developed enough for anything other than short thoughts but it's better than signalling her plans out loud. Erika restrains herself from grinning as she sees Mary first raise an eyebrow and then narrow her eyes, it's no surprise she'd catch on fast.
A field of glittering gems and stones, some as small as a marble while others were as large as a fingernail, spread out all around Corneali. A veritable minefield, and as Erika narrowly catches a flicker in the shadow of a small bush, itself surrounded by a handful of Cornelia's Stealth Rocks, one about to detonate.
Mary's eyes widen as the gems glow brighter and brighter until—
"In the air, now!" Mary yells in the nick of time. Roland flies out of the shadows straight up into the air as a harsh light begins to shine all across the arena. The Wyrm did not escape unscathed, though, as the Fairy TE infused light burns Rolands tail, leaving a trail of smoke following after the small Pokemon.
"We're calling it Flashing Gleam." Erika's openly grinning now, giddy at getting to show off the fruits of her and Cornelia's hard work to Mary. At its most basic level, it's the move Flash carefully infused with Fairy Tera Energy; a makeshift Dazzling Gleam, though it's obviously far weaker.
Using the unique properties of Cornelia's gems they've been able to stretch it out much farther, enough to cover at least a third of the arena, with the largest concentration being the area immediately around the Carbink. It has its limits of course, Cornelia isn't able to keep it at full power for too long before tiring out, but even in an inert state, the Stealth Rocks having been sharpened with Rock Polish will stretch it out long enough for their purposes.
They've limited Mary's options as best they can, preventing Roland from using Shadow Sneak to its advantage, thus they can force out any tricks or new moves her opponents are keeping up their sleeve. Knowing Mary, there's likely to be no shortage of such.
Mary's eyes flicker between Roland and the various gems scattered around the arena, her gaze narrows as a calculating look forms on her face. She's likely intuiting the limits of Cornelia's gems and formulating a course of attack. Erika smiles, ready for anything.
"Struggle Bug and Will-o-Wisps! Wear it down from afar!" The sickly light green of Bug TE mixes with a hazy reddish purple light and begins to spill from Roland's mouth at Mary's order. The wisps of smoke coming from the Wyrm flow to the Pokemon's mouth. She's always been a little curious on the pain absorbent properties of Struggle Bug, but that's a matter for later.
Erika was expecting Infestation, but this remains within parameters. Cornelia's Power Gem can overpower and eventually catch up to Roland despite his speed. Without even needing to speak, half a dozen gems protrude from Cornelia, each as long and thick as one of Erika's fingers. Sharpened to a knife's edge, they'll tear through and impale Roland, hopefully pinning him in place for the Grand Finale.
She'll show Mary that it's not only Mendoza that's capable of an explosive finish.
The Power Gems rush towards Roland who flies to evade Cornelia's attack. As the Wyrm dodges and weaves away, the twin attacks building in his mouth begin to form a sort of shield around the Pokemon, the insectoid simulacra of Struggle Bug glowing with purple light. Combining the two attacks in an ad hoc fashion to conserve energy for both. Fascinating.
As Roland continuously evades the jagged gem stakes chasing after him, always avoiding getting at the last minute, Erika begins to notice. The margins of error between every barely dodged strike is growing in a slightly worrying manner. Cornelia can't possibly be getting tired already, they've practiced with more than double this number of Power Gems! So it must be something else.
Erika narrows her eyes, looking away from Mary and focusing entirely on Roland. The Power Gems aren't slowing down, they're maintaining speed, the problem is Roland. Though some of the insect shades have been shattered by Power Gems, as a whole Roland is still somehow maintaining its attack, building up Struggle Bugs all around it as a sort of pseudo-Infestation. All the while, slowly but surely, getting faster.
Agility
Erika curses under her breath as she realizes that she'd sorely underestimated not just Roland, but Mary as well. Of course there's a reason that Wyrm was combining both attacks to conserve energy, so they can pull this off at the same time! And right under her nose!
As the Wyrm dodges once more, this time in such a way that two Power Gems collide into one another shattering into an explosion of crystalline stone, Erika can feel the flow of battle slipping from her fingers.
Despite herself, Erika diverts some precious attention Mary's way. Sneaking a glance at her opponent's expression. Mary's nervous, deeply so, but the excitement and glee at getting away with sneaking an Agility by her is obvious to see.
