#rift zetta

[nightmarearian]

Code: Auto

Having been without autonomy their entire life, Zetta, under the name Code: Auto, has been consumed by desperation to even just die on their own terms. They don't seem to care much for it's own well-being, with nothing to lose. Their Reuniclus-like body is incredibly acidic, irregularly corrupted by Rift Matter, and melting their old human body into bloody cytoplasm and bone-mesh.

The pure desperation has caused Zetta to opening a Dimensional Rift in themself, corrupting each of their odd cells. The Dimensional Rift that transformed Zetta seems to have been an irregular one, not affecting them as it usually would another. Whether this is because of their state as a human and Pokemon, or due to the fact they are a creator of Rift Matter themselves is unknown. Evidenced by it's eventual Ghost-Typing, they seemed to have gained their wish to die on their own terms, no matter how painful.

Rift Zetta :)

(Here's them on their own)

> "Auto" is meant to refer to "Self" and "Autonomy", referencing that Zetta used a Dimensional Rift on themself, and the whole thing with their lack of autonomy.

> Currently (it's still up in the air), the battle, wherever it would be*, would start Zetta off as psychic/poison (1st phase), and then after the third shield, they turn into a psychic/ghost** type(2nd phase), meaning that. You know. He died. :)

*> I know I drew a cave, but that's also up in the air. Surprisingly there's no field that's really geared towards psychic that isn't psychic terrain and one that fits the vibe. I'm leaning towards something in Xen( Xen lab?) but definitely something contained, walled in. Minimal exits/escapes and all that.

**> While the exact battle/moveset stuff is deeeffffinitely not set in stone, they absolutely have Focus Blast. oh oh oh a toxic (spikes?) and then a hex from phase 1 to 2 would be good. yeah. hm. Baneful Bunker or toxic or toxic spikes??? or poison point/ability along the lines of that? ughhhhh

> So in the first phase Zetta is, obviously, melting. His arms have melted into a Reuniclus-like cytoplasm, and the idea is that his bones have broken as the cytoplasm-like limbs start to duplicate, sort of like how the nucleus and shit duplicate and then the cell splits for mitosis. If that makes sense.

> The bones, as they're breaking and duplicating into more arms, are melting into those cell-organs Reuniclus has, essentially.

> The rest of his body is essentially pretty amorphous/genuinely melting into nothing, though when they die their state as a ghost lends itself to something a bit more stable, as their memory/perception of themselves would. yk. give them that. or smth.

> Their stats basically boil down to glass-canon, since Zetta doesn't really have any intent to really defend themself. They just want to, at least, die on their own terms; they don't really expect to make it out alive. They do have some defense, but the idea is that they hit hard and fast, before you can really hit back. 2nd Phase gets some more defense though.

> I doooo want him to be like. Helped. LIke Garbodor or smth. Like Erick or some other scientist type (Nastasia works too, actually. Definitely works) gets the notes from the Interceptor and he gets... uhm.

So. He does still end up dead. He is ghost, but a much more corporeal and consistent ghost, sort like how Gengar is. Depending on his mood he can appear on a sliding scale like normal Zetta or Rift Zetta. The middle point would him having Reuniclus arms and an arm or two floating behind him, but not completely melted/cytoplasm. They spend sometime in the/a lab (and has maaaaany panic attacks about it. being born and then immediately tested-abused on does that) healing/getting stabilized. Tbh i see him hanging around Geara if he's with Xen(? Maybe. Dunno if he's for or against Xen in this) cause Goldenleaf + Semi-Ghost specialty. and a bit of valorshipping :) And he gets ghost/psychic powers. definitely. absolutely. as a treat. he deserves it.

Yeah. That.

> Tbh the main vibe about this and the desperation is that one saying about a cornered animal willing to gnaw off their own leg to escape. Pure desperation. As my original notes say "willing to damn itself to live/die on it's/his terms."

> I drew phase 2 before phase 1, so. hm. if anything's a bit incongruent cause of that, yeah. I also got really tired by the end, so I sorta half-assed the last parts of phase 1

> uhhhhhh yeah that's all the lore i remember for now. There's absolutely going to be more I remember later that I'll probably add on later. oh well.

