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jaggedjot · 8 months ago

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“Louis de Pointe du Lac. That's an interesting name.” “Louis of Pointe du Lac Plantation. My great-great-grandfather owned one. All that remains is the name.”

“And a sizable trust to oversee as a consequence. Capital accrued from plantations of sugar and the blood of men who looked like my great-grandfather but did not have his standing.”

When introducing himself to Daniel both in 1973 and in 2022, Louis alludes to the ways that the legacy of chattel slavery in the United States remains present through his life. The ramifications of this history will be explored further in his interviews; it is intrinsic to the racism that Louis describes experiencing, and it is built into the economic and cultural foundations of the societies that Louis has and continues to navigate through. The way that this subject is broached however, in both the past and present, specifically centres the relationship between slave plantations and Louis’ own affluence.

Daniel’s remark being prefaced by Louis offering to “Get the boy whatever he wants”, before carelessly pushing a platinum credit card between them, implicitly correlates Louis’ response with that ostentatious display of wealth. It is not an intentional association made by the characters, and Louis immediately downplays the link when he recognises it (“All that remains is the name.”). Given his reaction, it seems likely that Louis did not talk about this topic during his subsequent interview with Daniel, though, again, that does not mean it would have had no bearing on other matters discussed. By contrast in the present day, Louis broaches the subject himself and fairly openly acknowledges the correlation. It was a slave plantation and the exploitation of enslaved people that created the sizeable trust that paid for the house and lifestyle that Louis and his family enjoyed. While Louis does not state it directly, the unavoidable implication of Louis clarifying that his great-grandfather was black and had a different social status to that of slaves (“[…] the blood of men who looked like my great-grandfather but did not have his standing.”) is that several generations of Louis’ black relatives have, at least indirectly, financially profited from chattel slavery. It is unlikely that this wealth was all inherited after the fact, considering that the abolition of slavery in the United States occurred only a couple of decades before Louis was born. These pieces of information seem to contradict then the implicit suggestion of Louis’ earlier explanation in 1973, that the only direct bearing the de Pointe du Lac plantation has had on his life is a shared name.

Both the dismissal and the acknowledgement are characteristic of how Louis describes the past; factual as a basic statement but carrying additional implications whose accuracy is more questionable and or left carefully unexamined. This is a rhetorical device that aids Louis in maintaining control of the narrative and its meanings while avoiding, as much as he can, outright lies. While Louis does view Daniel as a necessity for him to revisit his story, it needs to be stated that this does not prevent Louis from consciously and unconsciously tailoring it for his audience. It is possible that Louis only acknowledges the subject at all in the second interview because he is aware that Daniel has likely done some background research on his family. Considering how insensitive to racial issues Daniel can be, as well as his deliberately combative and contrarian approach to interviewing, it may be that this is a subject that Louis does not want to explore with Daniel specifically; it is perhaps notable that the penthouse Louis shares with Armand contains at least two pieces of art (Slave Auction by Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Transformation by Ron Bechet) which are about chattel slavery. Regardless of the reason for Louis’ selectivity, this context continues to hover on the periphery of Louis’ story, adding additional layers of meaning to the events that follow.

It contextualises the contradictory feelings Louis has about his work as a landlord and pimp, roles that may step outside of the shadow of sugarcane and slavery but are only made possible through investing the profits of them. When Louis confesses to the ways he treats his workers, tellingly he invokes plantation imagery with “[…] I lie to myself, saying I'm giving them a roof and food and dollar bills in they pocket, but I look in the mirror, I know what I am; the big man in the big house, stuffing cotton in my ears so I can't hear their cries.”. This conflict then deepens the resentment Louis has towards his family for criticising how he provides for them, with Paul being the only member who even entertains the idea that they should not spend the money at all (“We should tithe that o'er to St. Augustine's 'fore this house falls in on us.”). Whereas the family judges Louis for connecting them to an industry they view as sinful and lacking respectability, contrasting it to the seemingly fondly remembered family plantation (“Daddy was here, we'd still be in sugar cane.”), Louis is troubled by the exploitative nature of that work and capitalism as a whole. Yet there are also times when Louis exhibits pride towards his business dealings (“And I was now the owner of the brightest club in the district. My club, my rules. […] It was everything I had ever wanted or wished for. […] I made a mountain of money, enough to retire and be buried like a pharaoh.”). This could be suggested to be partly because Louis has moved away from the legacy of his family’s past to create something that he can try to believe is helping his, primarily black, workers (“I paid the staff better, paid the band better, all the while helping those who had been with me down the block to better themselves.”).

