Tyrrier Reven Hollow

[Phoenixsong]

"Couldn't've decided it was none of our business before we left. Cool," Blue huffed. "You've all spent, what, a year messin' around in some entire other universe instead of your own, and now you go 'what if it's not our business'? It bothered you enough to come out here and have a whole meeting about it, didn't it?"

He muttered something under his breath that sounded like 'can't believe I'm actually encouraging this', then sighed. "I didn't come here to get in trouble with a lord, like holy shit no. If there's no reason to harass the guy, I'll be first in line to fuck off and leave him alone. But I also didn't agree to stay on Forlas just to sit on a fence all day. Maybe I'm still missing some context, but if what Leaf told me about other people stealing or messing with relics really is that big a deal, why drop this one? Apparently you've already poked at a bunch of other ones."

He pointed a paw at Ralsen. "Look, where is it? The manor. Sneaking in before didn't work, but you wouldn't've come back if there wasn't something else you thought you could try. We go, we see what's what, we get enough information to actually decide whether we have to go all vigilante on this guy or something else, and whatever that thing is, we do it. I don't get why this is difficult."

 

[Jackie Cat]

Laura peered at Ralsen, remembering her last conversation with him. That bizarre, unsettling revelation that he didn't even always know why he did things. That some greater power was guiding his actions, puppeting him towards a goal. How much agency did he have? When could he choose to exercise it?

There was something she was missing...

 

[Chibi Pika]

'Besides, we don't actually trust him, right?'

Well, no, obviously Jade didn't, except...

'I've known him for a while and I'm pretty sure he actually believes that the relic is in the manor,' Jade replied. 'Besides, if he wanted to mislead us, why even bother calling us up here in the first place?' All he would've had to do was just say nothing and the Wayfarers probably would have been too busy with the Covenant and the Red Star to bother returning to Reven Hollow.

So then why...

Jade squinted at Ralsen. "Why did you call us up here?"

Ralsen met her gaze. "I made a deal with Laura to exchange mutually beneficial information," he said simply. "I wanted to fulfill my end of the deal."

"Yeah, but you could've just written what you'd learned in your letter, right?" Jade pressed. "Why meet us in person? Why here? Were you hoping we'd try to steal the relic?" That was his whole thing, right? Say just enough to get everyone else to do his dirty work for him?

Ralsen closed his eyes with an inscrutable smile. "That's an interesting idea. It undeniably would have been fortunate if you'd decided to go that route. But the simpler answer is that I wanted to say it in person because I'm going to steal the relic."

What.

"The lord and his nobles are away from the manor, so I had to make it back to Reven Hollow as soon as possible, or else risk losing the opportunity," Ralsen added helpfully, as if he were discussing the weather.

Jade blinked at him, momentarily speechless. "...What?"

Vesta let out a rumbling sigh. "There was no need to tell them that, either."

 

[Jackie Cat]

Laura pushed herself out of her seat.

"You can't—!" she blurted, then swallowed her panic. No point addressing him. Had to warn the party, efficiently. "He can't help it, it's a compulsion, it's up to us to stop him, and if we don't, he's gonna use the relic!"

Malachai swivelled his head, working out what had her so panicked. She couldn't wait for him to clock it.

"He needs the relic to punch a wormhole back to his home world – but the Red Star—!"

Malachai's eyes snapped wide. "Seize him!" he barked, with all the authority he could muster.

 

[Chibi Pika]

Vesta sat up abruptly in her seat in response to Malachai's shout. "Now you've done it," she grumbled.

And without wasting a second, the Charizard spewed out a thick Smokescreen from her jaws, enveloping the table and everyone seated around it.

 

[Jackie Cat]

Malachai's throat erupted in a chittering, clicking growl.

"He's gone!" he declared, in fury. "Chase him down!"

Laura coughed and spluttered and held her breath as she tried to dart on all fours towards the nearest exit. She could pay her tab later.

 

[Phoenixsong]

This was only ever gonna end in chasing after this guy again, wasn't it.

The details of what Jade and Laura had figured out went over Leaf's head, but it didn't matter, there wasn't time for it to matter. She bolted out the door and onto the street, scanning the sky for any sign of a retreating charizard.

Blue didn't move immediately, still struggling to process the information grenade that'd just gone off in his face while the others scrambled through the smoke. (At least it didn't bother him as much anymore.) "'S off the fence, I guess," he muttered. And into something stupid. But he hurried out of the tavern after the others anyway.

