#az + terapagos

[agentc0rn]

Drifting memories

[abib918]

Terapagos, the Ultimate Weapon, and a 9am Crack Theory.

hi pokémon tumblr community. i need to know if this is something or if i've just absolutely gone insane. I wrote this at 9am after consuming nothing but coffee so it's a real possibility.

may i present my case:

See this thing? The Ultimate Weapon from Pokémon XY. Weird material for it to be made out of! I wonder if we'll see anything like it again -- a white, crystalline material -- perhaps in a nearby region--

Oh. Huh!

Well that's weird! Could just be a similar asset, though. Gamefreak and Pokémon aren't known for their forward thinking, so, alright.

But hang on. Wasn't there something that Xerosic said, after you push the button, and watch the Weapon open up?

Xerosic: “Did you see? The ultimate weapon is reborn! The poisonous flower has bloomed!”

Y'know that's a funny thing to say because in Scarlet and Violet, I just feel like there was a Pokémon, tied to the Terastal Phenomenon and Area Zero, that also happened to look like a poisonous flower. What an oddly specific thing to say-

“…It can latch onto walls to disguise itself as a plant. Should Glimmora sense danger, it will open all its petals to unleash a beam attack in retaliation. Glimmora's petals are filled with crystallized poison.” ( Bulbapedia, Glimmora Biology )

HUH!

But how could AZ possibly get his hands on crystals, from the bottom of a crater no one was able to reach until the 19th century?

Oh buddy boy do I have something for you.

Terapago’s dex entry says that it used to be quite plentiful before tectonic plate shifts. While this was even before AZ’s time ( shocker, i know ) – this means that more existed around Paldea before they went “extinct” – and could have even extended out into the neighboring landmass that is Kalos! You think those little guys cared about BORDERS? HELL NO.

“Terapagos inhabited the Paldea region in a bygone era. It was thought that this species went extinct, with it said to have been caught up in seismic shifts that occurred about 2,000,000 years ago.” ( Bulbapedia, Terapagos Biology )

Kalos and Paldea aren't that far from each other, if we're going off of real world France and Iberian Peninsula.

SO THIS MEANS: If there were Tera Crystals still in the ground from past Terapagos(es?) inhabiting what would become Kalos, their natural habitat extending Beyond Paldea--

AZ could've used Tera Crystals to build the Weapon, explaining the similarities in crystals and all the funny little coincidences.

( Also it would tie 'Pagos to Mega Evos and Deoxys, as if the little fucker needs to cause more shenanigans )

Anyway. Idk if this is even anything but take it for what it's worth lmao. I had fun with it.

[littleeyesofpallas]

behold, for my idiocy knows no bounds! a really shitty attempt to "organize" my thoughts from pokemon day as something a little more visual. my spacial organization is real bad tho so good luck tring to actually follow any of this shit

ah crud i only just realized i forgot to link the Parfum Palace gardens to Reshiram and Zekrom because of the statues and the three different sets of "twin kings": AZ and his brother, Heroes of Truth and Ideal, and the heroes of Galar... maybe i'll go back in to fix that later.... i'm late for work as is...

Nuts... I forgot to put terapagos's eye by the new Z-A organization logo too

[csolarstorm]

Aaah! It's an A!

Let's forget about the Z in Legends: Z-A for a moment. What is this, ay? It's tall, green, pointy, and the bottom of it looks like veins on a plant.

My guess? It's the Pokemon version of Yggdrasil, or to be more general, the Tree of Life archetype. In many myths this is the original tree, the origin of life, and the "A" at the beginning of the alphabet.

Pokemon recently represented the similarly archetypal World Turtle with Terapagos, and the interesting thing is that some cultures have a World Turtle AND a Tree of Life. Take a look at the Tree of Life page - it's interesting.

Screenshot From: Reddit

To illustrate this point, there is a tree at the Cave of Origin in Sootopolis that grew from seeds that AZ brought to Hoenn. Everyone rightfully talks about the Eternal Floette flower underneath the tree, but nobody talks about the tree itself, planted at the Cave of Origin. Like some kind of origin tree.

