#hammerlocke announcements

[piers-official]

ANNOUNCEMENT:

Tha's right I'm GOIN' ON TOUR! I'll be travelin' from Galar all the way to Unova, alongside everyone's favorite poison punk: @rockstar-roxie! He'll be openin' up for all my Unovan dates, so don't ya dare miss it!

Carnival Tour Dates:

GALAR: ⭐Spikemuth gym- May 17th ⭐Hammerlocke Stadium- May 18th and 19th ⭐Motostoke Stadium- May 21st and 22nd ⭐Ballonlea Stadium - May 23rd ⭐Circhester Stadium - May 24th ⭐Wyndon Stadium - May 25th and 26th ⭐Spikemuth Gym - May 27th

UNOVA: ⭐Virbank Gym - May 31st ⭐Castelia City Stadium - June 1st and 2nd ⭐Nimbasa Big Stadium - June 3rd and 4th ⭐Driftveil Court - June 5th ⭐Oplucid Stadium - June 6th and 7th ⭐Nacrene Warehouse Court - June 10th ⭐Virbank Gym - June 11th

((OOC under the cut))

//Hello everyone! Mun Nova here to give you all a little more insight into this:

//Much like the tour Piers was on with Roxie back in October/November, I will be doing a similar story arc

//THIS IS NOT AN EVENT! This means that I will not be accepting or participating in any spontaneous roleplays with people I don’t know as many people do for “PKMN IRL events”.

//Please feel free to make posts about the tour and act like you’re there on the dates stated above, BUT as someone who suffers from anxiety, I won’t be able, to respond to every post made about the tour. However do not let this discourage you from participating. Anyone is welcome to join~

//I will do my best to stay on top of things, so please have patience if I don't post on a specific date listed above as I do have work and my mental health to take care of.

//If you do make a post relating to this please tag it as #Piers's Carnival Tour so I can see it!

//If you have any ooc or ic questions, please send them my way!

//And as always, thank you @ripoff-robbie-rotten for all the help with everything. You're amazing friendo, and ilu <333 /plat

((Also I did make alt text for the image above, but I'm not sure if it's good or not. Please let me know if I need to fix it~))

[ourvanishingghosts]

hii!! may I req raihan x reader with reader being a ice type gym leader and at first they seem cold/shy but if they’re with people they trust they’re energetic?

I’d love too.

Cold as Ice

Raihan x Ice Gym Leader!Reader

You had been training under Melony for years. She wanted to retire and her son Gordie didn't want to become the new Circhester Gym Leader. So when Melony announced her retirement after training you for 4 years all the gym leaders threw her a retirement party. At the party, she made the announcement that you would take her place as the Ice Gym Leader. Everyone was a little shocked that it wasn't Gordie that would be the new gym leader. That's when she explained everything.

"Y/N has been training with me for four years. They were my choice because Gordie had expressed to me that he didn't want to do this job. Please make them feel welcome. They aren't as cold as they appear."

You met Ness, Milo, and Kabu first. They were the easiest to talk to since they were the first Gym Leaders challenges to face. Next were Bea, Allister, Opal, Piers, and Bede. You related to Bede since he to was to become the new Fairy Gym Leader. You were talking with Leon and Hop when you saw Raihan standing in the corner talking to Melony.

"Who is the guy that is talking to Melony? Is that her boyfriend?"

Hop and Leon look to see who you were talking about. Once they see that it is Raihan they both laugh hysterically. You looked at them confused. They look at you noticing that you are genuine.

"That is Raihan. He is the Hammerlocke Dragon Gym Leader. He is not dating Melony."

Hop stated

"Those two don't even consider the other as a possible romantic option."

Leon added

"Would you like to meet him, Y/N?"

Hop asked

"Oh no. He looks pretty busy at the moment."

"Raihan!"

Leon shouted causing everyone to look at you three. You cover your face out of embarrassment and hide behind Hop.

"Come over here! I have to introduce you to our new friend!"

Raihan excused himself from his conversation with Melony and headed over to you three. Once he got to you three Hop moved from being in front of you to be beside you.

"Raihan, this is Y/N. Y/N this is Raihan."

He gestured between you two, but you avoid eye contact with the tall man before you. You didn't realize that Hop and Leon left you alone with Raihan.

"Are you alright, Y/N? Do you need to lay down or get some air?"

You look at Raihan with a surprised look

"Yeah. I do need some air. Could you show me the closest exit, please?"

"Sure thing, sweetheart."

You blush as you follow him outside. Once you two are outside you start to calm down.

"They can be intimidating sometimes. I would know."

"Really? Who intimidated you?"

"Melony, Kabu, and Opal. Mainly Opal."

You chuckle a little

"Really, Opal?"

"Yeah. She can be scary when she wants to be."

"Fair. Maybe I should ask Bede for his opinion as well."

It was silent for three minutes before Raihan spoke up again.

"Who are you most intimidated by, Y/N?"

"You and Bea."

"Yeah. We get that a lot."

~Flash forward 2 years~

You and Raihan were having lunch at a diner in Hammerlocke. Raihan did sign some autographs and took some photos until he told everyone to go home. You had some fans since you were still a little new.

"How does it feel having some fans, Y/N?"

"It's nerve-racking. I don't want to mess up."

"That's fair. Wanna head back to my place? I promise that I will be a good boy."

You nod and head to his place. Once you were there and you saw his Pokémon you were so excited. You started to pet them and play with them. This took Raihan by surprise since you were normally so cold or shy around others. It reminded him of a pair of twins he had met once. It made him happy that you're comfortable around him and his Pokémon to be this excited and hyper. You two ended up planning playdates for your Pokémon and having sleepovers at each other's houses.

[logan-fields-official]

Raihan x Reader<3

It was a bright, sunny day in the Galar region, and Y/N was feeling both excited and nervous as she made her way to the Hammerlocke gym. Today was the day she had been waiting for – the opportunity to witness Raihan, the dragon-type gym leader, in action. As she approached the gym, she saw a small crowd gathering outside, eagerly waiting for the battle to begin. Y/N couldn't help but feel even more excited as she joined the group of onlookers. Suddenly, she heard a loud crash coming from behind her. Turning around, she saw a man sprawled on the ground with a pile of papers scattered around him. Panicking, she rushed over to help. 'Are you okay?' she asked as she bent down to pick up the papers. The man looked up at her, and Y/N's heart skipped a beat when she realized it was Raihan himself. 'Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!' she exclaimed, feeling her cheeks flush with embarrassment. 'I didn't see you there.' Raihan chuckled and got up, brushing off his gym leader uniform. 'No worries, it was my fault for not looking where I was going.' Y/N couldn't believe she had just knocked down the gym leader. She had hoped to make a good impression on him before the battle, but now she felt like a complete klutz. As she handed over the papers, they both noticed that they were actually maps of the different regions in Galar. Y/N's curiosity got the better of her and she asked, 'Are you planning on traveling somewhere?' Raihan smiled and nodded. 'I'm always looking for new challenges and training grounds for my dragon-type Pokemon. And who knows, maybe I'll find some new recruits for my gym along the way.' Y/N couldn't believe her luck – not only did she get to meet the gym leader, but she also got to learn a little bit about his adventures. Just then, an announcer's voice boomed through the speaker, signaling the start of the battle. Y/N's heart rate doubled as she realized she needed to hurry if she wanted to catch the battle. 'I better get going,' she said, feeling a little disappointed that their conversation had to end so soon. Raihan gave her a warm smile. 'It was nice talking to you, Y/N. I hope you enjoy the battle.' Y/N nodded, a million thoughts running through her head as she hurried towards the gym entrance. She couldn't believe her luck – not only had she met Raihan, but she had also made a good impression on him. As she watched the battle unfold, Y/N couldn't help but feel grateful for the unexpected encounter with the gym leader. Little did she know, it was just the beginning of their friendship – one that would lead her on her own journey of adventure and discovery in the world of Pokemon.

[ballonleastadiumofficial]

9. Tell a story about your childhood.

Hm. Such busybodies...

Fine. You'd like to hear something about when I was small? Allow me to indulge you.

I suppose I should preface this little tale with the fact that, as Chairman Rose's charge, he saw fit to send me to trainer school in Hammerlocke for a time to hone my skills. It should come as no surprise to any of you that I met (and, I would venture to say, exceeded~) the expectations of my instructors. I considered many of my fellow students to be beneath my notice, aside from for the occasional show of strength in battle, I suppose, and thus I have forgotten many of their names. However, there does happen to be one name that has stuck with me this entire time- I vividly recall a girl called Celosia. A grass type trainer, predictably, whose starter pokemon was a Gossifleur that presented no small challenge for me and my dear Hatenna. Not by virtue of any sort of elemental advantage, but through the simple application of her horrid amalgamation of Sweet Scent and Sing, leaving my poor pokemon defenseless to the onslaught of Leafages and Rapid Spins to come... After my pitiful defeat at her hands on our first meeting, she always left a sour taste in my mouth. I'm sure you can imagine my disdain at the fact that we found ourselves in the same classroom.

For a short time, my life became a race to best her. Whatever I did, I aimed to do better than she would. Whenever she succeeded, I hoped to upstage her as soon as possible. Which is why, when our teacher announced a class-wide competition we were all to participate in, I threw myself into preparation to ensure that I would come out on top. The rules would be simple- Ms. Thalia would scan down the list of students, asking each of us some question or another that was relevant to being a pokemon trainer, and we would have one minute to come up with the correct answer. Those who were too late or incorrect in their answer would be eliminated and made to put their head down on their desk. I believe she promised candy to the three students who remained in the end, although I paid that little attention. After all, what I saw was a chance to best my adolescent adversary in front of every one of my peers, and nothing more. I set myself to studying all manner of trivia on the nights leading up to the event.

Eventually, the day came. We began with 21 students, and those numbers quickly dwindled. 20 students. 15. 11. 9 remaining. 5.

Predictably, Celosia and I were the final two to face elimination. We juggled queries back and forth like a pair Scorbunnies kicking a red-hot pebble between us, unwilling to concede victory to the other... "Bede, a pokemon with 288 health points is on the field when its partner uses Life Dew. How much health does it recover?" "Celosia, my Toxel with a Hasty nature decides to eat its iapapa berry in battle. What exactly will happen?" I believe we'd drawn the ordeal out for long enough that Ms. Thalia decided to bring trick questions into play, as what finally tripped Celosia up was the question "What power does the move Tar Shot have?". She said 20. I was crowned the victor.

The satisfaction I felt that day was immeasurable, as emphasized by the fact that I remember such a tedious contest to begin with.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

The problem Ukraine had before they lost Avdiivka was a lack of manpower on the front lines and severely diminished ammunition supplies due to inaction on Ukraine aid by the U.S.  The tiny country of Denmark recently announced that they are turning over to Ukraine their entire stock of artillery ammunition to defend against Russia.  How House Republicans can get up in the morning and look at themselves in the mirror is beyond me, unless the image they see in their mind’s eye is the Crème Brulee-colored face of Donald Trump.

Even more important than the tactical or strategic implications of Avdiivka is the symbol of a Russian victory at this specific moment.  President Zelenskyy was in Munich literally begging NATO countries for more weapons and ammunition while his troops were in retreat in Avdiivka, underscoring the dire situation of a country fighting for its existence. 

Putin’s army is fighting a war of attrition against a country beleaguered by its lack of political support by its biggest ally, the United States, at a time when Ukraine is trying to rebuild its military manpower and stave off new Russian offensives along a 600-mile border that they just don’t have the soldiers to adequately defend.  All Putin has to do is turn on CNN International to watch his allies in the Republican Party fight the third front in his war in Ukraine – the front on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives and in Trump’s “America First” campaign for president.  Trump gets huge cheers and applause at his rallies every time he tells his crowds that we have to “take care of our border before we take care of other countries.”  He and Putin know they’ve got Ukraine in a hammerlock with his damned if you do, damned if you don’t political strategy linking support for Ukraine with immigration.  They demanded a right-wing dream package on immigration in return for support for Ukraine, and when they got it, they followed the Trump-Putin lead and said no deal.

Trump and Putin don’t even have to talk on the phone to be in perfect sync on the issue of Ukraine.  The danger we are facing is that those two authoritarians don’t have to talk on the phone to be in sync on our domestic politics, either.  Putin is whispering disinformation to “sources” that he would rather see Biden elected at the same time he’s probably readying the biggest aid package of them all – political support for Donald Trump the way he did in 2016 and 2020.

God help Ukraine, and God help us.

[Lucian Truscott Newsletter]

[nimbasa-librarian]

Silly Friends Make Silly Friends

Milo would freely admit that sometimes, his new friend was just a little inscrutable. 

Example: How he found her when he was dropping off the candy he’d gotten from a school fundraiser on her behalf.

He knocked, and was called in, and the state of her living room was baffling the man. 

Currently, Anya was sitting in her small living room, with her yamask resting just behind her on the back of the sofa, her Froslass was floating right by her side on the sofa, and her Hatterene was hilariously taking up a huge part of her couch next to her. 

“What in the - Anya?” 

“Hm?” She didn’t give him a glace, as she was in the middle of eating something.

“.... Can I ask what the hell you're doing?” 

Anya looked up from her food, giving him a bewildered expression. 

“.... Dinner?” 

“... This is how you have dinner? With all of your pokemon just… around you?” He questioned

“.. Not usually? But the rain outside was makin’ me nervous - the power tends t’go out”

Milo could not, for the life of him, understand the logic there. But Anya was always a little enigmatic, really. They hadn’t known each other long, but she was good at confounding him with her logic leaps, if nothing else. 

“Do you usually let them out of their pokeballs when they get home, though?” 

“Yes?”

Huh. Something about that was interesting to Milo, though he didn’t linger on it 

“Well, I’m just here dropping off the sweets you asked for” 

“Yah?” Drew perked up at the mention of sugar.

“Oh, thank ye! Ye can put it on the counter” 

“Got it. Uh, see you tomorrow?” He questioned 

“Sure!” She waved to him, with her pokemon following suit.

Milo shut the door behind him, and his brow was furrowed as furrowed could be as he stood there in a small apartment building’s hallway. Anya could be quite the character sometimes, and while he had been bewildered, the more he thought about it, the less ridiculous it was. Seemed he was just caught off guard. She did love her pokemon, even if it seemed a little unconventional.

Anya reminded him of another person with a love of Galarian Punk and pink. Perhaps he should introduce them. 

Oh, that was a great idea! Both of them could use more friends! 

He’d look into it tomorrow. He was sure it was a good idea. 

-

Huh.

“So.. You two… know each other?” Milo questioned, genuinely surprised.

Anya glanced over at him “Hm?” 

“Hell yeah we fuckin’ do! Graduated secondary together!” Piers announced, arm around Anya’s shoulders. “Been friends f’r years! Surprised we hadn’t mentioned it to ya before now, but oh well!” 

The fact that he was touching her without asking and she was clearly fine with it was the answer in and of itself, but Piers' response clarified a lot. Milo couldn’t help but smile bemusedly at the situation

“Huh. Didn’t know you knew each other…. Is she the best friend you kept talking about?” Milo questioned almost playfully. 

“You bet!” Piers gave Milo a tired grin. Anya looked down with a red face. 

Milo chuckled, shaking his head. “Well, let’s not delay! We have a rented Karaoke room to abuse!” He waved for them to follow him into the venue they’d gotten the reservation in in the south end of Hammerlocke. 

“Oh, hell yeah! Ready, Anya??” 

Anya recovered from the bashfulness rather quickly at the promise of karaoke as Piers removed his arm from around her shoulders, and she gave a solid nod “Aye! Le’s’go!” 

“I push and you tend to shove I-” 

“Give in and you won’t give up I’m” 

“Not getting out of here this time!” 

“I bought a Lemon to a knife fight!!” 

