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At once, Cardino's jaw dropped and he spluttered incredulously. They got mailed Sibich's decoder? But how, and who- Pah, it wasn't worth sweating the details right now! This was the break of a lifetime, and it couldn't have come with better timing!
Aha, that's right, we left off with them getting the decoder from Pleo, who got it from the book where Coil hid it. Yeah I can see how anyone else would be like "wtf???" when they showed up out of the blue with that. xD
All eyes in the courtroom turned to a billowing and seething Cofagrigus, giving a look that could kill towards Team Traveller. The Ghost-Type slammed his hands onto the ground and turned up to the judge, visibly agitated.
The courtroom flinched at the sound of splintering wood after Guardia club came down on the diary's cover. The binding cracked as the front cover buckled out and a panel toppled out, leaving Nico and Akin alike to stare mouths agape, the Serperior stammering in shock at the Cubone's treatment of case evidence.
"Well for one, I see Eric, Sela, and Hanuna's names in here, but they're under a team for pillaging Polderfield's main square," the attorney began. "On the other hand, I see your name in this group here under 'recruitment' for what appears to be the local daycare. And wasn't that where your diary was recovered in the first place?"
Aha! Well played. I must admit, even I had my doubts on how the diary was gonna clear them, since proving that they were under someone else's orders really doesn't spell 'innocent.' But nope! They straight-up had nothing to do with it.
"Nnn… Ngaaaah..." the Ghost-Type seethed. Sibich wrenched an arm free, flinging a shadowy orb at the Defense's table that sent them diving for cover. The Coffin Pokémon raged, his voice coming out in an increasingly unhinged-sounding hiss.
"That's right! Your beloved pirate hunter Admiral Coil has been working with me for years!" the Sibich snarled. "So what are you going to do about it?!"
"And moving on to our matchups!" Thalez's voice crackled. "Our first fight will be between Team Tailwind and Team Sunshine. Next up will be Team Venom and Team Surveyor, then Team Traveller and Team Iron..."
Oh! I was thinking Ketu had set things up so that his team would fight Team Traveller, but nope! While the previous fights had some fun moments, I think the real advantage of having a tournament arc is fights between teams we already know (especially ones with a reason to fight, heh.) So, sorry to Team Traveller, but I’m kinda ok with Ketu’s meddling here.
"H-Huh?!" the Marowak cried The bone lizard whirled around in an instinctive panic, groping for his missing club only to turn and spot a Growlithe waving his bum at his face, his jaws clamped firmly around the bone that moments ago had been secure in his grasp.
Before Valatos could finish his taunt, he felt a burning pain flash over his wings and saw fire move past his eyes. The Bug-Type fell to the ground screeching, rolling desperately to put out the embers that had landed on his wings. He hastily righted himself and beat his wings, wincing in pain from the sensations of a fresh burn, looking up to see none other than the tubby Growlithe culprit dart in front of him.
The Druddigon let his Nidoran companion clamber tiredly up his head, for what felt like the first time in ages. And so it was that the two made their way back for the contestants' portion of the stands, glad for the quiet of a precious peace the two could share just like old times.
Hoo boy we’re doing two battles in one chapter, are we? And that’s after already finishing off the courtroom subplot too! I do think that the scene break at the end of that round would have made for a perfectly natural chapter end, but oh well~
"He certainly looks to be in better shape than when we threw him off our ship like a piece of garbage," the Sharp Claw Pokémon said. "Shame there isn't one here to throw you from after this match is over. It's always fun taking out the trash."
Ohoho, I’d forgotten that Pladur wasn’t around during the Company’s original raid on Tromba. This is the first he’s seeing of Ketu! And this makes for a hell of an introduction.
The Fraxure charged ahead, readying his claws for a swipe as they trailed flecks of dragonfire. Ketu braced himself, ready to spring out of the Dragon-Type's way only to realize that he was coming fast… too fast.
Fintan lowered his horns and charged ahead, aiming to run down the Fraxure in his path. The Tauros watched as the Dragon-Type slipped under his body, the Normal-Type going wide-eyed as he felt his horns connect with the air, followed by a pair of piercing stabs at his hindgut. The bull bellowed in pain, wrenching his head back to see Pladur's left tusk buried deep into his abdomen by his legs. The dragon snarled and wrenched his tusk out, making the Wild Bull Pokémon's tails shoot out along with an agonized scream. The Fraxure fell back, leaving his Normal-Type opponent's legs barely able to support his weight, Fintan's attempts at trying to regain momentum accomplishing little other than to stagger along with a shambling totter as he felt a warm fluid ooze down his legs.
The dragon screamed as he felt an agonizing pain shoot through his body, thrashing as he felt the slicing claw dig into him before wrenching free. Pladur curled up and turned onto his flank, instinctively throwing his claws over his wound and whimpering from pain and shock. The Dragon-Type began to feel lightheaded and looked down to see blood oozing between his ruddy claws and onto the sand. The world started to go blurry, the sounds of the arena going indistinct where for a fleeting moment, he saw Crom in the stands with a crushed, horrified stare looking back at him. Pladur reached out a claw weakly, hoping to try and reassure his child, that somehow everything would be alright...
So I was expecting this to be just a typical battle and actually thought it was a bit tiresome to have two tournament rounds in one chapter, but manaaaan. That was brutal in a way that I never saw coming, and I honestly didn’t expect them to lose.
"What I mean is that you'll be facing me next round, brats," the weasel sneered. "So start thinking about if you want to bother showing your little faces or not."
"Of course! Pleo's still afraid of Captain Nugget, so how's he ever supposed to see that we're the good guys?" Cabot exclaimed. "If he sees how she really is, I'm sure that it would smooth things over!"
The Protector opened his beak and picked up one of the light-colored pieces on his end, lifting it from the board and swinging his head forward. He opened his beak, sending the checker flying across the board and clattering down on Nagant's end of the wooden board, leaving a trail of spittle as it knocked a few of Nagant's pieces into her pool. The Clawitzer spluttered incredulously for a moment, only to be cut off by a curious chirp from the young Lugia.
"... I used to live with my family on Conntow, where my mother was a Marchioness," the Clawitzer answered. "We had an estate there called Nagant Bridge built over a ruined bridge from the Old World that straddled a river going into a harbor just outside of Middleguard City."
"You've gone through all this trouble just to get me for your old title and land…" Pleo murmured. "But if they're all destroyed, then aren't you just doing all of this for nothing?"
And again, Pleo is really showing how much he’s learned about people. Cutting right through the gruff exterior Nagant puts on and getting at the tragic interior, someone who lost everything and is desperately clawing at the scraps.
Guardia blinked and wondered under her breath why this colony would make such a big deal over lineage for its leaders and warriors. In the process of heaping up all their buildings and monuments, could the Pokémon of this 'Empire' really have forgotten wisdom as simple as the fact that talent wasn't an inherited trait? After all, in the colonies around home, there were tales of warriors having hatchlings that lacked their parents' bravery and stomach for battle, and of zokuchō who'd had young that in spite of their best efforts to mentor them were unable to gain the discernment needed to follow their parents' footsteps.
I do enjoy these bits that show the feral point of view and how they have their own ideals that can sometimes be more insightful than the so-called ‘civilized’ mons.
"That would be our best bet," Cardino muttered. "But how would we even go about that on such short notice? And even assuming we actually manage to find them and grab something from them tonight, dragging Coil in would be bound to cause a real stink at the tournament. Unless we managed to find something really good, there'd be no way we could justify it."
Elty blinked at Cardino's explanation, realizing that a commotion at the stadium would mean that there'd be fewer guards to pay attention to Pleo… But for how long? And where would they be?
Aha, and that’s where we're headed toward the end of the arc. With winning the tournament no longer being an option, using the drama with Coil as a distraction to get to Pleo. Given the sheer number of factions at play here, there's bound to be quite a lot of scores to settle between everyone. Should be fun~!
Hey there! I'm back again. Just finished Chapter 32, which I figured was a good place to stop and write another comment.
I have a lot of quotes to comment on this time, but since they're mostly about later chapters in this block, I'll talk about other things first.
Alright. The special episode about New Year's. The whole thing with Nida and her siblings/friends was super adorable. I loved the details of them designing their own lanterns to go about collecting candy with. That sounds like such a fun tradition! I love how festive you made the whole thing seem. I was wishing I could join them as I was reading this!
I have to say, Marley breaking one of Calino's items and then demanding he give her children treats is something straight out of r/entitledparents, haha. Come on, Marley, that's his livelihood!
With the whole thing about the pirates coming in, I was honestly afraid the whole night would end in disaster. It seemed like such a happy time for the characters; I didn't want anything to ruin it (which is a bit odd for me, a person who loves seeing characters get thrown into danger, but there you go). I liked seeing a bit of Elty during his pirate life, too.
Back to the main story. I think the last time I reviewed, I stopped right before the escape from Lyn's ship (I wasn't paying attention to there being a certain amount of chapters in each episode at that point). I enjoyed the escape itself a lot. Wasn't sure how they were going to get out of that one. I liked that Pleo's power, while being the main thing that got them out of there, still didn't make it completely easy. (But I do wonder...was the heracross that Pleo attacked/made bleed alright? I know he's a company pokemon, but still...)
So then they end up at Boisocéan. I love the way you describe this island, it looks really cool in my mind. And there are a lot of bug types, which is of course a huge bonus.
And I know it came up in a later chapter, but the drapion daycare worker carrying the little pokemon on her back was the most adorable thing. And a nice nod to real-life scorpions, too.
I felt bad for Nida and pals when they couldn't get any food. It seemed pretty messed up that no one was going to help them at least get a meal before they had to set off on missions. The impression I'm getting from these islands is that pokemon don't generally seem to help others without expecting some sort of reward. I understand that to a degree, but I hope we see some more helpful pokemon in the future (not that there hasn't been some already, such as Margi and Maranda, but I'd like to see more of that sort of thing).
I also enjoyed their escape (with help from Margi) from this island. And they're really just trashing the Company's ships, ahaha. Which is great news for Team Traveller, seeing as that will at least delay them a while for the repairs.
Okay, on to Kenobi. I love the idea of there being this part of the island that pirates and other shady pokemon just...hang out. Not sure why, but I love it. Elty leading the others around this creepy place and getting them into trouble was greatly entertaining. And then comes the whole retrieve the journal/mystery dungeon/meet Guardia plot. And also I finally get to meet the yanmega, Valatos, and his teammates. No longer pirates now, but I know they will be again at some point from the drawings of them.
Before I talk about these chapters I'm gonna quote stuff.
"And if the Company doesn't want us coming late, then what's the big idea of the lodging we got stuck with being across the wa- Gack-!"
The Bug-Type felt pain shoot through the back of his head as he slammed hard against the ground. The Yanmega gagged and coughed, twitching his wings weakly as he looked up at the scowling Rhydon, his fist still pulling back from a downward punch.
In Kenobi's shipyard, the form of a Drowzee materialized with a flash of light among barrels and wooden crates. As the Psychic-Type looked about, he could see a Yanmega, a Manectric, and a Marowak setting up several Substitutes similarly shaped to themselves to throw off cursory examiners.
"B-But Captain Lyn, I r-really do have a stomachache!" the Dark-Type squeaked. "I-I'm not trying to-"
THWACK
The hapless Krokorok was cut off by a smack across the face with the flat of one of Lyn's seamitars, sending him flying back along the path with a yelp.
The Yanmega took then the time to dart over to Nida as his teammates seized the chance to move in tighter around Team Traveller. "Geef op. You're way out of your league here!" The dragonfly hovered menacingly above Nida for a moment and turned to Guardia to approach her. "How long do the likes of you expect to hold out aga-"
Before the Yanmega could finish his gloating, he was cut off by a stiff smack from underneath that sent him flopping back onto the ground.
Just then, a sprinting body rammed into the Bug-Type from below, knocking the wind out of the creature and dropping him out of the air like a stone. Valatos tumbled onto his back against the tiled floor, the Yanmega hastily righting himself with some agitated beating from his wings.
Valatos watched as the massed ferals charged ahead at him and his companions, his attempts to counterattack thwarted by a burning clump of cinders that flew at his face and sent him shooting up into the air a start.
Okay, I feel bad about this (that being painful and all) but the image of Valatos shooting straight up vertically into the air in surprise is hilarious. Just...zip! There he goes.
Behind her was Valatos, the pointed-snouted Cubone going limp in his jaws. The bug let the Ground-Type go, shoved the weakly-breathing creature aside, and whirled to Guardia, hate burning in his eyes.
Okay, I know he was just using bug bite or something, but my mind immediately went to thinking of yanmega's pokedex entries. Which for a split second made me worried about the cubone until it said he was breathing, despite me logically knowing this isn't the type of story to include the "biting apart foes" aspect of Valatos's species.
The three square-necks blanched. Having to get rescued would mean missing days of work at the docks- and worse still, having to explain why they had gotten stuck in the dungeon. There were only a few possible ways things could turn out afterwards, with one possibility particularly sticking out in their minds...
The Company exiles pokemon for ditching their jobs/community service for a few days? That's...harsh... Then again I'm not too surprised, knowing what I know so far about the Company.
AGOIAJLKAHMLAHJLKMV. I can't. That is so adorable. And reminds me of my dog poking her head into bags and stuff. I'm sure Valatos wouldn't appreciate being called adorable but too late and there's more where that came from.
In the center of the map, there was a big, blood-red splotch labeled 'Dead Zone' with an island barely visible underneath a scratched-out 'X' in charcoal over it that obscured the label for the island's name.
Now that she was looking more carefully, it seemed there were many other islands with 'X' marks drawn over them in charcoal on the western side of the map, along with numbers scribbled by them. One labelled 'Giotto' seemed to have been crossed out particularly harshly, and was annotated with a 'Don't go back here' beside it.
"So then… we just need to go to the islands without squares?" Pleo asked. "How about this one that looks like a donut with all the blue lines leading to it? It's about as far away as the other island…"
I love that Pleo knows what a donut is. Wonder if Crom's family's bakery sells them? Are we gonna see some pokemon eating donuts? (And I immediately pictured a yanmega with a bunch of donuts on its legs).
Alright. So now to comment on these "later" chapters (I'm still so far behind aha). I must warn you that, if it was not already obvious, writers who put in characters that are my favorite species are going to get a lot of rambling about said characters from me. Can't stop won't stop.
So Valatos and his teammates...we haven't seen much of them so far, but they're basically in a similar predicament to Elty. (Only they've got the Company ordering them around.) I wonder if these guys were always friends/companions, or if they just bonded after being captured. Which, now that I think about it, I'm not sure at this point how long they've been captured for. I was at first wondering, "Hey, couldn't Valatos just fly off the island?" but I realized there are a lot of winged pokemon and there's got to be measures taken against that with all the pirates that lurk around the place. Plus a part of me wants to believe he doesn't want to leave his buddies behind either.
I'm wondering about their backstories as well. We get a little bit about Nori (that he came from a cubone colony much like Guardia's, and that he shares some of their beliefs). Wonder how he got into piracy. He seems older than Elty (though I'm not entirely sure on that) and like he somewhat cared about his own colony at least, so I wonder what got him caught up in the pirate business. Same with Alvise, though I haven't seen any hints as to his backstory yet. Valatos is stated to be the "ringleader" of the three. Don't know if he is/used to be a somewhat higher rank as a pirate, or if he's the one that just sort of got their little gang together after being captured? I wanna know. Must keep reading.
Personality-wise, the three remind me a lot of Elty, especially how he was in earlier chapters. I guess that sort of comes with being a pirate who makes a living stealing from others. I have to wonder why they're still so overconfident, after being captured by the Company, but in a really weird sort of way I kind of admire them for that (because if you take out the whole theives/criminals aspect of it, it's kinda nice to see a lot of confidence, haha). Now if only they were willing to put that to better use. It might turn out better for them.
When their attempted kidnapping of Pleo started to go wrong in the dungeon, I was wondering why they didn't just call the teleporters right then and there. It would have saved them their items, but then again we wouldn't have Elty's awesome star/map-reading skills if that had happened. And I figure it might be hard to focus on altering the teleporters when you're battling.
The cubone colony's mention to Nori about he and "any children" he had not being buried with the others...it reminds me a lot of the marked pokemon and how their children are also being punished for what their ancestors did. Come on, pokemon societies! Be better than that.
Loved the scene with Elty showing the others how to use a map and the other tools they got from Valatos. I love that his pirate knowledge is coming in handy in a way that helps the group without having them do something shady. I really want to know more about some of these other islands, particularly Vollezee. Being the Company's capital, I can't imagine it's a pleasant place for pokemon not working for them. Also, Guardia's screams as Pleo took off...I feel bad for finding that funny, but I just do.
And now we've got these Imperial pokemon. I'm very curious as to where this will go. I can't imagine that Pleo is the only legendary to have appeared; these pokemon seem to know too much. But I guess I'll see.
Love that Cabot doodle. So cute! Anyway, here’s a quick review:
Half an hour after the Iron Fleet's hasty retreat, Elty and his companions found themselves marching through the thick woods of Pioppo's Mystery Dungeon after Valter, Cernun, and Trizano. A quick glance behind revealed the floor had folded vertically due to distortion, with glimpses of the rest of the party from the Siglo Swellow and the defending villagers popping through the treetops as they too made the trek for Darkwood Square.
I’m interested to see if her personality changes due to the evolution, or not. I know different authors handle this differently.
"Yeah, yeah… it was a learning experience, alright?" the Growlithe scoffed back, giving a grumbling shake of his head. "Besides, all's well that ends well."
The Growlithe turned away, poking his rump up in the air before giving it a vigorous shake as he blew a taunting raspberry at the pirates. At once, the three's tempers flared, Alvise's fur sparking as he bared his fangs angrily.
The Weavile gave a bat of his claws and grumbled to himself. Such was the curse of Pokémon who attempted to keep their pool of moves as large as possible. There was always a different move here or there that required more effort than normal to keep it in practice and useful in battle. In normal times, the drudgery would be a mere annoyance, and not weigh on his mood so much…
See, me and Virgil have a deal. Every chapter he reads of Tales Of Arrival I read five chapters of this fic. This is our plan to slowly get me caught up on this fic. Anyway...
Well well well if I don't see some familiar faces in the forms of Daraen, Margi, and Pladur. Don't think I don't see the anagram in Margi's name. They are all treats to read, especially being in on the joke.
Speaking of! The beliefs of the Marked Ones are fascinating. Such an intresting alternate take on what the Old World was like, and as Sike pointed out it doesn't feel inherently wrong. Though with what I know about this fic's lore I do go "hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm"
And man. It seems like Team Traveler keeps going from frying pan to fire to successfully bigger fires huh. Especially since it seems like this Kenobi is a... hive of scum and villany -rimshot-. Looking forward to what happens there.
Continuing from where I was left reviewing 59, now that that can be a thing.
First thing to note about the next scene is that it has a serious, nifty piece of screentime for Team Valatos. I'm told that Valatos needs more screentime.
Well, for starters the day has not gone well for them but it's good to see that that does not really bring them down to uselessness. They are quick to jump in into the very next thing that catches their attention (much to Alvise's annoyance considering who they end up meeting) which is indicative their battle punishment was not too severe.
How much does that energy lasts the Yanmega? Exactly one Thunderbolt before he falls to the ground. Oh well.
Luca: "Your friend there has a family reunion to take care of."
El Padrino music plays in the background. I'm liking the family dynamics... of a sort, that show up here. Attempt of escape goes nowhere as expected, what was a tired 2/3rds of a team do anyway? And Luca picks his bro up for some -let's hope- backstory unveiling.
...But not too soon! First there's a new scene, and there's some Pleo screentime to have.
Apparently they are taking their Illustrous Prisoner (or "guest" if we have it Cabot's way) to see Cpt. Nugget ad her home. I already can see where this is going. Not that one can fault the Cranidos for trying but certainly he's not like, in the position of offering anyone any sort of winning strategy on anything that involves Pleo.
Cabot's lucky that Queen Aleria liked his ideas enough actually, because he didn't actually suggest the King of Fighters tournament.
(Speaking of, where are Lyn's and Hess's spies? This *is* a very good opportunity to nab the birb!)
Pleo is in sour moods because Cromteam is very bad at fighting, so Cabot has this idea that getting to know your enemies (and, point to note, captors) better will somehow breed familiarity and then everyone will be h a p p y ! I think Berecien has a point that spending more time with Queen Aleria would be... better in any and all senses of the word.
Taking your hostage to the home of their primary captor (now that Lyn is offscreen for the moment) for a friendly get to know you better, is something that I otherwise see only mostly in Colombian and Venezuelan soap operas, but not even Cabot has the kind of charm to make *that* one work.
Cabot: "This will be joyful! Cpt. Nugget is totally a nice person to be around."
Cabot's literal teammates: ¬¬
Cabot: "And we can get Pleo to like us!"
Cabot's literal guest prisoner: ¬¬
Cabot: "And then -like I said- everyone will be H A P P Y !!!"
Everyone else, including Pleo: ¬¬
Cabot: "Come on guys when have I ever failed you?"
EVERYONE else, including Pleo: ¬¬
Cabot: "See that? Now check this!"
Cabot: *knocks on Nagant's door*
Nagant: "...What do you want"
Cabot: "Pleo and you should be F R I E N D S !"
Nagant: *joins in on the ¬¬*
I liked the small tidbit of Pleo attempting a half-hearted escape and being found right away. To his credit Cabot dismisses the matter and hurries to make what is actually a very senseful case - you want your captive hero to like you, soap-opera style.
Not to mention it's about the only chance Pleo could potentially develop Stockholm's Syndrome or something if they want him to be on their side even reluctantly, Iunno.
Now that would make the rest of the adventure... weird.
The attempt at a meeting and conversation does not go any well and honestly it's not even Cabot's fault, it's friggin' Berecien who does most of the impasses, which I feel makes sense. Berecien would be the one among the team with the highest expectations regarding Nagant's wellbeing and social standing considering Berecien's own personal history, and his lack of awareness for navigating a stressed, lower-tier casual situation means he regularly trips about most of anything during the meeting.
I, for one, am glad as well that did not merit him a Water Pulse to the face. The entire of the team is weak to Water, right?
At least trying to be useful, Berecien has the idea of trying a game of checkers. it's totally a prison pastime after all.
"Your pieces stick to the like-colored tiles," Nagant explained. "If you jump over one of mine, it's yours."
This is the simplest explanation of checkers I've ever seen that still allows everything to go horribly wrong. I'll humor it!
The Protector opened his beak and picked up one of the light-colored pieces on his end, lifting it from the board and swinging his head forward. He opened his beak, sending the checker flying across the board and clattering down on Nagant's end of the wooden board, leaving a trail of spittle as it knocked a few of Nagant's pieces into her pool. The Clawitzer spluttered incredulously for a moment, only to be cut off by a curious chirp from the young Lugia.
"Like that, right?" Pleo asked. "It jumped over a whole bunch of your pieces!"
You know... funny as this scene is there's a lot of commentary to draw up from here. I mean, let's start right there: Pleo is learning! Why aren't we all happy about that!
Not to mention No One attempts to explain the rules any further than that or even making a demonstration exchange of moves during the turn. It's not like they can't reset the board right after.
Much as this is Berecien's fault, Nagant literally let herself open and set up for this.
Nagant: "Mwha mwha mwha! This is a simple game, even a fledgling should be able to pick it up."
Pleo: *stares intently at board*
Cabot:
Berecien: "Oh NOW he wants to learn!"
Pleo: *just tosses around a piece haphazardly*
Nagant: "lolwut noob git gud that is not even a legal mo-"
Pleo: "Omae-wa mo shindeiru"
I'll be fair for the context of a one-on-one, sportmanlike as it is, this is exactly how a one-on-one fight against a Legendary is supposed to go. Nagant is lucky that Pleo was playing checkers and not, say, larping Tower Defense: Tromba Edition.
Funnily enough it's only after all of THAT that Cabot has the idea of, well, introductions! This could only go one way:
Pleo: "Ohai I'm Pleo and I'm a prisoner."
Cabot: "uuuh... *guest*."
Pleo: "Oh, that means you have to entertain me!"
Nagant: ¬¬
Cabot: "p-prisoner it is..."
Well at least we started the introductions with Nagant and we already got some new information and I have to say I'm surprised. I so far had pegged, even through worldbuilding consultation, that the Calamity was a through and through backstory event that would have allowed for at least two or three centuries of time buffer to re-develop the world. But it seems from here that Nagant was alive when the Calamity struck! So, is Nagant very old, or was the Calamity a rather recent event?
...Shouldn't the latter mean that some presumably older characters like Lyn, perhaps Darzin, should have met humans first-hand?
Also we can be glad that Nagant, in a way much like Queen Aleria herself, is a sort of accidental survivor.
"I'm sticking to my rights, and even if it takes my life to see it, I'll see what's mine return once the Empire is restored to its old glory."
Queen Aleria: "I am alteringthe deal. Pray I do not alter it any further °3°"
This Nagant is a villain we can otherwise support emotionally speaking until they end their deserved end at the hands of our heroes. I'm personally hoping for Trizando to be the one more tonally capable of dealing that deserving end.
Also, Berecien had to open up his mouth to question the treatment of the (former) nobles which is expected of his character, but it does open up the opportunity for Pleo, who reasonably doesn't understand any of this, to inquire as a child would do, which is the kind of status-quo-questioning questions that adults are IRL not very welcoming to.
Pleo: "How does Endeavor even WORK?"
Pleo: "When are Crom and Nida going to kiss?"
Pleo: "Can I eat this?" *Your Pleo is [PSN]*
Pleo: "Why is the sky blue?"
Pleo: "How is baby Lugia made?"
Pleo: "What's this button do?" *fires ship's cannons*
Pleo: "If your fingers have fingertips but your toes have toenails, why can you tiptoe but not tipfinger?"
Pleo: "Why are you even serving a kingdom that has promised to return you literally nothing?"
Nagant: ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
Cabot: "Yay! It's not my fault, for once~!"
Berecien: ¬¬
After that the meeting closes fast. I'm certain this will give Nagant something to think about in the future, but I'm also certain that until that happens, she's going to make Cabot and team's lives a living hell for a little while.
(As soon as she gets them back into her fleet listing from their Legendary chaperoning, that is)
Anyway, after (or before) all that, the Team Traveller Pleo si concerned about is dealing with the fallout of Pladur's lost fight. At least Pladur is going to wake up (paraquoting Pykrete) at worst under the care of a hot Blissey so everything will be FINE!
Well, not emotionally. It seems his healing will take a full week, so he's out of the count.
Why don't they just push a Reviver Seed down his throat anyway? Last I played the games that solves all problems.
"Well, I mean you weren't planning on just pushing a Reviver Seed down his throat and throwing him back out into battle with a wound like this, were you?" the Normal-Type insisted. "We Pokémon may bounce back from a hard knock or two, but even a hardened fighter's body has its limits."
This is what they should have dedicated one entire team to up from the very beginning, mayhaps using the tournament as merely a cover. ...What? That's what Ketu would do, except he'd do it for the pleasure.
As for the time being, while Crom is left to sob and give his father some company (that will be a glad sight for tired eyes when Pladur wakes up), Nida has a sidequest with no level ups to take care of. Let's hope at least it's worth the coin.
As per usual, Cardino has even more task for Team Traveller despite the fact they completed their task. And the new task involves a personal interview with Sibich. Not that it'd help much in the eyes of the team. It's not like they visibly like the idea either, so they *are* wisening up.
Elty: "We didn't want to see you again either".
Guardia: "We are not allowed to beat you and you are not even worth the EXP anyway."
As a frail attempt to gain favour with the courts, Sibich agrees to explain re: Admiral Coil. We're told that he's a highly respected figure - one that is in charge of protecting the Capital. Which means all of our involved characters now won't have it easy, and that's assuming there's truth to what Sibich claims.
However, much as this information is welcome, nothing of this is actually new to Team Traveller in a way that forces their presence to obtain this information. Cardino could just have obtained the information himself and send word via snail mail. So, once again, Cardino wastes valuable hero time for a subquest that so far has failed to deliver any of the EXP points that Team Traveller needs for the tournament and that has consumed time that could have been used resting, recuperating and setting up for the incoming fight with none other than Ketu.
Let's hope that the one thing they got from the meeting - a potential plan to raise a ruckus at the tournament - somehow compensates for it.
All in all... not a bad chapter, it has a fair amount of levity spread around and it PROMISES BACKSTORY. perhaps more importantly, we got some bits of character development for Pleo and a hook of character development for Nagant (wow).
Before closing, I think it's important to recount what have our characters achieved today.
Pleo: "I won!~"
Berecien: *sweats* "Small victories..."
Nagant: "...You're finally out of my abode and back to being Aleria's problem."
Berecien: *sighs* "Small victories..."
Cabot: "We got some more backstory about the Captain!"
Berecien: *pensieve* "Small victories."
Niilo: "I wasn't the one to screw everything up! And neither was Cabot!"
Berecien: *sweats more* "Small victories...¬¬"
Pleo: "She doesn't seem that scary now. I am a sad, prisoner child far from home now so I can emote to her pain a bit."
Berecien: "...Small victories."
Cabot: "...And you? What did you achieve today Berecien? ^_^"
Oops, this came later than I was planning... But that’s just the way it is some times. Let’s get back to it now, jumping right into episode 4.
14
The bird's body wobbled wildly in the air and lurched here and there barely missing wires and paper lanterns as he tried desperately to adjust himself with the sudden extra weight his new passenger brought along.
I could be wrong, as my grammar checker isn’t marking it either way, but it feels like there should be a comma between “there” and “barely.” I think maybe the length of the sentence is what makes me feel that way though.
Heh, well, that’s one way to end the fight. Sorry, Elty, looks like you’ll be the punching bag for a while still.
Hm… this is a very minor nitpick, but I don’t really think magenta is a color I would use to describe a hawlucha.
Alright, let’s talk about the Anders scene (or, the gang learns about systematic racism). Because I remember really liking it on my first readthrough, and I still really like it. It’s a scene that really shows just how bad off the Marked are in comparison to the rest of the populace.
It was also really nice to see how good and protective of a dad Anders is, even if he kind of jumped to conclusions.
Something that I think I misinterpreted the first time, though, and think is worth pointing out, is the apricorns here. When I first read through, I’d assumed that they were being used as a thinly veiled threat towards the marked, left behind by less kind pokemon. But upon a reread I’m realizing that more than likely, the scavvers use them to transport bodies.
And of course, this scene was important to set up Pleo’s self-doubts in the upcoming chapters.
15
And of course, feelings after that tense event carries into the mood that night. Pleo’s fears will rear their ugly head later, so I’ll talk about that when I reach that point.
Ah, scarf dying. Conceptually, it’s a neat idea, and I really like it. And it makes sense as a quick and simple disguise. But it also kind of feels... like it would be more useful to just have a few undyed scarves lying around so that they can just create disguises as needed, as opposed to having to paint or dye on a design onto their main scarf, only to have to wash it off or re-dye it again later. It’s established here that Lyn is willing to stoop that low if it gets the results he wants, so I don’t see why having some spares laying around would be an issue. Then again, it is something that would take up space on the ship, so that could be part of it. And I’d imagine it would be a bigger issue with darker-colored scarves, as opposed to the lavender of the company scarves.
That’s a lovely way to reply to those thinly veiled threats. Very thinly. Paper thin.
And so, the race to save Pleo is on.
Once again, I’m glad that Hatteras isn’t going to let himself be pushed around, not even by someone as dangerous as Lyn. Or at least, he’s going to oppose him as much as he reasonably can.
"Hrmph. Calm your sparks, sheep. I don't see your 'Dragon Buster' in the crowd to help you out this time," the otter chided.
I’m not going to get into epithets all that much, I but I wanted to point out this one in particular. It felt like Lyn was meant to be a bit more menacing here, but referring to him as “the otter” kind of takes away from that, because I don’t really see an otter as all that menacing. I think it would have been better to just use “Lyn” or “the Samurott” in this case.
And to end my commentary on this chapter off, I really liked that Elty got to use his nose here. Great use of senses! Especially on an animal creature that would have a superior sense of smell.
16
And that use of the sense of smell carries over into this chapter as well. It’s already great to begin with to see a fic that takes senses other than sight into account, but the focus on a strong sense of smell helps sell the “non-human” aspect.
Two related things:
1. I love the way you handle the move Surf. I’m always a fan of working out semi-logical ways moves might work, and the idea of asserting some control over the nearby water makes a lot of sense.
2. I also really think it’s neat when we get to see improvized moves, such as the electrical surf. It really gives the reader an idea that, even if these guys fumbled their abduction attempt, they still have a clue how to fight.
The Sceptile weaved out of the way, digging his claws into the hull of the ship and clambering along the wall before dropping back down to slash at his opponent from behind, making the balance-disrupted Samurott stumble forward.
Right here is a great example of a character using the environment and their natural skills to their advantage. This line, in particular, stood out to me as good fight writing.
"Or we can settle this by fighting it out until the last hut and Pokémon standing in this hamlet. Your choice."
Although I get what you were going for here, the wording makes it a bit hard to parse. I feel like either “Or we can settle this by fighting it out until the last Pokemon standing,” simplifying the statement, or something along the lines of “Or we can settle this by fighting it out until the last hut and Pokemon falls.”
And of course, the kids are going to jump in and get involved. Both because this is their friend (and protector) we’re talking about, and, well, they’re kids. They’re not likely to just take no for an answer. Let’s see how that works out for them…
17
Perhaps that was normally the case, but Company shakedowns were hardly anything the town wished to consider normal, and there were only so many ways for most residents to air their displeasure without incurring the wrath of the lavender-scarved Pokémon.
On the positive side, I think that was a really clever idea. Of course, the village would find little ways to get back at the company that wouldn’t cause them more trouble, and Nida’s plan of hiding in the berry crate was particularly smart.
That said, this line felt a bit more… passive than the rest of the prose around it? I think that’s the right term. It feels kind of like a passive narrator is just commenting on it, instead of it being integrated into Nida’s thoughts. It’s a nitpick, though, and not something that happens very often.
Even if he’s not fully grown, the pokemon moving Crom’s crate must be pretty strong (guess that’s what Strength is for, lol).
Then again, grumpig isn’t a pokemon that can learn strength. Levitation, perhaps? I’m probably just overthinking this Or else Crom is even smaller than I imagined.