She needs to regain momentum now.
"Plan B, Cornelia!" Erika yells, knowing that Cornelia's too focused on controlling the Power Gems to glimpse at her mind. Immediately, the Power Gems begin to lag behind Roland, though still pursuing the Wyrm, as her sister's precious attention and control is diverted to counteracting Roland's being faster than planned for or anticipated.
Unlike Power Gems, the nature of Stealth Rock and how it makes use of Tera Energy means that less focus and attention can be given towards maintaining it or in this case directing it after its been set up. Most importantly for Erika's purposes, it can hone in on a target, with minimal direction needed.
As Roland flies over the arena, dodging Power Gems and making his way towards Cornelia, the Wyrm unleashes some of the Struggle Bugs at her sister. The insect simulacra writhe with ghostly flames.
The Stealth Rocks nearest on the ground to the attacks fly up to intercept, detonating on impact with the Dreepy's ranged attacks. Less than a handful make it through, scoring hits on Cornelia still, who although resisting the attacks, nevertheless takes damage due to the gap in offensive power between the two Pokemon.
Parts of Cornelia's rocky surface are chipped, a number of her gems glow with the tell-tale sign of the spectral burns of Will-o-Wisp. But despite that, her sister holds. Cornelia's concentration holds, unwavering, as she continues to pressure Roland with near constant attacks from the chasing Power Gems.
"Keh, you can't keep that up forever! I've a measure of your strength, Fae!" Roland spits out as he continues to fly across the arena at Mary's direction.
With an irritated grumble, Cornelia launches a number of Stealth Rocks at Roland, their homing nature meaning they're able to close in much faster than the Power Gems could. Some impact the Struggle Bugs floating around Roland, taking both out. Others are dodged nonetheless, the Agility having doubled Roland's to the point that Erika's having trouble keeping her eyes on the slippery serpent, forcing her to direct her full attention at the Wyrm.
But some score direct hits on Roland, the Fairy TE embedded in the gems detonating, tearing chunks of ectoplasm out of his body. Despite the Wyrm's bravado, the battle is going swimmingly. Roland's pained hisses reinforcing such in Erika's mind—
"Roland, that's enough! Dive down now and close in for a Crunch!" At Mary's command, Roland unleashes the Struggle Bugs surrounding him in a burst of energy, taking out the remaining Power Gems and briefly freeing himself from Cornelia's constant pressure.
Erika is taken aback as Roland begins to swiftly morph into a thin shadowy wisp as he dives down into the ground and dirt below him, far faster than Cornelia or her Stealth Rocks can respond.
Shaking her head, Erika pulls her focus back from the narrow view she'd let herself fall into, taking stock of the battlefield as a whole. Debris from shattered gems, small craters, along with Cornelia's still intact Stealth Rocks littered the area surrounding her sister. Wisps of pink and violet smoke occasionally waft from the areas where the Struggle Bugs and Stealth Rocks collided and detonated against one another.
Then Erika sees it. Gaps in the perimeter of shining gems, small areas barely larger than her pinky, where the shadows caused by the noon sun peek through.
Roland's flight and evasion from Cornelia's attacks hadn't been random, but instead meant to wear down the field of Stealth Rocks surrounding her sister. Erika's eyes trace a thin snaking path, leading to her sister, each progressively smaller and smaller, the one closest to Cornelia barely the size of a button.
Would that be enough for Roland? No, it doesn't matter if it is, Erika has no room to hesitate.
"Go for the contingency, Cornelia!" Erika yells as she sees small needle thin shadows leap closer and closer towards her sister.
They don't have much time, so they'll have to buy some.
"Mrgrgr, you'll owe me for this, sister!" Cornelia grumbles in response as the gems around her body begin to glow a stark white.
Right before her sister could unleash a Flash, Roland emerges from a shadow to Cornelia's left, mouth wrapped in tendrils of Dark TE, slightly empowered by the fiery embers of a Will-o-Wisp.
The arena goes white as Cornelia unleashes a Flash at point blank range, temporarily blinding anyone staring at the two Pokemon. The effect will be far worse for Roland, having been at ground zero for the attack. Erika had closed her eyes in anticipation, but she doesn't need sight to know what happens next.
