Heya! I just read through what's up so far and really enjoyed it. The art is lovely, the characterization is excellent, and the whole bit with the well was deliciously creepy and intriguing - can't wait to learn more about what was going on there. The world's got a lot of texture and flavor already, this whole interesting thing with Pokémon having prejudices regarding various types, and the Regi associations... Just a lot of good stuff here.
Also, d'awww Poppy having a fuzzy memory of always having to protect Eliza against wild Pokémon and assuming she must have been her daughter, my heart. Possibly my favorite bit so far.
I'll be excited to see this update - glad to have you here on Thousand Roads!
Thank you so much! Me and Sol are both glad to be here and share the story we've concocted together. >:) I absolutely adore worldbuilding and characters, and Sol is an artist of the highest caliber (if I do say so myself!) so you'll be in for a treat the longer you read. (I have to resist so much sharing little tidbits about the story! And sometimes it gets cut to keep pacing ;c; the ultimate tragedy)
Poppy though is such an adorable mama, even if she's technically not Eliza's mom for sure. She's got a fun little arc she's gotta go through, and I can't wait to share it with you!!
Glad to see this posted here! I've enjoyed doing a little bit of a reread to refresh myself on the earlier pages. It's been a fun ride so far, and I love both the characters and all the mysteries you've set up! Right now I'm perhaps most eagerly waiting to see what happened to Zayne... and what pokémon he ended up as! With Eliza, there was the woobat doll that foreshadowed her transformation, but I didn't notice anything particularly pokémon-y associated with Zayne in the same way. So... tyranitar, maybe? Another woobat/swoobat? Tyranitar? Flygon??? Honestly, my extremely out-there pet theory is he ended up as one of the regis somehow. It would just cause so many problems.
It's interesting to me that Poppy ended up devolved into a fletchling, whereas Eliza started off as a swoobat. I wonder whether it means anything? It'll be fun to see how the dynamic between Eliza and Poppy changes now that they're thrown into a situation where the trainer/partner dynamic they'd previously been a part of doesn't exist. I agree with Dragonfree; I thought the bit where Poppy thought Eliza was her child because she remembered being responsible for protecting her was extremely cute and a highlight of the story so far.
And the art, of course, is wonderful and complements the story really well. I love all the environmental shots and focus on the world around the characters, since it feels as though the world is a particularly important part of this story, and I imagine Eliza's journey is going to take her across a fair portion of it! The image of a pokémon town built around a dormant(?) legend is wonderfully unusual and lends a lovely high-fantasy feel.
All in all, great work, and I'll be following future updates for sure!
We actually have a channel in our private discord filled with people's guesses on what Zayne is. He unfortunately didn't really get a good enough hint in my eyes, and if I could go back I would make sure to make something a lot more blatant. But! Also it's kinda fun seeing what people's guesses are, where they lean based on what they see. (Though y'all may see sooner rather then later)
Thank you so much! I agree Poppy is such a sweetheart and I can't wait to really get to explore her dynamic with Eliza a lot more throughout the story.
I also gotta agree, Sol's art is absolutely beautiful. More often then not I'm actually trying to get them to chill with how long they spend on each panel! They put so many details that often are so overlooked, but it breathes so much life into the story we've made. I can't wait to show you more of the story, a lot of your guesses for things is a lot of fun, and it shows me that hey! Maybe I do know what I'm doing sometimes! XD I appreciate this a whole lot, and I know Sol was over the moon with your long comment as well.
