[Discussion] You Are a Rock

[Mirage]

All riiiiight... looks like we're getting to choose who we bring to the final fight. I kind of get Weavile and Dark Matter's sentiments here, but I definitely think at minimum we need N with us. We know basically nothing about Ghetsis, and N knows the guy better than anyone... assuming Ghetsis has some involvement, I think we need him there.

Agreed! He seems quite determined to accompany us, I'm not sure we could actually stop N from accompanying us if we wanted. I have a feeling he'd just stow away on the plane

The E4 can probably help us against any mooks or other obstacles that might appear in Kalos, but I doubt they'll be able to do anything against Xerneas. If we wanted to give them the slip, I wouldn't be opposed to it.

Might be a good idea once we get closer to Xerneas - I'm curious about whether Dark Matter's warning comes from him actually knowing something about what we're facing, or if he's just guessing. But with corruption from both Ghetsis as well as his own, I can very easily see having a bunch of easily corruptible vessels extra people around to be a bad thing.

Torn on whether to bring Millie. If she wants to come, I'm kiiiind of inclined to let her, but like, on its face, that is an insane idea. I don't imagine the final battle is going to be won primarily based on strength of arms, though, so if she wants to try to help, she might be an asset? Perhaps we should just ask her what's on her mind--see why she wants to come/whether she has anything in mind for how she might be able to help.

I'm down for seeing what's on her mind - it would be kind of a neat closure if we could bring the very character we met to our last fight! Though, I do worry about putting her in danger. I wouldn't put it past her to get possessed again if we're not careful.

I'm trying to think whether there's anyone else we'd want to bring along. Kind of wondering whether we should see if Marshtomp/Druddigon are able to join? It's dicey... obviously they might immediately start trying to kill us upon release, which would be unhelpful. But if Weavile could convince them to help, Xerneas' disciples seem like the people who'd be most likely to be able to deal with whatever Xerneas' whole deal proves to be.

Oooooh, this is a fantastic idea! We never did get to see much of the Prism Knights' internal dynamics, and it would be cool to see all three potentially be able to save Xerneas, assuming we still have their pokeballs on hand (have to go back and check what happened). With Dark Matter's corrupting influence out of sight, and with Weavile doing the talking, there's a chance we could make this happen

 

[Namohysip]

Whatever decision you guys come up with, don't forget to make it official!

 

[Mirage]

Aaaagh sorry about that Namo! I left a response so that you can get started on the next post. Regarding the other Prism Knights - I believe the last time we saw them was when N was carrying them away from the fight in the dungeon, but I'm not 100% sure...

If that's correct, then I assume that would make N the best person to know where they are and how to get in contact if needed, but I left it generic in case there's someone else better suited. Might be moot though if Weavile decides he doesn't want to risk them getting in danger, since after all, we proved that we're stronger than a certain particular Druddigon~

 

[Negrek]

Put my commands in--sorry for the delay, Namo! Some quick replies to Mirage as well...

I have a feeling he'd just stow away on the plane

lol, this is a good point. Our ability to deter the guy with literal illusion abilities is pretty limited.

Though, I do worry about putting her in danger. I wouldn't put it past her to get possessed again if we're not careful.

Okay, but that would be kind of hilarious, though.

I'm also curious about Dark Matter's motivations in warning us against bringing too many people. OOC I tend to believe it, but IC it certainly seems like he could be setting things up so we'll have fewer allies to help when he goes in for the backstab...

 

[Mirage]

Alrighty, so! Looks like we're picking how we want to approach Xerneas in Kalos... It's mentioned that we can try flying directly into Luminose (being in the center of Kalos, I assume that's where Xerneas is located?), but that it might not be a good idea, and I'm definitely inclined to agree, especially since none of us are all that familiar with Kalos.

Looking at a map...

For ideas, two potential routes that stick out to me...

The first would be to fly into Snowbelle City, travel west to the Pokemon League and meet up with the Kalos E4, and then travel further west until we reach Luminose. The idea here would be to connect with a member of the Kalos E4. They're some of the strongest trainers in the entire region, and they probably have the best idea of exactly what's been going on out of anyone, which would help plug our knowledge gap.

The second route would be to fly into Laverre, and then head south into Luminose. The idea here would be to stop by the Pokemon factory and see if we can find something like a Master Ball or any other tech that might be able to stop something like Xerneas. The hard part here is that we don't really have anyone on the team who's all that knowledgable with technology, so - I'm not sure if this route will bear much fruit.

I guess, if we want to get a little risky, we COULD try flying straight into Luminose, aim to rescue Clemont and/or Sycamore, and then try to go up to the Pokeball factory in Laverre and back. I'm down, but I do also see the potential for that to backfire on us... in quite a variety of ways

Curious to hear your thoughts and ideas Negrek!

 

[Mirage]

Heyo Namo - just a quick notice, I'll be putting up my response sometime later today ( 12/3/2024 ).

