[Game Thread] Lord Windos’ PokeRole Adventure 2: The Wild Lands

[Dragonstrike]

Oz simply sights. She search her bag, and used a Revive on Dite. Her heart still very...sad, but it will have to do. She would request Glinda give a little healing on Dite since the poor fae could use some healing and Oz fear if she try to touch it will not work.

With a defeat look, she ask for Seddi continue his tale.

Kusanagi gets a nod in thanks from Seddi as well. Unexpected, but not unwelcome.

He'll nod to Oz, and he'll kneel in front of Dite before he starts.  "Oz is tryin' her hardest to make this up to ya, alright?  She'll probably do somethin' nice for ya later.  And I can promise ya we won't be lettin' her do somethin' like that again."

He's not a therapist by any means, but he is honest.

"So, remember how I said I was alone?  Well, that was about to change."

When Seddi continues his story, there's a much happier tone to it.

Music: Moving from the Past, Moving Towards the Future - Pokemon S/V

"About five years into my sentencing, I got an interestin' message.  There was a visitor for me.  Now, that was unusual, because I never got visitors.  The few friends I'd had were all criminals, and wouldn't touch the slammer with a thirty-nine and a half foot pole.  So I had no idea who might be visitin'.  As surprisin' as the situation was though, I think the person that came to visit was much more surprisin' than I could have possibly imagined."

He remembers that day vividly.  A face that everyone knew and that most of the region loved, but never one that he'd thought he'd encounter in person due to his background.

"I'd been paid a visit by a member of the Elite Four: the Steel type specialist, Poppy.  She'd been touring the various League facilities, when she noticed somethin' odd.  There was a particular trio of pokemon that were causin' no end of headaches for the staff of the rehoming facility.  The pokemon refused to be separated, and any attempts to adopt them, individually or as a group, were always met with stark resistance from all three.  Poppy decided to look into it, and you can probably imagine her surprise when she learned they used to belong to a murderer and thief.  Especially since there was such a large contrast between the three pokemon.  A Ceruledge might not have looked unusual on a villain's roster, nor a Rellor for that matter, but it was the third pokemon stickin' with those two that gave her pause.  And so, she decided to visit me and have a chat.  A chat about what I'd done, why I did it, and how much those partners meant to me before they were all ripped away by League authorities.

"And the very next week after that chat, I was told I'd been bailed out.  By her.  When I finally got to leave the slammer, I found her waiting outside for me.  Along with all of my pokemon.  It was a happy day for all of us.  She just had one condition for us: she wanted us to make a name for ourselves in the League.  I remember what she said that day clearly."

"Folks aren't going to trust you, you know.  So you need to prove them wrong.  Prove you and your partners aren't who they think you are.  Earn badges, and make your way to the League.  I'll be waiting for you there.  Together, maybe we can change their minds."

"And then she left.  Just like that.  It wasn't much guidance, but it was enough.  More than I'd ever had in my life up to that point.  I had two routes I could follow, and my partners and I resolved to follow through on one of them.  We could have gone through the Gym challenge, earned our right to challenge the Elite 4 that way.  It was too showy though, too much of a spectacle for my taste.  The public had their perception of who I was, and the Gym Challenge is a very public event.  Not a single soul would be cheerin' me and my partners on.  So we opted for arguably the harder route to the League: Starfall Street."

Starfall Street: Team Star Students Theme - Pokemon S/V

"Everybody's familiar with the Victory Road challenge, but Starfall Street is a unique take on it.  There's five Star Training Facilities scattered around the region, and you need to visit all of them and defeat the divisional bosses located within to earn the right to challenge the overall boss of Team Star: the mysterious Cassioepia.  It's not quite as simple as walkin' up to a gym and challengin' the Gym Leader though.  You need to take down wave after wave of Team Star Grunts under a strict time limit in order to coerce the bosses to come out and challenge you directly.  And the only way you can do that is by mastering their style of battle: the Star Barrage.  It's a flashy event in its own right, and one that requires trainers to have mastered lightly commanding three pokemon at once.  The training facilities themselves are mostly populated by Team Star members, and the team was originally founded as a counter to rampant bullying in Naranja Academy decades ago.  So you could say I fit in a bit better there than in the public spectacle of the Victory Road.

