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Author’s Note: This trivia section was written under the assumption that readers had caught up with the full length of the story up to this point and touches frankly on major spoilers. If you’re stumbling across this from before reading Chapter 35, strongly consider revisiting it sometime after catching up.
How did you come up with Fähnlein Stärke?
From the very beginning of Once a Thief’s planning, Lacan and Sophia were envisioned as operating within a clandestine unit of Varhyde’s army whose purpose would be to fetch the ‘Dyad’ without drawing major attention to themselves and then bring her deep behind enemy lines to use as a weapon of war, which in the earliest drafts had the oh-so-creative working name of ‘Task Force’. Due to a combination of military history within the Germanosphere tends to be more fraught in terms of implications and to lean into the more old-timey vibes the in-setting society had, the decision was made that the unit would vibe after historically older military formations within the Germanosphere, which led to the decision to cast it as a Fähnlein as the predecessor unit to Companies within militaries in that cultural sphere, and led me to look at names in German that would accompany it.
For the longest time, the actual name of the unit was something that I wavered with what I wanted it to be, hence why it went unnamed until Chapter 20. One thing that I settled on quickly was that in light of Lacan and Sophia both being named in homage to the Xeno series, that it would be fitting if their unit followed a similar convention. The first direction that I considered since I had a Xenoblade X playthrough fresh on my mind, was to name it something thematically aligning with ‘Ganglion’ or ‘Growth’, after the primary antagonist faction from the game (‘Growth’ being the name of the faction in the Japanese release). For obvious reasons, it didn’t quite pan out since ‘Nervenknoten’ and ‘Wachstum’ both didn’t quite roll off the tongue. Eventually, I wound up looking back a bit further in the series for inspiration towards Xenogears, which had an antagonist faction connected to both Lacan and Sophia’s namesake characters called ‘Gebler’, a botched translation by Squaresoft’s US branch of ‘Gevurah’, the name of the sefirot of strength in Kabbalah. A quick glance at some German articles about the tree revealed that ‘Stärke’ or ‘strength’ was one of the attributes generally associated with the sefirot in German, and the rest was history.
For obvious reasons, Fähnlein Stärke did not attempt to directly mirror the role and character dynamics of its namesake organization, though it did influence some of the castings of recurring characters in it. If you happened to think that the names ‘Rank’, ‘Breuer’, ‘ Helmholtz’, and ‘Strachey’ kept popping up, that was very much deliberate: they are the names of recurring minibosses from Gebler in Xenogears in the original Japanese / the game’s German fan translation, whose species castings deliberately evoke some combination of their appearances and fighting styles as bosses.
How did you come up with King Siegmund?
Siegmund was one of those characters whose identity was settled after the story took a firm decision that it would be shameless and unsubtle about leaning on the Xeno series for influence. It helped quite a bit with narrowing down what I wanted to do with a character that had the working name of ‘King’ and not terribly much to ground him other than that he was intended to get up there in years and be looking at desperate and drastic measures to carry his kingdom to victory as things started fraying around him.
In Siegmund’s case, he is an homage to Kaiser Sigmund from Xenogears (or ‘Siegmund’ in the original Japanese / its German fan translation. In Xenogears, Siegmund reigns over one of two nations in the game’s setting stuck in a Forever War with each other that is being manipulated by outside powers (a premise that should be quite familiar to players of later series games), and is perfectly willing and ready to use amoral means in order to shore up his realm amidst the strains of war. It also carried over to some of Siegmund’s character quirks in his portrayal such as his attire and his thing for organ music (which is a fairly transparent reference to how Kaiser Sigmund is introduced in his origin work).
There were a few other things that made a ‘Siegmund’ a pretty easy decision for a casting, but those are spoilers unto themselves so I will keep them in the block below:
In Xenogears, Si(e)gmund and Lacan (or more accurately, Si(e)gmund and Gra(h)f), are also linked to each other, with completely inverted character dynamics to what this story’s Siegmund and Lacan have. In Xenogears, it is Siegmund who is the younger of the two and dependent on the other as a more powerful benefactor.
Like his Xenogears namesake, Siegmund here in Once a Thief has a fairly fraught family life with a deceased wife and an estranged son. I won’t say too much more than that other than that due to the story not dealing with the topic openly other than that those who picked up on Siegmund being a homage character were likely able to very quickly identify who the crown prince of Varhyde mentioned in passing was.
As for why he’s a ‘King’ Siegmund as opposed to a ‘Kaiser’ Siegmund, that was one part not wanting to write a second ‘empire’ faction when my best-known work as a writer has one, and one part deliberate canonical ‘Tao mythos’ nod in which the rulers in the backstory mythology were ‘kings’. As for why he’s a Mienshao, that one’s easy: it’s a Pokémon one can run into as a random encounter in Dragonspiral Tower and it visually shares characteristics after Kaiser Sigmund’s design as a character, so it felt like a pretty natural casting.
How did you come up with Zeuge?
Zeuge is another one of those characters that originated as an homage to another one, though he is the rare bird in this story where he isn’t a Xeno series homage. Rather, Zeuge is a composite cameo of Martor Serperior from Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Overthrown / Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Dissolution. In those stories, Martor is a weapons researcher (in Overthrown) / scribe (in Dissolution) who makes appearances in the chapter teasers of those stories poking and prodding at things from his world’s past that were often best left forgotten. More than fitting for a scribe in this setting that dealt with relics and old records on a regular basis.
For a period of time during drafting, Zeuge was just flatly named ‘Martor’, but it was ultimately decided to roll a different but semantically related name in case the original character happened to ever make a proper appearance through his author’s pen someday. In this case, Zeuge is an occasionally encountered German surname that semantically means ‘witness’, while Martor is a roughly equivalent term in Romanian for the same concept.
How close Zeuge turned out to his source of inspiration is likely something only Knightfall will ever know, though it was also an opportunity to work in some deep cut referential fun here and there to Knightfall’s stories with things like him pining over a Floatzel historian from a ‘Silver City’ that had an untimely demise.
What was with those relics in the reliquary?
They are a grab bag of odds and ends from the Pokémon franchise (e.x. the case with Pokéballs) and excuses to do different references primarily to different Xeno media:
- The ‘box with knobs and cups’ with the “Vector Ah-Ghee” sigil ought to be familiar to anyone who played through Xenoblade 3: Future Redeemed, if a bit worse for wear.
- The ‘Steel Raven’ is a gutted background vehicle that can be seen around NLA in Xenoblade X with an added bonus of being a cross-fic reference to Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rebirth for anyone who’s read past a particular watershed chapter of that story.
- The ‘Skell’/‘Doll’ lying around is a reference to the mechs from Xenoblade X, which were called ‘Skells’/’Dolls’ depending on if one played one of the localized releases or the original Japanese. I won’t say too much about the power source that was shown off since that’s a story for another day in this tale, other than that Zeuge’s explanation of how it used to work is something readers familiar with Xenogears or Xenoblade 2’s supplemental lore likely thought sounded quite familiar.
How did you come up with Kim and Elly?
Simple, I came up ‘eternal recurrence’ subplot, of course, which was put together as a means for laying the foundations for some character dynamics for Fähnlein Stärke and its members that will become relevant in the second half of the story. As such, it was only natural that I’d look at Lacan and Sophia’s source of inspiration for ideas, which happened to provide an off-the-shelf option to work with through Kim Kasim and his lover, Elly from that game, who were similarly connected to that game’s Lacan and Sophia. A fuller explanation is below for the less spoiler-averse:
In Xenogears, Kim Kasim and Elly are preincarnations to the Lacan and Sophia of that game, who lived in a distant past while still having life arcs that followed similar trajectories and ended in a similarly star-crossed fashion.
As such, there is more than a little bit of deliberate paralleling between this story’s ‘Lacan and Sophia’ and ‘Kim and Elly’, through things such as the two having eerily similar handwriting and thought processes. It is also the source of some blink-and-miss-it character details such as Kim having a background as a healer, which are an intentional parallel to their namesakes.
And what about Fähnlein Jugend and Operation Avalanche?
Once again, the Xeno series references were out in force, with Fähnlein Jugend being named after the rather bluntly-named ‘Jugend Military Academy’ that feeds recruits into Gebler in Xenogears, which felt like a decent fit for the name of a unit that would effectively be Fähnlein Stärke's precursor. The story behind ‘Operation Avalanche’ is a bit more esoteric, but its name in German, ‘Operation Lawine’, is based on the name in the German fan translation of Xenogears for ‘Ravine’, a backstory rebel group that wound up intersecting with the lives of that ‘Kim and Elly’ as elaborated on below:
‘Kim and Elly’ join said rebel group in order to protect their daughter from one of the game’s central antagonists, which ultimately leads to their deaths.
In the case of the fan translation, the translators were having a giggle and made it a nod to Avalanche from Final Fantasy VII as a meta mythology gag to how Xenogears was a rejected candidate to be that game, thus why it did not opt for the more semantically faithful ‘Klamm’ or ‘Schlucht’, which is just as well since ‘Lawine’ rolled off the tongue a bit better.
What was with those paintings in Lacan’s apartment?
As mentioned in passing to a review response some time ago, they are paintings that a player can encounter very early on while playing through Xenogears:
In Xenogears proper, they happen to be linked to Lacan’s namesake in the game, so I figured they would be appropriate for a cute cameo here. The fuller story is a bit of bigger spoiler, so once again, I shall include it in another nested spoiler:
In Xenogears, it is a reincarnation of its Lacan who makes the paintings that this story’s Lacan painted.
What’s with the armor that’s everywhere in the story?
It was one part because I thought it looked cool from the opening to M08 and one part conscious differentiation from the other big PMD work that I chip away at (even if it has since had armor worked into it in a more limited fashion). As a setting that is inherently more militarized, incorporating armor felt like an easy way to lean into those vibes and also add a degree of strategy for hostile encounters with the military.
The actual design of the standard-issue armor in this story was developed in mind for being cheap to build and discardable when degraded, which is essentially one and the same as linothorax, just with treatment to make it less flammable and prone to degrading from moisture. The dominant colors for armor used in setting being green and red is once again partly a M08 reference, as well as a less-than-subtle symbolism about how both are threats through the eyes of the cast when Lyle and Kate literally cannot distinguish between the two without added markings or cues from their wearers.