Oof, they don’t exactly treat stowaways lightly (understandably), even kids (less understandable). Everyone’s going to look at it differently, but for me, this was one more nail in the idea of “The Company, in general, are bad.”
...Thinking about it though, there’s a lot of political intrigue within this fic, in my opinion. I’ll try to elaborate on that in a future review after we start getting into the motivations of The Empire.
"Um, yeah… I kinda need to revise that forecast," the Psychic-Type said, showing off a little glass flask shaped something like a plum with a neck grafter onto the side filled with colored water and attached to a string with her beak.
Probably not important since it doesn’t come up later, but I’m not sure if I’m supposed to recognize this item?
"I said we're getting out of here!" he growled. "I'm not letting myself get stuck here with a restive and scheming bunch of peasants, waiting for a storm to pass while we have such a big prize to lose!"
Gotta outweigh the pros and cons of waiting out the storm versus making sure you didn’t miss any stowaways. In reality, Lin probably made the most logical decision. But boy did it cost him.
Even if the situation was grim, watching Hatteras come up with more and more ridiculous ideas was a nice little breather that took the edge off of how bad things are, even if only for a moment.
"Because if I bring you to my father, it'll validate me in his eyes and he'll finally accept me for the first time since I was young,"
I see what you did there. (Although to be fair, I don’t think I caught that reference the first time. Probably because I hadn’t drawn the parallels to Avatar yet.)
Glad to see Nida was able to get some of Pleo’s effects back. Having his few items of comfort taken away certainly didn’t do Pleo any favors.
18
I love seeing how different people designed their orbs, if they gave them different designs. And I think your ideas make a lot of sense (and some of them came pretty close too!)
Ah, Elty, opportunistic as always. I’d imagine he’d have to be to survive as a pirate.
Nida's jaw dropped as Elty poked his head out and dragged a round, yellow berry with green circles on its hide back into the box as the lid shut.
A nitpick: Hide isn’t technically wrong, but it just sounds like a rather… weird descriptor for a berry.
It makes sense that they’d have the orbs for defensive purposes but, not gonna lie, the first time through I thought the guards were taking the orbs to use as prizes for winning card game. As in, taking one or two for themselves. Lyn certainly wouldn’t miss them, right? Right???
Minor though it may be, I like that the scarcity of metal was addressed, since it helps establish what kind of technological level the society was at and what was available to them. The idea of making it from melting down the metal spikes from dungeons was also a clever idea.
19
"Would I steer you wrong?" the Growlithe asked. Elty wagged his tail expectantly, only to frown as Nida and Pleo looked at each other and nodded back.
This is both adorable and hilarious at the same time.
And of course, Pleo just had to go get his stone back. I mean, it does make sense that he would want it back and he wouldn’t think about the dangers of trying to retrieve it, considering his inexperience and age. Still, it sure did bite the team in the butt.
The scene back on Tromba has me mixed. On one hand, it kind of brings the action to a halt. On the other, I think it provides important context that helps explain where Pleo’s burst of power came from. I certainly would not have cut it, but I do wonder if it could have been positioned better in the story. Such as at the beginning of the chapter with some minor restructuring, for example.
And it would not be long before the Distortion's reshaping winds claimed the floor they were all on.
Well, that can’t be good. On a related note, I only just realized that you capitalize “Distortion.” I figure that’s the name/title that the pokemon have given to the phenomenon, but it’s still curious. And I’m not complaining about it, by the way. I just find it. Curious. And wonder if it means something more and I should put more thought into that, or if I’m just grasping at straws.
Anyways, we’ve now reached the end of episode 4! Now the chase is on, and the adventure has really set off. This was a pretty intense episode, with a new, dangerous antagonist introduced that shows just how outclassed our heroes are.
Due to just the sheer size of the story, Fledglings has just a bit of a slow start. After all, we’re about 20 chapters in, and the adventure is only just setting off. But on the other hand, those first 15 or so chapters set up a lot of important elements that are needed, and it’s not like they’re without action. It’s also the nature of an episodic story.
Ah, I’m rambling a bit at this point. It’s not a complaint, just an observation. I think what I’m getting at is that not every story can pull this off, but due to the way Fledglings is structured, it works.
Anyways, that’s about all I have to say here. I’m looking forward to the next couple of episodes since I remember there being some interesting stuff that I want to talk about in them. Hopefully, my next review will be a bit more punctual.
Based on my to-do list and other scheduling matters… By the end of March, hopefully?
Book obtained! Birb Knight obtained! [cue generic RPG item get fanfare]
The scenes in Blackmoon are the meat and potatoes of this chapter for me because of a few reasons. The first, of course, is that the group finally gets the Knight's Ledger and, even if Cernun isn't necessarily going with them, they've at least made him an ally of sorts. It's honestly one of the best outcomes they've had since departing Tromba, since they only had to deal with the pirates and they've gotten something that they're hoping can get the Company and Empire to leave them alone. Every other island has basically ended with them running for their lives, so I'd consider this a serious improvement... even if I've got a feeling they're not going to have smooth sailing back to Tromba. Because I expect them to end up in Nagrobek at some point, so something's going to have to go very, very wrong.
Speaking of Nagrobek, we finally have Elty opening up to someone about his true origins. Given the evolving dynamic he's had with Guardia, I'm not surprised it wound up being her. As I've said before, fire-forged friends seems to be the angle you're going for here... and now they've got a similarity to tie 'em further. It was also sweet the way she said the team would always be there for him even if he wasn't sure what would follow this community service assignment.
And since it looks like Alvise, Nori, and Valatos are making their exit(?) from the story, I guess it's only fair to give some parting words to them. They've pretty much been the "rival team" for Team Traveler, in a manner of speaking. A trio of evolved, older 'mons to match the group of youngsters and serve as a bit of benchmark to show their improvement over the course of the various episodes... with this last fight culminating in finally getting an evolution through Nida. Aside from that, I think they were at their most interesting with the whole bit about Alvise renouncing his crime family. The serious backdrop of the whole situation played off of the trio's comical tendencies pretty well and showed that they could be more than just comic relief. The rest of the time they tended to fall into the comic relief territory of acting haughty and talking tough only to have it blow back in their faces... usually in spectacular fashion. I suppose this episode was a last hurrah where those traits got them to be a bit more badass than usual, but Team Traveler was able to beat them in the end, anyway.
With the fic having so many characters, I think this is the right time for them to bow out. It's not going to leave a void in comic relief shenanigans, since we still have Darzin, Cabot's trio, and Guardia/Elty slapstick among other things. But as antagonistic groups go, I'm far more interested in the Empire and Company, anyway, so if this means they'll both have more attention going forward, I'll be pleased.
Elty's fur stood on end at the sound of a loud crash, looking off towards the eastern fringes just in time to watch a charred roof cave in. After clambering onto a nearby barricade for height and squinting off into the distance, the Growlithe noticed that in spite of his nearsighted vision, he could still see that the buildings around it were all torched and ruined, prompting him to look back with puzzled concern at his teammates.
Okay, full disclosure, this review is going to be broad across all the chapters posted for this episode so far, because I had read them in scattered bursts throughout NaNoWriMo and then into December. The second half, though, I read more recently and my thoughts are hopefully more in depth for the chapters as a whole rather than the biggest thoughts.
I’m also fully caught up with Fledglings! (LIES, apparently you’re literally about to post the next chapter) So that’s something.
Anyway, for episode 13, at least for the first half?
Weird.
Not necessarily in a bad way, but it certainly is coming on strong. Compared to all the previous episodes, this is arguably the most, dare I say, Mystic of the bunch. There were little hints toward above-the-norm powers in the form of Pleo’s storm calling, and then a bit more coming from Kline and his quasi-omnipresence (though I imagine it’s more, 49 other places, if I’m interpreting his situation correctly. Or is it 98 other places? Bah, specifics.)
And now, suddenly, with the only major hint being Trizano’s eyes, we have Xerneas’ immortals! (Which, after looking back, only had a very brief mention. I wonder if they should have noticed something that abnormal a bit more prominently? Actually, more on that later.) Though, it does seem to have a limit. If I’m interpreting the limitations properly, it’s not actually true immortality, but increased regen, agelessness, and an “extra life” if they’re thoroughly killed. Basically, a canon Reviver Seed, but only once—a curious, but perhaps narratively necessary, limitation.
I do wonder, those things in mind, if it would be genuinely advantageous for Team Traveler to take that on during their adventure as some literal life insurance. Actually, what happens if you start mingling the god powers together? An Immortal Lugia… Well, for some reason I doubt that’s the direction you’re going to go with this, but for some reason I can’t find myself taking it off the table, either.
Anyway, I did have two things that I had to point out about the way the plot worked out for these particular parts of the chapter. The first one is the whole scene after Pleo and company are kidnapped, and a rescue party is sent in with Kiran taking the lead. I even went out of my way to run this by someone who knew nothing about the situation, and gave them only what Kiran would know, and… Why exactly did Kiran completely and fully submit to the ghosts? It seemed like such a strategic fumbling compared to various other options.
They know that the Ghosts were the ones behind the disappearances, and in fact were able to handle them quite soundly. Pleo is okay and was referred to as a “neighbor.” But it’s clear that they weren’t going to release him. Why, then, didn’t they go back to regroup with this new info, or even send one of them back for backup? They clearly wouldn’t want to kill Pleo, and they’re more interested in hiding. This information would have been a GIGANTIC bargaining chip, and combined with Kline’s information provided to then, it was clear that Kiran had the upper hand in every way…
And then they just give up their supplies, their badges, and then go in blind, making themselves unnecessarily vulnerable. I’m just completely beside myself as to why an experienced explorer would make such a decision. Even if there’s some reasoning that wasn’t said outright, I feel it wasn’t presented well at all, and I found myself scratching my head and looking over again for what could have possibly led him to making such a disastrous decision, strategically speaking.
The second issue is somewhat minor, but still a head scratcher. With how incompetent the guards are at just mouthing off that their whole thing is false, and the flashback to when they first decided to burn the town, just how incompetent is everybody in all sides? The town is bad at hiding from an outside perspective, because these newbies somehow managed to uncover their secrets pretty fast. Along with that, some people like Trizano are able to go out despite his eyes. How does nobody notice that, especially those who might be keen on Xerneas’ eyes and—especially—the fact that Coil and the others had witnessed that pupil phenomena themselves?
It just seems surprising that ALL efforts up to this point had failed, considering the way the village presents itself. It doesn’t help that the main reason the party is having trouble with this arc is a huge conflict ball from Dusknoir, despite Kline arguably being the single most competent/intelligent character in the entire story so far. Guess if he wasn’t such a jerkwad about it, he’d get more out of it.
Penultimate chapter! And I think the bulk of it is basically an extended combat scene across multiple segments of the island, quite possibly one of the longest fight scenes so far spanning multiple locations! Highlights for me would be Guardian getting that crack at the center of Hess’ forehead—honestly, I kind of wish you choreographed it so that was the final thing to happen, and what happened after could have been done beforehand, because that blow was decisive.
One little nitpick that stood out to me was the Gastly stumbling and sinking to the ground. It was sort of a weird image since they usually just… float. Could they stumble? Are they capable of stumbling and sinking back in that humanlike way? I don’t know why I was so focused on that, but it bugged me.
Last note, this really upped Hess in terms of his offensive game, though I’m not sure what it was that led to him having such a spike in skill compared to last time. Like, yeah, the boss leveled up for the late game encounter, but… how? Maybe it’s just rage from losing so often, like Jr Troop—oh my god, is Hess Jr. Troopa? Is that what he’s modeled after? Except he actually has a crew?
Either way it’s a fun think for me to think about. Now, onto the last chapter…
I think this is one of your stronger cooldown scenes, all things considered. For one, they aren’t running off from an island for the sake of the story going forward, and the perpetual conflict ball surrounding Dusknoir subsided and he listened at least a little to reason. I’m also sensing a sendoff of some characters for good by leaving them in this town, which is interesting. Definitely leading into the final act, are we? Definitely a relief, because with how often characters come and go, narrowing down the scope would be beneficial.
The little cutaways to the others not involved—aside from that final scene between Ketu and Lyn—felt like they were a little longer than necessary, though. Half the time I more or less felt like they were here only to keep tabs on them and nothing more. I think part of my reasoning for this is because I was more interested in finding out what’s going on with Bunsen and the folks back in Tromba than more Imperial stuff.
Also, huh! Brothers! I thought it was played off as a coincidence at first, but I guess you just can’t have the same species not be related to one another here, can you? Which leads me to wonder, in a genre or meta trend, if Nida and the Company leader have something going on in the family tree…
Elty finally getting it out in the open was a nice touch in terms of his origins, so I’m wondering what the payoff will be for that, and if he’ll get true closure about his mother—either finding her, or finding her remains.
Also, I feel like with how many characters there are in the scenes involving Team Traveler, I couldn’t help but note Pleo’s relative absence despite being a Protector. It was a little funny, but I guess balancing everyone was difficult—hence why narrowing the scope might be helpful, as I mentioned. I like Pleo, particularly when he has those flecks of young wisdom.
And to top things off, the scene between Ketu and Lyn was intriguing. Ketu finally slipped, at least a tiny bit, in getting some of that anger out toward him. I guess I misinterpreted Lyn at first, because Ketu calling him various terms of blockhead or muscelhead hit an odd note with me. I don’t know; he always felt he was at least slightly calculating, and to have him attributed more to pure brute strength, when we already have Hess for that, I dunno. Maybe it’s just Ketu’s opinion, because I feel like there’s more to Lyn than that.
But this was a good episode to give off a sense of progress. And while I heavily questioned the whole thing with the premise of this new island, I can at least accept that the outcome that followed felt consistent enough and followed logical ‘well, then this would happen’ conclusions.
As for what I’m hoping to see in the next episode… maybe some of Tromba, for sure. And Kline. Beyond that, I’m indifferent on what comes when; I’m not entirely sure which direction you’re going … Oh right! The ledger! Let’s read it. And what’s in Ander’s texts, too. Final act, right? Time for answers.
Yeah, Ketu's one for cutting double entendres like that.
Congrats are in order for Nida evolving. Wonder what her family will think... although I also wonder if everybody'll still be there when she gets back, what with the relocation order. I guess we'll see!
Aha! Well played. I must admit, even I had my doubts on how the diary was gonna clear them, since proving that they were under someone else's orders really doesn't spell 'innocent.' But nope! They straight-up had nothing to do with it.
Yup, it took a little thought as to how to stick the landing, but in general when something is introduced in the story, it gets used later on.
So I was expecting this to be just a typical battle and actually thought it was a bit tiresome to have two tournament rounds in one chapter, but manaaaan. That was brutal in a way that I never saw coming, and I honestly didn't expect them to lose.
Well, then it got the reaction that it was supposed to. Glad that it shook things up for you.
And again, Pleo is really showing how much he's learned about people. Cutting right through the gruff exterior Nagant puts on and getting at the tragic interior, someone who lost everything and is desperately clawing at the scraps.
Yeah, part of having childlike innocence is that sometimes it helps you get at the truth behind something better since you don't need to worry about pretense or propriety.
I do enjoy these bits that show the feral point of view and how they have their own ideals that can sometimes be more insightful than the so-called 'civilized' mons.
Yeah, an important part of Fledglings was trying to make sure that the ferals had their own agency and felt like they were something more than random encounters to fight. Guardia helped a bit for keeping that perspective around.
Aha, and that's where we're headed toward the end of the arc. With winning the tournament no longer being an option, using the drama with Coil as a distraction to get to Pleo. Given the sheer number of factions at play here, there's bound to be quite a lot of scores to settle between everyone. Should be fun~!
Alright. The special episode about New Year's. The whole thing with Nida and her siblings/friends was super adorable. I loved the details of them designing their own lanterns to go about collecting candy with. That sounds like such a fun tradition! I love how festive you made the whole thing seem. I was wishing I could join them as I was reading this!
Yeah, I had a lot of fun with Virgil134 fleshing that holiday out. ^^
With the whole thing about the pirates coming in, I was honestly afraid the whole night would end in disaster. It seemed like such a happy time for the characters; I didn't want anything to ruin it (which is a bit odd for me, a person who loves seeing characters get thrown into danger, but there you go). I liked seeing a bit of Elty during his pirate life, too.
Well, it would have defeated the writing prompt that that special was written to answer, so I'm glad you liked the happy resolution.
Back to the main story. I think the last time I reviewed, I stopped right before the escape from Lyn's ship (I wasn't paying attention to there being a certain amount of chapters in each episode at that point). I enjoyed the escape itself a lot. Wasn't sure how they were going to get out of that one. I liked that Pleo's power, while being the main thing that got them out of there, still didn't make it completely easy. (But I do wonder...was the heracross that Pleo attacked/made bleed alright? I know he's a company pokemon, but still...)
The Heracross comes back in future chapters, so you're good there. Though I'm glad that you enjoyed how the escape sequence played out.
I felt bad for Nida and pals when they couldn't get any food. It seemed pretty messed up that no one was going to help them at least get a meal before they had to set off on missions. The impression I'm getting from these islands is that pokemon don't generally seem to help others without expecting some sort of reward. I understand that to a degree, but I hope we see some more helpful pokemon in the future (not that there hasn't been some already, such as Margi and Maranda, but I'd like to see more of that sort of thing).
To be fair, that is pretty par for the course in canon PMD. And the average resident of a PMD-esque society would logically have a bit less abundance than someone living in a modern consumerist society.
Okay, I know he was just using bug bite or something, but my mind immediately went to thinking of yanmega's pokedex entries. Which for a split second made me worried about the cubone until it said he was breathing, despite me logically knowing this isn't the type of story to include the "biting apart foes" aspect of Valatos's species.
Yeah, he'd have to work a little harder to do that, and not really the thing I'd show on-screen given the atmosphere Fledglings shoots for.
The Company exiles pokemon for ditching their jobs/community service for a few days? That's...harsh... Then again I'm not too surprised, knowing what I know so far about the Company.
Nah, it's more that they bungled a secret mission for the Company that they weren't even supposed to be aware of. Given the stakes involved and their less-than-illustrious backgrounds, from the Company's perspective there wouldn't be much reason not to make examples of them.
I absolutely want to know more about this. What happened to these guys on that island?
The former is an island that everyone in Anyilla avoids. For reasons that will become more apparent later on in the story. As for the others, those are places where the group's had history there, and not for the better. You'll find out more about that later as well.
I must warn you that, if it was not already obvious, writers who put in characters that are my favorite species are going to get a lot of rambling about said characters from me. Can't stop won't stop.
Well, I'm glad that you're fans of them. Your commentary about them is certainly a lot of fun to read. They're not exactly main characters in Fledglings, but they do have some fairly memorable personalities and antics.
Personality-wise, the three remind me a lot of Elty, especially how he was in earlier chapters. I guess that sort of comes with being a pirate who makes a living stealing from others. I have to wonder why they're still so overconfident, after being captured by the Company, but in a really weird sort of way I kind of admire them for that (because if you take out the whole theives/criminals aspect of it, it's kinda nice to see a lot of confidence, haha). Now if only they were willing to put that to better use. It might turn out better for them.
Admittedly, I hadn't thought much of any similarities between them and Elty at first, though I can see it.
When their attempted kidnapping of Pleo started to go wrong in the dungeon, I was wondering why they didn't just call the teleporters right then and there. It would have saved them their items, but then again we wouldn't have Elty's awesome star/map-reading skills if that had happened. And I figure it might be hard to focus on altering the teleporters when you're battling.
I think that's a mix of stubbornness and then subsequent panic. Though I somehow doubt Eeden and Zamora would have come to their rescue even if they did call for them.
Loved the scene with Elty showing the others how to use a map and the other tools they got from Valatos. I love that his pirate knowledge is coming in handy in a way that helps the group without having them do something shady. I really want to know more about some of these other islands, particularly Vollezee. Being the Company's capital, I can't imagine it's a pleasant place for pokemon not working for them. Also, Guardia's screams as Pleo took off...I feel bad for finding that funny, but I just do.
And now we've got these Imperial pokemon. I'm very curious as to where this will go. I can't imagine that Pleo is the only legendary to have appeared; these pokemon seem to know too much. But I guess I'll see.
I've always been of the school that evolution at most changes the "“window dressing"” of a Pokémon's personality, with its deeper traits evolving through age and experience much like it does among humans.
So nice to see these guys getting what they deserve.
Well well well if I don't see some familiar faces in the forms of Daraen, Margi, and Pladur. Don't think I don't see the anagram in Margi's name. They are all treats to read, especially being in on the joke.
I'm glad to hear. Whenever you get further along in your reviews, I'm sure you'll find a few more that I hope you enjoy.
Speaking of! The beliefs of the Marked Ones are fascinating. Such an intresting alternate take on what the Old World was like, and as Sike pointed out it doesn't feel inherently wrong. Though with what I know about this fic's lore I do go "hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm"
Yeah, that ambiguity is highly deliberate, though glad to hear you're finding it interesting.
And man. It seems like Team Traveler keeps going from frying pan to fire to successfully bigger fires huh. Especially since it seems like this Kenobi is a... hive of scum and villany -rimshot-. Looking forward to what happens there.
Pleo is in sour moods because Cromteam is very bad at fighting, so Cabot has this idea that getting to know your enemies (and, point to note, captors) better will somehow breed familiarity and then everyone will be h a p p y ! I think Berecien has a point that spending more time with Queen Aleria would be... better in any and all senses of the word.
Taking your hostage to the home of their primary captor (now that Lyn is offscreen for the moment) for a friendly get to know you better, is something that I otherwise see only mostly in Colombian and Venezuelan soap operas, but not even Cabot has the kind of charm to make *that* one work.
I never knew that "“socializing with captors"” was a broader media trope, but I'm glad to hear that you liked the delivery.
The attempt at a meeting and conversation does not go any well and honestly it's not even Cabot's fault, it's friggin' Berecien who does most of the impasses, which I feel makes sense. Berecien would be the one among the team with the highest expectations regarding Nagant's wellbeing and social standing considering Berecien's own personal history, and his lack of awareness for navigating a stressed, lower-tier casual situation means he regularly trips about most of anything during the meeting.
I, for one, am glad as well that did not merit him a Water Pulse to the face. The entire of the team is weak to Water, right?
At least trying to be useful, Berecien has the idea of trying a game of checkers. it's totally a prison pastime after all.
Being a noble and having a relatively privileged life does put one at a disadvantage for being able to relate to hardship. Though in the end, it all mostly worked out.
Well at least we started the introductions with Nagant and we already got some new information and I have to say I'm surprised. I so far had pegged, even through worldbuilding consultation, that the Calamity was a through and through backstory event that would have allowed for at least two or three centuries of time buffer to re-develop the world. But it seems from here that Nagant was alive when the Calamity struck! So, is Nagant very old, or was the Calamity a rather recent event?
...Shouldn't the latter mean that some presumably older characters like Lyn, perhaps Darzin, should have met humans first-hand?
Also we can be glad that Nagant, in a way much like Queen Aleria herself, is a sort of accidental survivor.
The Great Calamity is actually a separate historical event that happened well after the formation of the Cradle that is related to Anyilla being split up. It wasn't exactly the intent for them to come off as one and the same here.
This Nagant is a villain we can otherwise support emotionally speaking until they end their deserved end at the hands of our heroes. I'm personally hoping for Trizando to be the one more tonally capable of dealing that deserving end.
Well, if she stays on the same path anyways. You'll have to wait and see where that one goes.
As a frail attempt to gain favour with the courts, Sibich agrees to explain re: Admiral Coil. We're told that he's a highly respected figure - one that is in charge of protecting the Capital. Which means all of our involved characters now won't have it easy, and that's assuming there's truth to what Sibich claims.
However, much as this information is welcome, nothing of this is actually new to Team Traveller in a way that forces their presence to obtain this information. Cardino could just have obtained the information himself and send word via snail mail. So, once again, Cardino wastes valuable hero time for a subquest that so far has failed to deliver any of the EXP points that Team Traveller needs for the tournament and that has consumed time that could have been used resting, recuperating and setting up for the incoming fight with none other than Ketu.
Let's hope that the one thing they got from the meeting - a potential plan to raise a ruckus at the tournament - somehow compensates for it.
Well, I can't predict how you'll react to it, though I hope it will live up to your expectations in the next chapter. ^^
All in all... not a bad chapter, it has a fair amount of levity spread around and it PROMISES BACKSTORY. perhaps more importantly, we got some bits of character development for Pleo and a hook of character development for Nagant (wow).
Well I'm glad to hear that it gave you a few pleasant surprises, and your little skit quotes are hilarious as always. I'll be looking forward to getting more of them in the future!
I could be wrong, as my grammar checker isn't marking it either way, but it feels like there should be a comma between "“there"” and "“barely."” I think maybe the length of the sentence is what makes me feel that way though.
No, you're right there. I went and fixed that one.
Something that I think I misinterpreted the first time, though, and think is worth pointing out, is the apricorns here. When I first read through, I'd assumed that they were being used as a thinly veiled threat towards the marked, left behind by less kind pokemon. But upon a reread I'm realizing that more than likely, the scavvers use them to transport bodies.
Ah, scarf dying. Conceptually, it's a neat idea, and I really like it. And it makes sense as a quick and simple disguise. But it also kind of feels... like it would be more useful to just have a few undyed scarves lying around so that they can just create disguises as needed, as opposed to having to paint or dye on a design onto their main scarf, only to have to wash it off or re-dye it again later. It's established here that Lyn is willing to stoop that low if it gets the results he wants, so I don't see why having some spares laying around would be an issue. Then again, it is something that would take up space on the ship, so that could be part of it. And I'd imagine it would be a bigger issue with darker-colored scarves, as opposed to the lavender of the company scarves.
Something something "“can reveal your true colors to friendlies in a pinch"”. Though it's a fair point, and I might've done things differently in the event that I had to write chapter 15 again.
I'm not going to get into epithets all that much, I but I wanted to point out this one in particular. It felt like Lyn was meant to be a bit more menacing here, but referring to him as "“the otter"” kind of takes away from that, because I don't really see an otter as all that menacing. I think it would have been better to just use "“Lyn"” or "“the Samurott"” in this case.
Although I get what you were going for here, the wording makes it a bit hard to parse. I feel like either "“Or we can settle this by fighting it out until the last Pokemon standing,"” simplifying the statement, or something along the lines of "“Or we can settle this by fighting it out until the last hut and Pokemon falls."”
Hrm, that does roll off the tongue a bit better. I went and put that in.
Oof, they don't exactly treat stowaways lightly (understandably), even kids (less understandable). Everyone's going to look at it differently, but for me, this was one more nail in the idea of "“The Company, in general, are bad."”
...Thinking about it though, there's a lot of political intrigue within this fic, in my opinion. I'll try to elaborate on that in a future review after we start getting into the motivations of The Empire.
Anyways, we've now reached the end of episode 4! Now the chase is on, and the adventure has really set off. This was a pretty intense episode, with a new, dangerous antagonist introduced that shows just how outclassed our heroes are.
Due to just the sheer size of the story, Fledglings has just a bit of a slow start. After all, we're about 20 chapters in, and the adventure is only just setting off. But on the other hand, those first 15 or so chapters set up a lot of important elements that are needed, and it's not like they're without action. It's also the nature of an episodic story.
Ah, I'm rambling a bit at this point. It's not a complaint, just an observation. I think what I'm getting at is that not every story can pull this off, but due to the way Fledglings is structured, it works.
Well, I'm glad to hear that the episodic structure is clicking with you and that you found enough going for the story to stick out the slow start.
Anyways, that's about all I have to say here. I'm looking forward to the next couple of episodes since I remember there being some interesting stuff that I want to talk about in them. Hopefully, my next review will be a bit more punctual.
Based on my to-do list and other scheduling matters… By the end of March, hopefully?
The scenes in Blackmoon are the meat and potatoes of this chapter for me because of a few reasons. The first, of course, is that the group finally gets the Knight's Ledger and, even if Cernun isn't necessarily going with them, they've at least made him an ally of sorts. It's honestly one of the best outcomes they've had since departing Tromba, since they only had to deal with the pirates and they've gotten something that they're hoping can get the Company and Empire to leave them alone. Every other island has basically ended with them running for their lives, so I'd consider this a serious improvement... even if I've got a feeling they're not going to have smooth sailing back to Tromba. Because I expect them to end up in Nagrobek at some point, so something's going to have to go very, very wrong.
I can neither confirm nor deny, you'll see how things play out soon enough.
Speaking of Nagrobek, we finally have Elty opening up to someone about his true origins. Given the evolving dynamic he's had with Guardia, I'm not surprised it wound up being her. As I've said before, fire-forged friends seems to be the angle you're going for here... and now they've got a similarity to tie 'em further. It was also sweet the way she said the team would always be there for him even if he wasn't sure what would follow this community service assignment.
Well, I'm glad you enjoyed it, since this was what had been hinted at all the way back when they were on Sormus.
And since it looks like Alvise, Nori, and Valatos are making their exit(?) from the story, I guess it's only fair to give some parting words to them. They've pretty much been the "rival team" for Team Traveler, in a manner of speaking. A trio of evolved, older 'mons to match the group of youngsters and serve as a bit of benchmark to show their improvement over the course of the various episodes... with this last fight culminating in finally getting an evolution through Nida. Aside from that, I think they were at their most interesting with the whole bit about Alvise renouncing his crime family. The serious backdrop of the whole situation played off of the trio's comical tendencies pretty well and showed that they could be more than just comic relief. The rest of the time they tended to fall into the comic relief territory of acting haughty and talking tough only to have it blow back in their faces... usually in spectacular fashion. I suppose this episode was a last hurrah where those traits got them to be a bit more badass than usual, but Team Traveler was able to beat them in the end, anyway.
With the fic having so many characters, I think this is the right time for them to bow out. It's not going to leave a void in comic relief shenanigans, since we still have Darzin, Cabot's trio, and Guardia/Elty slapstick among other things. But as antagonistic groups go, I'm far more interested in the Empire and Company, anyway, so if this means they'll both have more attention going forward, I'll be pleased.
Well, I'm glad that you enjoyed their sendoff. Though you're more or less right about the meta reason why their roles in the story are up. You'll be seeing a bit more of Team Traveller's other nemeses from here on out.
But... but would his toes be, like, solid rock or something? How does hitting a wooden barrel hurt them? <_>
I presume that not all Rock-Types or even parts of Rock-Types are necessarily hard to the touch given that Rockruff is a thing. Also, Cranidos are on the squishier side at 40 base defense. Besides, even if Cabot's toes were rock-hard, that doesn't exactly make them unstubbable.
No, TailsElty, their town's been frigging wrecked! >_>
And now, suddenly, with the only major hint being Trizano’s eyes, we have Xerneas’ immortals! (Which, after looking back, only had a very brief mention. I wonder if they should have noticed something that abnormal a bit more prominently? Actually, more on that later.) Though, it does seem to have a limit. If I’m interpreting the limitations properly, it’s not actually true immortality, but increased regen, agelessness, and an “extra life” if they’re thoroughly killed. Basically, a canon Reviver Seed, but only once—a curious, but perhaps narratively necessary, limitation.
Well, Reviver Seeds don’t exactly bring you back from the dead in canon, and Immortality doesn’t instantly undo a KO, but otherwise yeah. There being a limit was kinda important for keeping things feeling “balanced”, though it’s based off of the immortality that we see within mainline games relating to the Ultimate Weapon.
They know that the Ghosts were the ones behind the disappearances, and in fact were able to handle them quite soundly. Pleo is okay and was referred to as a “neighbor.” But it’s clear that they weren’t going to release him. Why, then, didn’t they go back to regroup with this new info, or even send one of them back for backup? They clearly wouldn’t want to kill Pleo, and they’re more interested in hiding. This information would have been a GIGANTIC bargaining chip, and combined with Kline’s information provided to then, it was clear that Kiran had the upper hand in every way…
And then they just give up their supplies, their badges, and then go in blind, making themselves unnecessarily vulnerable. I’m just completely beside myself as to why an experienced explorer would make such a decision. Even if there’s some reasoning that wasn’t said outright, I feel it wasn’t presented well at all, and I found myself scratching my head and looking over again for what could have possibly led him to making such a disastrous decision, strategically speaking.
To be fair, Vince knew where Pleo was and was about to throw a Totter Orb at them, so trying to overpower them and then find another lead to Pleo wasn’t exactly a trivial gamble to take. Additionally, Vince certainly wouldn’t have agreed with taking only half of Kiran’s group since there’d be no way to enforce the other half from ratting them out. They mulled their options and played things more conservatively since there were too many unknowns.
The second issue is somewhat minor, but still a head scratcher. With how incompetent the guards are at just mouthing off that their whole thing is false, and the flashback to when they first decided to burn the town, just how incompetent is everybody in all sides? The town is bad at hiding from an outside perspective, because these newbies somehow managed to uncover their secrets pretty fast. Along with that, some people like Trizano are able to go out despite his eyes. How does nobody notice that, especially those who might be keen on Xerneas’ eyes and—especially—the fact that Coil and the others had witnessed that pupil phenomena themselves?
It just seems surprising that ALL efforts up to this point had failed, considering the way the village presents itself. It doesn’t help that the main reason the party is having trouble with this arc is a huge conflict ball from Dusknoir, despite Kline arguably being the single most competent/intelligent character in the entire story so far. Guess if he wasn’t such a jerkwad about it, he’d get more out of it.
The way Darkwood Square gets discovered is more of a perfect storm of things going wrong from the village’s perspective. As for the Immortal eyes, there aren’t too many Pokémon within the Empire who had a role in Blackmoon Village being lost that would care to openly deal with what happened there. So for the most part, a select few Immortals that can slip in and out in a hurry can go around and build up a mythos around themselves that makes everyone think the stories about them are urban legends.
Last note, this really upped Hess in terms of his offensive game, though I’m not sure what it was that led to him having such a spike in skill compared to last time. Like, yeah, the boss leveled up for the late game encounter, but… how? Maybe it’s just rage from losing so often, like Jr Troop—oh my god, is Hess Jr. Troopa? Is that what he’s modeled after? Except he actually has a crew?
I actually hadn’t consciously designed him as such, but Hess does fill a similar role as Jr. Troopa narratively, yes. I wouldn't really call that a buff in strength on his part though, more a lack of external help for Elty and the others.