I haven't committed to this yet, but I'm leaning more towards going to the Pokeball factory directly - even if we don't see Clemont, Sycamore, or anyone else with tech expertise, I'm thinking there might still be a chance we stumble on something cool. If bringing more people to the final fight is dangerous, than the Kalos E4 might prove more of a hindrance than a help...

 

[Negrek]

Mmmm, it's very difficult to say! We don't have much of any info about what's actually going on in Kalos, and if it's all been swallowed by a Mystery Dungeon, then I don't know how much of the familiar geography will really be there to rely upon. I do think that landing directly on top of Xerneas is probably a bad move, lol. Unfortunately I don't know the Kalos region all that well, no strong opinion here... if you think it would be fun to check out the pokéball factory and see whether there's anything useful there, I'm here for it!

 

[Negrek]

Welp, it sounds like things are Not Good at the old pokéball factory! It sounds like we may have an opportunity to stop Skyla from landing and redirect if we want. I don't expect things are likely to be significantly better anywhere else in the region, so I'm okay taking a gamble and landing--unless you think there's somewhere else we ought to check out that might have a better risk:reward ratio!

 

[Mirage]

The hint that we may want to seek assistance from Kalos' elite does kind of make me want to see if we can visit the Pokemon League at some point, but for now, I agree, I don't think Laverre City will be any more dangerous than any other part of Kalos. May as well take our chances here, especially when our plane probably has limited fuel and we can't fly forever without needing to refuel.

Consulting a map of Kalos again, it turns out that Laverre City actually has a gym! Specifically, it's the Fairy gym, with Valerie. I, uh, definitely factored that in when suggesting this city and did not just forget Laverre even had a gym

I think, after we land and deal with the Floatzel, it would probably be a good idea for us to seek her out before we go to the pokeball factory.

Also - love the Swanna flying the plane, that was amazing

 

[Negrek]

Based on how long previous chapters have lasted... I think if we touch down in Laverre, we probably won't have time to visit anywhere else afterwards. So if you'd like to visit the league, might be best to try and redirect the plane there now rather than hope to go there later!

Also - love the Swanna flying the plane, that was amazing

Well, who would know more about flight, Swanna or Skyla?

 

[Mirage]

That's very likely true... Given our warning here, I suspect we're about to be shot down and will lose the use of our plane after

However, I think we may have the same problem in reverse - if we backtrack now to go visit the league, I worry we won't get another opportunity to approach the Pokeball factory here, since Luminose will sit between us and the league. Given that we do have a gym leader in town who might be able to provide local assistance, we've got our own Unova E4 with us, and especially given the warning earlier about bringing too many people to the final fight, I think it might be a better risk to approach the factory and see if we might be able to find a technological advantage of some kind.

Should we still have some means of transporation after this, then my very next stop would be the league! And if not, then we'll go from there. Maybe Valerie could at least potentially get us in contact with a Kalos E4 member to ask for advice, even if we can't physically travel to them after...

 

[Negrek]

Sounds good to me! Let's see where this factory expedition takes us.

Edit: I've also updated my earlier info post with our move list and items, for future reference!

 

[Mirage]

Ooof, lots of different potential paths on this one. It's a little worrying that we will likely lose our plane if we leave - that makes us dependent on Dark Matter to take us where we want to go, which depends on him being willing.

Looking at our options...

I feel like staying and waiting for Dark Matter might be our least desirable course of action, since we aren't making any forward progress at the moment, and I'm not sure what he'd enable us to do here.

Checking out the empty airport could potentially reveal some clues for what we saw in our vision, but... if it the place really is as empty as it appears, I'm concerned that we won't find anything worthwhile, and we'll be forfeiting our other opportunities.

Exploring for pokeballs seems like it might be the most predictable benefit, since if everything is empty and abandoned, I'm guessing the contents of the pokeball factory probably haven't been disturbed too much? However, if we choose to go that route, as mentioned, we risk losing our plane.

We still have an opportunity to go to the Pokémon League and see if we can get their advice and perspective... that could also prove quite helpful, since we're kind of flying blind in terms of how we might be able to weaken Xerneas out here. If there's something specific we could do to soften it up before we fight, they'd probably know.

I wonder if maybe sending Skyla to the E4 to inform them and get advice, and then we explore the Pokeball factory here, might be the way to go? The tricky part is whether or not we'd be able to make contact with them again - once she leaves, I'm not sure if we'll have a phone or anything like that. If they have plane fuel, she might be able to return to us later and perhaps even bring them with her, although I assume the closer we get to Luminose, the riskier that becomes....

 

[Negrek]

Agreed,it definitely sounds like the plane's toast if we leave it unattended. Sending Skyla away to find help elsewhere while we do something here seems like probably the best idea here. Fuel is a concern, so she won't be able to go far, and I do worry a bit that we might be sending her into a trap--who knows if the E4 are where we expect them to be, or if they are, that they haven't suffered some sort of dark corruption and become hostile. The Unova E4 seemed to think that people in Kalos were coping with the dungeon and that the Kalos E4 were still doing their thing, but the conditions here are clearly not what Darach expected to find!