X and Y are most known for its Norse inspiration since Xerneas, Yveltal, and all three of Zygarde are based on creatures that live in Yggdrasil. But interestingly, OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire return to the Hebrew symbolism of Gen 3, building upon it with themes of beginning and end. Groudon, Kyogre, and Rayquaza take some inspiration from the Biblical "chaos monsters" Behemoth and Leviathan the making the Omega and Alpha symbolism pretty fair.

So if there are Tree of Life myths that this hypothetical Pokemon takes from, I'm guessing it will take from Norse and Hebrew myth as well, both Yggdrasil and the Tree of Knowledge. In fact, according to Bulbapedia AZ and the Eternal Flower may be based on the legend of the Wandering Jew, or "Eternal Jew". It probably is, since the Wandering Jew plants (now known as inch plants or spiderwort) look like this:

Source: Gardening Know How

I'd also like to point out that Omega and Alpha are just the Greek version of Z and A, end to beginning As in, OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire already did the Z-A motif. This kind of synergy makes me hopeful that Legends Z-A will expand on the cultural and mythical themes of Gen 6.

Okay, but the tree at the Cave of Origin looks nothing like an A, aye? Well, the "tree" part of it doesn't, but that's just the symbol mean to suggest the Tree of Life.

And I think the actual Tree of Life Pokemon is

Source: Bulbapedia

Think about it: what is an "Eternal Flower"? Floette's flower isn't a part of it, so for AZ's Floette to have an Eternal Flower, one has to exist in the first place as a living, organic flower, which suggests that the Ultimate Weapon is alive in some way. And the Eternal Flower planted at the Cave of Origin can't be the one AZ's Floette holds, because it's actually planted there.

Many Tree of Life myths involve searches for immortality. That's why the archetype is called the "Tree of Life". AZ originally built the machine to grant immortality. That's probably where AZ gets his name: the "universal remedy" of alchemy, Azoth, closely related to the Philosopher's Stone. It was only afterward that AZ altered the machine to make it into a weapon.

Source: Bulbapedia

I'm definitely not the first person to say that the "A" looks like the Ultimate Weapon. Either the machine was built on top of the Tree of Life Pokemon, or it was built from single giant Eternal Flower that blossomed from the Tree of Life Pokemon.

Every letter in Gen 6 designates a Pokemon, so I'd be very surprised if "A" does not designate a Pokemon too. Wait...

Edit:

*bangs head against table* How did I not catch that?! Sometimes it's even used as the "middle" letter of the Greek Alphabet between Alpha and Omega!

What is the title of this game, a secret message or something? Z crossing into lambda making A? "End making middle into beginning..."?

[freelance-pokemon-ecologist]

Paldea’s Area Zero can be abbreviated “AZ”

The only other Pokémon that can be caught in the Underdepths that isn’t from Generation 9 (Gimmora line and Terapagos) is Carbink

The Legends game set in Kalos is called “Z-A”

[vincentcipherstrange]

As an XY enjoyer, I was holding out hope for new Kalos games rather than Unova remakes. And Apparently I was right to do so! Now with the new game announcement, it means some things to me and I have predictions/thoughts.

(more under the cut in case.... future spoilers)

1. It seems like it's set in the modern day, potentially not long before or after the originals. So We probably get to see more Sycamore. Which. Yes please. Gimme. I would like to see my boy.

2. If it's set not long after the originals, Potentially a Lysandre return. Or mention. There's no way he's DEAD dead. So they better do him justice. He got flubbed in the original games.

3. MORE KALOS LORE! FINALLY! 11/12 YEARS (when Legends ZA releases) AFTER XY PROPER!

4. The cancelled event Pokémon, AZ's Floette, might ACTUALLY be obtainable this time around! (Which also means the return of event mythicals like Volcanion, Hoopa, and Diancie)

4.5 which also means if you have Xerneas, Yveltal, and Zygarde from either the original games or the shinies from Go, USUM Ultra Wormholes, or SWSH Dynamax Adventures, they can probably be brought over!