And what’s with this ‘Dyad’ thing that keeps coming up in the story?
Well, it wouldn’t be a story carrying heavy Xeno series influence without a dash of Gnostic mythos, now would it? The relationship between ‘Monad’, ‘Dyad’, and ‘Triad’ as mentioned in the teaser to Chapter 26 is almost a straight lift of the relationship that they have in Pythagoreanism and some schools of Gnosticism. Which felt more than a little fitting for a being that had been created by a great power to ultimately become three in the end.
What is with this ‘Wish’ and ‘Reality’ thing this story keeps doing with the Taos?
They are the Tao attributes that are utilized in the German localization of the Pokémon franchise: “Wunsch und Wirklichkeit”. They are utilized in this story as epithets roughly equivalent to calling Reshiram and Zekrom “Truth” and “Ideals” respectively, with Kyurem being mapped to its Pokédex category in that same localization. As for why “Truth” and “Ideals” themselves weren’t used for the Taos in this story, those were already spoken for as names for something else in this setting that will be a story for another batch of trivia in the future, as readers good at spotting details in the translation notes likely picked up on.
Es wird gesagt, dass die Menschen, als sie auf der Erde lebten, Kreaturen waren, die nach Wissen suchten. Sowohl als Mittel zur persönlichen Erleuchtung als auch zur Information über ständig fortschreitende Errungenschaften und Heldentaten. Sie erschufen Türme und Bauwerke, die unsere Ingenieurskunst nicht nachbilden konnte, und erschufen komplizierte Maschinen und Geräte mit Funktionen, die fast wie Magie wirkten.
Leistungen und Heldentaten, auf die viele von ihnen stolz waren. Genug damit, dass Klaus der Erbauer die Menschen in dessen damaliger Welt mit hochmütigen Worten wie "Einst war ein solches Wunder Göttern vorbehalten," prahlen hörte. "Aber heute geht die Menschheit einen Schritt auf das Göttliche zu!", als sie ihre großartigen Werke betrachteten.
Und dann, während des schicksalhaften Jahres, welches den Beginn unserer Ära markierte, kam der Glühende Blitz während der Mittsommertage von Heumond. In einem Augenblick hat es unsere Welt umgestaltet und dabei unzählige, noch unbekannte Wunder und das Wissen, sie im Handumdrehen neu zu erschaffen, weggefegt.
Als Pokémon in den folgenden Jahren versuchten, die Scherben aufzusammeln, soll sich der Erbauer Sorgen um einiges Wissen gemacht haben, das Pokémon bewahren wollte. Dass die Dämmerung der Menschheit von großer Hybris und Zwietracht geprägt war, auch unter denen, die einst die Macht hatten, das Schicksal der Menschheit zu ändern.
Er bestand darauf, dass ein Teil des Wissens am besten mit der Menschheit verblassen sollte, und er befürchtete, dass wir als Erben dieser Welt die gleichen Fehler erben würden, die dazu führten, dass die Menschen von der Teilung unserer Welt überrascht würden. Was dieses Wissen, das er so fürchtete, ist mit der Zeit verloren gegangen und kann nur erraten werden: Einige vermuten, dass es mit jenem strahlenden Glanz zusammenhängen könnte, der Wunsch und Wirklichkeit in dieser Welt zum ersten Mal in den Krieg gezogen hat.
Andere sagen, dass sich der Erbauer mehr Sorgen um die Denkweise von Pokémon wie uns gemacht hat. Dass wir, wenn wir uns zu sehr an die Lebensweise der Menschen klammern, dazu verdammt wären, ihre Fehler zu wiederholen. So ernüchternd die Prämisse auch ist, beim Blick auf die Geschichte unserer Zivilisationen kommt man nicht umhin, sich zu fragen, ob seine Befürchtungen gerechtfertigt waren.
- Auszug aus »Die Wahrheiter Chroniken – Eine kurze Geschichte der frühen Jahre unseres Königreichs«
The next six floors after the Monster House went in a tangled blur of towering trees and paths and chambers wedged amongst nigh-impenetrable undergrowth. True to the stories, Primordial Woods' Wilders really were strange types. Most were little runts, but occasionally Lyle and the rest of Team Forager would run into bigger and stronger Pokémon like an Armaldo and a Bastiodon, with even a Kabutops making an appearance after emerging from a stream.
As with the Tyrantrum and Aurorus, such Wilders weren't as strong as their imposing appearances made them look. But with each passing floor, the gap between perception and reality shrank further and further. By the time they'd made it to past the fifth floor down from their ambush, when they encountered an Aerodactyl, they opted to just lob a Stun Seed and hurriedly leg it away from the creature. With how quickly the Wilders they'd been encountering had been toughening up, they were not particularly eager to see how his strength compared to the Aerodactyl they'd fought from the caravan raid.
On the sixth floor down, under the shade of cascading falls that fell overhead from right to left into a seemingly endless abyss, Dalton chanced to spot a Pocket where they found a carved message from a prior traveler that marked it as the seventeenth floor of the dungeon as a whole. A quick consultation with their abridged copy of The Explorer's Handbook to Mystery Dungeons revealed that, much to their relief, they were but a few floors away from where a Link to Raptor Rock that connected the two Mystery Dungeons in spite of their vast distances apart from each other in the outside world was known to appear. A state of affairs which matched up with the guidance the Cranidos provided.
There were some things from the handbook that gave them pause, such as a worrying description of the Wilders that dwelled in Primordial Woods, as was a mention that some of the exits from Raptor Rock itself were within a day's journey of Newangle City. In spite of it, just knowing that there was an escape in sight from this miserable, damp weather was enough to lift Lyle's spirits somewhat.
"Let's try searching to the east. We've searched the entire western side of this floor, and I doubt we're going to find any more of a lead to the next set of stairs here."
Lyle blinked back to attention as Dalton pointed down a dirt path that headed off between one side lined with dense undergrowth, and fragments of a wall formed of what looked like concrete with pieces of rusted metal poking out along the top in parts. The Quilava waited for Dalton and Kate to set off, and followed after with Irune trailing behind him.
All the while, a lingering cloud seemed to hover over the group from the Axew's earlier outburst. Lyle supposed that he shouldn't have been surprised that Irune wouldn't have been cut from the same cloth as him, but something about her comments stung more than he expected. As he made his way forward trodding the damp earth underfoot, he cast a glance back at the Dragon-type from the corner of his eye, and noted that her gaze seemed to have drifted towards the ground below.
"Something the matter? You haven't said anything since that Monster House earlier," Lyle remarked. "You didn't exactly strike me as the quiet type."
Irune gave no answer for a brief moment, before turning up her gaze with a quiet scowl.
"Hrmph, we're in a Mystery Dungeon," she scoffed back. "The more noise we make, the more we'll give our position away to the Wilders that live here."
Lyle narrowed his eyes and flattened his ears out. However much the Axew was genuinely concerned about attracting Wilders, she obviously wasn't worried enough to not give that snippy retort.
"I think that our footsteps are making about as much of a racket," the Quilava harrumphed. "Besides, there was something that I wanted to know…"
"What?"
Lyle stopped, turning around and rearing up onto his hindquarters as Irune paused behind him. He folded his arms and looked down at the Axew, peering into her red eyes with a stern frown.
"Why us? There's a bunch of Pokémon out there in the world who could've helped you get out to the Divine Roost," he asked. "You obviously don't like being around us, so why didn't you ditch us back in Moonturn Square?"
Lyle waited for a reply as Irune stared back wordlessly. There was a brief, awkward silence between the two, before the Dragon-type shook her head and let out a quiet grumble.
"You don't have to like someone in order to work with them," she said. "You three were there, you all had the skills that I need for traveling partners, and I know how to get to the treasure that you want. Our interests just happened to align and we all didn't have other options."
Lyle honestly wasn't sure what to make of this kid. With how judgmental she'd been towards them, he was pretty sure she wasn't an Outlaw. At the same time, she sure knew a thing or two about keeping a 'mon at arm's length.
The Quilava frowned and let out a small huff in reply, before he turned back for his teammates and darted forward to try and make up for lost progress. When he and Irune caught up, they found that the lot of them had gathered in a chamber lined by a deep pool on their right, with two passages that branched off on opposite sides of a set of concrete pylons: one going forward, and one that turned off to their left.
Dalton eyed the pool and noted a narrow path that ran along its length towards the east, the Heliolisk taking a moment to brace himself before running at the water. Much to Lyle's astonishment, the lizard managed to run along the top of the water's surface for about half the length of the pool, before sinking into it and swimming the rest of the way over. Clearly the 'mon was a better fit for a band of river raiders than he'd given him credit for.
The Heliolisk pulled himself out of the pool, before he turned left and slipped out of view behind trees and ferns following a hidden path. After a few moments, the sound of dripping footsteps rang out, as Lyle, Kate, and Irune looked ahead to see Dalton approaching them from further down the forward path ahead of them, shaking his head.
"Alles klar.₁ This path's a straight shot, if a roundabout one," Dalton said. "It winds around past this patch of undergrowth here until it turns back towards the pond."
"Well, it narrows down our options at least," Irune grunted. "Though are we better off seeing what lies further down that path you found, or trying the left one?"
Lyle opened his mouth to answer, when he felt a sharp thump and watched as the nearby plants shook. His vents came alight with a start, the stoat feeling his muscles tense up as he turned warily to his teammates.
"What was that?"
Another thump shook the ground, and then another, and another. Kate flared her ears, when she turned towards the left entrance and listened in, before pinning them back and looking at her teammates with a tense grimace.
"Quick, go down the passage Dalton's in!" the Sneasel hissed. "Someone's coming from the left, and they don't exactly sound like bulliable runts!"
Lyle needed no further encouragement and scampered ahead on all fours after the Sneasel with Irune at his heels. The three hurriedly ducked down the path Dalton came from and tucked themselves up against a small, overgrown mound of concrete. The Fire-type looked back and felt his blood run cold as an Archeops and a Rampardos entered the chamber. He sucked in a sharp breath and hurriedly smothered his body's fire as he and his fellows went silent, just in time to see the two Rock-types warily eye their surroundings before turning to each other with sullen frowns.
