Adventure Thread - Group A

No sooner has Rei done this than an alarm is sounded from the gatehouse. Hostiles approaching. It has begun.

Rei readies her sword and looks out to the wall. She turns to Holly.

"It's time to end this madness once and for all. Together."

If they are attacking now, then it's time to call in the reinforcements she managed to gather early on. She gets Kopi out.

"Kopi, get word to the blaziken tribe. The fight is happening now, we need any help we can get. And after... find all the other pokemon in Cerulean. All of you keep each other safe, please."

Kopi about looks to say something snarky, but apparently now isn't the time for that. He decides to just take the advice and fly off.

Toppo snorts and lowers his head, charging through the crowd of zombie-like creatures that seem to just pop up out of the ground. Fat lot of good the walls seem to be doing. Every now and then, a group of guardsmen has to leap aside to avoid the charging Tauros, though they've no time to complain about it. Holly and Rei flit through the streets on foot, with Holly occasionally dragging a see-through Rei through solid objects to avoid fighting. No sooner have the groups reached the Palace when they are accosted by the enemy.

Aislinn appears from nowhere and quickly drives Teams Reilly and Ziki apart, forcing them into separate battles. Clay, riding in on Red Child, has to choose which side to aid.

Rei leads/is-led-by Holly on foot, relying on her phasing to get through rather than riding a pokemon. (It also makes the 'heroes' a bit less of an overall target if they split up, as Rei would be riding a big ol dragon and that's a big ol target)

As they get close, Rei gets to find out exactly what happened to the rest of the dark branch outside of Laurel as Aislinn attacks their party right as they were about to meet up again. Clay hesitates for a moment, but when he goes off to help Tiki, Rei is resolved.

You three keep each other alive.

Rei draws her sword and readies her new tower shield. They are going to have to fight their way in.

After the literal toughest battle of their lives, the party and Xerneas are finally able to defeat the empowered D'Mara. Her Mega Absol combined with her own god-like powers made it so the two of them were the last ones standing. Xerneas was hanging in there, but until Zoey's Deino cleared a path for Rei, it was all the Life-Giver could do just to hold its ground against the seemingly unstoppable Yveltal Form D'Mara. When the din of combat finally fades, and the dust has settled, there is a choice to be made. Kill D'Mara, or let her live (but strip her of power)?

Rei, of course, wants to just kill her and get it over with. Holly is in agreement.

Xerneas would rather D'Mara live, but offers the third option of trying to make D'Mara act responsibly with her newfound powers. None of the party (except Zoey) is even remotely comfortable with this option.

Zoey just wants her Mom back. She refuses to allow others to kill her just because she made some bad choices. Zoey and ZsaZsa are in bad shape, but they'll fight Rei/Holly over it if they have to! Tiki, of course, is right there with her.

The party is divided evenly on the subject, but Xerneas' own vote to spare her overall seals the deal. D'Mara is spared. However, whether or not she keeps her powers is another matter entirely. No sooner has the discussion begun than something new happens. A strange, white, goat-like creature appears from nowhere, its presence nearly suffocating in its power. Xerneas bows before this new creature, which names itself 'Arceus', the God of Gods and the one who is supposed to be in charge of all the other Legendary Pokemon/Gods.

Apparently, it usually allows them to run things on their own. It shouldn't need to intervene like this. However, when word finally reached it of D'Mara's actions, her usurping of the powers of Death, it realized it had to step in and put an end to this. Arceus is quite cross with humanity and the other Legends for allowing this to happen. Surely there were signs. Surely something could have been done to prevent this catastrophe. Well, even so what's done is done. Actions were taken, D'Mara has fallen, and now it's time to return Death to its rightful place.

With abilities so far beyond the ken of mortals, Arceus separates D'Mara from Yveltal, making them two separate beings once again. While she no longer has access to the full power of Yveltal, D'Mara remains changed somewhat by her experience with it (she would qualify as Branded). After this, Arceus and the Mortality Duo depart. Arceus returning to wherever it is that it came from and Xerneas/Yveltal returning to their far-flung origin points.

With that finally settled, Sorra and a troupe of elite guardsmen come bursting into the Throne Room, still geared for battle. When the events of the past few minutes are explained to her, and the fate of the Queen revealed, Sorra responds with slightly better news. There were a great many casualties within Celadon, but far fewer than were expected. Perhaps Xerneas was given permission to revive some that were too young to die yet, as many of those presumed killed by the endless tide of deathless monsters were children and young adults. That doesn't seem like D'Mara's style, despite her seeming insanity, so perhaps she didn't have as much control over those things as it seemed. Regardless, early reports also indicate that other locations were indeed hit, though not nearly as hard. Reports from Ashandra and Naida at the Guild indicate that their defenses held, and victory was claimed. Civilian casualties were minimal, and Guild casualties were only slightly higher. (The party suspects that the Guild having Victini on their side greatly helped.) Cerulean was mostly untouched by the conflict, as everyone weathered the battle within the tunnels of Mt. Moon, protected by their Guardian.