Regaining vision of the battle, Cornelia had barely dodged in the nick of time, but Roland had still managed to tear a chunk of Cornelia's rocky armor. By how her sister is floating, she's only just avoided getting taken out, but it isn't over yet.
"Directly to your right!" Mary yells, her friend's voice slightly cracking despite the exhilaration clear in it.
"NOW, CORNELIA!" Erika matches Mary with a shout of her own, desperation tinged with gut churning anticipation.
All around the two Pokemon, the Stealth Rocks glowed and shaked. All of them, the dozen that remained, rushed over to Cornelia and Roland. The latter, despite still being blind, leaps directly for Cornelia, mouth agape to bite and tear once more. The former, braced for impact.
There were no more fancy tricks or maneuvers as the Stealth Rocks collided and exploded on impact with the two Pokemon. A pink cloud of dust and Fairy Tera Energy flew up into the arena, sending little bits of gem and detritus everywhere, dissipating slowly, far too slowly.
Erika can feel her heartbeat deafening all sound around her. It's too close, far too close. And yet what right does she have to complain? Mariana is far stronger than her and she's the one that embarked on challenging her. Already flashes of the worse case scenarios began to filter into her head. Even if Roland clings on and secures the battle for Mary, any chance of her even scratching that Mendoza and her ape have vanished. Would Mary hate her for that? For getting in her way? Somehow the thought of Mary's disdain and displeasure pained her more than the thought that she might lose.
Eventually, ever so slowly, the cloud dissipates, revealing the aftermath. Within a small crater are the two Pokemon. Roland was knocked-out cold, while Cornelia barely clung onto consciousness. The Fae looks up at Erika, beady gem eyes wobbling, before finally collapsing herself.
The cheers were deafening as Erika let out a breath that she'd been unintentionally holding, her mind registering the referee announcing her victory, but she can't bring herself to either care or pay attention. Her eyes were locked solely on Mary.
She'd been fearing an expression of despondence, even one of self recrimination or the strange numb look that her friend tried to hide after the Field Exercise. But Erika sees none of them.
Mary is smiling.
It wasn't the half hearted forced smile that she puts up for others, nor the distressingly convincing but still fake one she uses to disarm her friends.
It's Mary's smile, the one she loves.
Eyes lidded as she looked at Erika with an expression that she'd only reserved for that Mendoza or for after she had beaten that Gym Leader. Mary's cheeks flush red from excitement, her bright red lips stretched across her face in a bright lively grin. Erika could spend the rest of the tournament just staring, letting herself sink in the deep green of Mariana's mesmerizing eyes.
Then, everything clicks into place. And Erika understands.
oh
You tear yourself away from staring at Erika, grabbing Roland's Pokeball to recall him back for a well-earned rest.
A part of you feels disappointed that you won't be able to battle Nemona. This tournament was likely your only opportunity to do so this month. But you find that you really can't muster the energy to really care.
Especially with how amazingly Roland performed, he'd given the battle his all. You'll just have to apologize for not getting him his rematch with Sunny.
Turning to Renne, you grab a small bit of popcorn leftover in her fur. Getting her to bathe is going to be a pain.
"Hope the tournament wasn't too boring for you." You pick up the Espurr as you strap Roland's ball back in your belt, caressing it with as much affection as you can muster.
'Worry not, this has been a fruitful expedition. I've a number of ideas myself, watching Roland fight with the Fae. With how eagerly he threw himself at her, he should have no problems helping me with this.' You lightly chuckle at Renne's words. Though you are happy that she's made a friend with Erika's sister.
Erika…
You feel giddy just thinking about that battle. Despite your loss it'll be one you'll rotate around in your mind over and over to see where you could improve or grow. An excitement you've only really felt while battling Nemona or during your Gym Battle.
But beyond that…
You ruminate as you approach and wave at Erika, whose cheeks are flush red, just as exhausted as you are.
You can't get the image of Erika staring at you out of your head. You'd grown somewhat used to being looked at like you're being dissected by her, it's simply how Erika operates with others. It's the stare that she gave you after the match that your mind wanders to as you chat with Erika about the battle
It's almost as if…
You push that thought aside, you're thinking too deeply into this. Besides…
Who'd ever think like that about someone like you?
With Erika's strongest Pokemon no longer fit for battle, her finals match with Nemona was a foregone conclusion despite your encouragement and support.