Most significantly of all, this context adds an additional lens through which Louis and the audience can examine some of the overarching existential ideas that Louis has been grappling with throughout his life, and that the second interview brings to the forefront. How does the past continue to define our present? Can we be considered in any way culpable for the actions of others? What reparations can we make for the harm, deliberate and unintentional, that we do? The open-ended way that Louis approaches the link between his inherited wealth and chattel slavery, as well as the subsequent ways that these have shaped his life, is reflective of those unanswered questions. Louis is desperately trying to find, if not a definitive answer to these philosophical quandaries, an insight that can give his existence purpose and direction. It is vital to Louis that his experiences offer some greater lesson (“That's the purpose. Our book must be a warning as much as anything.”), and ideally one that he can prove that he has already learnt. The different ways that Louis approaches the subject in 1973 and 2022 then reflect how he is revaluating the past and himself (“The passage of time and the frailties that accompany it have provided me perspective.”), but despite this, critically and symbolically, Louis still does not seem to have come to any conclusions.

#one of the worst things that I think can happen to art is for its nuances and complexities to be dulled and sanded away #because of others inability or refusal to engage with them #I wanted to write about these lines and specifically the one in the first episode #because they are great examples of how much depth is contained in the writing #how complex a person Louis is #as well as Louis' wonderful ability to casually throw a line in that we then think about for days #I have in fact been writing this analysis over the course of two weeks #because I have accepted that I will never get my analysis done before season two #(actually it makes me feel slightly ill when I think about it)#but at least this thousand plus word analysis is about a couple lines of dialogue instead of just one #that may be progress #anyway racists DNI #Louis de Pointe du Lac #Interview with the Vampire #Vampterview #Jagged Jottings

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melonthesprigatito · 1 year ago

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Before Legends Arceus came out (so, two years ago whoops) I started coming up with my own Hisuian Ancestor and I spent a lot of time brainstorming (cough, cough daydreaming) about a hypothetical scenario of what their encounter would be like in the actual game. I tried to make it realistic as possible by making it seem like an actual event that could happen in the game, and the one thing I have to say is that it serves as the obligatory "Spooky Encounter" that's been in pretty much every Pokémon game since the Old Chateau.

I'm not going to tell you which character is the descendant of this ancestor just yet, because the story is better if you don't immediately know what's going on. All I can say is that this ancestor is the ancestor of a Gen 7 character.

The quest is intended to be more of a post game thing because it eventually leads into an Ultra Beast catching quest involving the space time distortions (which isn't the main focus, more of a bonus quest really). Think of it as a second update story quest like the Daybreak Update. I'm just going to call this entire thing the Nightfall Update I guess.

WARNING: SUPER LONG POST, FULL OF PLOT SUMMARY, HEADCANONS AND ART (Uh.... Don't read the post tags before clicking the blue read more button pretty please. Kinda spoilery

Update (2nd November 2024) : This is a full fanfic now! I'd recommend reading that before reading this post because it's basically massive spoilers. Like, recaps the entire story spoilers because I used this post to make that fic

To start the story quest you have to buy a special charm called the Otherworldly Charm from Lucille in Jubilife Village. Item description: ("A Mysterious charm made of an unknown material, discovered in Obsidian Fieldlands. It bears an inscription of a six pointed star. Perhaps something will happen if you keep it around.") Why does she have this? Oh, she just found it lying out there in the field and thought it looked neat. Someone must have dropped it.

After you complete your expedition for the day, a short cutscene will occur. A random merchant from the Ginkgo Guild is making his way though the forest when he suddenly hears a noise behind him. He looks around, but it's completely silent.

All of a sudden the merchant gets ambushed by the Miss Fortune Sisters. Unable to defend himself, he has no choice but to drop his goods and run. The bandits laugh among themselves at the successful robbery. They're still pissed that their scheme to steal the Origin Ore went up in smoke and they're just SOOO frustrated that the Player (in my case Akari) keeps absolutely destroying them in battle so this ambush was a morale boost for them.

Suddenly they hear a noise. Clover suspects it's another poor defenceless merchant unfortunate enough to cross paths with them, about to be robbed blind. A mysterious hooded, deathly pale figure with glowing eyes watches them from the treeline. The bandits are unnerved but launch into their motto anyway, because they're idiots, but become highly offended when the figure doesn't respond or show any sign of emotion at all. How dare they not acknowledge their perfectly rehearsed intro that strikes fear into people's hearts?! Coin says "Forget this, let's just rob them!" and lunges at the ghostly figure and she instantly gets hit with a blast of lightning coming from the figure's hand.

The screen goes black and it cuts to the beginning of the quest.

Quest [Insert Number Here Because I Forgot How Many Quests Are In This Game]: The Witch of the Woods

The sidequest continues when you talk to Ginter from the Ginkgo Guild. He is upset because some of the guild's merchants have been suffering from an increased number of attacks from bandits and supplies in the village have started mysteriously vanishing. At the same time, people have spotted a mysterious pale figure sneaking about Jubilife Village in the dead of night, stealing items such as food and clothing and rumours have started to spread around that it might be the evil witch that supposedly lives in a dark cave, deep in the woods at the edge of the Obsidian Fields which has gotten everyone in a panic because they're afraid that the witch might go after their children next.