Elty finally getting it out in the open was a nice touch in terms of his origins, so I’m wondering what the payoff will be for that, and if he’ll get true closure about his mother—either finding her, or finding her remains.
Also, I feel like with how many characters there are in the scenes involving Team Traveler, I couldn’t help but note Pleo’s relative absence despite being a Protector. It was a little funny, but I guess balancing everyone was difficult—hence why narrowing the scope might be helpful, as I mentioned. I like Pleo, particularly when he has those flecks of young wisdom.
Well, things are getting a bit more tighter and focused as we get closer to the endgame. Hopefully you find it helpful to the narrative.
And to top things off, the scene between Ketu and Lyn was intriguing. Ketu finally slipped, at least a tiny bit, in getting some of that anger out toward him. I guess I misinterpreted Lyn at first, because Ketu calling him various terms of blockhead or muscelhead hit an odd note with me. I don’t know; he always felt he was at least slightly calculating, and to have him attributed more to pure brute strength, when we already have Hess for that, I dunno. Maybe it’s just Ketu’s opinion, because I feel like there’s more to Lyn than that.
Ketu strikes me as letting his dislike of Lyn cloud how he thinks about him even when he can intellectually agree he’s more than a mere strong brute. So he has a tendency to accentuate the negative with Lyn and underplay his strengths when talking about him.
But this was a good episode to give off a sense of progress. And while I heavily questioned the whole thing with the premise of this new island, I can at least accept that the outcome that followed felt consistent enough and followed logical ‘well, then this would happen’ conclusions.
As for what I’m hoping to see in the next episode… maybe some of Tromba, for sure. And Kline. Beyond that, I’m indifferent on what comes when; I’m not entirely sure which direction you’re going … Oh right! The ledger! Let’s read it. And what’s in Ander’s texts, too. Final act, right? Time for answers.
I’m glad to hear that you enjoyed the ride. Hopefully this new episode will be just as fun for you to read.
And while I wound up missing my target date by a couple days, I'm proud to announce that the first chapter of episode 14 of Fledglings is here. The next chapter is targeting the end of February, since I will be hosting family for a weekend this month, which will impact availability for writing.
Special thanks goes out to Virgil134 for helping to write and edit the chapter and Tangent128 for helping to make the header, and helped make this installment into what you see before you today, along with the readers and reviewers who've patiently hung in there. And with that, let's move things right along and kick off the new episode with:
Just offshore Haipheh, the Uragan carried on under a morning sky darkened with white clouds as stray flakes of snow filtered about sharp and frigid air. On the deck, the crew's pace had ground down from the unnatural cold, with even Jun and Nagant having become sluggish from the abrupt change in weather. Nagant peered off through her scope towards a square sea fort with stone walls built on the other side of a hill from a small village, the entire area frosted over with a layer of snow that only served to remind the Clawitzer of the inhospitable weather.
"Bah, I should've just hit the water from the last buoy," she grumbled.
Nagant put her scope away and hopped up to jump into the water. As little comfort as it was, the sea provided some minor relief from the cold, leaving the pistol shrimp to jet ahead, weaving along the waves as a group of Pokémon in Imperial scarves swam up to accost her. After seeing her three-leaved scarf and less-than-amiable mood, the lot swiftly waved the Water-type along, letting her carry on for the fort where a breakwater with wooden docks had been constructed.
The Clawitzer passed several ships with Imperial sails, seeing that the docks were more crowded than normal today, no doubt thanks to the disturbance that had happened in Tidemill City just a few days ago. After a moment's search, Nagant found an open spot at the far end where her ship could moor at, where she swam up and grudgingly clambered up as she felt the air chill the seawater rolling off her shell and fought to stifle a shiver.
"Ah, Captain Nagant. I've been expecting you."
Nagant pivoted on her tail just in time to see an Incineroar in an indigo scarf with a four-leaved pattern approaching. The Clawitzer nodded back, giving a small wave as she fixed her gaze insistently on the approaching Fire-Type.
"Being greeted at the docks by the 'mon in charge is certainly a first…" Nagant remarked. "Commodore Corbett, was it?"
"That's right," the Incineroar answered. "Though given the message I received from you and Valan, I was under the impression that there wasn't any time to waste for this 'Lugia'."
The Clawitzer shook her head back at the Incineroar, breathing a sigh of relief that after her debacle of a port call in Buyeom she was finally dealing with a 'mon that seemed to be cutting to the chase.
"You can say that again," Nagant said. "I need to have an audience with-"
"I already took the liberty of informing the Duchess about the circumstances," Corbett cut in. "She gave the green light for an operation to seize the Protector on her island, and me and my subordinates are ready to provide whatever assistance is needed for helping you restore it to the crown."
Nagant blinked out of surprise at the Commodore's reply. The shrimp paused for a moment, wondering if Corbett's generosity was as open as he let on, before opting to test it for herself.
"… I'm going to need five twin-masts flying false sails, my crew's members embedded with the local guards to set up an ambush in town, and for them to heed my orders for anything relevant to this mission until the Lugia is captured," she said.
"Consider it done," Corbett replied.
Nagant's mouthparts hung open at Corbett's acceptance, having half a mind to pinch herself to ensure that she wasn't dreaming. Satisfied, her mandibles curled into a smile as she nodded back to her superior.
"Glad to hear, I'm sure Her Majesty will be as happy as I am once this all is over."
In the seas west of Haipheh, the Siglo Swellow sailed along amidst the waves. The lookouts peered through spyglasses every now and then to ensure that the ship was still on course, dutifully checking that they weren't straying towards any of the more trafficked sea routes to the north. Below the deck, a small crowd of sailors had gathered in the mess hall to read letters Pat had brought from Tromba and distributed to their owners. At the edge, Trizano chattered with a Raichu and Servine, the two having spent the past few minutes recounting their travels since Tromba when Trizano's eyes drifted over towards a pair of envelopes left on their table.
"You've been able to get mail all this time going from island to island?" the Skarmory wondered.
"Yup, though it helps that we've got someone to fly it back and forth for us," Philips replied. "Pat finally came back from Tromba with a load of letters when we were anchored at Pioppo. There's not a whole lot going on now, so we're just catching up on them."
"How have they all been doing anyways?" Trizano asked. "From what you've told me so far, I can't imagine that being separated from their Protector has been easy on them."
"Mostly just normal everyday stuff," Natrix answered. "They were pretty thrilled to hear about the Protector joining us, and they're looking forward to us coming home."
Trizano furrowed his brow back in confusion, giving a slight tilt of his head as he pressed the Servine and his Raichu companion.
"The Company hasn't done anything at all to try and interfere yet?" he questioned. "Surely everyone at home must find their lack of intervention a bit strange…"
Natrix and Philips looked at each other for a moment, before turning back to Trizano with a shared shrug.
"I mean, I'm sure that they're worried about it… but nothing's happened so far," the Raichu of the pair said.
"Yeah, they were in the clear when Pat was back there," Natrix chimed in. "And that was just two days ago!"
Trizano gave an uneasy ruffle of his feathers, letting them clatter against each other. It was hard to think that Company would fail to catch onto the town's schemes for so long, but stranger things had happened before, and it was hardly a bad thing to still have a free wing to work with.
"I suppose one should be thankful that's still the case then…" he murmured.
The Skarmory got up from the table and waved farewell at the Raichu and Servine before leaving the mess hall, heading up onto the deck when he caught sight of Team Traveller's youngsters helping to clean the deck. There he saw Crom, Guardia, Elty, and Pleo all doing their part dutifully swabbing the timbers, occasionally breaking their work with a playful flick of a wet rag. Trizano paced forward, raising a wing in welcome only to stop and blink after noticing that Nida wasn't with them.
"Oh? Wasn't Nida helping out with swabbing the deck today?"
Crom paused from his work swabbing the deck, looking up at Trizano as he shook feeling back into his left arm.
"She's helping out with reading and transcribing the Ledger in her quarters," the Druddigon answered. "Ander's turn was up so she took over for him."
"Right… She's been at that for a while," Trizano mused. "Perhaps it's about time for her to take a break."
The Skarmory made his way back below deck, shuffling through the dimly-lit halls and past the occasional sailor as he made his way down to the common rooms that served as the crew's quarters. Trizano counted up the doors, before coming to a stop at the second entrance on his left, where a simple wooden door had been left ajar, prompting him to push it open and call out into the room on the other end.
"Nida?"
The metal bird stepped into the chamber, where he saw hammocks and straw bedding set out along the edges. In the center, next to a jar lit with glowmoss, there was the Knights' Ledger laying open with its pages facing down on a crate used as a table, with Nida leaning away on a stool with a troubled stare.
"Are you alright?" Trizano asked.
"I… just needed to stop reading for a while," Nida said.
Trizano tilted his head warily back at the Nidorina. He hadn't been given the chance to read much of the Ledger on his own, but he remembered enough of what the village discovered from it to be jarring on an initial impression. Then, it begged the question of…
"What was the last thing that you read?"
"I came across a set of entries talking about how this Queen Erna ordered the Company to bring Cernun's egg back to Conntow," Nida began. "They sent some Commissioner over to do it, but one of his main assistants was Inler."
"I mean, it would make sense," Trizano replied. "From what I'm aware of, there aren't many Pokémon like Inler left in the Company who have been around since the time before the Great Calamity-"
"That wasn't what bugged me," the Nidorina insisted, prompting Trizano to pause uneasily before she continued on.
"The entries after said that the Company first tried to take the egg peacefully, but that when the ferals inside the Mystery Dungeon pushed back, they 'helped them meet their makers'!" she exclaimed. "And the entries afterwards just continued on like nothing was wrong!"
Nida shook her head, pulling her ears back as she looked back at Trizano uncomfortably.
"I'd only been reading the Ledger for half an hour when I came across it, and it's barely 30 pages into it," she murmured. "Just what else is in this thing?"
Trizano lowered his head with a quiet sigh, before he made his way over to the tome to shut it.
"That, I don’t have an answer to, other than that there's a reason why both the Company and the Empire fear this book, Nida," the Skarmory replied. "They both have had a long history of dealings involving Cernun, and much of it doesn't reflect well on them."
"But why Cernun in particular? And why did they need his egg anyways?" Nida asked. "Back then they weren't enemies with each other like they are now, so what would they need a Protector for?"
"I admittedly haven't read the Ledger myself, but Valter has told me a few times about things that he found in it. One of them was that there seem to be passing mentions that Cernun's egg wasn't the only one," Trizano explained. "What other Protector or Protectors that involved, I wouldn't know."
Trizano slipped a loose feather into the pages of the book as a mark, shaking his head before closing it and turning back to the Nidorina.
"As for why they needed Cernun… when the Empire came for him again at Pioppo, they wanted to use him as a weapon for the Navy," he continued. "I'd imagine the Empire must have wanted to do so even before he hatched, though I'm not sure why they would've felt a need to do something like that."
Nida blinked at the Skarmory's reply as she wondered to herself just what other Protectors could have met a fate like Cernun. She knew full well from Nerea that this blue tome in front of her was only one out of three volumes, so did the other two reveal more about this? Nerea said the Company had disturbed her, but that had happened well after the Great Calamity… and none of the islands other than Mengir had any indication that they'd similarly had their Protector taken from them…
Tok tok tok
Nida and Trizano turned for the door at the sound of claws rapping against wood, turning to see Pladur wedge his tusked head through the doorway.
"We're a bit low on supplies, so Captain Beatrix is taking us by Haipheh to reprovision," the Fraxure said.
"Huh? So soon?" Nida asked.
"Well, we're about an hour out," the Dragon-Type explained. "But you should try to put away the Ledger in about half an hour. The approaches to islands tend to be more closely watched, and it'd be a waste to lose it from a sudden inspection."
Pladur took his leave, heading back out into the hallway as Nida uneasily shifted her glance between the door and the blue tome on the crate. Her indecision was cut short by the rustling of Trizano's feathers, as the Skarmory raised a wing to address her.
"Why don't you go and take a break for now?" Trizano suggested. "I can take over until it's time to put the Ledger away."
"Are you sure, Trizano?" Nida asked. "I don't really want to impose on-"
"Certamente! We're working as a team, aren't we?" the Skarmory said. "So let me help out with your burden a while."
The Nidorina paused a moment, letting a small smile spread over her muzzle before she nosed her way for the door.
"Alright, I'll take you up on it."
Nida made her way to the door and pushed the door open, looking back as Trizano settled against the crate and opened the blue book back to where he'd left his feather. The Nidorina let the door shut behind her, heading off down the corridor as she kept wondering to herself what could be in the other two volumes that Kline and Nerea had mentioned.
About hour later, the rattle of clayware rang out from the galley as Pleo, Crom, Guardia, Nida, and Elty took a moment to rest by helping themselves to leftovers from breakfast and play a shell game shuffling a trio of clay cups with their paws trying to guess which of them hid a pebble underneath. After finishing their food and amusing themselves for a while, the lot felt the ship come to a stop. While the Siglo Swellow's bobbing began to settle down, the five got up, making their way down the ship's corridors as its wood creaked and groaned from moving in the harbor's water. They passed one of the sleeping quarters where Kiran and Dimitri exited before hailing them, the lot calling back cheerful greetings only for Pleo to pause and notice something amiss with their gathering.
"Eh? Where's Ander?" the Lugia asked. "I thought we were all getting together before going onto the deck."
"I saw him back at his quarters," Dimitri answered. "He says that he's not a good fit for going off into Haipheh."
"I wonder why he suddenly changed his mind," Guardia said. "I don't have any problem going out. It's a chance to see a new place, gather lore about this island, and…"
The Cubone trailed off as a cold chill came down the steps, Nida, Pleo, and Elty giving a puzzled turn of their heads before they continued up into frosty air cold enough for them to see their breaths. The three looked around, seeing that far from the warm, blue skies from just an hour ago, the Siglo Swellow had laid anchor in a harbor frosted with snow, and chunks of ice swirling about the water. In front of them was a village composed of glazed-tiled shacks with paper windows occasionally punctuated by larger ring-like structures. The bulk of them were adorned with arcing roofs broken here or there by a tent or building shaped after a Pokémon's head or an iced-over palm tree, with the stone walls of a sea fort visible off in the distance. The lot stared along, half-thinking that they'd come across a playground for Ice-Types opposed to a settlement when the wind picked up and sent a chill down the group's spines, a loud yelp prompting Nida to turn back and see Crom wide-eyed and shivering.
"A-Aaaah! Nida, it's freezing out here!" the Druddigon cried.
Crom pulled his wings tight against his body before darting back to the entrance to the ship's lower decks. Nida blinked before folding an ear back puzzledly at her Dragon-Type teammate.
"Crom? What's going on?" she asked. "I get that it’s a bit cold, but it’s not that bad, is it?"
The Druddigon remained firmly fixed to his spot, refusing to budge as Pladur walked up hugging his arms against his chest and visibly shivering.
"Blugh… easy enough for a 'mon with fur to say! I normally try to stay below deck whenever the ship comes out to Whitepalm Town since half the time it's miserable just to poke my head out!" Pladur exclaimed. "I don't think I can take five minutes of this, let alone the two hours Captain Beatrix needs in order to resupply!"
Nida flattened her ears at the two Dragon-Types’ reaction, only to hear the sound of boarding footsteps and barking voices when they turned to see a Walrein leading a small party in indigo garb aboard. The lot froze and felt the color flush out of their faces when Beatrix hastily flew in, coming to a hasty stop in front of the Walrein.
"Is something the matter?" Beatrix asked.
"You've been selected for a random inspection," the walrus harrumphed. "Step aside and let us look around a bit."
The Walrein pushed ahead, fanning out along with his underlings across the deck. As the guards made their way about, Team Traveller's members hastily attempted to crowd around Pleo to try and hide him from view, standing on hindlimbs, spreading wings, and standing atop each other's shoulders with audible bumps and jostles. A blue and white Mr. Mime with the Walrein looked over at them for a moment before down at a sheet of paper, and pointed them out. Team Traveller froze for a moment as the head guard approached, the Walrein staring at them for a moment, before giving an annoyed frown.
"You know, this inspection isn't going to go any faster if you're constantly messing around on deck," the Walrein growled. "Go play somewhere else and let us do our jobs here!"
Pleo and his companions blinked back surprised as the guard shook his head and carried on, the Mr. Mime lingering a moment before muttering something about "he's too small anyways". Team Traveller's members breathed a sigh of relief before hastily undoing their awkward wall as the young Lugia stared at the guards rooting around nonchalantly in the background.
"They… didn't recognize me," Pleo murmured.
"You shouldn't nitpick a gift, Pleo. Remember, we're only here for two hours to reprovision before going back to Tromba," Elty chided, as he cast his glance off towards Whitepalm Town's sleepy streets.
"Considering how nobody knows who you are, maybe it'd be worth going out to stretch our legs a bit before sailing off," he suggested.
"It would be nice to fly around," Kiran said. "But none of us really know what to expect from it."
"I believe I could be of assistance there," a Skarmory's voice chimed in.
Team Traveller's members turned to see Trizano hopping up, fanning out his right wing to wave at the lot before bringing it back to his side with a cheerful smile.
"My excursions beyond Pioppo have taken me here a fair amount of times," the Skarmory said. "I'm pretty sure I know the area well enough to give you a short tour within two hours."
"Heh, well I'm sold," Dimitri replied. "How about the rest of you?"
Elty and Kiran at once cheered back their intent to come along, while Crom stared at the town with a palpable sense of dread. Nida looked out at Whitepalm Town, her eyes fixed on the snow-glazed buildings as she shuffled her feet and began to speak up.
"I think I'd like to-"
"I… think that I'm going to sit this one out and stay in the mess hall with the galley oven running until we leave," Pladur said. "That stomach wound still hasn't fully healed and just coming above deck already sucked the energy out of me."
"Ugh, the galley oven really sounds good right now, dad," Crom groaned. "Let's hurry up and get out of this awful weather."
Nida's words died in her mouth and her expression fell as she watched Crom and Pladur head below deck. The Nidorina turned back uneasily at the town, which seemed to lose much of its luster knowing that she'd be seeing it without Crom, leaving her to shift in place uncomfortably. Then again, the rest of her teammates were still going into town, and spending more time on the ship wasn't exactly her first choice either…
"I guess I'll come too," Nida hesitated. "I mean, if everyone else is going, there's no reason for me to skip, right?"
Elty rolled his eyes in reply, before motioning with a paw back for the entrance below deck.
"You seem to be forgetting about Guardia," the Growlithe said.
"Huh? Why? What happened to her-?" Nida started, only to catch herself and hop up out of surprise as she saw the Cubone halfway down the steps for the ship's lower decks.
"Eh?! You were just going on about wanting to gather lore a couple minutes ago!" the Nidorina exclaimed.
Guardia stared back with a sheepish look as her body visibly shivered, before she shook her head and gave an irritated huff.
"Meh, there's not much that can be gathered in two hours anyways," Guardia grumbled. "I might as well just stick around and gather some lore from a seawalker like that Onondo, especially if he also knows something about that oven."
Pleo and his remaining teammates stared after Guardia as she slunk off, their faces locked into flat, unimpressed stares after the vanishing Ground-Type.
"She's staying behind because she thought it was too cold too, isn't she?" Pleo murmured.
"Wasn't it obvious?" Elty scoffed.
Nida grimaced, looking off at the stairwell back below deck and pawing uneasily at the timbers underfoot. The Nidorina hung her head, when she felt a wing pat at her shoulder and looked over to see Kiran smiling reassuringly at her.
"If you don't want to go out, it's fine," the Swellow insisted. "You've only just met Crom again and a lot has changed, so I can understand if you need some time with him."
"Are you sure, Kiran?" Nida asked. "I mean, we're supposed to be a team, and-"
"As your team captain, I insist," Kiran said. "We'll take care of ourselves out there."
Nida paused, a small smile spreading over her muzzle as she nodded back at her teammates.
"Alright, see you soon."
The Poison-Type watched as Pleo, Elty, Kiran, Dimitri, and Trizano filed off the gangplank for the wharves below. Satisfied that her companions were in good paws, she waved the group off and carried on, slipping below into the darkened warmth of the Siglo Swellow eager to spend her port call staying warm with Crom.
Behind its stone walls, Haipheh's naval base hummed with activity, as Pokémon darted to and fro among short, stone buildings. The barracks in the complex were composed of long structures built next to each other in rows, which had been largely left vacant after their slumbering sailors had been called out at dawn. Instead, the bulk of the activity centered around training grounds and larger structures built towards the center, including a mess hall where Pokémon were still streaming out from morning rations. Outside its entrance, a Sandslash leading a Cranidos and Ponyta passed by the departing sailors, the Fire-Type of the three tapping his hooves against the ground impatiently before letting out a sharp snort.
"Hurry it up already! We were supposed to be in town half an hour ago!" Berecien snapped.
"Relax, we're taking the route that I always take here," Niilo insisted.
"You took us down a dead end earlier!" the Ponyta cried. "This can't possibly be the route you take every time we come here!"
"I mean, the weather is a little warmer here than in town," Cabot said. "So at least there's a silver lining, right?"
Berecien turned his head towards the Cranidos with a bewildered scowl, only for a moment of dawning realization to come over him that Niilo would have a motivation to stay out of the cold as much as he could… as would Cabot. At once, the Ponyta flared out his mane and jerked his head over to shoot a harsh glare over at his Sandslash teammate.
"Are you deliberately stalling us?" Berecien demanded.
"And so what if I am?" Niilo scoffed. "This is no weather for a Sandslash and you know it!"
"Speak for yourself! It's warm enough as it is over here!"
Niilo looked over to see a bluish-white Sandslash coated in icy spikes passing by with a sharp frown, making him blink and stare bewilderedly as the irked Ice-Type moved along. With his patience having finally run thin, Berecien stomped his hooves against the ground, shoving Niilo aside as he walked ahead of his companions.
"I'll take over from here," the Ponyta harrumphed. "I'm pretty sure that I took that alleyway over there to the gate before."
Berecien set off and led his teammates down an alleyway between a pair of barracks. The group continued as the contours of the base's walls came into view, with a rough gatehouse marking that there was indeed a gate there, much as the Ponyta had remembered. The lot carried along, making their way toward the gate as a Cacturne, a Marshtomp, and a Camerupt posted nearby dawdled around a crate playing a game of cards with Pokémon pictures on them, prompting Cabot to blink and have a double take.
"Hey, isn't that Chalco over there?" Cabot asked.
Berecien slowed and turned off to his right where he spotted the familiar form of the Marshtomp playing cards at the crowded crate. The Water-Type in front of him was indeed Chalco, one of Niilo's friends from his band of mercenaries. But in all the times they'd met since Basic Training, he always remembered her hanging around a Numel and Cacnea…
"Huh? I mean, it is her," the Ponyta murmured. "But does that mean the other two are-?"
"Hah! That foil card of yours is mine, Orcutt!" the Camerupt jeered.
Berecien flicked his ears at hearing the name 'Orcutt'. Of course! Chalco's companions must've evolved! If the Cacturne was Orcutt, then the Camerupt would logically be Molina, the last member of their circle of sellclaws… if evidently much changed from their last encounter.
"I suppose that answers that question," Berecien sighed, as Niilo eagerly, motioned with a claw to follow.
"Come on, let's stop by!" the Sandslash insisted.
Niilo and his companions carried on, approaching the gathering from behind Orcutt's shoulder as Niilo leaned in and gave a quiet poke at the Cacturne's shoulder.
"I see you three are really giving the Dune Devils a good rap there."
The three mercenaries jolted up on their seats out of surprise, turning back to see Niilo impishly waving at them. Their startled expressions faded away quickly into cheerful smiles as the three gathered around the Sandslash.
"Niilo! What are you doing back here so soon?" Orcutt exclaimed.
"Oh you know, duty calling," the Sandslash replied. "Just doing what I'm paid for."
"Hrmph, you shouldn't be so flippant, Niilo," Berecien chided, before turning to the trio of slackers. "I see that you all have changed a bit since last time."
"Yeah, Orcutt and Molina finally caught up with me and evolved," Chalco replied. "Feels great for all of us to finally be able to see over the counter at shops now!"
"I seem to remember you still needing to get on your toes to do that," Molina scoffed.
"I can see over them well enough!" the Marshtomp protested, leaving Orcutt to chuckle and look at Berecien and his companions with an arm pointing back at some unused stools a few paces away along the base's wall.
"Why don't you all take a seat?" the Cacturne offered. "We've got enough kortteja to take you three along for a game or two."
Niilo and Cabot started to make their way over towards the seats, only to stop after Berecien let out a sharp snort and shook his head back at Orcutt.
"We can't," the Ponyta answered. "We need to be in town right now since Captain Nagant is chasing after a Protector who she believes to be coming through here."
Orcutt and Molina traded askew looks with one another, while Chalco abandoned all pretense of belief in order to blow a doubtful raspberry back at Berecien.
"Sure she is," Chalco scoffed. "I know you've probably got 'mons you need to impress with your parents being nobles and all, but you don't need to make up stories just because you're stuck on frontier patrol again!"
"But it really happened!" Cabot insisted. "Look! Here's even one of the flyers we were supposed to pass out!"
The Cranidos took a sheet of paper out of his bag that depicted a long-necked bird, prompting the three mercenaries to gather around and begin to read the runes underneath. After a moment of their eyes going back and forth a few lines, the trio paused, and looked up with blank expressions at their Sandslash teammate.
"Niilo, what exactly is going on here?" Molina asked. "Just how do you all go from frontier duty to chasing after a Protector?!"
"Well…"
The Sandslash began to tell the tale of how they'd first heard of Pleo on Boisocéan and learned of his direction and the Company's attempts to seize him on Mengir, which the Ground-Type dutifully insisted was due to his skills as a sleuth and a spy. From there his tale moved on to a daring raid on Orleigh where they faced hundreds of pirates, before tracking and easily overpowering the Protector and his pirate companions on Sormus. Upon his return to Giotto, the Queen herself was so impressed by his valor and bravery that she felt compelled to make him the head caretaker over the Protector… only for their work to be undone in spite of his best efforts by an entire horde of the pirates surprising them with a hail of Wonder Orbs and seeds in the capital, thus forcing them to try and track him down once more. All the while, the gathered Pokémon frowned and traded unimpressed scowls as Niilo puffed his chest as he came to the end of his much-embellished story.
"And that's what's been going down," he beamed, prompting his Cacturne companion to curl his mouth into an impatient frown.
"Come on Niilo, stop playing around," Orcutt grumbled. "What really happened?"
"It's true though! … or at least the broad strokes of it," Cabot answered. "But the point is that we really do need to go into town to help with this ambush!"
"I mean something's up if an ironclad's coming through here, but shouldn't we be seeing more 'mons from the capital or something?" Molina asked, raising her brow back skeptically. "A Protector is a big deal, so why wouldn't others be getting-?"
The Camerupt trailed off as she spotted the form of a Dragonite in an ill-fitting scarf with a solitary leaf pattern sneak about the alleyways, clumsily skulking and slinking about.
"… What is that Dragonite doing?" the Camerupt murmured.
Orcutt turned his attention, watching the strange Dragon-Type as he accidentally upended a small stack of crates with his tail. Berecien and his teammates blanched a moment as the Grass-Type watched as the stranger looked back in alarm. The dragon turned and began to tiptoe away in a hurry, prompting Orcutt to squint and glare.
"I dunno, something stinks about that 'mon… Hey you!"
Darzin jolted up with a start, whirling around to see Orcutt and his companions approaching with sharp scowls.
"Huh?!"
"You look like you haven't seen this base before in your life!" the Cacturne hissed. "What are you doing sneaking around here?!"
The Dragonite froze and bit his tongue, hemming and hawing as he tried to think of a reply only to find his mind wanting.
"I… Uh…"
As Darzin fumbled for an explanation, the Cacturne and his companions' faces hardened into fierce glares, the lot readying themselves when Niilo walked up giving a dismissive wave of his claws.
"Nah, it's alright, he's just a pirate that got caught from a raid on Giotto," the Sandslash explained. "The Captain press-ganged him to fill the ranks of her new ship and gave him a good reminder of who's boss."
Darzin jolted back wide-eyed, looking down at Niilo much as if he'd just been blindsided by a flying slab of ice.
"Huh?! That's-!"
"Yeah, she wanted to put him to work as a messenger, but he kept bringing letters and packages to wrong addresses, so he's currently cleaning heads on the ship," Niilo continued. "Turns out he had actually built up quite a bit of experience doing that for his old pirate buddies!"
Cabot and Berecien fought and largely failed to stifle laughs at the Sandslash's explanation. Darzin blinked before starting to splutter and fume at Niilo's unsolicited "help". All the while, Chalco and her companions turned to Niilo with long, unimpressed stares.
"A Dragonite cleaning toilets?" the Marshtomp scoffed. "Even if you expect me to believe that your salty crab of a captain couldn't find anything better for him to do, you can't expect me to buy that. Why, if he's really a pirate, what's keeping him from just blasting a hole in your ship at sea and flying off?"
Cabot and Berecien bit their tongues, trading uneasy looks with one another as both were at a loss as to how to continue Niilo's story. Undeterred, the Sandslash brushed his shoulder and flicked his claws, giving an impish smirk back to his fellow mercenaries.
"Well, see that's the thing… He's not as tough as he looks. He apparently wound up evolving early after binging on a pile of Joy Seeds," Niilo said. "Says he found them while trying to look for some buried treasure in a Mystery Dungeon or something."
Darzin at once stomped over and loomed over Niilo with a livid growl, the Sandslash falling silent and recoiling out of surprise as the Dragonite loomed over him.
"I evolved thanks to prolonged exposure to the Distortion, you impudent sand rat!" he snapped. "And I was looking for your Captain!"
The Dragonite's retort at once sent Chalco, Orcutt, and Molina into peals of roaring laughter, knocking the Dragon-Type out of his indignant fuming just long enough to look back and see Niilo's friends bowled over trying to catch their breaths.
"Oh man, you just can't make this stuff up!" Molina wheezed.
"A Dragonite scrubbing heads!" Orcutt cried. "What a joke!"
Darzin pulled his antennae against his head with a flustered grimace, stumbling with his words as he weighed whether to try and clear the air. Before he could speak, he felt a claw paw at his shoulder, looking down to see Niilo patting it with a smug grin spread over his muzzle.
"It's okay buddy, we're proud of who you are."
Darzin pulled his shoulder away, muttering under his breath as he fought against every muscle in his body to not summarily run a claw into the impudent sand rat's belly. The Dragonite stomped a foot against the ground, before shooting a harsh glare down at the Sandslash and his companions.
"Just take me to Nagant already, you bunch of useless whelps!" he spat.
"As you wish," Berecien snickered. "See you all later."
"See ya!" Chalco cheered. "And try to look out for that buddy of yours!"
Cabot, Berecien, and Niilo waved the mercenaries off, retracing their steps as the sound of laughter from Orcutt and his buddies lingered in the air and made Darzin bare his teeth and let out an annoyed growl. The four continued on, passing the rows of stone barracks as they made their way back to the fort's seaside gate, returning to the wooden docks where Uragan had been tied down at a pier at the far right end. There, they spotted Jun talking down to the water where Nagant bobbed along the surface, the Beedrill giving a salute before flying off, prompting Darzin to stomp ahead with a sharp huff.
"Nagant!"
Nagant stilled her barbels, before clambering up onto the dock and raising an eye with an incredulous scowl as she saw there in the flesh was none other than…
"Darzin? What are you doing here?"
"Making sure that our little agreement is respected," the Dragonite growled. "Why else would I be skulking about these miserable barracks without so much as receiving a cover from you?!"
"Oh don't worry, I took care of that one!" Niilo jeered. "He's in charge of cleaning your heads!"
Darzin clenched his teeth and let out a seething huff before giving a grumbling shake of his head at the Sandslash's unwanted explanation. Nagant paused, looking between the Dragonite and her still-bemused subordinates, before giving a click of her claws and sharp hiss.
"I'm in the middle of organizing an ambush right now!" Nagant fumed. "The Protector and the ship he's on are due to pull into port at any moment!"
"And I want to see the end results in person," Darzin snapped. "Do you have a problem with that?"
Nagant furrowed her brow and looked incredulously at the Dragon-Type for a moment, before shaking her head and letting out an annoyed scoff.
"I sent you a message to keep you informed, not so you could come over and get in my way! If you're so concerned about how I'm handling my end of things, just stay in town until I've secured the Protector!" Nagant insisted. "You'll have your chance to see him as soon as he's in my claws."
"Is that why your letter didn't tell me you deceived Lyn with a Ditto pretending to be the Protector at Buyeom two days ago?" Darzin demanded.
"Huh? But we didn't pull into Buyeom until yesterday!" Cabot cried.
Darzin paused and blinked back confusedly. That Ditto was supposed to be an Imperial spy, and yet here Nagant and all her lackeys were staring at him much as if he'd just declared that the sun rose in the west and set in the east! The Dragonite struggled for a moment to think of what could be happening, only for Nagant to cut his train of thought short with a sharp huff.
"I don't know what's going on with Commissioner Lyn, but right now it's not a priority for me," the Clawitzer harrumphed. "Just stay clear of this ambush and let me do my work."
"I've been feeding you information about the Company's doings since Mengir!" Darzin fumed. "The least you can do is to let me help you!"
Nagant thrust her large claw forward, thrusting its tip up at Darzin's snout as she cracked it open, shooting a livid glare up.
"Unless you really want to test how much the guards here are going to believe that you're a toilet cleaner, I'd strongly suggest not pushing your luck," the shrimp hissed. "I did not agree to our arrangement just so that way you'd expose us both by not knowing when to remain in the shadows!"
Darzin paused, staring wordlessly down at Nagant's firing claw before he grudgingly slunk back with a sharp glare.
"Fine," the Dragonite grunted. "Just be aware I still have part of your scarf and hold your fate in my claws right now!"
"I wouldn't dream of forgetting," Nagant spat.
Darzin kept his eyes locked on Nagant in a fuming gaze, before turning and plodding off. After the Dragonite had slipped off past the row of naval barracks, Nagant turned back to Cabot, Berecien, and Niilo, giving an impatient wave of her claws.
"Come on, it's almost time to make our move."
Pleo and his friends' journey up from the docks took them into Whitepalm's streets, trekking past scattered shacks and cottages along with the occasional iced-over palm tree until they found themselves in the hamlet's main square. The square had been positioned much like Fensedge Village's, with roughly half the town lying further inland and the other closer to the sea. Additionally, where Fensedge Village had built its square around its standing stones, Whitepalm Town had several ice sculptures in the center that were carved into the forms of various Pokémon and accented with dashes of colored pigment.