 

[Tetra]

Told you! Koa resisted the petty impulse. He'd been expecting some ploy, given how Ralsen had been doing this all along. At least now the truth was out and he didn't have to keep playing nice and professional.

Lightning was already burning beneath his pelt before the smoke filled the room, and he took off after the scheming grovyle.

---

Anubis needed no command from Alpha to know what to do. Even as smoke poured out, he was diving into shadow.

He emerged outside the tavern, only to see Alpha streaking out of the tavern in a burst of speed that would have made Echo proud.

'Malachai can you hear him?'

Alphas irritated voice came through Anubis' thoughts to the others.

A lone Charizard and a Grovyle couldn't be that fast or escape that easily, surely? Drawing a deep breath, Anubis scented the air and scanned the skies; Alpha doing the same some yards away.

 

[Chibi Pika]

Jade barely had time to react before a cloud of smoke enveloped the table and the meeting dissolved into chaos, chairs being shoved back abruptly and footsteps racing for the exit. She dropped to all fours and bolted after the others, bumping into chairs and bar patrons as she went.

"Sorry!" she called out uselessly.

Cool, clean air washed over Jade once she'd cleared the threshold, and she threw a glace in all directions before spotting the telltale orange glint of a tail flame on a winged silhouette right before it plunged into the fog encircling the citadel.

Jade's ears flicked behind her as a rush of wings rapidly approached. “What is happening?" Virga demanded, landing alongside her.

“He made a break for it," Jade said breathlessly. "He's going to steal the relic."

Virga blinked at her. “And why is this any of our concern?”

“I don’t know, just keep an eye on them from the air!” Jade replied before taking off running again, in the direction of the manor.

Her mind was racing, brain still trying to process what Laura had said, some part of her wishing they could just leave this up to the local margrave and keep out of it. He wanted to use the relic to go home? That's what all of this was about? What made him so sure it could even do that? Why was he so desperate to get home? She suddenly found herself wishing she'd asked Laura more about him rather than just writing him off as the same person she'd known back home (wasn't he?) and pretending he wasn't here.

 

[Jackie Cat]

Laura panted for breath in the clean, cold air of the Reven Hollow street. Where the fuck had he gone? Didn't matter. It was fine, fine. If she couldn't chase down Ralsen, she'd just have to race him to the castle.

"Everyone to the castle!" she shouted in her mind over the network as she set off on all fours for extra speed. "He's being driven by a higher power to get home, and if he uses that relic to do it, he could blow the Red Star right open!"

The familiar presence of Betel's mind whirred into place as the network switched to a combat footing.

That is a possible risk, it is true. But then... why would Ralsen invite you all here only to take his leave in this way?

Malachai's mental voice cut in, full of strange feeling.

"He cannot help himself. It is up to us to mitigate the risk by stopping him. That is what he summoned us here for."

Laura felt the bat's shadow pass over her, and she picked up her pace, charging down the freezing cobblestones of the town towards the stronghold that protected it. Then something lit up the ground, lighting her way. Radiance? Or...

Oh? Laura is evolving!

 

[Phoenixsong]

The fog hugging the hill was almost as thick as the smokescreen had been. Hopefully the dreary weather would keep folks off the road; last thing Leaf needed was to waste time crashing into someone suddenly looming up out of the haze.

Like his other pokémon. He'll have them as backup. Or they might even be waiting nearby already.

'Keep an eye out for the rest of them,' she sent back as they charged up the hill. 'However he's doing this, they'll all be ready for something.' Couldn't afford to get caught off guard a second time.

 

[Tetra]

The world blurred as Koa charged his body and ran faster. No way was some lizard getting the best of him. As he glanced back to see where Anubis was, he saw the glow behind him, not the light of radiance, but of something else, a familiar sight from his time as a trainer. Yes!

And if she could... he could almost feel it, that distant spark inside him. A shimmering, electric promise. So close.

A buzz ran through him. His spine tingled. Just a little more. It shone so clear in his minds eye for a moment.

If he could just grasp it...

He lengthened his stride, pushing. Then reached-

Nothing.

His steps faltered against the cold cobblestones but he recovered, keeping pace, swallowing the sting of disappointment that had become oh so familiar over the past weeks. Fixing his gaze upon the manor, he pushed away all distractions. Ralsen would not get away with this.

