Frontier Town Founder's Square

[Chibi Pika]

Jade let out a huge exhale the moment she saw Leaf's hooves connect with Kotetsu's armor. She'd been struggling to call on more light, in case she was needed, but now the energy was dissipating around her paws. Slowly, she sank into the soothing, still-warm waters of the makeshift hot spring.

"I'm just... I'm just gonna sit here for a bit."

The fountain was a bit crowded now that the Empoleon statue lay smashed to pieces all around her. Still, a hot bath was a hot bath. And hey, they'd won. That was something she could get behind.

 

[Jackie Cat]

And hey, bonus points, no one was running to Lucien or Doc about the statue yet.

One passerby at the edge of the crowd was a familiar-looking Indeedee, who gave the spectacle a quizzical stare before moving on. Nobody was seriously injured, and that was well enough.

As for the statue – with Ignatius' reputation so thoroughly rotted, it was entirely probable that most of the cheering was down to its destruction rather than the fight. Perhaps now there'd be some other decoration for Founder's Square. Maybe it would need renaming?

"Even with an unexpected surge in power... we had enough leeway to finish things off," she muttered. "At least something goes our way even after the inevitable unexpected development..."

Mhynt soon found herself facing the strange little origami samurai, recovered from fainting and not at all worse for wear from having fallen in the fountain. Whatever the creature was made of, it wasn't quite paper.
"Cut..." said Mayu, concentrating, gesturing with one sharp appendage to the Grovyle. "I cut. ....You cut. You and I cut."

Their command of Luctemarene was truly minimal, but they were doing their very best to relate to another blade-wielding warrior.

he lifted his arm toward the sky and flashed a victory sign with his claws. “Still, hell yeah! That was a freaking epic showdown!”

"Believe that, little 'mon!" boomed Ibuki, with a clattering, chitinous laugh. He copied the victory sign with a pair of sharp claws. "What does this mean, eh? Is this done in your sagas?"

"I'm just... I'm just gonna sit here for a bit."

Kyoko joined Jade, already adequately rested from the battle, but weary in some deeper sense all the same.

"May I sit with you?" she asked, evenly. "I have not the energy for celebration... though I am glad of this outcome."

"Excellent. Feels like it's been forever since I got to have a battle just for fun. Couldn't've asked for a better one. Where've you all been, aside from just training?" she asked, looking between Kotetsu and Kyoko. "Can't've been all boring if you managed to track down Rin."

Kotetsu nodded, his armour clanking as he patted himself dry and made to bow to the Rapidash.

"We have been on a long journey into the east and south, and into the borders of Tenacinde. There we searched for Saints, hoping they would know of the Saint of Victory, whom I have been tasked to seek out. In this, we were partly successful. We met with a Saint, and learned much, although not of our quest's goal."

He pinched his bladed 'moustache' thoughtfully.

"On our travels, we encountered the ronin Bisharp whose name is Rin. She had made herself a nuisance in a small border town, appointing herself lord of the place and using her pawns to police it. This is not how things ought to be done, so... I persuaded her to step down and turn herself over to justice."

The Kingambit smiled darkly. His euphemism could hardly be less subtle.

"What of your exploits, offworlders?"

 

[Chibi Pika]

"May I sit with you?" she asked, evenly. "I have not the energy for celebration... though I am glad of this outcome."

Jade blinked. "Oh, um, sure!" she said quickly, throwing in a hasty bow a few seconds later.

"We have been on a long journey into the east and south, and into the borders of Tenacinde. There we searched for Saints, hoping they would know of the Saint of Victory, whom I have been tasked to seek out. In this, we were partly successful. We met with a Saint, and learned much, although not of our quest's goal."

Jade's ears pricked toward Kotetsu with interest. "You actually met one? A Saint?"

 

[Namohysip]

"What of your exploits, offworlders?"

"Raiding and destroying a headquarters of the Shadow threat is probably our most recent accomplishment," she said, arms crossed. "And soon, we'll be raiding another, unrelated but similar... organization." She wasn't looking forward to investigating Alexander's realm, but surely it would go... well enough, considering their prep.

"I cut. ....You cut. You and I cut."

To the Kartana, though, Mhynt smiled wryly and nodded. She raised her claw and conjured her blade again.

She was familiar with Mayu's kind from old teachings. She knew a thing or two and tried to act appropriately.

"We cut," she confirmed, holding the blade out for them to cross swords -- she had been told that this was the equivalent to shaking hands.

She also knew a few phrases. She could try it, even with Betel's translations in the way... "🕈︎︎●︎●︎ ❍︎︎⧫︎," she said--which meant, approximately, 'It's nice to meet you.'

 

[Jackie Cat]

Kotetsu nodded to Jade. "Indeed!"