> Oh also the Luxray is my main lead in my playthrough rn, so he gets to show up :)

[endervention]

crazy? i was crazy once. they locked me in a route. a renegade route. where my loyalty to team xen was strongly and severely reinforced the moment i began to falter and want to connect with the girl i was cloned from. crazy? i w

[jazz-kity]

[ticenchantedtoc]

Having the most insane Valor Duo thoughts today

[hatterene-estrogen]

Okay Rejuv theory time:

So Zetta is a Solosis originally, right? He’s supposedly a failed clone of Melia formed from a Solosis who, while possessing limited power (ability to create Rifts) was considered to be a failure and utilized as an admin.

So my theory is: Melia herself is a failed clone, too.

Melia knows she isn’t Maria. Melia was also given to Jenner by Xen. Madame X seeks to reclaim Melia, yet does not keep her and raise her herself, but rather, gives her to another to raise her, organically, outside of her direct influence. Zetta, a proto experiment kept by Xen, a test, who failed. Melia, a second experiment placed in different conditions, with different power, a different appearance, raised for the purpose of being used.

So if Zetta was a Pokémon- a Solosis, a relatively weak Pokémon in and of itself- then is it possible that Melia was something else, too?

Vitus built the Marble Mansion in hopes of finding Meloetta. He placed three of his children within the Unown Dimension, yet kept Maria. Why would Vitus need Meloetta? And if he found it, what would he have done with it?

My theory: much like Zetta is a clone using a Solosis as a base, Melia is a clone using Meloetta as a base.

Melia has more power than Zetta. Her name sounds like Meloetta. She looks similar in appearance to Meloetta. Her focus on Normal-types, even (all small, inconsequential details, yeah, but I swear I’m going somewhere with this).

Yet she remains a failed clone, with Genesis Syndrome corrupting her.

But if Melia isn’t the base material, then who is?

Madame X. Injured, Madame X— Maria, Marianette, one of them— cloned herself in an attempt to make and overpower her copy, gaining their power to heal herself. Zetta failed, but she couldn’t dispose of him. Melia failed, which she remains unaware of.

This is a draft, i have more thoughts and need to polish them, but here’s like. The rough draft version, as I sit in a cabin, no power, flooding outside, and like, three slices of ham for sustenance.

[aaronieros]

very curious about zetta's diet in an I Need To Study Him way. like does he not eat normal human food due to not being a normal human or is he just like anyone else. like are there weird restrictions. like does he not eat meat. but he's fine with fucking pokemon up with rift matter so he probably doesn't care about the moral dilemma of eating meat. when he's a solosis can he still eat human food or does crescent give him a bowl of kibble. what am i saying she does that either way

[tired-needs-sleep]

fun nia fact: she's spat in zetta's face twice, once right before she gets pulled into the rift gyarados and the second right before she falls into the lava at valor summit

[endspace-robot]

there are only two logical conclusions to the question "why is zetta so tall":

-rift matter just kinda does that

-tall melia

[cursezoroark]

It’s such a shit reason. Bear with me. They never completed their first run. They bailed, somehow, by some minuscule chance. waiting over and over for the next event, Xenpurgis looming, they straight up disappeared. Something something interceptor’s wish. Something something Mona is put into existence, memory wiped via failed attempt at a reset. No, myself (previously host named JJ) is not in there. I’m yoo-joongdok ing them. 0th round (The Incomplete) to Infinity loop of paragon and renegade routes because they blend into each other.

Now that I’m finally in GDC (yippee) again it’s time for the very painful weird hypothetical premonitions Mona will experience going forward because they know what’s going to happen but they don’t know the specifics, like say someone will get hurt. Mona knows this will happen, no idea who, when, and how. sometimes they get more clear memories and gut hunches but so far it’s all fractured. Still is, and it’s unsure if those fractured will ever mend, and eventually become lost.

I mean. It comes with its own positives. They like the Nightmare Squadron a lot more, and being aware that the Actual Risa is different than the overworld is neat. Zetta being there cleared up Why he was there at Angie’s isle of church rather than Crescent. SEC is just SEC. Eizen is staring at them like a bug. I want to say they probably rifted around… just before Karma Files, so their knowledge only goes so far.

It also explains their weird Explosive feelings when seeing their old friends again for the first time they met, so they weren’t going insane with worrying over them in the first place. To be clear this doesn’t mean Mona felt attached right off the bat, it took time for them to get close to them (again?), plus they never remembered who they previously were to them. So a lot of the stuff is new and probably different from before too, as much as it is the same and consistent.