Several hours later, after the cleanup has gotten started and the bodies of those slain in battle are prepared for their final journey, Sorra pulls Holly and Rei aside. She informs them that Maya, her (now) fellow Knight discovered some papers written by the late Queen. Specifically of interest is her family tree and events that occurred approximately sixteen years ago. To make a long story short, the Queen believed that her and her family's lives were in danger from outside sources. So, she sent her only child away to live with a somewhat-estranged, relatively unknown family member. This person's name was Marissa, and she was exiled only two years prior to these events for unrelated things. She apparently chose to live a life of solitude within Lavender Swamp. Did we mention that the Queen's only child was named 'Hannah' and was bonded to a very unique Honedge? Sorra looks pointedly at the red Honedge that has always been with Holly for as long as anyone can remember. Yeah, turns out Holly is royalty. Who would've thunk it?

Holly, of course, outright refuses to even attempt to assume the throne, bloodlines be damned. Not only is she woefully under-prepared for such a task as ruling a nation (even if it only seems to consist of 3 proper cities), she also has no interest in such. Sorra backtracks quickly, saying she was not suggesting that Holly assume the throne. Merely offering her information about her lineage. Well, that, and the ability to live in the palace if she so desires; which she does not. Holly would much rather stay far away from civilization and all its problems, though she supposes she could be persuaded to stay nearby....glances at Rei meaningfully.

After some time, those who left the Guild begin to return. Including a few semi-familiar faces. Divini Monteblanc and Sano return to the Guild alive and well. Even Laurel Regal returns. Laurel knows it was Rei who saved her, and wants so desperately to thank her in any way possible. Sure, Xerneas is the one that healed her, but only because Rei was able to win in the first place. Those who died in battle in Celadon and other places are also revived, with the exception of the late Queen. It would seem that her death is Arceus' "punishment" for humanity. She was their leader, and the closest to D'Mara all this time, thus she was ostensibly in the best position to prevent all of this. The fact that there is no clear line of succession (Holly's presence notwithstanding), only makes it all the better.

Tiki: Endgame

It was a damn miracle that Tiki, and Co. defeated D’Mara. As they stood over their defeated foe, Tiki knew that Zoey was going to defend her mom. As her SO, Tiki stood by her. She didn’t like D’mara, and didn’t care for her. But, she would stand by Zoey’s side no matter what. Without any of her pokemon knocked out, she had a full team ready to beat down the duo of her disdain. (Well, more Holly anyways ) The interruption of the great Arceus was enough to have them back off from a fight. Zoey was happy to at least have her mom back as she was now confined to her home. Tiki wasn’t sure about just letting her stay unsecured, but Zoey, and herself could handle the disgraced D’mara if the need ever arised.



As time moved forward, things returned to normal, and peace seemed to return to the guild. Tiki was extremely happy to have Divini, and Sano, back. She welcomed them home with crushing hugs, and ugly crying. She would spend time with them, and Miss G of course as she helped her proud Normal Branch. Eventually, not to long after things calmed down, Tiki would resign from the Guild. With some more ugly crying, she wished her branch, friends, and Miss G goodbye despite only being one town over in Celadon. Tiki goes into her career as a performer full throttle! Tiki’s fame skyrockets as she provides an escape for the people of the castle town. Through her performances, she is able to ease the citizen’s minds, and become a household name throughout the area. Zoey even gets in on the fun! She’s pretty smart, and acts as Tiki’s manager. As manager, she sets up gigs all over the region, and together they bring joy and entertainment for all! Being a demi god also wasn’t too bad either. She would help in small ways by doing some things for Suicune. Tiki could purify water (slowly ), and she always looking out for others that needed help. Her blessings were trusted to her, and she always made sure to live up to these important expectations. Especially when Arceus was miffed with humans. She had to be an example of the good humans were.



Tiki and Zoey even find time to get married! Le Gasp! Tiki just popped the question out of the blue one day. Tiki wasn’t sure what the whole marriage thing meant, but she did like the ideas of it. Wearing pretty dresses, pretty jewelry, pledging her undying devotion, and spending her life with Zoey forever and ever! They are married on the beach of Cerulean, and is an absolutely beautiful ceremony. Tiki even gets to spend time with many babies! She is one to love Clay’s baby, and baby totodiles of course. This also marks the end of Tiki’s major cynicism. Having Zoey in her life pulls her back around to being the fun loving Tiki of old! Their union also brings Tiki parents around to Cerulean. Tiki is overjoyed to see them, and introduce her new wife! She even gets to perform with her entire former troupe! The party, and festivities in Cerulean on that day are legendary with stories of what happened being passed down for generations. That also meant Tiki would have to visit her new in-law, D’Mara much more. Whether they liked it, or not, they were family now. Tiki would do her best to have a good relationship with D’Mara for Zoey’s sake.



Tiki now spends her days in Celadon Castle Town, with Zoey, with their pokemon, and still living in their modest home. They never upgraded as it was a shorter walk to D’Mara’s. Tiki can be seen once almost every week, and once a month travels out and about to surrounding towns and villages. She also pops into the guild from time to time. To greet friends, fans, and spend time with Ms G. Tiki wasn’t Ms G’s pupil anymore, so she was free to be friends! Yay! The normal branch was also lucky when they received stealth performances from Tiki as well! In about a year, Tiki’s life was a bit of a roller coaster, but she came out of it a better/happier person. But what she felt was most important wasn’t that she loved Zoey, that she was loved by others...It was that she finally remembered to love herself.