"It's so pretty!"
Pleo's exclamation rang out from the base of a sculpture of a crowned Staraptor, craning his neck around to follow the individual grooves that had been cut to show the figure's plumes. As Pleo pecked and nosed at the icy sculpture, Elty drew forward with a skeptical frown, running a paw at the base of the Staraptor sculpture before giving it a disgusted flick.
"Blegh, why ice though?" the Growlithe said. "How would they even keep these statues from melting away?"
"They don't. These statues will stay around for a couple of days, before they melt to the point where their features get disfigured and they'll be thrown into the harbor and a new set of different ones will be put out," Trizano explained. "Seeing how the square changes always gives me something to look forward to when visiting here."
Elty tilted his head back at the explanation. While the idea of making art with one's elements was hardly alien to him as a Fire-Type, he couldn't help shake the sense the whole exercise was wasteful. The Growlithe opened his mouth to reply, when he saw a Amaura walking by in the background, who paused after noticing Trizano and gave a friendly wave with a foreleg.
"Lí hó, Trizano!" the Ice-Type cheered. "Back for more work from the guild?"
"That's right!" the Skarmory insisted. "Just taking in the sights a bit first!"
The Amaura smiled and carried along, leaving Trizano to wave after the Ice-Type as Kiran looked on with a grimacing blanch. The Swellow gave an uncomfortable ruffle of his feathers, before leaning in and whispering into the Immortal's earholes.
"You shouldn't get too comfortable here, Trizano," Kiran chided. "We're not exactly in the clear like you are, and we should try and avoid being recognized by anyone here until we leave."
Trizano caught himself, giving a nonplussed blink before shaking his head with a sigh.
"Hm, that's a fair enough point," the Steel-Type murmured. "I suppose that I can try venturing off the beaten path a bit this time…"
The Skarmory continued on, leading Pleo and the others for a lane next to a Kecleon shop that was lined with cottages and small gardens. Along their way off, Pleo caught the sight of a silver object with a vaguely purplish glint from the front of the shop, prompting him to see a Prinplup at the counter with a Kecleon and Snom assistant looking down at a lump of metal with wide-eyed surprise.
"Where on earth did you get this?" the Kecleon asked. "This is a chunk of aluminum alloy!"
"It was from that place offshore where the meteor landed last year," the Prinplup replied. "Apparently there were a few fragments that still hadn't gotten dug up under the seabed."
The five moved along as Pleo continued to look back towards the Kecleon Market. The young Legendary followed after his teammates, before turning up to Dimitri puzzledly as he wondered if as a 'mon from the sea, he'd know anything about these…
"Meteor fragments?" Pleo asked.
"They're these objects that fall from the sky once in a blue moon," Dimitri explained. "Normally a meteor's just a little rock, but on very rare occasions a big, egg-like one will fall made of starmetal and Pokémon will swarm it to prospect it and sell it off."
"How often does that happen?"
"The last one I heard a story about was over twenty years ago," the Kabutops said. "This one they were talking about must have happened recently, which is strange since normally such meteors don’t come around more than once a century…"
Pleo tilted his head back at Dimitri's explanation. If these meteors really came around once in a lifetime for most Pokémon and were worth telling stories over, then surely one falling must be some sort of special occasion! So then…
"Are they important at all?" Pleo asked.
"Eh, not enough for you to be worrying about, Pleo," Dimitri replied. "You've got your own home to worry about for now, so don't get too hung up about a few weird things happening."
Pleo lingered uneasily, unable to help but wonder if the Kabutops was waving off the matter too quickly. After a moment's hesitation, he shook his head, opting to dismiss the matter. After all, his job as a Protector was simply to go back and be there for the Pokémon counting on him on Tromba, not to turn over every stone he came across along the way.
"Right…"
The Lugia carried on, waddling after his companions as unbeknownst to them a Pikachu with a brown hat and an indigo scarf had been watching them from a nearby alleyway. There, Cardino stood silent as he saw the group slip off. After they disappeared, the Pikachu turned and headed down the alley hanging his head, trudging along until he saw Eric, Hanuna, and Sela waiting for him at the end.
"Eh? What's with the face, Cardino?" Eric asked. "Did you see anything up ahead?"
"I spotted that 'Lugia' that Nagant's been looking for along with Eltenios," the Pikachu said. "They're out in the street with a few of his buddies."
"So then let's go tell her and the others!' Sela insisted. "If we get everyone together, we ought to be able to take them!"
"No, not just yet," Cardino replied, drawing a puzzled tilt of Hanuna's head.
"Huh?"
The detective turned and looked off towards the sails of the ships in the harbor, fixed in rapt attention as Eric and his companions traded puzzled stares.
"They're wearing different patterns from last time," the Pikachu said. "If we go to the harbor, we ought to be able to find their ship."
Cardino began to walk off, before shaking his head and finishing his thoughts with a low grunt.
"And before anything happens, there's some things I want to know from them first…"
Below the Siglo Swellow's deck, the chill of Haipheh's air had begun to invade from outside, which had prompted the Pokémon onboard to begin seeking out any warmth they could scrounge. For Pladur, Crom, Nida, and Guardia, their chosen escape was bundling up in the mess hall with some blankets and cups of warm berry tea from a clay teapot, the stone oven in the galley with which Pladur used to contain his cooking fires having been repurposed as a crude heater.
As meager as the comforts were, they held the icy air at bay well enough for the four to find their environment tolerable, enough so for Guardia to make good on her insistence to Nida that she'd stay behind and gather lore from the ship. In between sips of her drink, the Cubone had dutifully plied Pladur with questions about his life and his trade: Of why he found it so important to cook with fire when he and his fellows were otherwise deathly afraid of it on their ship, of why his child was not a little Kibago as what would normally be expected, and why as a sea-walker he seemed to spend most of his time preparing food… All the while, Crom couldn't help but be puzzled at Guardia's seemingly boundless desire to "gather lore" as she called it, prompting him to turn with a curious glance to his Nidorina teammate.
"She certainly asks a lot of questions for a former feral…" Crom remarked. "Was she like this when she travelled with you?"
"Kinda, yeah," Nida replied with a smile as she shook her head. The Nidorina's bemusement drew a sharp huff back from Guardia, as she folded her arms over each other with mild annoyance.
"Well I'd hope so," she piped. "It's my job to make sure that I have lore to bring back to my colony after all of this settles down!"
"Heh, well there's certainly no shortage of stuff you'd need to know as a sailor," Pladur chuckled. "Remind me, did I already explain to you the different knots-?"
"Eh?"
The four looked up from their warm drinks where they saw the form of a Marked Scyther looking over at them from the other end of the mess hall, his eyes blinking puzzledly as he held out an Apple and a Green Gummi speared along the tip of his right scythe.
"I… wasn't expecting you all to still be in the galley," Ander said.
"Well, you're not interrupting anything," Crom insisted. "Why don't you join us for some tea and warm up a bit with those snacks of yours?"
Ander hesitated a moment and shuffled his feet, before giving a flit of his wings and stepping forward.
"I suppose it can't hurt."
The Scyther made his way over, sitting down at the far left as Pladur poured a helping of tea out for the Bug-Type and left him to turn his attention back to his impaled food. As Ander nibbled at his snack, Nida folded an ear back puzzledly and raised her voice to speak.
"So, what have you been doing at your sleeping quarters anyways?" the Nidorina asked. "It can't possibly be that much warmer, can it?"
"It's still better than going above deck, and I just wanted some time to consult… some notes," he replied. "To try and make sense of those 'Protectors' that we've been running into."
Crom shifted uncomfortably at Ander's response. He was surely referring to that strange book he kept hidden in his satchel, but… after all the time he'd spent around Pleo and what he'd seen of Kline and Cernun, was he really expecting them to still be the malevolent demons he first thought they were?
"I mean, they weren't trying to end the world or anything," Crom murmured. "What's there to make sense of?"
"It's just that there were some parts I had noticed when reading the Knight's Ledger that seemed to indicate that Cernun was taken as part of a related set," the Scyther explained. "And I wanted to know who the others of it were."
The gathered Pokémon traded puzzled looks at Ander's mention of a 'related set' of Legendaries. While the concept wasn't totally foreign given that their own shrine depicted Lugia with three helpers, Cernun's carvings on Mengir only had pictures of him alone. If he really was related to other Protectors, who could they be?
The four's train of thought was interrupted by the sound of a knock against the ship's wood, followed by the ship's Hitmontop first mate walking into the mess hall with a serious expression.
"Hey, I don't mean to interrupt," Vicente said. "But something's come up above deck."
"Huh?" Nida asked. "What's going on?"
"There's a Pikachu with a brown hat at the gangplank who says he's looking for you and Guardia," the Hitmontop answered. "We're stalling him for now, but with the Protector still off-ship, we can't go around making a scene for no reason."
Nida and the others blinked at Vicente's description, realizing that to a 't', the Hitmontop had described none other than the Detective Pikachu they teamed up with in Tidemill!
"Wait, Cardino?!" Nida exclaimed. "What would he be doing all the way out here?"
"I… don't know… but do we really want to meet him?" Guardia asked.
"Huh? Why wouldn't we?" the Nidorina replied.
"Well, isn't it a bit strange that he'd know it's us after changing our patterns?" the Cubone insisted. "And we already got tricked by Pokémon getting our guard down on Mengir, so who's to say the Empire isn't trying to do the same here?"
"And we can't discount the possibility that someone else wouldn't also try to put out an imposter," Ander added. "Team Sentinel did that to us just a few days ago, so who's to say this 'Cardino' isn't just another fake from them? Or even if he's real, that he's not an outright spy for someone else like the Company?"
"If Cardino was really working with the Empire, he could've had us raided by the guards at any time," Nida replied, shaking her head back. "And I don't think it'd make sense for there to be a fake Cardino when Team Sentinel didn't know about him, and if he was a spy all along for the Company or the like, why didn't he stop us back on Giotto?"
The others fell silent at the Nidorina's question, realizing that her point seemed sensible enough… but even so, it was hard to shake the sense that something wasn't right.
"Are you sure, Nida?" Ander asked. "Why would Cardino suddenly reappear here of all places?"
"No lo sé… but it can't hurt to just go and try to get to the bottom of this," Nida said. "We're right next to the ship anyway, and if nothing else, we'd be able to get help easily if we needed it."
Pladur stared back, before pulling his face into a frown and giving a grumbling shake of his tusks back.
"Out in that awful weather?" he asked. "Can't we just have him send a letter?"
"I mean, I don't like it any more than the rest of you, but it would be more meaningful to show ourselves in person," Guardia said. "Not that I'd know how to write a message in your hut-scratch."
"A letter would do the trick well enough," Crom insisted. "Besides, how else are you going to stay warm with blankets and tea if you get up onto the deck?"
"Eh? But Cardino helped us back in Giotto," Nida replied. "If nothing else, I'm sure he wants to know that we're doing alright from last time."
Crom looked off at the hallway, feeling a shiver from the air which turned his mind to the prospect of having to brave Whitepalm Town's frigid cold. The Dragon-Type turned away and pulled his wings tight against his body, moving his claws back for his cup and gulping down the rest of his tea.
"Egh… I think that I'm going to sit this one out," the Druddigon murmured. "I mean, it's just Cardino isn't it? So it should be fine for you to just talk with him before coming back, right?"
Nida curled her mouth in a disappointed frown, while Guardia wavered a moment casting glances between Crom and Pladur and the hallway before turning back to the Nidorina.
"So, are we going up or not, Nida?" she asked.
Nida looked back at Crom pleadingly, hoping that perhaps he could be swayed to come along were he to face the weather with friends, only to find him preoccupied with trying to keep the cold at bay. Nida sighed and shook her head, before grudgingly starting for the hall without him.
"We'll just pop above deck for a bit to check up on him…"
"I'll come along too," Ander offered. "I don't think there'd be any trouble if it's really just Cardino, but…"
The Scyther trailed off, his wings tensing up as he looked around cautiously. After a moment's pause, he turned back to Nida and finished his thought in a low, wary voice.
"We don't have much room to leave things to chance."
"Right," Nida replied. "Let's get going."
Nida, Guardia, and Ander set off, making their way through the Siglo Swellow's corridors and up the stairs until they found themselves back under the chill and sea air of Whitepalm Town's harbor. The three looked to their right, where they saw Natrix and Philips at the gangplank plying unseen strangers with excuses as to why they couldn't come onboard, like the captain needing some time before she could come and orient them. A quick glance over the railing revealed them to be Cardino… along with none other than Eric, Sela, and Hanuna.
"Wait, that Zuruggu and the others…" Guardia began. "Weren't those the sea-walkers that Sibich tried to frame?"
Nida looked down at the three, noticing the lot were sporting the indigo-and-white patterns of Imperial grunts. She paused a moment, folding her ears back uneasily at the sight.
"They were… but I don't know why they're here."
The Nidorina and her teammates carried on to the gangplank, where Cardino and the others fell silent and stared up at them. Natrix and Philips traded uneasy glances with the group, prompting Ander to give a small flick of his scythes.
"We'll take things over from here," he said.
The Raichu and Servine backed away, the latter offering an uneasy 'if you say so' before slinking off. Nida, Guardia, and Ander paced down the gangplank, heading out onto the pier where Eric and his fellow Marked pawed unsettledly at the ground while Cardino scratched at the back of his head.
"You've changed since we last met, Nida," the Pikachu remarked. "Congratulations on the evolution, it suits a 'mon like you well."
"Uh… thanks. But I don't think that's why you called for us," the Nidorina replied, shifting her body back warily. "What are you doing here Cardino? And what's going on?"
Cardino's smile flattened into a blank, surprised expression. After a moment's uncertainty of how to reply, he folded his ears back, his features turning into a serious frown.
"I believe that I'm the one who should be asking questions here," Cardino insisted. "Why did you just leave me behind on Giotto?"
Nida and Guardia began to hem and haw, as the Pikachu shook his head before continuing on with an indignant cry.
"You had us all worried, pal!" he exclaimed. "I even went around with Nico and Rita putting up posters for you after Coil's trial thinking that something had happened to you all!"
"We're… sorry to leave you like that, but things kinda forced our paw," Nida insisted. "A good friend of ours ran into trouble and needed to be rescued, and-"
"You mean that demon with you that everyone back in Tidemill's been looking for!" Eric cried.
Nida, Guardia, and Ander flinched at the Scraggy's charge, Cardino looking over his shoulder with his ears flattened and his face turned into an irked frown.
"Just… let me handle the talking here, alright?" Cardino grumbled, before turning back to Nida and her companions.
"Look, I know you're obviously talking about that Protector," the detective said. "A Clawitzer from the Royal Navy already told me all about it when I was putting up those posters with Nico and Rita."
Nida and her companions shifted uncomfortably at Cardino's response. There was surely more than one Clawitzer in all the Cradle, but between the species and being in the Royal Navy, it was hard to see how that could be anyone other than…
"That would be 'Nagant', right?" Ander asked.
"Well, yeah. She said that you all used me as a tool just to get that Protector and slip off with him," Cardino replied. "I didn't want to believe it, but things just aren't adding up. So tell me, was she right?"
"No, she isn't! We really did want to help you with the case!" Nida insisted. "But at the same time we wanted to help our friend too, and everything just shook out the way it did after Sibich got exposed!"
"Besides, it worked out, didn't it?" Guardia added. "You got that Admiral Coil at the end, didn't you?"
Cardino wavered at the pair's protests. Back on Giotto it really had seemed like they wanted to help get to the bottom of his case… and without their help, Coil would still be around and be plotting gods-knows-what!
And yet, in spite of that, it was just too convenient. On top of that, he couldn't reconcile the way they just up and left right before Coil's arrest threw the city into turmoil. How could they run off like that unless the Protector was what they truly were after?
"Yeah, sure… Anyhow, after all of that, Nagant forced me along with these three to join her crew since she said it was my fault for not catching onto you all sooner," Cardino sighed, giving a bitter shake of his head. "And now here we are, standing face-to-face on this island."
Team Traveller tensed up at the Pikachu's reply. While he seemed to be on friendly terms now, if Nagant brought him from Giotto… then…
"Are she and her crew here in port right now?" Ander pressed.
"Of course. How else would any of us be here right now?" Cardino asked. "The guards here might not have noticed your new patterns yet, but given that I recognized the Protector in town, it's just a matter of time before that changes."
Ander, Guardia, and Nida blanched, realizing that Cardino was only here to help Nagant catch Pleo. The new patterns they'd picked up on Pioppo were supposed to throw the Empire off their trail, yet they'd still walked right into a trap! Cardino sighed and shook his head, before looking back at Nida and her companions.
"Look, a lot of stuff's been going down, but… just come quietly, alright?" the Pikachu pleaded. "You're not bad Pokémon, and I'm sure that I can do something to make sure that you get off lighter than what that shrimp wants. I know Nico and Rita would certainly be willing to defend you as well…"
The Electric-Type held out a paw, only for the gathered Pokémon to rebuff his gesture and brace themselves into defensive stances, the sailors up on the Siglo Swellow's railing doing much the same.
"Sorry, but we can't do that, Cardino," Nida replied.
Cardino stared back stunned for a moment, his ears drooping as a disappointed and hurt grimace came over his face. The Pikachu swallowed his feelings as sparks began to dance on his cheeks.
"I'm sorry too, but this is as far as you're going," he said, shooting back a stern scowl. "I'm putting you all under arrest."
Cardino arced his body as a blinding ball of light formed on the tip of his tail. The Pikachu jumped up and quickly flung it down at the dock, which burst with an overwhelming flash that made Nida, Guardia, and Ander's vision run white. The three stumbled back, hearing disoriented shouts coming from the Siglo Swellow's sailors as a squawking cry rang out.
"Now! While they're out of it!"
Ander was quickly snapped out his daze by Sela throwing herself at him with a fiery tackle. Nida and Guardia were subjected to similar fates by Eric faking the Nidorina out with the start of a Low Kick only to throw a sudden punch, and Hanuna battering Guardia with a spray of flechette-like leaves while Cardino hopped onto the gangplank to cut them off. Ander wavered a moment before hearing another shout from Sela, the Bug-Type bracing himself as he saw the Combusken bearing down on him again.
"Fall back! Fall back!"
The Scyther flung a Wing Attack at the Combusken to knock her away, before hastily flitting back to get out of her reach. Nida gave a pair of spinning kicks at Eric's body, knocking him down as she followed after the mantis, Guardia fighting her still affected vision to mask her retreat with a Bonemerang that while missing its mark on Hanuna entirely, startled him enough to break his chase long enough for her to run.
"That's enough, pal! Don't make this any worse for yourselves!"
Cardino cast forward a weak jolt towards Ander, only for it to abruptly arc towards Guardia and inertly settle on her body much to his wide-eyed alarm. Undeterred, Team Traveller's members carried on down the dock, only to stop at the sight of the edge and the harbor's water beyond it.
Nida and her companions turned back at the sound of an electrical crackle and saw Cardino and his teammates approaching, the Pikachu among them sparking with a sharp glare. Guardia cast her glance ahead only to notice the gangplank to the Siglo Swellow was behind Cardino and his group, turning uneasily over to her Nidorina teammate.
"What do we do now?"
Nida looked back at the water behind her and grit her teeth as Cardino and the others continued nearing. She'd gone through thick and thin to help all these Pokémon on Giotto, so was there really nothing they could do to sway them? The Nidorina looked off at the end of the docks where she saw guards starting to make their way over, which made her freeze and tense in realization. If they couldn't slip off here and now, they'd just be swarmed and captured, with everything that they'd fought for being for naught! Friend or not, they couldn't just sit here and let Cardino put them in that bind!
"We didn't come all this way just for us to get trapped on some pier! Come on, we'll force our way back!"
Nida charged ahead, throwing her feet into a Double Kick that caught Eric in his leg and then his chin, throwing him against the hull of the Siglo Swellow before he fell into the water limply. Sela jerked back, slipping behind the Poison-Type with embers swirling in her mouth.
"Oh no you don't!" Guardia shouted.
Sela's fire was cut off by a bony missile whirling in and striking her in the side of her head. The Combusken lurched forward with a pained squawk, losing her balance as she stumbled past Nida and was summarily clipped by a tackle with Ander's wings that sent her pitching into the water. Cardino blanched at the sudden reversal of fortune, as his Grotle teammate went wide-eyed and stumbled back with an audible stammer.
"G-Gih! Stay back!"
The Grotle hastily prepared a Razor Leaf in his back foliage, only for a gray and green blur and slicing gust of air from the Siglo Swellow's deck to cut him off and send him tumbling off the dock with a yelp. Cardino looked ahead slack-jawed to see the attacker was an Unfezant from the ship with other sailors readying themselves to attack, only to compose himself and grit his teeth back fiercely at Nida.
"I tried talking things over, but you all leave me no choice!"
Cardino sprang ahead, bolting for Nida as his tail began to take on a metallic sheen. The Nidorina went wide-eyed and tried to sweep the Pikachu's legs with a Double Kick, only for him to vault over and bring his tail up to strike against Nida's head.
WHACK!
The sickening sound of bone hitting bone rang out as Nida looked up to see Cardino bouncing back from Guardia striking his head with her club in midair. The Pikachu tumbled and hastily righted himself, prompting Nida to charge ahead without thinking, letting poison build up on her right paw as she threw it forward deep into Cardino's stomach.
"N-Nrk!"
Cardino flopped back and fell over unconscious, leaving Nida and Guardia to stare with blank shock. Did… they really just knock out the friend who they aided in Giotto like some common pirate? The two cringed a moment, when the sound of a splashing squawk rang out.
"A-Agh! Over there! Help! Those 'mons there just jumped us!"
Nida and her teammates looked down to see Sela flailing in the water when their ears began to pick up the sounds of shouts and the thumps of approaching footsteps from further inland. The three looked up and blanched at the sight of guards running down the pier for them, prompting Natrix to poke his head over the railing and wave impatiently down at the three.
"Hurry up and get up here!"
Nida, Guardia, and Ander hastily scrambled up the gangplank, Beatrix flitting over the edge and jumping back with a start at the sight of a Walrein leading an indigo-scarved mob storming down the dock. The Illumise pulled at the gangplank, hoisting it with Vicente, Natrix, and Philips as she turned her head back to the rest of the crew and let out a frantic buzz.
"Hoist the anchor and drop the sails!" she shouted. "We're getting out of here!"
The four hastily yanked the gangplank up, the Siglo Swellow lurching off into the water as the guards caught up along the pier and began throwing a hail of attacks at the side. The crew of the Siglo Swellow scattered across the deck, some ducking for cover as others went up to the railing to throw up Protects and attacks of their own back, the lookout crying out of alarm at the sight of other ships in various sails unmooring and giving chase.
The din of cannonfire began to ring out, which carried along the air into the town's lanes, prompting local Pokémon to stop and watch as the Siglo Swellow was chased out of port. Among their number were Pleo and his companions, who looked on from a sleepy alleyway with their eyes widened and with their jaws hanging open as the schooner slipped away towards the horizon.
"A-Aah! The ship's leaving already!" the Lugia squawked.
"Come on!" Kiran exclaimed. "We can still catch up with it-"
"Wait!"
Trizano threw out a wing in front of Kiran, stopping him as the forms of a Pidgeotto and a Togetic in Imperial scarves zipped overhead and guards at the street off to the left rushed along after the fleeing schooner. The Swellow stared with beak agape, before Trizano turned back to him and shook his head.
"You'll be spotted the moment we get into the air!" the Skarmory insisted. "There's no way that we could possibly make it back with all these guards!"
"I don't think we have much of a choice," Dimitri replied. "If we just sit here we're going to get caught eventually!"
Elty turned and looked off past the roofline of the nearby cottages, spotting a column of fog hanging in the distance. The Growlithe paused as his mind turned to how he'd handle his predicament were he still a pirate. They weren't in the exact same situation, but…
"Actually, maybe there's a way we could lie low for a while," Elty offered. "If we wait outside of town until things settle down, we ought to be clear to try and make it back to the ship later."
Pleo and the others faltered for a moment, before grudgingly murmuring back and agreement. The group turned back, creeping along alleyways and down quiet lanes deeper and deeper inland for Haipheh's interior.
Author's Notes:
- Certamente! - Italian: "Of course" (interjection). Also can be used as "certainly", "definitely", "surely"
- kortteja - Finnish: "cards"
- Lí hó (你好) - Hokkien: "Hello" (POJ Romanization)
- Kibago (キバゴ) - Japanese: "Axew" (Official Romanization)
- No lo sé - Spanish: "I don't know"
Overall, this chapter was quite the enjoyable read. I am enjoying seeing how everything is progressing, as well as seeing Cardino again, although he’s much less of an ally to Team Traveller this time around. Behold, my brief review!
"The Company hasn't done anything at all to try and interfere yet?" he questioned. "Surely everyone at home must find their lack of intervention a bit strange…”
"The entries after said that the Company first tried to take the egg peacefully, but that when the ferals inside the Mystery Dungeon pushed back, they 'helped them meet their makers'!" she exclaimed. "And the entries afterwards just continued on like nothing was wrong!”
Aw. Poor Nida. But unfortunately, such is the process of growing older. You see that the world has a lot of bad in addition to the good.
The Cubone trailed off as a cold chill came down the steps, Nida, Pleo, and Elty giving a puzzled turn of their heads before they continued up into frosty air cold enough for them to see their breaths. The three looked around, seeing that far from the warm, blue skies from just an hour ago, the Siglo Swellow had laid anchor in a harbor frosted with snow, and chunks of ice swirling about the water. In front of them was a village composed of glazed-tiled shacks with paper windows occasionally punctuated by larger ring-like structures. The bulk of them were adorned with arcing roofs broken here or there by a tent or building shaped after a Pokémon's head or an iced-over palm tree, with the stone walls of a sea fort visible off in the distance. The lot stared along, half-thinking that they'd come across a playground for Ice-Types opposed to a settlement when the wind picked up and sent a chill down the group's spines, a loud yelp prompting Nida to turn back and see Crom wide-eyed and shivering.
"A-Aaaah! Nida, it's freezing out here!" the Druddigon cried.
Ahaha, wasn’t expecting that. But it makes complete sense. I love the descriptions with the frost and steamy breath and icy palm trees. Nice and concrete imagery there.
"You've been selected for a random inspection," the walrus harrumphed. "Step aside and let us look around a bit.”
"You shouldn't nitpick a gift, Pleo. Remember, we're only here for two hours to reprovision before going back to Tromba," Elty chided, as he cast his glance off towards Whitepalm Town's sleepy streets.
"Considering how nobody knows who you are, maybe it'd be worth going out to stretch our legs a bit before sailing off," he suggested.
And neither is this. To be fair, every time they’ve done something like this, someone has unfortunately tried to nab Pleo, the poor thing. Keep him on the ship!!!!
"She's staying behind because she thought it was too cold too, isn't she?" Pleo murmured.
"A Dragonite cleaning toilets?" the Marshtomp scoffed. "Even if you expect me to believe that your salty crab of a captain couldn't find anything better for him to do, you can't expect me to buy that. Why, if he's really a pirate, what's keeping him from just blasting a hole in your ship at sea and flying off?”
This whole scene got a nice chuckle out of me. I like moments like these because the stakes are still high, but it makes the story a bit more lighthearted, which fits really well with what I’ve read so far.
"They don't. These statues will stay around for a couple of days, before they melt to the point where their features get disfigured and they'll be thrown into the harbor and a new set of different ones will be put out," Trizano explained. "Seeing how the square changes always gives me something to look forward to when visiting here.”
I don’t think Nida’s exactly been sheltered in her life in that regard, but it was definitely still eye-opening for her.
Ahaha, wasn’t expecting that. But it makes complete sense. I love the descriptions with the frost and steamy breath and icy palm trees. Nice and concrete imagery there.
Guardia would insist that’s not the reason at all. Totally.
This whole scene got a nice chuckle out of me. I like moments like these because the stakes are still high, but it makes the story a bit more lighthearted, which fits really well with what I’ve read so far.
Thanks, and I hope you’ll similarly enjoy today’s update. ^^
And while it’s obviously taken a few weeks longer than I’d have liked, the next chapter of Fledglings is finally here, with the next installment presently targeting a mid-April release. Additionally, I’m proud to display new character portraits of Berecien and Niilo commissioned by Virgil134 from none other than Serebii’s own Chibi Pika. Special thanks goes out to Virgil134 who helped out with editing, and to the readers and reviewers who have stuck with this story in these uncertain times.
And with that, I present to you:
BOOM!
The sound of cannonfire rang out over the frigid waters east of Haipheh, as the Siglo Swellow tore along in the waves pursued by five ships in indigo sails. All the while, the ship's crew remained in a hubbub as sailors threw back attacks and missiles towards the Imperial vessels, along with errant fliers and swimmers who ventured to harry them. Every now and then, the flash of a Protect would be visible as one of the escorts narrowly stopped a beam from finding its mark on the hull or the rigging, and haze would come from the stern as a few sailors tried to kick up cover with Smokescreens. The crew's efforts had thus far been to little avail, much to the frustration of the ship's increasingly bedraggled Illumise captain who'd spent much of the past fifteen minutes zipping to and fro on her ship frantically barking out orders.
"Keep making that haze and keep those Protects up!" Beatrix shouted. "If those Imps can get around us and fire at our flanks, we're sunk!"
Almost as if in reply, a blast abruptly pierced the air followed by the smell of smoke. The Illumise turned towards the sound, where she saw a pockmarked patch of the deck smoldering from an errant Hyper Beam. A Golduck ran up and swiftly stamped out the embers, only to be struck by an errant Shadow Ball that sent him crumpling to the deck with a pained groan.
"Aguanta! We're coming!" a Nidorina's voice cried.
Nida, Crom and Guardia ran up, the Nidorina of the three hastily pushing an Oran Berry into the Golduck's mouth. The Water-Type bit down and chewed, as Crom and Guardia helped him shamble back up to his feet and hurry back off to aid the rest of the sailors. The three hurried along to avoid exposing themselves as a target, when Crom looked off at the water and noticed the plumes rising from stray attacks were slowly rising further and further away from the Siglo Swellow.
"Looks like their aim must be getting worse from the smoke!" Crom said.
Over by the stern, a wide-eyed Pladur paused beside Ander, warily poking his tusked head out as he saw the Imperials' attacks were becoming less and less frequent, prompting him to let out an uneasy sigh of relief.
"Thank the stars," the Fraxure gasped. "They're finally falling behind…"
Nida darted up to the railing and saw that sure enough, the pursuing ships had indeed grown smaller and hazier for her eyes to see… only to notice that Haipheh was far enough in the distance that she could merely see it as an unclear green and white patch. The Nidorina's eyes shot wide, as she realized that even with her kind's vision as nearsighted as it was, there was no reason for Haipheh to look so distant unless…
"E-Eh?! What's going on?! Why are we sailing so far away from Haipheh?!" she exclaimed, prompting Vicente to peer over from the railing of the rear deck and call out to her.
"Because it's our best hope at the moment, of course!" he insisted.
"But Pleo and the rest of the team's still there!" the Nidoran protested. "We can't just leave without doing anything!"
"If we get sunk or boarded, there won't be anything we can do for them," the Hitmontop retorted. "Haipheh's crawling with Pokémon from the Royal Navy even on normal days, so how long do you expect us to hold out around here? Just help us get to safety and then we'll worry about trying to help them!"
Nida grimaced and shrank back from the Fighting-Type. On the one paw, it was hard to argue Vicente's point about their odds… b-but they were leaving their friends behind! Was there really nothing else to do other than give up?! The Nidorina's conflicting thoughts were pierced by the sound of cannonfire, prompting the lot to drop to the deck as a spray of Apricorns zipped overhead, and the attacks from the pursuing ships thickened once more.
"Gah! They're catching up again!" Vicente yelled.
The first mate hurriedly darted off to rally the sailors on the stern, as Nida and her companions crawled off for the cover of a small stack of crates, looking off blankly at the sight of Haipheh's fast-vanishing ice and peaks in the distance. An impatient shout rang out, prompting the lot to look further down the deck and see a Sentret scowling over at them.
"Oi! Get out and help us here, kids!" Scout snapped. "I've already gotten sunk once so far, and I'm not getting mouth-to-mouth from a fish again if I can help it!"
"Right! Hang in there!" Guardia replied.
Team Traveller's members broke cover, once again returning to their prior routine of running about supplies and healing items to the Siglo Swellow's crew. All the while, Nida couldn't help but find herself looking off again and again at Haipheh, as she lowered her ears and muttered under her breath.
"Please, just hold out a little longer for us…" she pleaded.
After the Siglo Swellow was forced to flee out of Whitepalm Town, the rest of Team Traveller snuck out of town and deeper and deeper into Haipheh. The group dutifully shadowed the main route into the island's interior from the surrounding brush, following its course at enough of a distance to avoid being spotted. As they made it further inland, they noticed that the air around them began to change. Little by little, the air warmed and the ground grew denser and greener with plant growth, until the icy chill of Whitepalm Town was completely displaced by damp, tropical weather. The five continued trekking along under the shade of tall palm groves, the bushes around them rustling quietly as they crept along, occasionally stopping and casting glances off at the main route whenever they suspected someone passing. After continuing on for a ways and seeing Whitepalm Town far behind them and hearing nothing but quiet on the nearby route, Pleo began to grow restless, turning his head over to Trizano with a low, unsettled murmur.
"… What do we do now?" Pleo asked. "Can we fly back to the ship yet?"
Trizano fell silent at the young Lugia's question, before flitting up onto an overhead branch. The Skarmory stared off into the distance for a moment, before giving his metallic feathers an uncomfortable rattle.
"I… don't think that's possible, Pleo," he replied, prompting the Lugia to tilt his head puzzledly.
"Huh? Why not?"
Pleo jumped and followed Trizano up, the Skarmory motioning off into the distance with a wing that Pleo followed by craning his neck. There, he saw the forms of Pokémon in the air and among the fields closer to town circling in neat, repeated patterns. Even from their distance, the perceptible presence of indigo scarves about their bodies evidenced that they were with the Empire. Pleo grimaced and cringed back at the sight, as Trizano shook his head with a low sigh.