5. Zygarde might be the big bad you have to defeat this time around, using Xerneas and Yveltal to stop them. Probably controlled by someone like Xerosic. (think like Ultra Necrozma in USUM, or Eternatus in SW/SH)

5.5 that being said, Xerneas and Yveltal may get new powered up forms (potentially Megas) as a boost to calm the rampaging Zygarde

6. Sycamore actually participates in Story Events with the player. Because he might feel bad for asking so much of them the first time. (It's a stretch but a Sycamore lover can dream. I want to see him be a badass like in the anime. Give him his Garchomp)

7. Team Flare might still be kicking around, though subdued a bit depending on how long after the originals it's been. Maybe some new faces in there. Malva is probably the one running things with Lysandre being MIA.

8. It might be revealed that Kalos and Paldea did have beef in the past, which is where Paldea's crater came from. Bringing Paldean pokemon into Kalos may strike up new dialogue. (If paldean 'mons can be transferred over, that is. If that's the case though Terapagos, Ogerpon, and the Sandwich Dragons are going to be nerfed. HARD. Especially the small Terastal Turtle.) (i wanna see Sycamore's reaction to a Clodsire or Terapagos. He'd love the little guys.)

9. New megas, but that's kinda obvious. I'm thinking some i want to see are going to be Rapidash, Talonflame, and the original Box Art Legends.

10. It may be revealed that Sycamore and Lysandre did have a little fling, if not a full on relationship before the weapon incident. They gave us Brassius and Hassel in SV. And implied one with ORAS Maxie and Archie. You know what we want, Gamefreak.

(bonus) 11. A Paldean character might appear for a side quest.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm holding out hope. But just the fact we're getting more Kalos stuff at all is enough to make me happy. It gets glossed over far too much.

[blueikeproductions]

So Pokémon Legends ZA was announced and it led me to wonder, what’s the anime gonna do. We got the Arceus Chronicles, but that was more of its own thing (semi disappointingly) than a true adaptation of the game.

So do we have Liko and Terapagos meet AZ and his Florette because Turtles in Time shenanigans or do we get what fans have been begging for on top of Pokemon Z, the triumphant return of Ash-Greninja as he, Zygarde, Ash, Clement, Serena and Bonnie reunite to halt the resurrection of the ancient war machine used in Kalos’ distant past, and THEY meet AZ and Florette.

Personally, I say an Ash chapter and Liko chapter could be ideal to keep it fair and involve both. The Liko chapter is first as she consoles a grieving AZ via Terapagos shenanigans and reunites him with his Florette, and so inspired by the empathetic girl, AZ sets to make things right, helping Ash and his friends shut down the war machine from 3,000 years ago and battle Team Rocket and assorted Team Flare remnants who were poking around with the gizmo. In this scenario we’d see AZ use whatever potential new Mega Evolved Pokemon would appear in the game alongside Ash-Greninja.

[doubleddenden]

Enough time has passed that I think I can do an accurate full scale review for Indigo Disk.

My initial first impressions review of 6/10 was spot on, even with the post game mechanics and additional story.

More under the cut, beware of major spoilers

Story

What's here is fine, but flawed. It is way too short, even with the extra doodads, and not enough time and energy went into it.

Since this is a continuation of Teal Mask, I was expecting to run into some of Kieran's former bullies or to meet a certain Pokémon on his team, or at least see more instances of him being a jerk to other students, but besides a couple of instances there's not really a lot going on here to build him up.

Same with Carmine. You battle her once and that's it. I was hoping to have some kind of introspection with her, maybe she's a victim of a Mean Girls scenario and that's why she became a tad bitchy, but at best she's just worried about her brother and along for the ride.

Terapagos is supposed to be the star of the DLC- literally named The Treasure of Area Zero, but he barely had screen time besides 1 very amazing boss battle. I fear this is another anime Zygarde situation.