Oh, now Milo just felt left out. 

They could both sing?

[rasmus31]

Jeanette vs Mei Li

In the bustling gym, the air was filled with excitement and anticipation as a submission wrestling match was about to begin. Jeanette, a busty blond with a confident strut, exuded an air of invincibility. She boasted loudly to her friends, claiming that her victory over Mei Li, a smaller Oriental girl, would be "like a walk in the park." Mei Li, on the other hand, looked worried and fearful as she adjusted her attire nervously, unsure of her own abilities.

The audience eagerly gathered around the wrestling mat, their murmurs growing in volume as the match was announced. The atmosphere was electric, and all eyes were on Jeanette, waiting to see if her arrogance would be justified. In contrast, Mei Li stood quietly in her corner, her eyes darting around, searching for any form of inspiration or support.

Finally, the bell rang, signaling the beginning of the match. Jeanette leaped forward, charging at Mei Li with a barrage of confidence and power. However, to everyone's shock, Mei Li swiftly evaded Jeanette's attack, and with a fluid motion, she countered with a hammerlock submission hold. The audience gasped in unison as Jeanette's confident demeanor crumbled, her face contorting in pain as she screamed her submission.

Unfazed by Jeanette's agonized cries, Mei Li released the hold and gracefully moved onto her next move. She smoothly transitioned into a Camel Clutch, her strength and agility leaving everyone astounded. Jeanette struggled fiercely, her body straining against the submission, but Mei Li's technique was flawless. With a final screech of defeat, Jeanette tapped out, admitting her submission for the second time.

The crowd erupted into laughter, clapping, and cheering, captivated by Mei Li's extraordinary display of skill. Her contrasting calmness blended beautifully with her ability to dominate each grappling exchange. It was as if Mei Li had tapped into her inner warrior, surpassing any expectations that had been set for her.

As the match progressed, Mei Li continued her seamless control over Jeanette, showcasing an impressive range of submission holds. With every maneuver executed flawlessly, her body seemed to flow like water, effortlessly turning her opponent into a helpless puppet. The audience marveled at her undeniable talent, and a sense of admiration filled the air.

Now on her fifth submission, Mei Li's demeanour remained unchanged. She applied a Surfboard hold, her body bending Jeanette's to its limit. Though Jeanette's face was flush with pain, Mei Li's composure was unyielding. A sense of admiration and respect swelled within the audience as they clapped and cheered for Mei Li, acknowledging her indomitable spirit and undeniable victory.

As Jeanette screamed her submission, Mei Li released her hold. After Mei Li's fifth submission, Jeanette lay in defeat on the mat, her pride shattered. Mei Li, exuding an aura of victory, straddled Jeanette, her arms ensnared between Mei Li's powerful legs. She leaned closer to Jeanette's face and commanded, "Admit defeat."

Jeanette's eyes filled with desperation as she struggled, her limbs writhing in futility. The pain and humiliation of defeat became unbearable. Finally, Jeanette succumbed, uttering with a mixture of anger and surrender, "OK! Ok! I submit! I've been defeated!" As Mei Li released Jeanette from her grip, the audience erupted into a sea of jubilant applause. The laughter and cheers echoed throughout the gym, celebrating Mei Li's remarkable triumph. The vision of a busty blond, once overflowing with arrogance, humbled and defeated, was a sight that would be etched into the minds of all present.

[lavender-radio]

Luvdisc Day 2023 Resources

[- - - generating transcrip̯̏t̤̃ ̩̺́͌0͔͇̉͆1͖̀͗͟6]

Good evening dear listeners! I have a very important announcement to make before kicking off tonight's broadcast. Lavender Town locals may have noticed an increase in newcomers at our Pokemon House-- Applins, Buneary, Luvdiscs, other love-themed or pink Pokemon-- following yesterdays festivities. The influx of surrendered and abandoned Pokemon has left not just us but shelters across all regions in need of help.

I have here a list of shelters and rescues that were affected by this. If you or anyone you know is capable of either fostering or adopting a rescue, please consider reaching out to your nearest shelter. If you aren't able to house another 'mon, not to worry! Many are in need of supplies and volunteers as well, so even a simple donation such as a bag of food or an hour of your time goes a long way!

Culai Region ‣ Combee Daycare, north of Luntian. Adoptees: Luvdisc, Alomomola, Woobat. In need of volunters! ‣ Pippo's Pokeshelter, Route 72. Adoptees: Applin, Luvdisc, Woobat. In need of food and volunteers!

Kanto Region ‣ Stop by the office building across from Saffron Gate or contact @pkmn-botany-- Adoptees: Applin, Luvdisc, Buneary. In need of Luvdisc freshwater flakes, fertilizer, apple tree seeds or tree starters-- any gardening supplies to help accomodate all of the Applin! ‣ Lavender Volunteer Pokemon House, Lavender Town. Adoptees: Luvdisc, Nidorano+Nidorana (bonded pair), Clefairy, female Pikachu. In need of vitamins and potions!

Unova Region ‣ Oath Woods, near the farm in the southwest. Adoptees: Grimer, Inkay. In need of food and volunteers! Those trained in rehabilitating Water type Pokemon for release into the wild could also be of great help. Contact @pokentomology for more info!

Galar Region ‣ Both Turffield and Hammerlocke Gym are taking in Applin! Contact @official-raihan for more info on adoptees.

There are also a few places that currently have the space to accept more rescues. If you're looking to surrender a Pokemon, or are a shelter that's reached capacity, consider contacting these guys first!

@pokemonadoptioncenter (info) @pokeshelteralola (info) @atuundragonsanctuary (info) @grass-types-more-like-loml (info)

[- - - end transcript 016]

[echantedtoon]

Love Doesn't Do Encores Ch36 Welcome To Spikemuth

(Here's a pic of the motorcycle if anyone needs a visual. Is there anything specific people want to do in Spikemuth with or without Piers? Also my noticfications have been acting wonky lately so if anyone wasn't informed of the last chapter getting posted I apologize. Also, what names shall we have for the other shiny pokemon. You can see what kind of shiny pokemon the reader has back in Ch27 titled Christmas With Piers.)

You left on the evening train. Just a few hours after Victor left and chatting to everyone to pass the time before you did leave. After all you made sure you had packed everything. Paid for the ticket to Hammerlocke. And had been sure to pay Mrs. L for your extra time there before you left and made sure the basement room she rented to you was cleaned before you left. And bought enough travel food to last yourself until you reach Hammerlocke. There wasn't any lose ends to take care of before you left besides to say good bye to everyone. You were excited to be heading to Spikemuth!..But also a little scared to be traveling by yourself and sad to be leaving the place you made friends with, but this was a great chance to benefit yourself. If you were going to live in this world from now on you had to make a living for yourself. Besides. You could always come back and visit Postwick. It was all just a train ride away. Around four o'clock the evening train rumbled into the station and with the ticket you purchased from the station master, you slid it into the small slot while picking up Silver into your arms to pass through the gate, and into the train car you went. Smiling sadly and waving goodbye to them until the announcer sounded over the speakers for any last passengers to board before they left. With one last good bye you turned into the car and walked inside. Getting seated into one of the many bright colorful seats and the train pulled away from the station. Leaving everyone behind. But it was ok. Everything was going to be ok.  

You were going home. 

CHIRP!! You looked over towards the source of the loud noise and found yourself face to face with a familiar face as Silver made it his mission to climb on top of the table and just sit there looking out the window as he just plopped himself down. Still wearing that hoodie you bought for him so long ago. You couldn't help but chuckle which made him look at you.

"I'm sorry," you apologized even though you weren't sorry in the slightest. "You just look adorable wearing that." CHIRP!! He frowned and gave an annoyed look your way. Oops. You forget these guys could understand human language. "Hey. I didn't mean it like that. You really do look nice in that. But if you ever evolve again it'll be too small for you." He frowned more before just flopping on his stomach facing the window and you chuckled at him before reaching over to pat him on the head. "Alright buddy. You go ahead and rest. We'll be home soon."

At least you weren't traveling alone this time. As one day turned into two then three then four then an entire week and more. On your way to Hammerlocke you'd find yourself trying to talk with Silver every so often, which was more lively than you thought. You could read him pretty well as he responded with facial expressions, sounds, nods and shakes of his head, and gestures with his small pink hands. Often using it to wake you up or pointing to your backpack to indicate he wanted food. Which you happily gave to him. Watching him gulp down the food you gave him like no tomorrow making you chuckle. You couldn't remember how many days had passed, too busy looking out the window or playing with Silver but you made sure to listen to the announcer every time he gave an update to where you would be stopping but none were the stop you were looking for. It was during one night you had woken up early in the morning to Silver trying to rummage through your luggage looking for food. Making your groggy self annoyed shooing him off your pack. And then once you knew he wouldn't do it again, tried to lean back in the seat and tried to go back to sleep-

"Attention Passengers! We will be arriving in Hammerlocke within fifthteen minutes!"

You went from groggy to semi awake faster than Silver could use water gun. Blinking in your stupor, you looked out the window. The sky was still dark but the new sun in the morning was starting to come up over the edge of the horizon. Letting you know that the morning was indeed coming and your stop was coming in FIFTHTEEN MINUTES!! Jumping up, you quickly began gathering up your things and securing them in your bag before snatching up Silver in your arms as he gave a noise as you stood by waiting patiently looking out the window as the train wheezed and slowed until it completely stopped and you stood up. Making your way to the exit doors that had opened. 

"Attention Passengers! We have now arrived in Hammerlocke! The morning train leaving Hammerlocke Station will depart in fifthteen minutes! Please exit or enter the train within that time. That's all!"

You made your way out of the gates and into the familiar Hammerlocke Station you've been to so many times beforehand. Smiling as you could finally properly stretch your legs for a moment, looking around and seeing the familiar curry side cafe tucked away in the corner of the station you all had eaten before and then letting out an embarrassed sigh when your stomach rumbled. You did want something other than travel foods that tasted bland and dried for too long. But you doubted you had enough money in your pockets leftover to buy anything for yourself let alone Silver so you two would have to stick to the leftover travel foods for now. Silver was placed down and he followed you out from the station where you stopped resting your hands on your backpack straps and looked around. More of the sky was lighter and already there was a few people running around. Mostly a bunch of parents with their children, backpacks on their backs escorting their little ones towards the Hammerlocke school up the road.  And some others looking like they were heading on their way to work. A typical start to many peoples' days. ..But now you had only one other problem. What were you supposed to do now? You were sure Sonia would've called Piers to let him know you were coming like you asked her and you had come to Hammerlocke like he had asked you to do, but....What now? Now that you were here should you just wait? But how long would that take? Was Piers already here somewhere? If so where? ...Maybe you should try finding Raihan and seeing if he knew where Piers was? You really didn't want to do that last one but considering the two were friends, that would probably be your best bet right now. Plus he owed you one for helping to save his stadium from those two thieves. With a sigh, you turned your body and motioned to Silver to follow you towards the draw bridge leading towards the gym.

"Follow me, Sil. Let's see if we can't find anyone around here to help us."

Silver chirped and followed you as you began stepping towards the stadium. As you walked you took in the sight of Hammerlocke by yourself since it was the first time coming here by yourself, it actually seemed a lot more peaceful now which was good. You liked the peace after going through so much hectic events happened in the last year and a half. You approached the corner where you'd find the turn off for the stadium right by the resident pokemon center and was about to turn to walk to the stadium's entrance but you were stopped by one loud voice. 

"Hey, Sassy!," someone called out and your body froze on instinct. There was only ONE person's who's voice caught you're attention that THAT could belong to. And as you turned your head, you confirmed your fears as none other than Raihan him was already walking out from the gym's entrance towards you. Hand up in the air waving towards you. "I thought I saw a beautiful lady and her drizzle. Was wondering when you would show up!"

"Oh really?," you asked back crossing your arms and giving a groan. "Don't tell me that Piers-"

"Asked me to look out for you when you got here?," he asked interrupting you with that usual smirk on his face. "Haha! Pretty much! But I really wasn't expecting you this early. Lucky for you huh?"

"tch. Unbelievable." You pointed at him as he stopped in front of you. "What are you even doing out this early in the morning? I thought someone like you would be too busy to stay in Hammerlocke for so long."

As if to answer you his hand just pointed straight up. "I'm staying here until my stadium's roof is completely fixed. It's taking longer than usual due to the Chairwoman running all over the place trying to fix things and get them ready by next year." He sighed rubbing his head. "Things here are really a hot spot for bad guy operations lately." 

"Why don't you just have Sordward and Shielbert pay for the repairs and speed it up a little bit?"

He turned to you and blinked. "What?"

"The guys with the weird hair that broke in," you said gesturing to your head, "They're super rich and the Chairwoman's already making them pay for repairs and renovations in order to make them pay for what they did. And they must've caused some damage to your roof. It wouldn't hurt them at all to just have them pay for the fix ups to pay you back."

Raihan stared at you for a moment humming..before smiling widely. "Hey! That's not a bad idea. You're a smart cookie."

You shrugged. "Eh. I'm just pointing out the most obvious solution." Before you looked around the place for any flashes of black and white. "So where is Piers? I'm supposed to be meeting him here before I head to Spikemuth."

"Oh he'll be here," he assured you, "But not until around noon. With how Piers drives it usually takes him a little bit to get places."

"..Wait. Piers is driving?"

"Yeah. He said something about you not liking to fly so he's driving his way here instead. Pretty sweet huh? Piers doesn't do this for everyone y'know."

"I didn't know he had a car."

"Motorcycle actually."

"Still. I could've just walked by way there. It's not that far from Hammerlocke."

"True, but Piers considers you a friend at this point." he smiled a knowing look at you which you didn't get at first. "And Piers is always down to help those he cares about."

Well that was news to you as you blinked surprised. "We're...friends?"

"Of course! Piers doesn't really say he's friends with anyone even if you are but he'll let you know you're friends through actions. He's an actions speak louder than words kinda guy most of the time." And as if a lightbulb went off in his head, he smiled and pointed his hand to the left. "Hey. Since Piers asked me to be a good host how about I treat you and you're little friend to breakfast? He's not going to show up until later anyways."

At the mention of food your stomach grumbled again and you gave an embarrassed face to his chuckle. Well...He DID owe you one so you'd be knocking out his owed favor and getting some grub at the same time. And he was actually the one who offered so it wouldn't hurt to accept this. After a moment of thinking it over you nodded but shot him a warning look.

"Alright but don't try anything. I have Silver and I'm not afraid to use him."

"Trust me. I know that."

Reluctantly you allowed Raihan to guide you on over towards that cafe you ate the last time you were there. The same one where you had pulled the hood over Raihan's face...You chuckled at the memory but decided it was best not to pull something like that again. Unless..of course. He tried to pull something again. Hopefully he wouldn't along the way he was stopped by one or two people who he allowed to take pictures with him before continuing on your way. Good to know he was still popular. As soon as you two got into the restaurant and sat down the older man behind the counter greeted him like an old friend before you two placed the orders, having him disappear into the back to prepare said food for the both of you and Silver who was plopped into the seat next to you. Leaving the three of you alone to wait for him to come back with your food. Until he looked to you with a smile and decided to break the ice with a question.

"So how was the trip over here? From what I've gathered you seem to travel a whole lot."

You blinked surprised at the seemingly normal question but still rose a brow. "It was alright but I don't want to make a habit out of it. A bit chilly though."

He nodded. "Well it is nearing the fall months right around now. Seems time flies when you're helping to save Galar huh? Oh hey. That's right." He pointed leaning back in his chair. "You were always traveling with your friends right? So would this be the first time you traveled alone?"

You shook your head. "No. I came here alone last year during Mr. Rose's main event remember? And I have gone places by myself before even before I met you guys." Ah yes. Jobs, runs to the store, walking to school- You shook your head. "But what about you? How are you holding up with everything that's happened in Hammerlocke?"

