[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Spiritmon]

Spoiler

When Terra asks if Gallade can help him learn a little about swordplay, Gallade starts thinking very carefully about that.  More on that later.

When Heart arrives, the first thing Nathan does is hand Heart his cloak with the golden heart sewn onto the back.  "Here.  I recommend putting that on before somebody starts asking questions about our strange attire."  When the collector says he found a Honedge after all, followed by recounting how and ending by saying he sent Honedge to the present time...well, he doesn't immediately say anything because Terra started discussing it with Heart.

Nathan listens quietly and carefully the whole time.  When they finally finish, Nathan says his piece.  Very, very quietly.  "...don't be so loud and boisterous about it, please...and don't let anyone in this time catch wind of that, Heart.  The King himself will probably deal with such treason personally if he starts hearing rumors about that.  Creshirean Aegislash are the quintessential representation of the right to bear authority.  Only those deemed worthy of holding that authority, be it King or Champion, can ever hope to evolve a Doublade into the Royal Sword pokemon.  Even in our time, that still holds true.  Only the Champion is permitted to use an Aegislash in official League battles.  Honedge and Doublade are fine for anyone to raise in our time.  But here?  Treason, no matter what stage of the evolution line you have.  Be very, very careful, Heart.  Creshire holds their Aegislash in much higher regard than Kalos does."

What Nathan doesn't say out loud is just how...significant Heart obtaining an Aegislash would be.  Heart's father had raised and trained Heart to go beyond his limits, be more than what his father had been...it'd probably be a little fitting and potentially a little comforting for him to have a symbol of leadership.  Particularly since he has to rebuild his clan from the ground up...

Then Nathan looks at everyone else.  "Everyone understand?  No talking about Heart having a member of the Honedge family in this era.  That could endanger him, plus us for associating with him.  The less we talk about it, the safer we'll be.  I don't think any of us want to end up dead, imprisoned, or worse because of this."

He looks back at Heart.  "...you can raise it without getting in trouble if you're careful about when you use it, just...don't get yourself...or us...in trouble with authority figures by doing so, alright?"

---------------

Now then, on to the soldiers.

First, Nathan sighs.  "...let me elaborate a little on what I said earlier, Shiva.  There is SOME oppression, I'm just...maybe being overly paranoid.  For the most part, if you could command pokemon well or were of a noble caste, you'd be treated well regardless of gender.  If you were a commoner with no skill with regards to commanding pokemon...no guarantees.  Heck, if someone like that was lucky and good looking enough, one of the 'better' lives they could have was being a personal slave/servant to a noble or even the King himself.  Again, with gender equality being factored in...mostly.  Males are still dominant in most of the areas you'd expect them to be.  Don't ask how I know all that.  It's a looonnnnggg story."

Then he points towards the camp, and is talking to everyone now.  "As far as those soldiers go...they're all minor nobles.  Every.  Single.  One.  And Terra's not wrong about them not being average.  They're what some researchers call Progenitors, and they make up about half of the population in this era if you can believe that.  Sarimanok claims their general capabilities are primarily due to his bloodline's influence...and he's not entirely wrong...but there are other factors too.  Not only did the Progenitors win the genetic lottery, they're also better fed and educated than the peasant caste.  Because of that, they're almost able to be classified as a separate species of human entirely.  They're tougher, stronger, bigger...and they have an almost innate ability to raise pokemon with ease (OOC: basically a +1 Empathy surprise specifically for raising pokemon)."

Another sigh from Nathan.  "...to be honest, I don't want to go anywhere near them if I can avoid it.  I don't want to go anywhere near those statues, either.  You said there were Ghosts in those statues and the gems on them seemed to be decorative, right, Spira?  I'm thinking the Ghosts might be there as sentries of sorts.  If someone were to tamper with those incredibly valuable gems...the Ghost would probably follow whoever did so, and then report back to someone and lead some soldiers to the culprit's hiding place.  Sarimanok's rather infamous for 'laying curses' on things and using 'magic', but there's almost always some kind of reasonable explanation for most of that kind of stuff.  He's also well known for using Magic Crystals, which were the basis of early apricorn based pokeballs.  Don't think they actually are magic, but it probably seemed like that to most everyone that didn't know any better.  Heck if I know exactly how a pokeball works."

A pause, then he continues.  "...peasants could be conscripted into the army too.  They were usually just expendable cannon fodder, though.  And punching bags for the Progenitors to train with.  I don't see any in any of those camps, though..."

One last pause.