Briar basically did nothing besides be a little reckless. Literally if she were removed from the plot, nothing of value would have been lost. She's essentially just a red herring they through out thinking they were clever for tricking us into thinking she was the big bad or at least a bit more important, but in actuality she was just a let down all around. I can't help but feel like they had something bigger planned but scrapped it.

Not to mention the loose ends still left behind regarding Area Zero and the book. Yes I did that extra scene, and honestly it just confuses me further, so I assume we have to wait until the "epilog" is released.

Still, a half assed "paradoxes are from other timelines" was the only answer we got about how Paradox Pokémon got to Area Zero before the time machine. Not the professor or someone else bootstrap looping by sending Pokémon to the past to purposely plant seeds to ensure they come to AZ, just a very tissue paper strength answer.

We still get nothing about the mysterious symbols, the strange metals, the crystal tree, nothing is really answered and it's probably just the result of a room of writers at Game Freak patting themselves on the back and saying "we like mystery :) we did good!" Well, sorry, no you didn't.

This gives me Lost vibes and The Promised Nederland vibes. The Promised Nederland vibes in the sense they built this amazing potential in the base game- season 1 of you will- filled with mystery and intrigue, but then tried to either ignore or half ass things in Season 2- The dlc. Lost comes into play because I honestly think they had no intention of truly explaining anything and had no real clear cut end game in mind except to get people hooked. Like I'm nor asking for a Legends Paldea where we explore the depths with Heath- okay I do want that but I'm not asking right now- I would have been very, very satisfied if there were at least more journals and entries or pages that explained things. As it is now, though, it just won't happen.

And maybe I'm wrong and the epilog will fix everything and give us the answers I seek, but I sincerely doubt it.

At least what's here is passable enough. I like the BBE4 and Drayton is a loveable piece of shit. I still hate that Lacey confirms Clay fucked though. No Elesa is not her mom, that's fake info.

I miss Carmine and Kieran and hate that they're just gone as of now.

BBQ quests

Tedious. Tedious and monotonous. I don't want to play multi-player and I don't have friends with Nintendo Online and DLC to play with, nor the bandwidth. Why am I being punished for that? The quests are fine but you have to do them for several fucking hours to get anything worth it out of the deal.

Coaches

I like the idea and love all the different interactions here and there. The rematch teams are updated, too, but unfortunately remain single battles, so they're pretty easy in comparison to the rest of Indigo Disk. I did have trouble with some after changing out my party for weaker pokemon, but it was never a critical danger moment except for Hassel.

I will say, I love the implications of some of the dialog. Tulip and the school nurse are just very lesbians for Dendra, Saguro and Kofu radiate General Armstrong and Sig handshake energy, and Geeta is trying to recruit everything with a pulse to join the Elite 4.

It's this level of heart I wish they bothered to put into the base DLC.

What I hate is that it costs so much to rotate them around to get gold borders. It's necessary to do something special apparently- but btw the last 3 slots are story locked until the Epilog drops. Yaya future content, boo withholding content.

Oh and they fixed Geeta's team. Her new ace is actually terrifying.

New Pokémon

Fantastic all around. Archaludon is fun af to use, Hydrapplin fixes what I dislike about Dipplin, the paradoxes are all neat, Terapagos's Stellar form is beautiful and powerful as hell, great all around.

Music

I think we're in Sonic territory where the quality of games goes down but the music just keeps getting better and better. No flaws, love the Unova love! It even fixes Ed Sheeran's Celestial imo- a song kinda shoved in that has nothing to do with Pokémon except maybe to trigger content flags on YouTube.

The remix by Toby Fox actually has elements of music from Scarlet and Violet, it's chill overall, and the lyrics actually sort of kinda have context now? Rinse and Repeat makes it sound relevant to the cycles of bullying and the paradox plots as a whole, and Kieran's spiral actually fits it. Overall a vast improvement.