This time it was his turn to look surprised and you blinked when the usually smiling man actually groaned. "It's been-..Well-.." He made a rolling motion with one of his hands. "It's had it's ups and downs. Mostly a temporary hit to my credibility as a gym leader and good person."

"Wait..Really?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Being the person's who's gym not only harbored that-...'thing' the Chairman tried to bring back but also was subjugated to two attacks and the fact I failed to keep one out..Uh." A hand reached up to rub his face with a sigh. "I should count myself lucky Lee vouched for me and me obviously being proven innocent by the police. Really scared about what might've happened to my trainers y'know."

This time you were surprised this guy was thinking about the welfare of the trainers he was basically raising, but considering that he has indicated he cared for them before their wasn't really a surprise there he was worried about them first.

You nodded. "Yeah. I can get that..How are they anyways?"

"Huh? Oh. They're fine. Right now they're off at school with a whole bunch of other kids. Y'know it is a school day."

"Ah yeah. So um....Which one of them is your actual successor?"

"Sebastian! His sisters are more into traveling and wanting to start their own businesses. Which I fully support! But speaking of which I heard your friends got some pretty sweet positions too." he smiled. "From Gym Challengers endorsed by the Champion to Heroes and now to being full on trained by gym leaders and the prodigy of a famous professor." He huffed a chuckle. "Those three are something else. I bet Sonia's going to have a field day with her next book."

"Next book?"

He nodded. "Her first one nearly sold out so her second one about the other incident should also do really well. I'm surprised you didn't already get a copy."

You blinked but shook your head. "No. But I'll have to grab a few and have her sign them for me. I bet they'd be a great pass time to read."

Your two's conversation was cut short when the food was brought out and your empty stomach made all your attention turn to the food placed down in front of you. Digging into the delicious waffles along with Silver who also seemed preoccupied with his own food to notice Raihan. In the end you considered things even between you and Raihan for now at least. You weren't sure if another big bad guy was going to swoop in and try to start trouble and surprisingly...the rest of the conversations between you two were actually nice. Mostly about domestic things like how everyone was doing and what your hobbies were. Which you were happy to comply to keep the friendly atmosphere going. Surprising to find out more about Raihan's daily life and how he took the incidents that happened. Before you knew it the food was gone and paid for. The dishes taken and you two both continued to talk and talk as Silver bored sat there. Eventually another round of food was had after a couple hours and you declined his second offer of buying you lunch. You had enough money left for you and Silver for lunch and you decided you didn't want to owe anyone anymore favors, especially Raihan. Although you had come to an understanding that be was actually a decent guy ..when he wasn't flirting with you or being smug at least. By now it must've been near noon time. You were taking a moment to eat through your lunch when a familiar ring tone sounded out and you paused when an orange blur suddenly shot up from one of Raihan's pockets. A rotomi phone. The pokemon inside the phone floated up towards Raihan who smiled at it when it spoke in a robotic like voice.

"Incoming phone call from Emo Softy. Would you like to Accept Call or Decline Call?"

"Accept Call."

"Emo Softy?," you asked at the same time making his smile turn to you. 

"Well yeah. I have nicknames for all my friends, Sassy. Don't you?"

Well..you kinda did. But a voice picked up through the other side of the line. "It's 'bout time ya picked up." A calm, bored sounding voice. And you both instantly knew who that was.

Raihan only smiled and said to the phone, "What? It was only a few seconds since you called me first. Don't I at least get a little credit on my end?"

A groan answered him. "Jus' where are ya? 'M already here at the stadium."

"Oh. We're not there. We're at that cafe we ate at for your birthday that one year remember? The one that sold the pokemon safe cake you gave your obstagoon."

There was a slight pause. "...We?"

"Yeah." Raihan smiled at you. And as you weren't looking Silver reached over and grabbed your plate, quietly sliding it over towards him to eat while you weren't paying attention. "We. Me, Sassy, and her little bodyguard. We're having lunch. You should come over and join us actually. This plate has great food."

Again another pause before the voice cleared his throat on the other side before saying, "M' on my way." Before hanging up.

Raihan gave a few chuckles before the phone zipped back to his jacket pocket. "Well it looks like we're going to have a guest soon."

Piers. Piers!! Piers was coming to see you. An excited feeling fluttered in your chest but that must've been from the thought of seeing someone who considered you a friend again. You fork came back down- Clink! Your f/c eyes blinked back to the table your fork connected with realizing your plate was no longer there before your eyes trailed over to Silver who shoveled the last of the lunch YOU paid for YOURSELF into his mouth. Making you scowl and Raihan laugh. 

"Silver!"

Unsurprisingly he didn't see the problem with taking your food and you were left sitting there with only half the plate eaten. Although your attention to the window soon made you forget all about your stolen lunch and Raihan as you all just waited anxiously. Or just you really. And you instantly perked up as a man slightly slouched over with long black and white spikey hair appeared briskly walking past the store window. PIERS!! You felt your lips smile widely in happiness as the punk opened the door and stepped right in the little bell over the door ringing out. And he instantly stopped in the doorway once he stepped into the door. Because he instantly saw you and vise versa. Not waiting for anyone else to happen, you jumped up from your seat startling Silver who blinked at you and you waved at him. 

"Piers!"

..A tiny smile speared across his face. "'Bunny! Yer here!...I mean." He cleared his throat hand reaching up to grab his choker before he walked in more. "'S good to see ya again."

You smiled brightly at him as Raihan looked between you two with a knowing look. "Same here. I'm happy to see you too. Man. It's been so long since I've been able to see you again. How are you?"

He hummed that small smile still on his face as he did so. "'M fine. 'Course I was jus' not sure if you'd be 'ere or not. I wasn't sure if I came here too early or too late. Seems we're both lucky huh?"

You nodded. "Yeah. Seems my luck is always getting better with you around. You're like a walking good luck charm!"

Piers blinked at your words before his eyes darted to the right suddenly interested in the ceiling, and a slight pink hue lit up on his cheeks. "Uh huh....*ahem* W-Well are ya ready ta go?"

"Oh already?" So soon? He nodded and you shrugged. "Sure. Just give me a second to grab something real quick." 

You went to grab your back pack and Raihan stood up with a sigh. "Well I guess it was fun while this lasted. I'll walk you two out."

Silver shuffled off the seat after you and after Raihan tossed a few bills on the table for the tip, the lot of you made your way back out the cafe with you smiling brightly like a child who just got free candy between the two guys. Raihan gave one look over to Piers who glanced at you but once he caught Raihan's gaze, the dragon man wagged his brows at him making the punk scowl silently back at him. The three of you walked all the way to where you remembered the way back to Spikemuth from when you all traveled there last year. Travel all the way down Route Eight until you reached the fork in the road that branched off into the rest of Route Eight and Route Nine. Then travel down Route Nine until you reach Route Nine Tunnel which marked the halfway point to Spikemuth, then go through a small forested area and boom! You'd reach Spikemuth. Upon reaching the exit out of Hammerlocke, you paused seeing what Piers walked over to. A motorcycle! I mean..Raihan had told you he had one but you were actually expecting to see one. It was a model unknown to you but it was dripped out in the classic magenta, white, and black colors Piers usually associated himself with. A magenta traveling bag strapped near the front that must've belonged to him, and a small white helmet and goggle set with a hot pink stripe on the back was hung on the handlebars which Piers instantly grabbed once he got near it. You slowed your steps approaching the bike wide eyed admiring it as Piers placed the helmet on his head securing the straps and throwing the goggles. You only really blinked when something was held up towards you which turned out to be another helmet than was tan. You slowly took it from him. 

"'Ere," Piers said pointing at it. "I had an' extra for Marnie, but you'd need  if you're gonna ride with me. " He paused.."You have ridden one of these 'fore right?"

You shook your head no. "Not really. I've ridden a bicycle before but never a motorcycle." You then placed the helmet over your own head and reached to attach the straps around your own chin. 

Piers hummed. "Well..Jus' hop on and hang on tight to me. It'll take a few days to get there but it'll be faster than walking." He then looked at Silver and pointed. "An' he'll need to ride in a pokeball. There's not enough room for three of us."

Well that was understandable. It took a few minutes of convincing and Silver whining and clinging to your arm but you managed to get him back in his pokeball and secured him safely in your backpack. In the mean time Raihan walked right over to Piers who gave him a look. 

"....Thanks for helpin' out."

"It's no biggy," he said waving a hand before smiling widely. "But if you gotta know her favorite hobbies is reading, literally anything involving music, going on walks, and she dabbles in cooking. Her favorite food is the sweet instant noodle curry and the sweet cheese one too. She hates people flirting with her out right if you don't get to know he-"

"What are you talking about?," Piers asked interrupting Raihan in his tyrade as you busied yourself with putting Silver away and climbing onto the back of his bike carefully.

Raigan smirked. "Oh. Just something to help you become better friends...Or if you ever decide to hang out again."

Piers opened his mouth ready to tell Raihan to come off it but he froze eyes suddenly blown wide and Raihan blinked for a moment confused as to why Piers suddenly looked like he saw a ghost but soon found out when he noticed that two arms were wrapped around his middle. Causing the punk to flush a slightly deeper shade of pink as you..Well you did exactly as Piers advised and what people usually did when riding the person driving the motorcycle. You made sure the helment was on securely before hopping onto the back seat and wrapped your arms around Piers in order to keep from falling off. Oblivious to the blush across Piers's face as you smiled at him. 

"I think I'm ready so you can start the thing."

Piers took a moment to process what you said before he cleared his throat and his hands grabbed onto the handles. "R-Right. *ahem*" With one leg he pushed the motorcycle in an upright position from it's parked form ignoring the smirk Raihan was boring into him before twisting the handle and the engine purred to life. Your arms on instinct tightening just a bit more around him and with one kick off the motorcycle took off down the road. "Hang on. O-Ok." ..Although not as fast as you expected him to go. You both indeed take off. Down the dirt path. ...Well it was certainly faster than you could walk and it was faster than you could even run actually. Certainly faster than Silver could run too. But not as fast as a car or anything like that. If you'd have to compare the speed to something, it would be a scorbunny jogging pleasantly down the path.

But who were you to complain? You both left Hammerlocke behind and the visual of Raihan waving good bye to the two of you and you would've waved back if you weren't too scared of falling off being this was your first time on a motorcycle and while it WAS better than flying, not having the comfort of walls between you and a crash and the lack of a seat belt made you a bit nervous. You watched back as Hammerlocke slowly got smaller and smaller until it completely disappeared other than a small visual of it looking as if it was a small toy castle. After a moment you turned back around the scenery as it passed. Silently the two of you road for what seemed like a long moment before you looked back to him curious.

....

.......

Well you decided to ask him.

"Hey." You weren't sure if he could hear you at first over the wind and engine but he tilted his head slightly indicating he was listening to you. "Why don't we go a little faster?"

"Cuz my motto 's safety first," he replied back loudly for you to hear him. "An' this is your first time ridin' with me like this. I ain't taking any chances with you 'gain." He mumbled a last part to himseld. "Arceus knows you don't deserve any more trouble."

"Oh. ....How long will it take us to reach Spikemuth like this?"

"About three and a half days," he answered back, "But I'm plannin' on driving all night tonight so it should be shortened to a day n' a half. Hope ya don't mind but I don't like the idea of leaving Marnie all alone for too long."

Oh. Well that was completely understandable. "No it's fine. Honestly I'm sure I can pull an all nighter." You've done so before a couple times when you were studying for a test or did a night shift at a job your mother badgered you to do. "But will you be ok?"

He seemed to pause for a moment again..and you didn't see it but he blinked as if the question was foriegn to him. "Wot?"

You were oblivious to his face so again asked, "Are you going to be alright driving all night? I don't want you hurting yourself if you become too exhausted."

He didn't answer at first but eventually regained himself and nodded. "Yeah. I'll be fine. You jus' make sure ta just hang on and d-don't let go. I don't want you gettin' hurt anymore."

"Same here. I don't ever want to see you with a hurt arm let alone anything else again."

..He nervously gulped. "R-Right."

The next two and half days were pretty bland. Night soon fell upon the two of you but as Piers had said he kept driving. Half because he wanted to get back to Spikemuth and Marnie and half because he wanted an excuse to ignore the thoughts that made his heart pound in his chest for reasons he'd rather not contemplate. Switching a switch on his motorbike to make the front light turn on so he could see in the dark night as you stayed up to cling to him. You were tired of course but it was easier to stay away knowing you could fall off the bike and you definitely didn't want to end up in the hospital again. So through the night you drove on and on. The moon rising and falling as the night went on. Sometime during the middle of the night you both passed the fork in the road where Piers turned onto Route Nine and continued until the sun came up and he continued onwards still. You were so tired yawning every ten minutes or so, but you somehow were able to just stay awake blinking your tired eyes.

"Are you alright there?", he asked you a few hours into riding the second day...before he totally froze upon feeling something soft smooshing against his back and it took him a solid moment to realize your face was laid against his shoulder as you tried to keep yourself awake. Resulting in pink again rushing to his cheeks.

You nodded with another small yawn and blink head against his shoulder. "Y-Yeah. Just a bit..tired. Y'know?"

" W-W-Well...*ahem* Just stay awake for a lil longer. We'll be able to sleep tonight. Kay?"

You nodded still leaned against him and thus he continued to drive. By the midday of the day you both came upon something and you blinked your tired eyes up and behind you as the world blackened for just a few seconds before it was gone. Looking behind you, you realized what it was. A tunnel like bridge and it took you're tired brain a few seconds to realize something. That was the Route Nine Tunnel. That means you two were more than half way to Spikemuth already. That was a good sign. So again you two continued on with you leaning into him more as the day passed and eventually the sky started to darkened and the sunset started to form on the horizon. It was then that Piers began to slow down the bike even more and you blinked tilting your head up as he completely stopped, parking the bike, and reaching up to pull the helmet off himself as you slowly removed yourself from himself and the bike as well. 

"We'll rest here for the night 'n travel the rest 'o the way in the mornin'," he commented looking over at the quickly setting sun. "With any luck we'll be there by tomorrow."

"Mm hm." you yawned again half stumbling have fumbling to get off the bike and reach towards your pack in order to reach your sleeping bag. You were just so tired that you just wanted to sleep.

The night was a blur. Somehow you managed to fish out your sleeping bag and crawl into it, completely falling asleep as soon as your head had hit the ground. Leaving Piers to look at you for a moment before sighing and shaking his head before also retiring for the night. You were awoken the next morning by light in your eyes and noises coming from somewhere near you.

"Hey. You."

 when you opened your eyes blinking it took a moment of you yawning, rubbing your eyes, and letting your brain catch up to you before you were able to sit up and realize what was going on. Piers was already up and already to go. Already with the helmet and goggles on and currently strapping his travel bag back onto the front. But he did take notice enough of you stirring to talk to you.

"So you're finally awake."

You blinked and yawned again before stretching. "Y-Yeah. Man. What time is it?"

"Still early. Around eight in the mornin' I think." He turned to you before nodding over towards the bike. "C'mon. We're almost there. I'll help ya pack up."

After repacking everything back up and letting you wake up enough to put the helmet back on your head properly Piers was just about to hop back on the bike before something was shoved at him making him blink. It was a hand, your hand, holding out a piece of travel jerky to him. And he looked over to you who smiled while already chowing down on a piece of your own.

"Here. Breakfast." You said placing the small food into his palm. "You're probably hungry after all that driving. I don't have a lot but you can have that until you get back home." He blinked raising a brow between you and the food..before opening his mouth. "Dude. Don't try to give it back." You interrupted him making him lean his head taken aback as you pointed your free hand at him. "I know for a fact you didn't eat anything yesterday and you certainly didn't even eat anything this morning. You need to eat something even if it's just that. I'm not taking no for an answer about that."