"They must have already started moving out of town and posting guards to fly around the island."
Trizano hopped off the branch back for the ground below, prompting Pleo to follow suit and look back at his companions with wide, alarmed eyes.
"B-But what can we do then?" the Lugia squawked. "We can't just stay here!"
"I say let's go to the Mystery Dungeon and lay low for a bit," Elty said. "On the Iron Fleet, we were taught to do that if we ever couldn't make it back to the ship so that they could come back for us after things had settled down."
"But if it's that common of a pirate tactic, wouldn't the guards already have that in mind?" Dimitri rebutted. "I mean, Nagant's cover story for us says that we're pirates."
Elty bit his tongue before hemming and hawing uneasily. Yes, it would only be reasonable that Nagant and the Empire's underlings would head for the dungeon if only for the fact that their cover story depended on it. But on the other paw, without their tracks constantly being wiped away by the likes of a Mystery Dungeon's Distortion, it would be a matter of time before the guards found them!
"Hey, are you all alright?"
Pleo and his companions jolted up with a start, turning over to the main road to see a Rhyhorn with a pair of large bags hanging at his sides. The Rock-Type gave a puzzled tilt of his head, giving a wary glance over the five strangers.
"You all have just been standing around there in the bushes," the Rhyhorn asked. "Are you alright?"
Kiran and his teammates traded cautious looks with each other, before the Swellow ruffled his feathers and spoke up in reply.
"We're fine," he insisted. "Just took a bit of a wrong turn earlier and were trying to regain our bearings."
The Rhyhorn blinked back at the supposedly lost strangers, finding their predicament to be as strange as the white bird amongst their midst. After a moment's hesitation, the Rock-Type shrugged the matter off and started to head off when Elty's eyes noticed a glinting badge on the Rhyhorn's scarf.
This Pokémon was from a rescue team! So if anyone were to know of some less-traveled way into the local Mystery Dungeon, it'd be a 'mon like this!
"Actually, hold on a moment. You wouldn't happen to know a thing or two about the Mystery Dungeon around here, would you?" Elty asked. "We got a job in town to bring up some supplies to a 'mon who works at the Secret Bazaar. He told us there was an entrance to it on the far side of the island, but didn't describe what to look for all that well."
"I mean, I don't know if the 'mons at the bazaar use it, but I do know there's a way to get onto the eighth floor near the frozen waterfall on the north side of the fog," the Rhyhorn replied. "From what I've heard, the Distortion usually opens the entrance to the bazaar below that floor, so if nothing else, it ought to save you some time."
"Right, thank you," Trizano said. "We'll go ahead and take our leave here."
The Skarmory began to pace off, prompting the Rhyhorn to start off in his own direction, before hesitating and calling back to the metal bird.
"Actually… are you sure you want to head into the dungeon right away?"
"Why, what's wrong?" Pleo asked.
"Well for one, you all seem a bit worn-out. Going straight into a Mystery Dungeon like that is just begging for trouble normally," the rhino explained. "Surely your clients would understand if you took a moment to rest, wouldn't they?"
"I mean, perhaps, but there's only so much rest to be had here under these trees," Kiran replied. "It's not as if we have time to backtrack into town."
"Well… what if you had another place along the way? The name's Neil and I share a small cottage with a friend of mine from the guild not too far away," the stranger explained. "If you need a moment to catch your breath on your way to your client, we wouldn't mind having you over for a bit of tea."
Pleo and the others wavered a moment. After everything they'd been through, it'd be a leap of faith to just follow this stranger back to this alleged cottage… not that it'd be any less of one to wear themselves out rushing up to the Mystery Dungeon just to be ambushed. At the very least, if the Rhyhorn kept his word, they'd be refreshed and hidden from prying eyes inside his cottage before they carried on, which couldn't possibly be that much more dangerous than taking their chances getting spotted in broad daylight…
"Uh… sure? I suppose the tea couldn't hurt at least, but how exactly do we make it to your place?" Elty asked.
"Just follow me," Neil insisted. "I'll take you there."
The Rhyhorn set off, heading northward along the dirt path among the trees. After a moment's hesitation, Pleo stepped forward, followed by Trizano, then Elty, Dimitri, and Kiran, the lot sticking close to the rightward edge of the road lest they had to flee on short notice. All the while, the five carried on after their newfound guide with guarded, wary steps, wondering who this stranger was and whether they were making the right choice trusting his hospitality.
As the separated halves of Team Traveller continued their flight away from Whitepalm Town, the sound of chitinous thumps rang out over the town's docks. There, Nagant made her way down the battered pier where the Siglo Swellow had been moored, carrying along with a visible scowl followed by a flustered-looking Walrein and Bronzor along with Berecien, Niilo, and Cabot trailing from behind at a healthy berth. The Clawitzer picked up a chunk of damaged wood and threw it into the water with a disgusted hiss, turning back to the Walrein and Bronzor with a furious glare.
"How on earth did this happen?!" Nagant fumed. "We were supposed to be ready to accost their ship at a moment's notice and yet they somehow got away again?!"
"They came in with false sails and the description we received wasn't clear on the target's size, Captain," the Walrein explained. "It's unfortunate, but it's only natural that it'd take a while for someone to notice them."
Cabot, Berecien, and Niilo traded puzzled looks with one another at the walrus' reply. If the Siglo Swellow truly came in with false sails, they would have been able to avoid detection for longer just by trotting out some less notorious faces from its crew. In that case…
"Wait, but then what gave them away?" Berecien asked.
"Gah! That stings, pal!"
The group turned at the sound of a sharp yelp, seeing a Pikachu in a brown hat being tended to by medics beside the sopping forms of a Marked Combusken, Grotle, and Scraggy at the entrance of the pier to their left. Nagant stared in disbelief for a moment, before the Bronzor motioned forward at the lot.
"That Pikhachhiau and his fellows from your crew were the first to find their ship," the Steel-Type said. "I'd imagine that they'd know something about it."
Nagant let out a sharp hiss and twitched her barbels irkedly, hopping over with loud, angry thumps until she reached Cardino, and clamped onto his scarf just as he turned to face her.
"You!" the Clawitzer seethed.
"Aah!"
The shrimp jerked Cardino up into the air, leaving him to flail against her grip as she shot a piercing glare at the hapless detective.
"This was a mission of paramount importance to the Empire! How could you just charge in without backup?!" Nagant snapped.
"Hey, I did bring backup, pal!" Cardino piped. The Pikachu hastily pointed off at Eric and his companions, who meekly inched away and waved back their disagreement. The Electric-Type's attempt at defending himself was met by Nagant tightening her grip and sharpening her glare at him, prompting him to gulp and try to calm his superior.
"L-Look, I know that this wasn't how things were supposed to go, but we can still work with it!" he insisted. "I spotted the Protector in town, but when I came to the ship he wasn't there! It's only logical to think he's still on this island somewhere!"
"He raises a good point, Captain Nagant…"
Nagant blinked as she saw an orange figure plod his way to the front of the group of guards, who in short order revealed himself to be Darzin disguised in his purloined Imperial scarf. The Clawitzer's eyes furrowed into a disbelieving scowl for a moment as the Dragonite continued on with an impatient huff.
"The Protector obviously didn't plan to be separated like this, otherwise he'd have brought more of his companions along," Darzin said. "If you ask me, the best route to take would be to let the guards here pin the Protector down on this island and sail after his friends. If we capture them, I'm sure that we'd be able to force him to show his face before us."
Cabot, Niilo, and Berecien tensed up and grimaced as the Dragonite waited for a reply with an impatient tap of his foot in full view of the other sailors. Back in Nagant's grasp, Cardino tilted an ear back and raised a brow at the stranger, giving a confused look over to a still-silent Nagant.
"Wait, who is this guy again?"
Nagant's face fell and her claw's grip slackened, leaving Cardino to drop to the pier and her to hop ahead and train a pair of glaring eyes back at the interrupting Dragonite.
"There's no shortage of ships chasing after that pile of driftwood already!" Nagant barked. "We're better off forcing a confrontation here on our own!"
The Clawitzer's rebuttal drew a sharp frown back from Darzin, making him shake his head as he continued with his protest.
"But you must understand that-!"
"That I'm the one with seniority here, so I'm the one who makes the final calls about how to pursue the Protector!" Nagant snapped. "And don't you forget it, sailor!"
Darzin flashed his teeth and let out a low growl, bracing his claws. After a long, tense silence, the Dragon-Type turned with an offended snort and skulked off back through the crowd, leaving the other sailors to stare after him before Nagant called their attention back to herself with a sharp hiss.
"Go around the town and flush the Protector out! Go door to door if you have to!" she barked. "Tell the fliers and swimmers to strengthen the cordon around the island and that not a single Pokémon is to pass them without being questioned!"
The gathered guards saluted and shouted back in affirmation before hurrying off, leaving Nagant to turn with a low grumble. The Clawitzer glowered towards the water, as Jun flitted up beside her and prodded uneasily at her.
"Are we sure that that's enough, Captain?" Jun asked. "An island is more than just a town and the sea and sky surrounding it, after all…"
"I'm aware of that," Nagant replied. "That's why I want you to get backup from the base and have them start searching the interior. Let Valan know we've found the Protector while you're at it."
"Aye, Captain."
Jun gave a swift salute before turning and flitting off for the naval base. Nagant watched Jun slip out of her field of vision, before giving an annoyed huff over the turn of events and starting to make her way deeper into town, unaware that all the while Darzin was watching her with a sharp glare from an overlooking alleyway.
"Impudent hag. Perhaps it's time to start hedging my bets…"
About an hour after running into Neil, the Rhyhorn led Pleo and his companions to a small stone cottage built along a round foundation, with cross-braced windows and a simple wooden door at the front. Team Traveller's members paused and looked curiously at the house, noticing that it was built next to a pond that hugged along the right side of the structure, with a set of wooden posts at the bottom evidencing that it opened up inside… hardly features that a Rhyhorn like Neil would ever seem to need.
"Egh… I was hoping for someplace a bit less damp, but at least it's a step up from a hole in the ground," Elty said. The Growlithe's comment prompted Pleo to tilt his head puzzledly, before chirping back in protest.
"Eh? But Nida lives in a hole in the ground!" he replied. "Aside from being a little small, it didn't seem so bad!"
Elty rolled his eyes at Pleo's insistence about Nida's home when he heard the wooden door get pushed open and saw a Greninja exit. The frog paused for a moment with a surprised blink, before turning over to Neil with a wary glance.
"Neil, who are these 'mons?" the Water-Type asked. "You didn't mention that we'd be having guests today."
"They're some 'mons who took up a job for the Secret Bazaar and were looking for pointers, Chan-iu," the Rhyhorn answered. "They seemed a bit out of it, and our place was on the way, so I invited them over for some tea before they set off."
The Greninja turned back to Pleo and his companions, letting his gaze settle on one member after the other. After a moment's pause, the Water-Type shook his head with a small smile.
"I guess that Neil has already introduced himself then," he said. "The name's Chan-iu, and I'm his buddy from the Haipheh Island Guild. You could say that this is our team's base."
Pleo shuffled his wings at the mention of the humble abode being a 'base'. Why, even back on Pioppo where the Pokémon were short on resources, Team Phantom's base had clearly been styled after the head of its leader! This 'base' however…
"… It looks more like a house," Pleo murmured.
"Well, beggars can't really be choosers when you're not doing as much guild work as you used to," Neil replied. "Splitting the cost of land between us helped get us out of guild lodging a bit faster than it would've if we both tried to go it alone."
"Heh, well it's good that your guild has such strivers in its ranks!" Kiran cheered. "I'm sure your clients are in good wings with a mindset like that."
Chain-iu's features eased a bit as a small smile came over his face at Kiran's reply. The Greninja pulled the door back, motioning at the other Pokémon to enter.
"Well, I guess we shouldn't keep you all waiting then. Though you brought the groceries from town, right Neil?" Chan-iu asked. "Why don't you get that sorted out while I boil the water. By the time you're done, your friends' drinks should be ready."
Neil turned his head back to Team Traveller's members, shuffling the bags on his shoulders as he motioned towards the door with his head.
"I'm not sure what you all are used to for accommodations, but just go on in and make yourselves at home for a bit," he said. "That tea will be done before you know it."
"Right," Dimitri answered. "Thanks again for taking us in like this."
Chan-iu walked up and helped unload the bag from Neil's back, before carrying on past the doorway. The Water-Type led Team Traveller into a small entrance hall with an open doorway ahead, along with one each to their sides. To the left, a small firepit had been set out with a few scattered gummis evidencing its use as a kitchen, with the doorway to the right leading to a room partly filled with water with some straw bedding set out. The five watched as Chan-iu headed into the back room, Pleo and his companions following along into an open, stony room with a few chests tucked in the corner and a simple, squat table with four legs made from lacquered wood set out in the center with reed mats around it.
"Neil shouldn't take too long with those groceries," Chan-iu explained. "Go ahead and make yourselves comfortable here, I'll be back with some tea for you."
The Greninja walked off, leaving Team Traveller's members to settle down around the table, trading wary glances about their surroundings as Dimitri tapped his scythes and raised his voice in a low whisper.
"So what exactly is our next move here?" the Kabutops asked. "We know a way into the Mystery Dungeon from here, but just how long are we supposed to wait out there?"
"Until they come back for us?" Elty offered. "That's how things always worked when I was a pirate."
Trizano gave a sheepish ruffle of his feathers before forcefully prodding the Growlithe with his wing.
"Need I remind you that your friends are from a merchant ship?" Trizano sighed. "Even if their free-trading sometimes puts them at odds with the law, I can't imagine they'd have the exact same thought process as a pirate crew in this situation."
The five paused and mulled the matter over a moment, when Kiran's eyes caught the sight of a glint coming from Pleo's scarf. Of course! Kelly had sensed their badges back on Pioppo! So then if they merely needed a friendly teleporter who could sense them, then…
"We need some way of contacting the ship," Kiran said. "Kelly was ready to teleport us back on Pioppo, remember? So if she had an idea of where to look for us, she'd be able to get us out."
"Oh? But we've got our badges and everything. If that's all we need to do, can't we just call her right now?" Pleo asked, prompting his mentor to shake his head back.
"I'm afraid it's not that easy," the Swellow explained. "Go ahead and try it now."
Pleo blinked puzzledly for a moment, before shifting a wing over his badge and pressing it. Why, this was little different from how things had worked in the past, so then all that was left was just to speak into it, right?
"… Kelly? Can you hear us?"
Pleo waited, expecting to hear Kelly's voice answer back from the badge, only to be met with the sounds of Neil and Chan-iu in the background working on their groceries and tea respectively. The Lugia pressed at the badge once more, speaking Kelly's name into it again supposing he'd perhaps not pressed down properly, only to be met again with silence. The Lugia looked up in worried surprise at Kiran, who shook his head with a sigh.
"It's just as I thought," he said. "A badge only can be sensed from about an hour's walk away even by an experienced teleporter, and Kelly must be further out than that."
"Hrm, so we will need to pass word along somehow," Trizano mulled. "If we got that squared away, it'd just be a matter of waiting for the ship to get close enough so we could contact them through our badges."
"How are we supposed to manage that though?" Elty demanded. "The skies are being watched, and it's not as if I can just walk over to the ship!"
"No, but I can swim to it," Dimitri offered, prompting his teammates to cast surprised glances back at him.
"Eh? On your own?" Pleo murmured. "With all those Pokémon looking for us?"
"I mean, yes, it's a risk… but I'm still wearing my old scarf which is more likely to get overlooked by the guards around here," the Kabutops insisted. "And under the sea, there's a lot more options for moving around, and you can't see as far in the water as you can in the air."
Dimitri paused in thought for a moment to glance out the window, before shaking his head and letting a determined expression settle over his face.
"If there's any way of getting past that cordon and back to the ship, me swimming out there is the best way of doing it."
"But surely you'd need an ally to come along, wouldn't you?" Trizano insisted, prompting Elty to raise his fur and flatten his ears uncomfortably.
"Blaugh… going underwater and just waiting for a bubble to pop over me all over again?" the Growlithe muttered. "I'll pass on that, thanks."
Dimitri fell silent and grimaced at the Puppy Pokémon's reply. While Trizano had a point about not going it alone, after sizing up his options for an allies… why, the only one who would fit him well was the very one who needed the strength of numbers to protect him!
"Elty… raises a bit of a point, unfortunately. Air-breathers that can't swim would be a bunch of sitting Psyduck just staying on my back the entire time," Dimtiri said. "Probably worse than that since at least Psyduck can move around underwater. I mean, Pleo could do it, but he's the most wanted 'mon on this island right now!"
Pleo, Kiran, and Trizano hesitated a moment, before trading uneasy glances. As loath as they were to admit it, perhaps this really was the best option they had…
"I suppose that we don't have many other choices," Kiran sighed. "We'll keep trying to see when Kelly can hear us and come over to teleport us back to the ship."
Dimitri nodded before he got up and turned to leave, when he felt a soft sensation prodding at his leg. The Kabutops looked down, where he saw Pleo looking up at him with pleading eyes.
"Just… be careful out there, okay?" the Lugia insisted.
"I will. Just hang tight for a bit."
Dimitri gave a small wave of his scythe and made his way to the doorway. There, Chan-iu was returning holding a tray filled with steaming porcelain cups, with Neil following at his side, the pair staring back at Dimitri with surprised looks.
"Huh? Headed off so quickly?" Neil wondered. "Chan-iu just finished up the tea!"
"Yeah, sorry to blow you all off, but I just realized that our team left behind some of our supplies in town," Dimitri said. "We kinda needed that before moving on."
"Are you sure that you can't wait a bit?" Chan-iu asked. "This tea will be ice cold by the time you even make it into Whitepalm Town."
"It's alright. I'm used to being in cooler water anyways," the Kabutops answered. "A cool drink won't be that much of a difference."
Neil and Chan-iu traded puzzled looks with one another, before the Rhyhorn of the pair gave a nonplussed shrug of his shoulders back at the Kabutops.
"If you say so," Neil said. "Though don't keep your friends waiting longer than they need to!"
"I wouldn't dream of it."
Dimitri carried along, making his way for the door when he noticed a chunk of silvery metal hung on the wall. The Kabutops paused and looked at it, giving a curious poke with his scythe and noticed that it glinted much like a Poké coin around its edges. The Water-Type's thoughts drifted back to his earlier conversation with Pleo about the meteor fragment, prompting him to look back and listen as Neil and Chan-iu started to set out tea in the living room, and then back at the metal lump with a wary pause before shaking his head.
"Eh, it's probably nothing."
With that, the Kabutops pried the door open, slipping off down the trail away from the stone cottage to search for help. All the while, in spite of his self-assurance, Dimitri couldn't help but wonder about the little metal piece hung on the wall, and why Neil and Chan-iu of all 'mons would have it.
As Dimitri made his way towards the sea, back in the fringes of Bluewhorl Town, a female Scyther with a five-tailed blotch on her head labored dutifully in the dim backroom of a small hut among the trees. The Bug-Type stooped down over a reddened stone slab, taking and placing strips of meat on a string hung tight between the rafters overhead before going over to a soapy bucket in the corner where she dipped her blades in, stirring them around as the water turned a dull shade of red.
Sandra pulled her blades out and tipped the barrel over to wash the slab above a small drain cut in the corner before shaking her scythes to brush off a bit of the water. After a quick sniff at her blades to verify the water had cleansed the scent of her work, the mantis made her way for the front of the shop, brushing aside the strips of cloth that hung over the doorway that kept the intimate details of her work as a scavenger hidden from the public eye as was custom. She looked around, finding her only company being plates and baskets piled with dried meat set out on crude tables about the dingy shop, the Scyther giving an uncomfortable beat of her wings as she tried to make her peace with what would surely be another lonely day plying her family's wares on her own.
"Mom?"
Sandra turned as the sound of wood creaking rang out, prompting her to see Cassie walking down the slatted, angled pole and planks that formed the stairs up to the loft where the family rested at night. The young Scyther stepped onto the ground and paced ahead with an uneasy glance, tapping her blades together shyly.
"Is daddy going to be okay when he comes home?" Cassie asked. "Some of the other Pokémon at the Day Care were saying that the Company Pokémon were waiting for his ship to come back to stop it."
The young Scyther continued staring with worried eyes, nagging at Sandra with a pleading insistence for some sense of reassurance and some sense of security that they'd managed to give in times past.
"Is… he going to get into trouble?"
Sandra hemmed and hawed for a moment in reply to the question, shifting her wings uncomfortably before she stepped forward and cradled her child against her body with her flats.
"I'm sure that something will work out, dear," Sandra replied.
"But isn't there anything we can do?" her child wondered.
"Just try and have fun with your friends at Hariti's," Sandra insisted. "Everyone's trying to figure out how to handle things, so there's no sense in worrying about things you can't control."
Cassie paused, before nodding back uneasily and making her way for the stairs. The young Scyther began to climb up, when the sound of the door opening and heavy footsteps rang out. Cassie looked off at the door when her eyes widened and she cringed with a frightened yelp. Sandra whirled around with a start, turning to see the form of a Marked Charizard entering, his neck graced with Company lavenders and the patterns of one of its Commissioners.
"Ah, so you are open!" Bunsen exclaimed.
Sandra froze and felt a chill run down her body as the Company Commissioner lumbered over to the counter. The mantis held her breath and tensed her scythes, only to notice that much to her surprise the Charizard was approaching with a friendly-looking smile.
"I had expected that I'd have to make quite the trip to visit a scavver's shop in a village like this," Bunsen said. "But imagine my surprise to find that there was one being tended to by a fellow Marked!"
Sandra watched the Charizard as he looked around the shop, keeping a wary eye on his tail and claws all the while. The mother Scyther looked over her shoulder to see Cassie shrinking back wide-eyed along the steps and visibly quivering out of fright. Sandra breathed in tensely, backing away and bracing her scythes before she shot a sharp scowl back across the counter.
"Look, whatever you want from here, just go ahead and take it and move along," she replied tersely, prompting Bunsen to frown and shake his head back.
"I'm not here for anything like that, Scyther…"
Bunsen ran a claw along his waist, giving a small tug as he brought up a fabric pouch and set it on the counter with the familiar jingle of metal coins.
"Just here to do a little shopping for tonight's dinner, assuming you'll take Thalers," the Fire-Type insisted. "After all, we Marked already don't have many allies to lean on, so there's no reason to go about making enemies of each other."
Sandra paused, moving a scythe to poke at the bag cautiously before pulling it across the counter. All the while, Cassie darted behind her mother's legs, latching on with worried eyes. The mother Scyther let out a sigh, before pointing at a small stack of crude baskets set out at the end of the counter.
"We charge by weight, so go ahead and start picking out cuts for the scale," she answered.
Bunsen took the topmost basket and began to make his way about the shop, adding bits and pieces of dried meats of varying hues. Every so often, the Charizard would look up back at the counter, where he'd see Sandra and her child watching wordlessly. After adding a clawful of light meat lined with spindly bones, the Commissioner plodded up, setting his basket onto the counter as Sandra reached under the counter to pull out a simple scale and set of clay weights. The mother Scyther carefully picked through Bunsen's selection, dutifully grouping the meats of one type on the scale as she attempted to balance them out against the weights, repeating the process a few times before Bunsen cleared his throat and began to speak with a vaguely disappointed tone.
"Not normally the talkative type, huh?" the Charizard remarked.
"Mommy says that we're supposed to try and avoid talking to Pokémon we don't know we can trust," Cassie murmured.
"Well, I suppose that explains it then. There aren't that many Marked living here on Tromba, and the other Pokémon are always a fickle and unpredictable bunch," Bunsen said, before turning his attention back to Sandra. "Though… I couldn't help but overhear that your mate was out of town… 'Ander' I believe it was. Do you happen to know where he is right now?"
Sandra froze and looked up from brushing aside a small pile of dried short ribs onto a paper spread out on the counter. The Scyther stopped her work sorting out Bunsen's food and shuffled her wings uneasily before managing a grudging reply.
"He's… traveling at the moment."
"So I gathered," Bunsen replied. "I had been looking through the requests that Osmund made for starter kits for new recruits, and I couldn't help but notice that they lined up with some of the 'mons wanted from that pirate ship…"
The Charizard's reply drew a startled buzz from Cassie, as she went wide-eyed and held out her scythes defensively at the drake.
"L-Leave daddy alone!" she protested.
Sandra quickly hushed her child and swatted down her scythes as she turned back to Bunsen with a tense grimace. Far from the glare or bared fangs she was expecting, the Marked Charizard seemed strangely at-ease, as he peered down at her child with a reassuring smile.
"Don't worry, I'm sure there's a deeper story as to what's going on," he offered. "It did seem a bit suspicious when he was the only Marked on the ship roster… almost as if he'd been coerced into joining."
Sandra hesitated, visibly at a loss for words as she stiffly slid the last of Bunsen's food onto the paper to wrap it up. The Bug-Type shifted uncomfortably, looking down as she murmured back a short, grudging reply.
"There were… outside circumstances weighing on his decision, yes."
"Ahh… I understand," Bunsen said. "Considering the potential consequences if he got caught, I can't imagine it was an easy decision for him…"
The Charizard turned his head over to Cassie, who shrank back and hid behind her mother as he turned his attention back to Sandra.
"Especially with what he had to leave behind," he mused, prompting Sandra to flick her wings, and look up from tallying up Bunsen's coins with a sharp, defensive glare.
"Pardon my asking, but where exactly are you going with this?" the Scyther snapped. "Surely you can't expect me to turn against my mate over a little bit of chatter over the counter!"
"And I wouldn't dream of demanding that of you," Bunsen insisted. "As a Commissioner, I have a fair degree of leeway over any prisoners I deliver over to the Company."
The Charizard shook his head, as he peered across with an attempt at a disarming smile, leaving Sandra to turn away uneasily.
"I'm not exactly ignorant of what tends to happen to those of us who wind up on the wrong end of the law," Bunsen continued. "I just felt it'd be a shame if a loving father had to go through that when stopping it would be a simple matter of scratching his name from a few pieces of paper."
Sandra gave no answer to the Charizard's words, quietly pushing his dried meat across wrapped in a paper parcel. The Commissioner blinked a moment, opting to subdue his friendly display as he placed the parcel into a satchel about his shoulder, looking back with a sober, earnest expression as Sandra counted out change for his coins.
"I'm not going to ask much from you if that's what you're worried about, Scyther. All I need to know is what exactly the crew that drug him along was up to," Bunsen said. "And if he's passed any word onto you about how they planned to return here."
"I'm afraid I don't have anything new to tell you," Sandra replied, shaking her head back. "They had gone off in search of the demon that slumbered here after he was awakened and separated from this island, so I would assume they wouldn't come back until they found him again."
Bunsen's face fell into a sour frown, as he threw out a claw and snatched his change off the counter with a loud clink. The Fire-Type placed his money back into a cloth purse about his waist, looking back with a frustrated scowl.
"Why do you insist on playing along with those demon-worshipers after everything they've put you through?" the Charizard growled. "Is being made to live despised in their shadows really worth defending?"
"But it really did happen!" Cassie exclaimed. "Lugia really did wake up and is out there!"
Bunsen screwed his eyes shut and turned away, plodding for the door with a sharp snort. When he reached its posts, he looked back, giving a stern glare back at Sandra and her child.
"I think that I'm done here. Have a nice day with your child, Scyther," Bunsen harrumphed. "Just be aware that I'm not in the business of putting my claws on the scale for Marked who can't do the same for one of their own."
The Charizard carried on, slipping out of the shop and slamming the door behind him as Sandra looked on with a quiet grimace. After a moment's silence, she felt Cassie nosing at her, prompting the mother Scyther to look down at her daughter peering up uneasily.
"Mommy? Is everything really going to be okay?" Cassie asked. Sandra said nothing back for a long time, before looking anxiously back towards the doorway.
"I don't know, sweetie… I just don't know."
In the seas just west of Orleigh, a caravel with gold-and-silver sails bobbed along the waves, sailing circles about the pirate haven off in the distance. On the deck, Hess watched uneasily over the railing as his underlings looked on and traded apprehensive glances with one another in the background.
"What are we doing now, Captain?" a Litten asked.
"Yeah, isn't that Orleigh in the distance?" Cherrim insisted. "I thought the Council said we couldn't come back until we brought Lugia to them."
Hess turned back to his crew, lowering his eyes towards the deck's timbers underfoot as a low growl rose from the back of his throat.
"Well that's obviously not happening," the Aggron grumbled. "Rodion will go in with a few of the escorts to get our members from our base, our treasure stash, and then we're sailing south to try our luck outside of Anyilla."
The Steel-Type's reply drew sharp protests from the other pirates, as a few shot back disbelieving scowls back at him.
"What do you mean?! Orleigh's our home port!" a Vileplume exclaimed. "We'd have to start from scratch for our reputation if we moved to new waters!"
"Yeah, we're the Iron Fleet!" a Drednaw added. "How are we supposed to get any respect if we just turn and run here?"
Rodion paused a moment, before approaching his captain and putting a paw on his shoulder. Even in the direst of situations, Hess was usually one of the last Pokémon to turn with his tail between his legs…
"Captain, surely there must be something else we can do before we resort to this…" he began, only to be cut off by a frustrated huff from his superior.
"What are we supposed to do, Rodion? We weren't able to grab Lugia all the times we've tried so far, he and his friends aren't getting any weaker, and now the Company and Empire are targeting us as well!" Hess cried. "We couldn't even get to that blasted bird this time!"
The Aggron drooped with a low mutter and shook his head back at the Floatzel.
"Of all the choices we have, cutting our losses and sailing off to raid another day is the best we've got."
Rodion said nothing in reply to the Steel-Type. While it was hard to argue the point, hearing Hess contemplate quitting the waters he'd plied since he was a mere Aron in such a defeated tone was… jarring, to say the least. The Floatzel opened his mouth to try and reassure his friend, to see if his fighting spirit could perhaps be roused, when he was cut off by the sound of a Staravia in the crow's nest jolting up and crying out in a panic.
"There's a Company galleon coming at us from hard to starboard!" she squawked.
Hess and his fellow pirates turned out to sea, where they caught the sight of a galleon flying Company colors barreling straight towards them. The Aggron's eyes widened as startled yelps went about his crew, prompting him to turn and bellow out to them with a voice betraying a hint of panicked urgency.
"Get us to shore!" Hess shouted. "We'll bait them into passing the harbor!"
The escorts hastily churned up a tailwind and accompanying current, jolting the caravel forward as they desperately cut through the waters for Orleigh Island. The Mistral Marauder made it close enough for the crew's members to begin to see individual trees when a Crobat streaked overhead. The bat led a party of fliers in lavender scarves, knocking aside some of the Iron Fleet's members from the air. Kichiro flew up to engage them as the crew tried to give cover from the deck when startled shouts began to ring out from the waters, a glance over Hess' shoulders revealing their marine escorts in an uproar as a Huntail and other lavender-scarved Pokémon harried them and broke their current while the Argent Aviso continued barreling towards them.
"Ack! They're gaining on us!" Kichiro cried.
The air grew increasingly thick with attacks, an Ice Beam sending a Noibat plummeting to the deck here, a cutting gust sending a Vileplume toppling over with a pained scream there… All the while, the Argent Aviso drew closer and closer, its snarling crew members coming into clear view. Hess ran up, aiming to try and use a Surf to push the galleon back when an Electabuzz's Discharge sailed in, knocking him and a number of nearby pirates down. The Aggron righted himself and struggled up with a daze, when the thwips and clunks of harpoons finding their mark against his hull made his blood freeze, followed by the crash of a gangplank being dropped against the deck's wood and Pokémon storming onto the ship.
"We're getting boarded!" Rodion exclaimed. "Push those square-necks into the sea!
The Floatzel led a group of deckhands to engage the boarding party, only to summarily get knocked to the ground by an Air Slash from the Crobat among Lyn's fliers and quickly get mobbed by other Company Pokémon. In the background, Kichiro plummeted out of the air, leaving the other members of the Iron Fleet to stare in petrified shock as Lyn's underlings forced their way aboard, a stammering Wimpod snapping out of his frightened stupor after a stream of fire zipped just past his antennae.
"A-AAH! Retreat! Retreat!"
The pirates turned and bolted in a desperate flight, Lyn's underlings picking off any unfortunates who couldn't elude their clutches, including a Pawniard who was held up at horn-point by a Heracross, and a Litten who yowled in pain after having his tail stomped against the deck by a Tauros. Hess grit his teeth, charging ahead with a loud roar as he tackled and threw a Hitmonchan overboard with a sharp scream and sent a Nuzleaf crumpling to the deck after running an Iron Head into his face. The Aggron turned at the sound of a sharp bellow, only to be knocked to the deck by an overpowering jet of water striking his belly, coughing and gagging in a daze when he heard the whish of sliced air and opened his eyes to see the tip of a keratinous blade at his neck, with a Samurott glaring down at him from above.
"You must be Captain Hess," Lyn snarled. "While your ship was hard to miss dawdling around your wretched hive of a home port, I was somehow expecting more from your merry band of pirates."
Hess' face flushed pale as he looked around to see the central deck of his ship had been taken over by the boarding party, while the bulk of his deckhands cowered from the entrances below deck and behind crates and barrels. Jeering laughs went about as an Ursaring shoved Rodion, while groans and frightened whimpers began to float through the air, including from the earlier Litten who'd been lifted over the railing by the scruff of his neck by his Tauros tormentor. Hess blanched for a moment, before looking back at Lyn, lifting his claws as he tried to offer up an excuse to get the brute off his throat.
"Pirates? Y-You've got it all wrong!" the Aggron stammered. "We're an honest merchant crew!"
"An honest merchant crew wouldn't reek like you lot," Lyn snapped. "And they certainly wouldn't have attacked my subordinates or tried to impede my efforts to seize the Guardian of the Seas on Giotto!"
The Samurott narrowed his eyes, letting a low, dangerous growl from his throat as he scowled down at the trapped captain.
"Under normal circumstances, I'd be content to let the lot of you see the inside of a batch of Apricorns," he harrumphed. "Fortunately for you, these aren't normal circumstances. As such, I'd like to make a business proposition…"
The Commissioner's reply made Hess screw up his maw indignantly, as he hardened his blue eyes back with a sharp glare.
"Oh sod off!" the Aggron roared. "As if I'd work with the likes of a square-neck like-!"