Difficulty

Guys, it is refreshingly difficult. It's like a dip into Colosseum again with the strategies the BBE4 uses. Drayton actually beat me TWICE. I NEVER lose. The rest were easier, but still required a bit more thinking than "press A to win."

The only downside is that it is sort of a snowball effect. Initially it might be difficult to overcome, but you will gain levels very quickly, which of course diminishes challenge. I'm not joking when I say that the team I went in with, roughly late 60s to 70 by the time I caught them all, are now ALL level 100, which is the quickest I've ever gotten a completely fresh team to it.

Customization

I said it before but it's just lacking. The new uniforms look better than most of the others, come in more varieties, and I'll be honest? Feel less fetishy in the l*li and sh*ta direction. I'm still not completely satisfied but I can make it work. New hair still sucks but I do like the new Star glasses and uniform.

I'm just going to say it though, this was definitely a way to cut corners on customization and they should just let us dress how we want again. Too much limitation makes me look like everyone else playing the game. It was dumb but excusable this time, but it won't fly again in the future. Just saying.

Graphics and performance

Let's do it like this:

The good: graphics in some areas, when loaded in, genuinely look up to date and beautiful to look at. The tropical area, savanna, and under depths are very beautiful locations, the classrooms look extremely polished, lots of gorgeous visuals all around, and even older Pokémon have some updated visuals.

I'll also say the Terrarium is just better visually than Kitakami and Paldea.

The bad: performance still sucks ass and Nintendo, The Pokémon Company, and Game Freak should all be fucking ashamed for charging $95 for what is essentially a stuttering mess that struggles not to shit itself at times. Like the GAUL to leave in map flickering in the first cutscene meant to show you how beautiful and vast the Terarium is is astounding. Give back your Award for Excellence until you actually deserve it, you're no longer an indie company and it's time you behaved like it, Game Freak. Absolute shame on you. You've had over a year to fix this and still haven't.

World's richest franchise, people.

Overall

There's plenty to salvage here that makes it fun and engaging, but the same issues have yet to be fixed and the story just refuses to tie up some loose ends that NEEDED to be explored. It's also just CRIMINALLY short, and I actually took my time. What we got is okay but it's not the same quality of story we got for Arven or Team Star, and honestly I feel like it would have been better to save these characters for another game. They padded it out with tedious quests that just get annoying after a while and feel like a punishment, especially for single players.

While I love the idea of old style event Pokémon coming back, I hate that we have to wait to experience something that- heads up- is ALREADY IN THE GAME. That's just stupid imo and would have really helped keep things going.

So yeah, just barely passing at 6/10. Depending on the epilog, that may go between a 4 or 7.

[imthepunchlord]

So what’s your opinion on Scarlet and Violet’s endgame? I know the games were kinda the last nail in the coffin for modern Pokémon for you because of their state at release, but I have to admit everything in Area Zero was amazing.

Honestly, I'm still going to be hyped for Pokémon games, I am super intrigued with LZA, but it's just until I see quality improvement, I'm not going to buy them. Especially as they get pricier. Scarlet was fun but it shouldn't have been a 60 USD game by how it performed.

As for SV actual end/post game locked behind dlc, not so great by default. And I didn't buy it so I didn't play it. So I can't say how much I enjoyed the endgame.

In hindsight of SV dlc, I do wish they just had Terapagos and the other Paradox mons as SV's main post game, then the dlc covers the Four Treasures and the Loyal Three and the rest. From what I've seen of the dlc, they just seemed so removed from Area Zero, and they are incredibly removed as one takes you to another Japanese based region and to Unova, which if Pokeworld reflects ours, that's a far distance away from Paldea. Making the theme the secret of Area Zero seems very disconnected from the dlc setting. Plus, the Four Treasures are kinda randomly placed in Paldea, their set up is flexible enough to go anywhere. So maybe being dlc legendaries would've been better.

As for actual Area Zero, interesting place but sometimes it's brighter than it needs to be. I also would've liked confirmation that it was created by AZ's war machine, be a nice way to interconnect the world more.