It's not that Dlanor, Erika's Scyther, didn't put up a fight. The Bug-Type is almost as fast as Sunny. But the gap in power was simply too insurmountable. According to Erika, Dlanor didn't mind, claiming that the Scyther is as much of a battle-maniac as Roland.
It's as the two of you were leaving the tournament venue that Erika asked you a question.
"Did you enjoy today, Mary?" There was some slight hesitation with how Erika said those words, rather uncharacteristic of her but you put it aside to answer her question.
"Of course, though I am disappointed I couldn't fight Nemona, our battle more than made up for it." Erika looks away from you, grumbling something under her breath. It takes a little before she faces you again, a familiar coupon in her hands.
"W-well, I was thinking we should hang out more often then!" You can't help but smile and giggle a little as Erika stumbles over her words. Despite the confidence she exudes in battle and academics, you can't help but find her awkwardness with others a little endearing.
"I'd be happy too. What do you have in mind?" you say as you mentally begin making space in your already packed schedule for the month.
Cheeks bright red in embarrassment, Erika shows you the coupon she'd been holding. It's one for a free full course meal for two to four people at Kofu's Dojo. The place you dined at with Ostia during your first day in Mesagoza, more than a month ago. Erika apparently got it as a bonus for having the best battle of the tournament.
Despite yourself you couldn't help but giggle at the coincidence, pulling out your own Kofu's coupon that you won at a raffle to Erika's confusion and then amusement. The two of you let the sounds of your giggling accompany you all the way back to the dorms as the sun sets.
With Nemona absent for her Gym Battle at Montenevera, the Round Robin is a foregone conclusion. While you're not as certain as Erika is in your inevitable victory, you're still confident that you'll perform well enough to make up for the embarrassment that was your first Round Robin. Though Nemona's absence still nags you in the back of your head.
But there was one match that stood out from the others, not due to its results, you won handily, but more due to what you learned during it and the conversation afterwards.
Who was it that you fought during that battle?
[] Jacinto: It seems you're not the only one that's gotten a confidence boost from winning their Gym Battle. While you do feel a little guilty not approaching him when he was struggling early on, Jacinto doesn't seem to have minded. Though eager to make it up to him, you did promise to answer some of his questions about Dragon Pokemon and oddly enough, about what happened at your group's end of the 1st Field Exercise.
Will be the 2nd Member of Group 3 (Your Group) during the 2nd Field Exercise. Will affect what Optional Tasks Group 3 receives during Field Exercise 2
He's surprisingly eager to learn about Andosin culture, even if he gets a little…weird about it. Improve Bond with Jacinto. 1/2 to Bond 1
[] Atticus: It's clear from the moment the battle started that something was weighing on him. Atticus getting the worse result of the Round Robin prolly hasn't helped either. Maybe it's because you've been looking to be a more proactive Class President, or maybe it's because you're worried about your classmate, either way you're not gonna let the petty cruelty of children bring your classmate down.
Will be the 2nd Member of Group 3 (Your Group) during the 2nd Field Exercise. Will affect what Optional Tasks Group 3 receives during Field Exercise 2
There's something odd with how he's been talking recently, at least compared to how he speaks usually. It's as if he's watching every word he says. Improve Bond with Atticus. 1/3 to Bond 2
[] Manuel: As the classmate you've interacted with the least, you had no idea what to expect when he approached you to talk after your battle. An apology for what happened in the Field Exercise was not among them. 'A noble should take responsibility for the actions and damage those beneath him may cause.' Manuel says with utter seriousness. Looking straight into his eyes, you're convinced he means every word of it.
Will be the 2nd Member of Group 3 (Your Group) during the 2nd Field Exercise. Will affect what Optional Tasks Group 3 receives during Field Exercise 2
Ruby gains 200 Poke XP, Ruby's Electric Moves gain 1 MXP
Finding out he's an older sibling explains a little about his ideas about responsibility. You could almost understand them yourself as an older sister. Improve Bond with Manuel. 1/2 to Bond 1
Nothing to say but sorry this took so long to come out
Moratorium for about 6 Hours
Thanks to Tempera for proofreading this chapter
Btw you get a bonus Kofu Coupon due to a bet I made with Tempera, so enjoy that
Oh man glad I didn't go to sleep before this dropped. I loved it. The battle was fun, Renne wearing a popcorn bucket was cute and now I need art of it, etc etc
Aaaaand of course. It's great to have you back Mary. You fucking Brick.
