Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Journey Home
They had come to the first buildings marking the edge of Valadares, their dark red bricks sharply contrasted against the white, snowy landscape. The city lay before them, no longer a dangerous enemy bulwark and the roost of the Shadow, but a city as peaceful and free as any other in Fournaria.
"Well, girls," Boreas said, as he and Aqua stopped walking, "it's time for us to say goodbye."
Sofia turned as if she'd been stung by a bee. "Wh-what? Now? Where are you going?"
"Back to Unova," Boreas said. "We decided a while ago that we'd stick around until Diego was defeated, no longer."
"B-but don't you want to stay? Fournaria is free again, you can stay here andand won't need to worry about fighting, and it'll be fun, and-"
"Sofia," Aqua said, "we want to go back to our home. Well, the closest we've got anyway."
"Besides," Boreas said, "we've been in Fournaria for almost a year already."
"Ten months," Sofia muttered, looking at her feet.
"Ten months. It's a lot longer than we've ever stayed in a single place. We'd be travelling on even if we weren't going back to Unova. I don't think we'll stay there forever either. After a while, I just get this burning desire to go somewhere else, to see what's over the horizon, you see; always have."
"How do you know we've won?" Catarina asked. "If you don't come with us into Valadares, you don't know if Tacito's buddies didn't retake it. Maybe the revolution failed after all."
Boreas grinned wryly. "I think I'll just have faith in the pokémon of Fournaria."
"You know," Sofia said, a twinkle in her green eyes, "you could stay just a little longer. I'll bet you'd be welcomed in Valadares as heroes, with a big party in your honour, a delicious feast, etcetera."
"We'll pass," Boreas said.
"C'mon," Catarina said, "I already missed the victory parties because I came along with you. Least you can do is help us start a new one."
"Alright," Aqua said, "we can wait one more day."
"But love," Boreas said, "I don't want to..."
"They just want to thank us, love. Besides, it's cold today. I could do with a warm drink and a meal."
"Alright, fine."
"Yaaay!" Sofia cheered.
Boreas rolled his eyes. "I'll come into the city, but only if we agree not make too much of a fuss. I'm fine with having a small party, but we don't need to let the whole city know we're here. They'll put us into some kind of ceremony, you know."
"Agreed," Aqua said, as the four of them headed into town, "believe me, I'm not looking for that either.
The parties were over, it was business as usual in Valadares. Except business as usual hadn't looked like this in months. No more pokémon living on the street, no-one was afraid to even look at gatherings, no shouty posters, and no black scarves. The extravagantly large homes and businesses built by Tacito were being turned into multiple smaller homes to allow everyone a place to live in this cold winter. The pokémon looked cautiously happy, as if they still weren't quite able to believe the nightmare was over.
Something green shot out of a side road and collided with Boreas, knocking him down. "Oy, look out where you're going, you stupid kid! Have some respect for your elders, and- Hey, don't I know you? Boreas!"
As Boreas got up, he found himself looking at an old Gogoat. His brain blanked for a moment, until he recalled him as one of the Diamarinan refugees. "Oh, it's you. Um... Wolfgang, wasn't it?"
"That's me!" Wolfgang said. "I heard about you and your revolution, boy! What took you so long? Back in the old days, we wouldn't have let Tacito boss us around for half a year first!"
"Right," Boreas said, "very good of you. Anyway, it was nice seeing you ag-"
"Oh, hey, was it you stopping the freak weather too? Y'know, they said it was Groudon causing that, and that you were after Tacito, and I can put two and two together, and-"
"Yeah, it was us. Now, if you'll excuse-"
"I knew it! Didn't I tell you? I told you, didn't I?"
Boreas frowned. "I'm... Sure you did?"
"I knew it! I told you: you'll go far some day, boy. Hey, everyone, these pokémon brought down Tacito and then stopped him destroying the world, and I showed 'em how!"
"So much for not making a fuss..." Aqua said.