"But I-''

"Piers." You narrowed your eyes at him. "I am NOT getting on that back until you eat that. Seriously, you need to take care of yourself dude." You smiled at him and he paused seeing it. "And I don't want to see you getting hurt ok?"

Piers just stood there staring at your smile. Your words slowly sinking into him conflicting emotions going through his mind. ..Until he eventually just said, "Thanks."

You two did eventually get back onto the bike and start to drive back again now more awake and less hungry than before although you did keep your promise and refuse to get back onto the bike until he at least ate the food you had given him. Long story short the two of you did reach Spikemuth. Through the woods and eventually out the other side as he slowed down the bike even more as he approached and you turned your head over his shoulder to look at the new restored town. And your eyes widened at what you saw. The high crumbling walls looked like someone knocked them down and slapped a brand new brick wall around the city as you two approached and with Piers slowing down more you saw even more improvement writing into town. It all looked brand new-ish! No trash was anywhere. The buildings looked normal and  while not brand new looking was better than the worn out look they had before. The signs and broken lamp posts was no longer broken. But what really surprised you was the amount of people walking around that wasn't Team Yell. There was ACTUALLY a decent amount of regular looking people walking around the streets of all ages. From an elderly couple to a couple people and their children. As you two passed a couple of people also clearly noticed Piers and either pointed or waved at him as you passed. Well it looked like Piers was still well known to some people. You smiled as you admired the place which looked like now any other Surburban neighborhood. Already you felt a good vibe come off this place. The ride coming slower and slower until you blinked as you both once again came to a complete stop in front of the gym stadium. He must've felt your confusion because he answered you.

"Marn-marn's waitin' for me here." He said before reaching his hands up to remove the helmet from his head. Shaking to where his ponytails shifted about before looking behind him at you. "The friend I told ya 'bout who's rentin' her house works for me as well. Ruby's the one who usually takes care of the garage with R.J. an' Benjamin. ...And the one who keeps everyone in check when I'm not here." he mumbled that last part to himself before shaking his head and carefully placing the helmet on one of the handles. "C'mon. I'll introduce ya."

You blinked at Piers but quickly made to remove your helmet and follow after the lanky man who calmly walked up to the gym's giant exposed entrance letting you both see the inside easily and even more as you two walked up the street and right into it. Piers stopping first his blue eyes pointing towards one corner and you blinked following his gaze over to said corner and also paused. Because standing there was Marnie, with her back towards the both of you talking to a woman decked out in Team Yell attire and the two of them were staring at a phone the woman held as they seemed to be talking about something, but Piers interrupted the two with a smile and a small tune as he stepped forward and sung something out.

"'M coming home.~" Both ladies jumped and instantly snapped their heads up and around to Piers who smiled and held his arms out in a gesture. "Tell the world I'm comin' home.~"

Marnie's reaction was instant. "Piers!" And you watched as the younger of the two siblings ran up to her big brother to let the both of them embrace in a hug. Which made you smile. "What took ya so long?" Marnie demanded face buried in her brother's chest from the hug. "You're travelin' and gone from home so much lately."

"I know. An' I'm sorry about that," he assured her with a couple pats to her back. "But I made a promise ta someone to help 'em out an' y'know I always keep my promises. Like I also promise I'm not going anywhere for a good while, Marn-Marn." He turned his head over towards you and Marnie eventually followed his gaze landing on you. "Ya remember Leon's mate, right?"

Marnie looked at you slowly pulling away from her brother's hug and blinked at you but nodded. "Oh yeah. You're my big brother's new friend." She curiously turned her eyes up towards Piers raising a brow. "So you're the gal he went ta help? ...Hm. He seems to like helpin' you out a lot."

Piers gave her a look but you just smiled and nodded. "Well he's a really nice guy that's for sure. I bet he's a great big brother too."

"Hmm..Well you're not wrong about that."

Piers cleared his throat gaining your attention and motioning over for the woman who was previously chatting to Marnie to come over. "A-Anyways since you two already know each other." He quickly changed the topic pointing between you and the woman. "Y/n, this 's Ruby. Ruby this is the gal I told ya 'bout."

The woman blinked over to you and you noticed she had yellow eyes and some of the hair dye Team Yell used had started to fade revealing some faint red hair underneath. She looked you up and down for a moment before smiling. "Oh. You're the woman interested in the room for rent."

You nodded. "Y-Yeah. Piers said you were looking for a new tenant."

Ruby nodded back. "He said some good things about you, and I trust Piers's judgement so I'd be happy to go over the lease contract with you. But unfortunately I'm still on shift and don't get off until five. I'd be happy to go over everything with you then though."

You held up your hands understanding. "That's alright. I can wait. It'd probably be best for me to look around the town anyways. And this might be a good chance to go job hunting anyways."

Piers blinked. "Already? Ya just got here."

You nodded at him. "Yeah but it'd be better to get situated as soon as possible. You mentioned you knew some places around here who were hiring?"

Piers still blinked but Marnie answered you. "There's that new cafe a few blocks away from here." She said pointing out the gym. "It was converted by the new owner of the ol' ice cream shop. Heard it was lookin' for new waitresses."

Hey! That wasn't too far from the gym actually! Smiling you turned and waved at them. "Well then that's where I'm heading! I'll be back around five so I can talk to Ruby about that lease."

''W-Wait. Do ya even know where you're goin'?," Piers asked holding out a hand and called after your form. "Don't you even need a ride there?"

You shook your head. "No. It's just three blocks to the right from the gym. I remember that from the last time I was here." You waved. "Thanks for the ride Piers! I owe you one!"

He stood there for a moment hand outstretched before slowly returning his hand to his side silently as Marnie looked between where you had disappeared and her brother for a moment seeming to see something he didn't before asking.

"If ya want to ask her out there's no shame in it."

"M-MARNIE!!"

You smiled walking through the familiar streets of Spikemuth. The brighter atmosphere and other people walking around put a smile on your face at the peaceful atmosphere. You were right. Piers was a great gym leader because if this is was how it was like when he was in charge, then Piers must be doing a good job looking after his town. It was incredible at home much the town had changed since your last visit. As you passed different homes and a few small businesses, you eventually came to the small cafe that was once the run down ice cream shop. Repainted, repaired, and reopened with a 'Now Hiring' sign in one of the windows. Perfect! Smiling you walked right up to the door and opened it. A small bell went off above you echoing out throughout the small cafe you walked into. Making you blink and look around. It looked like any other generic restaurant you've eaten at. About as big as the cafe in Hammerlocke but a bit bigger, with a couple tables and booths lined up on the opposite wall and by the windows with black and white tiled flooring and a couple lights and ceiling fans above you. There was a bar counter with a couple stools and a cash register sat upon the very end. Behind the counter was a shelf with bottles of drinks, soda cans, and instant noodles packages with a coffee pot right next to the shelf. A pair of double doors was by the counter which you guessed must've lead to the kitchen and back rooms. Seemed like a nice place to work. 

"Hello?," you called out when no one answered the bell.

What answered you was a clatter from the back kitchen making you jump and turn towards the double doors as footsteps approached. You watched as the double doors swung open and an older woman maybe mid forties in a professional chef outfit with the white sleeves rolled up and apron around her waist. Her light pink hair was already starting to lightly grey in some places, she smiled when she saw you.

"Welcome!," she greeted in a slightly higher pitched voice. "Sorry if I didn't hear you come in. I was in the back putting away some stock. What can I get for you?"

"Actually." Your hand pointed over towards the sign in the big window. "I'm here for the job opening?"

She seemed to instantly beam at this with a large smile. "You are?" You nodded and she huffed a chuckle. "Well hallelujah. That old sign's been hanging there for months now and no one's answered the call." She gestured to herself. "The name's Barbara. And you are?"

"Y/n," you said extending your hand to her to shake hers. "What job position are you looking for?"

She roughly shook yours. She seemed strong for her age. "Basically a helper around here of sorts. Someone to man the register, take orders, clean up the tables. The whole works. You have any job experiences doing those things?"

You nodded your head. "I worked at a cafe once as a summer job when I was seventeen." You answered truthfully. 

"You're hired!"

You blinked....."Wait. Just like ..that?"

She nodded. "Yep! Been waiting for someone to start working and you're the first in months to show interest." You blinked when she pointed at you. "You start first thing Friday morning. Be here by six sharp and I'll run you through everything you need to know."

"Actually if you have time, you can go ahead and show me right now. I don't have anywhere to be until five anyways."

Barbara blinked looking surprised for a moment before she smiled widely again and slapped your shoulder making you wince. "Ha! I like you already! Sure. Follow me and I'll show you were everything is and what you'll be doing!"

And she did. Showed you the kitchen which looked like your standard cafe kitchen with a grill, fryer, sink, dishwasher, oven, and a large place for dishes to be put away. The back room where the food, cleaning supply closest, and other thing like extra napkins and to go boxes were. Before leaning you back to the front to show you something you didn't notice at first glance. A small open space in the wall  leading from behind the cash register to the kitchen and right next to it was a small bell. 

"After you bring us an order the food will be placed here and the bell will be rung to let you know to take it. When a table's done eating just bring the dishes to the back for us to take care of."

"Us?," you asked blinking and Barbara nodded.

"Yep! I work here with my son. He's my dishwasher, stock storer, and delivery boy. You just haven't met him yet because he's out making a couple deliveries." She then pointed towards the front of the cafe. "I do the cooking and making sure we're kept up in stock. The duties you'll be in charge of is just making sure the customers are happy getting their food, cleaning tables, and manning the front here. But there's a few rules I have to go over with you." You nodded. Of course. All businesses had dos and don'ts and rules. "Number one, if anyone tries ordering an alcoholic drink you always, ALWAYS check their IDs first and foremost. I don't care how old they look or who they are. If you don't see a number over twenty one on that card then it ain't happening, and I have a rule only two alcoholic drinks per a customer. If they don't like that then they can take their business somewhere else." Ok. That was actually responsible. "Number two, the only one who counts the money at the end of the day is me and only me. My register automatically counts every transaction and calculates how much money should be in there at the end of the day. So I always know if someone tries to sneak any money from it." Ok. Out of the blue but still understandable. "And lastly, I have a three strike rule. I'm pretty understanding if you're late sometimes or you break a plate on accident because things happen, but I also have a limit. You get three strikes and you're fired. I run a tight schedule around here and I'm no push over. Understand all that?"

Ok. Well that sounded pretty reasonable to you. So you nodded yes to her.

"Good. You start first thing Friday morning. Make sure you're here bright and early."

You again nodded. Looks like things were finally starting to look up for you.

-SMALL TIME SKIP-

Well, you were finally back at the gym. After talking a little more to Barbara, you still had a couple hours to kill so you took the opportunity to walk a little more around town and familiarize yourself with your new town. Finding a few other small businesses, a small park, and a lot of other houses you weren't able to see before for the brief time you were here last year. Of course there was a considerable amount of houses with 'For Sale' or 'For Rent' signs hanging up in their windows but you expected that from what Piers had told you. Entering one random thrift store you were able to see the time thanks to a clock on their wall and made it back to the gym in time to find Piers and Marnie gone and some Team Yell grunts around cleaning up after the day was getting to a close. One being Ruby who after greeting you motioned for you to follow her which you did. Surprisingly the place she lead you was just up the street from the gym itself. The house a generic two story building on the outside and when you were let in, the inside was genuinely like any other house. Actually it looked a lot like Mrs. L's house. Generic furniture matching the specific room they were in. Example being the living room having a television and a few chairs on a white rug. Ruby naming the rooms pointing as them as you passed them.

"-and in there's the kitchen. Your room will be upstairs on the second floor and you'll be sharing space with me and Pearl."

"Pearl?"

She nodded. "She's our other room mate but she's not here right now because she usually works the late shifts at her job. But you'll probably meet her tomorrow since it's her day off. Follow me." You followed her into the living room where she went over to a small table with one or two drawers. Going over to it, she reached into one drawer, and a moment later pulled out a piece of paper before turning around and holding it out to you. "Here. It's the leasing contract. It has all the rules and stuff. You'll have to sign it."

You took it from her and began reading it. It looked like an official legal document. Stating the typical rules involving any damages caused by tenants and liabilites. 

"I have a few rules of my own since I do own the house," Ruby continued as you read over the paper. "I don't mind if you have people over but I'd like a heads up first and strangers can't stay overnight without my say so. Same with your pokemon. I don't mind if you let them run around but any damages they cause is coming out of your deposit." Ok. Makes sense so far. "Speaking of which. The room just itself is a hundred fifty but you'll also be contributing for water, electric, and wifi so I'll expect two hundred fifty each month. If you can't make payments for any reason you better let me know so we can work something out." Again, fair enough, and that's still a good price. "But..that's also where the problem lies."

At this you blinked looking up at her, her expression more serious. "Problem?"

She nodded. "You see when Pearl started renting I had her give me a seven hundred dollars for a security deposit, but from what Piers told me you didn't have that kind of money to just hand me. So usually I would refuse until I can get that....Buut. Since my boss spoke really highly of you and I trust his judgement, I'm willing to work something out. He has a good judgement of character."

You ..blinked. "He...did?"

Ruby nodded again. "But that doesn't mean I won't let you off that easily either. He said you were a hard worker so here's what I thought up. You won't have to pay the two fifty this month or next month." You nearly sighed in relief. "Instead you'll pay four hundred this month and three hundred the next." You felt your eyes widen and your hand nearly dropped the paper. "I'm not finished." She said seeing your expression. "That'll pay for your deposit, then when the second month's over we can start you on the regular payment. But in exchange for not charging the regular rent with the deposit costs, you'll be helping me out and doing chores around here for me for those two months. Does that sound fair to you?"

.....Actually that did. Because it was almost the same situation with Mrs. L only a little more expensive. Oi vey you'd be having to save up a bit more.

You nodded. "Y-Yeah. That sounds great!"

Ruby smiled. "Well then when you're finished reading the paper you can sign it and we can get you settled in."

You did sign the paper after rereading it carefully and finding nothing wrong with it smiling before Ruby took it from you and made you follow her upstairs where she continued to list off a few more rules of hers.

"You're welcome to the kitchen but everyone washes their own dishes and cleans their own messes. That also applies for any other messes you make around the house. But I have one very, VERY important rule." She stressed. "Everyone supplies their own stuff. Room furniture, hygiene products, food- You get the picture. And everyone stays OUT of the other's rooms. As long as you don't give me any reasons to search then we won't have a problem. Your stuff is yours. Our stuff is ours. Respect each others' privacy and boundaries."

"That's not a problem!," you confirmed and she nodded.

"Good. Then we're going to get along just fine then." She stopped in front of a door and out of her pocket she pulled out a key. "Here. Your own bathroom is through the door on the left inside." You reached for it but paused when she pulled away slight with a raised brow. "Don't lose your key. I have a spare if you need it but I can't replace it if you keep losing it." you nodded and she dropped it in your hand. "Oh. One more thing. You'll have to renew your lease at the end of the year if you want to continue living here next year too. You won't have to renew the deposit either if you don't cause any damages."

You again nodded and thanked Ruby for everything. Eventually her taking her leave letting you unlock the door with your new room key and opening the door to a...completely empty room. ...Well she did say you supplied your own furniture which was fair enough, and it's not like you weren't used to a sleeping bag by now anyhow. Closing the door you sighed looking around the empty place. ..Well. Wasn't too different from your old basement room, just less like Postwick. And of course without anyone you recognized...Hey. That's right. You hadn't let Silver back out of his pokeball yet. Oh crap! He was gonna be a little cranky but hey. You'd feel better with a familiar face lying around. Smiling you took your pack off and placed it on the floor. Opening it and rummaging around until your hands found a pokemon ball. With a smile and a small toss of your hand, the ball opened, and a bright flash of white light appeared letting a pokemon out...Only...It wasn't the one you expected. Instead of a shiny greyish water type pokemon instead someone in a flash of white and pink and spikey looking appeared. And a sound that you could only describe as something between a raccoon and dog growl sounded out. Your smile dropped. And you were staring at something that was absolutely not Silver. ...But a zigzagoon. A SHINY GALARIAN zigzagoon to be more precise. The small creature yawned in a downward dog style stretching out it's body as if it had just awoken from a nap before shaking it's head and blinking. 