"So why has everyone been in such a terrible mood today?" the Rampardos grumbled.
It's the lower levels," the Archeops harrumphed. "They've been in a panic since the Grazers haven't been bringing in enough berries as tribute to please Rankar."
Lyle twitched his ears and blinked at the Archeops' reply. "Tribute"? Wilders offered that to each other? That was the sort of thing that kings among Civils demanded of Pokémon who were their vassals. Conquered ones, at that.
"Still? Hasn't that useless glutton had his fill yet?" the Rampardos growled. "The hunting grounds outside have become increasingly barren ever since he developed that sweet tooth of his and even the Grazers are starting to complain about there not being enough food to forage! How could he possibly want more?"
Team Forager's members blinked from their hiding place, Kate giving a puzzled tilt of her ear as Lyle saw her glance over with a puzzled frown.
"Wait, are we listening to Wilders here?" Kate asked. "Or a pair of asshole nobles-?"
Lyle quietly shushed the Sneasel back and motioned for silence, as the Quilava and his companions continued to eavesdrop on the Wilders. The Archeops in the clearing ruffled his feathers briefly, before replying to the Rampardos with a low huff.
"Hrmph, well it sure seems like that old fossil is dead set on going out tearing apart this Mystery Dungeon and the alliances that have held its Pokemon together since time immemorial," the bird scoffed. "Though perhaps there's an opportunity amidst this madness for Pokémon like us…"
The Rampardos hesitated a moment, glancing about warily before he continued on in a low voice.
"What do you mean?"
"What I mean is all of the stub-arms left in this dungeon are either a bunch of unevolved runts, or have evolved early and weak from the Distortion's influence. After the way Rankar forced out the last High Chief, everyone else would be relieved to have a change of leadership," the Archeops explained. "Once he's gone, it'd be easy for the Chiefs of the other kinds of Pokémon like you or me to fill his place. Why simply backing off the Grazers' food and toning down the threats would get a good chunk of them on our side!"
The Archeops tented his wings, before shooting a knowing smirk at his counterpart.
"And if the stub-arms have an issue with it…" the bird mused. "Well, after Rankar's rule as High Chief, there'd be no shortage of the others inclined to banish the lot of them and let them try their fates outside these woods."
"You're getting ahead of yourself there, Rankar first needs to be dealt with first," the Rampardos harrumphed. "All of the old tricks that've been tried won't work on him. The 'mon holes up in his den and doesn't so much as eat without making someone else taste his food first!"
The Outlaws traded wary looks with one another, as Dalton shuffled his feet uneasily. From the mention of a 'High Chief' and the way the two Wilders were being so furtive, it was evident they were talking of some sort of leader of theirs. And more specifically how to dispose of him.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd think we were overhearing members of the Hofstaat₂ scheming against King Siegmund with talk like that," the Heliolisk murmured.
"Look," Irune whispered back. "Let's just turn around and try and find another way-"
The Archeops frowned back and looked out over the pool with a grumbling shake of his head.
"There must be a faster way… there has to be," the bird muttered.
"Wait," the Rampardos said.
All of a sudden, the Rampardos paused and raised his head, the dinosaur tensing up with narrowed eyes as he sniffed at the air.
"… I smell smoke," the Rampardos said. "Smoke like a fire was just burning here."
Lyle felt the color drain from his face and turned to see his teammates glancing at him wide-eyed. He hadn't thought the scent of his body's fire would've lingered that long, but whatever had stuck around on his pelt was enough for the Archeops to already make his way down the corridor in search. The four Outlaws hastily ducked back around the corner and darted for the path passing the pool, when they heard a sharp cry and turned to see the Archeops flying over its waters with bared teeth.
"Ah! There's Invaders here!" the bird snarled. "Get them!"
Lyle froze as the Archeops barreled forward, screeching and flashing his clawed wings for a lunging slash. The Quilava yelped and hastily dug through his bag, his paws settling on a glassy sphere that he pulled out that a parting glimpse revealed to be a Luminous Orb.
It'd have to do right now.
"Close your eyes!"
The stoat dashed the Orb against the ground, exploding it into a hail of glass shards and a blinding light that leaked through his eyelids just as the Rampardos rounded the corner. As the flash dissipated, Lyle heard a pair of sharp yelps, and opened his eyes to see the Archeops struggling to stay airborne as the Rampardos cradled his face and complained about "My eyes!"
They could work with that, Lyle hurriedly whirled around to his teammates, crying out the one word that crossed his rattled mind.
"Run!"
Lyle lowered his head and bounded forward, throwing himself forward with a Quick Attack down the corridor that made the surrounding jungle blur around him. When his vision settled, he looked back, seeing his fellows from Team Forager running after him for dear life. They caught up after a short while, as the four followed the winding course of the corridor around the bends and turns of a thickly-vegetated path all as bloodcurdling roars and heavy thumps rang out behind them.
He supposed that was as clear a sign as any that those Wilders weren't going to be content with just running them off. Dalton was at the middle of the group, while Kate was at the rear and dragging Irune ran along. The whole time, the Axew stole frantic glances behind her. A quick glimpse by Lyle to see what she'd seen revealed the silhouette of the Rampardos just falling on a ruined wall behind them.
"I don't suppose any of you picked up on some sort of hint to where the stairs were, did you?!" the Axew panted. "That Rampardos is catching up with us fast!"
"Just keep running!" Dalton cried. "We haven't checked the eastern side yet, so it must be somewhere there!"
That was all the motivation Lyle needed. He bounded ahead, coming out into a chamber ringed with walls of shattered concrete just as the others caught up with him. One that a quick scan revealed was overgrown with trees and vines and paths that branched off in three directions. Instinctively, Kate started off for the path branching rightward when a loud screech sliced through the air. Lyle turned his head and at once, his eyes shrink to pins. There was the Archeops, flying at them with fangs bared for Kate and Irune.
"Gah!" Kate yelped. "Not that way!"
The Sneasel hastily breathed frigid breath over her claws and flung a spray of icy flechettes, stopping the Archeops briefly before bolting for the corridor opposite their entrance. Lyle spat a Smokescreen at the Archeops for good measure before he and Dalton hurried after their Sneasel teammate. Lyle ducked as the sound of stones crashing into tree trunks rang out behind him and splinters zipped past his ears. Probably something like a Rock Slide, which was a sign that the Archeops wouldn't be bogged down by that Smokescreen for long.
The Quilava began to feel a burning pit in his stomach as he hurried after Kate and Irune down their present corridor. Gottverdammt, hadn't they been chased around enough for one day?! It was then that he noticed Irune turn her head, and as he snapped back to attention, Lyle heard it himself: the sound of grinding and creaking stone.
"Ah! That noise!" Irune exclaimed. "It's coming from the north!"
Lyle blinked a moment, when he realized that the creaking and groaning sounded just like a set of stairs forming on the floor. Not far away, from the sound of it, and with nary a moment to spare!
…Then again, it could've just as easily been the sound of a set of stairs sealing, but it was the only lead they had to work with. And with that Archeops and Rampardos nipping at their heels…
"Paws crossed that that's a way out…" the Quilava muttered. "Though come on! It sounded close!"
Lyle and his teammates cast a glance northwards, and while it didn't have ruined walls blocking the way, the thick undergrowth and densely spaced trees would've made attempting to move through it a fool's errand even without the Archeops hot on their tails.
"Fat lot of good that's going to do us here when we can't go that way!" Kate cried.
"We've got a Tunnel Wand somewhere in the bag!" the Quilava cried. "Just hang in there and cover me for a moment!"
A loud hiss rang out as the Archeops finally caught up with them, snarling with his wings spread and ready for a lunge.
"Got you!"
"I think not!" Dalton cried.
Lyle flinched as a loud crackle followed by a sharp screech rang out, glancing over his shoulder briefly as Dalton just finished up a Thunderbolt that stunning the ancient bird. Lyle briefly glimpsed Kate following up with an Ice Shard and Irune whigging a Totter Seed at the Archeops when he hurriedly turned his attention back to his bag. The Quilava hastily rooted through his bag, feeling a stick that a quick glance revealed to be the white, branched form of a Surround Wand, then the crook of a Switcher Wand… Gottverdammt, didn't those Hunters have any Wands that would actually help them out here?!
At last, his paws felt a pick-like shape, and a wave of relief came over him as he pulled it out and saw that sure enough, it was the Tunnel Wand he'd seen earlier. With one last glassy nub at its end marking it had a final use left in it.
"Get ready to run!" he cried. "We're going to need to make this count!"
The Quilava reflexively brought the wand down and heard the glassy layer around it shatter, followed by the wood of the Wand splintering. In a flash, the roar of rending dirt and trees joined in as the air distorted in front of them. The undergrowth and foliage in front of them abruptly parted left and right much as if a giant wedge had plowed them aside, as a gouge of cleared dirt formed directly in front of them.
Lyle didn't wait for the dust to settle and charged down the clearing, turning back and calling after his teammates.
"There's our exit! Come on!"
The rest of Team Forager's members didn't bother to protest and hurriedly ducked down the newly-opened corridor. For a brief moment, Lyle saw the Archeops stumble past it in a daze, before his teammates' bodies cut the bird off from view. Kate's ears swiveled briefly from a sound on the wind, when her eyes suddenly lit up in realization.
"Ah! Those stairs are close!" she said. "Come on, let's find them and get out of here!"
Lyle bounded ahead and out into a clearing ringed by overgrown ruins. He flinched briefly from the sudden change in light, though before he could make sense of their surroundings, he suddenly felt stones dig into his pelt and heard his teammates cry out. Lyle rolled along the ground, coming to a winded, wheezing stop on his flank as he weakly got up to his feet and saw his teammates doing likewise from being freshly sprawled out. Lyle panted as fire poured out of his vents, when his blood ran cold after a low snarl rang out from further ahead.
"Going somewhere?!"
Lyle and his companions turned towards the voice and he watched the color drain from their faces… and supposed the same was happening to him from the chill coming over his body. There, right in front of them were the steps onto the next floor, along with the Wilder Rampardos from earlier standing square in the way with his head lowered and ready to charge.