Hess felt a sharp jab at his throat, prompting him to look down and see the tip of Lyn's seamitar digging into his neck's hide. The Samurott pressed down, letting a small trickle of blood come out that prompted Hess to give a frightened squeak back at his captor.
"Eek! I- I mean, I suppose I can hear things out considering the circumstances…"
"Good. I need to have an audience with the Council," Lyn said. "I found it suspicious that a bumbling oaf like you would be chasing after Lugia so persistently, so I can only presume they've somehow put you up to it."
Hess' eyes widened at the otter's demand, the Aggron appearing much as a cornered Ratatta as he stuttered and tripped over his words.
"B-But I can't do that!" Hess cried. "They'll have my head if I show up empty-clawed!"
"You would not be going alone," Lyn insisted. "I just need you to get my foot in the door and I will see to it that your well-being is respected and that you're rewarded for your services afterwards."
Hess paused, breathing in heavily as he mulled the Samurott's offer over. There was no guarantee that the otter would honor anything from his end of the bargain, but he was hardly in any position to refuse. The Steel-Type hemmed and hawed when he heard sounds of a scuffle, and tilted his head to see Rodion wrangling free of his captors and shouting out to him.
"Captain, don't listen to him!" he insisted. "There's no reason to trust that shell-headed creep will keep his word and won't just leave us high and-!"
"Shut your yap, Floatzel!" his Ursaring captor snarled.
The bear struck Rodion from behind with a claw, sending the Floatzel pitching face-first to the deck. Hess tried to turn to come to his first mate's aid, only to feel the point of Lyn's seamitar dig in further, prompting him to recoil and screw his eyes shut in a panic.
"So, do we have a deal?" Lyn pressed.
"Yes! Yes! We'll help!" the Aggron cried.
The Samurott pulled his blade away, prompting Hess to crack his eyes open and gasp for air as he rubbed at his neck. The Aggron slowly got up, watching as Lyn beckoned his underlings to back off from their captives, leaving the pirates to bolt for the company of their compatriots and carry off their wounded visibly shivering and shaken by their ordeals. As Lyn's subordinates idled and grumbled impatiently, Rodion paced up to Hess, giving a grimacing stare back up to him as Lyn watched with a determined, piercing gaze. Hess shrank back and hesitated from Rodion's visible unease, as a flicker of doubt began to come over his mind over his agreement with Lyn. On the other claw… the Commissioner had had him dead to rights, and yet he'd let him get up unharmed. So if nothing else, perhaps it was worth hearing what the 'mon had to say.
"Just… what is it that you wanted to tell the Council?" Hess asked, fidgeting his claws uneasily. "And what do you need us to do?"
Back at Neil's cottage, Pleo, Kiran, and Trizano gathered around the Rhyhorn's table where simple clay cups trailing steam had been set out. Pleo pecked at his cup, sipping at a warm, dark greenish liquid inside that perked his body up. The Lugia ruffled his plumage and settled against a seat cushion, casting a glance over at the far end of the table where an excited yip rang out as Elty and Chan-iu stared each other down over a spread of colorful cards depicting various Pokémon on them.
"Heh heh, that last prize card's all mine!" Elty snickered. The Growlithe's cheer drew a brow raise back from Chan-iu, who shuffled a few cards before lowering his head.
"You shouldn't get so cocky, Khatiko," the Greninja retorted. "A game's not done until it's done."
Elty looked down at the cards on the table, before shooting back a frown and puzzled tilt of his head. He was fielding a Blastoise card to Chan-iu's Charizard, and his opponent only had half the supporting energy cards he needed to attack… why this was about as open-and-shut a victory as it got!
"Yeah? Well how do you plan on getting out of this?" the Growlithe demanded.
Chan-iu kept silent at first, before throwing down a card depicting a Magmortar at a forge onto the table. Elty's jaw flopped open as he read the runes at the bottom half of the card and noticed that it let him attach two energy cards he'd already used. The Fire-Type looked back across the table as a teasing smirk spread over the right corner of Chan-iu's face.
"That oughta do the trick, don't you think? With these extra two energy cards, my attacking card's able to overpower yours, and it's your last prize card to boot. So… that's the end of the game, right?"
Elty groaned and screwed his eyes shut in frustration, prompting Pleo to crane his head over and nose puzzledly at the cards on the table.
"I never understood how those games with the picture cards are supposed to work," the Lugia murmured.
"It's a bit of a learning process," Trizano replied. "Though I think we ought to have time for you to learn through a starting game or two."
The Skarmory nudged at Elty, prompting him and Chan-iu to pass their card decks over. Trizano set out shuffling the decks as Neil sipped from his cup, before the Skarmory noticed Pleo's attention turn away from the table. Off to the right, the young Protector's eyes fell on a visor made from a curious, clear substance with a gray strap attached to the back set out on an end table nearby. With a curious bob of his head, he craned down and pecked curiously at a few times, prompting Neil to look over with a surprised start.
"Hey! Careful with that, Pleo!" he insisted. "I can't exactly just go out and get another of 'em if it breaks."
Pleo abruptly jerked his head still, pulling his beak back from the set of goggles with a sheepish glance, all the while sneaking curious glimpses off at it. Chan-iu trained a stern eye on the young seabird for a moment, before letting his lingering attention turn off towards the rest of his teammates.
"Remind me, when did your friend say he'd be back?" the Greninja asked. "I don't mind having company and all, but don't you all have a mission you need to get to?"
Team Traveller's members traded uneasy glances with one another, before Kiran ruffled his feathers and shook his head back.
"It can't really be helped," the Swellow replied. "Besides, after everything we've been through lately, it's nice to just have a moment to rest quietly."
Neil paused a moment at Kiran's reply, before turning back to his tea, taking a light sip as his eyes drifted over towards Pleo.
"I suppose that much is true," the Rhyhorn said. "Though out of curiosity, just what sort of Pokémon is your friend? I don't think I've ever seen or heard anyone quite like him before."
"Eh, behind the funny exterior he's really just a big Wingull," Elty remarked. "Nothing else to it."
Neil raised his head from his cup, turning back to the Growlithe with a dubious raise of his brow.
"A Wingull? With a neck like that?"
"Yeah, and? I mean some Pokémon just have longer necks than others," Elty insisted. "Like with Exeggutor and how some of them are almost as tall as a ship's mast while others can fit just fine through a doorway."
"Yes, but their voices also sound about the same," Neil retorted. "Your friend certainly doesn't sound like any Wingull I've heard before."
Pleo and his teammates hemmed and hawed a moment at the Rhyhorn's insistence before Kiran cleared his throat, opting that the best thing to do was to simply feign ignorance.
"Even in a small world like ours, there's still a lot of things we don't understand," Kiran offered. "That's just what we were told, and that's the best we can tell you."
The Rhyhorn blinked back a moment, uneasily sizing Pleo up a moment before shaking his head.
"Fair enough," Neil sighed. "From my experience, sometimes the full story behind something's so incredible that it's easier to stretch what you know a bit to make things work. I know it certainly has been the case for me."
Chan-iu shot an agitated, scolding look over at Neil who quickly fell quiet. Team Traveller turned with puzzled glances at each other, before Pleo tilted his head back puzzledly.
"Huhh? What's that supposed to mean?" the Lugia asked.
"Eh, nothing you need to worry about," Chan-iu said.
"But then why bring it up in the first place?" Elty insisted, prompting Neil to hesitate a moment before speaking up.
"Well… you've heard of shooting stars, right?," the Rhyhorn began. "Haven't you ever wondered if other things came from the sky?"
Team Traveller's members looked about the room and noticed that all around, there seemed to be peculiar odds and ends. There was a round canteen made of a strange green material hanging from the wall, a peculiar metallic tablet with a top surface made of shattered glass resting on the windowsill, a red bar with metal blades and implements unfurled at its ends on top of a chest… each one made of some manner of strange material, but with little clue as to their purpose or origin, or why Neil and Chan-iu would have them to begin with. Trizano's mind then turned back to Dimitri's conversation with Pleo about the meteor, could it be that…
"Those trinkets…" the Skarmory muttered. "You don't mean to say that they all-?"
"Hey! Open up!"
Pleo and his companions flinched at the sound of a shout at the door as Chan-iu and Neil got up with worried expressions. Team Traveller looked on as the pair turned and made their way up to the door and watched it open a crack to reveal a glimpse of a Cacturne, Marshtomp, and Camerupt in Imperial scarves. At once, the color drained from their faces, prompting the four to quickly duck back into the living room to hide as their hosts began to speak.
"Is something the matter?" Chan-iu wondered.
"We're looking around for some wanted pirates who kidnapped a Protector," Orcutt explained. "We were told that they might be trying to take shelter in a residence out in the fringes, so we need a moment to look around inside."
Neil and Chan-iu jolted up with a start at the Cacturne's reply, the two looking back expecting the Grass-Type to be joking, only for his expression to remain firm and serious.
"Wait, hold on. A Protector?" Neil asked.
"We haven't run into anyone of the sort here. Surely that's reason enough to move on?" Chan-iu insisted.
"Hrmph, it's a minor inconvenience," Molina grunted. "Step aside and let us take a look."
The Camerupt began to push at the door, only for Chan-iu to step in the way and sharply rebuff her.
"Do you seriously expect me not to just find it strange that you're pawing through my house without even telling me why you think there might be a Protector here?" the Greninja questioned.
Molina pulled her head back, letting out a sharp snort as her eyes hardened into a piercing glare.
"That wasn't a request, Greninja," the Camerupt growled. "Get out of our way, or else we'll step over you if need be."
"Easy there, Molina," Chalco insisted. "Look, you two don't seem like the type to have anything to hide, so there's no harm in us coming in, is there?"
Pleo, Kiran, Elty, and Trizano grimaced from further in the house, realizing that their hiding place would not shelter them for much longer. Kiran looked around with a start, before noticing there wasn't another obvious door in sight.
"Did anyone see any other exits on the way in?" the Swellow whispered.
"No," Elty replied. "That door's the only one here."
Neil and Chan-iu shifted at the doorway, trading worried murmurs with each other as Orcutt and his companions remained as unyielding as ever. Neil shook his head back, before giving an impatient stamp at the ground.
"Look, don't you at least have a warrant or something to show us?" the Rhyhorn insisted. "I'm not trying to get in the way of the law here, but I'm just saying that everything you've said just seems a little hard to believe."
Neil's hesitance was met with a sharp growl and heavy stomp, as Molina snorted up a few stray cinders and lowered her head, pawing at the ground for a charge.
"Oh, taivaan tähden-"
"Molina, chill. We're contracted," Orcutt chided. "Don't go giving the higher-ups reasons to stiff us out of pay."
Trizano turned his attention over to the window beside him, where he pushed at the cross-braces and noticed it swing up from its base. Wide enough for even his metal body to squeeze through.
"I think we've got another way out," Trizano said quietly. "Come on."
The Skarmory slunk through the window and motioned for the others to follow. Elty came first, clambering up before jumping out, followed by Kiran jumping out with a fluttering hop. Last was Pleo, who followed along, only to stumble over the sill and fall onto Trizano, knocking the two down as the window clamped shut with a loud clatter that abruptly quieted the chatter from the other end of the cottage.
"What was that?" Chalco asked.
"It came from around the house!" Molina cried.
Team Traveller's members grimaced, Trizano hastily helping Pleo to his feet as the Lugia instinctively planted his feet and readied for a leap much to Kiran's alarm.
"Gwark! Pleo! Stick to the ground!" he exclaimed. "They'll spot us right away if we fly-!"
"There they are!"
The sound of a harsh shout rang out along with footsteps rounding the corner, the four going wide-eyed at the sight of the Cacturne, Marshtomp, and Camerupt from the doorway rounding the bend. The three mercenaries hastily assumed battle stances, as Orcutt called out to his Camerupt teammate.
"Molina, pin them down!"
"On it!"
The Camerupt stepped forward and spat up a plume of flames, forcing Pleo and his teammates to dive for cover. The young Lugia hit the ground, beating out his wings in a panic while he tried to right himself as Chalco and Orcutt bore down on him.
"There he is!" Orcutt cried. "Take him out before he can fly-! Agh!"
The Cacturne was cut off by Kiran knocking him off his feet with a large gust of wind. Chalco jumped back with a start, readying a Rock Slide only to similarly be knocked back by Trizano, the two Flying-Types hurrying in front of Pleo as their attackers got back on their feet. From the side, Elty braced himself, grumbling under his breath as he bounded back for his teammates.
"Would it have killed us to get away quietly?" he fumed. "Anyhow, one set of paws coming up quick!"
Elty ran up as a blue crackling aura wreathed his body, quickly tagging Trizano and Kiran as the aura settled over them before fading. The Growlithe quickly darted off to help Pleo fall back, leaving the two birds to brace themselves as Orcutt and Chalco returned back to aggressive stances. Kiran sized the pair up, before spreading his wings diving at the Cacturne.
"Quick!" he shouted. "We'll go after their ringleader while he's-!"
Orcutt quickly sidestepped, leaving Kiran to hastily bank and whirl around where he saw much to his alarm that Trizano had ignored the Cacturne entirely in order to fly towards his Camerupt teammate.
"Trizano?!" Kiran squawked. "What are you doing?!"
The Skarmory said nothing back, as a devious smile spread over his beak, the Steel-Type diving low to the ground with his wings held in a wide sweep as he zipped at the camel.
"Have at you, mercenaria!" the Skarmory exclaimed.
Molina hastily attempted to breathe out a gout of fire, only for Trizano to roll over the top and slash at her flank. The Fire-Type gave a pained cry, before whirling around and snorting hot, angry cinders.
"Time for you to fry, bird!"
The Camerupt breathed in sharply, before spewing a stream of fire at Trizano. The Skarmory hastily dove out of the way, leaving the Flamethrower to continue on past him straight into a wide-eyed Orcutt. Kiran stared stunned as the Cacturne screeched and flailed, before hastily throwing in an Air Slash that sent the Grass-Type crumpling to the ground, still attempting to process the turn of events when Trizano flew by with a playful grin.
"You've gotta know when to play their weaknesses against each other!" he insisted, making Kiran frown back sharply.
"Now's not the time for fun and games!" the Swellow squawked. "Just stay focused-"
Kiran's scolding was cut short by a sharp yelp, as Elty and Pleo hastily sidestepped around a hail of rocks from Chalco. As the pair attempted to put distance between themselves and the Marshtomp, Elty cast a glance over at Molina, who was pawing at the ground still preoccupied with evening the score with Trizano.
"Playing weaknesses together, huh? I think we can bait 'em into doing it again," Elty murmured. "Pleo! Go for the Camerupt! I'll handle this guppy!"
Pleo's eyes lit up in realization at Elty's remark. If they could trick Molina into getting soaked, she'd surely be weakened enough to overpower. But…
"How would we get the Marshtomp to attack her partner?" he asked.
"Leave that to me," Elty insisted. "Just help Kiran and Trizano blow that camel towards me when you see me dodge!"
Pleo nodded and flapped off for Molina, Chalco turning her head and darting after to give chase. The Marshtomp ran along, readying a jet of water in her mouth when a spray of embers brushed her right gills, making her splutter and cough up her water before whirling to see Elty crouched and growling at her.
"Not so fast!" he barked. "If you want after him, you've gotta go through me first!"
The Marshtomp gave a dismissive scoff back, before crouching and gritting her teeth back with a low growl.
"Tch, this'll be fast."
Chalco spat up a jet of water, prompting Elty to hastily jump aside. Undeterred, the mudskipper hastily adjusted course, throwing another Water Gun that grazed him and made him with a recoil, drawing a satisfied jeer back from his attacker.
"Ha, should've learned to pick your battles!"
"Oh, but I did," Elty replied.
The Marshtomp frowned and spat up another jet of water, Elty this time rolling out of the way when a sudden gust of wind kicked up and drew a sharp yelp from Molina. Chalco's eyes shrank to pins as she watched Molina fly straight into her Water Gun, leaving the Camerupt to tumble to the ground drenched and unconscious. The Water-Type blanched as she looked off to see Pleo pulling his wings back in as Kiran and Trizano circled, realizing it was none other than her own attack that had done Molina in, and the Growlithe and his bird friends had lined her up for this very moment to happen!
"Agh! You tricked me!" the Marshtomp cried.
"And so what? We're not just going to let you take us in!" Elty piped. "So will you let us go, or what?"
Chalco looked about her surroundings before gritting her teeth, digging her heels in as she spat back defiantly at Team Traveller's members.
"Suck mud, pirate!"
The Marshtomp charged forward attempting to call up a hail of rocks, only to be cut off by a Wing Attack from Kiran, then an Air Cutter from Trizano, and a Weather Ball from Pleo. Chalco staggered, struggling to stay on her feet when an orange blur jumped up and bit into her neck, dragging her to the ground where she hit the ground and lapsed out of consciousness as Elty backed away and the rest of Team Traveller's members looked on with tense pants.
"H-Hey! What are you doing?!"
Pleo and his teammates froze as they turned to see Chan-iu round the corner wide-eyed with Neil following along behind him. The pair looked around the torn-up side of the cottage in shock, as the Rhyhorn looked uneasily at the strange white bird.
"Were they right?" Neil asked. "Are you really a Protector?"
"Yes, but you need to let me go!" Pleo insisted. "I can't go along with them!"
"Oi, we're not about to get sucked into your problems here!" Chan-iu snapped. "If you're really a Protector, why are you hanging around with a bunch of lowlives like these?"
Pleo blanched, looking back at his battered companions still recovering from the shock of battle. The young Lugia struggled a moment over how to even begin to explain himself, before raising his voice and starting to speak.
"I… don't really have the time to explain, but I am a Protector, and these aren't lowlives!" he replied. "They're my friends! The Pokémon who I'm supposed to protect!"
Neil and Chan-iu paused at the young Protector's reply, their minds turning back to the childish innocence he'd exhibited back in their cottage. The Greninja of the pair faltered a moment, before Neil shook his head and stepped forward with a reassuring nudge.
"If you're really who you say you are, then go. You've got some time before their buddies catch up," the Rhyhorn insisted. "We'll try to throw them off your trail, but there's only so much two 'mons can do to help you all out."
"Right," Elty replied.
"Just… don't make us regret doing this, alright?" Neil said.
"We won't!" Pleo insisted.
The Lugia nodded back gratefully before hurrying off inland with his friends. All the while, Neil watched after the group as they vanished. He was no stranger to improbable stories, but for their sake, he hoped the one of his new friends would come to a happy end.
Author's Notes:
- (¡)Aguanta! - Spanish: "Hang on!"
- Pikhachhiau (比卡超) - Hokkien: "Pikachu" (POJ Romanization, derived from Cantonese localization name)
- Khatiko (卡蒂狗) - Hokkien: "Growlithe" (POJ Romanization, derived from Mandarin localization name)
- taivaan tähden - Finnish: "for crying out loud", "for heaven's sake"
- mercenaria - Italian: "mercenary" (feminine)
"The guards would thin out and have to shake up their routines quite a bit having to escort such an important Pokémon out, which would give us a chance to spring Pleo out," Elty continued. "It's just a matter of distracting the guards at his box with something like a Slumber Orb, and then getting him out of the stadium."
Hoo boy, it's all coming together now. For the first time, springing Pleo out is actually starting to look feasible! (At least, a lot more feasible than the "win the tournament" plan.)
Team Traveller and their companions looked out the shutter, noting the moon in the sky ahead. Given that the night was still young, that would surely mean that they were on the east of the warehouse. The group turned their heads back ahead of them, where they noticed at the end was a rickety wooden set of steps going up from the ground up to a dimly lit doorway.
"We picked up your son and his friends working with that street gang from an alleyway near the arena," the Poison-Type said. "He's out in the hallway. We figured you'd want to press them yourself."
Wow, this is way gutsier than I would have ever thought possible from Alvise. With how timid he's been this whole time, this kind of outburst was the last thing I'd have expected.
Carlo and his monkey colleague stopped by to collect the barrels, the Swampert peering into the Vigoroth's barrel only to give a disgusted groan and slide the lid over it before leaving.
...oh my. Wonder how Team Traveller's gonna feel about this. I mean yeah, the guy needed to be brought to justice, but if that does wind up indirectly leading to his death that'd, uh... not be a fun feeling.
The Manectric visibly paused at the question, his eyes darting away even as his muzzle remained firm and unmoving. After a moment of silence, the Electric-Type answered with a dismissive snort, before turning away.
The Normal-Type's gaze turned up towards the audience, where the Vigoroth grew acutely aware of a Manectric in a black scarf glaring down at him. Luca motioned with a paw across his neck, prompting the Pokémon to audibly gulp.
"This is fairly urgent," Cardino said. "You're being accused of having involvement with the trafficker's activities and the judge wanted to hear your alibi."
"Uh… well… it's just that we left behind some stuff we took out of the team bag yesterday," Elty explained. "And we wanted to see if it turned up at the lost and found."
Hess blinked, before falling silent. A dawning realization crept up on the Steel-Type that score to settle or not, there was only one Pokémon in the entire stadium that would motivate those hicks to go through all that trouble. The captain gritted his teeth and balled his claws up, his change in demeanor quickly being noticed by the Pokémon around him.
Ha, Hess is more perceptive than I gave him credit for. He sure pieced this together pretty handily. And I'm equally impressed that he's going for it after all the failure he and his crew have endured! Especially since he's... not exactly well equipped to make a covert escape. But man, this is definitey gonna complicate things going into the arc finale.
The young Protector looked back and saw Cabot getting up, his eyes wide and his face visibly filled with confusion and despair. Pleo hesitated a moment, his mind drifting towards the snatches of happiness the Cranidos had helped to give him since Nagant captured him. Was… was he doing the right thing?
aaaaaa Pleo is such a good. He's matured so much throughout this entire ordeal.
And with that we're headed into the arc finale! Looks like all the sides will be converging on one point for this one. Should be pretty intense! Until next time~
The Clawitzer shook her head back at the Incineroar, breathing a sigh of relief that after her debacle of a port call in Buyeom she was finally dealing with a 'mon that seemed to be cutting to the chase.
Aww, it's cute you're using type match-ups to explain why half the team doesn't want to be out in this weather. It's also at this point that I realize just how much of the full Team Traveler has an ice weakness. Also, I'm going to have to dock you points for the flying-types not being bothered by it.
"This is no weather for a Sandslash and you know it!"
"Speak for yourself! It's warm enough as it is over here!"
Niilo looked over to see a bluish-white Sandslash coated in icy spikes passing by with a sharp frown, making him blink and stare bewilderedly as the irked Ice-Type moved along.
"This one they were talking about must have happened recently, and it will probably be the only one anyone here other than you and Trizano will live to hear about."
Y'know, if this fic hadn't started back before Gen VII was even a thing, I could speculate this is referencing Eternatus. But I suppose Deoxys could be another possibility.
Overall this is a much faster start than the usual episodes. Normally it'd take two additional chapters for one of the baddie groups to find Team Traveler, followed by them scrambling to get away. But now they've got trouble right out of the gate. I mean, as soon as Pleo wanted to go check out the sights I knew they were in for a bad time. Must confess I was expecting Cardino to hesitate a bit ore on attacking than he did, but I guess that's the power of being conscripted by the Navy. But now we have the party split (again), which leads to...
We interrupt this PMD fic to bring you every Law & Order series ever.
This is, likewise, a very different second chapter compared to other episodes. I mean, the scene with Lyn and Hess isn't out of left field because we've had overlapping factions before, but I don't find it curious Lyn is turning to the pirates. An act of desperation, perhaps? Maybe it'll make it easier for him to sniff out that Ketu's the spy if he's got pirates running around with his own crew. Either way, it doesn't look like this is the last of the Iron Fleet, exactly. Speaking of returning faces, Darzin is back to be nothing but a butt monkey. As are the mercs from Casting Off. It's basically like what happens when TV series with spin-offs have their main characters guest-starring on each other's shows. I had kinda forgotten about them since it's been a while. Likewise, totally forgot Ander had a family back home. I find Bunsen's statements about what Ander's doing a bit... hypocritical? I thought he was aware that the Company was trying to capture Pleo themselves, yet he's perfectly willing to go along with all of that.
Regardless, there's another quick scrap and the group is off. I do appreciate that these, uh, mook battles are on the shorter side this time. You've had a history of having inconsequential battles take up thousands of words, so I don't think that's necessary going forward. Also, more meteor stuff. Wonder what it's all about. [cue X-Files theme]
I'm glad you're liking it. I like adding little flourishes like these to this story since it adds a lot to making the Cradle feel more alive as a setting.
Wow, this is way gutsier than I would have ever thought possible from Alvise. With how timid he's been this whole time, this kind of outburst was the last thing I'd have expected.
Well, you know what they say about creatures backed into a corner. Alvise clearly found his point to dig in and push back, though finally getting a chance to air his personal grievances certainly didn't hurt either.
…oh my. Wonder how Team Traveller's gonna feel about this. I mean yeah, the guy needed to be brought to justice, but if that does wind up indirectly leading to his death that'd, uh… not be a fun feeling.
Well, they were a bit iffy on taking up the toast. Not that I'd expect them to be terribly enthusiastic to toast with a mafia Don in the first place. That said, with the exception of Pleo, they're not exactly unfamiliar with the idea of capital punishment.
Ha, Hess is more perceptive than I gave him credit for. He sure pieced this together pretty handily. And I'm equally impressed that he's going for it after all the failure he and his crew have endured! Especially since he's… not exactly well equipped to make a covert escape. But man, this is definitey gonna complicate things going into the arc finale.
Well, I'm glad to hear you liked how Pleo tried to handle having to make a hard choice with his new friend. Though you'll see there's a few more twists left to this particular subplot.
And with that we're headed into the arc finale! Looks like all the sides will be converging on one point for this one. Should be pretty intense! Until next time~
Yup, Inler hasn't been a spring chicken for a very long while.
Aww, it's cute you're using type match-ups to explain why half the team doesn't want to be out in this weather. It's also at this point that I realize just how much of the full Team Traveler has an ice weakness. Also, I'm going to have to dock you points for the flying-types not being bothered by it.
Something something birds are warmblooded and bone lizards aren't. Yeah, let's go with that. Also, Pleo and the others do react to the cold later on, so they're not totally above it all. ^^;
This is, likewise, a very different second chapter compared to other episodes. I mean, the scene with Lyn and Hess isn't out of left field because we've had overlapping factions before, but I don't find it curious Lyn is turning to the pirates. An act of desperation, perhaps? Maybe it'll make it easier for him to sniff out that Ketu's the spy if he's got pirates running around with his own crew. Either way, it doesn't look like this is the last of the Iron Fleet, exactly. Speaking of returning faces, Darzin is back to be nothing but a butt monkey. As are the mercs from Casting Off. It's basically like what happens when TV series with spin-offs have their main characters guest-starring on each other's shows. I had kinda forgotten about them since it's been a while. Likewise, totally forgot Ander had a family back home. I find Bunsen's statements about what Ander's doing a bit… hypocritical? I thought he was aware that the Company was trying to capture Pleo themselves, yet he's perfectly willing to go along with all of that.
Yeah, a lot of faces came back for this chapter. Though Bunsen is actually in the dark about Pleo, which is very much by Darzin's design. From his perspective, he's a guy who's cashing his check doing what he has to for untrustworthy outsiders, and is understandably a bit taken aback by someone he expected to be able to relate to seemingly sheltering them at his expense.
Regardless, there's another quick scrap and the group is off. I do appreciate that these, uh, mook battles are on the shorter side this time. You've had a history of having inconsequential battles take up thousands of words, so I don't think that's necessary going forward. Also, more meteor stuff. Wonder what it's all about. [cue X-Files theme]
Well, it took a bit longer into April than I'd have liked to, but I'm proud to say that Chapter 77 of Fledglings is now here and ready for your enjoyment. As of the moment, the next chapter is currently aiming for a early-to-mid May release date, though as always, things release once they're done.
I would like to take a moment to extend my thanks to Virgil134 for helping to hash out the varying drafts of this chapter, as well as to the readers and reviewers who have stuck along with this story through thick and thin. And now, without keeping you waiting any longer, I'm proud to present:
In Whitepalm Town, the streets had largely emptied as Pokémon in indigo scarves went door-to-door searching shops and houses along its narrow lanes. While the guards made their way in and out of the different abodes, the resident Pokémon seemed to react with a mixture of confusion and unease, others taking a more vocally indignant turn at having their routines upended for a search of a Pokémon whose species couldn't even be identified. At a corner house of one of the streets, Cabot trudged out of a house along with Niilo and Berecien after they were hurried out the door by a block-headed Eiscue who sharply slammed the door behind them, leaving the trio to move along. All the while, the biting cold prompted Cabot and Niilo to pin their bodies up against Berecien's for warmth, much to the Fire-Type's frowning displeasure.
"Is this really necessary?" the Ponyta grumbled.
"Is that really a question with weather like this?" Niilo scoffed. "Of course it is!"
"Yeah! I was freezing my scales off just stepping out of the doorway!" Cabot piped, prompting Berecien to snort a few irritated cinders in reply.
"You are aware that the only reason why my flames haven't burned you two is because I've been holding back, right?" he grumbled.
"Yeah, well somehow I don't think that your two best friends have anything to fear there," Niilo replied. "Don't you think?"
Berecien muttered under his breath about the whole episode being 'a form of abuse', before carrying along with his uncomfortably close companions. The trio lurched their way to a crossroads between three lanes lined with houses where Cabot paused and poked his head up. After looking down each row of glazed-tiled houses, the Cranidos hesitated a moment, before turning back uneasily to his teammates.
"Where do we go now?" Cabot asked. "There's plenty of places we could go from here, but I don't know how many of them have already been checked."
Berecien and Niilo debated the matter among themselves for a moment, the Sandslash opting they head to the left, while the Ponyta insisted on heading for the right, their disagreement leading the two to butt heads much as it typically did. Cabot frowned and sighed, when he noticed a Sneasel up ahead, followed by Melli and a scowling Tegu moving along with a Jangmo-o huddled up against him.
"Why don't we go ask Tegu and Melli over there?" he offered. "Maybe they can help us narrow down where to head off to."
Berecien and Niilo traded glances with one another, before opting to humor their friend and make their way up to their teammates. When they reached them, Berecien and Tegu locked eyes for a moment, the Ponyta folding his ears back with a shake of his head.
"I see that you also have your share of 'mons hanging around you, Tegu," he sighed.
"Meh, at least I only need to worry about one 'mon," the Salandit replied. "Though I'd much rather be with my buddies back at base right now than having to worry about him."
"Hey! Stop shifting!" the Jangmo-o protested. "My tootsies are freezing here!"
The Dragon-Type's complaint drew an unimpressed scoff from the Sneasel next to him, leaving Cabot to look over the pair with a raise of his brow. He'd seen these two with Tegu lately, why they must be…
"Oh, you're Clyde and Barrow, right?" Cabot asked. "Are Tegu and Melli still showing you guys the ropes?"
"Yeah, Tegu said he needed more claws to help look around, so we gave him what he wanted!" Clyde insisted. "… Even if we spent a good chunk of time getting Barrow's tongue unstuck from an ice sculpture."
"How was I supposed to know it wouldn't taste like Yache Berries?" the Jangmo-o whined. "It looked just like that shaved ice we saw earlier!"
Cabot, Berecien, and Niilo narrowed their eyes unamusedly, letting out a trio of sighs that let visible puffs of vapor into the air. The Sandslash of the group shook his head, before leaning his elbow against Berecien's back and speaking up.
"I'm guessing you all haven't had much luck finding a lead either, huh?" Niilo said. The Sandslash leaned his chin against his claw, only to feel his arm grow uncomfortably hot, prompting him to pull it away and see Berecien glaring up at him. The Ground-Type reciprocated in kind, as Melli gave a buzzing sigh in reply.
"Not really… but I figured out something that can help us! If we can make sketches of the Protector for wanted posters, we'd be able to get more tips from the Pokémon that live here," Melli replied. "That's why I've been practicing on Tegu!"
Tegu caught himself and blinked at Melli's buzzing cheer. While the Vespiquen's voice evidenced genuine earnestness, he hadn't recalled helping her with anything involving drawings lately…
"Wait, you have?"
"Yup! Just take a look!" the Vespiquen insisted. "I think it turned out well!"
Melli dug through a satchel and proudly unfurled a sheet of paper in front of her friends. Much to Tegu's horror, the 'Salandit', if it could be called that, was a stick-limbed scrawl that looked more like some sort of googly-eyed duck. The Poison-Type's jaw flopped open with shock as the others with him tried their hardest to stifle their laughter. Sensing something was amiss, Melli gave a puzzled tilt of her head and a confused buzz as she pressed the still-ashen Salandit before her.
"… Is something wrong with it?" she asked.
Tegu bit his tongue and hastily composed himself, forcing his mouth into a wide, clearly overeager smile back at the Melli as he mustered all of his might to try and find anything positive to say about her artistry.
"No, no. It's great! It's very… spirited," he managed. "You ought to be proud of it."
"Yeah, it really shows off the red on your cheeks, Tegu!" Clyde snickered.
Barrow burst out into laughter at his partner's comment, prompting Tegu to whirl around with a piercing glare. The two both quickly swallowed their laughter, meekly backing down under the Poison-Type's scowl as a smug smirk came over Berecien's face as he turned over to Melli.
"It's quite impressive for a first attempt. Maybe once this is all over you ought to hang it up for the whole crew to see," Berecien insisted, much to Melli's visible delight.
"Ah! That's a great idea!" she buzzed.
"What?! No!" Tegu cried. "Why on earth would that need to happen?!"
The Salandit looked up to see Melli peering down at him with a worried expression. The lizard blanched a moment, before stifling his protests and pawing at the ground as he fumbled for a pleasing excuse.
"I mean, uh… it's just that this is a sketch for a wanted poster," he said. "Those aren't really the sorts of drawings that work well for decorations. So…"
"Oi! Stop standing around gawking at that Torchic scratch!" a chittering voice snapped.
The group turned around at the sound of wet thumps approaching and saw Nagant making her way over sluggishly as she did her best to fight against the cold.
"Captain Nagant? What brings you here?" Berecien wondered.
"Stop searching around in town," Nagant insisted. "We're moving out into the interior."
"Eh? Right away?" Niilo asked.