"It was hard.  Very hard.  But my partners and I got through it, and even made a few new friends along the way.  Both in Team Star, and with new pokemon partners.  By the end of our run down Starfall Street's challenges, we felt invincible, and we handily defeated Cassiopeia when they called to challenge us.  We even became honorary members of Team Star after that victory.  But that was just the beginnin'.

"Ya see, I'd beaten Cassiopeia so thoroughly, I actually managed to catch the attention of one of the Elite 4's members before I'd even stepped into the League's main buildin' to issue an official challenge.  And ooh boy, did I not know what I was gettin' into that day."

Music: Nemona's Theme

"Everyone knows Nemona.  The battle-crazed fanatic of a trainer, infamous as the strongest member of the Elite 4, and one of the best friends of La Primera.  She's normally a Fighting type specialist when conductin' official League battles, but she'd caught me outside of an official challenge.  And in my hubris, I figured a good battle with her right then would propel me far higher into the League's ranks than a normal challenge.  Beat the strongest member of the lot, and I might get a free pass to talk to Poppy.  Well...let's just say I bit off more than I could chew.  My team did a fantastic job of trouncin' her first three pokemon, but that would prove to be my undoin'.  Cuz ya see, she's not just a Fighting type specialist.  She also has a suite of Pseudo-Legendary Dragons that she uses only in the most serious fights.  And I'd managed to get her more fired up than anyone had in long, long time.

"My remaining team members managed to cleave their way through two of those Pseudos, before they finally succumbed to the third.  I lost that battle.  Completely and utterly.  Barely even scratched the third dragon.

Reflections: Main Theme - Histrobea Chronicles

"But that still managed to impress Nemona.  A lot.  There I was with just five pokemon, and none of them were Pseudos to boot.  And I almost won that battle.  I might have too, if she hadn't pulled out her strongest pokemon.  From that day on, she insisted that we spar again, and make it a regular occurrence.  And that's how I got into the League proper.  I met back up with Poppy not long after Nemona almost literally dragged me into the building, and the three of us had a nice, long conversation about my future career in the Paldean League.  Given my rather impressive performance against Nemona's team, I ended up becoming a part of the Area Zero Surveillance and Control Group, or AZSCG for short.  Poppy became my direct supervisor, and helped coach me on navigatin' the League.  She recommended to me that I train a Steel type, and not quite because I was technically her pupil, though I'm pretty sure that was also part of it.  And the rest, as they say, is history.

"I continued climbin' the ranks, and eventually solidified my position as an Elite Ace.  Regular trips to Area Zero to fight unruly Paradox Pokemon and almost as frequent sparring with Nemona really toughen ya up right quick.  I don't think anythin' coulda fully prepared me for when I encountered Leaves in Area Zero, and she challenged me and my partners to a duel.  But we knew we were ready despite that, and we won decisively.  And after I learned about Leaves's mission shortly after, well...I knew I'd found a reason to keep goin' again.  Not just for my sake, as I'd been doin' for so many years by that point."

He looks to Oz.  "If there's one lesson I'd like ya to take away from this, Oz, it's that there's always hope.  There's always a helpin' hand out there.  All ya need to do is ask.  I wouldn't be where I am today without the support of my mentor and everyone I met along the way on that journey."

He'll look to Dite.  "Same goes for you, little one.  If someone like me can turn their life around, then your situation can be too.  I know it's scary, and that it feels like you were abandoned.  I'm sorry ya had to go through that.  If ya can't trust me or Oz because of what happened, trust our partners.  Let them guide ya, and help ya process the pain."

He'll stand and look back at Oz.  "The pain never really goes away.  Not completely.  But you can learn to live with it, to move forward without lettin' your past control ya completely.  That's my belief, my truth."