"Well I think not," the Rampardos growled back. "Since the only thing you Invaders will be seeing is the backs of your eyelids after you keel over!"
How the hell had he beaten them here?! Lyle and his teammates stood dumbfounded for a brief moment as the ground shook and the Rampardos began to charge. After a moment to shake his head, Lyle braced himself, and threw himself forward as he heard Irune cry out in alarm behind him.
"Lyle! What are you-?!"
"Just follow my lead and get to the stairs!" he shouted.
They just had to make it down the stairs before either of the Wilders, and even if the Rampardos packed a punch, if Lyle could run circles around Parker, he was sure as hell he could do the same to this Wilder. The Quilava ran at the Rock-type as fire wreathed his body, clipping him with a Flame Charge before he hurriedly sprang away. The Rampardos stumbled back slightly, before lowering his head with a menacing growl.
"Was that supposed to hurt?" the Rampardos sneered. "Your fire barely singed me!"
The dinosaur let out a loud roar and plowed ahead with another running charge. The Rampardos was right, that Flame Charge really hadn't done much to him. But that wasn't what Lyle was counting on right there.
Lyle waited as the Rampardos dashed at him, steeling himself as the ground trembled and he could hear his teammates' cries indistinctly in the background. He briefly saw the dome of the Rampardos' head, and right as the Rock-type was about to bear down on him…
"Hup!"
He sprang out of the way. The Rampardos dashed past, Lyle watching the dinosaur's head ram empty air and the Rock-type's red eyes widen just as he slipped behind him. Fire danced on Lyle's vents and white-hot cinders built up in his mouth just as the Rampardos turned his head back and noticed him.
"Huh?!"
Lyle spewed out a cone of whitish cinders, which found its mark on the Rampardos' rump. The dinosaur stiffened up with a sharp yelp, glancing back to see a fresh, reddening burn spreading over his scales. As the Wilder locked eyes with him, Lyle felt his heart pounding, mixed with a flash of confidence. Enough so that he turned his back towards the Rampardos and flared out fire from his vents, looked over his shoulder with a taunting smirk.
"Bet that one really burned your ass!" the stoat jeered. "For someone who wants to be king of this dump, you sure are a bad shot!"
From the bellowing roar the Rampardos replied with, it'd gotten under the 'mon's hide. And that was exactly what he was counting on. Lyle darted aside and sprang back and forth on his toes as the Wilder stomped the ground, calling up large stones from the ground that abruptly sailed at him. Lyle dropped and rolled out of the way as the stones zipped overhead, missing his body by mere hairs.
The Quilava sucked in a sharp breath. A bit close, but nothing he couldn't manage. Lyle got back onto his feet and bobbed around on his toes, weaving around a second hail of rocks. A glimpse back at the Rampardos revealed he was visibly fuming, the dinosaur losing his patience and then attempting to charge him, which proved even easier to weave about.
Hah! This Wilder made Parker look like an Accelgor with how easy it was to dance around him. A flash of confidence came over Lyle's face, as he stuck his tongue out at the now huffing and puffing Rampardos opposite him.
"Is that really the best you can do?!" Lyle sneered. "Hope that 'High Chief Rankar' you were going on about earlier's a slow fart like you!"
The Rampardos visibly grit his teeth in reply and glared back daggers. Lyle supposed he would have done the same himself if he had to deal with a foe that kept bouncing and weaving about just a few hairs out of his grasp.
"Stay still and fight, you cowardly furry!" the dinosaur snarled. "You'll never defeat me by just running away!"
The Rampardos was right. Even the items in Lyle's satchel wouldn't have been likely to turn this matchup around in a one-on-one fight. Except there was something the dinosaur didn't know about this matchup that Lyle did…
"You're right, I won't beat ya," the Quilava said. "But I don't need to!"
Footfalls pattering against stone rang out as the Rampardos turned his head and went wide-eyed. That was the cue that the jig was up and it was time to run. Lyle glanced over his shoulder, glimpsing Dalton and Irune running up a set of steps and into an overhanging earthen ledge as Kate followed closely behind. The Rampardos let out an exasperated cry, which Lyle quickly cut off by blowing smoke in his face. He turned and bolted as the dinosaur broke into hacking coughs afterwards, bounding ahead for the stairs when a sharp screech rang out.
"Not so fast!"
It lasted all but a few moments. First came the sound of wingbeats, then came the crushing tackle into Lyle's right flank. Lyle squealed as agony shot through his body, tumbling along the ground as he struck something sharp and sprawled out. The Quilava gasped for air as his vision went muddy, when he glanced up and saw the Archeops above him, diving in.
Lyle curled up and forced fire out of his vents, screwing his eyes shut with a low whine as he braced for the Wilder's blow. Except it never came. A pained squawk rang out and Lyle cracked his eyes open just in time to see the Flying-type reel from an Icy Wind. The Quilava panted hoarsely, when his body suddenly lurched off the ground and he stumbled to his feet after a rough tug, coming face to face with a wide-eyed Kate.
"Lyle, hurry it up already!" the Sneasel cried. "The stairs are starting to seal up!"
Lyle tore off along with Kate, pain shooting through the right side of his body as he limped after his Sneasel teammate. The Quilava looked up and to his horror saw the stairs began to seal off with earth sliding along the overhang's ceiling with a gods-awful grinding noise, the Fire-type lowered his head and lunged forward with a dash that made his surroundings blur even more around him. Not a moment too soon from the way the Archeops and the Rampardos were bellowing behind him. The stoat staggered up the steps as they quaked and groaned underfoot, when he suddenly felt small clawtips dig into his forepaws. The Fire-type's eyes widened as he was pulled sharply forward just as flying rocks struck the steps behind, sending stone fragments and dirt flying before he pitched forward face-first into damp, dark earth.
Lyle lay there as his heart pounded and his head spun as the grinding racket continued in the background. He let out a weak groan at the back of his throat and looked over to see Irune staring back at him wide-eyed. Had- Had she been the one who pulled him up the steps?
The Quilava watched as Dalton and Kate ran up and stared off at the steps, and for a second, he flinched, thinking that the Wilders had successfully followed them up the steps. And then the grinding noise stopped with a quiet click, and the floor fell silent beyond the sound of their hoarse breathing.
Lyle blinked and looked at the spot the stairs had sealed themselves off from the floor below, still gasping for air as he saw what had once been a passage sealed by dirt and rock. B-Blauflamme, that was way too close…
"L-Lyle! Are you alright?!"
Lyle looked over to see Irune running up and pawing at him. The Axew's eyes were visibly wide and startled. Was… she worried about him? The Quilava Outlaw dismissed her reaction as merely just being shaken from a close call. He was sure she'd be right back to harping on the lot of them for being thieving scum before he knew it. Lyle shook his head and staggered up, trying to project confidence in his voice, only for it to come out as a wavering stammer.
"Y-Yeah, just got nicked a bit by that bird back- Nrgh!"
Lyle flinched as he felt a sharp pain flash through the right side of his body. The Quilava looking back and saw just past his forearm, there was an oozing streak under his pelt where he'd struck the concrete outcropping. Lyle's breaths quickened and he felt his fire come alive in a panic at the sight. G-Gods, how badly had he gotten hurt back there?!
"Easy, Lyle. I don't think it's as bad as it looks."
Dalton came up to the Fire-type and eyed the wound with a quiet grimace, before shaking his head with a low sigh.
"I suppose this was to be expected, but at least it's nothing we can't patch up for now," the Heliolisk sighed. "Hang on, I think that we've got some berries that'll be able to seal this cut."
A few minutes later, Dalton had finished mashing the third piece of a quartered Oran Berry just above the wound on Lyle's flank and letting the juices seep in. Even if the topical application of healing berries could be skipped in a pinch in favor of just scarfing them down, after how harrowing the past floor had been, none of Team Forager's members were in the mood to try and make Lyle walk things off until his body metabolized the berry.
Irune looked on worriedly as Lyle lay on his side and Dalton pulled the Oran wedge back to examine the cut. A quick glance over revealed that Lyle's wound seemed to have coagulated enough for the last wedge to be applied directly onto it. Everything had worked out in the end…
… so why was she feeling this guilty about things?
"Dig in your paws and brace yourself, Lyle," Dalton instructed. "This last part's going to sting a bit."
The three of them were Outlaws, bandit scum who preyed on the weak for their pay. A part of her told her she ought to have felt coldly indifferent to their plight. They plied a dangerous trade and the only reason why they were on common ground to begin with was because of Lacan and his Fähnlein.
Except, as she watched Lyle fight against curling up into a fiery ball by reflex, those thoughts rang increasingly hollow. The more she saw the three like this, the more it gave her an uncomfortable sense of deja vu.
And it made her think of others she'd let herself grow close to against her better judgment since running from her hometown, and thoughts of what ultimately became of them. A sharp wince turned the Axew's attention back to Lyle and Dalton, just in time to see the Heliolisk pawing aside Oran-stained fur on Lyle's flank and pressing the final Oran wedge square into his wound. Irune cringed from her place on the side as the stoat audibly winced and fire danced from his vents with sharp flickers. She neared as Lyle panted from Dalton's treatment, focusing on the Quilava and then up at her other teammates with an alarmed stammer.
"Wh-Where did those two Wilders come from?!" the Axew cried. "We didn't run into any Pokémon that could do something like this on the earlier floors!"
"We've been going deeper into the Mystery Dungeon, it quite literally comes with the territory for just about any Mystery Dungeon," Dalton explained. "The Wilders that live in Mystery Dungeons like this usually like to make their homes in the Pockets further away from the entrance where they won't be disturbed. Their tougher members usually patrol closer to them to drive off would-be threats."
That… made a decent amount of sense, really. Irune herself had seen similar dynamics in other Mystery Dungeons since first going on the run back in the spring, just… not anywhere as dramatic as this. Kate pinned her ears back at Dalton's reply and turned a sharp scowl over at Irune. The Axew braced herself as the Sneasel exhaled a puff of icy breath out and folded her with a sharp huff.
"Just saying, but that's something we could have known if we had someone to guide us," the Sneasel grumbled.