"Yes. Nobody's been able to find so much as a feather of the Protector or his companions, and the Pokémon from the cordon have turned up nothing as well," the Clawitzer harrumphed. "It's only logical to assume that they've gone inland to try and hide."
"But… isn't this a big change just to keep between us?" Melli pressed. "Everyone from the crew is still looking around town!"
"I never said this was just going to stay between us."
Nagant turned on her tail to face Cabot and his companions, motioning with her large claw to beckon the lot to follow her.
"Cabot, Berecien, Niilo. You're coming along with me," she ordered. "We need to start moving and if I happen to run into the Protector, your history with him will help to get his guard down."
The shrimp was answered back by a trio of 'ayes', prompting her to let out a satisfied grunt before turning her attention over to Melli and her companions.
"Melli, I want you in the cordon with anyone else from the crew who can get airborne," the Clawitzer said. "Tegu and his friends will handle passing word along to Jun and the other members of the crew so that everyone can regroup accordingly."
"Okay! I'll get right to it!" the Vespiquen buzzed. "Whenever this all settles down, I can show off the drawing that I made of Tegu!"
Melli's answer made Tegu blanch and set his teeth on edge. The lizard hemmed and hawed, before raising a voice to object.
"Uh, Melli," the Salandit began. "That's not-"
"Good luck, everyone!" Melli cheered.
The Vespiquen waved and flew off, leaving Tegu to stare after her with his jaw hanging open, before screwing his eyes shut in frustration. The sound of snickering reached his earholes, drawing his attention towards Clyde and Barrow busy trading stifled laughs at his expense, which was promptly cut short by the Salandit spitting up a glob of poison at their feet and shooting a sharp glare.
"Oi, chuckleheads! We've got news to pass along!" he snapped. The pair recoiled from Tegu's shout, before blinking and trading glances with each other.
"Er… right," Clyde said.
Tegu turned and went off deeper into town, his charges following shortly after. Nagant peered off after him for a moment, before turning back to Cabot's group with an impatient huff.
"Come on," Nagant ordered. "We don't have any time to lose."
After Melli's dismissal from Whitepalm Town, her assignment took her into the skies over Haipheh, where after a brief struggle to find a superior, she was tasked to patrol the far side of the island where the cordon was the thinnest, along with Blythe, the Pidgeotto from Nagant's crew. The Pidgeotto proved to be a bit of a hassle for the Vespiquen to keep pace with, prompting Blythe to slow his pace while leading the way forward. As they made their way further and further, the chill of Whitepalm Town gave way to the island's natural tropical heat, the newfound warmth invigorating the pair as they carried their search for Pleo and his companions from above the treetops.
"It feels so much nicer once you get away from the town," Melli said. "If I'd had known that, I'd have volunteered to work the cordon on the far side of the island right away!"
"Yeah, well don't get too used to it," Blythe chuckled. "The chilly weather here is caused by the Pokémon that live around here, so we're bound to feel the cold again as we pass the dungeon."
"But won't it be better again once we're at our actual positions, though?" Melli asked. "I mean, if the cold is made by Pokémon and it comes from the town and the dungeon, then-"
A thudding blow rang out, turning the pair's direction downward where they saw tree limbs shake and rend as an unseen presence flew past. The Vespiquen stopped, hearing shouts coming from the ground when she noticed them to be the din of an ongoing battle.
"Huh?! Someone's fighting down there!" she cried.
Melli beat her wings, driving her body forward as she caught the sight of a Swellow swooping down and sending a Poliwrath tumbling limply beside an unconscious white Darmanitan. The Swellow came to a stop when the forms of a Growlithe and Skarmory popped out of the nearby brush.
"Alright, he's down!" Kiran shouted. "Let's get out of here before more of them notice!"
The Swellow and his companions fled from the fallen guards, Melli and Blythe's jaws flopping open as for a fleeting moment, they caught the glimpse of the silvery-white form of a young Lugia in their midst.
"Th-That's the Protector we've been looking for!" Blythe squawked.
"Right!" Melli replied. "Let's get down there!"
The Vespiquen and Pidgeotto dove down for the clearing, only for Team Traveller's members to vanish into the undergrowth with a loud rustle. Melli attempted to fly after, but quickly lost sight of them amidst the trees, looking about in conflicting directions as the woods returned to their prior quiet.
"Ah! We missed them!"
A weak groan turned the Bug-Type's attention back to the clearing where the Poliwrath and Darmanitan were slumped over, stirring faintly. Blythe looked off at the forest for a moment, before shaking his head and pacing ahead towards the fallen guards.
"Never mind that," the Pidgeotto insisted. "Come on, help me out with these two!"
The Pidgeotto made his way over to the Poliwrath and pulled out a pair of Reviver Seeds from his bag. Melli followed behind, taking one of the seeds from her teammate and placing it in the Darmanitan's mouth, who bit down and stirred, moving a hand towards her head.
"U-Ungh… Góa thau thàng liáu…"
"Are you alright?" Blythe asked. "We saw you get attacked, but what was going on before we got here?"
"U-Urgh… we saw the lot sneaking towards the frozen waterfall and we thought they looked fishy, which was when we noticed they had the Protector with them," the Poliwrath answered. "We tried to apprehend them, but they knocked us out cold!"
"The frozen waterfall?" Melli murmured. "Why? What's there?"
Melli turned and flitted up over the treetops, where she caught a glimpse of an icy blues and white set of frozen rapids in the distance. The Vespiquen paused before warily starting to flit ahead towards it with Blythe behind her when she froze and come to an abrupt stop. There, hanging just behind the falls was the faint outline of a column of dungeon fog, leaving the Pidgeotto of the pair to grimace in realization that the Protector and his companions were likely already making their way into the Mystery Dungeon by now.
"I don't know how we're supposed to keep up with them going in there," Melli said. "We didn't even get a badge before being sent out!"
"Jun should be back in town right about now," Blythe insisted. "Maybe let him know what's up. I'll take care of these two."
Melli buzzed back an affirmation and flew up higher into the sky, beelining as fast as her wings would carry her to Whitepalm Town. That Protector was the hope for the whole Empire, and they'd need all the help they could get to secure him.
As the sun hung squarely overhead, the Mistral Marauder pulled up to the still-battered docks of Rosequartz Town. The escorts pushed the ship along, helping the deckhands move the mooring ropes into place as the gangplank was lowered, and Hess warily began to walk down it followed by Rodion, Kichiro, and the rest of his underlings. As the Aggron descended, the sound of a distant crash rang out, prompting him to look off deeper into town and see a dust cloud rise, before the sound of a faint roar rang out and a second crash and cloud of dust rose, along with a plume of smoke.
"What on earth?" Kichiro said.
"Looks like a bitva between a couple of crews," Rodion sighed. "You might be better off waiting a bit before going into town to see the Council, Captain."
Hess paused and after looking around saw that the already damaged buildings and docks in town seemed to somehow be even worse for wear. An extra burn mark here, a hole punched there, collapsed market stalls scattered about… Whatever business was going on further in town, it hadn't just started up today.
"I'm not sure how much that's going to help us…" the Aggron murmured.
"Hess?"
Hess blanched as he turned down the pier's exit, where the form of a Conkeldurr in a dark red scarf drew near, leading a party of similarly-garbed Pokémon. The Fighting-Type raised a brow out of surprise for a moment, before hardening his features into a muted frown.
"Hrmph, I didn't think you'd actually come back," the Conkeldurr grumbled. The Fighting-Type thumped the timbers underfoot with one of his pillars, making Hess grimace nervously as he tried to offer up an excuse for his presence.
"Uh… we had some… business to attend to in town," the Steel-Type insisted. "But what exactly is going on here?"
"Sibich and his crew got caught poking around Giotto so there's an unexpected vacancy on the Council," the Conkeldurr explained. "The smaller crews have been sorting out who among them will fill the Shadow Brigade's place."
A crash rang out, followed by the sound of a distant scream as Hess looked off to see a Garbodor pinwheeling through the air before falling below the rooflines. The Conkeldurr looked off at the distant battle, giving a shake of his head and dismissive snort.
"In their usual way, as you can see. But it's nothing you need to worry about," the Fighting-Type said. "They know better than to get 'mons like us drug into their little spats, and we're here to make sure that bird gets brought over to the Council without a hitch."
Hess blanched and began to backpedal along with his underlings towards the gangplank at the Fighting-Type's reply, stammering and tripping over his words as he struggled over how to best explain his circumstances.
"Eh… about that…"
The Conkeldurr's frown deepened at the Aggron's reply, prompting him to shoot a harsh glare back as the pirates behind the Conkeldurr began to trade low murmurs with each other.
"You did bring the Protector with you, right?" the Conkeldurr demanded. "After all, you couldn't possibly be stupid enough to come back empty-handed after they told you what they'd do if you did."
Hess hesitated a moment, before gulping and tapping his claws together anxiously.
"Uh… well… the thing is, I… don't have him just yet."
The Conkeldurr said nothing back, his features remaining in their same hardened scowl. Sensing that the lack of change was surely not a good sign, Hess hastily spoke up, hoping to try and sway Dirk's messenger.
"B-But I'm getting close!" he insisted. "That's why I came back since I needed to- Agh!"
The Conkeldurr cut Hess off by driving one of his concrete pillars into the Aggron's stomach, sending him crumpling to the ground coughing and gagging. Rodion and Kichiro hurried forward, only to be cut off by a hail of attacks at their feet, forcing them and the other members of the Iron Fleet to hastily retreat up the gangplank and into the water as Dirk's underlings surrounded their captain. Hess hacked from his blow, before feeling a rough grasp clamp onto his scarf and drag him up, his breaths coming out short and panicked as the Conkeldurr jerked his head up to face his unamused scowl.
"You look tense, Hess. Don't worry," the Fighting-Type growled. "This'll all be over before you know it."
Hess let out a frightened squeak before the Conkeldurr drug him off, tugging the Aggron along as the other red-scarved Pokémon threw in jeers and taunts in full view of the Iron Fleet's members, leaving them to watch helplessly as their leader got led down the docks and off into the town.
The cellblock of Bluewhorl Town's Guardhouse was a simple hallway dug into the hill, consisting of cells with stone walls and iron bars over their entrances. In normal times, the place was empty barring the occasional drunk and a pair of guards posted at the entrance, though in the present the cells were all occupied with Pokémon dozing off in a midday rest as was custom on Tromba, a few including a Mightyena and Machoke still sporting wounds from their unceremonious arrival. In the cell in the far right end of the block, a Sceptile laid down on a mat of stale straw, shifting about as he attempted to fall asleep amid the snoring and mumbling from the other prisoners. After a few futile attempts at closing his eyes, Osmund rolled over onto his back and stared up at the ceiling, letting out a tired groan when the sound of tapping at his cell's bars reached his earholes.
"Psst! Osmund!"
Osmund turned his head, where he saw the purple-furred form of a male Nidoran in Company garb pawing at the bars. The Sceptile got up, and shuffled over to the cell door, crouching and lowering his head in order to better address the Poison-Type who he quickly recognized to be…
"Orino? What are you doing here?" the Sceptile asked.
"Well, I'm still on the Company payroll… for now at least," the Nidoran answered. "The villagers were getting a bit worried about you, so I figured that I'd check up on you while I could."
"Well, I've been better," Osmund muttered. "Though I'm alive, aren't I? What about everyone else? How are they holding up?"
The purple Nidoran flattened his ears and shook his head back with an indignant growl.
"Short of Bluewhorl being actively sacked, it's hard to imagine how things could possibly be going worse," Orino said. "The town's under curfew, those grunts from off-island are going around bullying the townsfolk as they please, and everyone's just all-around demoralized."
The Nidoran thumped the ground with his foot, shaking his head as he lowered his voice into a bitter murmur.
"And it's not like there's a whole lot I can do to help either," he continued. "My family got served a resettlement notice, and I've been spending most of the last two days trying to pull strings so that at least some of us can at least stay behind to work the family field so it doesn't need to be sold off."
Osmund grimaced at the young Nidoran's reply, and grasped the bars of his cell letting with a low sigh.
"Yeesh and here I thought I had things bad being locked up," the Sceptile said. "Just… try not to take it so hard? As bad as things are, Bluewhorl's been through much lower moments before, and it sounds like 'mons are still looking out for each other to try and make the best of things."
"Fat lot that'll do to help us if that stupid Charizard and his underlings just snatch away the Protector the moment he comes back," Orino piped. "Why are we even trying to dig in our heels if we can't win here?"
Osmund fell quiet, before casting furtive glances about the cell block. Barring a stir from the Machoke and Mightyena from the cell next to him, the only signs of life about them were the sound of the guards shifting at the end of the hallway and the snores from the inmates that Bunsen's underlings had rounded up. The Sceptile craned his head down, cupping a claw as he whispered over to the Nidoran.
"Has Mosca still been allowed to keep her Dojo open?" he asked.
"Yeah, she's still keeping it going. Why?"
"She knows who the tough customers in town are," the gecko explained. "If there was ever a time for her to try and get everyone on the same page, this is it."
Orino raised an ear and cocked a brow puzzledly. There was only one reason to seek out Mosca for such a reason, but did that mean Osmund was suggesting…
"To fight back? But you said yourself that we couldn't hold out against three ships' worth of 'mons on our own," Orino reminded. "And it's not like we can get any help from the outside either. Commissioner Bunsen's frozen travel for locals unless they get it approved by him or his underlings first, and even then he's not allowing any ships to leave without an escort. I don't think there's been anyone's even managed to get an approval other than a merchant ship that had a couple locals on its crew."
"Maybe," Osmund replied. "But that doesn't mean that we don't have options for getting in the way of whatever they've got planned for the Protector when he returns."
Orino blinked and fell silent, peering up into Osmund's yellow eyes as he flicked his ears and listened intently.
"… What do you mean by that, Captain?
After Jun's return from the naval base, the Beedrill was swiftly brought up to speed regarding the state of the search by Tegu and his entourage. From the best anyone could tell, the Protector had long since left Whitepalm Town, with Captain Nagant having shifted the focus of the search further inland. Afterwards, the first mate spent the better part of an hour fighting with the town's bitter cold to regroup the sailors still in town to head into the interior, drawing the lot into the town's central square where he finished up a headcount and handing down assignments when a scolding cry broke over the assembly's thinning crowd.
"Really?!" a Salandit's voice snapped. "I leave you two alone for one moment and then this happens?!"
"Oh, just help me pull already!" a Sneasel's voice piped back.
Jun flitted his wings and gave a puzzled tilt of his head, following the sound of arguing voices towards a street on the right side of the square, before coming to a flabbergasted stop. There in front of him was Tegu and Barrow tugging at Clyde's arm, attempting to pry him from a crate that his right claw was stuck in to no avail.
"What on earth? What are you three doing?" Jun buzzed.
"Clyde got his claw stuck in it!" Barrow explained.
"I can see that, but what was it doing there in the first place?" the Beedrill demanded, prompting Clyde to fold his ears down and shoot back a nervous grin.
"Uh… well, you know, it just looked interesting and all," the Sneasel insisted. "Wasn't trying to steal berries from it or anything like that!"
Jun hardened his features into a disbelieving frown, when Tegu abruptly stopped tugging at Clyde. The Salandit climbed onto the crate, moving his snout up to Clyde's wrist where it was lodged outside the container before he gave it a curious prod.
"Wait, Clyde, are you holding onto one of those berries inside?" Tegu asked.
"Yeah, and?"
The Sneasel blinked as he watched Tegu narrow his eyes with an exasperated groan. Clyde looked down at his claw, letting his grip slacken as he effortlessly pulled it out, leaving him to shake it a few times to restore feeling. The Dark-Type's face turned up into a sheepish smile, as Barrow let out an unimpressed huff.
"And here you were making fun of me for getting my tongue stuck to that ice sculpture!" the Jangmo-o harrumphed. "At least I didn't choose to get stuck to it!"
"Hey, shut it, scales-for-brains!" the Sneasel fumed. "At least I didn't put my claw in there on a whim because I thought it'd taste like Yache Berries!"
The two promptly devolved into heated bickering over who among them was the greater fool, leaving Jun to stare blankly, before moving one of his stingers over his face with an exasperated groan.
"Blurgh… I can't wait until the Captain can go back to a more normal crew," he muttered.
"Tegu! Tegu! Tegu!"
The sound of buzzing wings drew the group's attention upwards, prompting them to see a Vespiquen flying overhead who quickly settled beside Tegu and his two charges. The Salandit blinked incredulously, opening his mouth to speak only for Melli to cut him off with a breathless cry.
"Where's Jun?!" she exclaimed. "I need to talk to him right now! It's an emergen-"
"Uh… Melli? I'm right here."
The Vespiquen turned around to see Jun staring at her unamusedly, prompting her to excitedly beat her wings.
"Oh, hi Jun! I was just looking for you!"
"Yes, I heard that. But what are you doing here in the first place?" he asked. "I thought the Captain had ordered you to join the cordon."
"She did, but this is important!" Melli insisted. "Blythe and I saw the Protector and those pirates with him heading into the Mystery Dungeon!"
Jun flitted back out of surprise, his expression lingering for a moment before melting into a serious frown.
"Let's not waste any time, then," the Beedrill said. "I'll gather the crew and tell them to head towards the dungeon entr-"
"But they weren't heading to the entrance," Melli interjected. "I saw them beat up a pair of guards over by the north side of the island before going towards a frozen waterfall!"
The Vespiquen's insistence drew puzzled frowns and stares back from Jun and his underlings. How could she be so certain the Protector was headed for the Mystery Dungeon when they weren't even near the entrance?
"Isn't that on the complete other side of the fog?" Tegu questioned. "If they were trying to get into the dungeon, why on earth would they go there?"
"Maybe they just rushed through the fog?" Barrow mused. "You don't need an entrance to get in that way."
"And risk having a bad fall or gods-knows-what happening to you?" the Salandit retorted. "If they took out the guards they ran into, why would they feel desperate enough to do that?"
Jun twitched his antennae, trying to square away the apparent contradiction between Melli's report and what he knew of Haipheh's geography when he abruptly paused in realization. If the lot truly were headed for the Mystery Dungeon, then…
"… They must have found another way in."
"Huh? How do you know that?" Clyde asked.
"I don't, but merchants in dungeons use entrances they keep hidden among themselves regularly," the Beedrill explained. "As improbable as it seems, it wouldn't be impossible for someone to tip them off to one."
The wasp turned his head at the sound of an approaching group from the central square, and spotted a Drifblim at the head of the small party of sailors from the Uragan. Jun hurriedly flitted over, before raising a stinger to motion to the Ghost-Type.
"Faraday! Find the Captain in the interior and let her know to head into the dungeon immediately!" Jun ordered. "Lugia and the others have already made their way in!"
The Drifblim blinked out of surprise for a moment, before saluting and quickly hurrying off with the winds. Jun watched after the departing messenger, before turning back to the rest of the group.
"As for the rest of you, tell everyone else to regroup and go to the entrance and exit of the dungeon!" the Beedrill barked. "If the Protector and those brigands are inside the dungeon, there's no telling where they could've slipped off to by now and I don't want them getting an easy way out!"
The sailors barked out an 'aye' and immediately set off away from the street, Melli giving a beat of her wings as she followed after their number when a sharp buzz cut her off.
"Not so fast, Melli. I want you and your friends to come along with me," Jun said, leaving the Vespiquen to look back with a puzzled tilt of her head.
"Huh? What for?" she asked.
"I want to go and find out how Lugia and the rest managed to get in," the Beedrill explained. "If they really did get in through some sort of secret entrance, we might be able to figure out how to find them faster."
Jun flitted up and cast his glance off inland, peering towards Haipheh's heart with a serious, stern-eyed gaze.
"Let's just hope they don't have any more cards to play…"
At the very moment Jun and his subordinates began to set off for Haipheh's Mystery Dungeon, Team Traveller had already made their way within it and were working their way down the eleventh floor. The floor was lined with passages made of bluish stone, with occasional patches of ice and snow throughout that could even be seen on the ceiling. At the mouth of a chamber flecked with stony rocks, the sound of disgusted grunts rang out, as Kiran flicked away a glob of purplish muck off his left wing and pushed an Apple onto the ground that had been freshly spoiled by a hidden Grimy Trap.
"Words… fail me," Kiran sighed.
"Don't take it too hard on yourself," Trizano reassured. "It happens even to experienced explorers."
Kiran frowned and ruffled his feathers annoyedly at the Skarmory's words, his pride wounded from the Steel-Type unwittingly talking him down. Further off, Pleo squirmed and bobbed as he attempted to remain pressed up against his Growlithe teammate, the Puppy Pokémon narrowing his eyes with a low sigh.
"Um… Pleo," Elty began. "I can't move around when you're squeezing up beside me like this."
"It's so cold though!" Pleo cried. "How are we supposed to hide out in a place like this?"
"Well, finding the places where the locals hide out would be a start," the Growlithe said. "So look for something that looks or smells a bit off, or-"
The Fire-Type felt a puff of slightly warmer air blow across his face, prompting him to stop a moment and look off to his right curiously. The air came again, leaving him to blink and pace forward hesitantly.
"Eh? I didn't notice that earlier…" he murmured.
Elty continued along, his teammates following after him until they came to a small crevice in the icy wall, which a cursory glance deeper in revealed to be filled with fog. So it was a stable zone! Though, in that case…
"Are we sure this is safe?" Trizano asked. "Stable zones are shelters for more than just Rescue Teams, you know."
Elty lowered his head and sniffed at the ground, craning his head to the left and the right before looking back up at the rest of his teammates.
"It doesn't smell like anyone's been here, at least not since this floor's been cleared," the Growlithe said. "I think this is as good an option we're going to get."
The four moved on, carefully making their way through the fog and out the other end to a large, snowy chamber lined here and there with prominent ice crystals. The party paced forward cautiously, noting that while the place lacked any strong scents, there were a few scattered sticks along with discarded scraps of cloth and paper on the ground, a clear sign that the stable zone had been safely used as a shelter before.
"It'll have to do," Kiran sighed. "We'll wait here and start checking if Kelly can hear us."
"I mean, I guess it's a little better, but it still feels kinda cold…" Pleo murmured, giving an uncomfortable beat of his wings. "Are we all going to crowd around Elty to stay warm?"
Pleo's words were immediately met with a surprised yip, prompting the three birds to turn and see their Growlithe partner flattening his ears and tensing his body irkedly.
"What?! Are you kidding?! I'm not getting sat on by birds until we leave!" Elty snapped. "Make a fire or something!"
The Growlithe shot a firm scowl at his teammates, only for them to keep staring expectantly at him. After a moment's befuddlement, Elty blinked and sheepishly pawed at the ground.
"… Right, I suppose I'd need to do that," he said. "But there's not exactly a nice pile of stuff that I can light on fire, though."
"Pleo and I can see what we can do about that. There's some items scattered around here I think we could use to get a fire going," Kiran replied. "Just… keep an ear on the entrance with Trizano for a while, would you?"
Pleo and Kiran shuffled off towards the center of the stable zone, starting to gather twigs and other scraps along their way. Off at the entrance, Trizano and Elty paced over and rested against the ground, casting wary glances off into the fog when Trizano shifted his wings and spoke up.
"I'm surprised that you were able to find this Stable Zone so easily," he said. "How'd you manage that?"
"Eh, it comes with experience," Elty replied.
"Really? I'd never have pegged you for the type to be a dungeoneer from when I saw you on Hess' caravel…" Trizano remarked. "Though I suppose you learn something new every day."
Elty's eyes widened at the mention of Hess' caravel, prompting him to whirl around with a flummoxed expression. Trizano paused a moment, before giving a sheepish shrug of his wings and smile back.
"I mean, I suppose it was a bit presumptuous to think that the Iron Fleet would have only one Growlithe," the Skarmory began. "It's just that when I saw you with Hess-"
"No, I am the only Growlithe that's ever joined the Iron Fleet," Elty insisted, before giving an inquiring tilt of his head. "… So you're the Immortal that always got into fights with Hess, huh?"
"Guilty as charged," Trizano replied. "Hope I didn't ruffle too many feathers in the past."
Elty stared back wordlessly at the Skarmory, only for his face to fall and for him to give a sighing shake of his head.
"Well, it doesn't mean a whole lot now," the Growlithe said. "But what was up with that anyways? You had that wandering do-gooder shtick going on, so why seek us out specifically?"
"It was Roteck's idea, really," Trizano answered. "He had a friend of his that he wanted me to talk some sense into."
Elty furrowed his brow and raised an ear back puzzledly. A friend? From his experience, the Iron Fleet's members weren't exactly great at keeping secrets, and he couldn't remember anyone from it ever so much as mentioning it…
"Eh? Who would he have a friend on the Iron Fleet?"
"It wouldn't do me any good to go blurting out Roteck's secret now would it?" Trizano chuckled. "Besides, I think you already have a good idea who his friend is."
Elty's mind turned to Hess for a moment. They were the same species, so, as crazy as it sounded… could Trizano have meant he was this friend? Elty opened his mouth to ask, only to catch himself and pause, rationalizing that whatever the story was behind Roteck's friend, perhaps it was best to just let it come out on its own.
"I… see. So, all this time you've just been going out for him?" Elty asked.
"Well, there was the practical aspect of it. Darkwood Square did need its resources, and there were some things we just couldn't get easily on the island," Trizano replied. "But I suppose the biggest thing was just being able to get out and spread my wings in the world."
The Skarmory fanned his wings out proudly, leaving Elty to tilt his head back with a puzzled frown. Trizano blinked a moment, before flusteredly ruffling his feathers and beating a wing out to wave the matter off.
"I mean, I suppose it's a bit of my youthful wiles that I've retained, but-"
"Nah, I know what you mean," Elty insisted. "It's a big world out there, and sometimes you just need to run around in it a bit."
A small smile spread over Trizano's face as Elty returned to keeping watch over the entrance. Trizano turned his head back towards Kiran and Pleo, seeing them hard at work putting the burn pile together when he focused his attention back out at the fog and left his mind to wander off towards their separated companions.
"I wonder how your teammates are all doing right now…"
About two hours after their hasty exit from Haipheh Island, the Siglo Swellow finally bobbed alone in the seas without ships pursuing its wake. On the deck, the crew's members gathered tiredly, trading worried murmurs as Vicente got up to the railing and peered off into the distance with a spyglass. The Hitmontop lingered a moment, before pulling it back and turning to the rest of the crew.
"I think we're finally in the clear," he said. "Those ships stopped chasing us past the second buoy."
A wave of relieved sighs and exhalations came over the crew, which quickly morphed into uneasy chatter as their thoughts turned to their companions that they'd left behind. Crom paced up towards Beatrix, giving an uneasy paw at the back of his head as he glanced over worriedly.
"Beatrix, what do we do now?" the Druddigon asked. "Half of our team's still on that island, including Pleo!"
"Isn't it obvious? We head back and get them!" Nida exclaimed, her insistence at once being met by scattered protests and interjections.
"Estás loca?!" a Dwebble cried. "We just almost got sunk by their ships!"
"Yeah, who's to say they won't just catch us going back in?" a Sliggoo demanded.
The Nidorina pulled her ears back and thumped her foot irritatedly against the wood. How could they all just talk like that when Pleo and the rest of their friends were stranded?!
"What is wrong with you all?" she fumed. "This is our island's Protector we're talking about here and you just want to give up?!"
"This… honestly seems to be beyond what we can handle, Nida," Beatrix said. "We'd be better off returning to Tromba and getting help before going back for them."
"But they're four Pokémon against an entire colony!" Guardia protested, stepping forward with a wave of her club. "You can't honestly expect them to last long on their own!"
"I know it's a gamble, but we don't have many other options," the Illumise sighed. "We're a single ship and we wouldn't fare much better than last time."
"And need I remind you that we have more than our own hides on the line?" Vicente remarked. "If we get captured, that Knights' Ledger you worked so hard to get will just fall into the Empire's hands. Even if Pleo gets away, you'll have lost the leverage you were hoping to have over the Pokémon chasing him."
"As loath as I am to ask, but can we really afford to not take that risk?" Ander said. "If the Empire gets Pleo, they'll use him as a weapon!"
"I know that, but you're also forgetting that we don't have the slightest clue as to where on Haipheh he is right now. If he's even there at all," Beatrix replied. "For all we know he's managed to flee the island, or we'd have to fight our way through the island's entire garrison just to get him!"
The Siglo Swellow's crew began to audibly voice reservations at the idea of fighting against the Royal Navy on their own, with appeals of 'think about what you're suggesting here' and 'she's right, you know' filtering through the air. Guardia, Crom and Pladur's faces fell as Beatrix shook her head back glumly, leaving Nida to pause as she weakly raised her voice in protest.
"But…"
"It's just the hand we've been dealt," Beatrix insisted. "There's nothing more to it."
The Illumise turned and began to flit off as Nida stared ahead blankly. After everything she'd gone through, all the fighting she'd done to try and bring Pleo home, they were just going to sail off without him? The Nidorina felt tears start to well up in her eyes as Crom sidled up to try to comfort her when Kelly abruptly jolted up in the crowd and hastily floated off in front of Beatrix waving her arms.
"Wait! Captain!" the Elgyem exclaimed. "Before you leave, you've got to hear this!"
The Psychic-Type floated up as the nearby sailors began to crowd around when she held a glinting bauble aloft and pressed down on it, the sound of a Kabutops' voice filling the air.
"Privet! Is anyone out there?"
The gathered sailors jumped back with a start at the voice, Nida's eyes lighting up as she realized it to be none other than Dimitri. The Nidorina bounded over towards Kelly, all be yanking the badge from her hands when she pressed down and spoke into it with a startled cry.
"Dimitri?! Where are you?!"
"Is Pleo with you?" Crom insisted. "Is everyone alright?"
"I'm alone, but they were fine the last I saw them. I'm assuming you're nearby?"
Beatrix flitted up and stared surprisedly at the glinting badge, faltering for a moment as Kelly lifted her arm and telekinetically pulled the badge back from Nida's paws. The Elgyem focused a moment in a meditative state, before tightening her grasp on the badge and looking back to the gathered sailors.
"I think that I've got his position," Kelly said. "Clear the deck for me to come back."
The Psychic-Type moved her arms about as she closed her eyes in focus, the nearby sailors backing away as she suddenly vanished in a flash of light. Team Traveller watched tensely as murmurs floated about the surrounding sailors, when another flash of light appeared followed by the sounds of splashing water, revealing Kelly returning with Dimitri as he found his footing still dripping seawater on deck as Nida neared.
"Dimitri, what happened? Why aren't Pleo and the others with you?"
"I was the only one who could slip past the cordon," the Kabutops sighed. "We'd found a safe place when we parted ways, but they're running out of time."
Dimitri tapped his scythes together and quickly recounted how he and the others slipped out of town after watching the Siglo Swellow get chased out of port, followed by them finding refuge with Neil in Haipheh's interior where the others decided to hunker down and try to call out to Kelly. Lastly, the Kabutops' tale turned to his own fraught journey sneaking back to the Siglo Swellow to seek help, and how he'd slunk off alone and dodged Imperial guards on the high seas all to relay the others' messages. Beatrix and Vicente paused at the Water-Type's account, when Nida turned back insistently towards the pair.
"Is that enough to convince you two?" the Nidorina asked. "As long as Kelly can sense Pleo and the others, she should be able to teleport right to them, shouldn't she?"
"That's assuming that nothing's changed since Dimitri's left," Vicente countered. "We could be taking a gamble over nothing here!"
Beatrix paused tensely before she flicked her wings uneasily. The Bug-Type tapped a digit below her mouth, hesitating for a moment before giving a stern look back at the Hitmontop.
"But we do have Pleo and the others' location now, and it sounds like they don't have much time before the Imperials find them if we don't go for them," the Illumise said. "We'll try and sneak by the island, though if Kelly doesn't pick anything up for too long, we're turning around and heading back to Tromba. Are we clear?"
Team Traveller's members hesitated at Beatrix's reply. While none of them really wanted to admit it, it was hard to concede the Illumise captain's point. One after the other, they gave begrudging nods back, prompting her to give a sharp buzz and call out to the rest of her crew.
"Right, then let's move out!"
The Illumise quickly flitted up to the tiller and leaned hard against it, turning her schooner around as the escorts in the sea and air whipped up a current to push the ship back towards Haipheh. As the ship pierced through the waves, Nida looked off at the horizon, hoping and praying that her friends would be able to hold out for their return.
Author's Notes:
- Góa thau thàng liáu (我頭痛了) - Hokkien: "My head hurts" (POJ Romanization)
- bitva (битва) - Russian: "battle", "fight" (BGN/PCGN Romanization)
- (¡¿)Estás loca?! - Spanish: "Are you kidding?!" / "Are you crazy?!"
Continuing on from the small victories that count, that is, now coming into Ch. 60 and 61. The most important thing to have is, always, good Nidoran screentime! So let's see how that goes.
We start with a meeting, one of a kind that I can understand why Crom would rather miss, so Team Traveller better bring good news.
"We did," Guardia nodded. "We might have found a way to get your Protector back."
That's what y'all should have been doing since 3 chapters ago!
Now, the plan isn't all too bad - just cause a political ruckus at the Stadium and hope for a chance to nab our dear Pleo back into goodie paws. Alas, I can already see the one, very serious problem with this plan and that none in the available teams is equipped to handle.
No, it's not that it's "just a matter" of throwing a Slumber Orb. No, the problem starts much earlier.
Dimitri: "If they can make it to the water, we can smuggle them through."
Everyone: "...That would be a heavy lift."
Pleo from elsewhere: "It's feather, not fat!"
Let us hope none of that heavy lifting comment ever gets to Pleo's ears.
Nida: "We'll need someone to fix us some fixers."
Beatrix: "If you want their attention at this point why not just waltz right in?"
Nida: "Then what do we do?"
Scout: "*ahem*"
Now, they have a plan where they will 1.- take advantage of political issues right into the Stadium to 2.- infiltrate a team right into Pleo's chambers and 3.- take advantage of distractions to nab Pleo to 4.- smuggle him out into international waters.
That's... nice and dandy!
...Except for Step 0.
I've watched Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, not to mention The Wire and JAG, and one thing I know is when the world is looking at you, you sweep the problems out of under the rug and into the dust bin one at a time.
If (big if) Team Traveller bring the evidence to court, there is no way they will convince the powers that be to carry out the arrest right now, during the tournament matches, instead of lowkey during the closing ceremonies or even after, when security will be stronger and Team Traveller will be expected to not be around anyways; simply put, none of the goodies has the political clout to make that happen.