–
An impromptu party had started up on the main square within a few minutes of Wolfgang recognising Boreas. Everyone wanted to talk to Boreas, Aqua, Sofia, and Catarina, or offer them food or drink, or ask questions of them. They submitted themselves to it, figuring there was no way back, so they might as well have as much fun as possible. The pokémon of New Praeclara had had preciously little to celebrate lately, so they grabbed every chance with both hands.
Boreas spotted Obnard on the edge of the crowd and quickly excused himself, moving through the crowd rapidly and only briefly engaging pokémon in conversations until he reached Obnard. The Krokorok was slurping from a fizzy, brown drink. "Did you kill him?" he asked.
"Good afternoon to you too," Boreas said. "Yes, I did."
"Pity. I had some money on you being too weak to do it. But, congrats!" Obnard stuck out his hand, but Boreas didn't take it. "You're stronger than I thought."
"I don't get you, Obnard," Boreas said. "You're always advocating killing as a solution, you act like it's a mark of strength. And yet you claim you turned your back on the Shadow because he ordered you to kill the pokémon in Capinha."
Obnard rolled his eyes. "Say you wanna build a house for someone. So you take a hammer. You don't go knocking holes in the walls with it just because you can, but that doesn't mean you don't use it. You'd be an idiot to get all whiny about having to hammer down some nails. It's the same with death. Used properly, it's just a tool, y'know."
Boreas didn't want to get into a moral discussion. At this point, he could hardly claim the high ground anyway. "If you say so. But I'd like you to take a message from me to your buddies: they're not going to use that tool again."
Obnard sipped his drink with an impassive face. "Why would they? The Shadow's dead, isn't he?"
"Yes, he is. But let's not forget your buddies supported him for quite a while. They may not have agreed with his methods, but they mostly agreed with his goals. Some of them might find themselves disappointed with the reversal of the changes he made. Maybe they'll be tempted to try and pick up their hammer again, start hitting some nails. Maybe it would interest them to know I made a list of their identities while we were all working together. Just in case I forgot their names, you know, I have a terrible memory."
Obnard sipped his drink. "Did you, now?"
Boreas nodded. "I'm afraid Stewart somehow got a hold of it, though. Knowing him, he'll have made several copies and distributed them to his colleagues, just in case trouble arises and they need to find you. That man really can be awfully paranoid. But I don't suppose he'll ever need that list."
"No," Obnard said, finishing his drink, "I don't suppose he will. Would you excuse me? I need to have a talk with someone."
Boreas grinned. "Of course."
Aqua raised a questioning eyebrow as Boreas returned through the happy crowd. "Had a nice chat?"
"Oh yeah," Boreas said, "just saying goodbye to Obnard, making clear he - What is that?"
Sofia had rejoined them with a bright blue drink. She was blowing bubbles in it through a crazy straw, utterly enchanted. She looked up, and then peered into her drink curiously. "Hmm? Well... It's... It's blue."
"Is it?" Aqua asked.
"Yeah. It tastes pretty good, though, and - Hi, Pedro! Long time no see!"
The Snorunt looked rather grumpy as he joined them, most of the crowd taller than him. "Hi. Where's Catarina?"
"She's dancing with a Lucario over there," Sofia said. "Oh, never mind, here she is."
"Hey, sis!" Pedro called.
"Pedro!" As Catarina came back their way, a little flustered, she made to hug her brother, but he rebuffed her.
"You left me behind! I missed the whole adventure!"
Catarina chuckled. "You had pneumonia, we could hardly drag you around."
"It wasn't that bad..."
Catarina stuck out her tongue. "If it wasn't, then why didn't you just come after us yourself?"
"Because I stopped him, child."
Sofia ran for the old Weavile as she saw him, giving him a tight hug. "Grandfather!"
"Oof, child be a little more gentle to an old man, hmm? My bones aren't quite as sturdy as they used to be."
Sofia let go of him, beaming. "Sorry, grandfather. How are you?"
"Oh, I've been fine, child. Now, what about you, hmm? What have you been up to? I've been hearing all sorts of stories about a winged Kirlia leading the revolution!"
Sofia blushed. "I-I just gave it a little push, that's all, grandfather."