(Because Aero is a separate soul that is the Chosen host body they don’t remember shit either. More on their host-possessor relationship when I get there. I like to talk about them very much :] )

Got the lore reason for new game playing Mona’s first run :]. Hehe.

[cresvalkyrie]

I'm gonna list down every plot divergences that happens in the Chroniclerverse, both major and minor. For Act 1, at least. There’s too many to count lol.

Major canon divergences: Alain survived Storm-9 with Crescent, and gains ownership of Kali with Artemis’s death. She later joins the Stormchasers with Crescent as her partner, with the only Pokemon she was allowed to keep being Tazer and Kali. After Hauyne defeated Rift Gyarados, Alain returned Kali to her original trainer (not that she realised it at the time).

Hauyne doesn't confront Jenkel during the Xen Lockdown. Instead, she beelined it to Amethyst Mines since she knew that's where Melia was heading and managed to intercept her, just before Crescent came to collect her. She was able to persuade Melia to join the Stormchasers, but volunteered to take the fall for Melia's "death" just so there wouldn't be a Rift Galvantula (much to their horror). The bait worked a little too well... since everyone fell for it, with various results. Zetta simply turned a wild Onix into a Rift Pokemon and sicced it at her, forcing her to defeat it solo. Ren and Venam were extremely pissed/betrayed and blew out; their friendship would've been irreversibly ruined if Alain hadn't intervened and cleared up the misunderstanding (while also chiding Hauyne for being an idiot and not defending herself).

Before she and Aelita left Sheridan Village, the Eldest secretly gave Hauyne a package. It contains only a worn-out book she calls the Enigmatic Journal, a white hand-carved flute and a Time Amulet. She later uses the Journal's contents to plan and map out her divergences more effectively, though she wasn't always successful. 

During the Blacksteeple arc, she managed to save Nancy by slipping her Elgyem Coeus’s Pokeball into her pocket and having it Teleport Nancy to the ship before Madame X could even touch her. Then, she held off Madame X by engaging her in a duel (one she was rapidly losing ground due to her inexperience in combat and only lasted this long because of her dirty tricks), buying everyone time to get onboard the escape vessel. She sustained a severe gash on her back, courtesy of Madame X, for her troubles and would have bled to death if her Healing Stasis hadn’t kicked in at the last second, putting her into a week-long deathlike coma. When she awakens, all that’s left of the injury was a large, hideous jagged scar stretched across her entire back.

Even though Nancy survived Blacksteeple, Tesla still offers them a room in the resort to stay in since they had nowhere to go until the battleship was fixed enough to make the trip to Akuwa Town. So the argument between her and Amber still happens, except a lot worse since Amber perceived it as an attempt to replace her and her father.  

When they were “invited” to the Church of Theolia, Hauyne physically wrangles Venam from following the girl to her grandparents’ TM shop, even breaking out of her usually quiet demeanour to yell at her. Because of this, the shop was never frozen (they still got the TM Magma Drift for free, as thanks for freeing the town from Angie’s tyranny) and they didn’t need the Magma Stone, resulting in Aelita never falling into a coma due to the effects of a Garufan curse.

Hauyne defeats Angie using Purgatory, a move she specifically made as a hard counter to her reliance on the Frozen Dimensional Field. She ended up being so pissed about it, that she tries to kill her by summoning icicles from the ground to impale her with as they flee the scene. She was so out of control that she began to fuse with her Rift Regice, beginning her metamorphosis into a nightmarish creature. It took both Kreiss and Hauyne to stop her, using a combo attack with his Froslass’ Blizzard and Shiva’s Snowgrave to seal her away in a coffin of Never Melt Ice.  

Hauyne tries to warn her friends about the rigged cooking show (which happens shortly after the trio returned from Kristilline) and tells them not to eat the food served there, but no one except for Aelita listened to her. So Team Xen abducted Melia and Amber, with her and Aelita fighting their way through hoards of Xen Grunts in an attempt to save them, but were subdued and knocked out cold by Madelis.

In Mt. Valor, Aelita went with Venam to rescue Melia at the summit, whereas Hauyne split off to rescue Tesla and Amber from imprisonment. She wounds up fighting Primal Kyogre, and only managed to win because the god was impressed by her resolve in the face of adversity and admitted defeat, unravelling the curse that kept them prisoner. However, he questions her resolve to walk her current path, and decides to test her by suppressing her powers with a spell (ignoring the fact that his ability Primordial Sea had already weakened her considerably). Despite this, Hauyne continues to make her way to the summit to confront Zetta and Geara.   