Ginter doesn't believe in witches so he suspects that this supposed witch might be behind the thefts of the Ginkgo Guild stock, so he wants the player to look into the rumours and put a stop to them. At this point Zisu approaches them because she's heard ALL about this wicked witch and is really eager to join the investigation. As the Captain of the Security Corps, she feels that it's her duty to defend Jubilife Village from any threat so she wants to look into the rumours about this supposed witch so she can come up with a plan to defend the village from them if she needs to.

Current objective: Investigate the rumours in Jubilife Village (I'm using these quest objectives as a way to break up the giant wall of text. I can't remeember if the quest objective does update as you progress because I haven't played in months but whatever)

So Zisu tags along with the player and they start asking around Jubilife Village about the witch to gain more insight into the rumours. Several people recount different bits of information, but the most damning evidence is a tale from one farmer in particular who tells them a story about how one night when he was working in the fields, a big hole opened up in the sky, and what came out of it was this inhumanly pale woman with glowing eyes that spoke in a language he didn't understand. The farmer had the everloving crap scared out of him because he was convinced that this woman was an evil being that emerged from the underworld (a kid friendly way of saying that he thought it was a demon from hell) so he gathered some of the other villagers and they chased the witch off into Necro Forest.

Zisu is excited because "Sweet! Now we have enough evidence! Let's go investigate that forest then!"

Current objective: Head to the Necro Forest, north of the Obsidian Fieldands

What happens next is an escort mission where the player has to take Zisu across the Obsidian Fieldlands by fending off any wild Pokémon to a new area unlocked exclusively by this quest called the Necro Forest (Eterna Forest in the modern day) which is filled with Ghost Types. The background music is the Night Time Field theme no matter what time of day it is, or maybe a remix of the Old Chateau theme.

Later the Miss Fortune Bandits are encountered in the Necro Forest and they're running for their lives as they crash into Akari Barry Style (Charm dragging a paralysed Coin behind her). Charm is immediately aggressive but resists the temptation to battle Akari, especially because she's accompanied by the head of the Security Corps. Zisu asks what happened to Coin, and Clover freaks out about a witch in the woods that casted a lightning spell on Coin.

Akari wants to help Coin but the other two bandits are vehemently opposed to accepting help from some "Galaxy grunts." So Zisu purposefully drops a Cheri Berry on the ground and is like "Oh noooo, I dropped my berry! It would be a shame if it got stolen by bandits!" and Clover begrudgingly "steals" it, and the flee the scene, saying that you'd have to be stupid to go after the witch.

Eventually the Player and Zisu reach the cave which is supposedly the witch's home and at first Zisu doesn't want to go in because she's been pretty spooked the whole time in the forest, then she tries to play it off like she's not scared at all "What? I'm not f-f-frightened or anything! Let's just go!" then she dashes into the cave.

Current objective: Explore the Necro Cavern!

There is no cave in modern day Eterna Forest. The idea is that the land was dug into and smoothed out in order to build the Old Chateau on top of it. Its a small cave with a suspicious lack of Pokémon inside. The music is the cave theme that only appeared in the cave with the torches that you pass though with Ingo. I dunno, I just think that theme should have played in more than one location.

At the end of the cave, they discover an open chamber filled with signs that it's been lived in, such as scraps of food and clothing lying everywhere as well as a makeshift bed on the floor. Zisu finds the stolen merchandise in the far end of the chamber and runs towards it, while the player notices some weird looking metal things lying in the corner. Zisu comes screaming in the opposite direction "IT'S HER! IT'S THE WITCH!" and immediately uses the player as a human shield. The player turns to see a pair of glowing eyes in the darkness, orange pupils with silvery blue irises. As well as the eyes, she has weirdly pale blue skin and she's wearing a stolen dark green torn cloak over some sort of dirty grey and blue futuristic clothing. Her hair is an absolute mess, riddled with sticks and leaves and she has sun burns all over her face.

All in all, she does look like some sort of evil forest witch, and she's started to freak out about the intruders, showing a particularly negative reaction to Zisu in particular and Akari gets dragged into a Pokémon battle. The witch sends out a Poipole aka a Pokémon that no-one in Hisui has ever seen before, and honestly if the player has any Psychic or Ground Types it gets defeated very easily.

After the battle, the witch is still freaking out, but now she just seems more terrified and upset. She quickly grabs a stick and starts brandishing it at Zisu, trying to scare her off. Zisu squeals like a little girl because she thinks the witch is waving some sort of magic wand at them but Akari puts herself between her and the witch and tries to diffuse the situation.