"...well, welcome to 500 AD, everyone.  Or at least, we're in the general ballpark of that century.  Being 1500 years in the past...well, 1400 in your case, Spira...it's certainly going to be a...different experience, to say the least...we'll need to tread carefully, and second guess anything that seems even remotely out of the ordinary..."

Whew, that was a long lecture...

--------------

At some point, Nathan also introduces his stranger pokemon to Terra and Spira.  "Ah, right.  Terra, Spira, this is Charmeleon.  One of my few dragons, and one looking for an opportunity to prove his strength.  And the big guy behind me..."

Nathan points behind him at the big, scruffy looking dog that appears to be wearing a cape.

"...that's Ditto.  Currently Transformed into a Herolune, a rather rare and...heroic dog pokemon.  Just a quick question, Ditto, but are you able to detransform at the moment?"

Dittolune barks, focuses...then shakes his head.  Nope.

"...well, I suppose there's worse things you could be stuck as..."

----------------

After having giving Terra's question some thought...Gallade turns to Nathan to discuss something with his best friend.  He extends one of his blades, slashes at the air with it, then sheathes it, waves his hand around, and shrugs.  Nathan turns to Terra to 'translate'.  "...he's not sure how well that might go.  He could try if you really wanted to attempt to learn, but fighting with bladed elbow is a bit different from waving a sword around."

It's at this point that Gallade notices the images on Terra's shiny, new, medieval gear and points them out to Nathan, who hadn't really paid too much attention to them at first.

"...ummm...Terra, I think it might be better if you don't use those...I'm not sure it'd be a good thing if somebody thought we were part of Sarimanok's army because of all those eyes..."

Then he notices the pictures of what appear to be pokemon on the shield and helmet.

He blinks a few times.  "...Terra, what are those pokemon depicted on the helmet and shield?  That paint still looks fresh if I'm not seeing things..."

(OOC note: if Terra wants Nathan to elaborate on anything he said during the course of this post, he's free to ask)

Spoiler

"If my memory dont fail, Diggersby are Normal/Ground Pokemon. So they are immune to Eletric and Ghost attacks, and they have a couple of resistances. Damn, thats gonna be a difficult thing. But I can deal with that. I pretty strong and sturdy myself, and I have some couple of pokemon capable of deal damage against them."

Heart smile wide open. "You damn right my big guy friend! The ghost sword I caugh its indeed Ghost/Steel. A Honedge. They can evolve 2 times: Doublade, a double blade pokemon. And his final form: Aegislash a sword and shield pokemon. His final form its special because they can change forms into Shield Form or Blade Form. One is focus in attack power and the other in defences. Its a damn strong pokemon. But they only can wield by a trainer wortly of him. Guess I will have to work quite a bit in my training with him."


Heart give the same glare to Terra, but with a more smile one. But not less confident. "I wouldnt want different my friend. If there is something I do is push my limits. I perfect understand Terra, but I still want spar with you when got the chance. Gonna show you why they call me the PUNisher."

The mountainous man had nothing to comment on the rare collector's alluding to their battle plans, other than a nod of his head. He knew them to be a competent and Skill combatant, and so wasn't too worried about his match ups against the King's Era trainers. 

Similarly, he didn't have much else add about the newly revealed Aegislash line itself, beside offering a smile/nod + grunt of approval to show his support of his friend's efforts. However, the simple monk was quick to frown and point a finger accusingly at the pun lover, looking rather......admonishing?

"Language. Cursing is not proper. *Shakes head* Shows you are ignorant, and.....uncouth. That is what my Mama taught me, *Nods* ."

Huh. Guess the monk's mother raised him with good manners, and did a good job of it too given who he is and the life he choose. Nathan and maybe Shiva probably wouldn't be surprised, but everyone else most likely wouldn't expect that out of him.

Lastly, Terra evenly held Heart's determined gaze with his stony own , peering deeply into them to gauge the true measure of their words. Several tense seconds like this passed......until he broke it off with a closed eye chuckle, before grinning back at them, respect now shining through his expression. 

"Good. That is how a trainer should be: willing to do anything to better himself, and his Pokemon. No matter what. We will spar when you are ready. Come ready and prepared.......or be ready and prepared to be beaten."

Spoiler

When Terra asks if Gallade can help him learn a little about swordplay, Gallade starts thinking very carefully about that.  More on that later.

(...)

Then Nathan looks at everyone else.  "Everyone understand?  No talking about Heart having a member of the Honedge family in this era.  That could endanger him, plus us for associating with him.  The less we talk about it, the safer we'll be.  I don't think any of us want to end up dead, imprisoned, or worse because of this."

He looks back at Heart.  "...you can raise it without getting in trouble if you're careful about when you use it, just...don't get yourself...or us...in trouble with authority figures by doing so, alright?"