The showdown at the summit of Mt. Valor happens very differently, to say the least. With most of her powers deactivated, Hauyne was unable to fight at full force and struggled tremendously against the duo plus Griselda who was back for revenge. Even with Venam and Aelita (later joined by Nancy and Jenner) backing her up, she just barely seized victory against them by the skin of her teeth when otherwise she wouldn’t struggle nearly as much. Even so, she was able to prevent Jenner’s death... at the cost of Nim and Nancy’s lives; the latter jumping in and took a fatal blow from Griselda that was meant for her.

Following the brutal kill, Geara orders Griselda to maul Hauyne, much to everyone’s horror. Zetta was so aghast by the act of needless cruelty that he tried to stop his partner, but it was too late; everyone watched as the vengeful queen-turned-eldritch-dragon tore her enemy’s descendant apart into bloody pieces. Later, with Crescent’s guidance, she was able to resurrect herself and restore herself to full power, returning to challenge the duo once more after they had made quick work of Venam and Aelita in her absence and defeated them for good.

During the scene where Crescent turns Zetta back into a Solosis (after having Dranna wreck the teleporter and forced Geara to teleport back in its damaged, unstable state), Hauyne captured him before she could, and refused to hand him over. Even going so far as to send his Pokeball to a PC, where Crescent couldn’t reach, to make her point clear. They would have continued to argue if Hauyne hadn’t collapsed mid-sentence from overexertion and exhaustion, forcing her to put it on hold so that they could hurriedly carry her back to Teila Resort to recuperate.

Minor canon divergences: Hauyne fell off the S.S Oceana during the hijacking, got struck by lightning and nearly drowned if it weren't for Tesla's Talonflame fishing her out of the water.

Instead of a Buizel, the abandoned Pokemon at the docks of Oceana Pier was an Alolan Vulpix. She later becomes a core member of Hauyne's main team after she defended her from her abusive ex-trainer.

Hauyne's first meeting with Nim was technically at Venam's Gym: she somehow saw through her invisibility spell. When they actually talked in person, she tried to nudge her towards eating the souls at the Den of Souls so she wouldn't turn to stone and release the prisoners. Not that it worked, since Nim was scared off by the nightmares prowling the area before she could even devour a lost soul.

In the Carotos Base, Hauyne managed to rescue a Shadow Treecko from the room filled with tanks (also the room where Eli somehow trapped himself in a tank, and Sharon had to frantically bust him out). As it turns out, it was no ordinary Treecko: he was an artificially made hybrid created to serve as an ultimate killing machine until the Shadow Mewtwo project got approved and subsequently phasing it out, leaving him eternally frozen in time until Hauyne saved him.

Technically in this AU, Hauyne was the one who named the Shadow Mewtwo... because she accidentally called her Dranna since she was used to it. The Mewtwo ended up liking the name so much that she adopted it as her own, requesting that everyone refer to her as such from then on.

Alain has a Volcanion, who also happens to be the mother of the Rift Volcanion in Carotos Mountain. She... didn't take the news of her son's grim death well, though she was somewhat thankful for Hauyne putting him out of his misery after learning that death was the only mercy she could grant him.

During the Chrysalis Manor arc, Marianette twisted her ankle during the Dusknoir Maze trial. Hauyne ends up carrying her in a piggyback and somehow managing to outrun Dusknoir for the entire trial even with his magical shortcuts. Needless to say, Marianette was very captivated by the feat and wouldn’t stop gushing about it; she only paused to watch Hauyne heal her ankle with aura, then continued her ramblings.

Also in the same arc, when Hauyne visits Anju in her underground prison, the latter recognised her, called her by her birth name Artemis and expressed genuine surprise/relief/concern upon seeing her. After asking her about the outside world, she gives Hauyne her pendant and requests her to give it to her son and to tell him that she’s sorry, if she ever saw him again. She tries to convince Anju to come with her, but to no avail and Anju insists that she needs to stay here for everyone’s sake.

In the Goldenwood arc, Hauyne has a few panic attacks because of the townspeople triggering some unpleasant memories from her homeworld. Aelita had to drag her into Narcissa’s house because she was utterly incapacitated by panic.