[ladala99]

Reactions/Thoughts about Today's Pokemon Direct (Feb 2024)

First off: I was predicting a Johto remake over a Unova remake. Because LGPE counts as part of the remake cycle.

I also pre-made a bingo card, so I was paying attention for these things:

I was still setting up during the intro, so I didn't even process the Unown.

Plush in back! Check! (That was going to be obvious)

SV event is Tera Raids, no Mythical. Might still be coming?

Pokemon GO is a tie-in to Horizons with a couple of new species. Neat. No Gigantamax (honestly with how Raids are what Dynamax is based on, I'm not sure how that'll be introduced).

Legendary in Sleep!!!! (I actually play this game, so I'm excited.) I was tempted to put Mew or something as my Sleep prediction, but I thought that was too far-fetched this early and a Unova tie-in would be appropriate if there were Unova remakes. Wait... Johto beasts? Johto..?

Master's EX has Silver on spotlight! Check off the Johto character on spotlight in Master's EX slot! No Unova characters, it seems. We have Geeta, the Aether family, and Riley, which are from neither region. Two Johto things, though...

Cafe Remix has some Paldea Pokemon. I haven't played this game since it came out and every time I think about going back I remember I got stuck on a puzzle and I seemed to need to pay for a microtransaction to win so I just don't.

Unite I randomly guessed Terapagos and I was wrong. Lots of Ceruledge today.

This TCG thing appeals to me. Very much appeals to me. I played TCGO pretty much only logging in daily so I could open a pack every five days - the actual gameplay took way too long. Opening two packs every day with a shorter type of gameplay? Appeals very much. I am the target audience here.

Oh and exploring the artwork? Having the artwork actually designed to look good on the phone's screen? I am the target audience. I love this. I want this now.

Wait, Unown in this transition. Unown in the intro. Johto Beasts. Silver. We're getting Johto this year! I was right!

That font in the Confidential writing... reminds me of the Team Rocket Pokegear style in HGSS.

City design? Is this a spin-off actually?

There's an awful lot of Kalos Pokemon...

That's the Eiffel Tower type thing. It is Lumiose!?

It's a Legends title! And Z! In 2025!

I absolutely did not expect this. I expected something unexpected, which is why I put "No Legends Title" on my card, but I did not expect them to skip over Johto AND Unova to head straight to a Kalos revisit.

Z-A is the actual name. AZ's whole plot took place 3000 years ago, and this isn't 3000 years ago. By other people's saying when the Eiffel Tower went up, it's taking plaace more like 150 years ago, which is contemporary (within 30 or so years) of Legends: Arceus's real-world equivalent.

But Z-A might mean we go back in time further? Maybe? That'd be interesting. But as always, I can't get my hopes up too much.

The A definitely looks stylized like it's an actual Pokemon like Z is Zygarde, but it's not one we know. Mysterious.

2025 is a good sign. Though Legends: Arceus came out in January of the target year and it still seemed it could have used some polish. Not as bad as Scarlet/Violet, but it certainly looked worse than Sword/Shield and Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee. So I hope they release it when it's actually polished, not just functional. I hope to see trailers for it in next year's Pokemon Day Pokemon Presents, and its inclusion this year was only because there's no other real headline.

As for my Bingo card?

No Bingos.

[dreamdisk]

fun facts that stick in my brain: AZ mined terapagos's shell for the material that would be used to make the ultimate weapon. however, this mining resulted in many scattered shards, these shards would grow and become glimmet and glimmora.

[agentc0rn]

oh man...2 decades on earth...wow.