....What the-

THIS WASN'T YOUR POKEMON!! You dropped the current pokemon ball you were holding in shock just staring at the thing. Before you suddenly moved. Hands shoving themselves back into the bad and moving things only to discover five other poke balls. And your eyes widened again. .....Ok. ONE of these was clearly Silver and he was yours. But where in the heck did the other five come from!? Did Gloria sneak them into your bag as a going away present of her own like she gave Hop and her other rivals? But why didn't she tell you then? You were about to seriously go right up to Ruby and ask to borrow a phone to confront her. When a sudden thought struck you. One from last year. With a poke poacher and small pokemon in cages. And someone accidentally delivering you shinies in your coat and with nothing else to do with them at the moment, put them in pokeballs and away to keep them safe and hidden....At least until now. You slowly looked over wide eyed to the panting zigzagoon who tilted it's head at you.

".......Uh oh."

[evening-winds]

(for context: the design on archaludon's front is giving massive hammerlocke gym uniform vibes....... which, obviously, got me daydreaming about raihan's surprise appearance in the sv dlc with his new evolved ace......... which resulted in this)

~

the kitchen table was scattered with travel brochures, each of them advertising a different location with bold colors and excessive superlatives. beach resorts, nature trails and tourist attractions from all over the world were vying for their potential readers' attention.

instead of comparing possible travel destinations like he was supposed to, raihan found himself transfixed by only one brochure, wistfully gazing at the page with the picture of the paldean evolution of duraludon.

"pining for archaludon again?" his husband chuckled, peeking over his shoulder.

raihan sighed, not bothering to deny the obvious. "i kinda want one," he admitted and accepted the hot mug of tea leon was offering him.

leon sat down on the chair next to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "there's only one thing you can do, then," he said. "you have to go to paldea." he neatly stacked some of the brochures to make room for his own mug and a plate of scones with jam. "take on the gyms and become a champion while you're at it."

raihan groaned into his tea. the joke was old, and he had never found it particularly funny. he had never wanted to take on another region's league, even though he had all the skill needed to become champion anywhere else, because of leon. because why would he give a hoot about a championship if his one true rival, the love of his life, wasn't there? if anyone knew his stance on the matter, it was leon. "oh, come off it, you - -"

"i'm coming with you," leon interrupted him matter-of-factly. "naturally."

the paldean system, with the possibility of multiple people being able to hold the champion title simultaneously, was like the polar opposite of what the galar league had been during leon's at the time unbeatable reign. he had gained more self-awareness since his loss; the stagnation had been unhealthy, for both galar and himself. so maybe the paldeans were onto something with that system of theirs. whatever the case, we wanted to see and experience it for himself. he wasn't all that interested in being a champion in two regions (well, ex-champion in the other, to be precise), but everything that came before the so-called champion assessment appealed to him – for obvious reasons. despite enjoying the gym challenge, he had never had the chance to do it again, having won the first championship cup he had participated in and now having his hands full running the battle tower.

all of this leon explained to raihan in between mouthfuls of scone. "and don't try to pretend you're not interested, too," he concluded with a knowing grin. "i know you, darling. you live to compete, and you love a good challenge."

again, raihan had no room for argument. he couldn't help the smile breaking out on his face. "you're right." he gave the brochure one more once-over. "so you'd be okay with it?" he asked, turning his eyes back to leon. "going to paldea?"

leon's grin only widened. "i'll catch you a third applin once we're there," he announced blithely, slipping his arm around raihan's middle, "so you can get its paldean evolution, too."

raihan's heart swelled with affection. how could he say no to that?

and so, on their next wedding anniversary, instead of the usual week-long holiday, they took a longer leave of absence and went to paldea to take on the league, just like they had done back home as kids some twenty years ago...

[snappedsky]

Borderlands: Skies the Bodyguard 5

The Crimson Raiders hold a memorial and Skies pays a visit to an old friend.

Thus officially ends the saga of Skies the Bodyguard...but it's not the end of Skies. After all, she hasn't even been a bodyguard for years at this point. After a short hiatus, her story will continue as Skies the Ultimate Treasure Hunter, featuring DLCs, New Tales from the Borderlands, and original stories!

*Links to previous chapter in reblog*

--

Epilogue

           The Sky Rider sits quietly on a ridge in Nekrotafeyo, where it was left when Skies first arrived. A small group of mercenaries approach, muttering to each other as they ready their guns.

           Inside, Skies is fast asleep on her bed. When everyone was leaving Pandora, she fast travelled back to her ship and shot up a few insta-healths. It didn’t fix her entirely- the damage she received to her chest is too severe to be completely fixed. But she can at least move and breathe freely again.

           Now she just wants to sleep off the last few hours. But unfortunately, the rest of the galaxy has other plans.

           An alarm starts ringing from her ECHO device, startling her awake. She groans with annoyance as she grabs it and reads the proximity warning. Without getting out of bed, she turns on an intercom option on her ECHO.

           “Attention, approaching assholes.” Her voice rings out from the outside of her ship, startling the mercenaries. “This ship has a security feature. Should you attempt to break in or damage it, it will explode, destroying all of us and everything inside it. So I suggest, backing the hell off!”

           The mercenaries look at each other with uncertainty.

           “Do you think it’s true?” one asks.

           “No way,” another replies, “who would have their ship explode like that?”            “An overprotective whack job like me, is who,” Skies replies as she steps out of the ship. She’s not even fully dressed, in just socks, pants, and a t-shirt. But she has her rifle resting on her shoulder. “I’d rather destroy myself and everything I own then let it fall into the hands of scumbags like you. Now look, I know why you’re here and I know you’re only doing a job. That’s why I’m giving you this one chance. Beat it, or die.”

           The mercenaries stare at her with surprise before readying their guns. Skies rolls her eyes. “Suit yourselves.”

           They do their best, but their best doesn’t come anywhere near to Skies, even when she’s still exhausted and treating this like pest extermination. When they’re all dead, she tosses her rifle aside as she goes into the cockpit.

           “I better disappear for a while,” she mumbles, “at least until I’m feeling better.”

          She flies the ship off-planet and starts to set her auto-nav, when her communicator goes off.

           “Hey, Skies!” Ava chimes, “you still alive?”

           “Seem to be,” Skies replies, “what’s up?”

           “We’re having a memorial for Maya, Typhon, and Lilith at Roland’s Rest. You should come. Everyone’s going to be there.”            “Everyone, huh? I suppose I can stop by.”            “Great! See you there.”            Skies smiles and sets the auto-nav for Pandora. As it takes off, she goes into her room to change into something clean.

           When she’s finished, she grabs her coat and tuts with disapproval. It’s little more than scraps now after the last few weeks. Hardly appropriate to wear to a special event.

           “Gonna need a new one,” she sighs and tosses it aside.

           The Sky Rider soon arrives to Pandora and lands within Roland’s Rest. When Skies exits, the first ones to meet her are Rhys and Vaughn. They smile warmly and she smiles back and hugs them.

           They lead to her Roland’s statue, where everyone else is waiting. And it really is everyone. The Vault Hunters and the Crimson Raiders; the B-team; Wainwright and Hammerlock; Zer0 and Lorelai. Everyone Skies has met through this adventure is here.

           “Okay, we’re all here!” Ava announces, “we can begin.”

           “Skies!” Tina cheers as she hugs her. “I’m so glad you’re not dead.”            “Same here,” Skies smiles.

           As everyone prepares for the memorial, Skies stares up at Elpis. Everything that happened yesterday feels like a dream, but the Firehawk symbol in the sky proves it’s all real.

           “Alright!” Moze booms, “weapons at the ready!”

           Everyone points their guns to the sky.

           “Fire!”

           They all fire three times simultaneously, to honour the three they’ve lost. Maya, Typhon, and Lilith. Photos of Maya and Lilith sit on the base of Roland’s statue, along with a plaque bearing Typhon’s crest.

           As everyone lowers their weapons, Tannis clears her throat. “I would like to say a few words.”

           “I am not the best at expressing emotion. I find it to be unnecessary baggage, to be blunt. But even I feel the weight of this travesty. Typhon Deleon was a legendary hero, taken from us just as our romance was starting to blossom.”

           “Oi,” Skies groans, rolling her eyes.

           “As for Maya and Lilith,” she continues, “they were true friends, and the greatest Sirens the galaxy will ever know. But if there’s one thing I know about Sirens- and there is far more than one thing- it’s that they are never truly gone. They live on in the memories of those they were closest to, in more ways than any mere layman could ever understand.”            Agreement rumbles through the crowd as Tannis bows dramatically. Everyone else takes turns speaking. Brick, Mordecai, and Tina go on about how awesome Maya and Lilith were. Zer0 says Lilith was an honourable leader and Maya a powerful ally. Moze, Zane, Amara, and FL4K talk about how much fun working under Lilith and beside Maya was, and that they wish they could’ve spent more time with Typhon.

           As they speak, Skies continues to stare up at the moon. She wants to say something. But what would she say? Maybe she shouldn’t say anything. But she wants to say something.

           As Ava is finishing up talking about what a great teacher and guardian Maya was and how she wants to be just like her, Skies raises her hand.

           “Uh, um, I’d like to say something.”

           Ava smiles and nods. Skies awkwardly rubs her hands as she looks at everyone staring back at her.

           “Um, okay, so…like Tannis, I’m not good at…emotion. And I’m way worse at properly speaking my thoughts. But I’ll…I’ll do my best.”

           “It was a real honour to meet Typhon and spend time with him. I learned so much about him in that short time, and I wish I could’ve learned more. But, um…but he went out like a hero trying to defeat a monster- even if that monster was his daughter- and I think he’d be satisfied with that.”

           The Vault Hunters nod agreeably.

           Skies throat tightens but she swallows hard and continues. “As…all of you know…I had um…h-history with Lilith and Maya. But despite this, they still accepted me to help out, even if it was only because they didn’t have a lot of options. But I’ll take what I can get. I only wish I had more time to show Maya that it wasn’t a mistake. I really wish we could’ve gotten that drink together.”

           “And Lilith…she…she did accept me. Despite everything I did to her, in the end, she considered me…a friend. Which is far more than I could ever deserve from her.”

             Skies stops here, her left eye stinging. Everyone else is respectfully silent.

           “A-anyway, that’s enough from me,” she says quickly, “like I said, I can’t properly voice my thoughts. I just ramble endlessly. Everyone can stop looking at me now.”

           There are a few chuckles and Rhys smiles and comfortingly pats her shoulder.

           “Let’s drink, huh?” Zane suggests and everyone agrees.

           Moxxi passes around a shot of Rakk ale to everyone- except for Ava who gets pop- and they all hold their glasses up.

           “To lost friends,” Moxxi toasts, “may their memory live on with each of us, and those who come after us.”            “So freaking wise,” Skies comments and everyone downs their drink, except for FL4K and Zer0, who pour theirs out on Roland’s statue.

           After this, everybody mills about, talking in their own groups. Skies lingers next to Rhys and Vaughn, who talk about what they’ve been up to the last few years, but she doesn’t pay much attention. She keeps staring up at the moon.

           A shot is suddenly fired and everyone whips out their guns.

           “Ack, who’s shooting!” Rhys cries, ducking behind Skies.

           A strange man enters the camp, shotgun in hand. “Skies the treasure hunter!”

           “Oh my god, you can’t be serious,” Skies groans, rubbing her eyes.

           “I am here for-!”

           “Yeah, I know what you’re here for,” she snaps, cutting him off. “Also, it’s ‘Ultimate’ Treasure Hunter. Like, seriously! Does nobody read business cards!”

           “Hand it over, or face my wrath!” he barks.

          “Might want to rethink that,” Amara warns as she and the other Vault Hunters step forward. Behind Skies, everyone else readies their weapons.

           “Uh, um…” the merc stammers. “Maybe-maybe I’ll come back another time.”

           “That would be advisable,” FL4K agrees.

           The man quickly runs off and everyone calms down.

           “What was that guy’s problem?” Ava asks.

           “I would say, after announcing she has Handsome Jack’s real mask,” Tannis replies, “lots of big wigs are hiring mercenaries to hunt down Skies and steal it.”          “Oh, yeah,” Rhys agrees, “even Atlas execs want it. Not me, of course, but like other people.”            

           “Jakobs workers too,” Wainwright adds, “also not me.”

           “Well, it’s to be expected,” Moxxi remarks, “she did tell the entire galaxy that the mask holds the rights to Hyperion, which have been lost since Jack’s death. Of course every rich asshole would want it.”

           “Don’t get the wrong idea,” Skies insists, “this was entirely on purpose. It’s just happening a little faster than I intended.”

           “Why would you do that on purpose?” Ava asks.

           “How else is everyone else gonna know what I did with the deed?” she grins. “It would look suspicious if it just resurfaced without an explanation.”

           “What’d you do with it?” Rhys asks.

           “Nothing…yet.”

           “Which is why I must go,” she adds as she backs away. “Sorry to cut out early, but clearly I have some business to attend to. Ciao.”

           “Wait!” Ava exclaims as Skies starts to walk away. “You’re gonna come back to Sanctuary, right?”

           Skies hesitates. “Uh…do…you want me to come back?”            “Yeah! Like Lilith said, you’re a Crimson Raider now. It’s your home.”

           Skies blinks with surprise and smiles. “Alright. I’ll see you on Sanctuary.”            “Okay,” Ava beams.

           “Bye, Skies!” Tina shouts, waving wildly.

           “Don’t get into too much trouble,” Rhys says.

           Skies waves to everyone as she gets into her ship and flies away.

---

           President of Mercenary Relations and Tourism, Jeffrey Blake marches through the halls of a Hyperion office building, glaring angrily at his ECHO device. The group of mercenaries he sent to Skies’ last known location were all killed. He told those fools not to fight her directly. Nobody ever listens.

           “It’s so hard to find decent help,” he groans.

           He suddenly gets a call from his assistant. “Uh, M-Mr. Blake, sir. You have a…visitor?”

           “Tell them to make an appointment,” he orders, “I do not have time.”

           “Uh, yes, sir.” In front of Blake’s office, the assistant looks fearfully at the pistol pointed at his face and the unsettling grin of its holder. “B-but she is um rather insistent.”

           “She?” Blake stops, his blood running cold. “Uh, I’ll be right there.”

           He hurries back to his office, hoping, praying, that he’s wrong. How would she have found him?

           He stops as he enters the hall leading to his office doors and glowers.

           “Blake!” Skies exclaims, lifting her pistol from the relieved assistant’s face. “It is so good to see you again. Sorry for dropping in like this, but it’s kind of urgent.”            Blake takes a second to calm his nerves and approaches. “Skies. It has been a long time.”

           “Bet you’re happy about that.”

           “May I ask, how did you get in here?”

           “I walked,” Skies replies, “don’t worry, I didn’t kill anyone. Not even the security guard who grabbed me. Although, he might need a new hand. Not my fault; he grabbed my blade shoulder.” A blade pops out of her right shoulder to punctuate her point.

           “And to what do I owe this…unexpected meeting?” Blake asks.

           “Oh, I think you know,” she smirks.

           He takes a deep breath and points to his assistant. “Hold all my calls.”

           “Yes, sir,” he nods as Blake enters his office, Skies close behind.