He listened to Mhynt's telling with interest, saying, "Good fortune be with you! May you grow ever stronger."

Then, returning to the matter of Saints, his menacing eyes twinkling, "We met with one of the four Sword Saints, defenders of Tenacinde. We were resoundingly defeated in battle, of course – the Swords have been peerless warriors for generations – but that Saint told us of many things, such as what other divinities yet live and breathe on this continent."

His expression grew ironic.

"By all accounts, the Saint of Victory once breathed Luctemarene air, and there are no accounts of his death, nor of his divine dungeon. Yet he has not been heard of in aeons, if common wisdom is to be believed. "

Meanwhile, Mayu's faceless mouth seemed to gasp, as they reached out with a blade and 'shook' with Mhynt.

"We cut!" they repeated. "✡︎□︎◆︎ ︎︎❖︎︎ ❍︎︎⧫︎ ⬥︎︎⧫︎︎ ◻︎︎◻︎︎❒︎︎︎●︎︎︎︎⬧︎ ︎︎︎□︎❒︎︎✍︎✂︎"

Oh, I...

I do apologise.

It appears I cannot translate Mayu's native tongue. They must be from a very strange world...​

 

[Phoenixsong]

"Not even a divine dungeon?" Leaf asked, frowning. "Some of us did get to visit one a little while back—the Purifying Spirit's dungeon—even though the saint, uh. Isn't there anymore." She wondered if these "Sword Saints" had any idea what'd happened to poor Celebi, or why the Relic Stone had been so weak by the time they'd found it. "Don't suppose they know what the last anyone did hear of him was, do they? Before he disappeared?

"Cool that you actually got to battle one of 'em, though! Must've been incredible." Face me, if you're worthy. "Who was it? What were they like?"

 

[Cresselia92]

"Believe that, little 'mon!" boomed Ibuki, with a clattering, chitinous laugh. He copied the victory sign with a pair of sharp claws. "What does this mean, eh? Is this done in your sagas?"

Silver lifted slightly his head to glance at his own claws, wondering what he should reply. Was that a known sign in ancient Tojoh and Sinjoh? Well, perhaps it was, but the meaning might have changed across centuries and whatever. Besides, would revealing a relatively modern term in a less advanced world create some kind of time paradox?

“Ah, this? It’s the pisu sign, a positive symbol in my world,” he explained, holding the claws beside his face. “It means ‘might the winds of peace and victory fill our spirits with hope and understanding after this intense battle’.”

At least, that was the second-most modern meaning, which was used after the… Johto-Sinnoh War, if he remembered correctly? Anyway, he seriously doubted it was a good idea to introduce Ibuki to the way more modern concept of pisu. That probably would lead to a talk about influencers, colorful photo filters, and all those stupid trends. Better leave the group of samurai in that peaceful, blissful ignorance away from brain-melting techno trash.

Silver curved his flexible spine a bit more, almost sitting inside the warm water, and tilted his head curiously.

“And, huh. What’re some common gestures in your culture? If you don’t mind me asking, of course.” He glanced briefly at the others to listen their conversation, and his ears flicked when they heard a certain name. “…Oh. Hey. You’ve dealt with Bisharp Rin, too, huh? Yeah, I remember some gal with that name who worked with the previous mayor.” He chuckled, a proud smirk playing on his lips. “Gotta say that it was fun kicking her arse!”

 

[Jackie Cat]

Ibuki chuckled. "I like this 'peace sign', boy! My thanks."

He made to shove Silver lightly, with cameraderie, but also with enough strength to overbalance the Sneasel somewhat.

Ibuki would gladly teach Silver various gestures common in Tsainan, and perhaps would do so now, if Silver weren't attentive to the ongoing matters under discussion. [[Read: sure thing but I'm not worldbuilding that on the spot lmao]]

"Cool that you actually got to battle one of 'em, though! Must've been incredible. Who was it? What were they like?"

"We battled the Sword Saint of Stone," answered Kotetsu, with satisfaction. "She had such strength – uncomplicated martial might, each blow so powerful and unrestrained—! Even with all of us holding type advantages, we stood no chance at all against her in battle. Tactics and preparation melt under the heat of such a strong foe's spirit! Ah, but she was like this in conversation, too. No clever words or implications, just statements as firm as bedrock."

Terrakion. The samurai had fought this world's Terrakion.
"Perhaps we shall journey back to Tenacinde and fight the Sword Saints of Steel, Stem, and Stream!" laughed Kotetsu, relishing the thought of getting his ass kicked by more knightly demigods.

"Not even a divine dungeon? [...] Don't suppose they know what the last anyone did hear of him was, do they? Before he disappeared?