And in the darkness, Anubis moved like a hunter, keeping pace with the others as he slipped from shadow to shadow.

 

[Chibi Pika]

Jade kept her eyes on the subtle orange glow as she charged through the fog, muscles straining to run uphill on the rain-slick grassy lawn that surrounded the vast estate. She felt a rumbling through her paws and lunged to the side right as a series of stone spires burst up from the earth in her path.

"Watch out!" she called out to the others. And then, to Virga: 'Can you see him?'

'They're still in the fog,' Virga replied, wings beating hard to carry her high above the others.

The citadel loomed over Reven Hollow from its hilltop, surrounded by evergreen treetops that poked up through the blanket of mist that clung to the grounds. Virga kept her eyes fixed downward, following the orange glow as it went...

Up ahead, a flash of teal wings cut through the fog, launching a flurry of cutting wind upward and forcing the Corvisquire to barrel to the side to avoid it.

'You'll be nearing his allies soon. Prepare yourselves.'

 

[Jackie Cat]

Her body changed, lengthening, filling out – her coin evaporated and gave way to a budding gemstone. Her gait changed too, and she hardly thought about where to put her paws. She'd let instinct do its work for her. Would this affect her ability to fight, would it spoil her rhythm in battle? No time to care about that. Right now, she was just grateful she could run faster.

​

Above her, Malachai gained on Vesta, his impeccable sonar precisely identifying his target like a noibat homing in on a gnat...

"I have you now," he growled, as he dived, cracked open his jaws, and—

Malachai used Dragon Pulse!

 

[Chibi Pika]

Vesta flared her wings, stopping just short so that the violet dragonfire struck the earth right in front of her. With the lost momentum, Malachai overtook their flight path, now hovering between the Charizard and the citadel. Ralsen gave a wordless gesture to Vesta and the pair of them landed near the base of a great stone archway at the top of the hill, beyond the fog's reach. As the clouds parted, moonlight cascaded over the grounds, glinting on moisture that clung to the grass.

"I suppose this couldn't have ended any other way, could it?"

Ralsen turned to face the other wayfarers now emerging from the fog, flickers of golden and obsidian light dancing along the edges of his wrist leaves, eyes flashing blue. He slid down from Vesta's back, claws splashing in the residual rainwater.

"I'm a ghost marching to my death, unable to follow any other path, unable to live any other life. I will return home, and I will finish what I started there.

Despite the Blacklight lacing his words, his voice was eerily calm. Impossibly so. As if the Blacklight had only granted him the clarity of purpose that he’d been missing before.

As the Grovyle walked forward, light began pouring from his clawtips, slowly spreading across his limbs before enveloping the rest of his body. Within the glow, his shape changed, limbs lengthening, foliage erupting from his tail. His footsteps continued uninterrupted even as his stance grew taller.

"If you believe that you're meant to stop me, then show me."

Spoiler

To his left, Charizard Vesta, tail flame blazing hot. To his right, Dragonite Kaida, her expression steely. From the trees surrounding the manor, Sceptile, Tyranitar, and Aggron emerged, battle stances at the ready.

"Make your will a reality."

 

[Chibi Pika]

Jade broke through the fog, paws sliding on the slick grass as she came to a stop, breathing hard from the effort of racing up the hill.

Ralsen had landed. And he’d evolved, and when he spoke his words were laced with Blacklight, and he talked as though he was already dead, and... what had happened before he'd showed up on Forlas? She threw an incredulous glance toward Laura, hoping she'd have answers, but there wasn't any time to ask, not with his team advancing on them. So she just readied herself for the inevitable battle, while keeping her eyes on Ralsen to see what he'd do.

Combat Intel: Ralsen - Class: Scout
Despite being a powerful offworlder and even having Blacklight at his reach, Ralsen’s current stance is firmly one of a Pokémon Trainer. He no doubt intends to support his team with Acts, and he probably has a lot of items in that bag. He has a lot of power he hasn’t shown, though… it’s possible he might change tactics when pushed.

 

[Jackie Cat]

Laura skidded to a stop, panting hard. In this gothic atmosphere, with the castle looming behind Ralsen, the moon full and high overhead, and her breath steaming from her mouth, it felt so cinematic she could scream. One could easily believe that Ralsen, in all his cold certainty and with his dramatic declarations, was destined to win here. Here, tonight, in this moment...