           “Nice digs,” she comments as she glances around. It’s a simple but large office. “I always felt like Jack’s office was way too ostentatious. Nice to see you taking a different approach.”            Skies stands on the other side of his desk as Blake sits down. “How did you find me so quickly?” he asks.            “Oh, Blake,” she laughs, “I’ve known where you are for many years. I’ve been planning this meet up for a long time.”            “What?” he questions, “so this isn’t about the mercenaries?”

           “Which mercenaries?”

           He freezes and Skies laughs. “Are you afraid of me, Blakey? Relax, I’m not here to kill you. I actually have a gift for you. Here.”            She hands him a large envelope. He takes it cautiously, holds it at arm’s length, and takes out its contents.

           The envelope falls from his hand as Blake stares at the paper in shock. He tears his eyes from it to look at Skies, who’s smiling with amusement, then looks back at the paper- the rights to Hyperion.

           “Wha-what…why?”

           Skies laughs. “I’ve never seen you speechless before. Aw, this is great.”

           “Is-it’s a trick, right?” Blake asks.

           “No trick. Well, not exactly. It’s not the original, just a copy. But I won’t tell if you won’t.”            “But…why me?”            Skies smiles. “You put up with Jack as much as I did- no, even more because you were with him longer. And you survived the fall of Helios. You deserve a promotion, I think. And if anyone wonders how you got it, you can tell them I peacefully handed it over. Who’s gonna argue with me?”            Blake is truly speechless as he stares at the paper.

           “This is where most people would say ‘thank you’,” Skies says.

           He scoffs as he rests the paper on his desk. “It is, as you said, well-deserved.”            “You’re welcome!”

           He glares at her.

           “Well, I’ll be on my way now,” Skies says, “do me a favour and make the announcement right away, will you, so the mercenaries will leave me alone. I need a good break.”

           “See ya, Blakey,” she chimes as she turns to leave. “Good luck being president! Don’t go mad with power and try to become a god. Weird how that happens so much, isn’t it? I blame the Vaults. Anyway, ciao!”

           She takes her leave and Blake stares quietly at the paper on his desk. After a few minutes, he calls his assistant on his intercom. “Set an emergency meeting with the Hyperion shareholders. I have a very important announcement to make.”

[nyaagolor]

SWSH LIVEBLOG PART 3: GYMS 4-6

How do these keep getting longer.

The first face we see upon entering the wild area (which, by admission, is integrated quite nicely into the plot to ensure the player is taking each section on at the appropriate level) is Bede. In a way Bede feels like Pokemon’s attempts to please fans who were begging for a “mean” rival again. And it works! You as the protagonist feel great about the possibility of grinding his white ass into paste in every battle because he’s comically evil levels of mean and that makes him deserve it somehow. But this battle against Hop, while fantastic for HOP’S development, doesn’t really feel especially relevant to Bede. He’s just an asshole completely unprovoked, and while he does put Hop on blast in his dialogue in a way that makes it abundantly clear what Hop’s arc is, he also feels more like a vehicle for Hop’s development here than a character with his own motivation, which I feel is highlighted by Bede never referencing or being affected by this event at any further point in the game. I think this scene highlights an issue with this game that I have: despite intentionally being interwoven, the rivals don’t have enough interaction with each other for their few crossing paths to really mean anything. Here, Bede feels more like a plot device than a person

There is a lot of drama to be derived from Bede and Hop butting heads and just being in the same room as each other: they’re extremely defensive over their idols and their own prowess which by definition puts them in direct conflict, but until now we don’t see them speak and they rarely interact for the rest of the game. While being locked to the POV of the protagonist does make this a bit difficult, I feel like just putting them in the same room together and letting them duke it out at regular intervals throughout the story would be enough. Have pieces of Bede’s story slip out in shouting matches with Hop; use Bede as another character constantly beating Hop to crush his spirits, etc etc. There’s a lot these characters can do with and for each other, but they don’t. Bede’s entire story comes in bursts throughout the plot, and I would argue it’s worse off for it. 

After this, it’s Wild Area time, and I’ll be honest: People who think it looks empty are insane. It gives a pretty strong British wilderness feel to me, and while I'll admit I wish it had a few more forested areas? It’s fine. It’s fun, it’s pretty unique and breaks up the landscape well, and looks and behaves as intended gameplay wise. My only gripe with it, which I share with all routes in this game, is that there’s way too many pokemon packed into a single area to avoid running into things when moving quickly. Having pokemon other than really strong ones appear exclusively in grass makes this worse. Paldea “fixed” this issue by making pokemon absolutely microscopic and spreading them everywhere, which I’m not sure is an improvement, but I did find myself in way too many battles in Galar just because I kept running over pokemon with my bike. Annoying, but ultimately minor. 

Upon reaching Hammerlocke, we’re back to Bede, who proudly announces he absolutely wrecked Hop before having an “important meeting” with Rose in the middle of the street. Personally, I always assumed these “meetings” were just Bede running up to Rose and begging for a few seconds of his time– and based on the way Rose and Oleana treat him I might not be wrong. However, the dialogue in Hammerlocke really made me think a bit more about the story. 

In particular, Bede’s insistence that he was collecting gym badges made me wonder exactly why he had to. Rose is doing just fine with Leon as champion– and replacing him with Bede the walking PR disaster feels like it would run contrary to Rose’s… everything, really. Rose doesn’t benefit much if at all from Bede’s inclusion in the gym challenge (there’s even an NPC in Turffield who mentions Rose running all the advertising agencies in the league and he seems to single-handedly run the place, so whatever Bede is doing seems to run contrary to all that). Plus, if Rose only really cares about Wishing Stars, then challenging the gyms feels like a pretty big distraction from collecting them. While ultimately I understand that Bede wants to prove his strength to someone like Rose in the most direct way possible and achieve the champion status that Rose wants for his whole Darkest Day shabang, it did get me thinking about alternate storylines for Bede that don’t involve Rose endorsing him. 

For example: what if instead of Team Yell, Bede was the challenge disruptor? If most / all gym challengers have a Dynamax band which is powered by Wishing Stars, wouldn’t it make sense for Bede to harass and steal from gym challengers (without Rose’s knowledge, of course)? It gives him something to do in the early game other than stand around and say mean things, gives the protagonist a good reason to want to kick his ass other than the way he dresses, and adds a layer to his desperation to please Rose at any cost– making it hurt all the more when Rose discards him later on. 

Another possibility is Bede as a kind of repo man– if every challenger has a Dynamax band, but fails to give it up after they drop from the challenge, maybe Rose would have Bede go and collect them so Rose could recycle them for the gym challenge or use them in his power plant. He uses Bede for this purpose explicitly because Rose has a reputation to uphold and if Bede screws up too publicly (which he does with the ruins in Stow-on-Side) Rose can just ditch him without putting himself at risk. This would highlight some super shady shit going on with Rose, also make Bede more awful and make you want to beat him, show the flaws of the gym challenge, etc etc. Unsure of how either of these would fit into the story or whether it would work, but it’s smth this dialogue got me thinking about

Wish fulfillment aside, this cutscene is part of a larger string of issues I have with this game: they do some pretty heavy handed foreshadowing and exposition in this scene… which the protagonist is eavesdropping on. A solid half of the plot in this game is explained in conversations the protagonist for some reason can never take part in and makes it feel even moreso like the protagonist has no autonomy. Ultimately they don’t in any of the games, but Galar makes me actually feel like it

And speaking of cutscenes, this part of the game is cutscene city. When we’re about to leave Motostoke, we get the chant scene, then a Bede scene, then the wild area immediately into two more Bede scenes, then a Rose scene, then a Leon scene, then a Raihan and Sonia scene, then a Hop scene, and dumped out on a route 10 levels above where we were 30 seconds ago. This section of the game honestly feels like rubber duck debugging– everyone has problems they talk to the protagonist about, and then run off and fix them without the protagonist really Doing Anything. Anyway, despite this section being a slog I do have some things to say about each of the little cutscenes so here’s all that in order: 

The rose scene is just exposition dumping so we’re not confused about Rose’s eventual snap later. It’s almost like the writers knew the plot was totally out of left field and wanted to at least give a quick heads up of what’s to come. They did a shit job with it, but I’ll talk about the power crisis plot more when we get there

When we run into Leon, he more or less explains to us what’s going on with Hop, and in a rare W for this game, I actually like how this is presented. I think directly interacting with Hop here wouldn’t pack as emotional a punch because of the limits of the game’s animations. Leaving it to our imaginations and showing his ultimate changes via team switch-ups and dialogue is honestly a pretty clever way of showing what Hop is doing on his own and how much he’s struggling without interfering too much with the protagonist’s own story. It’s also just. So sad that Hop doesn’t feel like he can talk to the protagonist about what’s bothering him at first, poor dude!! I’ll talk about this more in the Leon and Hop post, but I also think Leon recognizing and choosing to do nothing about Hop’s borderline breakdown says a lot about their relationship

Next is with Sonia about the wolves. This plotline might actually be the weakest of all the ones in the game (which is impressive because the bar for plot lines in this game is stupid low): it has no relevance to anything else, most of the actual plot happens at the very end of the game, and all the previous information is delivered like it is here: In a cutscene where Sonia exposition dumps about something completely unrelated and then disappears. Begging this game to let the player character do something other than the gym challenge I’m on my hand and knees

The next scene is one I find especially interesting just in how the little pieces of dialogue color the way the characters are feeling and acting. Despite Hop appearing and smiling as normal, his wild gesticulations are absent and his voice is notably muted just in the way his dialogue is phrased. He speaks far more calmly to Team Yell, and when you get the dialogue prompt to battle them, you have the option of tackling the problem yourself– at which point Hop very quietly draws attention to the fact that the protagonist says “i”-- not “we”-- will defeat them, which is further supported by his decision to let you battle the second grunt rather than stepping in himself. His normal animations are also absent, and he spends the entire cutscene stiff and smiling like the corporate :). At the end of this scene, they also have him turned around, showing via omission that he’s likely crying. Hop once again proving he has the only good story in this game that the protagonist feels like a part of

A hop (haha), skip, and a jump across the route later and we’re in Stow-on-Side, about which I admittedly don’t have much to say. The choice of a different gym leader depending on version is certainly fun, but it also doesn’t lend itself well to the tying together of town layout and gym leader personalities because Bea and Allister are so different. Really fun designs on both of them– and while I wish they didn’t both use Kanto pokemon as their aces, I also can’t be too mad because they’re written and executed well enough that it doesn’t make too much of a difference in the end. Aside from that, I do like how the bright red of the town and route around it really stands out from the rest of the region, as well as the choice to make the route before the town play with vertical surfaces, ladders, and height. It makes things pop in a unique way and breaks up the dark green monotony that envelops a lot of the region. Visually the town is quite nice even if there’s not much happening here. And without seeing the gym leader before or after the actual battle like the others, there isn’t much to say about them either. Oh well, they can’t all be thematic bangers. There’s a Hop battle in here too, but I’m saving that for the Hop post. He does accuse you of being a bad ally for depression if you tell him you won’t battle him though. King. 

After the gym, we meet Sonia, and get a mix of Bede and Sonia scenes near the ruins. In my mind, this has the same issue as the Bede and Hop scene from earlier: the protagonist sees things happen that don’t involve nor affect them. When the protagonist and Sonia approach the ruins, Bede accuses you of trying to get wishing stars to win Rose’s favor and battles you. What doesn’t make sense to me is why he says this rather than something along the lines of “I won’t let you stand in my way” or whatnot. Yes, that would be cheesy, but it actually makes the protagonist at least FEEL like they’re trying to do something and makes sense– there’s no reason Bede should think the protagonist cares about wishing stars, especially after they let Bede leave with all his on two separate occasions before this. It could be fun to allow the protagonist a little yes / no dialogue box for stopping Bede, so it can at least feel like we made that choice, but as it stands, the protagonist does nothing, has no intention of doing anything, and is immediately assumed by Rose to be uninvolved. They’re not even acknowledged as having battled Bede at all. Nothing the protagonist does or says here matters in any way to what Bede did or what Rose does, and I feel like simply giving the player the option to WANT to stop Bede would be enough to justify his grudge on you or at least make you relevant to what happens to him. 

I think what really drives home my point of the protagonist’s irrelevance in the immediately following wolf plot is this entire cutscene: the protagonist is literally not even in it. Not once during this entire sequence does the protagonist appear in Any Capacity, because they quite literally do not matter to this scene at all. Sonia talks to them, you as the player get dialogue boxes that play the exact same text no matter your answer, and then you get to leave. I am shaking the wolf plot why are you so Bad

But gripes aside, I do think the Bede plot at least, while presented poorly, has a decent story arc for its main beats. You see Bede as a jerk, but they make it clear throughout your interactions with him that he’s desperate for Rose’s attention, which Rose repeatedly does not show (ignoring him here and forgetting his name in Hulbury, as well as his general blase attitude). While this dismissiveness and Bede’s elimination give Bede his own conflict and tragedy, they also serves to highlight: Rose’s somewhat skewed priorities, how he allows individuals to suffer for the good of the collective, and gives us some foreshadowing for his eventual motives and true motive towards the end of the game. To me, Bede feels like a supplement to Rose’s and Eternatus’ plot, giving us a window into the actions of the Chairman towards characters who aren’t the protagonist or Leon. Nessa also does a great job with this in side material, but Bede is a more consistent and relevant character, so I feel like his inclusion and placement as a rival works quite well. While I do believe there need to be some tweaks so his plot feels less infodump-y, it’s most certainly not a bad idea. Plus, you actually feel (a little) bad for the poor guy :( 

After that, it’s off to Ballonlea, which is great because Glimwood Tangle and Ballonlea are the best designed parts of this game. Fairy circles be damned, I wanna live there whether or not my firstborn will get stolen by the women of the night. It’s got glowing mushrooms, man. I do think Ballonlea and the Tangle also take advantage of the Switch’s higher resolution to do some funky things with the lighting, which is quite nice. It makes the place stand out from the spooky forests of older games as well as the routes around it. The inclusion of this route as maze-like also sets it apart from the wider Wild Area and the more linear routes of the early game, which is a great way to break things up! It also contributes to the fairy vibe. 

Side note: I wish there were more fairy tale elements in this game. James Turner does have a pop culture focus, which does fit with the gyms, but England has a really rich historical culture and there has not been a single Arthuriana pokemon, which quite frankly is so lame. Boo. For shame. This has nothing to do with the actual content of the game but it makes me wanna shake my fist at the clouds. 

What I also love about Ballonlea is the resurgence of thematic town layouts that relate to the gym leaders’ personalities and relationships with the gym challenge. Return of the KING. This time, it’s Opal's relationship with the gym challenge and the acknowledgement of the culture’s recency that takes the stage. Ballonlea is small (a shame, but oh well I’ll blame it on the complexity of environments) and the gym is barely in the town. It’s across a small bridge, visually separating it from the rest of the buildings and people, and is in a completely separate space from where people live and interact. However, unlike in Hulbury in which the stadium is constantly present in the background, the gym stadium is shielded by trees and not visible from any part of Ballonlea until you’re directly in front of it– and when you are, the rest of the town isn’t visible. You can see the town OR Ballonlea, but very rarely can you see both in the same shot. We see visually how disconnected Ballonlea is from the gym challenge, which works so well for a gym and town focused around fairy tales and showing the dichotomy between the modern sentimentalities of the gym challenge and how they’ve outgrown the more historical and old fashioned attitudes of Ballonlea. Using fairy tale motifs to visually represent the past, having the town physically closed off via the Tangle surrounding it, making the gym on the hidden outskirts of town. Mwah. The visual design of this game make me go in-fucking-sane because it shows so much of what we need to know about the worldbuilding without actually saying anything. 