Irune raised her mouth to protest indignantly, only to fall quiet and let her gaze drift to the ground. She… still didn't think much of the idea of them recruiting the Cranidos, especially knowing what the odds were for this 'Team Forager' all making it to the Divine Roost. But even then, it was hard to argue that things would've gone worse without his help.
Had she been too rash in making her decision? Even if the odds for her present teammates weren't favorable… had her choices made things worse for them? Had they made them worse for herself?
No answer came to those questions for her as Dalton finished applying the last Oran wedge. The Quilava let out a quiet wince, before snatching the pulp of the spent quarter out of the lizard's hand with a low grumble as low, irked flames simmered on his head and tail.
"Ngah… Dalton, what on earth did you do to that cut?" the Quilava demanded. "Press salt into it?"
"Oran juice carries a sting when it's applied to damaged hide," the Heliolisk harrumphed back, folding his arms. "You didn't strike me as being new to Mystery Dungeons, Lyle. You of all Pokémon should know that."
Irune told herself that it didn't make sense to dwell on things too much. After what became of the Balance Bandits, it was probably for the best to keep her present teammates at arm's length. She turned her head as Lyle bit into the pulp of his berry wedge and warily gaped about her surroundings. There weren't any ruins on this floor, and the towering, unnaturally tall and thick trees blotting out the sky weren't something they'd seen on the last floor either.
Even so, time was a luxury with the likes of Lacan and his underlings hounding their tails, and the longer they spent in Primordial Woods, the more likely he or his underlings would catch up with them. From the looks of it, Kate had realized it too with the way she uneasily shuffled and pawed at her shoulders.
"So now what?" the Sneasel asked. "Are we supposed to just hop right back into delving and hope we don't draw the short stick for run-ins again?"
Irune noticed Lyle glance over at her from the corner of her eyes. She thought of speaking up and saying something, but let her eyes drift towards the ground. Wh-What was she supposed to say to him? That she should've kept her mouth shut after the Monster House? Thankfully, the stoat didn't linger long on her before looking over at Dalton, who brought a hand up to his chin in thought before speaking up.
"We should find a Pocket and rest for a while," the Heliolisk said.
At once, Irune jolted up and stared wide-eyed at the Electric-type. Lyle and Kate looked similarly alarmed right now. W-Was Dalton even listening to himself right now?! They hadn't gone that deep into the Mystery Dungeon since they first entered it!
"B-But we're just six floors from that exit the Cranidos told us about!" Irune spluttered. "If we linger here, Lacan will-!"
"Be highly unlikely to catch up with us without us knowing it," Dalton answered. "After how much trouble the local Wilders have been giving us, do you really think entire squads of soldiers are going to be able to just march through here without us hearing them getting into fights?"
Irune blinked a few times. Now that Dalton mentioned it, with how fiercely the local Wilders had defended their territory, and how big their stronger Pokémon were… would Lacan and his underlings have been able to cow the Wilders into backing down from them? It certainly didn't seem like a safe bet.
Irune paused in thought, before she heard Dalton's tail brush the ground, and looked up to see the Heliolisk frowning down at her.
"Look, you already made it clear that you're not exactly fond about working with us, but charging ahead with Lyle in this state isn't exactly a safe gamble," Dalton harrumphed. "We should at least give him time for the berry's healing effects to kick in before we continue on again in earnest."
Irune quietly bit her tongue. She knew she'd gotten pointed after the Monster House, but she didn't go so far that she'd scared her teammates off… had she? The Axew quietly grimaced and looked away, just as she heard Lyle sigh to her right. The stoat looked down at his now-treated wound, which still sported juice stains from the Oran Berry that had been applied, before shaking his head back.
"Sounds like music to my ears," he grumbled. "Let's just hurry up and find that Pocket. There's no sense in worrying about that treasure if we can't make it off this floor in one piece."
So they were still ready to work with her. Or at least until they made it to that treasure that awaited them in the Divine Roost.
One by one, Team Forager's members set off. Lyle opted to take the rear just after Irune this time. It was hard to blame him given how he surely wouldn't fare well if he stumbled headfirst into another skirmish. A part of Irune was quietly grateful that he'd done so. Even if it wasn't as noticeable in a jungle like this versus in more normal climates for this time of year, she could swear that the air felt ever so slightly warmer around him.
Somehow, it made a little part of her feel more at peace.
Irune followed along after her Heliolisk and Sneasel teammates, as quiet doubts began to swirl in her mind. Was… she doing the right thing? She knew she didn't have many choices, and even if she hadn't fully gathered what Lacan planned on using her for, it was surely for nothing good. But if her teammates fully knew what they were facing, would the Divine Roost's treasure still be enough to motivate them? She supposed she hadn't lied to them at any point about it, but…
Irune snapped back to attention after feeling something furry and warm prod at her back. The Axew turned her head, and saw Lyle frowning over at her.
"Hey, stay focused for now," he insisted. "We're not exactly in a safe place here."
No. Even if everything she'd been told about herself really was true, those three didn't need to know about it. And if she told them everything and they ran off from her afterwards, Lacan would likely just hunt them down for leads to her and then do gods-knew-what to them. They had shared interests at the moment, and until that was no longer the case, it made sense to stick together.
…Even if it made her uncomfortable. Even if it meant that the past repeated itself.
About twenty minutes later, Team Forager came across a vine-shrouded gap between the thick roots of a tree that towered unnaturally high up into the Distortion—enough so that for a second, Kate thought they'd found a cave entrance of some sort. There, the familiar presence of Dungeon Fog spilled out, tipping them off that they were approaching a space where the Distortion's effects ended and some manner of stability began.
One quick retrieval of her guiding string from her bag and a march through later, Kate and her teammates found themselves in the hollow of a giant tree that wrapped up a stony cave at its base, with the wood growing in on each other to form what looked like a solid wall ringing the entire space. That was as clear a sign as any that they were in a Pocket and not truly back out on the surface.
That didn't worry her. What did was the presence of large, three-toed footprints in the cave's earth, along with red scales, stray white feathers, and the broken remains of brown eggshells. It was a sign that the den in the Pocket they were in belonged to a Tyrantrum.
… Or at least it had at some point. None of them could catch the scent of any Pokémon that had been in the Pocket lately, and the feathers and scales similarly lacked odor—a sign they'd been shed some time ago. Faint gouges here and there in the den's stone and healed scars in the wood gave the impression that there'd been a fierce battle here once… one that made her doubt the Wilder Tyrantrum that once lived here would ever come back to claim this place again. That should've been the end of that line of curiosity and to let her rest easy like she was supposed to, but after overhearing that Rampardos and Archeops, something kept making her wonder just what on earth happened here.
Team Forager had kept shifts since then, taking turns posting one of their number in the foggy passage back out onto the floor before coming back and trading places. Kate's turn had ended some time ago, and it had mercifully been uneventful…
Pshhhh…
Aside from how it'd been pouring buckets since about five minutes after they arrived into their Pocket and how the trip in and out of their shelter had gotten her soaked. As the sound pricking her ears reminded her, those rains hadn't gone anywhere. The sound of cascading water and a faint drip on her snout prompted Kate to sit up and turn her head towards the cave entrance. That would explain why she was thinking about Wilders' affairs. It took her mind off of having to think about that.
Dalton said that book about Mystery Dungeons they'd stolen said something about this place having midday downpours as part of its local climate. They must've lucked out while going through the past few floors, since Kate could only imagine how miserable the experience would've been if they had to go through them drenched on top of everything else.
The Sneasel laid her head down and tried to close her eyes, when she noticed a dim glow of orange fire on the walls. She turned her head and saw Lyle curled up, staring at the ground as small flames flickered on his head and tail vents.
Kate got up and made her way over beside her Quilava teammate, giving him a quiet nudge at his shoulder with her claws.
"…Can't sleep?" she asked. "You are the one who needs rest the most, you know."
The Quilava looked up at her briefly with a small frown, before turning away with a grumbling huff.
"After everything that happened back at Waterhead Cave?" he grumbled. "Were you expecting me to?"
… She should've expected that, really. Losing friends on the job was something that stung even if you got used to it. Going two years out of practice and then coming back into the Outlaw life like that…
Kate thought to say something, only for the Quilava to turn away and slump his chin against his forepaws with a sullen grumble.
"I should never have agreed to go with you."
Kate stiffened up and at once narrowed her eyes down at the Quilava. Was he blaming her for the army raid? Kate folded her arms and scowled in reply. Lyle was supposed to be the grounded one between the two of them. Surely he'd know better than that.
"Oh come on, what's with that attitude?" the Sneasel demanded. "Weather getting to you-?"
Lyle got up and whirled about as his body's fire came to life. Kate watched as a harsh glare came over his face and his voice came out in a bitter huff.
"Kate, I'm stuck in the middle of this gottverdammten jungle!" he snapped. "I had to relive one of the worst nights of my life, and my best friend's getting shipped off to die in some field gods-knows-where across the sea!"
… He was definitely a different 'mon than Kate remembered from the Foehn Gang. Laughing and making jokes alongside Alvin and their friends. Adamantly insisting that it didn't matter if his family cut him loose so long as they were there at each other's backs.
She'd held out hope that that 'mon in him would come back out once he was in good company again. From the way he was shaking his head and looking away, she was starting to doubt that that part of him would ever return.
"Really, why did I expect anything different?" Lyle muttered. "Of course a 'mon from a cursed town would have my luck."
Kate blinked at the Quilava's remark. Right, Lyle was from Freeden Village. It was a place that supposedly had incurred the disfavor of the gods sometime at the end of the last war between Varhyde and Edialeigh before the current one. As a result of that, all sorts of stories had sprung up about that disfavor carrying over to Pokémon that hailed from there.
Except, she didn't put stock in that "curse" crap. And when he was in more normal moods, Lyle didn't either. Maybe he just needed a little reminder to snap him out of that mood of his.
"And would any of that have changed if you didn't come?" Kate demanded. "Do you really think the rest of us wouldn't have still run into that Graf and his goons?"
She watched as Lyle froze and blinked back at her. It was a bit sobering to think about it, but the more that she thought about it…
"Really, the only difference would've been that you'd still be stuck in that Oran field waiting to go hungry in the winter and wouldn't have known about any of that," the Sneasel scoffed. "Would you really be happier if you found out we got raided by the army a season later on an empty stomach?"