Nothing seems to be working until Akari has the idea to show her the Otherworldly Charm in case it belongs to her because the charm resembles the other strange metallic objects in the cave.

Akari holds the charm out as a peace offering and the woman recognising the charm, hurriedly snatches it out of the Akari's hands and backs away again. It finally hits Zisu that she's not a witch at all, just a really strange looking desperate woman.

The witch calms down a little because now she knows they're not a threat since they're not attacking her and the Player was kind enough to give her the charm back, but she's still really uneasy.

Zisu tries to ask her who she is and what she's doing here, but she doesn't understand a single thing she's saying. The woman shakes her head and tries to respond and it becomes very clear that the woman doesn't speak the Hisuian language at all and Zisu doesn't recognize the language she speaks either.

Zisu is perplexed at how they're supposed to help her when there's a language barrier, but she decides that at least they should tell her their names and try to get across that they want to help her in some way.

Zisu points at herself and says "Zisu", then she points at the player and says "Akari" (or whatever name you picked for your player) and the woman is confused at first, but then she catches on to what she's trying to say, so she points at herself and says "Hijiki."

Hijiki frowns for a moment until she suddenly decides to do charades to try to communicate with them. She mimes writing in a notepad and Zisu grabs a pen and a notepad from her bag and hands it to her.

Hijiki finds it way easier to communicate with drawings so after a while she flips the notepad over again to show them.

The first drawing is an image of a sad face and some strange device that has smoke coming out of it. Zisu is confused and Hijiki gets frustrated and points at the pile of metal objects. She walks over and grabs a small device from the pile and Zisu acknowledges that it even though she has no idea what it is, it looks very broken.

The second image is a crude drawing of several Pokémon: Luxray, Raichu, Electabuzz and Jolteon, surrounded by lightning bolts.

The third image is of lightning striking the device, making it look shiny and new, with a picture of a smiley face beside it.

Zisu is still confused but she deduces that Hijiki needs the Pokémon in the image to fix whatever her strange device is. The idea is that she needs electricity to charge her device again and it's up to the player to go out and catch these Pokémon and bring them back to her. Zisu decides to stay with Hijiki DEFINITELY not because she doesn't want to go back into the forest again, no sirree, she has to protect Hijiki and although Hijiki doesn't want her to stay with her, it's not like she can speak up and object so she just stays silent and anxious.

Current Objective: Catch the Pokémon from Hijiki's drawings and bring them back to her.

One catching quest later, the Player gives Hijiki the Pokémon and she starts tinkering on her device with whatever tools she has on her. The Pokémon strike her device with lightning and when she's finished, she attaches the device to her belt and has a distinctly relieved look on her face.

The device gets switched on and immediately Hijiki starts to speak English (well, the text is English, but in universe she's speaking whatever language the Hisuians speak), much to Zisu's shock. The device she fixed was a universal translator and she's so glad that she can finally explain herself she doesn't have to keep producing those terrible drawings with her embarrassing lack of art skills.

And with that, the truth finally comes out and the mystery is solved. Hijiki explains that she's from another dimension called Ultra Megalopolis and she and her Poipole fell into this dimension through an Ultra Wormhole. She lost most of her memories and woke up scared and alone in the Obsidian Fields, having no idea where she was. When she spotted civilisation, she tried to get help but because of her appearance and the language barrier, she got chased off and fled for her life into the Necro Forest. Because of how badly the first contact went, she assumed that the inhabitants of this world were extremely hostile, (hence why she attacked them on site) so she created a shelter for herself inside a cave to hide from them.

She then explains that there is no natural light in her world, so it was impossible for her to travel outside of the cave during the day because she got blinded and burned by the harsh sunlight. All she has is the clothes on her back and a few gadgets and tools that were in her backpack, so in order to survive she had no choice but to ambush passing merchants venture into Jubilife Village at night when it was dark and where no one could see her so she could steal supplies for herself.

She's very sorry that she had to steal from the Ginkgo Guild because stealing is a crime in her world as well. She didn't mean to scare anyone and she really wishes she didn't have to live in the wild anymore but she's too afraid of being attacked by the villagers again to try to ask for help.

Zisu is very shocked and saddened by Hijiki's story, and after a few moments be asks her if she wants her to escort her back to Jubilife Village. Hijiki doesn't want to because she'll get attacked, but then Zisu says "No you won't! I'm the Captain of the Security Corps. Everyone trusts me to keep the village safe, so if I say that something is not a threat, they'll listen to what o have to say, so I'll clear up the misunderstanding for you!"

Hijiki is still sceptical. She finds it hard to believe that the villagers will accept her just like that, so Zisu sighs and says "Maybe we should report to Commander Kamado about the situation, and give the village a heads up first?"

Hijiki thinks that's fair enough. She's willing to wait in her cave for the Akari and Zisu to come back for her.