But she shook the thought aside. She wasn't about to let her morale drop because of vibes. She had her own certainty – that they were here to protect Forlas, and that they wouldn't let Ralsen punch another hole through reality. They couldn't.

"As you wish, Ralsen!" she snapped. Her eyes raked the team and settled on the sceptile – not the trainer, standing back, but his striker further forward. The telepathic net told her, Sceptile Silvan. Okay, Silvan, she thought, show me what you've got...

Combat Intel: Laura got eyes on Silvan's tactics!

Combat Intel: Silvan - Class: Assassin
Despite sharing a species with his trainer, the two couldn't have a more different vibe. Silvan isn't one for flashy dramatics and will be content to hide in the shadows, evading blows and dishing out status effects until it's time to land a devastating chain of Critical Hits.

 

[Phoenixsong]

There were eight of them and only six of Ralsen's guys, but looming up out of the fog like that they still somehow managed to make Blue feel surrounded. God damn it. He'd only figured out being an arcanine like a day ago and already they were asking him to stare down some champion team–lookin' bullshit? God damn it.

He dug his claws into the soil for a sec to ground himself. Fine. He said he'd do this, and Blue Oak was no liar. Focus on one thing at a time. Like the charizard, maybe. Vesta or whatever. Flying would be a problem for everyone but the giant noivern; think about how to neutralize that. (Think about how good it'd feel to dish out some real fucking payback.)

Nearby, Leaf stood tall and unafraid as ever. There was ice in both her eyes and her voice as she glared at Ralsen.

"You're not a ghost, you're a coward, and your destiny is shit," she spat. "Get a better one."

 

[Tetra]

Anubis melted out of the shadows from behind Ralsen and his team as Koa drew up and adopted a combat-ready stance. "You won't be finishing anything," Koa snarled. Not if the things he heard of ~~Sebastian~~ Ralsen's plan were true.

They could take him- Blue light, sickeningly familiar. Of course.

It didn't matter, he would go down all the same.

Unfazed, Anubis readied himself for the hunt, watching Alpha as he took in their prey. Know your enemy. Protect your pack. The Armored-Beast. It was a threat.

Combat Intel: Aggron

"If you believe that you're meant to stop me, then show me."

"Make your will a reality."

"My dream will be my reality!"

A flash of anger, white and hot, flared through him. He breathed and then let the buzz flow, rest in his paws instead of his chest and then harden into something else. Something more.

Conviction. He would do whatever it took to protect this world's future. To stop another disaster. Here he had power. He could make a difference.

"Your reality ends here."

 

[Chibi Pika]

Combat Intel: Vesta - Class: Mage
Vesta's fighting style has always been one of lightning speed and laser precision. Her attacks are unerringly accurate and can easily leave foes riddled with status conditions. She'll be at her strongest with her trainer's support, and seems reluctant to leave his side.

Combat Intel: Tako - Class: Warden
His good-natured confidence stems from his role as the team's impervious wall. He's primed to take a support role protecting the others from harm and probably can't deal much direct damage. But, ignoring him in favor of the strikers might be a bad idea...

Ralsen closed his eyes with a mirthless chuckle. "I think staying here on Forlas would have been far more cowardly. There was a part of me that might have wanted to. The part that might have been afraid of the death awaiting me back home."

"Why can't you?!" Jade demanded, already knowing it wouldn't help.

Ralsen didn't answer. He leaped onto Vesta's back and the pair of them took wing, flying a short ways until they stood perched atop the great stone archway that led to the citadel. On the grounds below, the rest of his team readied themselves, powering up for the fight ahead.

The Wayfarers VS Pokémon Trainer Ralsen​

Turn 0: Ralsen's Initiative and Vesta's Devotion activated!

Ralsen called out to Vesta! Rallying Cry +1 Spd
Vesta's Devotion +1 Acc

Vesta's Weather Orb! Stone Archway became Sunny.
Vesta's Tailwind!

Kaida's Quick Seed!
Kaida's Safeguard!

Silvan's Reflex Seed!
Silvan's Violent Seed!

Typhon's Cautious Seed!
Typhon's STRONG Dragon Dance!

Tako's Cautious Seed!
Tako's Reflect!