Kate trailed off and looked away, hanging her head.
"… There's a good chance none of us would've made it out of Waterhead Cave that night if that happened," she muttered. "You're the reason why we're not getting pushed into a penal unit with Alvin right now."
Lyle bit his lip and pinned his ears back as the fire died down from his vents. His face took on a regretful twinge as the Quilava audibly tripped over his words while trying to speak up in reply.
"Th-That's not what I was trying to say-"
"Yeah, I know," Kate sighed. "And I don't blame you for looking out for yourself. It's not as if I was expecting everything to play out the way it did."
Kate shuffled up against Lyle, giving him a small poke against his side with her claw. The Quilava squirmed and recoiled in discomfort briefly and shuffled back. Glad to see that trick still worked on him, at least.
"But we've got a chance to put this all behind us don't we?" Kate insisted. "So why not take it? It's what Alvin would've wanted."
Lyle hesitated briefly, before turning aside and glumly casting a glance off at the gray, stony walls of their den.
"Maybe, but it's not like the universe really gave a crap about what he wanted," he muttered.
"N-Ngh… no… stop…"
Kate and Lyle turned their heads at the sound of Irune murmuring. There, off in a corner atop a small pile of her "treasure", the Axew was stirring in her sleep and pawing at empty air. The Sneasel blinked, before trading looks with her Quilava partner.
"… Looks like you're not the only one who's been having trouble sleeping," Kate murmured.
A flash of worry seemed to cross Lyle's eyes briefly. It was a little strange he felt so bothered by the problems of a 'mon that didn't like them all that much, but Kate supposed this must've been hitting home for him a bit. Lyle shuffled up as Irune tossed and turned in her sleep, the stoat hesitating briefly before he put a paw out and prodded at her gently.
"Irune?"
Kate watched Irune's eyes shoot wide as the Axew abruptly jolted up, prompting Lyle to jump back with a start as his vents came alight. From the way she was gasping for air and visibly quivering, she must've had one hell of a nightmare.
… Kate supposed she could see why Lyle was getting a bit worried about her. Sorta. The Sneasel sidled over as the Axew looked up at her and her Quilava teammate and shot a wary frown down.
"You doing alright?" Kate asked. "You were thrashing about in your sleep."
Irune sucked in a few sharp breaths and let her eyes drift towards the ground. She got up and pawed at her shoulder. Kate waited for the Axew's reply, only for the Dragon-type to audibly hesitate and turn her glance to avoid making eye contact.
"I've… just been through a lot lately," the Axew replied. "It's kinda been getting to me."
"Story of our lives, really."
Kate's ears pricked up at the sound of wet footsteps and dripping water, where she saw Dalton entering the cave visibly drenched. The Heliolisk fanned out his frill briefly, stopping to brush some water off his scales as he walked up, only to stop and catch himself in front of Lyle.
"Oh, by the way, it slipped my mind earlier in between the chaos of us skipping town…" Dalton began.
The Heliolisk dug through his satchel and fetched out a cloth purse, dropping it in front of the Quilava with an audible clink. Kate blinked at the sight and Lyle seemed similarly at a loss before Dalton narrowed his eyes with a small sigh.
"It's your share of the loot from this morning. You didn't forget, did you?" he asked. "I was hoping to do this someplace in Toya Square, but now's probably as good a time and place as any."
Right, Dalton had held onto Lyle's share of their loot from last night as part of being trusted to handle the goods for Hermes. Kate noted to herself that she probably should have remembered that better given that she was the one who suggested Dalton do that in the first place.
Lyle eyed the purse and quietly pawed through its contents, counting under his breath. After a brief moment, he sealed it and stuffed it into his satchel. That was as good a sign as any that Dalton had been honest in his dealings. Even if it was cold comfort at the moment, at least they could take it for granted they could trust the 'mon. Probably, anyways.
Kate watched the cave briefly come aglow as Lyle stretched and a spurt of fire came from his vents. Looked like the rest in the cave had done him some good given that he wasn't moving as stiffly as when they stopped to patch him up earlier.
"…Thanks. Though what are you doing back so soon?" Lyle asked. "I thought that it was your turn to keep watch."
"There's no point right now," Dalton said, shaking his head. "The Dungeon Winds caught up with the entrance outside and are currently scouring the floor."
Right, that was a thing in Mystery Dungeons and why any Pokémon, Wilder or Civil, sought out Pockets if they were going to stay on one floor for any length of time. Every so often, the Distortion would shift and wipe floors clean so that way they could form anew, through howling winds that came along and blew away everything in their path into gods-knew-where else in its confines. Sometimes, a 'mon would get lucky and get dumped by such winds at an entrance, but more normally it meant getting thrown to some floor with no idea of where one was, much like if one fell into the Distortion from venturing too far off a path.
… Probably worse than that, since she'd heard stories of Pokémon who'd suffered both fates. Pokémon that fell through the Distortion usually were able to get up and tell the tale afterwards, there were definitely fewer who got swept up by those winds who could say the same. A 'mon would also need to contend with flying debris or getting blown into things, a recipe for disaster in just about any Mystery Dungeon, but in one with Wilders as aggressive as this one…
"Well, I suppose that's one way to tell us that we won't need to worry about Grünhäuter for a while," Kate murmured, shaking her head.
"Actually… that gets into the point that I was going to get at," Dalton replied. "Namely that we probably don't need to worry about Grünhäuter while we're in this Mystery Dungeon."
Kate blinked at Dalton's explanation, and noted Irune looking similarly surprised. The Axew tilted her head at the Electric-type, giving a wary frown in reply.
"What makes you so sure, Dalton?"
"Because Lacan's goons were in earshot when we entered and it's been half a day since then," the Electric-type answered.
… Had it really been that long? Kate knew that they'd gotten a run of good luck with the first few floors, but now that Scales mentioned it, it did seem a little suspicious that they hadn't even overheard the Wilders going on about 'Invaders'. One would think that a Fähnlein wouldn't exactly be subtle while barging through a Mystery Dungeon.
Even so, something about this wasn't adding up for Kate. Lyle seemed to think similarly, judging from the way that the Quilava was pinning his ears back and frowning.
"Not that I'm complaining, but why would that Salamence do that?" Lyle asked. "He's not exactly a pushover, and he wouldn't be able to get Irune any faster just sitting and waiting outside."
Irune suddenly blanched and her jaw flopped open. The Axew's eyes visibly shrank to pins, as she turned to her teammates and waved her arms in alarm.
"Th-That's exactly what he's doing right now! He's probably sent his soldiers to try and wait near the exits to ambush us!" Irune exclaimed. "It's not the first time that he's done that to me, either!"
… As counter-intuitive as it sounded at first, maybe Lacan really could get at Irune just by sitting and waiting outside. If he had some sort of book about Mystery Dungeons like them, he almost certainly knew that between the Wilders and the gods-awful weather, that this place was wearing them down. Then for all they knew, there wasn't a safe place to leave this gottverdammten hole.
Kate bit her lip and pinned her ears back, before looking over to her teammates.
"So just what are we supposed to do now?"
Dalton and Lyle both remained silent. The Heliolisk raised his voice to say something, only for him to trail off and quietly grimace. Whatever idea he'd had, he'd clearly realized it wouldn't work. Lyle was visibly on-edge as his vents were flickering with nervous fire, staring down at the cave floor with a blank expression much like if Lacan's soldiers had just barged into their Pocket.
A great sign for their odds, really. Curiously, Irune seemed to pause and catch herself. The Axew raised a claw to her mouth and mused a bit, before she looked back at the rest of them and murmured to herself.
"That Cranidos…" she said. "He said there was a Link to a 'place like this' four floors from here."
Kate thought back to the encounter with the Cranidos, and tried to keep herself from being too bitter over the way that Irune had blown up their chance at getting a guide out of this place. A starry-eyed kid like him full of fight would've done them a lot of good right now. If Irune was talking about what Kate thought the Axew was, the Cranidos had mentioned 'a passage that links to another place like this beyond the mist'. Kate turned her head over to Lyle, as a light seemed to go off in his eyes and he stiffened up.
"The copy of the handbook we've got did say there was a Link to Raptor Rock not far from where we were," Lyle mused. "That must be what he was talking about. But didn't we already know this? How's that change anything?"
"Wouldn't the exits from that Mystery Dungeon be harder for him to get to?" Irune asked. "It looked far away on the map in the handbook."
… Right, Raptor Rock was just barely visible over the horizon before they crashed on Hermes. A Fähnlein usually had around 400 'mons on it, and there weren't 400 'mons there back at the ambush. Even if Lacan knew about the way Primordial Woods and Raptor Rock linked with each other, he only had so many 'mons to go around, and it meant they had decent odds of beating his goons out of there. Or at least coming across a party that was small and likely winded enough from a long journey that they'd have better odds fighting their way past them.
Kate supposed the plan sounded like it could work on paper, but…
"Hold on just a minute. Raptor Rock's a day's journey from Newangle City!" Dalton protested. "Why would we want to be going there again when there's tons of soldiers garrisoned in the Royal Capital?!"
That actually wasn't the problem Kate was thinking of, but now Scales brought it up, that was another risk of trying to sneak out from there.
"Because we're having trouble holding up now, so we should logically try to get out of this Mystery Dungeon while we can?" Irune said. "Also, coming out onto the surface someplace away from Primordial Woods' normal exits isn't exactly a bad thing. It'd give us time to make ourselves scarce before Lacan could catch up or otherwise tip off the local Grünhäuter about us."
Kate admitted that that was a decent argument. After all, if Newangle City really was as treacherous for Outlaws as Dalton implied the other day, would Lacan really expect them to flee towards it? Surely that'd throw him off their trail at least for a little bit.
It was all fine and great, except it didn't take care of the problem the Sneasel had had with this idea all along.
"Yeah, but the Cranidos also made it sound like something was wrong with that exit."
A moment of tense silence hung in the den's air afterwards, and Kate noted that her teammates were trading worried looks. She initially hadn't thought much of the Cranidos' words, but after how much of a slog the past few floors had been, it didn't exactly inspire confidence about what could be going on with the entrance to that Link.