Current objective: Report back to Captain Kamado!

Zisu and Akari have a meeting with Ginter, and Commander Kamado to discuss their findings. Firstly Zisu reassures Kamado that there's no threat to the village. The witch of the woods was really a faller from another world like Akari and Warden Ingo and one of the Pearl Clan's Wardens. She was driven to stealing for survival after the villagers attacked her and drove her away even though she was lost and confused, and most likely in pain from the suburns.

Kamado is incredulous when Zisu tries to argue that they should take her in. Kamado is against inviting Hijiki to stay in the village. Akari is already on thin ice about being allowed to stay and the villagers only tolerate her because she's been busy quelling the frenzied nobles and slowly earning their trust. To invite someone who's KNOWN TO BE A WITCH would be disastrous. Zisu insists that Hijiki isn't magical, she just has some gizmos from her world that haven't been invented in this world so they only seem like magic. She tries bringing up the Pokéball, it looks like magic too but it's really just an ordinary object.

But Kamado is firm in his decision, even if Hijiki does have technology that seems like magic, what if she were to use her technology against the village? And some of the most superstitious villagers wouldn't accept that she's not dangerous and would still consider her to be a bad omen. Letting Hijiki stay would be too much of a risk.

Zisu is worried and disappointed. Even though she was one of the people who was terrified of the forest witch, now that she's discovered that she's actually an innocent person who's suffering hard, she feels absolutely horrible that they can't do anything help her. Zisu decides that they should at least head back to Hijiki's shelter and tell her what Kamado said. Maybe they could formulate a different plan, maybe the Diamond Clan or Pearl Clan could take her in instead?

Akari and Zisu return to the shelter to find it completely ransacked and Hijiki is nowhere to be found. Zisu finds a ransom note among the rocks. Turns out that the Miss Fortune Sisters had been spying on them ever since they bumped into them. After they found out that Hijiki wasn't really a witch, they wanted to take revenge on her for attacking Coin, so they kidnapped her and stole all her technology. Seeing an opportunity to spite Akari as well, they wrote on the ransom note that they took Hijiki further north to the Alabaster Icelands. If she wants to get Hijiki back she has to go the ice caverns in the Bonechill Wastes.

Zisu is outraged, but warns Akari that it's most definitely a trap. The Miss Fortune Sisters are most likely using Hijiki as bait to lure her into an ambush far away from where she can get help, and they're probably intending to leave her to die in the frozen wastes. But Akari wants to go save Hijiki anyway so Zisu decides to head back to the village to rally some of the Security Corps as backup and tells Akari that she'll meet her in the Icelands.

Current objective: Chase after the Miss Fortune Sisters!

Meanwhile, Hijiki has been thrown into the the ice pit in the Bonechill Wastes and the Miss Fortune Sisters are currently occupied. Clover is whining about how cold it is as Charm and Coin go through Hijiki's belongings.

She had things like her taser, an aura scanner, a GPS, an Ultra Smartphone etc but they can't figure out how any of them work or what they're used for. Clover is whining about all the effort they put in ended up being for nothing because everything "the witch" has is useless junk, but Charm snaps at her. At least they might be able to sell this overworldly technology on the black market after all. Coin isn't convinced. Who would buy useless garbage that don't work?

Coin starts threatening Hijiki into telling them how to use her gadgets, or else she'll sicc Toxicroak on her, but there's just a slight hiccup. Hijiki is unable to understand what they're saying because they took her translator away so all she does is stare blankly at them. All three of them are oblivious to the fact that Hijiki can't speak Hisuian at all, and that they all sound like nothing but enraged gibberish to her.

All this really does is piss them off. Clover starts yelling at her again, just completely exasperated and baffled. She's literally being held captive by bandits and tossed into an ice pit, probably freezing to death. How could she possibly feel so blasé about it????? Does she not realise the situation she's in right now??? Coin has had enough and decides to let Toxicroak attack Hijiki anyway. If they can't get any use out of her things, at least she'll be able to get payback for the "lightning strike"

At that moment, Akari shows up just in time. The Miss Fortune Sisters do their motto and start evil motive-ing about how THIS TIME for sure they'll win against Akari and leave her to perish in the ice forever. This time they're going to attack her with all three of their Pokémon at once instead of one at a time like the last few fights and overwhelm her with numbers.

Charm and Clover release their Pokémon and instead of joining in, Coin decides to sit it out. She tells the other two that she's still going to attack the witch with Toxicroak and that they could stall Akari long enough to let Toxicroak get enough hits in. Charm and Clover start arguing with her because that was NOT the plan, but Coin just tells them to shut up.