The only party that I can think could push it is...
...Alvise's family.
"Hang in there, Pleo," Crom murmured. "We'll have you back as soon as someone else conveniently solves us some convoluted political mumbo jumbo!"
So far now, "solving that political mumbo jumbo" starts with Cardino, because he is their best contact in the city and if anything else can account for their employment status - which beats "fighting in the pits" when it comes to striking deals, I guess. Team Traveller plus a few extra heads... head over to the Saéta Family district (have I ever mentioned how cool Saéta sounds as a family name?) and Nida has some recollections of the past when comparing her own history to the feel of every great city's slums.
Even the greatest of empires is built upon the condenmation of the poor, and as she obliquely points out in her mind, it's the kind of thing that can make the rich quite desperate.
(Also I can only imagine Mami's answer to being asked "have we food yet?" one too many times, I mean that's the hunger equivalent to "are we there yet?".
Multiply by how many children rabbits... And Darzin should be very, *very* glad that all this happened after he was already kicked out of the island by her. Also thanks to Virgil for correcting me on the timeline there)
Fortunately, Team Traveller's joyful city slums adventures end up when they come to stop at a literal brickwall. These Zoroark illussions are nice! No I was not expecting Guardia to throw a bone at the brickwall and for the brickwall to reply with "ouch! what was that for!"
So, their attempt at approaching is... of the not-go-well variety, so instead they go the completely legit way of a back-entrance! I'm... really interested to know how Crom of all mons made it in without raising all alarms. Also, good doggo sense of direction is good.
> Firetype dancing routine
I think I missed something but off-chance is Pezzo a Quilava?
It soon came to be Crom's turn to climb up, the young Druddigon nearing the edge, only for the crate to suddenly lurch underfoot. The Dragon-Type yelped and leapt up, latching onto the ledge as the crate underfoot fell to the ground with a crash and the sound of shouts suddenly rang out from below.
Oh well, eventually something had to give up. Fortunately for them at least they are inside although I can see that Dimitri had to sweat it up. I'm surprised at how bad security is at the Don's, so let's hope this is not a trap.
And now, Nida has a top view of some happenings for Saéta himself which apparently and expectedly means a family meeting. As we had seen from the previous ep where Alvise was very very bad at avoiding family.
Luca unceremoniously dragging in a fellow Manectric
As it turns out, Alvise suffers from glided cage rebellious second child syndrome, which is to be fair like, good? Like. Who *wouldn't* want to be outside and see what the world has to offer? Come to the Fledglingsverse! We have insecurity, a world on the brink of death, a Cradle filled with backstabbing parties, some Wastes for those who prefer the one-way trip, and Ketu!
I'm impressed that Alvise thinks really high of his team - or rather, of Valatos' team, quite pointedly to the degree of second family. Even if it likely resulted from a "worse is nothing" attachment, it does mean that a family unit was constituted here that had to be built to last, in this unforgiving world, and that they know it.
It makes a few things sadder in retrospective and Alvise does remark that sticking with him cost them, which does is something we have seen in the last few episodes with Alvise being all fur-on-end in the City; even more, Saéta seems to not counter or dismiss the idea, I wonder what is he actually thinking, I could not see him seeing Luca doing good in the role of "good elder brother".
I'm also impressed, honestly, that Valatos does not make any attempt to curtail, forsake or otherwise spite on this relationship considering he's right in front of one of three Pokémon who are literally making his current adventure insufferable, so I guess the "second family" kind of appreciation is mutual enough that he is not blaming Alvise for things.
...I hope.
Because now Alvise has been tossed out like a shaggy dog and while this is exactly what he wanted, it does feel like a phyrric victory. I'm not even sure what would Luca be thinking of this.
Creeaaaak
The room abruptly quieted at the sound of a creak from above, prompting the gathered Pokémon to look about their surroundings. By chance, Carlo happened to look up, where the Swampert noticed a wooden plank in the ceiling sagging.
Aaaaand of course then TT and Cardino had to ruin the family meeting. Honestly, I was not expecting the roof to hold on to the weight of a Druddigon. We are lucky we got the Alvisemeeting we got this far.
Saéta: ""Grr... I didn't know they paid you detectives to go trespassing, Cardino."
Cardino:
(I mean, it's part of the job description but still)
Aaaand now it seems Cardino and team will go swim with the fishes! Also damn, lol @ Valatos trying to chime in NOW of all things to try and bully it over Team Traveller. Like Saéta's short term memory was going to be that bad. This leaves Saéta and Team Traveller to deal with fan mail of all things and ta-dá we have our opening!
"… Why are you looking at us like that?" the Grass-Type pressed.
"Because, Steenee, I'm making you and your partner an offer you can't refuse," the elder Manectric answered.
I personally like how Saéta turned about and capitalized on the opportunity presented, including an actual offer to nap with the fishes! For one in a very concise scene shows well that he's the master of his trade and he is not holding the position for nothing, because in terms of the explanation he gave before about hitting and missing, what he's doing is the equivalent of placing some weighs on Team Traveller's gloves.
This was the icing on the cake:
"… Boss, we are doing this away from my place, right?" Carlo asked. "I don't want to be sleeping next to a pair of drowned rats tonight."
Well, that ended up well enough for Saéta and for Team Traveller if they have some sort of "deal", let's hoope the plot helps there. Otherwise, it seems it will be Cardino who will be filling in the blanks on the various implicit and explicit "or else ___".
Anyway, next day is courtoom antics, I suppose. We start with the opening statements, some slithering slitheriness to give Akin good screentime, and then we get to the core of the matter - to see if Step 0 can even work. We start already with a degree of trial by public opinion where Nico is not really earning any points, IMO he should have known better than to grandstand - it works in the movies when you are Jim Carey, not in normal life and this accusation against Adm. Coil is severe enough that they should really not carry it in Ace Attorney style.
Well, the first evidence is announced and then the sensible thing is done - it's backed up with witness testimony. And just to make sure, sure the testimony goes how it has to go:
"Er… uh… hi?" the sloth stammered. "I just wanted to say that I've got nothing to do-"
The Normal-Type's gaze turned up towards the audience, where the Vigoroth grew acutely aware of a Manectric in a black scarf glaring down at him. Luca motioned with a paw across his neck, prompting the Pokémon to audibly gulp.
With the cross-examination going on the judge Slowking decides there is enough grounds to "request" Coil's presence. Now... why wasn't Akin allowed to cross-examine?
Now all Team Traveller has to do is to tail the bailiffs and hope they are even allowed into the higher chambers of Vecioferàle where I'm sure this is going to end up going. "Going after Coil is like going after Queen Aleria herself". How could that even be done...?
Anyway, the attempt of a summon proceeds with Coil being quite nonchalant about it, as expected, and he does point out that such a "non-urgent" matter can wait until the end of the day. To his credit, Cardino pushes the right buttons (oh, now he knows his trade!) and as a result it seems Step Zero works!
...I am sure the plot could have been stalled right there if Coil reminded everyone that he was not obligated to answer anything without a lawyer present. Or does the Cradle not have that?
...Well, at least the plot is un-stalled enough to give Team Traveller an opening (to which Cardino looks so nonplussed lol, he's already used to the idiosincrasies of this hired help).
The three carried on, passing a stairwell leading up to the level above. There, waiting for them in the shaded corner behind it was none other than Crom and Kiran, the two keenly eying their surroundings as Nida, Elty, and Guardia neared.
Okay how, *how* did "-20 skill points in Stealth" Crom get to this point of the Stadium when there were guards right before *and* they got there before Team Traveller did?
Well, no matter, they have to fall back to Stealth and wait until the proper time comes to move and hope no one shows up who can ruin things. Now enters Step One: Metal Gear Fledglings: Peacecrasher.
Code:
-Choose your Difficulty-
EASY : Elty with a pink bow
NORMAL : Kiran, Nida
HARD : Guardia
INSANE : Crom
Speaking of people who could ruin things, we have some more screentime with Alvise back at the Iron Fleet and explaining what is going on and how much info they literally just have had the good luck to pick up. Hess is not very impressed, my what an extended family did you end picking up, Alvise. At least Nori has the sense to snap at Hess.
"Wait, what? Didn't you just lose to them yesterday?" the Aggron demanded. "Why would they want to risk getting in trouble when they're still in the running?"
"Beats me," Valatos grumbled. "But they came there saying that the 'mon they had a score to settle with was in a restricted area of the arena and they needed help pulling it off."
And there we have it. Ladies and gentlemons, let's have it for our buddy Valatos ready to ruin Team Traveller's whole career.
With the new information gathered Hess finally readies to make his move, which he is right that this is something that he needs to first-party in. All chips ar e on. He does manage to bring the crew to uuuh... "senses", because getting double dose of loot is important, and there is quite some heavy truth that this might be the last chance to securely nab a Protector.
"Alright, let's do this!" Hess shouted. "Stick to small groups and watch out for your teammates! You're the first and only lifeline they've got for getting back if they go down!"
I'm liking this Hess more than the one who was Elty's captain tbh.
Now all we need is Lyn and of course Nagant to find out of Team Traveller's plans, Ketu to provide some backstabbing and either Coil or Sibich somehow making an escape, and we'll have a good old fashioned meelee brawl.
No I mean exactly what I mean. This is gonna be messy.
And the prize is birb.
With Nida and Pleo finally about to meet again, it is time for Team Traveller to spring this whole mayhem.
And mayhem it is gonna be.
Already for the beginning we can see that Nida is in the correct mood of what would anywhere else be the Season 2 finale.
Nida: "There was no turning back from the night we snuck aboard Lyn's ship."
Katara: "Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked."
Tidus: "I wished there would never be a next time. No more people being killed by Sin. No more Sendings for Yuna."
Batman: "I haven't been a kid since I was eight."
Crom makes the opening move, which works, and it's all hands in because it's time to enter the Final Room and clearing the last battle before rescuing birb... so after a brief cutscene we have...
...The Final Boss: Cabot and his team.
Cabot: "Yay! Screentime!"
Niilo: "...I don't think this is the kind of screentime we want."
I guess in a sense this was the fated duel of sorts. Both teams actually care about Pleo, have moved what little patches of heaven and earth are available for them to move for the birb's benefit, heck they have tried to teach him to read and write!
Today, it's just they happen to have opposite motives and thus move onto each other. Elty squares it with Berecien as fire mons who are greatest friends designated foes, and Cabot has to deal with Guardia - two thich-headed mons one against the other. While Cabot and his team are not doing it bad, in the end they fall down to simple numerical disadvantage and the fact that Cabot's matchmaking already leaves his team extra crippled if he goes down.
In the end, Pleo has to say goodbye to his caretakers...
Cabot:
Niilo: ;_;
Berecien: "Oh now he cares about manners!"
...and follow Team Traveller on their fight Tooth and Claw for freedom.
For the opening escape scene some good use of items is made (items such as seeds and orbs are OP in PMD, really!) and this allows Team Traveller to advance a few floors. The problem is, everything is getting more crowded and who knows if this will work.
The set up for Super Smash Bros Fledglings is underway. Though it has to be delayed a bit with Nagant having to run the logistics among a recovering staff. Because who else are we going to delegate logistics to? Berecien?
She'd gone through enough grief just tracking down the Protector for the Empire, and if a bunch of peasants from across Anyilla thought they could just steal it away from her, she'd need to remind them of how wrong they were.
I mean, in a loooong series of characters who try to steal birb be it from his proper friends or from other thieves, I don't think whatever pretend nobility Nagant retains even qualifies her to complain about thieves thieving - let alone about people recovering what is rightfully theirs in this case a friend.
"Go back to the ship and tell Lyn that those Tromban hicks grabbed the Protector and are heading for the harbor!" the Weavile [Ketu] barked. "We're gonna have to take him back from them!"
So, the first thing that happens on the way out now is that Team Traveller happens upon Hess and the Iron Fleet... and of course Hess has not seen Elty for a while so this happens:
Hess: "Eltenios wat a u doin'?"
Elty: "Uhhhhh"
Hess: "nvm great cover, very spy, such doggo, great job!" (leaves a like and a subscribe)
*****, don't bite the hand that unearths a Legendary for trying to fix your sorry world! *Your* people have screwed that one up a few times. Go and better focus on Hess, we want a brawl and also Team Traveller needs a distraction!
And boy do they need it because even when Dimitri can't make a clean getaway, the only way that more or less works is he has to yeet Pleo and Team Traveller to relative unsafety and it's Ander's turn to suffer from the troubles because he's the literally softest from the bunch. Ander gets quite the wound and I don't think he'll be clearing out of the fight together with the rest of the team.
To make things worse, Dimitri decides to stay behind for Ander so now we're down two fighters, the ones potentially better suited to deal with the current scuffle to make things worse.
After that, Team Traveller runs into another checkpoint...
"Hold it right there! You're disturbing the peace and abducting a Protector!" the Decidueye hissed. "Come quietly and your charges won't get any worse!"
*****, you're the ones stealing a Protector! You have like, literally kidnapped a minor!
After that there's even more escape, now turning to the rooftops for some Assassin's Creed quickie action and not minus the bloodshed might I add and not just because of combat but also because at this convenient moment everyone forgot that the basic rules of physics still apply:
Stairs: *crack*
Hess: "oops?"
Hess: *makes a pile of mons under him*
Pawniard: "Ow…"
Charmeleon: "My spleen..."
Pawniard: "Arent't spleen injuries fatal?"
Charmeleon: "I hope not..."
And then Lyn enters the fight! At a good time too because we need more distractions as I said! So now it's either everyone vs everyone, or everyone vs birb.
"I've been getting very tired with your rebelliousness, Trombans," the Commissioner growled. "It's time I put an end to it and take what's mine."
Okay at this point I'm gonna insist that if there's so many people falsely arguing that Pleo is theirs, they better take it to the court. I'm sure the Slaking wouldn't mind and Nico could use the extra coin.
As more mayhem ensues Team Traveller is caught without much to do as their options are rather limited and they are at a severe numerical disadvantage. Dimitri has the idea of "using Hess" and then Kiran and Guardia go straight at Lyn, with Guardia paying dearly for that affront. Still she got to land a very well deserved hit on the otter for an awesome moment that we need more of.
Elty goads Hess into an attack that makes the entire place collapse - really Hess did you not learn anything from two scenes prior? This which works well for temporarily preventing Lyn and Nagant from attacking further and also takes Hess himself out for the time being. And with that, good doggo temporarily saves the day and Team Traveller is free to continue their getaway!
Hess: "Who's a good, soft, totally and absolutely loyal doggo with a good coverup?"
Elty:
With that part of the day saved, Team Traveller sets sail and they attempt their escape with Beatrix taking the reins. Since they are making the getaway by sea (of course!), that means they have to first clear their checkout with port authority.
And what does port authority think?
"Ready the seafire and don't let that schooner get away!"
-cue everyone getting oh no eyes-
Will this be a reprise of that Game of Thrones episode...?
It seems not! (good lord)
Because finally the ship makes it to Outside™ and that means a moment of levity is earned, Pleo is, for the time being, finally free. I don't know why was I expecting Beatrix and the ship to pull some kind of "multitrack drifting" trick from their figurative sleeves but even without it things went pretty well... all things considered.
And in the meantime? Hess defeats Nagant, lol.
Really.
Team Traveller having to make it to the ship in enemy territory and the ship having to make a getaway with as much disabling of the port forces as possible reminds me much of the tail end of "escape Constantinople" mission in the preview for Assassin's Creed II: Revelations actually, except, well, here it's a lot more "multiplayer" to call it somehow. (And Elty could have been a lot more useful here had he had better Fire-type natural affinity at his disposal)
Nagant: *loses titles*
Nagant: *loses to Pleo in checkers* (I checked it, it was an sbsolutely legit move)
Nagant: *loses to friggin' Hess*
Nagant: *loses Pleo*
I'll be understanding if she takes a vacation for half an arc.
Well, the day is saved, Pleo is on his way to Tromba let's hope, Team Traveller won the tournament brawl, and everyone is happy! This is a very good way to end an arc.
Nico: "...Aren't we forgetting something?"
Cardio: "lol what is even hired help"
Oh yes, that trial. I figure they did not hear of the news early enough, and thank goodness Coil was preemptively removed from the action. Trial goes better than expected, and the good guys manage to somehow prove the otherwise silly theory that Coil is (*gasp*) a bad guy.
As a result, Coil is taken out and now we can properly say everyone will be happy.
Adm. Coil: "Just you wait! All that happens from now on is on you!
The world, a few scenes away: *Pleo escapes*
This is what, two months overdue? School killed my reading motivation for a while, but I’m finally back to review episode 5. As always, I do my reading on ao3, so any errors I catch are specifically on that version if an edit on another site happened to get missed there. With that, let’s jump right in.
20: Out of the frying pan.
This might be just me, and I know that there’s not a lot of words to describe… whatever nuzleaf is, but for whatever reason describing him as a “dryad” felt a little bit odd.
Ooof, Ellesberg. You’re being a bit dense right now, aren’t you?
Huh, now you got me wondering what mothim facial expressions are like. Pokemon - and animal in general - facial expressions are always fun to think about.
Ah, right the subway. I remember that comes up later, and I like that it’s briefly foreshadowed here. That said, I can’t help but wonder if it would have been better to leave it as just name-dropped, or else with a briefer explanation, and let the full explanation of what it is being left for when it becomes relevant. I don’t think it’s a bad thing that it’s explained here, mind you, but I have a feeling that, considering how much later it’s brought up, most readers won’t remember the explanation.
"Loose lips sink ships," or so the saying (created by a Pokémon that had lips, clearly) went
It should be still-weakened or still-weak I think?
I like that you found a way to work both the wind that blows you out of a dungeon and the stable rooms of dungeons in a way that works with the world and doesn’t feel too game-y. One could argue that the stairs feel weird, sure. But using the winds as the way the layout shifts works really well.
And of course things had to go wrong when they left shelter. Why wouldn't they?
Also. I do really like that you use the other language names for Pokemon as regional names. It helps fit in with the way you chose to have language work.
I felt this chapter was paced pretty well. It gave us a good idea of where our current major players - Lyn’s group and Pleo’s group - were at, helped set up for the next area our protagonists are going to visit and established a bit more about the world while still feeling like it had a good deal of progression. The heroes found themselves lost and got out of the dungeon all in one chapter. Which, with the length of your chapters, is a pretty good amount of progression.
21: Unfamiliar Territory
Yes, this was a wonderful and exciting place, and it had done its part in keeping the group distracted from their pains for a moment… but that while was rapidly drawing to a wincing close, much to the annoyance of Actor.
I don't know for sure why, but I had trouble parsing this sentence. I think it's the word "while" that threw me off. Maybe using “moment” again here would be better.
I'm glad the matter of a reward was settled quickly. Though having absolutely nothing to their name could have caused some… interesting problems.
I love how different this town feels in comparison to Tromba. It gives things a very different cultural vibe.
Eventually only Team Chasseur, Team Traveller, and Maranda, who was still standing at the doorway, remained.
Oh hey, I think I know what he was about to say! 8P
I don’t really have much to say about this chapter. While the last one focused on tying up loose ends from the previous episode, this one seems to focus more on setting up the conflicts for this episode, in the form of Margi and the set up for everything going on back at Tromba.
22: Clouds on the Horizon
I remember finding the gummi stuff really interesting. It was neat to see them used not as just a treat, but as a staple food item. It was also fun seeing how pokemon created them. And, of course, the special effects are linked back to the dungeons. With linking dungeon diving even closer to the local economy, it’s no wonder a lot of pokemon get involved with guild work.
Ah, and here’s our more formal introduction to imperials, if I remember correctly. I like the way this bit of lore was introduced in comparison to some earlier bits, primarily because it came up naturally within the story itself, through the dialogue.
Further down was a small hut with a Delibird at the counter cheerily advertising places to store extra items, taking special care to point out the extra free spaces for higher-ranked members of the local guild.
A simple, but effective way of integrating that bit of game mechanics into story.
"Heh heh. That's because Poké's made from copper and aluminum here," the chameleon chortled. "Not every Pokémon can see it like you or I can, but it shows in the way the sun shines purplish off of it!"
This was a fun little way to introduce differences in vision between pokemon. It kind of makes me wonder if I should take pause and try to keep a closer eye on descriptions to see if different colors and other sensory differences come up, but I probably won’t remember. Still, more neat little worldbuilding tidbits.
Also the stuff about aluminum is cool, and helps sell the futuristic-fantasy feeling your fic gives. It vaguely reminds me of an rpg series I like, but… I’ll avoid getting into that since the nature of that is a spoiler.
Ah yes, here comes the running gag of scout the sentret. Good to see you again, buddy.
Don’t really have anything else to say on this chapter so I’ll just move on.
23: Bête Noire
Like I briefly touched on for 22, I like the inclusion of the fact that metal is both hard to come by and hard to work with. It works well with the lower-tech fantasy setting.
Of course a very foresty setting like this would be guarded by a Pokemon like celebi. 8P
Ahead of her was a small dragon with blue and magenta scales lugging a satchel on his back, his head and back covered in black feathers
Heh, I had to do a double-take and look up a picture of deino here because… I never noticed the magenta patches before. I also never thought of the black part as feathers, but… wow that makes a lot of sense.
Out of all the times to be mistaken for a wingull, this is one of the better ones. Daraen is adorable. Protect this child.
And with maman saying a demon showed up in town, a lot of them have been avoiding going out
I do remember finding this a bit odd, considering this was only their… third day there, I think? And they grabbed the mission on their second day there iirc. I’m sure word travels fast among the Marked, but it just feels a bit weird, saying that he needs help because the others aren’t getting out when, at the time he posted it, news would have just been spreading.
Daraen continues to be adorable with the image of him creating his substitutes. Probably one of my favorite one-off characters as of this point in the story tbh.
The Deino pushed three of the dolls back into his bag and took one of the remaining two up with his mouth before setting off for one end of the field.
Syntax error? I’m pretty sure there should be a quotation mark before “isn’t” unless there is an unusual grammar rule wrt ellipses that I don’t know about.
Despite the fact that they're not totally in the right and can feel a bit close-minded at times (not that their non-marked counterparts aren’t close-minded at times too)… I like that the marked have such a close, tight-knit community. When they're as looked down upon as they are by the general public, I imagine they have to look out for each other.
And, of course, the fun and games couldn't last forever. And we get a bit more info on the history of the world. Though how accurate it is… don't know yet. Look forward to finding out.
Anyways, this chapter leads right into the episode’s conflict, which I’ll talk about more at the end of 24. It’s also the chapter where Crom starts to be relevant again, what with Hatteras’ plan. I believe you said somewhere that he originally wasn’t going to be super involved with the plot, but I for one am glad he gets to be more active. The role he and his dad play in the fic works very well!
24: Cri de Coeur
Before I start reviewing this chapter… mini confession: in my reread, I accidentally read 25 first. I kept thinking. “Man, I could have sworn there was another scene with Margi before this, what’s up?” Then I get to the end and go “wait… there’s supposed to be 6 chapters this episode. ...I skipped one, didn’t I?”
Anyways, we once again get a little bit of drip-fed history wrt the guildhouse through dialogue and it works really well.
Marely, you're not helping. Look, you're scaring the child!
Eh?" Marley replied, tilting an ear back in puzzlement. "Of course not!"
It wouldn't? That seemed strange to Crom and drew a puzzled head tilt.
The wording is a bit weird here, like there's a line missing or like there was an edit to Marelys words. "It wouldn’t" just seems kind of weird in response to “Of course not” in this case.
Darn it, Elty! This is why we can't have nice things!
Why, a particularly mean-spirited Pokémon could just tear up the bridge by pulling out the pegs on this end end!
You know, if this had been published just a year later, I would have thought the "space between world's" was ultra space. It would make some sense since other legendary Pokemon can be found there. As it is, though, hm… No matter. This chapter did a good job of wrapping up the episode's conflict, giving us a bit more information on the Marked’s lore, as well as giving the satisfaction of someone changing their mind, even if only a little, due to Pleo. We can see just how deeply ingrained the fear of the protectors is with this part though. Like, dang. No one else can recognize Pleo as a protector on this island except the Marked, who probably all have at least an idea of what all the protectors look like, do to their teachings.
25: Moving Targets
Nida followed suit as Pleo quickly hopped up onto the railing with his two passengers and spread his wings to take flight, only to see the Ursaring bearing down on them.
Very minor nitpick here, but using “without thinking” twice in a row comes off as repetitive. Unless that was your intention, using something else might have been better.
As the little Protector felt himself stagger and struggle in the air, He heard Elty yelp as the dog's hindquarters dangled precariously in the air,
Basically the same thing here. The issue could probably be solved in this case by cutting the first instance of “in the air”
Ah, that was an intense getaway, I’d say! It was hard to stop and take notes because of everything that was happening!.
And that final scene, I can’t help but imagine the song that plays when you depart Outset Island from The Wind Waker when reading it.
Final thoughts on this episode:
I really liked it! We got bits and bobs of plot-important information, learning a bit more about the Marked along the way. I very much appreciate that Margi helped out the heroes in their time of need. She does have a point, after all. A free Pleo is much less dangerous than a Pleo forced to do the companies bidding. Having her think critically helps make her feel more realistic.
There were also a lot of fun worldbuilding tidbits in this section. We get to see just how different the islands can be from each other, and we get to see things like how gummies work in your world. We also get to see Crom do more than just sit at home and mope, which is nice. All in all, a fun episode.
Now, I know that there’s a special episode next, but I’ll likely cover it by itself a little bit later. So… next time, the special episode, and then I’ll be back for episode 6. Hopefully in a much more reasonable amount of time. Until then, take care!
Much to Tegu's horror, the 'Salandit', if it could be called that, was a stick-limbed scrawl that looked more like some sort of googly-eyed duck. The Poison-Type's jaw flopped open with shock as the others with him tried their hardest to stifle their laughter.
A crash rang out, followed by the sound of a distant scream as Hess looked off to see a Garbodor pinwheeling through the air before falling below the rooflines.
smh beatrix doesn't believe in the heart of the cards™.
I don't have much to say about this chapter on the whole because it mostly felt like a bunch of transitional scenes. Not a whole lot is done to move the plot forward here, it's just showing us where most of the major players are and setting up what (I assume) is the attempt to rescue the stragglers from the island while the stragglers try to break out from said island. There's always the possibility of a surprise, but given you've already had Team Traveller befriend a pack of ferals and use that friendship to escape an island... so I don't see you recycling that but with an icy, Empire flavor. Sorry if it's underwhelming, but I'm just in a "Waiting to see where this goes" mode. @_@
Oh wow, I'd forgotten that this was literally Pleo's first time seeing Ander since way back then! He's missed out on seeing a lot of character development.
The butterfly flew off, leaving Nagant to cast her gaze out the window down towards a canal that passed by the base of the stadium. The Clawitzer neared the window, before turning back towards Cabot, Berecien, and Niilo as they uneasily pawed at the ground.
"Patch yourselves up," she barked. "If you're in any condition to run afterwards, I want you on that bird's tail as well!"
Oh! I was thinking they'd be left behind here at the capitol, but if they'll be giving chase, maybe there'll be a chance for them to run into Pleo again after all...
She'd gone through enough grief just tracking down the Protector for the Empire, and if a bunch of peasants from across Anyilla thought they could just steal it away from her, she'd need to remind them of how wrong they were. If they were going to steal away the hope of a generation for the Empire, they'd have to first pry it from her cold, dead claws.
I like the moments like this that show how an antagonist like Nagant is really a pretty heroically-minded character who just happens to be on the opposite side of our heroes.
"Meh, it's my job to complete the mission, which in this case means winning," Ketu said. "I couldn't care less if an egg or two gets broken along the way. It certainly never made me feel anything."
The Steel-Type caught himself, his gaze falling upon the form of a Growlithe among the Kabutops' passengers. Hess blinked, realizing that it was none other than his ship-burner who'd gone missing after Nagant's attack on Orleigh, and trained a scrutinizing eye on the fire dog.
"Eh?! Eltenios?!" he cried. "What are you doing here? I thought you got lost at sea earlier!"
The Scyther's eyes flickered before the mantis pitched faceforward into the ground, the back of his head sporting cracks that dribbled yellowish fluid, much to Nida's horror.
… only for the sign to fall on him and his companions, sending his leafy missile sailing off into a wall. The group watched as the trio of guards groped about in a stunned daze, Elty sporting a grin until he noticed himself at the slack-jawed center of attention of his teammates.
"Oh come on! We were already in trouble with the law here! What's wrong with a little property damage?"
The Aggron turned and went wide-eyed as a blue blur moved onto the roof and launched him back with a tackle that sprayed water all around the rooftop, pitching him over the opposite edge of the roof with a startled shout followed by a loud crash. Team Traveller brushed away droplets from their eyes, turning back towards the blur only for their blood to run cold at the sight of an uncomfortably familiar Samurott glaring back at them.
"No worries, Captain!" Elty barked. "A good old-fashioned headbutt would put him down for the count!"
Elty's words at once threw his nearby teammates into wide-eyed alarm, only for them to catch him turning to face them and pawing impatiently at the ground. Nida, Pleo, and their companions watched warily as the Puppy Pokémon turned back to face the Aggron, giving a playful wag of his tail.
The docks in the visitor's district resounded with the patter of feet against wood as Team Traveller bounded along, forcing their way past sailors along the way with yelps and irritated shouts. The group carried on until they caught the sight of a schooner sporting white sails with waterspout patterns, scrambling up a lowered gangplank as all eyes on the deck turned stunned to the newfound arrivals.
From his place aboard the deck, Pleo watched as a few of the ships began to list and smolder, only for a loud blast and shrieks to ring out nearby, his sight catching a Trumbeak keeling over and slumping to the deck from the aftereffects of a crackling thunderbolt. The young Lugia blanched and looked over at the felled Trumbeak, prompting Crom and Elty to try and snap him back to attention.
This part took me a few passes to figured out what was going on. Since Pleo is watching the other ships when he notices the Trumbeak, at first I thought he was like, disturbed by the collateral damage of the fight. But now I think the Trumbeak might have been part of their own crew, and he's shocked by an ally taking a hit like that?
Pleo watched as the eyes of the nearby sailors shrunk to pins at the mention of seafire and looked up as a Magmar on an overlooking wall from above pushed over a large stone cauldron and breathed fire on it. Pleo saw embers drip down from the lid of the cauldron, the seabird watching as Crom and Elty's faces contorted into horrified grimaces. The Lugia looked up unervedly, and watched as a mass of burning fluid dumped out of the cauldron and fell for the deck before reflexively batting his wings out.
The Lugia paused, realizing slowly that the shouts were coming from behind him and fading away. Pleo cracked his eyes open and looked back to see the walls of the harbor behind the Siglo Swellow, fire dancing on the sea's surface just behind them… along with the deckhands all around him staring at him with slack-jawed silence.
Oh nice, the way this was worded, I legit thought that they'd been hit, just like Pleo thought! But no, he actually managed to deflect it, even without going Avatar State.
The Huntail hesitated a moment, wondering if the Protector was truly as gone as his superior presumed. A yelp caught the fish's attention, prompting him to cast a glance at Nagant fighting a visibly wide-eyed Aggron and then back at the approaching guards. They were in enemy territory, and it appeared the Imps wouldn't shy away from force to try and extract information… for the sake of the mission, it really was best to just cut and run while they could.
This kind of made me double take. What reason does the Huntail have to question his superior? Pleo's gone, Lyn's pissed off, and they're surrounded by enemies. Lyn's retreat order is 100% the best plan here, and this is the worst time to question him!
The Clawitzer slackened her grip, allowing Hess to fall to the ground and hide his head under his claws as she turned back. Much to her aggravation, she noticed her Samurott foe slinking off at the rear of a large group of Pokémon in blue sun scarves, prompting her to hiss in rage and jet off after him.
Nagant! I expected better of you than to be so easily distracted and let your prisoner get away! (Buuuut... I guess in her defense, capturing a Company captain would have been a way better prize than some two-bit pirate.)
The Aggron and his underlings quickly slipped off into the darkness of the alley as the indigo-scarved Pokémon neared Nagant's fainted body. From further down the canal, Lyn peered back over his shoulder at the scene, slowing a moment as he wondered whether the steely oaf might know something useful...
"… Nah," he harrumphed, before turning back and shaking his head. "It wouldn't be worth the trouble."
As quiet began to return to the canals of Tidemill Central, the interior of the courtroom in Tidemill West began to come alive with activity as it filled with Pokémon. There, in front of the doorway, a Fletchinder, Misdreavus, and Pikachu traded uneasy looks with one another, eyeing hallways expectantly only to time and time again find them empty of faces they'd expected to come in at any moment.
"I hope you've learned a lesson from this, Fletchinder. If you're going around wildly accusing others of wrongdoing, you'd best have proof to back it up!" Coil snarled. "Perhaps a stint being disbarred from the court will set you straight! I'm sure you can use your bluffing for a more appropriate line of work like hustling cards in a tavern!"
Daaaaang, even after seeing all the obvious signs of his guilt throughout the past few chapters, this bit even had me doubting that they'd manage to get him!
"You idiots! Who do you think has been keeping this Empire together?!" the Magnezone screeched. "Who do you think has allowed the Empire to keep up with those square-necks?! That airhead currently sitting on the throne?!"
"Er… there was a schooner in the distance with white sails just a few minutes ago that was heading south around the time smoke started coming from the harbor," the moth offered. "I think that's still it over the horizon?"
Ander stared wordlessly at the scene for a long moment. Every plume, every quill of the so-called Protector gave off an aura of imminent danger… and yet in spite of it, the bird seemed to be so wrapped up with an innocent, childish longing for companionship. The Scyther shook his head, wondering just how much the ancients had failed to document about the demons they warred with, before turning back warily to his Kabutops counterpart.
aaaaaa, this reminded me just how badly I wanna find out more about the Marked's lore for just what the Legendaries did to the old world.
Aaaaaand at last the Tromba gang is all reunited! No more Siglo Swellow stuck trailing behind Team Traveller all the time! I don't have a clue how they're gonna manage to throw off the massive target that they've currently got on their backs, but I imagine they're gonna have to figure something out other than running and hiding. The world's small enough that it seems like hiding never works out for long. They gotta find some way to put an end to it... I suppose time will tell if they end up finding any leads!