"And where have you been since? I've been very worried about you! And what happened to your hair, hmm?"
Sofia giggled. "It's a long story, b-but I'll try to explain it all."
Boreas was starting to walk away, looking for a drink himself, when the doctor's walking stick softly touched his shoulder. "Just one moment, please, young man."
Boreas sighed and turned. "Look, I'm sorry I let your great-granddaughters put themselves in danger."
The Weavile chuckled. "Hmm? No, it's not about that at all. I wanted to thank you."
"Thank me?"
"Yes, for everything you've done for Fournaria and my family. I do believe my great-granddaughters, despite, or perhaps because of, the danger they have found themselves in, have both grown a lot."
"Just them?" Pedro muttered.
Catarina smirked. "Yeah, you're still just a little brat."
"On the other hand," the doctor said, "perhaps that is just wishful thinking, hmm? In any case, I owe you a debt of gratitude for all you've done."
"Well, it was hardly all me. Don't forget to thank Aqua. Or Sofia, for that matter; I don't think we'd have won if it wasn't for her."
Sofia blushed and giggled, blowing some bubbles into her drink. "I didn't do that much..."
Boreas smiled. "Nonsense. Anyway, I'll leave you lot to catch up together; I'm going to try and find a drink."
Boreas didn't move very fast, as just about everyone wanted to have a chat with him. He engaged them in polite, but brief conversation, generally deflecting the uncomfortable questions about what happened to the shadow.
"Ah, there you are," a stiff voice said.
"Hi, what- Colonel Stewart!" Boreas said. "How are you?"
"Brigadier Stewart once again, actually," the Bisharp said with a proud smile, "but just between you and me: it might be Major General Stewart soon."
"You deserve it," Boreas said. "If you hadn't given up your pig-headedness, we would never have got this revolution started."
"Hmm, quite," the brigadier said. "What about the Shadow?"
"Dead," Boreas said.
"Good. You can tell me the whole story later."
"Right," Boreas said, "later. How have you been?"
"Extremely busy organising a nation of celebrating revolutionaries into something resembling an orderly state once more. In between, organising the upcoming elections and the move of the capital back to Praeclara."
"That seems a bit wasteful," Boreas said. "Couldn't Valadares just stay the capital for now?"
The Bisharp shook his head. "Too many bad memories, you see. The association with Tacito's regime is too strong. A return to Praeclara is a powerful symbolic move, if nothing else. And it will presumably result in more work being put into the city's restoration."
"That's something at least."
"Indeed. Now, if you will excuse me, I'm afraid I have got more work to do. No time to party."
As the Bisharp started walking away, Boreas followed him. "Brigadier?"
"Yes?"
"Well, I feel like you might be the best person to talk to, seeing as you're probably going to be prime minister and all-"
"Actually, I have had more than enough of governing already. I'm not running for election. I shall be returning to the constabulary."
"Oh. Well, I suppose you're still a good person to talk to, since your voice will probably carry a lot of weight. Here's the thing... They're probably going to make a statue of us."
The Bisharp raised an eyebrow, his face blank otherwise.
"I'm just guessing, not asking! It's not specifically about statues anyway, more about how people will remember things in general, but let's stick with statues for now. What I wanted to ask is: if they build a statue... Please make sure they don't put me in it. Or if they have to, put me somewhere at the side, not prominently in the middle like this was all my doing. I just – look, what I'm trying to say is: pokémon are going to tell stories, and maybe they'll talk about me like I was some conquering hero. But that's not really what happened. There were so many other pokémon involved, some of them more important than me, and I don't like the idea of them being forgotten. Especially Larissa. She gave her life to stop Diego, and if she hadn't, his rule would've been far, far worse than it was, but because she died before the revolution started, I think she might get forgotten. Just... Try to make sure that doesn't happen. Sofia can tell you everything about that part of the story."
The brigadier nodded. "I will do my best. She will not be forgotten when... The statues are created."
"Thank you."
"In any case," he said, "you'll have plenty of opportunity to tell the world about her yourself in your various acceptance speeches."