Charm and Clover go 3 Vs 1 as Toxicroak attacks Hijiki, with Charm substituting Toxicroak with her Rhydon. Akari beats them because of Main Character Plot Armour and Charm goes full villainous breakdown and just decides to attack Akari herself, but then out of nowhere, Hijiki's Poipole breaks out of it's Pokéball and glues the Bandits to a rock. Akari jumps down the ice pit to save Hijiki and you end up battling Toxicroak with Poipole instead of your Pokémon.

With the bandits finally defeated for good, the Security Corps show up to apprehend them. Akari stays with Hijiki who's in a really rough shape. She tried to avoid Toxicroak for as long as she could, but it eventually weared her down, and now she's lying unconscious at the bottom of the pit. Zisu immediately orders the two Medical Corps people to take Hijiki back to the village to get her medical attention. The medics are like "You want us to WHAT-" because that would involve taking THE WITCH TO THE VILLAGE, but Zisu yells at them again and they have no choice but to do what she says.

A day later

Scene transition to a day later and Akari is waiting in Kamado's office. There was quite a uproar in the village when the Security Corps returned with the famous Miss Fortune Sisters somehow stuck to a rock and near mass panic occured when the Med Corps rushed the rumoured witch of the woods to the hospital room in the Galactic Building. Professor Laventon runs in, very upset. He can't get any work done with the noise of that many people crowded around the entrance trying to catch a glimpse of the witch to see if she's really as terrifying as people say she is. Kamado informs him that he already sent Cyllene to get them to leave.

Pesselle arrives from the hospital room to give them an update on Hijiki's condition. They're currently treating her for Toxic poisoning, as well as suburns and eye damage. Pesselle is clearly shaken and explains that she's never seen anyone like Hijiki in her life, she's not even sure that she's human. For starters, her eyes are extremely unnatural looking and she's so deathly pale that her skin looks pale blue. Not to mention that she appears to have bioluminescent eyes and freckles.

She's willing to take Zisu's word that Hijiki is still a normal human from another world, but she wonders what kind of world would have people who are so obviously weakened by sunlight. Kamado thanks her for her help and Pesselle returns to her duties, not before telling her to bring this supposed witch to his office once she's recovered enough.

Professor Laventon talks to Akari about the strange purple Pokémon that was following Hijiki around because he's having trouble identifying what it is. Rei speculates that if the witch is from another world, then maybe the purple Pokémon is too. Laventon nearly explodes with excitement because they have the chance to document a Pokémon from another world! Maybe he could ask the witch if he could have a look at it, which is something he immediately goes to do. Rei runs after him in a panic.

Zisu enters with Ginter. Ginter confirms that they managed to get back some of the things Hijiki stole from the Ginkgo Guild, though obviously things like food couldn't be recovered. Zisu asks if he wants to press any charges, and Ginter considers for a moment before ultimately deciding not to. From the sound of things, Hijiki went through a lot and he would feel terrible if he added to her suffering. Zisu regretfully tells them that the Miss Fortune Sisters got away. After they were freed from the glue, they used a smoke bomb and escaped in the confusion, though she thinks that hopefully the bandits would think twice about confronting Akari again.

A while later, Pesselle brings Hijiki up to Kamado's office and the poor woman is shaking like a leaf, half from because she's still weak and the other half because she's obviously terrified of Kamado. In a scene echoing Akari's first meeting with Kamado, he stares Hijiki down and she loses her nerve instantly, backing away and hiding behind Akari. Pesselle scolds Kamado because this is clearly no way to treat a patient, but he reminds her that this is an outsider he's dealing with, and he must test her by having her face him in combat like he did with Akari.

Hijiki stammers and tries to say that she has no idea how to do that "creature combat thing" that Akari and the bandits did and Kamado clarifies by saying he meant PHYSICAL combat, not a Pokémon battle. Hijiki freaks out because she'd just die if she did that. Kamado retaliates by saying that surely someone who is capable of survived in the wilds and ambushing Ginkgo merchants MUST be able to fight, and if she wants to prove herself, she has to.

Hijiki takes a deep breath and just edges close to him, hesitating to even touch him AAAAAND Kamado throws her. Cut to black with a CRASH! text box and fade back in to see Hijiki flat out unconscious on the floor again. Cue Pesselle totally ripping him a new one, yelling at him about how that was totally unnecessary, why does he always have to do this, has he no shame, as text box after text box hits the screen going by too fast for the player to read.

Zisu helps Hijiki to her feet but she's distressed because Kamado managed to dislodge her translator from her belt so she doesn't understand him when he says that someone so cowardly and unwilling to fight clearly isn't a threat to anyone. Hijiki quickly retrieves her device and turns back to Kamado, saying

Hijiki: "I'm very sorry, my translator fell off. I don't speak in whatever language this is so I couldn't understand any of that. Could you please repeat what you said, sir?"

Zisu: "He said that someone so cowardly and unwilling to fight clearly isn't a threat to anyone."

