(sighing in something between amazement and exhaustion) Talk about a maelstrom, and to think my fellow bronies will have had fun entrenching themselves. Who knew my mind stayed alert starting this past Friday, right before yesterday's Team Aqua/Magma marathon leading up to that Diancie movie? My reflections might surprise you and the others, starting with Hansen of the Mirage Kingdom, who tried to steal Misty's Togepi to grab the throne for himself. The scenario I currently have in mind has him undertaking the following activities, if in no specific order, as I described to one Spectro889.:
- Persuading Ash and his friends to support his coup and banish Sara;
- Sealing off the Togepi Paradise altogether, claiming its "protection";
- Capturing Rayquaza after researching its legend(s);
- Offering Giovanni exclusive access to any new resources discovered within his kingdom (without being aware of his connection to Team Rocket);
- Launching a (regionalized) propaganda campaign portraying Ash as the "Hero of the Mirage Kingdom" all the way to the Hoenn League;
- Authorizing Tabitha and Shelly, er, Harlan and Isabel to start sabotaging their respective teams and blame the other side
To top it off, it was a recurring nightmare involving a war launched by an empire using its own demise to cause as much damage as possible that drove Hansen to this overarching plan -- perhaps with some similarities to my overarching scenario ending this franchise in Unova -- and I envisioned his Pokémon lineup to include Flygon, Tyranitar, and Poliwrath for the final showdown. As for the rest of Hoenn leading up to it, who better to actively defend Hansen's project than Drew and Brianna, quite willingly? Call it an effort at mixing certain tidbits up on my part, with the ultimate idea being to explore how an agenda aimed at oblivion could shock and frighten even another supposedly villainous individual. Are you doing well in your corner of the world this afternoon?