When exploring the labs beneath Wispy Tower, Griselda/Giratina mistakes Hauyne for her ancestor Altair (who was one of the Aura Wielders responsible for sealing her away) and flies into a berserk rage. She tries to attack Hauyne without any input from Geara whatsoever, but was rebuffed thanks to Ren and Narcissa’s assistance.

Before she and Aelita left for Akuwa Town, Hauyne decides to take a detour back to East Gearen City to show Zumi the Drifloon she captured. This was when she met Erin in the library, who later stomps off in anger when she couldn’t find the reading materials she travelled all the way for. She later runs into her again in Gearen Laboratories, dismayed that she had missed the last train home and that she’s stuck here for the night. Hauyne offers to let her stay the night in the apartment Tesla loaned to her, since it was too late to make the journey back to Goldenwood Town anyway, which Erin reluctantly agrees to. Surprisingly, the two got on pretty well despite the strange circumstances of their meeting, with them going their separate ways after Hauyne saw her off at Junction Bridge.

During the Blacksteeple Castle arc, Hauyne had her Phantump Okiku serve as a messenger between her and Aelita. She brought her Cheri and Oran berries to help with the electric torture Neved put her through, with the occasional written messages encouraging her to hang on and that help is on the way. In return, Aelita has Okiku carry a message back to Hauyne to let her know that she’s okay.

When Emma arrived at Blacksteeple, Hauyne immediately recognises her as Melia... although she’s careful not to let it slip until they’re out of prying eyes and ears. It’s only then did she greet her warmly, much to her surprise.

How Hauyne defeated Madame X’s Yveltal was that she had all her team members out and attack it from all sides. This, in turn, serves as a distraction for the actual tactic: Okiku setting up Destiny Bond on the Yveltal from the shadows, then using Ally Switch to take the place of its immediate target so that she would be KO’d by the attack and taking the Yveltal down with her.

When traversing Aquamarine Cave, Hauyne briefly talks about the bioluminescence often seen around the village she grew up in during a conversation between her and Valarie. When asked about her home village, she clams up and refused to speak about it.

Tesla and Nancy hitting it off after their official meeting at Teila Resort. The two just bonded with each other, mostly as fellow concerned parents worried for their children. Which is largely why Tesla decided to adopt Hauyne after she lost Nancy on Mt. Valor, since she had asked Tesla to watch over her daughter should anything happen to her.

After receiving the badge and TM from Kreiss, Hauyne gives him Anju’s pendant and relays her message to him, adding her own regrets of not being able to save her. Kreiss then remarks of her uncanny resemblance to a girl he’s seen in an old family portrait, taken when he was still an infant, and inwardly muses whether she was the same girl... only to dismiss it before he could finish that thought and rationalised that she was probably a relative/descendant of that girl.

[lupstarnyx]

What pokemon would you *most* like to get a rift form?

There are a quite a few for me.

I think a few more human rifts would be interesting, especially if the mind-scape exploration happens for all of them.

Within the lore of the game, I think the Theolia siblings are the most likely to get Rift-ed, considering the only other human Rift we've seen is the Nymeria-blessed Aelita. Rift Nim is also pretty likely, considering the opening fight of Chapter 15 and how we would get a view into her mind.

(Honestly, the designs could be kickass. Rift Mega Absol Erin as a one-winged avenger to match Melia's angelic design. Rift Togekiss Melia as a biblical angel with such blinding light that it causes flinching. Rift Mega Sableye Alice as a living shadow, playing puppetmaster like she did in the Unown Dimension. Rift A-NInetales Allen as a walking storm, or even Rift Mega Mawile if we're planning on matching him with Alice. Rift Darmanitan Nim straight up ripping people's souls out a la Insurgence's Delta Darmanitan, or Rift Fused Solrock Nim simply tearing apart the world with her gravitational field)

I'd also like to see Rift Registeel and Rift Regice as designs, but I feel like Saki's arc ended really nicely and I'm not sure how Kreiss is going to turn out. Maybe as post-game?

Player Rifts would also be a fun idea, but hard to execute. Maybe it's one of those fights you have to lose, like on Eclysia? But your Rift Form only has attacking moves or something. Also, what mon would the MC's rift be? Maybe the mythical used in the Intense Nightmare mirror fights?