Hijiki: "Oh…"

Kamado then says that if she wants to stay in Jubilife Village she has to be able to contribute to society, so what skills does she have? Hijiki thinks for a moment because she can't remember much but she does have a vague idea of what her old job. She remembers that she was probably a Poipole handler which is why she has one with her, and she was one of the people tasked with taking care of them as they were typically adopted as companions or to help with construction because of their glue (kinda a Zookeeper/animal shelter worker kind of deal)

Pesselle speaks up and says that it kind of reminds her of the people who look after the Pokémon in the village's pastures. Kamado turns away, thinking about it. He would half to discuss it with Zisu because that falls under the Security Corps jurisdiction. Zisu barges in like "DID SOMEONE SAY SECURITY CORPS?" at that moment and startles everyone. She's 100% on board with letting Hijiki help at the pastures.

Hijiki interrupts, unfortunately she can't work during the day because the sun is straight up harmful to her so she doesn't know how useful she could be. Zisu turns to her and proposes that she'll give her a lodge in exchange for her services at the pasture on the night shift. They're needing more people who can stay up all anyway.

Hijiki is stunned. They wouldn't really do that for her, would they? One encouraging grin from Zisu is all she needs to accept the offer and become a full fledged member of the Security Corps.

Catching Poipole

Hijiki thanks the player for everything, and as a reward for completing the sidequest, she gives the player her Poipole because she feels that the player would be better at taking care of it in this new world…. If she can catch it that is.

Catching Poipole plays out like a Legendary Pokémon battle like how you catch Enamourus. As in, it flies around attacking you with poison blasts and you have to stun it before you can throw a Pokémon to battle it.

After this, Hijiki just becomes an ordinary NPC that you can talk to near the pastures (though she can only be encountered at night.) Her appearance changes, as she's now in the Security Corps uniform instead of her Ultra Space/ cloak get up.

As a little easter egg, you can have a rematch with her and she battles you with the Pokémon you gave her in the sidequest. She excitedly explains that Zisu taught her how to partake in "creature combat".

Her dialogue is mostly showing amazement at how cool everything is in Hisui and how she really wishes she could go out and investigate everything like the Ultra Recon Squad. She realises that Akari wouldn't know who the Ultra Recon Squad is and she explains that they're basically her world's equivalent of the Galaxy Team.

She's heard of the legends about Hisui from Rei and is just as intrigued by them as he is. Though her main complaint is that Hisui is a little… behind, technological wise. Though she expresses interest in the player's Arc Phone as it seems a little out of place in this world…

Since the quest is available during the post game, she talks about how scared she was when "the sky turned red and green" (aka that part of the game when the Player is banished from the village and the sky distorts. She remarks that thought that the Blinding One had escaped from the Tower and drained Hisui of it's light, but apparently it was something else. She figures she shouldn't worry about it since it's not this century's problem anyway. The Tower isn't predicted to break down for another two hundred years anyway (Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon Necrozma foreshadowing!)

Ultimately she doesn't affect the story in any way and her sidequest is completely optional, but it is required if you want to be able to catch Ultra Beasts.

Sidequest: ??? The Beasts from Beyond

To trigger the next quest, you have to enter a Space-time Distortion. The next day, Melli barges in to the Galaxy Team headquarters demanding to speak to someone, ANYONE. He claims that he was minding his business, in the Coronet Highlands when all of a sudden a pile of bricks just up and attacked him! They completely ruined his day and scared Lord Electrode and he demands that someone does something about it! Nobody takes him seriously and Rei just thinks he's gone nuts.

But the next day, Warden Palina shows up, looking really worried. A strange pure white Tentacruel creature showed up in the Coastlands and has been behaving aggressively towards anything that approaches it, and even the Alphas won't go near it. Cyllene calls Akari into her office because she's been getting continuous reports of strange monsters being sighted across all of Hisui that apparently emerged from the space-time distortions.

Hijiki runs in, and quickly excuses herself for interrupting. She's really panicked because she heard from the villagers that Hisui is being invaded by monsters that sound suspiciously Ultra Beasts. She volunteers to help because they're creatures from her homeworld so at the very least she's familiar with them and knows what to expect if Akari goes out and attempts to catch them.

To learn about where to catch the Ultra Beasts, you have to talk to Hijiki. She's heard rumours of monsters and such from the people who visit the pastures to see the Pokémon and she thinks she knows exactly what the monsters really are. She has dialogue talking about each Ultra Beast and a hint as to where it's found.