I think my vote is scout for pokéballs here and send Skyla to look for the E4, as you've suggested. If possible I think we should figure out some way to communicate with Skyla so she can let us know what's up/we can coordinate in the future if necessary. Who knows if that'll work, though...

 

[Negrek]

Hmmm... what are you thinking, here? Namo is definitely indicating that we don't have much time to spend here and need to be moving along. Destroying the factory seal and alerting Xerneas seems pretty Bad; if she doesn't already know we're here, giving her time to prepare before we show up in Lumiose is definitely not ideal.

I've been trying to think of ways we could get in without breaking the seal; if we had some way to shrink and squeeze between the roots, that might do it, or perhaps tunneling under, if the seal doesn't extend underground. I don't think we have the capability for either of those with our current arsenal, though. We can maybe spend a post scouting the area for a way in/some tool that might allow us to get in, but I doubt we have more time than that. Any thoughts on where to go from here?

 

[Mirage]

It's pretty tough! On one hand, I feel like we probably don't have to worry too too much about stealth; between the vines attacking us already and Dark Matter's warning that she's making her move, I have a strong feeling that Xerneas already knows of our presence. That said, she might not have an exact fix on our location, so definitely the less we do to tip her off, the better.

For circumventing the vines, my first thought was to see if we could project ourselves through the wall, like we could way back when. However, even then, we couldn't go very far from the vessel, and if anything, fusing with Weavile might have removed our projection ability completely.

My next thought is, could Lily maybe phase through? I'm not feeling super confident, since Dark Matter's powers are more, well... Dark... instead of ghostly in nature. But that might be worth a shot?

The only other thing I can think of would come down to how Xerneas is looking for us. If she's just feeling if the vines are intact, this won't work, but if she's trying to sense our energy as we break the vines and identify us that way... then we might be able to set them on fire, without using a fire type move? For example, by scratching our claws against some nearby metal or a rock? That way, she wouldn't feel "us" as the vines were destroyed, it'd just be a bog standard fire burning them up. It comes with the downside of us, well, literally playing with fire and potentially burning the whole place down. After all, if our goal is to avoid Xerneas sensing our energy, then we can't use Icicle Crash or Ice Shard to try to put it out...

I wouldn't necessarily put tunneling out of the equation yet - Lillipup can learn Dig as a TM move! maybe it's worth asking Millie if Lily can use Dig, and if not, we scout... and if that doesn't work, maybe time to connect with whoever of Yveltal's souls was the town arsonist

 

[Mirage]

Well, who would know more about flight, Swanna or Skyla?

Can't argue with that! Skyla might be stacked with licenses, trainings, certifications, and even opposable thumbs, but Swanna's got those sweet sweet years of experience

 

[Mirage]

Just a quick update Negrek - I kind of realized while writing my post that we can probably Catapult ourselves onto, or at least near, the roof, and then look for an entry hatch or cut a hole to enter that way? That avoids the issue with cutting the vines outright at least, it avoids the risk of getting attacked by the vines while we're underground, and it definitely avoids the fire hazard.

I decided to go with that for my post action, but let me know if you think of anything else! There's almost certainly a better solution I feel.

 

[Negrek]

I think that's at least a great place to start! Good on you for remembering some of our old rocky abilities; I do think they might be more useful here than Weavile's attacks. I want to see if we can in fact still astral-project ourselves short distances--that would probably be the easiest way to do things if there's no easy way to get in from the roof.

I'm kind of worried about what might happen to Millie if we leave her alone to e.g. bounce up to the roof, so I'll see of I can address that somehow in my post.

 

[Negrek]

Well. This seems fine!

I guess the play here is to have Millie try and get that safe open while we hold off the roots/opposing pokémon. Unfortunately our abilities aren't great for that... we could really use Blizzard or some other sweeper kind of move! My first instinct would be to try and get some water on the floor and then freeze it--try to cut the connection between the puppet pokémon and Xerneas, but that's a bit elaborate, with there being no indication of any water around here. Probably our best bet is... to try to Enervate the roots? If we can get them to falter for a few moments, hopefully that'll give Millie time to open the safe and then for us to escape via roof. Other than that, idk if there's much we can try to do but keep the roots at bay with Ice Shard/Icicle Crash? Maybe something like trying to use Swords Dance to dance out of the way of the roots and strike back, or something? At least Lillie might be able to help a bit.

idk if we also need to give Weavile a pep talk to convince him to let us defend ourselves

Since it sounds like Xerneas is primarily operating through the root system, any way we can get elevated/generally stay off the ground is going to be beneficial going forward. Real pity that we just sent our flying expert and her literal airplane packing.

Maybe if we wish really hard we can unlock our Yveltal spirit's flight powers? Dark Matter was able to do it somehow...