Also, shoutout to Opal for just being the funniest character in this game. She is so distinct in both visuals and personality from everything else in this game and it works fantastically, both emblematic of her occupation as an unsettling, powerful, and unpredictable fairy type user as well as putting her in contrast to a lot of the themes of the game. She as a character is distinct, but the attitudes she represents also serve to show how quickly the gym challenge has eclipsed the culture of the Galar and taken the region in a new direction. Even her actions give her an extremely different feel from the gym leaders– she gives you the TM and uniform herself in the same manner as gym leaders from previous generations, rather than having her assistant / gym liaison give it to you like every other Galarian gym leader. Also, her “gym mission” doesn’t take place in any sort of grand arena, is dimly lit, and involves her specifically, which lies in direct contrast to the grand but ultimately impersonal challenges of other gyms. Combined with the fact that you personally interact with her significantly more than the other leaders and you get the sense that she’s operating from a perspective entirely different from her coworkers. Your interactions feel more personable with Opal and significantly less corporate, which combined with her status as someone who “knows when it’s her turn to step offstage” really just drives home the way the gym system operates. Her status as a gym leader on the brink of retirement gives us a shorthand for the transition into a brand new age for Galar which is ushered in by the gym challenge, a new age which while significantly more spectacular and flashy, lacks the individual attention as the smaller, previous approaches to things. And what do you know, that well-meaning, flashy, and detached sentiment is exactly what Rose (who coincidentally runs the entire League) brings when the power crisis plot kicks in. Three cheers for foreshadowing

Immediately after Ballonlea’s gym we’re treated to another “watch while things happen in front of you cutscene”... which I actually have zero complaints about because it’s funny. The way that Bede remains in place while Opal teleports around him to show his mortification and her frightening speed? The way she yeets her umbrella out of frame and sprints towards him? The way she basically announces she’s kidnapping him and he agrees because he refuses to interpret people’s words correctly?? Protagonist irrelevance be damned this is hysterical so it gets a pass. Also, Opal seems to be able to read a character’s backstory from their expression, which in my humble opinion is too good. Opal consistently being able to do completely improbable things and those things never being explained is fantastic. This scene and Bede’s subsequent Becoming the Fairy Type Gym Leader is honestly the best part of this game and such a fun way for his character to go. Hop’s the best written rival, but Bede is a goddamn riot, I’m kissing him on the forehead. 

Also after this Hammerlocke fucking explodes. Leon brushes this off, which serves as more fun foreshadowing for the reckless endangerment of civilians done by the gym challenge, how Rose and the gym challenge as a whole are focused on hypothetical ideals to such a degree that they cause problems and suffering for many of the individual people they intend to protect, and the fact that Leon is basically in Rose’s back pocket. This is one of the cutscenes I’m a little torn on, because on one hand, having Leon and Sonia say “oh let the adults handle it” absolutely implies there’s something sinister going on and serves as more good worldbuilding about how absolutely fucked the gym system is to its core, but on the other hand they allow a power plant to explode and the protagonist isn’t allowed to do anything, much like every other thing in this game. It’s these things that prevent the protagonist from having agency, but in this case it kind of does serve a narrative purpose, so I can’t completely write it off?? Still kinda sucks though. 

However, the game is quick to remind you what you CAN have a direct impact on in this game. After the explosion, Hop comes out from the train station, chats with you, and asks you for a battle, allowing you to continue your own deeply personal quest of driving Hop further into a depressive episode as you question and shatter the very foundations of his personality and hopes and dreams. As always, that’ll be in the Hop and Leon post. Cannot wait to see how long THAT ends up being. 

To make up for not being able to investigate, you’re given the opportunity to travel through route 7, a solid 15 square feet of terrain that was definitely a case of the developers realizing they forgot to add in an area and just refitting the Route 5 textures to a different map. The fact that you can see the beginning and end of the route in the same frame even without a movable camera is pretty funny though. Immediately afterwards, luckily, is my favorite route in the game, route 8. It combines the vertical puzzles of Route 6 with the maze-like qualities of Glimwood Tangle, has some really interesting setpieces with the walls, and most importantly it has Falinks. They walk through little doors and out others in completely different locations like Scooby-Doo that just elevates the entire thing. 

Only part about Route 8 that confuses me a bit is that it randomly shifts to an icy snowy route for three seconds and then immediately goes into the next town, which leaves the desert / ruins part flanked by two completely contrasting mini routes. Honestly, I would have preferred it be a bit more cohesive or to combine the two mini routes, but that’s more of a personal preference thing— while it doesn’t make sense for the desert and snow routes to be immediately adjacent, pokemon has always had some pretty severe environment shifts in all their games so I can’t say it’s anything new. Plus it’s pokemon, environmental realism was never a priority. 

Once you do get to Circhester though, you get to challenge the gym and watch some cutscenes before the game ushers you on. Unfortunately, I feel like in much the same way as Stow-on-Side, there’s not that much interesting stuff going on with the gym leader because of the way the games are laid out. To make the “gym leader depends on version” thing work, the town itself needs to be generic enough to fit in two gym leaders who in turn need to be distinct enough to justify the version exclusion difference. It’s difficult to connect the town and leader or make that leader involved in the overarching plot without sacrificing some of their uniqueness or at least making some changes to the ways things end up. While I think Melony and Gordie are interesting characters, and continue the trend of SwSh gym leaders feeling like fleshed out people with fun and unique personalities, I also don’t have much to say other than that. They’re cute, they’re fun, and they continue with the trend of interesting concepts, designs, and attitudes, but that’s about it. They’re just a fun time you get to see for a bit and move on from. Since this is already hella long though, I’m gonna leave Route 9 and beyond for the next post!

Other notes: 

When Leon announces he needs to head to a meeting with the Chairman (who you just left), he runs off in the wrong direction. Just a small cute visual detail I couldn’t find a place for elsewhere

In that same piece of dialogue he talks about learning from losses… which is rich considering he’s the unbeatable champion. Not super sure what’s that’s supposed to mean for him, but it’s something

Raihan is dripped the fuck out. I want that hoodie so badly it’s almost a need

The Switch Lite can connect to Bluetooth for headphone purposes or it can connect to the internet, but cannot do both at the same time. Coincidentally, every time you enter the wild area your switch automatically connects to the internet. You cannot turn this off. :) 

The bike movement in this game makes me want to hurt things. While it is circular, as a bike naturally would be, it also means hard turns are impossible and half of biking in this game is doing circles around the object you’re trying to get or the pokemon you want to run into 

Someone had WAY too much fun designing the Artist trainer class. I want what they have

Bede’s “running his hands through his hair” animation makes me insane it looks so bad. I hate it here. 

There’s a furry in Ballonlea. That’s not relevant to any themes or designs but like. He’s there! Live ur truth man

The leveling curve of this game is. Bad. Not Johto bad, but there are points where the game throws you up 5-10 levels, then stays at that same point for three routes and has another jump. Not terrible, but kind of a pain. 

… Did Pokemon get way easier to catch in SV or am I just bad at this game because I stg these bastards will not stay in their balls

Screenshots by Beardbear again :) His youtube channel is great for playthroughs def check it out

There's a small hotel mystery thing you can do in Circhester-- and honestly that's a theme with a lot of these towns, there's plenty to do if you stop to look, which is super cute and really makes the place feel lived in!

[mayhemproduces]

Alex Shelley vs Tom Lawlor

Ever since this match was announced last week, it had been met with high levels of intrigue. Tom Lawlor and Alex Shelley were two of the best technical wrestlers in the world, and their matchup promised to be a technical battle for the ages. Alex Shelley, a more traditional technical wrestler, while Tom Lawlor was more trained in shoot style, MMA like fighting. In this clash of technical styles, it would be interesting to see which reigned supreme. 

The referee called for the bell, and our match was underway! Shelley and Lawlor lock up, and after a few moments of jockeying for position, the advantage goes to Lawlor, who manages to trap Shelley’s arm, before pulling him in and trapping Shelley’s head and neck in a cravate. Shelley tried to pick at Lawlor’s fingers to release the hold, but Lawlor kept his hands locked, and continued to increase the torque. Shelley tried to bring his hands down on Lawlor’s arms to break the hold, but Lawlor actually released the hold momentarily to dodge the swipe from Shelley, before locking the hold back on. Shelley then attempted to roll out of it, but Lawlor rolled with him, and now Lawlor had Shelley trapped in a seated position with the cravate still on, Lawlor up on a knee to increase his leverage and continue to twist down on Shelley’s neck. Shelley managed to pull himself up to a knee, and then picked Lawlor’s fingers again, successfully getting him to release the hold, before twisting Lawlor’s arm back into a hammerlock, and then transitioning that into a cravate of his own! Shelley now the one applying pressure to Lawlor’s neck!

Lawlor dropped down, forcing Shelley to transition the cravate into a front facelock, which allowed Lawlor to then pick Shelley’s arm and trap him in a fujiwara armbar for a second, before Shelley managed to roll through and trap Lawlor with a heel hold! Shelley twisted Lawlor’s ankle, before flipping him over and tying up his legs. Shelley tried to lock in some sort of modified STF, but Lawlor wasn’t having any of it, so instead Shelley released his legs and picked an arm, trying to lock in some sort of armbar, or maybe somehow slip into the Border City Stretch, but Lawlor escaped that too, catching Shelley with a boot before getting back to his feet. Shelley shook the kick off and got back to his feet as well, charging Lawlor and taking him down with a shoulder tackle, but Lawlor used the momentum and rolled backwards and up to his feet, before picking Shelley’s legs and taking him down! Lawlor tried to lock in a knee bar, but Shelley kicked him off and slid into a drop down position as Lawlor hit the ropes, Lawlor leaping over Shelley as he came back, and as Alex Shelley got up, rolled over his back and landed on his feet. Lawlor shoved Shelley into the ropes, and on the rebound caught Shelley with a dropkick right to the face, taking him down! 

Shelley crawled to the corner, and Lawlor measured him before charging Shelley, but Shelley managed to dodge, slipping behind Lawlor before catching him with an enziguri to the back of the head! Lawlor was stunned, and Shelley grabbed his head, before using the ropes to plant Lawlor with a Tornado DDT! Lawlor was spiked on the top of his head, before rolling out onto the apron to recover. Shelley followed him out there, and tried to lift Lawlor back up to his feet, but Lawlor caught Shelley with a shot to the gut, before standing up and nailing Shelley with a stiff looking forearm. The shots from Lawlor kept coming, before Lawlor took a few steps back and attempted a rolling elbow on Shelley, but Shelley ducked it, and wrapped his arms around Lawlor’s waist, before charging forward and driving Lawlor into the ring post! Lawlor was stunned, and Shelley used the opportunity to turn Lawlor back around, and drop him with a DDT on the apron! Tom Lawlor crashed head first down onto the hardest part of the ring, and then down to the floor on the outside!

Shelley went for a walk around the ring to compose himself and catch his breath for a second, as Lawlor was still laid out on the outside. The ref, Bryce Remsburg for this match, told Shelley to bring it back into the ring, and Shelley obliged, tossing Tom Lawlor back into the ring before sliding back in himself. Shelley watched and measured Lawlor as he used the corner to pull himself back up, before charging at Lawlor. Lawlor got out of the way, and tried to nail Shelley with a big forearm, but Shelley caught Lawlor, trying to drive him into the turnbuckles with a flatliner, but Lawlor caught Shelley with several hard elbows, breaking Shelley’s grip on him. Shelley stumbled back, holding his head, perhaps his equilibrium a little thrown off by those shots to the ear. Lawlor charged Shelley, before going for a wheelbarrow, which he rolled through into a victory roll, but rather than pin Shelley, he got up and twisted Shelley’s legs around his own, locking in a knee bar! Lawlor had Shelley trapped in the knee bar in the middle of the ring! Lawlor wrenched back on the hold, as Bryce asked Shelley if he wanted to give up. Shelley insisted he didn’t, but the pain on his face as Lawlor continued to wrench back with the hold told a different story! Shelley may be just seconds away from tapping out to Tom Lawlor!

Shelley was pulling on his own hair, trying to fight through the pain, trying not to submit while simultaneously trying to figure a way out of this hold! Lawlor continued to wrench back on the knee bar, practically trying to tear Shelley’s ACL! A hold like this can leave a competitor on the shelf for months, if not permanently crippled! Shelley began to rock himself, trying to turn Lawlor over, which would reverse the pressure on the hold to Lawlor, but as Shelley rolled, managing to turn Lawlor over for a second, Lawlor knew to roll with Shelley, and managed to roll through and keep the hold locked in and the pressure on Shelley’s knees! Shelley once again told Bryce that he was fine and didn’t want to submit, but the pain on Shelley’s face told a much different story. Shelley began to reach out and try to drag both himself and Tom Lawlor to the ropes, and when that didn’t quite seem to work, Shelley began to try and pry at the legs of Lawlor, managing to start to pick away at one of Lawlor’s ankles, but Lawlor shut that down quickly, and kept the hold locked in! Shelley let out another cry of agony, but with one final last gasp of effort, managed to pull himself to the ropes and force a break!

Lawlor kept the hold on until the referee’s count of four, making sure to milk every last ounce of punishment he could out of the hold, until he had to let it go or face disqualification. While many matches in MPW had more relaxed rules, referees would tailor the match to those in it. Both Tom Lawlor and Alex Shelley being traditional grapplers, the full rulebook would be in play tonight, disqualifications included. Lawlor got back to his feet and grabbed Shelley’s leg, catching it with a kick that caused Shelley to let out another cry of agony. Alex Shelley has a history of torn ACL’s, it’s one of the things that forced him to retire from Professional Wrestling for a short time, and the plan of attack here for Tom Lawlor appeared to be to go after those frequently injured legs of Alex Shelley. Lawlor caught Shelley with another kick, right to the soft of the knee, which caused Shelley more excruciating pain. Shelley dragged himself to the corner and did his best to stand back up, but all it earned him was a brutal shot with the forearm from Tom Lawlor. Lawlor then tried to once again go for Shelley’s legs, but a knee to the head from Shelley backed him off! Lawlor stumbled out of the corner, and Shelley hobbled over, catching Lawlor with a few choice knees to the ribcage. Lawlor caught one of Shelley’s legs though, and attempted a dragon screw, but Shelley stepped through and blocked it, leaving Lawlor sitting on his ass, in prime position to get blasted with a Superkick from Alex Shelley right to the side of the head! That kick ROCKED Lawlor, and he looked like he may not know where he even is! 

Lawlor rolled to the outside apron again, and Shelley tried to pull him back into the ring, but Lawlor caught him with a forearm. Shelley stumbled, before Lawlor sweeped the legs out from under Shelley, and tried to vault over the ropes into a modified rear naked choke, but Shelley didn’t even let him get it in before rolling through, into a quick pin attempt!

1… Kickout!

Lawlor manages to escape, and get back to his feet, grabbing Shelley and driving his bad leg down into Lawlor’s knee with a shinbreaker, but Shelley fires back with a knee to the face, sending Lawlor stumbling back! However, Lawlor is quick to recover, and launches himself forward, nailing Shelley right in the bad knee with a low dropkick! Alex Shelley is taken down once again, and once again finds himself clutching his own knee! Tom Lawlor’s gameplan here has worked to perfection! Lawlor dropped into the cover on Shelley!

1… Kickout!