Kyoko shook her head. "Divine Dungeons... They either serve as a private retreat for a living legendary... or as a tomb for one that has passed from their earthly life. There are no myths of a Relic of Victory, although sometimes a novelist will invent one, of course. The last time that person was said to speak to mortals in Tsainan was centuries ago, and longer still in Luctemar. So it would seem that this deity has become a hermit. We hope to learn an older myth, the very oldest myth that anyone still teaches. Something like that might give us a clue about the Saint of Victory."

 

[Phoenixsong]

Oh, man. Leaf's eyes shone as she pictured what the fight must've been like. She was only vaguely familiar with stories about the "terrakion" Beetle tried nudging at them, but it didn't matter much. Anything with giant stone swords sounded plenty badass enough.

She tried tearing her thoughts away from the explosive clash playing in her imagination long enough to catch Kyoko's answer. "Any ideas where to look for that myth?" Maybe not, if another literal legendary didn't even know where to look, but maybe they just needed to find a source closer to home—Tenacinde didn't exactly sound like it was next door. Based on what she'd little heard from Koa, Luz probably didn't want to be bothered. But... there were other people who'd known about Luz, so what if maybe they knew about other saints? "D'you think the monks up in the mountains might be a start?"

 

[Namohysip]

Mhynt seemed to be off to the side having a quiet conversation with Mayu in the Kartana's native tongue. She prefaced it that she wasn't fluent, but had some conversational prowess in it thanks to her mentor's teachings. That, supposedly, she was one day meant to travel the stars, so to speak, and that the language would be useful.

For once, Mhynt seemed relaxed.

 

[Jackie Cat]

With the battle concluded, conversation striking up, and some of the crowd dissipating, Laura made her way over from the sidelines to join the group again. She smiled quizzically at Mhynt speaking what sounded like an ultra beast language, wondering what that said about her world. She didn't really know anything about Mhynt's background, save what she'd heard from Nathaniel...

At least she and Mayu seemed happy.

Any ideas where to look for that myth? D'you think the monks up in the mountains might be a start?"

As the samurai were considering this, the Meowth piped up.

"Well, from my visit there recently, they sure do seem to have a ton of recorded lore, and more undergoing recovery. It could be worth looking into. Other than that, though..."

Kyoko raised a paw. "You might speak to a tribal wise 'mon. They are magicians and spirit-speakers and others of that kind in many tribes, and they might know more than civilised scholars who have never set foot outside a city of thousands."

Kotetsu chuckled, and nodded in agreement. "You should visit that place... Sunway? Hm. Sunward? Sunward. Yes – that place, I have been told, is very old indeed. It may be that we travel there soon ourselves."

 

[Phoenixsong]

Sounded like they had some pretty good leads to work with, then—way better than how aimless they'd been when they'd first started out. "There've got to be clues out there somewhere," Leaf said firmly. "I know your leader thought they'd be kicking you out for good, but if you three can find one saint then you can find another. And yeah, maybe they'll know something about the Purifying Spirit, too." And any others. Were there others? Jade had mentioned a shrine to Forlas's zapdos or something like that; that was at least two saints with no replacements. That was probably bad.

Mhynt was still having a little conversation with the origami person, meanwhile. Probably? Beetle couldn't tell what they were saying, sure, but whatever it was about must've been riveting. "Where'd you guys meet Mayu, by the way? They also join up with you after leaving Tsainan, or...?"

 

[Cresselia92]

Ibuki chuckled. "I like this 'peace sign', boy! My thanks."

He made to shove Silver lightly, with cameraderie, but also with enough strength to overbalance the Sneasel somewhat.

Silver held back a soft ‘eep’ when he was shoved playfully, ending up splashing once more into the water (gosh, he was a Sneasel, not a Buizel! Water wasn’t neither his element nor type!). He shot an unamused glance at Ibuki, but that flash of annoyance didn’t last as it quickly morphed into a cheeky smirk and a chuckle of his own.

Mental note: It might be ideal to not engage Ibuki in a sumo fight. Not enough muscle mass in his tiny and slender weasel body.

“Heh! You’re welcome, big guy! Enjoy the new sign!” he exclaimed, before twisting his body in the water to make himself more comfortable. He had to admit the water felt so good, so perhaps he could stay submerged a little longer…

Kyoko shook her head. "Divine Dungeons... They either serve as a private retreat for a living legendary... or as a tomb for one that has passed from their earthly life. There are no myths of a Relic of Victory, although sometimes a novelist will invent one, of course. The last time that person was said to speak to mortals in Tsainan was centuries ago, and longer still in Luctemar. So it would seem that this deity has become a hermit. We hope to learn an older myth, the very oldest myth that anyone still teaches. Something like that might give us a clue about the Saint of Victory."