"Ac... ceptance speeches?"
"For the various honours that will undoubtedly be bestowed upon you. Did you not expect Fournaria to reward you for your services? Naturally, it will be for the new government to decide, but once they have been elected, I have little doubt they will."
Boreas strained a smile. "Ah, of course. Well, why don't we talk about it later, then? I'll let you get back to work now."
–
Boreas and Aqua got up well before the Sun the next day, sneaking out of the former emperor's manor, where they had been given a room for the night. Neither of them was looking forward to a lot of ceremony and goodbyes, so it was easier to just leave. The party would have to suffice as a goodbye. The city was still asleep, no-one noticing them in the bitter cold pre-dawn darkness. The occasional tiny snowflake drifted down slowly, and-
"Wait up, you guys!" A small, backpacked figure running after them disturbed the night's peace.
"Sofia?"
She caught up, panting a bit, her breath forming white clouds of steam. "Wow, I didn't expect you to leave this early! The Sun isn't even up. Of course, it's winter, and- anyway, to make a short story shorter: here I am. Where do we go?"
"We?" Boreas said.
Sofia nodded and grinned. "We. I already told grandfather yesterday, don't worry."
"How'd you know we'd leave this morning?" Aqua asked.
Sofia shrugged. "Just that I know you, and I know you're eager to leave and avoid all the pomp. Also, I know you want to go back to your friends, and then on to more adventure, which is really understandable, b-because there's so much to see out there and-" she took a breath. "Anyway, I'm coming with you."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeyeyeye, I want to say goodbye to you two properly. It wouldn't be right otherwise, after so long, would it? I'm seeing you off to your boat."
Boreas and Aqua exchanged a glance. "Alright," Boreas said. "That'll be nice. One final journey together."
–
They travelled in the direction of Praeclara, through the central flatlands of Fournaria, but didn't go to the city itself. When they were near, they left the main road and instead took a path up into the mountains, the very same one they'd come down from, all those months ago.
As they got higher up, the trees eventually parted and showed a grand view of the city below. The winter Sun shone brightly on the sea and the city's many hills. The rebuilt parts of Praeclara, beautiful, diverse, and green, coruscated amidst the vast expanse of ruins. But even in the ruins, there was life. The signs of restoration and rebuilding were everywhere, and it was likely to get even busier when spring came.
Sofia smiled as she looked over it. "We're going to live there again, you know. Grandfather, Catarina, Pedro, and me, I mean."
"Really?" Aqua asked.
She nodded. "The university's being rebuilt already, you can see it over there. I guess we can thank the Shadow for kidnapping half the scientists before destroying the city. Grandfather and his colleagues have b-been busy over the past few months. I'll be able to continue my studies, and grandfather can return to work."
"That's great news," Boreas said.
Sofia smiled. "It is! I thought we'd probably end up living in Valadares, you know. Which I don't think I would've liked... I've got some bad memories of the place. But my cousins' old home was demolished, so none of us really have that much to go back to anyway."
They left onto the snow-covered plateau together, travelling into the mountains, covering the plateau quickly, without a whole stream of refugees slowing them down. Soon enough, they descended back into the valley, following it against the river's rapid current. They passed the forest where Boreas and Aqua had first met Sofia after her run-in with Larissa. It was odd for Boreas to look at the Kirlia now and recall how suspicious, and then dismissive he'd been of her.
As they continued their journey, they reached the lake that had once been Diamarina. Other than a piece of flotsam that lay on the lake's shore, nothing of the town was still visible; it was an ordinary mountain lake at the bottom of a great waterfall as far as anyone would've guessed. They climbed a path up onto the mountain, getting to the old river bed, where Boreas and Aqua had spotted the town under attack and hatched a hasty plan to help it out.
And now came the final leg of their journey, as they went through tall mountains to the coast. Boreas and Aqua had been all alone among these uninhabited peaks the first time, hadn't met anyone until Diamarina. At last they could hear the smooth, low, almost hissing sounds of the sea. The boat lay on a lonely, rocky beach at the foot of a steep chalk cliff, abandoned and snowed under. "Is that how you came here?" Sofia asked.