Also would have liked to see Rift Reuniclus Zetta, but I guess the ship has sailed on that. Still, going to keep that concept in mind for later ;)

As for non-human Rifts, most of the recent ones have been plot-relevant mons, such as Gloria the Hippopotas, Melia's Garbodor, and Angie's Carnivine. The sidequest ones have also been plot-relevant, being Flora's Ferrothorn and Narcissa's first Chandelure. A few others are of interest:

- Nastasia's Deoxys, might push her away from Team Xen if they forcefully rift-ify it.

- Kieran's Xurkitree or Clear's Naganadel. Since we're going to see Rift Stakataka, it could be interesting to see what other Rift UBs are like before we get absolutely crushed by the Xenpurgis.

- Tesla's Talonflame, as it's the first pokemon we actually met, and I'd like to see more of best mom Tesla.

- Celebi, just to see what Zumi would make. Honestly, I feel like we need less overtly monstrous Rifts and more creepy and ethereal ones.

- Goomink (to incorporate him into the plot). If you've done the sidequest, he shrugs it off after a few turns. If not, you have to fight (and destroy) a sword-wielding Rift Goodra.

- Kawopudunga, because oh lord that would be difficult as all hell.

- On the topic of difficult as all hell, Delpha as a Rift would be terrifying. She has a higher BST than Dark Gardevoir, so you know that Rift would shred through everything.

[nightmarearian]

whoa the zetta pkm rejuvenation brainrot is real

rift zetta :) (he is melting 👍) (help him)

[endervention]

bleed out for audience approval,

tragic, but perfectly on schedule

[jazz-kity]

+ you get torn apart cuz the pressure keeping you weird looking gets removed too fast ^

that's interesting though. maybe heres where rift pokemon come from? and zetta like.... was from darchlight cave. which is why he looked like that. or something. bit strange how a solosis' true soul or whatever is a gay blonde twink but i'mjust spitballing here

[ticenchantedtoc]

crack theory 🤨❓

Okay, how do I explain this...

There are parts of this theory that are rooted in logic and parts that are wild speculation, but I think the overall theory is possible, albeit a little crazy. Then again, a lot of things in this game are crazy.

In short, my theory is that Zetta also has a form of Archetype power just like Melia does. But I don't think it comes from the actual Archetype; I think it's something similar but opposite. Because the Archetype is depicted as a golden triangle, I've been imagining this inverse Archetype as an upside-down silver triangle. Hey wait a minute.

Yeah, my theory is that this "inverse Archetype" is actually the Core. Outside of the visual similarity, we know that the Core is linked to the Interceptors' power, and they can transform just like Melia and Erin. The Core is also connected to the Ley Lines, and in the Karma Files, it mentions that Rifts form whenever a Ley Line is pierced. Zetta is the only character we know of who can directly interact with the Ley Lines to create Rift Pokemon*. Perhaps this is his version of the "superpowers" Melia, Erin, Allen, and Alice have because of the Archetype. If that's the case, then it would make complete sense that his power comes from the Core instead.

(*Quick note, I'm aware that there are other "Rifts" not created by Zetta, but a lot of them aren't Rifts in the lore, just in the gameplay mechanics. Carnivine, Dufaux, and Talon all became "Rifts" through alternate means, and though Ferrothorn and Hippowdon are real Rifts, they were created from rift matter that Bladestar stole from Team Xen (so they likely come from Zetta's power too, in a very roundabout way). The only other Rifts can't be explained this way are Volcanion, which Zetta very well could've made off-screen, and Aelita, which makes sense because Aelita turned into a Rift due to Vivian's curse. And Vivian already had a connection with the Ley Lines, that's how she could sense where people and Pokemon were. Okay back to the theory!)

The description of the Core also mentions that it contains and transports information about all life on Earth. That sounds a lot like something Zygarde, the pokemon responsible for keeping balance, would use, right? We currently don't know anything about the Zygarde host except their age: 25. Oddly enough, this is Zetta's biological age too. I say it's odd because most of the Xen Executives don't have specific canon ages, and if he's a clone of Melia, why make him so much older in the first place? It could be a coincidence, but I find it suspicious. Especially considering that everything with a Z name has been linked to the Core in some way: Zygarde, Zeight, Zorrialyn being where Castle Zygara once was.

To be clear, do I think Zetta being connected to the Core means he's an Interceptor? Absolutely not. Do I think there are three other Core-hosts like with the Archetype? Probably not. But I can't look past the fact that just after we get this lore dump about the Core, Crescent gives Zetta's pokeball to Melia. And in this teaser screenshot for v14, there's a new icon in the top left with Zetta's face and what appears to be the Interceptor's Wish. I'm not going to speculate about this screenshot because I have no idea what it means really, but at this point it's impossible to deny that Zetta is going to be important in Chapter 16.

Some last bonus points in this theory, aka the part where I start wildly speculating: When you combine the Archetype triangle and the proposed inverse Archetype triangle (whether it's actually the Core or a different thing), it would make the alchemical symbol for aether.

In alchemy, aether represents the space that isn't filled by any of the natural elements. It was thought to be the breath of gods, and harnessing the power of aether could connect the physical world to the spiritual one. Since Rejuvenation is a pokemon game, most players are already familiar with the word aether because of the Aether Foundation. The Aether Foundation created Type:Null, which was intended to be a manmade Arceus but failed, and they had to put on the helmet to contain its power. Rejuvenation acknowledges this backstory, calling it an "inconsistency" that two more Type:Null can be found in Aevium. Zepto is an obvious metaphor for Zetta's backstory as a clone, but I'd like to think the aether connection could mean something.

Speaking of inconsistencies, when you play chess against Zetta in the Nightmare Realm, all of the pieces depict characters in the game, and they all have a quote related to the character. For example, Neved's piece says "Your family before all else." All of the Xen executives are depicted as chess pieces here except for Zetta. This might just be because he's literally sitting across the board from you, but Risa (the Risa from the Nightmare Realm, not Clear pretending to be Risa) is also a piece on the board. Her piece is broken though, and it's not the only one. Eden's piece is broken too, and their quote ends in "Defiled." One other chess piece ends this way, one that seems to be missing a head. The full quote is, "To perpetuate consistency through inconsistency. The descendant of Zed. Defiled." There's the letter Z again. In an absence of other characters this could refer to, I'm assuming this piece is meant to be Zetta, which would mean that inconsistencies and being a "descendant" are more important to his character than we've been lead to believe. Could this be a hint that he's connected to the unknown Zygarde host?

Again, this last part is just wild speculation! The core (pun not intended) of this theory is that Zetta has his own version of the Archetype powers and maybe even his own transformation. I think it's likely that those powers would come from the Core, considering the lore we get in the Karma Files, but I'm not entirely sure. Whether I'm right or not, I'm just really excited for my favorite solosis to get more screen time.

[snaamagica]

17 and/or 18, if you haven’t already answered them?

@nebbys-personal-nebula sent an ask from the puella OC meme we’re going to be talking about my OC zetta!

17: how long do they survive as a magical girl? why?

zetta became a magical girl when she was about 13, and she survives somewhere between five and seven years (i haven’t decided how old i want her to be “currently” just yet)

zetta has a very resilient personality to begin with. but one of the main reasons she survives long enough to be one of the main veterans of her area is because of her approach to magic. she studies it and experiments with it, testing limits, figuring out the possibilities... she really wants to understand magic and how it works. she develops useful skills as a result — and the fact that she’s willing to share that magic without much fuss means she can gather allies in spite of her more combative and abrasive personality traits

so... it comes down to a combination of 1) personality, 2) skillset, and 3) networking

18: explain a scenario where they might become a witch (or unleash their doppel for the first time, if relevant. feel free to also talk about their relationship with their doppel here!)

i believe i’ve mentioned before the possibility of zetta keeping being a magical girl a secret from riley — and how that would be the start of a rift that would grow between them. they’re codependent, and aren’t used to keeping things from each other

it would be very difficult for zetta to be able to consistently excuse her absences and the strange things that would be happening... she wouldn’t be able to explain to him what’s going on, or even why she couldn’t tell him... he would start to think that he’s either upset her somehow, or done something to cause her to lose trust in him... zetta would be upset with herself for putting them in this position, and for hurting riley when she feels like she should be protecting him... and both of them would suddenly find their emotional foundation to be shaking and unstable

i’m not sure what the catalyst would be. there would honestly very likely be other outside factors compounding their stress, too, from other magical girls, from school, from their parents. maybe it’s their first real fight — the first time riley flares up at her, when he never does that. it would freak the both of them out, honestly. neither of them would react well. normally, they would have to separate, cool off, and then come back to talk it out honestly. but this isn’t a normal situation, since the magical girl system screws you when you hit an emotional low juuuust right...

which would be ESPECIALLY terrible for riley. they would have a fight, one that he likely started, and then he never saw her again? 😬