[unraveledgem]

because i think this is fun--what kind of relationship does ruri have with my other muses?

silva: they've been a total of once and it was just because they happened to stay at the same pokemon center for the light. he didn't notice anything odd about her and it was at the beginning of her runaway as it was in hoenn ... they had a few conversations, specifically about boreas and archel since they are fossils and he is always excited to see them! ... it was only after that when he realized something was up. in hindsight, he really should have noticed, but at the time the voice of the globe had gone completely silent when she was around. this is very unusual, it takes break speaking, sure, but never for longer than half an hour. it was half a day, maybe longer, of silence. he doesn't know if it was relared to SILVA, but it was on his list when he later learned she was from kalos.

terapagos: terapagos is the reason he got linked to the globe in the first place. he was one of the few in the team that actually got to directly SEE it, even touch the gem[which, in hindsight was a terrible idea], and he sometimes still sees it. though as time passed, it almost seems like terapagos has passed it's want to get ruri to come back ... and onto the globe wanting for ruri to find it. ruri was also the researcher to provide the indigo disk to the league. terapagos was the first stellar type he had met.

lysandre: lysandre leaves him on read. ruri is constantly sending access requests to go to kalos for research purposes, let it be to study the sundial, to ask if they have any research on zygarde, any carbink or diancie- this man was to harass lysandre labs so bad and has gotten into multiple calls and email threads that ultimate ended in 'hmm we'll think about it.' he's not going to stop, he wants into kalos. there is way too much research potential of stellars for him to just say aw darn guess i'll never go there ... his respect for lysandre has turned into bitter anger :')

colress: there isn't much here, but ruri actually reached out to him AFTER the whole unova disaster. mostly to ask why ... and also to ask him if he had any samples of kyurem or the swords or- really anything! they aren't business partners exactly, but they do hang out occasionally and drink coffee while not sleeping as they research their specific paths. plus ruri is just fascinated by colress and as he's seen the unovan's lab ... yeah of course he's going to use that resource. though it did cost him a bit, mostly because when they first had a chat, colress was very curious about this whole connection thing with the stellars. ruri was glad to share; in more ways that one.

rayquaza/loki: oh ruri has interacted with loki multiple times. ruri wants to ask them SO many questions; and frankly whenever they pass each other by ruri just runs up to them and starts yapping till they realize that loki is gone :( ... loki never really responds, just sighs and waits for ruri to not notice and walks away. as for the actual rayquaza form ... he only saw it during the events of emerald. he hasn't seen it since.

AZ: they've never directly interacted. that being said, ruri has read about the old king and wondered about the weapon he made. he'd like to take a closer look if it's ever found.

sycamore: ruri's only gateway into kalos that doesn't leave him on read ... and they both nerd out about basically everything. they often facecall and just have wonderfully fun conversations. ruri occasionally drops the fact that he really ... REALLY wants to go to kalos! though it's often repeated that darn! to do research in kalos, you have to be approved by lysandre labs, and anistar is difficult for anyone to get into ... aside from that, they're relationship is great! :)

raifort: ruri harasses the fuck out of raifort. like nonstop. they were close friends when ruri was still in the research team and moved to paldea ... but after the incident that harmless curiosity about her heritage and physical capabilities; turned into downright obsession with learning what it was. luckily, raifort is also curious, but even she won't lie that he's extremely unnerving to be around when it gets down to it and he's in his 'zone.'

zossie: he hasn't interacted with any ultra humans yet, zossie included.

ouutis: he has had a few interactions with the interpol agent, most as an escort when he has needed to go into the interpol's expansive archives. his relationship around interpol is ... positive, though it's only really because they think he'll eventually spill everything he's learned not only about the stellars but about area zero. ruri knows himself that he won't, but nonetheless area zero keeps trying and that means giving him resources that he is oh so happy to take.

sada: they were extremely close. best friends and intimate research partners close. sada was the first one to be invited to work alongside turo and sada and was seen as a valued asset to the team. he would be devastated if he ever learned that sada died, absolutely destroyed as she was one of the few people he grew close to at that time. there's a reason he was given the indigo disk to hold onto, despite what happened in the depths of area zero.

spinel: spinel is watching ruri like a hawk. he likes to tell the crystallographer that they're great friends!! but spinel is very much using him for learning more about the stellars and in turn anything he might know about terapagos. ruri goes along but never spills anything too deep. they do occasionally have a genuine interaction, but it's mostly the two just giggling while having hidden intentions about eachother.

giovanni: they've had one or two chats. happenstance to meet, nothing ended from it.

juniper: the occasional interaction that soon led to something a bit closer. they often discuss the possibility of origins--who could be a stellar, who probably isn't. these two are presently quite close and whenever ruri is more or less stumped, he usually goes to juniper. there is no filter between these two.