Speaking of good to have back, it's good to have YOU back too Arvis! And with... and excuse me if I'm wrong, my memory can be bad a lot of the time, new pronouns? Congratulations if so!
IT LIIIIIIIIVVVVEEEESSSSS!
Welcome back Arvis! Man im glad I saw that notification before going to bed.
A beutiful chapter as always, although Im going to have to see the class roster tomorrow, since Im kinda drawing a blank on the characters, for a moment.
Also Erika finally gets it and Mary is subconsciously perceptive but puts herself down, so no surprise there I guess.
Anyway after two lengthy POVs, Erika is growing on me. Also the ship. Also extremely glad to see Mariana enjoying Pokémon battles. She's been so caught up between her PTSD and overcompensating sense of responsibility it's been harder to see before now, but giving her a limited-consequence battle with someone she actually considers a peer and a friend? Someone whom she could really use nonverbal channels of getting her feelings out? I'm happy for her.
As for the vote, I'm a bit torn. On the one hand, we need to talk to both halves of our polchat duo before their homoerotic hatred of each other explodes into the next plot point. On the other hand, Atticus is a total cipher in the context of this story and I want to start figuring out what Team Star's deal is going to be - and I'm getting worried it might be a bigger deal than I originally assumed when I noticed Thea picking up Crow's beats. Really I could see any of these routes going well, and I don't think we desperately needed any specific MXP? I'll need to dig up my calculations post, especially since we underperformed in this tourney.
Erika's finally realized she likes Mary, which is amazing. Renne might not be able to battle for fun yet, but she's still working wonders. I hope Mary makes it to a mental space where she can accept that affection when/if Erika ever manages to confess.
It's nice to see Astrid make a comeback to! I'm curious where she fits into the greater narrative, especially given her family's apparent activity in the Highlands. It'll be interesting to see where that road leads.
Just being near Mary makes her feel so light that she could float away, a dreamlike weightlessness suffusing through her. Whenever Mary smiles, her lips are only slightly parted as if she's shy about showing her teeth. But her cheeks dimple, her eyes crinkle, and her gaze softens, and Erika can't help but stare. She wants to memorize every detail, every smile, so that whenever she closes her eyes, she could still see it. All of that and more makes Erika willing to overlook and work past all the worry, all the headaches and stress that Mary can cause her, all for a reason she's refusing to acknowledge.
Still, thinking about fighting Nemona causes a weird feeling in your chest and face, beyond just the nerves that you're getting used to before every battle. You know winning isn't likely, given that Nemona is simply better than you. She's—
Mary's like subconscious thing for Nemona remains one of the funniest beats to me for how utterly unfazed by it Nemona is I'm so sorry girl, but there is a cute girl interested in you, you just have to let yourself unpack being desired.
on the vote my bias is Atticus because Arvis has so cruelly deprived me of my immediate bias in always picking the women, and Atticus is just the one i vibe with the most.
I'll be honest, I pointed at Jacinto because he IS someone we've wanted to up slightly, but at the same time it is taking much of my willpower not to vote for Atticus instead.
... Ugh man, we do need to hang out with those two just in general so they're not stuck in the 0 bond pit but like... Atticus is cool! And he seems to be actively having problems that Mariana is picking up on!
Secondly: God, Erika has it down bad. What a greedy girl. At least she's kiiinda getting through to Mariana, even if it's just a little bit. And hey, they've got at least two more outings together in the future! Progress!
Thirdly: Oh hey Astrid, nice to see you again. Interesting taste in snake-ish pokemon, too. I wonder what your deal is.
I wanna take Manuel, partly because I agree that we need to start working on that bomb before him and Jacinto kill each other, sleep together, or both, but also partly because he's got a connection to Astrid and I want to pull on that while I'm remembering that it exists.
I'm sorry, Manuel and Jacinto, but Atticus is my priority here. He's just so cool.
Also, being close friends with Team Star also means whenever we meet the protagonists of Scarlet and Violet, our dynamic with them will be even more vitriolic, and funnier. Mariana as a boss in Starfall Street, and then a post-game Treasures of Ruin story line boss, is just too interesting to not build up to.