---------------

Now then, on to the soldiers.

(...)

A pause, then he continues.  "...peasants could be conscripted into the army too.  They were usually just expendable cannon fodder, though.  And punching bags for the Progenitors to train with.  I don't see any in any of those camps, though..."

One last pause.

"...well, welcome to 500 AD, everyone.  Or at least, we're in the general ballpark of that century.  Being 1500 years in the past...well, 1400 in your case, Spira...it's certainly going to be a...different experience, to say the least...we'll need to tread carefully, and second guess anything that seems even remotely out of the ordinary..."

Whew, that was a long lecture...



--------------

At some point, Nathan also introduces his stranger pokemon to Terra and Spira.  "Ah, right.  Terra, Spira, this is Charmeleon.  One of my few dragons, and one looking for an opportunity to prove his strength.  And the big guy behind me..."

Nathan points behind him at the big, scruffy looking dog that appears to be wearing a cape.

"...that's Ditto.  Currently Transformed into a Herolune, a rather rare and...heroic dog pokemon.  Just a quick question, Ditto, but are you able to detransform at the moment?"

Dittolune barks, focuses...then shakes his head.  Nope.

"...well, I suppose there's worse things you could be stuck as..."


----------------

After having giving Terra's question some thought...Gallade turns to Nathan to discuss something with his best friend.  He extends one of his blades, slashes at the air with it, then sheathes it, waves his hand around, and shrugs.  Nathan turns to Terra to 'translate'.  "...he's not sure how well that might go.  He could try if you really wanted to attempt to learn, but fighting with bladed elbow is a bit different from waving a sword around."


It's at this point that Gallade notices the images on Terra's shiny, new, medieval gear and points them out to Nathan, who hadn't really paid too much attention to them at first.

"...ummm...Terra, I think it might be better if you don't use those...I'm not sure it'd be a good thing if somebody thought we were part of Sarimanok's army because of all those eyes..."

Then he notices the pictures of what appear to be pokemon on the shield and helmet.

He blinks a few times.  "...Terra, what are those pokemon depicted on the helmet and shield?  That paint still looks fresh if I'm not seeing things..."

(OOC note: if Terra wants Nathan to elaborate on anything he said during the course of this post, he's free to ask)

While the use of some terminology and a little complexity of Nathan's treatise on the Aegislash line was lost on Terra (Mainly the word 'Treason' ,and why exactly it was barred from League Battle usage by everyone save the Champ), the overall message was not, especially with the dire warning they issued at the end. His expression went firm and hard like the mountains, and his posture became Alert and rigid as he listened, a growing sense of concern and apprehension replacing the happiness and curiosity he felt over Heart's capture.

'.....Honedge are THAT special and important? Enough that the soldiers and Sammy would.......punish us all badly? Just because Heart caught and own one? *Shakes head* ......Not good. Not good at all. Hm......but Heart said he sent them back to our time, though. Maybe.....we won't get in trouble, if we are careful? *Expression darkens, as he tilts his head down* ....I hope so. My duty is to protect them......but can't from the King and his kingdom.....'

After having a moment of silence to dwell on the grave new, the simple monk looked up at the scholarly trainer, and gave them a solemn nod of his head.

"Understood. Will not talk about.....it at ALL while we are in the past. Promise."

That was that for the man.  He wouldn't do anything to endanger the lives of his charges, and would sooner sacrifice himself than let any disastrous misfortune to befall them all - something which all the group but Spira could attest to....

(...)

Like with Nathan's lecture on Aegislash, parts of his explanation of The King Era were not entirely well understood by the rugged wanderer (Genetic Lottery, Sammy being related to all those soldiers, etc.), but he got the gist: Life was rough in past unless you were Noble or strong, Soldiers and people like them were super human, Ghost were in statues and Sammy had 'magic powers' (Both of those facts sent a shiver down his spine), and the group was way back in time. It was a dizzying amount of information being dumped on him at once, and unlike his exploration of the campsite he didn't have that same connection that kept him from being overload. 

Still, he managed by focusing on the main points he garnered, and relegating the rest to long term memory to chew over/question about later. Get the general details now, and worry about the complexities later, or in other words: K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Stupid).

As such, Terra only had a few things to comment on after the boy finished speaking: The matter of the peasants, and what the heck were they going to do now.

"Uh....their are peasants. Have their own camp, little bit away from soldier's. Went over their to help them out after seeing.....how bad off they were. *Shakes head* Didn't know it was THAT bad, though... ....Hope they will be alright."