Lyle bit his lip and hesitated a moment, before shaking his head in reply and stepping forward.
"… We'll try and prepare for a fight beforehand and do what we can to dodge it," Lyle said. "We can try laying low in quieter places on the next floors until it gets later in the day. We'd be most likely to have smooth sailing towards the evening when the Wilders that are awake by day are starting to tire out and the ones that are awake by night are just starting to get up."
Kate opened her mouth to reflexively protest. Before she could get a word out, the Quilava spotted her and motioned for silence, before looking around at the others.
"… I know it's not a good option," the Fire-type murmured. "But if Irune's right about what Lacan's up to, I'm not sure if we have a whole lot of better ones."
Kate paused and inhaled sharply. She didn't like this idea, but it was hard to argue that Lyle didn't have a point. Between what would likely boil down to fighting their way through strong, angry Wilders and strong, angry Grünhäuter fresh from the army… it was hard to argue with a straight face that fighting the Wilders wasn't the lesser evil.
The Sneasel cast a glance over towards her teammates. Irune for obvious reasons had made her peace with the idea, while Dalton seemed visibly hesitant. The Heliolisk stared off towards the mouth of the cave, before shaking his head with a low sigh.
"It's as good a hope as any, though it'd be best not to pass up the Dungeon Winds on this floor," he said. "If we want to avoid the local Wilders leaving this place, we should set off out of this Pocket as soon as things settle down outside the fog."
…Wait, as in right now? Kate peeked out at the still-pouring rain outside and grimaced. She wasn't looking forward to getting drenched again. Irune seemed visibly uneasy about the idea herself, while Lyle was stiff and staring out blankly much as if Lacan himself had entered their pocket.
Kate watched her Quilava teammate pin his ears back as a disgusted shudder briefly went down his back. He turned over to Dalton and traded glances between him and the rain with an uneasy paw at the back of his head.
"… Dungeon Winds usually last a decent while, right?" the Quilava asked. "Let's… try to wait for the rain to settle down a bit more first before we go and check."
Yeah, that was an idea she could definitely get behind.
Author's Notes
Alt Title
Kapitel 11 - Wille
Words and Phrases
1. Alles klar - "All clear"
2. Hofstaat - "court", in the sense of a sovereign's household or entourage.
Teaser Text
It is said that when humans walked the earth, they were creatures that sought out knowledge. Both as a means for personal enlightenment and to inform ever-advancing accomplishments and feats. They fashioned towers and structures beyond the ability of our engineering to replicate, and created intricate machines and devices with functionalities that seemed much like magic.
Accomplishments and feats that many of them grew proud of. Enough so that it is said that Klaus the Founder heard humans in the world-that-was boast with haughty words such as "Such a wonder was once reserved for gods. But today, humanity takes a step towards the divine!"ᵃ as they beheld their great works.
And then, during the fateful year that marked the beginning of our era, the Great Flash came during the midsummer days of Heumond. In an instant, it reshaped our world, and in the process, swept away untold wonders and the knowledge to recreate them in the twinkling of an eye.
As Pokémon attempted to pick up the pieces in the years that followed, it is said that the Founder worried over some of the knowledge that Pokémon strove to preserve. That the twilight of humanity had been marked with great hubris and dissension, including among those who once held the power to change humanity's fate.
He insisted that some knowledge was best left to fade with humanity, and he feared that we as inheritors of this world would inherit the same flaws that left humans to be caught unawares by our world's sundering. What that knowledge he so feared has been lost to time and can only be guessed at: some theorize it might relate to that radiant splendor which first drew Wish and Reality to war in this world.
Others say that the Founder worried more over the mindset of Pokémon like us. That by clinging too tightly to the ways of humans, we would be doomed to repeat their mistakes. As sobering as the premise is, when looking over the sweep of our civilizations' histories, one cannot help but wonder if his fears were justified.
- Excerpt from 'The Varhyder Chronicles - A Brief History of our Kingdom's Early Years'
a. This quote is delivered in two parts in the original German due to grammatical rules. The combined form here is a roughly equivalent gloss.
I won't go into as much detail as usual, since I've mostly been catching up to where I once stopped reading, but I still had some thoughts to share!
One such thought is that I'm surprised, seeing Irune's POV for the first time, that the Balance Bandits actually existed. I suspected them to be a complete fabrication, but perhaps it was only a half lie: they existed, but were merely accompanying her to the Divine Roost as Team Forager now is, rather than her being an official member.
Still, there's an interesting conundrum forming here. Irune is, of course, absolutely right that these four are pretty scummy individuals overall. They might have sympathetic reasons for being so, such as Lyle pushed into this "profession" by desperation, poverty, and wishing to help his mother from conscription -- but it doesn't change the fact that their actions are highly immoral. I see both sides of the argument regarding that Cranidos, but someone young and easily influenceable probably shouldn't be following a band of callous outlaws being pursued by a large military force ruling much of the world outside this dungeon. I do think it was a strong showing of character for Irune to send him away the way she did.
There are a few issues I wanted to point out:
- Firstly, the narration has a slight tendency to "tell" rather "show", or sometimes to both show and tell the same thing, resulting in repetition. I could give a fair few examples, but one would be in chapter 6, when the fact that Carolins have been losing value compared to poké is mentioned four different times throughout the chapter.
Another example is in chapter 11, in this passage:
Kate blinked at the Quilava's remark. Right, Lyle was from Freeden Village. It was a place that supposedly had incurred the disfavor of the gods sometime at the end of the last war between Varhyde and Edialeigh before the current one. As a result of that, all sorts of stories had sprung up about that disfavor carrying over to Pokémon that hailed from there.
Mind you, this part works just fine. However, I feel like small worldbuilding details like this could do with having some mystery left to them rather than being explained exhaustively on first go. This is how I'd recommend rephrasing this:
Kate blinked at the Quilava's remark. Right, Lyle was from Freeden Village. One of few settlements to openly support Edialeigh's invasion, a sin which the gods supposedly wanted all its generations to follow to pay for.
Written a little rough, but I think you get the idea.
- Secondly, the pacing's been... good, so far, but ever since the brief respite scene following the caravan scene, it feels as though the story's been shooting forward at neck-breaking speed. There were two calmer scenes at the makeshift encampment before they entered Moonturn Square, and the final scene in this chapter -- but they only cover about 10% of word count where 90% is made up of action, escape sequences, or dialogue scenes where our characters are still in imminent or soon-to-be danger. It's worked well so far, but I do hope we get more time (perhaps even half a chapter?) soon enough where our characters can rest, recuperate, develop their inter-personal bonds, and get their bearings.
One side-effect has been that I haven't noticed as much character development as I was hoping to see outside of Lyle, and a little bit for Irune. After that final scene in chapter 11, however, I am much more optimistic of this problem smoothing itself out. I'm especially curious to hear more about Kate, and Dalton seems to be hiding a past as part of the nobility.
Overall, I'm glad to have started re-reading this story. It's been a treat to read! See you on the next review!
Now this is podracingV-Wheeling. Lemme see if I remember. When last I left the intrepid "heroes," they'd gone to the library to acquire lore, got the lore, escaped, learned Irune is kinda sorta God™ or whatever the original dragon counts as in this fic's setting. I don't think I can say "part of the Trinity Processor," even though something split into three parts brings that joke to mind.
... Oh, and they got captured by the army.
31
-Seeing the comment about where the outlaws are getting sent just brings to mind that "Sending Eevee to War" memetic image.
-Ah, yes, more of Sophia's tragic backstory and a teasing cliffhanger of not revealing what's in the important letter. A letter that may give her a new perspective on all this, since she's nurturing doubts to begin with.
-Not the Skyrim meme.
-Man, I sincerely hope this is not trying to pitch a tournament arc. We do not need a tournament arc.
-Narrator: Kate will never learn when to stop talking.
-And now we're treated to the Hallmark-style slideshow of Lyle's traumatic backstory. One really has to wonder how, despite things turning out so badly the last time, Lyle genuinely thought any of what kick-started this would be a good idea.
-So something big happened with all three of the gen V dergs getting into a scuffle. I'm not sure if that's what actually took place in the letters Olivia's going through or if this is more of a distant thing. Mostly because my memory's jumbled.
-I know she's being kept in a vault, so treasure's to be expected, but I find the thought of the king just having a treasure horde on standby because Reshiram is a dragon who loves a good treasure horde amusing.
-Hope Lacan has no intention of passing on his bloodline because he is terrible with children, holy hell. If there's a redemption in the works for this guy, it's gonna take a lot of work on Sophia'syour part. But if he is meant to be a puppykicker, then I guess this works.
-So, Irune is three Unovan derg legends in a trenchcoat. And this kingdom's goal is to make Irune no longer baby but want power and, I guess, have the three Tao pieces war with each other in the capital of Edialeigher with the belief it'll force that side to surrender unconditionally?
32
-Oh, hey, look, I was right about that letter's contents... which I presume is what's opening the chapter but, of course, only gets translated at the end.
-Welp, plan confirmed. I'm also seeing uncomfortable parallels between this and the Allies' final strategy in the Pacific back in WW2. Irune's the bomb they want to drop on this city, except they need fighting to happen first.
-Irune needs more power, huh? I know a guy who could help with that. They say he's the storm that is approaching.
-And with that, smol child is effectively broken for the time being. Good jorb, Lacan.
-Looks like Irune losing control will not be the escape mechanism, but rather just a couple of random guys trying to leave their wagon. No idea if that would be successful, but we're getting to escaping much faster than I expected.
-I have no idea how this arguing with Dalton (which gets a bit physical) is not alerting whatever guards are escorting this wagon. It doesn't seem that soundproof. Even if they're all whispering, surely the guards would still hear something?
-Okay, good, the slapdash plan ended up failing anyway lol.
-GOOD GRIEF HE'S NAKED.
-And there's the realization for Sophia. Looks like she's not up to snuff as a morality pet, so things are moving forward. Also, obligatory "WHAT AM I FIGHTING FOOOOOOOOOOOR?"