[agentc0rn]

These might be some of my top favorite pieces that I have done this year :)

[agentc0rn]

Lonely earth-bound monarch figures whose existences and legacies extend past the bounds of time and space.

[littleeyesofpallas]

Just spitballing some random pokethoughts...

Eternatus and the Darkest Day happened in Galar 3,000 year ago, and at the same time AZ made the Ultimate Weapon in Kalos, again 3,000 years ago.

And the two events lead to Devon co. studying Mega Evolution to develop Infinity Energy, and Macro Cosmos studying Dynamax and Power Spots to develop Rose's power plant. "Eternal" and "Infinite."

And the Eternatus power plant logo strongly resembles the new logo in the Z-A trailer.

And in Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire, the Infinity Energy was ultimately used to save the day by teleporting the Delta meteor into another universe. getting Mega Rayquaza to destroy the Delta meteor. And Eternatus fell to Earth on a meteorite (20,000 years ago).

Delta(Δ) being the mathematical variable for "Change," and obviously being a play on the Greek letter motif(ΩA). And of course Alpha and Omega as a pair are best known as the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet(and the biblical "Beginning and the End")

So, go figure, ΩA is a synonym with ZA, so the title ...Z-A can be understood as "(from)The End to The Beginning," the reverse reading of A-Z as "A to Z."

There are two kings who helped defeat Eternatus who apparently at some point shared a bloodline? (Did their descendents marry later, or were the two kings already related?) Tragically their bloodline produced the brothers Shieldbert and Swordward.

AZ was a former king of Kalos and is succeeded by a younger brother from whom Lysander is descended.

King Louis XIV was dubbed "le Roi Soleil":"the Sun King" and famously obsessed over sun motifs. His Palace of Versailles is the basis of the Parfum Palace in Kalos. The Parfum Palace was built by either AZ or one of his descendents.

The Parfum Palace garden has statues of Zekrom and Reshiram

Zekrom and Reshiram were split in two from their original united form by the Hero of Truth and the Hero of Ideals, forming Unova in the process.

The Twin Heroes built the Relic Castle in what is now the Resort Desert. The Relic Castle appears to have been built "at least 2,500 years ago".

Possibly also built the Abyssal Ruins? One castle dedicated to the sun and the desert, one to the dark and the watery depths?

The Relic Castle enshrines Volcorona, "The Sun Pokemon" said to have appeared at a time when ash blacked out the sky and saved people by acting as a replacement for the sun.

Eternatus' Darkest Day involved summoning dark clouds to black out the sky.

Alder, Champion of Unova, has a Volcorona as his signature pokemon, a backstory involving losing a pokemon and wandering the region in his grief, kind of like AZ, sans the immortality.

Alder also has a flaming mane-like hair not too dissimilar to Lysandre's.

Alder is the basis of an unspecified character design in Legends Arceus who appears to be a third, perhaps seminal or unifying factor in the Maxi/Archie ancestors' Diamond and Pearl clans. A Platinum clan? The Sinnoh people? Or just a unifier, a peace maker, a mentor, or a shared ancestor?

Cogita and Volo as members of the Sinnoh people have fixations on lore keeping/seeking. Something Cynthia sort of inherits

Cynthia is from Celestic Town in Sinnoh, where Drasna said she's from originally

Zinnia is a Dragon trainer and "lorekeeper" in ORAS

Celestic Town in DPPt has a shrine that uses the same model as the one in Ilex Forest for Celebi in HGSS

Terapagos is supposed to have an ability to alter or shift timelines, relating to the presence of the Paradox Pokemon

But Black City and White Forest also seem to exist as a kind of paradox around polar opposite futurism and primitivism