A quick kickout there from Shelley, but as he kicks out, he goes right back to grabbing at the leg. Lawlor grabs Shelley’s leg away from him and catches him with another kick to the soft part of the knee, before then trapping the leg in a leg bar, wrenching back on the hold! Once again, Shelley is left riving in agony in the leg lock, as Lawlor continued to torque back on the hold! Lawlor stands up with the leg, before snapping down with it, once again causing Alex Shelley a great deal of pain! Lawlor stalked Shelley as Shelley tried to drag himself up to his feet, eventually being able to stand but not for long as he fell as soon as he tried to put weight on the leg. Lawlor grabbed at Shelley again, trying to pick the leg again, but a few clubbing shots from Shelley prevented that from happening. Shelley tried to turn it around and go for Sliced Bread, but Lawlor easily shoved Shelley off into the corner. Lawlor charged Shelley, but he was caught, before being driven face first into the turnbuckles with a flatliner from Alex Shelley! Lawlor’s head snapped back on impact, and once again Lawlor found himself in a daze. Shelley took a few moments to try and stretch out his leg, just trying to get some feeling back in it, before attempting to stand. He was on shaky legs but Shelley was up, and dragging Lawlor back up with him, before Shelley caught Lawlor with a stiff forearm shot to the face. Lawlor looked to be out on his feet for a moment, before Lawlor fired back with an equally brutal looking and brutal sounding forearm. Lawlor fired back with multiple forearm strikes to Shelley, before charging up and going for a clothesline, but Shelley ducked it, before lifting Lawlor up onto the ropes, and driving him to the mat with a Dragon Screw Neck Whip! Lawlor held his neck, as Shelley lifted him back up to his feet, and drove him into the mat with a back suplex!

Shelley dragged Lawlor back up again, and once again went for Sliced Bread, but Lawlor kicked Shelley’s bad leg again, before whipping Shelley into the corner, and charging in behind him, catching Shelley with a chop block, dropping Shelley to his knees and causing Shelley to land with his face on the second turnbuckle. Lawlor kicked the buckle up into Shelley’s face, causing Shelley to be sent staggering backwards, stunned. Lawlor then picked one of Shelley’s legs again, trapping it and grapevining it as he took Shelley down, locking in an STF! Lawlor wrenched back on the hold, putting a great deal of pressure back on both Shelley’s back and his leg! Shelley tried dragging himself towards the ropes as referee Bryce Remsburg asked him if he wanted to quit, Shelley refusing to do so as he continued to drag himself to the ropes!

Shelley continued to scratch and claw the entire way to the ropes, until he finally got there, forcing a rope break! Once again, Lawlor kept the hold on until 4, before releasing the hold at the last possible second he could without being disqualified. Lawlor was clearly frustrated, but he couldn’t get caught up in his feelings here. Lawlor had to stay in the fight. Shelley pulled himself to the outside on the apron, and started to use the ropes to help himself get up. Just as he did though, Lawlor came charging in and knocked Shelley off the apron with a running dropkick! Shelley landed on his feet, but as he stuck the landing and turned around, still favoring that leg, Tom came flying through the ropes, taking Shelley out with a Somersault Plancha! Tom launched himself with the force of a cannonball, and sent both Shelley and himself crashing into the barricade! Tom quickly got back to his feet, holding his neck, and looking down at Shelley with nothing but malice in his eyes. Tom lifted Shelley back up, before crotching Shelley on the steel guardrail, and chopping him in the chest to stun him. 

Tom then climbed back up onto the apron, and shouted for some of the fans who were still straggling in the front row to move. Once they did, Tom charged and leaped off the apron, crashing into Shelley with a flipping senton that sent him careening off the guardrail, and into the chairs! Shelley may have been out cold, but even if he wasn’t, that had to hurt! Tom dragged Shelley back over the guardrail, and towards the ring. Tom pulled Shelley up onto the apron by his hair, despite the ref demanding that Tom get off of his hair. Tom then lifted Shelley up, before spiking him down right on the apron with an Over the Shoulder Tombstone Piledriver on the hardest part of the ring! 

Tom rolled Shelley back inside, and went for a cover! 

1….2… Kickout!

Shelley stays alive again! Alex Shelley was still in this fight! Lawlor was beginning to grow frustrated, and huffed as he lifted Alex Shelley back up to his feet. He dragged Shelley up, and tosses Shelley overhead with a german suplex… but Shelley lands on his feet! Shelley manages to flip himself over, and land on his feet, before trying to lock in a sleeper hold on Lawlor!  Lawlor struggled, but was quickly going red in the face from the choke. Lawlor reached behind him and tried to pry Shelley off of him, eventually managing to do just that and toss Shelley down to the mat.

Lawlor stumbled back into the corner to try and regain himself, and tried to suck some air back into his lungs. Shelley got back to his feet, and tried to charge Tom in the corner, but as he leaped at Tom, Tom suddenly caught him in mid air, and held him up, walking him into the middle of the ring with an impressive show of strength, and tossing Shelley overhead with a delayed exploder suplex! Tom then collapsed down to the mat, both men absolutely exhausted after what had already been a thoroughly exhausting matchup! Tom just manages to drape an arm over Shelley, making a cover. 

1….2…. Kickout!

Shelley kicks out again! Tom runs a hand through his hair, and pulls himself back up to his feet, waiting for Shelley to get up. As Shelley pulled himself up to his knees, Tom blasted him in the chest with a stiff kick, the thud of which echoing throughout the Cuban Club. Shelley grimaced in pain, and Tom caught him with another kick, which caused him to fall down to his hands, and press his forehead into the mat from the pain. Tom was known as a vicious striker, with perhaps some of the hardest kicks and chops in all of professional wrestling. Tom slipped behind Shelley as he was still recovering, and lifted him up, before tossing him overhead with a deadlift German Suplex! Tom made another cover on Shelley!

1….2…. Kickout!

Shelley manages to stay alive again, and Tom curses under his breath, wondering just what it was going to take to put this one away for good. Tom looks down at Shelley, who was still favoring the leg he’d been targeting all matchup. Tom reached down to try and lock in another kneebar, but Shelley goes for Tom’s eyes! Tom is blinded by Shelley digging his fingers into his eyes! Tom clutches at his face, blinded, and takes a blind swing at Shelley that misses, before Shelley plants Tom with the Shell Shock! Tom Lawlor’s head was spiked right down onto the mat! Cover! 

1….2….3!

New look, new attitude, Alex Shelley is victorious!

[wewerecore]

The Great Pro-Wrestling Adventure Hour - 024 10/26/23 Defy TV 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM EST Filmed at the Good Time Theatre at Dorney Park in Allentown, Pennsylvania

SEGMENT ONE (EIGHT MINUTES):

- Sudu Upadhyay launched into his opening spiel but the attention of the audience quickly turned toward a side entrance as Homicide made his way inside the building. Homicide weaved through the crowd and into the ring where he motioned for a microphone. Homicide didn't want to wait until Jim Thorpe and called Titus Alexander to the ring right now. Sudu and Raven explained from the commentary booth that Alexander wasn't in the building tonight, and as they did Black Generation International member Bendito emerged through the curtain. Sudu sent us to the opening video package and promised to cut back to the action should things kick off during the intro.

- The Great Pro-Wrestling Adventure Hour opening aired set to "Black Swan Lake" by Janko Nilovic.

Homicide vs. Bendito Homicide defeated Bendito with a Cop Killa. (5:02)

- After the match Homicide hit a second Cop Killa on Bendito and threatened more of the same for Titus Alexander at the anniversary show.

SEGMENT TWO (SEVEN MINUTES):

Tetsuya Izuchi vs. The Pennsylvania Polar Vortex Tetsuya Izuchi defeated The Pennsylvania Polar Vortex via submission Izuchi countered a discus punch into a hammerlock. (3:05)

- After the match we joined Daphne Oz at the CORE news desk for the COal REgion Roundup as she previewed the card taking place tomorrow night at Penn's Peak in Jim Thorpe. - Daphne Oz announced a match between Tromba and Tetsuya Izuchi to showcase CORE's strategic alliances. - Daphne then sent us to comments from the new tag team of Hyan and Kylie Paige, united by their dismissals from the TrustBusters Reserve and Kerry Morton's faction respectively. We then get comments from one of their opponents and her manager, Queen Aminata and Raychell Rose. Despite their recent winning streak, Athena decided that Aminata should team with the returning Minion In Training Billie Starkz instead of Rose. When we rejoin Oz, she mentions rumors of grumblings from Kerry Morton and his stablemates about Billie Starkz making her return to CORE after Starkz and Nick Wayne abandoned the group back in July at The Long Mirror Of Time in Wilkes-Barre.

SEGMENT THREE (SEVEN MINUTES):

- A promo video aired set to "Living On A Thin Line" by The Kinks. The video was made up of a montage of close up images - wrists being taped, boots being tied, left hands connecting with chins, sweat dripping down chests, gritted teeth, and a thumb being dragged across a throat. We pull out to reveal Brock Anderson and CW Anderson working together and hitting a pair of stereo spinebusters on their hapless training partners. The Andersons, coming soon to CORE.

Stephanie Vaquer and La Catalina vs. Mylo and Mighty Mayra Stephanie Vaquer and La Catalina defeated Mylo and Mighty Mayra with a release German suplex from Catalina to Mayra. (4:30)

SEGMENT FOUR (NINE MINUTES):

Starboy Charlie, Marcus Mathers, and Alex Taylor vs. TrustBusters Reserve (Big Dan Champion/Joshua Bishop/Invictus Khash) Starboy Charlie, Marcus Mathers, and Alex Taylor defeated TrustBusters Reserve with a 450 Splash from Mathers on Khash. (6:15)

- Sonny Kiss headed to the ring accompanied by Trench and JeeVeS Kay. Sonny Kiss said that Big Dan Champion and Joshua Bishop were able to beat Starboy and Mathers, but that as soon as you add Invictus Khash to the equation a loss will soon follow. Sonny informed Khash that he can now go back to where he belongs, losing without an entrance on Ring Of Honor because he has been kicked out of the TrustBusters Reserve. Trench made a move toward Khash, but Invictus struck first with a punch to Trench's liver which dropped Trench to his knees. Khash turned toward Big Dan and Bishop and claimed he told them that the reason Sonny interfered to help Trench beat Hyan is because Trench is here to be Sonny's muscle, to protect Sonny from them. Invictus turned back toward Sonny and called for Big Dan and Bishop to back him up. When Khash advanced but sensed no one at his side, he turned around into a Vader Attack from Big Dan. JeeVeS Kay set a table up outside of the ring and Bishop hoisted Khash up for a Bishop Bomb from the ring and to the floor through the table. The TrustBusters and the TrustBusters Reserve walked off together as CORE officials, Hyan, and Kylie Paige tended to Khash.

SEGMENT FIVE (TEN MINUTES):

Shaw Mason vs. Tim Bosby - These two young talents were very evenly matched and exchanged holds with neither gaining a serious advantage. Mason caught Bosby in a front facelock and pressed him against the mat, Bosby broke the hold by rolling them both out of the ring under the bottom rope and to the floor. On the outside of the ring Bosby went for a double leg takedown on Mason, this drove both men through the ring apron and under the ring. Bosby pulled Mason out from beneath the ring and tossed him back inside, where Mason appeared dazed. Mason used the ropes to get back on wobbly legs, but Bosby pressed the advantage and hit a rip cord lariat on Mason and got the pinfall. Tim Bosby defeated Shaw Mason with a rip cord lariat. (8:40)

- After the match, Bosby went to shake Mason's hand, but Shaw had his attention focused on looking under the ring apron. Raven made his way to ringside to find out what was going on, and Mason said that when they went under the ring he felt something strike the side of his head and he was trying to see what it was. Mason had a CORE official give him one of the pouches fans are required to put their cell phones in before the tapings and Shaw used the phone as a flashlight to continue his search under the ring. Hunter Holdcraft had made his way out at this point and he talked with Bosby who was clearly annoyed that Mason hadn't acknowledged his victory.

SEGMENT SIX (FOUR MINUTES):

- We return from commercial and Shaw Mason is still looking under the ring. Raven talked with Bosby who theorized that Mason hit his head on the edge of the apron and maybe that's why he's acting so strange. Mason emerged from below the ring and said that he was hit in the side of the head, not the back of the head. Mason made his way to the commentary booth and wanted to watch the replay of the footage. Mason watched the monitors but the angles were inconclusive. Hunter Holdcraft got on the microphone and said that he thinks this series of matches has been good for folkstyle, but that Shaw is being a bit of a poor sport. Mason made his way back to ringside and conceded that Holdcraft was right, he shook hands with Bosby and said he'll do everything he can to make sure Bosby is ready for Filthy Tom Lawlor tomorrow night in Jim Thorpe.

- Sudu ran down the entire card for the 15th Anniversary show, including a new match that has just been signed. The Southern 6 of Kerry Morton, Thrillbilly Silas Mason, Alex Taylor, and Kenzie Paige will team with Starboy Charlie and Marcus Mathers to take on The TrustBusters of Sonny Kiss, Slim J, and JeeVeS Kay and The TrustBusters Reserve of Big Dan Champion, Joshua Bishop, and Trench.

Upcoming Shows:

CORE Pro #124 10/27/23 Ancient Footprints Are Everywhere - CORE 15th Anniversary Show Penn's Peak - Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania 01. Tromba vs. Tetsuya Izuchi 02. "Filthy" Tom Lawlor vs. Tim Bosby 03. Queen Aminata and Billie Starkz (with Raychell Rose) vs. Hyan and Kylie Paige 04. The Southern 6 (Kerry Morton/Silas Mason/Alex Taylor/Kenzie Paige) and Starboy Charlie and Marcus Mathers vs. The TrustBusters (Sonny Kiss/Slim J/JeeVeS Kay) and The TrustBusters Reserve (Big Dan Champion/Joshua Bishop/Trench) 05. Giant Baba Yaga and Fuego Del Sol vs. Tiger Mask IV and Tiger Queen 06. Titus Alexander vs. Homicide 07. 2023 Trios Kingdom Winners - The 37KAMIINA (MAO/Yuki Ueno/Toi Kojima) vs. Mistico, Atlantis Jr., and Soberano Jr.

CORE returns to the Good Time Theatre at Dorney Park in Allentown, Pennsylvania for our FINAL Dorney Park taping of the season. 10/29/23 Television taping for The Great Pro-Wrestling Adventure Hour as seen on Defy TV.

[professor-brain-juniper]

Oh yeah um. I'm the gym leader of Hammerlocke now. I guess I should've announced that.

Raihan has moved onto the Battle Tower to help Leon, but he's still our treasure keeper here in Hammerlocke.

[based-trainer-ace]

✂ - a vivid memory

User: Ace

Folder: Brain > Memories

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You awake to find yourself in a simple, but uncomfortable pale blue economy seat on a plane flying from Hammerlocke to Mesagoza. How long had you been sleeping? You’re not sure, but the movie you were watching had long since ended, and there’s an announcement playing on the intercom.

“Ladies and gentlemen, please fasten your seatbelts, stow your tray tables, and return all belongings to the overhead compartments as we begin our descent into sunny Mesagoza.”

You do as you’re told, not that there was much for you to do anyway. You find yourself staring out the window.

At first there isn’t much to see; you’re flying above the clouds and all you can see is pure white, but as you begin to descend to a lower elevation, the towns and cities of Paldea quickly become noticeable. You can make out landmarks you were taught about in school, like Glaseado Mountain in the distance, which makes you shiver just thinking about it, and the Great Crater of Paldea, where the grass seems even greener than it is outside of it.

What catches your eye the most, however, is the city of Mesagoza below. Everything in the region always seemed so colorful and bright, genuine and vivid, but Mesagoza always appealed to you the most, with the street food vendors, and specialty stores, and the tiny figures seeming to be happy with themselves. You see now that you were correct, a smile appearing on your face as you catch sight of the grand and magnificent Naranja-Uva Academy, your entire reason for arriving in the beautiful region.

You’re able to make out the teeny tiny figures of students, perhaps leaving after a day of hard work, but even barely visible, the bright scarlets and violets of their uniforms are clear as day, while the building is open and welcoming, even after centuries of providing the most prestigious curriculum in the world.

Inhaling deeply, you find yourself more excited than ever to begin your brand new life, vivid and full of color.

—

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