33
-I'm a bit confused as to just how much of a wrong turn these wagons somehow took? Like it still seems as though they're close to the intended destination, just on a somewhat rougher stretch of road or something? I guess it's ultimately harmless and mostly used to establish concretely that they're going to the conscription port. It... is looking like they're not going to get out of it unless their caravan gets attacked. And, well, we do need to have this fic spend some time in Edialeigh if it's going to be a proper Xenoblade-but-PMD fic.
-So the trio used to roost together in Varhyde? I feel like that's the "Divine Roost" that Irune wanted to get to... and getting there might've allowed her three parts to find that same solace and peace that got squashed previously. Which is precisely why the exact opposite will be happening, apparently.
-Ah, yes, a seviper/zangoose duo. Never seen that one before. /s
-Man, and here I thought I'd get through one of these without a scarf change. At least it's forced on them.
-Off to basic training they go.
I do feel like this is ramping up to transition into the various characters ending up in Edialeigh. Which, again, makes me think we're at a halfway mark at best here.
Hey, Fobbie. Here for my Blitzly catch-up on Once a Thief, through Chapter 35. And what a run of chapters it is! This feels like the most action-packed set of chapters in the fic thus far. The gang gets captured and split up, Sophia confronts Lacan about what's going on with Operation Spark, Lyle is reunited with Alvin--all good stuff.
I really appreciated Kate during this section. When the other characters are moping are paralyzed--understandably, but still--she's still out there full of sarcastic energy, causing problems and getting everyone into more trouble. Arguably they don't need more trouble at this point, but Kate's antics certainly keep things moving forward when they otherwise might wallow. Her behavior is rarely wise, but you do have to admire her chutzpah. She makes a nice contrast to the rest of the cast, especially in this most recent section.
I also enjoyed the reveal that Operation Spark is looking to intentionally provoke the Dyad into basically going nulcear with all three dragons going on a rampage, and also that Lacan has been aware of this all along. It makes a lot of sense with the way we've seen the army acting towards Irune thus far--like Lacan says, I guess it doesn't actually matter at all how she feels about her situation or whether she's interested in helping them of her own free will! It also really throws the moral quandary Sophia's been in the entire time into stark relief. I'm rooting for her to do something to put a stop to all this, although her ability to do so seems limited, if Lacan's going to try and keep her away from the actual fighting. I liked how deeply Sophia's been disturbed by what she learned from the letters she read, and how it changes her perspective on Lacan completely. When your best bud of many years is looking to commit war crimes on purpose instead of by accident, oof.
There are some things that bother me about the reveal, specifically. In the first place, did Lacan somehow think Sophia already knew about the true intentions of Operation Spark? If not, why did he send her to read the reports about the incident at Freeden Village, probably one of the weirdest and least pleasant ways for her to learn the truth? If so, why isn't he more put out by her clear horror over the situation? In general, I was surprised that Lacan didn't follow up at all after confirming for Sophia that he knew they were trying to provoke Irune's split. He obviously got the sense that she wasn't totally on board, but Sophia wasn't just not super into it, she was devastated, and I didn't get the sense that she did a super great job of hiding that fact, either. It is entirely possible that Lacan just has the emotional intelligence of a brick and doesn't get why this would be a big deal, and why his casual reveal that he's hoping to wipe out a major city would be disturbing, but it just struck me as odd that after he tells Sophia what's up he doesn't seem to think about the matter much at all afterwards.
I'm not sure I'm 100% tracking with what's going on with Irune's dreams in combination with what we've been learning about the country's history. Best understanding is, last time the three dragons awoke, they inadvertently destroyed Freeden Village. Zekrom ended up siding with Varhyde in the conflict, along with Reshiram, for reasons I don't think have been discussed? This temporarily put Edialeigh into serious retreat, since having their patron fighting against them was obviously terrifying. However, something(?) caused Zekrom to switch sides to Edialeigh again, and the war started up again. I think the dragons ended up killing each other in battle, leading to Irune, but not totally clear on that--I guess there was some other huge battle between the three of them, maybe with Zekrom and Reshiram trying to reconcile, but Kyurem getting in the way of everything for some reason?
Based on Irune's dreams, the dragons had made a pact before where they agreed not to fight each other (and/or fight in the war between the nations?) anymore. And then, for some reason, they go back on that--maybe something to do with the mortal helpers/friends Zekrom and Reshiram have (the charizard/ampharos). I'm curious whether they made a similar resolution before dying, again, and what if anything they might have done to try and ensure they actually wouldn't end up trapped in the cycle of battle again when they reincarnated. It's certainly something that Irune's been preoccupied with the whole time, trying to keep her aspects from splitting up and warring with each other. It's also something that would throw a huge wrench into Operation Spark if it actually works this time!
I realize that we aren't supposed to understand everything about the history or this situation at this point, and more will be revealed later; I just hope I'm not too far off where you're expecting people to be at this point.
I am kind of intrigued where the other legends might be hanging out at this point--can't remember whether it's been stated what's up with them before. The image of Ho-Oh in Irune's book suggests that the other legends are known, but they don't seem to be around. Did they just take off rather than get involved with the war? Have they not reincarnated for some reason? I don't expect any of them to matter for the resolution of the plot, but the book got me thinking about it.
But enough about Irune and all the Lore going on there! While being transported against her will to her presumed death and also probably the deaths of thousands of other mon is pretty bad, Lyle and the gang are also staring down likely-death with the added twist that basically all of their superiors hate them.
I'm not mad about the gang getting captured, and having them evade the army after all the problems laid out by Lyle and Dalton when trying to plan their route would probably have gotten a bit difficult to believe. I am rooting for them to end up at the Divine Roost at some point, still; I'm intrigued by what Irune's hoping to find there that might put an end to the endless war between her aspects. And the others can have a little treasure, too, as a treat. :P
I was surprised that Kate didn't seem to be in any pain during her discussion with Dalton, aside from a couple mentions of her claws hurting. It sounded like she took some pretty nasty damage at the end of the fight, like a broken rib or something? I was surprised she didn't even seem to have any generalized aches and pains, much less whatever that was, after she woke up in custody.
And finally, Alvin's back! I've been awaiting the payoff of this subplot for a long while, so while we haven't seen much of him yet, I'm excited for what's to come. It was very sweet that he doesn't blame Lyle for leaving him behind to get captured, although Lyle sensed that not all was well there. I'm hoping for complicated feelings on both sides!
On a small note about prose, one thing I did notice quite a bit of in this section was the use of filter words--things like "Lyle saw X" or "Lyle felt X." These sorts of phrasings tend to create a sense of distance from the POV character, e.g. "Lyle felt a claw stab into his back" is a less immediate and visceral description than "A claw stabbed into Lyle's back." There's nothing wrong with that sort of construction as such, but you might want to consider if there's a reason to prefer the more indirect version, where we're told about a character perceiving a thing happening, over the more straightforward description of something happening to them.
All in all, this has been one of the most enjoyable parts of the fic thus far for me. It feels like the various plot threads are starting to pay off and converge, which is always a satisfying part of the story. Perhaps not too terribly much more of this fic to go? I wasn't expecting everyone to end up captured, and I don't really have a good gauge of where things are going from here, so it's hard for me to guess!
34
-Ah, lovely. The implication that apricorns do not have stasis and can be used as a torture method. What a lovely place Varhyde is.
-Kate's POV on this whole spiel can boil down to "The military sucks." XD
-I genuinely hope that this is the moment where Kate finally learns that she needs to put a sock in it. You could argue that's hypocritical of me to say considering some of the characters I write, but with Nikki she just gets verbally clapped back at worst and Gene can walk the walk to back up his talking. Kate cannot. It's gotten her and her teammates hurt. This time badly. And we're 30+ chapters in. Character development's gotta happen at some point, right?
-Oh, and Lyle and Dalton get themselves involved, too, for good measure. I expected Dalton to since he's got his army hate boner. But Lyle's supposed to have somewhat better self-preservation skills and he seems to come out of it possibly the worst of the trio. Maybe this is rock bottom for the group?
-Ah, poor Sophia, doubting herself when she's surrounded by a bunch of "My kingdom, right or wrong," types ready to follow orders to the grave. I do believe there was probably some sort of conspiracy going on here. Though I think it's more along the lines of a third-party manipulating both kingdoms into this constant fighting and cycle of having the dragons raze a bunch of territory. Since I vaguely seem to recall at least two Xenoblade games are structured around that sort of thing.
-The guards could hear her the whole time is like a couple of steps removed from "Erm, he's right behind me, isn't he?"
-Yeah, I didn't expect Irune's hope spot to actually mean anything given how the scene with Sophia ended. Impressive that she managed to hurt herself this much, but I suppose flinging yourself at an impregnable door would lead to those results, dragon or not.
-Well, this chapter was depressing enough, so I suppose we'll just toss Alvin in there to try and make things 1% better.
35
-Sorry, Alvin, you're in the wrong fic for the power of friendship to do anything here. Doesn't tend to work well when PMD fics lean closer to grimdark.
-Lol it's amazing the difference in backstory length between Kate and Dalton. Though now I think we finally have the full story on what's going on with Dalton. Certainly tragic, though he really hasn't done himself any favors in the interim.
-Another tiny power of friendship moment that doesn't exactly work, but at least it's lampshaded, I guess? Still, at the start of the scene with Kate questioning herself I was really wondering if this maybe was the corner turning I'd hoped for. Buuuuuut not so much. Maybe it's the start of her changing a bit, but jury's out on that for the moment.
-Why does this dream give me the feeling that the dragons' fighting is spurned by someone, like that ampharos? And that maybe they're still around in the present, even if it's in a different form.
-Wait, Lacan used the exact same group that lost Irune in the first place? Whyyyyyyyyy wouldn't he be overseeing a personal escort? That just strikes me as extremely boneheaded, given the point in the fic we're at. As if you needed a convenient means for Irune to pull off the escape and this was the only way to make it happen.
I can see why you're so enamored with Rebirth. Because I'll admit that this fic gives me the same heavy doses of bitterness Rebirth did in its heyday. Are the Xenoblade games depressing? I thought they were full of anime tropes with British narmy voice acting. But if I'm wrong then perhaps it is for the best I never engage with that source material. 😅