While he had only a half a guess of those so-called Saints of Stone, Steel, Stem and Stream — he vaguely recalled some pictures of some walking swordsmons in some books about myths, even if he didn’t remember the names of those legends nor whether they were Unovan or Kalosian — it was clear that the group was very much interested in this Saint of Victory. He decided to pry about that.

“Hm. And why’re you lot interested in that Saint of Victory?” He tilted his head, the feather touching the surface of the water, and pieced together whatever little hints he could get from the conversation. “I dunno whatever issue y’all had in Tsainan, but… I kinda get the impression that finding this Saint is very important to you.”

 

[Phoenixsong]

"Their lord back in Tsainan ordered them to find the saint and told them they couldn't come back without him," Leaf explained to Silver. "Except he knew nobody'd seen Victini in forever, so it's a 'sure, I'll forgive you as soon as you do this impossible task' sorta thing. Sounds like you're on track to prove him wrong, though!" she added to the samurai, grinning.

They spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the impromptu victory-slash-de-statuing-celebration, sharing more anecdotes about recent battles and discoveries and exceptional cutting jobs. Nice to finally go back to a battle like they were supposed to happen—and to bask in the camaraderie of people who really understood what that meant.

<><><><><>​

 

[Ambyssin]

Nova wasn't sure how much, if any, danger was still lurking in the Twilight Quarry now that Alexander had apparently left it behind. Still, it never hurt to properly prepare. So, he'd gotten some more supplies from the general store. And now Nova was heading through the square en route to... having to ask if Gerome's willing to lend a hand to the Wayfarers for this Alexander business.

A conversation that surely wouldn't be awkward. Nope. No way. Nuh-uh. Definitely not.

 

[canisaries]

Andre had been sitting on one of the benches, pondering this and that, wondering who the third person he would tell was. Odette's positive reaction - positive in a way - had given him a bit more confidence now that he knew that people weren't guaranteed to be disgusted with him. As much.

As Andre spotted Nova coming along, he froze. He should say hi to his friend (were they friends?), definitely, but what if he was the right choice to be his next confidant...? He hadn't wanted to tell Nova before since he valued his relationship with Nova and didn't want to destroy what they had, even if it was little, but maybe...

Andre hopped off the bench and trotted up to the chimera.

"Nova! Hi! Do you have a moment?"

Oh, maybe starting so cheerfully would make him look more like a psychopath in retrospect later... but what was done was done.

 

[Ambyssin]

Nova's crest fanned out briefly. "Oh. Hi." He adjusted his satchel. Andre hadn't been part of the group meeting about Alexander, right? And Nova wasn't sure what had gotten distributed through Betel aside from his talk with Dayle.

"If it's about Dayle, I don't have anything else to offer right now." He looked down the street. "Actually going to try and see Gerome. But I guess I have a moment."

 

[canisaries]

"No, not about Dayle," Andre said. The mention of Gerome made him feel a little worse, given that his only real interaction had been with a fake version of the tyranitar, where he'd moronically gone ahead and blabbed about Wayfarer plans before realizing that the strange way the mon was acting was not him just being quirky. "I wanted to talk to you about something related to... me. This is not a vent or anything, it's more that... I have to disclose to several Wayfarers some details about myself due to reasons that I cannot contest, but are not relevant to this conversation."

He didn't really feel like explaining to people a third time that Ridley was extorting him. Hopefully Nova wouldn't ask about it, at least before he managed to get it out.

"Are you open to hearing it? I'd say that it's heavy, but I know by now that you've seen much worse." In his... inconceivably long lifespan. Andre must have seemed like a child to him. A child that was about to reveal himself to be a serial killer.

 

[Ambyssin]

Nova blinked a few times. The rusty gears in his head managed to turn. Something related to Andre? And just... out of the blue?

"Wait a tic." He looked down at the deerling. "You and Ridley were the only ones who got booted out from the Comb, weren't you?"

He wasn't aware of anything else significant that had happened recently involving Andre. Not that Nova was actively trying to keep tabs on his teammates. He slowly sat down.

"Something happened down there, didn't it?" he said. "Dungeon reveal something you didn't want out there?"

 

[canisaries]

Andre thought about it. Yeah, all the others had managed to get through the Comb. He supposed that implied that no one else in the group had any terrible, upsetting secrets they were keeping from the others. That was, of course, good to know, but it didn't make Andre feel good to know that he was the only one bad enough to cause discord with his teammate and get them both booted out of the cave.

"Yyyyyeah," Andre said. Might as well get into it now. "Essentially Ridley found out something about me that he thought was... disturbing. He didn't want to be alone with the knowledge, and he had the courtesy of giving me the chance to be the one to tell the others and give my version of the story." Courtesy. More of a courtesy would have just been to keep quiet about it. "It's not, like, a weird sex thing or anything, in case you were worried."