If his tone was anything to go by, he was genuinely worried about the commoner's well being and safety, despite them having no connection to the mountain of a man or a sense of duty/bond to motivate him to feel that way. Hmm....

"......*Shakes head* Never mind. *Looks at Nathan first, then everyone else* Nathan.....everyone.....what do we do now? We are......trapped in this time. Have no way to get back to our own. Only have Bill to help us out, and.....he can not do much. Not now....*Shakes head* ....maybe not ever. So....we need to plan our......next actions. Carefully. Hm....Do we stay near soldier's camp for the night? Or leave now, and.....make some distance from them? And.....should we continue going to Tezeal Valley? Or go..... somewhere else? Like a place that could......help get us back to our time, or.... safe location until we are......moved again? *Shakes head* Don't know....not yet. Need to think more. But.....maybe you all have.....idea of what to do?"

Thus spoken, Terra falls into silent contemplation, leaving the rest of the group with several important question that he himself had no answer for. At least, not now.....

(...)

Later on, once everything was settled, he was more than happy to be introduced to the red dragon and lunar doggie, offering them both a warm smile and plenty of marshmallows!

"Hello Charmeleon, Ditto. Nice to meet you. Here, have some sweet treats, if you want."

*Looks over at Nathan*


"Know about Ditto.....but not about Charmeleon or Herolune. You also said that Ditto.....is stuck as Herolune? Can you tell me more about them, and that? Please?"

(...)

He took a moment's pause of his own to think over Gallade's response, and then gave them a nod of his head.

"Yes, I do. Never know if Skill with weapon could help.....or save a life. *Bows* Please, teach me what you can, Gallade....."

Nathan's concern over the Eyes he requested Sir Artist to paint was meet with a small amount of confusion - "Uh....okay? Can wash off purple eye if they are a problem. Only had them added because I though they would increase armaments value...." - but their question about the Legends that adorn his helm + shield provoked a tilt of his head before realization dawn on him.

"Oh! Hm.....those are the Legendary Pokemon, Child of Garlic and Kazesidhe *Points to each respective image as he names them*. Child of Garlic convinced Sammy's grandfather to free peasants, and Kazesidhe is one of the four Legendary Beast that serve Ho-oh, all of them.....represent.....sacrificing friendship....I think. They are.....the Legendaries of Commoners. *Nods* Had an Artist paint them on, after he told me about them and Xerneas, Landorous, and Cobalion, the Legendaries of Royalty, Kingdom, and Knighthood."

Spurred on by this Lore recital, Terra recounted something else too, and in turn pulled out the Sack of Soot and presented it to the boy.

"That......makes me remember. Found this.....bag full of ashes while exploring campsite. *Shakes head* Don't know what to do with it.....but maybe you do? You are clever and smart. So.....you want it?"

Heart look at the Terra about what he say about Cursed language with stunned look....then he let it out a little chuckle. "Dont worry big guy. I not ignorant or uncouth. But I get it what you say. I will avoid say cursed words from now on." 

Heart to signature that give the monk a punch on his shoulder. What result in indirect hurt a little Heart hand since he put more strengh than necessary. Heart try to hide the pain with a nervous smile but a tiny tear was rolling in Heart eye. He hopes Terra dont notice that.

"You gonna ba surprised Terra. I not a super martial artist like you, but I may give some decent spar with you."

Heart also take the brown cloak and put around his body. "Hmm its look cool this cloak." Heart turn his back and see the golden heart sew in the back. "I think this symbol looks cool in this cape, since my name is Heart and all."

When Nathan lecture then about the danger of be killed by the king itself for having a Honedge Heart mentally sight in relief for having send Honedge to the future. And the thing about only the Champion be permitted in hold a Aegslash in Official Battles, was so much stunned but at the same time give Heart a determination look. "Heh. Then that pokemon looks like a super duper important pokemon. Interesting! I was gonna challenge the pokemon League anyway, but now I have more reasons in challenge the Pokemon League. I might need to challenge Chuckles right away when we finish our bussiness in our adventures. I need to beat as much Gym Leaders I can to finally be able to challenge the Pokemon League. I not gonna take easy against any of you. Including you Shiva!" Heart give Shiva a determined look to catch her attention. "Dont forget you are my rival Shiva. I going to give all my strengh the League when everything over." 

Heart also look back to Nathan and nod his head. "Understood Nathan. I going to be very careful to not talk about that when we still here in this place. I gonna be very careful." When Nathan tell them about those Soldiers, Heart open a smile. "A different species of humans? Looks interesting to me! More reason to challenge them!"

(Currently Heart team is: Rose, Koa, Gustav, Patrat, Viktor, Golett, Typhon and Kecleon.)