"There's a ghostly figure floating around the Deadwood Haunt. I don't know much about spirits but it sounds an awful lot like Nihilego. It would float around like a ghost, I think." (Deadwood Haunt, Cobalt Coastlands)

"I heard from someone in the Pearl Clan that an insect with huge muscles is challenging an Alpha Machamp to a flexing contest…. I don't understand, do Buzzwole normally behave like that…?" (Arena's Approach, Alabaster Icelands)

"There's a Pheromosa going wild in the bog. What terrible luck to fall into a wormhole and end up in a place so muddy. It hates getting dirty." (Scarlet Bog, Crimson Mirelands)

"That rude man can't catch a break. Apparently his Electrode is being bothered by a Xurkitree that's trying to eat it's electricity… " (Moonview Arena, Coronet Highlands)

"I've heard that a Celesteela has taken root near the Floaro Gardens. The soil there must be very fertile. It's a giant creature that blasts off like a rocket and- Wait, have rockets been invented here yet? Never mind." (Floaro Gardens, Obsidian Fieldlands)

"I've heard that a sharp creature that looks like paper has been cutting down trees in the Heartwoods. It's Kartana, I'm certain. That Lord Kleavor must be jealous of it's cutting edge sword techniques…" (The Heartwood, Obsidian Fieldlands)

"Oh, this is absolutely terrible! A huge monster is eating giant lumps of ice and snow in that tundra! Sounds very uncomfortable, chewing ice hurts my teeth… Oh wait, what was I saying? Yes! Guzzlord! You must stop it before it consumes everything in sight!" (Avalugg's Legacy, Alabaster Icelands)

"The creature that's that looks like a pile of bricks in must be Stakataka, I'm certain. Where did that unpleasant man say he encountered it? Must have been near some ruins?" (Celestica Ruins, Coronet Highlands)

"Um… What's a volcano anyway? I've never heard of such a thing… Apparently there's been the sounds of explosions coming from the volcano that's making people worried. I don't think the explosions are coming from the volcano itself, sounds more like a Blacephalon is causing them." (Firespit Island, Cobalt Coastlands)

To get Naganadel, talk to Hijiki. She'll explain that Poipole have been selectively bred to be unable to evolve by themselves. They must be taught a special move that lets them evolve that only experienced handlers know how to teach, because it's stronger form is too wild and dangerous for the average civilian to handle. She's seen Zisu teach Akari's Pokémon new moves and tells Akari that she needs to get Zisu to teach Poipole the move Dragon Pulse.

Other stuff

And that's everything I've got about Hijiki. If you haven't worked it out already, she's the ancestor of Zossie from the Ultra Recon Squad. Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon are kinda my favourite 3DS Pokémon games and there was a time when I was absolutely obsessed with the Ultra Recon Squad and I was so sure that they'd come back as an explanation for being able to catch Ultra Beasts in the post game of future Pokémon games that I felt ROBBED when they never showed up in the Crown Tundra.

So with the dawn of the idea of Hisuian Ancestors, I thought "Wouldn't it be cool if the ancestor of one of the Ultra Recon Squad fell into Hisui and got mistaken for a supernatural creature because the locals thought their technology was magic?" Because of how massively technologically advanced Ultra Megalopolis is, I figured that even if it was 200 years ago, it'd still be way more advanced than Hisui so anyone who fell through a wormhole would be in for a sort of time traveller-esque fish out of water scenario but without the time travel.

Hijiki is Zossie's great great great great great great great great (however many greats that can fit in 200 years) aunt. She can't be Zossie's great great grandmother because the grandmother has to stay in Ultra Megalopolis for Zossie to even exist at all.

The name of Necro Forest has a double meaning. As soon as you walk into it you think "Oh, Necro = Death because of the Ghost Types" but it's also the first foreshadowing that the ancestor is from Ultra Megalopolis. Who stole the light from Ultra Megalopolis? Necrozma.

If you're one of the 47 people who played USUM, you'd remember that the Ultra Recon Squad had to wear full protection against the sun, which Hijiki lacks, hence the sun burns.

Hijiki is scared of Zisu because she's been stealing from the Ginkgo Guild and she recognises that she's part of the village's law enforcement so she was afraid that she came to catch her and punish her for the thefts.

About the whole glowy eyes thing, that's a headcanon I have about how the inhabitants of Ultra Megalopolis have bioluminescent eyes. It's based off official art of the Ultra Recon Squad where Dulse's eyes appear to be glowing in the dark. What is canon is the whole thing where the Ultra Recon Squad has silver irises and pupils that match their hair colour. If you zoom into their concept art you can see it.

I picked the name Hijiki because it has the same seaweed theme naming that the individual members of the Ultra Recon Squad have. The seaweed she's named after has been part of the Japanese diet for centuries. (At least according to Wikipedia.)

But what was that "lightning magic?* It was just an ordinary taser. Hijiki just nonchalantly tased Coin. You can find the taser among Hijiki's other gadgets in the cave

Bonus: my thought process while reading over part of this:

"Ok, so Hijiki jumps Gingko merchants in the woods and mugs robs them. Wait... wasn't Volo a Ginkgo merchant---"

The result: