#terapagos shine

[smilingperformer]

Nyarote hugging Liko AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH-

[rainbowangel110]

God I love this song so much

Pokemon (Shinsaku Anime) | OP | “Dokimeki Diary (ドキメキダイアリー)” by asmi feat. Chinozo

[rudeboimonster]

HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM NIMBASA GRAND CENTRAL!

.... imagine it's still Halloween, okay, I'm doing my best.

I organized a fun little collab in the Submas server I run of everyone drawing some fav Pokemon characters dressed up for Halloween! (... excluding the twins bc everyone would've fought for them.)

The character pulls and combinations are REALLY good, I'm delighted, I love being able to see everyone's creativity, talent, and personality shine through this!

Also here's my individual piece - Wes from Pokemon Colosseum dressed as Raziel from Soul Reaver/Legacy of Kain because it's MY event and I get to do what I want to (lighthearted). Particularly proud of the perspective I managed on the sword's hilt.

Credits under the cut to make this not too long. :)

Elio, Calem - @tuusenskona Liko, Nyrote, Terapagos - @vinlynce Steven Stone - @pixelga1axy Silver - [private] Shauna's Sableye - @skelekitty42 N - @uncannygods Laventon - @drakeflight Milo - @foxtrot-broadcasts Kalos Ash, Kieran - @bread-loaf-heart Guzma, Wimpod - @jaypgartifacts Plumeria - @anonymouspuzzler Wes - meeeeeee Summer, Pichu - @thesproutingartist Tate & Liza, Irida - @krikidilly Arven - @magicsewerman Grimsley - Zero Tabitha, Numel - @logicalloony

[magician-from-the-street]

I just wanted to share my thoughts on new official artwork for Indigo Disk...

Kieran – his crystal is shattered, it is loosing it's glow while other crystals shine brightly. His body posture is confident, and somewhat powerful, intimidating even. The facial expressions on the other hand is worried and unsure. It contrast to his in game attitude where he's mad and confident. I also think that the tera symbol behind his crystal in the distance is purple/pink which might indicate poison type.

Is that all a some sort of hint to the theory where Kieran is possessed? We'll find out soon. I think it although might symbolise that he's in fact lost. He tries to act all tough and rough but he's a sensitive and gentle soul (as nintendo said themselves in one of tweets).

Carmine – she is looking at her brother (and he is looking at her). She looks like she's shouting, all worried. In my opinion she still have hopes and believes in her brother, she wants to help him

Briar – She kinda reminds me of a villain who looks at something satisfied of what they have done/achieved but less evil. I don't think she's evil or have bad intentions. Maybe it's her reaction to Terapagos unleashing it's true power/form?? Still, we have to keep an eye on her...

Protagonists – they're just here

Thanks for reading ✨️

[sage-nebula]

"Friede's using himself as a decoy to keep us safe."

I rambled about this in the tags of a reblog, but hell, I'm going to go ahead and make a separate meta post about it as well, because it's something that I think could have a delicious narrative impact on a future Horizons arc if the writers choose to utilize it. (And even if they don't, it could make for some delicious fic.)

So, one thing I noticed on my catch up binge of Horizons is that Liko and Roy (and to a lesser extent Dot) see Friede not only as the leader of the Rising Volt Tacklers, but also as a hero -- as their hero. This especially jumped out at me in episode 25, when Friede had them take shelter in the tower of the ancient castle while he battled Amethio. Not only did they readily listen to him when he told them to stay put inside the tower while he alone went to the exposed top, but then we were treated to this:

This whole sequence is notable for several reasons:

Friede jumps off the tower to draw Amethio away from the higher floor of the tower where Liko and Roy are sheltering, so that Amethio has a lower chance of going after them.

As he passes by their window, Friede gives them a wink and a smile, to comfort and encourage them.

The animators made sure to show us not only how Friede looked from Liko and Roy's perspective (heroic), but also how awed they were by giving us a full shot of their own facial expressions.

Just in case it wasn't obvious enough, Roy and Liko spell it out themselves that Friede is using himself as bait for Amethio in order to protect them, not only telling the audience what he's doing in case the audience didn't pick up on it (which, young children do watch this show), but also showing how this knowledge affects them, because Roy's voice is shaking a little when he says his line, and Liko's is hushed.

This was a very scary night for these two kids. They were outnumbered, their enemies were much stronger than they were, they were being pursued and in hiding. But Friede put himself between them and the greatest, nearest threat, and did his best to comfort them as he did so. To give them a wink and a smile as if to say, "Don't worry, it'll be okay."

And this isn't the only time.

We would be here all day if I grabbed screenshots of every time Friede rushed in to either save the kids from danger (either directly himself or by sending Cap in his place), or check on their well being after the fact to make sure that they were unharmed. Often, he does both in the course of the same episode, sometimes multiple times. Hell, his establishing character moment in the very beginning of the series is a heroic rescue whereupon he enters the scene to protect Liko from Amethio on the rooftop of her school. Friede makes it a point to prioritize the kids' safety and well-being, and as a result, they've reached the natural conclusion: they view him as a hero. As their hero.

So then, the question must be asked: what happens if their hero is taken out of the picture?

The question needs to be asked for a few reasons, and not just because I have a love for angst. The first reason is because we've already been given a teaser of what would happen at the end of the Terapagos Shine arc. In episode 44, Friede was trapped in a tower of Spinel's design. Though neither Liko nor Roy knew that the tower was a trap by Spinel, they did know that Friede was trapped inside -- and both immediately panicked upon seeing that Friede was trapped in a tower beyond their reach in enemy territory.

Roy immediately tried opening the door and, when repeated attempts to yank it open wouldn't work, banged it on it with his fists while yelling Friede's name. Liko, meanwhile, stared in abject terror. And even after Friede reassures them, Roy still frantically demands more answers while Liko just as frantically wants to know if Friede is okay, and a little bit after that has to take a deep breath to try to get herself to calm down. Keep in mind that just an episode prior to this, when faced with a sudden attack by the Explorers, Liko's first instinct was to call Friede for help, while Roy said that he would battle because there was no time to call Friede (not because calling for backup wasn't necessary). Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the kids aren't brave. Of course they are! They both insisted on going on this mission in the first place! And they're there because, as concerned as Friede is for their safety, he is also Professor Pushover when it comes to them and caved immediately to their puppy eyes. But they also feel much safer on that mission because Friede is there with him. Feeling that he is in danger, cut off from them like that -- the stakes suddenly became that much more real.

And on the other side of the door, Friede knew it as well. And how did he react?

He's not happy. He knows this is a bad situation. But --

He does what he always does: he doesn't let on at all that this is a bad situation, so as not to worry and scare the kids. He also tells them to leave the area, because Spinel is there and Spinel is dangerous, and he wants to get them away from that danger. To date, Spinel is the most dangerous Explorer that they've encountered. Remember, Spinel is the one who successfully stole Terapagos' pendant, and the one who wiped Liko's memory and had her missing in Levincia for awhile. It's understandable why Friede would prioritize getting the kids as far away from him as possible.

So, to recap:

In a situation where, as far as the kids knew, Friede was just temporarily locked in a room away from them (in enemy territory but not with an enemy) and could still talk to them, it freaked them out enough to make them panic, and it took Landau telling them that they had to believe Friede could get himself out of the room and that they had to move forward for Liko to deep breath her way out of her mounting panic attack so she and Roy could move on. In a situation where Friede was actually captured, then, we could probably expect their reactions -- at least, their initial reactions -- to be much worse.

And I consider this possibility for two specific reasons: one genre, and one narrative.

First, genre. Pokémon has always been a coming-of-age story of sorts, but I feel that the Horizons anime feels especially so, focusing very strongly on Liko, Roy, and Dot as they grow up and discover both who they are, and who they want to be when they're older. (This has been especially emphasized with Liko and Dot, I feel; with Roy, he hasn't really thought about the future beyond battling Rayquaza.) The thing about coming-of-age stories set in fantasy settings, though -- rather, the thing about coming-of-age stories set in fantasy settings wherein the young protagonist has a stronger mentor that they can lean on to bail them out of jams is that, if they can consistently rely on the mentor to bail them out of jams and danger, then it doesn't give them the opportunity to overcome that danger themselves. Therefore, very often those stories will kill off the mentor character to force the younger protagonist character to go off on their own to face the primary villains in the end. Hence the deaths of characters like Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars, Gandalf in Lord of the Rings, and so on.

Now, given that this is a Pokémon anime, obviously they're not going to have Spinel murder Friede. I mean, true, they let Zygarde kill Lysandre on Bonnie's order at the end of the XYZ anime, but Lysandre was the big bad and we didn't see his corpse, it was just heavily implied that he didn't survive what Zygarde did to him. Same with Hunter J and her crew in the DP anime. Did she live? Probably not, but we never saw the bodies, so hey, plausible deniability, and they were villains anyway, so. But Friede is a main character, and a hero, so we can be 99.9% sure that they're not going to have Spinel or anyone else murder him in order to force the kids to get by without him for awhile.

However, Friede doesn't have to die for him to be taken out of the action. He just needs to be put into a position where it is physically impossible for him to get to them to save them when they're in danger (and for them to know that he can't get to them when they're in danger). But I'm getting ahead of myself. The point I'm making here is that, for genre reasons, the writers have a reason to want to remove Friede from the field of play in order to force Liko, Roy, and Dot to stand on their own against the Explorers. Because while they would still have the rest of the adult crew of the Rising Volt Tacklers, the rest of the adult crew aren't really battlers. The only one among them who has a fully evolved pokémon is Orio with Metagross, and we've only seen her attempt to battle once. It doesn't mean she can't, of course, but it does imply that perhaps she's not an active battler. Certainly, she's not the one rushing in to save the kids all the time like Friede is. The rest of the RVT crew is important as well, but Friede is the one who would cause the real narrative impact here, as well as the psychological impact on the kids.

(And to briefly address Dot, since I've barely talked about her: Dot hasn't received as much focus in this discussion since she rarely leaves the ship, and thus hasn't been in as much danger as Liko and Roy. However, Friede has had as much of an impact on her life and I believe she sees him as a personal hero just as much. He is, after all, the one who gave her the new life that has impacted her so greatly. He's the one whose thesis first caught her attention. He showed an interest in her interests. He called her abilities special. He invited her to join the Brave Asagi. He brought her aboard no questions asked, made her feel welcomed, has never shamed her for being a shut-in, so on and so forth. Friede treats Dot with as much respect as he does the rest of the crew and his offer to let her become a crew member changed her life for the better. So while he hasn't had to rescue her as much as the other two, I think she does see him as a hero just as Liko and Roy do, and would be just as affected if something happened to him as they would be.)

The other reason why I think the question needs to be asked is a narrative one. I think, from a narrative perspective, it would simply make sense for the Explorers to want to do something about Friede at some point, particularly if they wish to take Terapagos from Liko (or get the kids out of the way of their plans for Rayquaza / Terapagos / Rakua). Again, whenever the kids are in danger, Friede swoops in and saves them. This is something that Spinel, at least, has noticed; he built the trap on the island specifically to imprison Friede. Why would he do that, if Friede was not at the very least a nuisance, at the very most a threat? And at the end of it all, we got this:

Which then brings me back to what I mentioned earlier: since the anime clearly can't (and won't) murder Friede, because that would be going way too far for a Pokémon anime, if the writers do choose to temporarily remove him from the field of play in order to give the kids room to stand on their own two feet without Professor Safety Net, then I could see this playing out one of two ways.

The first (and most delicious) way is obvious: have him be captured by the Explorers. I feel that this is already set up by Spinel's little smirk and comment above. Spinel has already designed one trap meant to imprison Friede; there is nothing stopping him from designing more. Of course, it would require nerfing Friede (and Cap) a bit, in order to leave them captured for a good while; but it would also give the kids a mission, that mission being rescuing Friede and Cap in a reversal of all the rescues Friede and Cap have provided for them thus far, while simultaneously taking the fight to the Explorers, versus the Explorers always coming after them. Of course, this does carry the risk of still seeming too dark for the writers to want to consider, since Friede would be a prisoner during all this, but if nothing else, I can always write fic.

The second possibility that is less obvious and more bonkers, but less dark and so somehow more plausible in my mind, is that Friede could somehow end up trapped in Rakua with Lucius. And before you're like "what," consider this:

Friede has a plan that involves the three Heroes they've obtained so far. If I had to guess, Friede is going to continue pursuing the remaining Six Heroes while the kids are on their Terastal course. And that's fine / good; he's continuing the mission so they don't lose time, although how he's going to do that without Terapagos is a mystery. (Although I'm sure Liko would let him borrow Terry if he just asked.) But the point is, he's got this mysterious plan involving the three Heroes they currently have. Rakua is some mysterious place that isn't on any maps and so could very well be another dimension or something similar, because those are 100% canonically real in the Pokémon world (e.g. the Distortion World). It would behoove the writers to have Friede off the field of play for awhile, to the extent that it is physically impossible for him to help the kids. And the kids also intend to reach Rakua because that's what Terapagos wants. So if Friede somehow got trapped in Rakua, then they would be killing two birds with one stone: Friede can no longer help the kids when they're in danger from the Explorers, and the kids can rescue Friede when they take Terapagos to Rakua to see Lucius' spirit (or just Lucius himself if Lucius has been alive in Rakua all this time because it's like a fountain of youth or limbo or something). Bonus points if the kids don't even know that's where Friede is, if they just know that something happened to him but don't know what, but they keep working toward Rakua anyway because the other adults on the crew convince them that Friede would want them to. (But Friede can maybe still somehow get messages to them through Terapagos visions or something, I don't know.)

I could honestly see this being the way they go with it, simply because it's less dramatic than "the enemy has taken your mentor hostage and taunt you about how powerless you are to do anything about it and also they're going to hunt you down to steal your little turtle, too." Plus they're setting Friede up to do something with the three Heroes, and it can't be for nothing. But then again, neither can Spinel's interest . . .

Either way, the fact that the kids so clearly see Friede as their hero, and the way it would impact them to have something happen to him as a result, has lived in my head ever since episode 25. Particularly since it would have a narrative impact as well, given how often he is their safety net, and what it would mean if he couldn't be any longer. Not because he chose not to, because he would never choose that; but because he couldn't, because external forces took that choice away.

Well. Even if the anime itself doesn't deliver, that won't stop me. :)

[rainbowangel110]

Jesus Christ this is so good. What the fuck.

I hope Lucius and Gibeon were actually truly friends once, and we get flashbacks to them one day in a future arc adventuring together and showcasing their friendship, something similar to what we got with Roku and Sozin in ATLA:

The Six Heroes Pokemon have shown the cast visions of Lucius before, and presumably Terapagos also has this ability since it was his companion too.

Then, like in the Avatar and the Fire Lord episode, show us Gibeon's betrayal, likely because Lucius saw that Terapagos was opposed to the Laquium (and probably in pain by being exposed to so much of it) and wanted to destroy it, while Gibeon was fascinated by its properties, particularly the delayed aging it granted (and given we see it drove Umbreon into a rage state, potentially have it unbalancing his mind too), leading to them clashing over it.

Perhaps Terapagos goes absolutely haywire Stellar in their fight, leading to it firing off beams everywhere and causing massive amounts of crystals to form, and Gibeon abandons Lucius to be crystallized/trapped. Tho unlike Sozin having some regrets about Roku, it's clear that Gibeon doesn't really regret his actions since he still seeks the Laquium and doesn't seem to care about what he has to do to get his hands on it again.

(Bonus points if Amethio is there to witness this vision, either after taking Terapagos back to his grandfather, or during a fight with the RVT gang for it. I want Terapagos to be like, "Oh, you think his dreams are worth fulfilling? Let me show you what he's REALLY like then. Let's see you follow him after this" and that vision to be what shakes his faith in Gibeon, the thing that drives him into leaving the Explorers for good.)

[ofowlsdinosaursanddragons]

I made a reference of Kieran for the "Power Always Comes At a Price" au!

Here's the major story for the AU

After being beat by Florian/Juliana In the champion's league, he decides that if his pokemon couldn't get stronger, then he will. After scouring the library for any information on humans getting stronger, he finds out about a tale of a human who became a pokemon hybrid inside the crater of area zero alongside both the tale of Pecharunt and the Terapagos of Area Zero. After going back to his home town of kitikami and capturing Pecharunt with his masterball instead of terapagos, He is sent alongside Carmine and Florian/Juliana to a trip to area zero by Briar to find the "Greatest Treasure of Area Zero" (Terapgos) and asks the protagonist if he could borrow ogerpon while they’re down in area zero. The protagonist obliges and gives him the ogre. As they ascend further into area zero, Kieran finds lost Pokémon fuse tech amongst the rubble from when sada was still working in area zero (she’s alive in this au but her fate is a whole other story on it’s own.) When they reach the bottom of area zero, Kieran grabs Terapagos and turns on the machine with both pecharunt and ogerpon also inside the machine. When the process is complete, a great ball of light shines before dissipating away reavealing the machine, now burnt and useless, and in the center of it all lies Kieran no longer human or Pokémon anymore.

post fusion, he got really screwed up after the transformation. With his head and face being the only reminder of what Kieran once was pre-chimerization. As while the three legendries were gone physically, Kieran soon realized that they began to hear the voices in his head, these voices being terapagos, ogerpon, and pecharunt. As Kieran, at first, was unable to quell the ogre and the peach's arguing alongside the cries of the divine terrapin. Quickly, this drove Kieran "feral". After Florian/Juliana and Carmine were able to defeat the crazed Kieran; He was able to regain most control of his new body afterwards.

For inspirations for the design, I based the body on the Kothoga from The Relic and the Scorpius rex from Camp Cretaceous alongside the barbs of the tripe strike from the HTTYD tv show for the toxic chain barbs that sprout from Kieran's waist (if you wanted to know what those were.)

here are the shade-less alts and the tranpsarents with shade and shadeless alts.

[ecargmura]

Pokemon Horizons Episode 66 Review - School Hacking Incident

We’re closing in on the finale of Terastal Debut, and we’re seeing some major growth for our young protagonists. The difference between the penultimate episode of Terastal Debut and the penultimate episode of Shine of Terapagos is very major. While both involve the Explorers, the kids are now more capable.

Like with the end of the Basics test, Clavell lets the students have fun by hosting another battle tournament. I do like that they’re so eager to let the students battle so often. The failed students are still allowed to Terastal, but it’d be the last time they do it as failed students would have to return their orbs after the day is over. Other than Liko, the only other known person who failed is Bocco, the Dot look-alike.

I do like that there are lots of callbacks of episodes 43 and 44 in this one. Episode 43 had Liko and Roy do a Multi Battle against Sidian and Coral with Liko vs Sidian and Roy vs Coral, but the battle was called off. In this episode, the same matchup from before happens, but Liko and Roy are more experienced now. Floragato is no longer a Sprigatito and Liko even uses Terastal to beat Sidian. Even though she failed her exam and is only supposed to use Terastal during the battle tournament, but Sidian used it illegally, so Liko did the same.

With Roy and Coral, no one used Terastal, but it’s nice to finally see Fuecoco get a win from Glalie after battling against it twice. One little detail I like from the Roy battle is that it was originally in the art room, but he didn’t want to destroy the artwork, so he used Kilowattrel to move to another location. It’s really sweet that he’s so considerate of the students’ hard work when it comes to their schoolwork. Coral didn’t really care if it gets damaged or not, but still followed Roy to the new location.

There also seems to be a budding rivalry between Dot and Chalce now that Dot is more involved. I hope that they’ll get another battle in a future arc; it does suck that Dot’s essentially the only one who “failed” her battle. I do like that the kids know that “Sandwich”, “Onigiri” and “Agepan” are Explorer members, but they never knew their names until now. Sidian gives Liko his name while Coral and Chalce reveal theirs to Roy and Dot. I do like that giving their names is like a sign that they acknowledge them as worthy opponents or something…

Remember what I wrote in my review of Episode 63 in that Grusha was being harsh towards Liko because he wanted her to prove him wrong? I was right! Liko did prove Grusha wrong, but in a different way, however. He was there to witness her battle against Sidian and saw that she used Terastal despite being forbidden from doing so because she has something to protect. He even mentions that Liko fights better when she’s battling for self-defense or to protect something rather than competitively. It was nice that he went all the way to Clavell’s office to change his mind about failing Liko since she protected the school from the Explorers and did not allow the incident to escalate into something disastrous. I think it’s a nice reward for Liko’s efforts. People might see it as a “pity badge” sort of thing like how Ash got some badges in Kanto out of pity, but sometimes, hard work deserves good rewards.

I was a tad disappointed that Penny wasn’t more involved with the episode. Sure, she did try to prevent Chalce from hacking the system, and that her role in the story is to be the school and league’s tech person, but it does feel odd that she seemed like she’d play an important part, but does get sidelined as the story is about Liko and co. Still, it was nice seeing more of Penny.

I also like that the kids’ second Pokemon were used in the episode. Liko let Hattrem out of her ball to heal the security guard and his Psyduck while she went on ahead. Hattrem was also the key figure to let Grusha stay back and witness Liko fight against Sidian. Roy used Kilowattrel to move locations. Dot used Tinkatink to destroy the computer, but got the wrong one. It’s nice to see their other Pokemon be more involved now that the kids have grown as capable Trainers.

I think we were long overdue for an eventual Liko vs Roy match, but it seems that the finale will finally showcase it. I think it’s the perfect way to end off this arc. They’ve been training buddies, but now they’re opponents for the friendly battle tournament. Both were rookie trainers, but now have grown so much. Who do you think will win? I honestly think it’ll be a draw.

[kafus]

okayyy so as for actual episode thoughts

grrr biting thrashing gnawing the bars so much is being set up and i really feel like this arc is going to get exciting. briar and sazare (perrin) both introduced in the same episode with clear and established roles in the plot… though i wonder what the hell carmine is going to be doing still?? her intro episode didn’t even seem to imply what on earth she’ll be doing but she has a whole sequence in the op so definitely… something…

i’ve seen some people take briar seeing a terapagos before and writing a book on it as proof that horizons is happening directly after the plot of the main games but i don’t personally agree, not that it isn’t possible but i just don’t think that’s enough proof. as far as i’m aware the anime has always loosely ripped on game plot threads without actually being in the game timeline and i don’t know why that would change now.

that being said knowing that there is, or at least was, another minimum of at least one other terapagos recently enough for briar to have personally seen one is a pretty big deal! terapagos’ whole thing in the games is that there is just one of them left, the one you catch is based pretty explicitly on Lonesome George (the last remaining member of the pinta island tortoise who went extinct in 2012) so like. cool to hear there’s at least a couple out there. could have lore implications

btw i try not to involve the games too much in my discussion of horizons in general just because i treat them as separate things more than other people i think, but it is worth acknowledging that the milotic that attacks you in SV is programmed to be tera ghost but never actually terastilizes, this was only found out through datamining... it makes sense with the whole Dead People thing but it's really odd that it never terastilizes. so i think it's interesting that it does in the anime and pretty much immediately too. idk how to elaborate on this i just thought that was Interesting. they referenced something from the games that doesn't even... happen lol

i thought for sure we were going to see the woman in the trailer for this arc/in the op at the shining pond this episode so i was surprised it didn’t happen. also, if they do end up only seeing her and not lucius, does that imply that lucius is somehow alive? or is it just coincidence? many questions of which i do not have the answers to… i'm so curious UGH and also the existence of hisui pokemon... dot acknowledges they SHOULD be impossible, so i'm really curious where they came from or how they survived... MAN

really loved dot in this episode, it’s fun to see her going out on her own and then interacting on her own, as per usual i feel like cheering seeing her do anything independently lmao. continues to be sweet how she’s so awkward but powers through on account of her interest in pokemon (which was brought up twice in this episode, first with briar where she talked about welcamo, and then indirectly with sazare. one of the most consistent things about her.) welcamo/kuwassu has always taken care of dot but it was cool to see her verbally acknowledge that kuwassu kind of Chose Her instead of the other way around. i really hope someday we get some sort of Dot Kuwassu Origins episode, i want to see how they met and bonded when dot wasn't interested in becoming a trainer herself

anyway liko asking dot if she's okay and sitting next to her at briar's tent send post

[applesjuice]

It's Wed here's a small WIP snippet to show you all why writing this fic hurts so much:

It hadn’t really hit Carmine that something was deeply, terribly wrong until Kieran’s hydrapple let itself out under a torrent of starfall, without a command from its trainer. Everything happened so fast. Terapagos scared her, Miss Briar’s obsession with it scared her. Kiki scared her. The way light bounced off of each surface of the cavern left her dizzy, terastal energy spinning out of control to Miss Briar’s shouts of excitement. Carmine couldn’t see through all the colors, heard only ringing through an eruption of light. Juliana was somewhere before her. Kiki was too. Then so was Miraidon. 

“It’s energy output is going haywire!” Miss Briar cried. She begged them to bring Terapagos under control. 

“We’ve got to get Terapagos under control!” Carmine repeated, almost in prayer. She sent out her sinischa and its chasen twitched visibly in fright. “C’mon, Kiki! You need to do something too.”

Juliana’s meowscarda was already in battle, and she stared at the girl for a moment. Unease again surfaced and floated throughout her, curling within her chest like the shower of petals dropping before her. Tears hung within Juliana’s eyes, wetted her face and visibly choked her. Carmine felt every bit of her fear that she hadn’t acknowledged welling up at them, stealing away all her words. 

Sinischa used Life Dew, and her eyes flicked to Kiki but he wasn’t there.

“It hit him,” she heard Juliana say. “The light, it hit him. I couldn’t– Miraidon. I wasn’t fast enough, and the light hit him.” She then made some vague, keening sound, and more light flashed overhead. The prism caught in it ate any terastal energy, stripping away all of their pokemons’ shine. 

Carmine’s sinischa fell, and she went breathlessly with it. Her eyes laid heavy on its ball. She called out in fear for her brother. “Kiki! You need to help her!” she cried. Her own tears were coming on quickly. Where was her brother!?

His hydrapple responded, placing itself before her as though she were its trainer. The smell of its syrup had her gut rolling, overly sweet and overly familiar like the whiff she got from her brother whenever it was they last hugged. Hydrapple stood at the ready but nobody gave it direction. 

“S-syrup Bomb!” she choked out. 

Juliana held herself stilly, hardly breathing, trying her best not to look at her with so much force that Carmine found herself faltering. One of Hydrapple’s heads turned to look at her. She reeled back from its slow, confused blink. Another head swiveled in search of Kieran, and she followed the line of its sight to its ball, sitting where five others had spilled.  

She leaned to the side, and vomited.

[smilingperformer]

I just realised the opening, AND early episodes actually, sorta suggests Liko and Roy being comparables to Moon and Sun.

[amelikos]

Some character notes and episode notes for HZ066, writing them down for future reference.

The episode starts with the trio at school. The Terastal course is over, so Clavell announces that the students will have a final friendly tournament, which will be the last opportunity for those who failed the course to use Terastal before giving back their orb. Afterwards, Liko, Roy and Dot watch the tournament before Nemo joins them. Dot is contacted by Botan who tells her to meet up with her at the infirmary. Botan tells Dot that something is happening and Dot catches on that the school is being hacked. Botan suspects Agate because she looked into her and found out that she is from an organization called the Explorers. Dot tells her everything she knows about the Explorers and they decide to look for Agate to stop her (Agate is stealing data from the principal's computer and connects to it from a different place). Dot calls Liko and Roy to ask for their help, and they split to look for Agate. Roy eventually finds Sango. Liko comes across a security guard and his Pokemon who have been affected by a salt move, so she suspects that Onyx is on the move too and follows her hunch (and lets Tebrim heal the guard and his Pokemon).

Afterwards, Liko, Roy and Dot all deal with an Explorers character. Dot eventually finds Agate and tries to stop her from stealing the data and have Kanuchan break the computer that Agate was using, but to no avail since Agate managed to transfer the data she needed. She eventually escaped using her Natio's Teleport.

Meanwhile, Roy battles Sango (Hogator vs Onigohri). They were going to battle in an art class room but Roy stopped himself from using Flamethrower since he didn't want to burn up the students' art (which reminded me of HZ011 when he was about to use Flamethrower in Oliva's forest but Liko stopped him from doing so.. now Roy is paying attention to his surroundings enough to stop himself etc). Roy brings the battle outside so both him and Sango can battle to their hearts' content. He eventually wins the battle btw, and Sango didn't want to end on a loss and wanted to keep battling.

On the other hand, Liko faces Onyx (Nyarote vs Kyojiohn). Grusha was in the surroundings and also came across the man who was hurt by Salt Cure and follows Tebrim afterwards so he got to watch Liko's battle. Onyx just wanted to do his job at first, but saw an opportunity to steal Terapagos, so he asked Liko to hand him over. Liko challenged him to a battle to protect Terapagos. Onyx uses Terastal and gains the upper hand for a moment. Grusha almost intervened at that moment, but Tebrim reacted (and almost looked like she was saying that he should watch over Liko..) and Grusha stopped himself and kept on watching Liko. Liko decided to use Terastal to protect the school and Terapagos and eventually won against Onyx. He accepted his defeat and told her his name before leaving.

Tebrim and Arukujira meet up with Liko after her battle, and Grusha follows. Liko gets nervous because she knew that Grusha saw her break the rules and use Terastal. He told her to meet her in the principal's office, and she thinks she is going to get in trouble. Liko apologizes for her actions at the principal's office, but Grusha tells her he is the one who should apologize and admits that he misjudged her strength. He got to see that when she fights on someone's behalf, her true strength shines through. She produced results, so he tells her that she passed her implementation test. Liko asks if it's okay, and Clavell has no issue with it since Grusha acknowledged her and Omodaka says her skills are worthy of a Terastal Orb. Liko thanks them all.

Afterwards, Dot is shown on the phone with Botan. She tells her that the Explorers escaped and took the info on Terapagos with them. Botan says that they got proof that Agate was the intruder, and that they kept the school damage to a minimum, and that the tournament didn't get called off, so she thanks Dot (and seems shy doing so, and Dot is also a bit embarassed accepting her gratitude).

At the end, Liko joins Roy and Dot who congratulate her for passing her test. They are happy they are all going to be able to use Terastal from now on. Kihada comes across them and tells Liko and Roy about the matchups for the upcoming battles in the tournament, and Liko and Roy learn that they are going to be each other's opponent.

--

Overall, loved this episode. I liked that Liko's implementation test was intertwined with the overarching plot and built up on it. Failing her test against Grusha, meeting Amethio and wavering against him when he used Terastal which Amethio noticed and pointed out, resolving not to give up after her talk with Amethio, which led to her fully accepting her loss and deciding that she was not going to let it stop her, which strengthened her desire to protect even more, which led to her knowingly breaking the rule (because she did what she had to do), which made Grusha and Onyx acknowledge her (and even Amethio prior to that episode acknowledged her!), etc. It's just neat writing all around, and I love it all.

I also love that Liko's implementation test showed in full display that Liko growing stronger is linked, narratively, to the Explorers. Which is something I kept writing about for a while now, but this chapter showed it even more. Sango was there when Liko was about to pass her basics test. They made a point to have Sango around to compete with Liko before having her battle with Kaede. And the implementation test, as well. Amethio was there to encourage Liko after her loss and Liko took his words to heart. And Onyx was the one to push her to break the rules, which is ultimately what made Grusha acknowledge Liko and make her pass, etc etc.

I also like that they kept the nuance about Liko's implementation test with Grusha. I'm glad that this didn't necessitate a rematch with him, but rather Grusha acknowledging her in another setting (which showed Liko's true strength, as she shines more when she protects those she loves) and showed that Liko was able to meet his criteria too.. I'm satisfied with it and these whole string of recent episodes gave me something to think about. Grusha definitely grew into one of my favorite game characters that was implemented into the anime. He is strict but not a bad guy, and I liked that he apologized to Liko. He was definitely smiling when he said "you pass" at the end, but we didn't get to see his smile... tragic.

Liko was absolutely the coolest when she battled (Onyx was very cool too, loved the scene when he told Liko his name and told her to remember it), she is so resourceful and Nyarote is so great too... something I like about Liko's battles is that I really feel like she is into it? I liked the scene when she was shown out of breath after the battle ended, like she really gave it her all and it really feels like battles are not something that only the Pokemon participates in, but the trainer does too... I think this shows a lot through Liko's battles because she feels wholly invested in them.

Anyway, I loved everything else too. Dot and Botan's friendship, the way Dot immediately relies on her friends, etc. Seeing more of Agate in action is so nice too (and her personality shines through too, she has a kind of taunting side when she has the upper hand which is so cool to see since she is so composed usually), her having a Natio is certainly curious because that's a Pokemon said to be able to see both the past and future. With the whole focus on the past with Lucius's story (and the SV games deal with past/future too...)... The PR account posted about Agate having a Natio and hinted that she might be a Psychic type user, so I'm looking forward to knowing who is her third Pokemon (here).

Also thought it was neat that while Liko and Roy won their battles against Onyx and Sango, Agate managed to successfuly steal the data so the Explorers still get something on their side and they are not coming back empty-handed. They are competent!

Sango was also a delight as usual in this episode, and I really feel like her VA is getting more expressive through her acting... I love when Sango gets angry and her line deliveries are great. (And I lost it when Onyx casually came to pick her up at the end before leaving, like okay man we get it you care about her and will never leave her behind, and you'll always be willing to put up with her complaining etc. Idk how they manage to be the cutest, but somehow they are.)

Anyway, this was just a great ep all around and it didn't feel crowded. Ep written by Naruki Nagakawa btw, who was also the one who wrote ep 56 (Chili vs Liko). Liko's growth as a character and how it gets expressed through battles as a vehicle being handled by very specific writers, etc.

[jadeazora]

This month's Mojacookie episode illustration round-up.

As an aside, I kinda hope we get a new OP soon since the subtitle will be changing soon to something like "The Shine of Terapagos" after the first cour climax battle with the Explorers.

[rivalkieran]

HI I’VE COME TO BOTHER YOU-

I’m the anon who asked for you to info-dump about the legendary Pokemon a while back (which did help me, the way mine are sort of set up is they also embody concepts but are less tied to stories here, so like Yveltal is Death, Dialga is Time, Terapagos got assigned to wishes here, etc) and I’ve come back to ask you to info dump more.

It doesn’t need to be about legendaries this time, I’ve actually been wondering about Paldea, Galar, and Hoenn specifically. I think about the dynamic Kieran and Florian have here maybe a touch more than is healthy… but also like the paldea friends are something I’m wondering about.

Give me the detailsssss pleaseeeeee (I’m going to ask many a time. It’s gonna happen. I’m far too mentally ill to just leave it beeeee)

-Hyperfixtated Anon (this will be my name now because I’m going to come back many times I don’t know why I can’t be normal about this)

OH HELLO this is I think one of the first reoccuring anons I've gotten how exciting!!! to be honest I do pretty badly with more broad questions like this but I'll try my best..!!!

with most of my pokemon stuff I don't really change the main story that much unless I have problems with just how it's written on a technical level so alot of the meat of solisverse is contained within the protagonist interpretations and the themes I explore through them.

for hoenn, may hiroshi's themes of aloneness and isolation (themes which are shared with other protags actually) (but hiroshi especially puts emphasis on those specific aspects of protagism) acts as a contrast to the rest of hoenn's duos and pairs and whatnot. specifically those themes of isolation shine through in her hoenn hero status. she saved the world not once but twice (mainstory + delta ep), and now she’s expected to save it again if it ever comes to that. lone titan atlas, burdened with holding the world up by himself. or something like that lol

someone’s actually asked me about galar before! so I wont bother repeating myself. galars general themes are of heroism and villainy, in the storybook fairytale sense and how those concepts get ‘adapted’ into reality so to speak. since galar is late in the solisverse timeline alot of my verse’s weird meta bullshit starts really rearing its head

speaking of weird meta bullshit! paldea! the themes are very broad here, since this is kind of the finale for what I consider ‘act 1’ of solisverse. the themes are: what does it mean to be a protagonist, desire/wishes, and connection. I could honestly go ON about every little intricacy of the themes here but I’ll try to keep it brief for now ^_^;

paldea is a very unique case protag-wise. there are actually two separate protags, juliana goes through the main game and florian goes through the dlc. But. There’s a catch. juliana is… to put it briefly, Not Really Human. and she literally straight up Leaves The Story after the main game. nearly everyones memory of her is altered to be about florian instead. (everyones memories except florians of course) which makes the og paldea friend dynamic… kind of weird!!! nemona arven and penny were all kind of unhealthily dependent on juliana for emotional support (and this wasn’t a problem for juliana because she was inhuman and didn’t have a will of her own) and that doesn’t go away once juliana gets replaced with a much more human florian. I think they do work out the whole dependency thing out and become better and more stable friends, but… I still haven’t written anything for florian telling them that a significant chunk of their memories about her are completely false. so. scratches head. yeah

[steeltraptrainer]

[A video. Kieran is getting in position. "I hope you've braced yourself. This time... I'll definitely beat you, Ferro!" He throws the masterball, releases the little creature. "Go, Terapagos! Show Ferro what you're made of!" And oh, the little turtle glows. Glows, and changes forms. It is fluffier now, with a proper shell. And Kieran's eyes blow wide. "So this is the hidden treasure's true form?! With this… I can win for sure!" Terapagos' Earth Power hardly does anything to Purrlet, but the gleaming shell it now sports does SOMETHING. The Aura Sphere Purrlet throws warps, weakens just before.

Ferro's gleaming eyes narrow. "Do it again, Purrlet!" And this time it smarts. Stings just as intended. An ability, then.

"Huh, it has a weakness? I thought this was the hidden treasure of Area Zero?!" Kieran looks stunned. "A legendary makes no god! Not always!" Ferro grinds out. Next to them, Briar frowns.

"Terapagos's power should be far greater than this... Could it be that we are missing something?" Ferro hides a groan. Then directs Purrlet into a Flower Trick, the move effective beyond compare. Purrlet's favorite, a move honed into mastery.

"How can you get critical hits, even at a time like this… What are you, the hero of this story?!" Kieran looks desperate. For good reason. Purrlet made short work of the turtle. "W-why? I thought if I just had Terapagos - if I had the hidden treasure of Area Zero, it... it would make me stronger..." He sounds broken. Like the world wasn't right anymore. "I thought it'd let me beat Ferro!" The small Pokémon looked woozy, hovering just above the floor.

"Kiki, that's enough! It's time to stop this-"

"No, something's not right." Briar frowns deeper. Behind her, Maria starts to do the same. This won't go well. There is something like a buzzing behind their teeth. "It's Terastal energy output is far too low." Oh, Ferro hates these words. "Not to mention the fact that it looks different from the illustration in the scarlet book..."

"So... Terapagos isn't the hidden treasure of Area Zero?" Kieran asks, unaware of the wince Ferro is hiding.

"No, I'm sure it is. We must be missing something - a way to transform it into the treasure..." Briar falls into thought. And both Maria's and Ferro's faces are clearly shown to fall when she gets an idea. "Of course! Terapagos is made of Terastal energy! Kieran! You must Terastallize Terapagos this instant!"

"Oh no..." Ferro whispers.

"If my hunch is correct, Terapagos will resonate with the energy from your tera orb... And the hidden treasure will finally reveal it's true brilliance!" Briar pracically cheers. And Kieran nods.

"Got it!" He throws the orb. And the area t r e m b l e s.

Lizard breaks out, in front of Kieran. Kieran, who is trying to return the shimmering, shining Godling in front of them. And the master ball breaks. The video cuts out.]

[asleepygremlin]

So I’ve read some accounts that Kieran managed to get the last hit on terapagos and sadly that didn’t happen on my playthrough 🥲

Instead Kieran ALMOST got it but terapagos had a sliver of hp left despite the bar clearly showing it had no hp left and I felt bad because it was his time to shine and I took it away yet again why did the game hate me in this moment DX