"Hey," Boreas said, "it's just looking like that because we left it lying about longer than expected."
"Speaking of," Aqua said, "we should probably check it before we set sail."
"Ooh!" Sofia said. "I'll help you!"
With the three of them, they checked the boat and readied it, making it seaworthy once more. As usual, Sofia's tools came in very useful. When they were done, Aqua let the sea wash up onto the rocky beach, lift up the boat, and gently take it out to sea. Boreas' heart soared, seeing it bob up and down on the cold waves.
"Well, Sofia," Aqua said, "I suppose this is goodbye."
Sofia nodded tremulously, a little startled, and gave Aqua a hug. "I-I'll miss you," she said, tears in her eyes.
Boreas smiled as Sofia let go of Aqua and turned to him. "Actually, Sofia, would you like to come with us?"
Sofia almost tripped over her own feet. "C-come with you?"
Boreas shrugged. "If you want."
"I... I thought I did," she said.
"I know," Boreas said. "It's why you went with us this far, isn't it?"
"Well, not just that. I thought maybe I wanted to come with you, b-but I also just wanted to say goodbye, andand well, I wanted to see the world, but-" she took a deep breath. "I-I don't think I'll come with you. I should stay. I want to stay."
"Are you sure?" Boreas asked.
"N-no. There's so much to see out there, b-but there's also so much to see back home." A smile came to her face. "I'm a scientist. I don't need to travel the world to discover it. I mean, I can. And I've been thinking, I can still travel, even if it's not with you. If I want to see what's out there a few years from now, I still can."
"Alright," Boreas said. "It's a shame, it would've been fun."
"It would!" Sofia said, as she gave Boreas a hug. "It really would. Say hi to your friends from me, won't you?"
"Of course we will," Boreas said, letting her go and walking into frigid sea, climbing aboard the boat. Aqua was already inside, rubbing her cold feet. Boreas smiled back at the Kirlia on the beach as the boat came in motion. "Well, Sofia, go on and be a fantastic scientist."
"I will! Bye!" The wind caught their sails, and as they moved into the calm ocean, the tiny figure waving them goodbye enthusiastically on the beach began to disappear, become indistinguishable from the great cliffs. Boreas smiled wistfully as their final view of Fournaria sank below the horizon. "You know, I really think I'll miss that place."
–
The months passed as Fournaria slowly recovered from the time of the Shadow. Sofia was happy in her new home in Praeclara, with her family. The time she'd spent with Larissa was now the blissful memory it should have been from the start, only a little bit of pain mixed in. She still wished every day that she could've had more time with her, that things had gone differently... But she could live with it. She studied at day, learning new things about the very workings of the universe, and soon she'd graduate and officially be a scientist. During weekends and when she had free time, she often hung out with her cousins, who were gathering new band members.
And yet, even though her heart had moved on, her dreams lingered in the past. She still regularly saw Larissa in her dreams; often in happy ones, but sometimes they were horrible nightmares. One night, she was flying in her ornithopter when she noticed the landscape that stretched out below her was the valley at the foot of mt. Jund. The Sun shone high overhead, its summery heat filling the green vale. Suddenly, she saw something that stood out: a small, far too thin figure, dark circles beneath her large, tormented eyes as she worked a seismograph she'd cobbled together herself. From her vantage point in the sky, Sofia could see the sound waves travel through the transparent Earth, hitting chambers and corridors and bouncing back to the seismograph. She could see the long, maze-like tunnels, Groudon's great room, and the small, disconnected cube where Boreas was imprisoned.
But she saw something else, something she hadn't thought of at the time. She saw the 'shadow' cast by the hideout, the way the rooms absorbed the sound waves, preventing them from travelling on. She saw parts of the hideout that were never hit by the sound waves, hidden behind other parts. And there, she saw another lone cube of air, buried deep beneath the Earth, not connected to any part of the hideout, but hidden from the seismograph by it. And in there, a Typhlosion sat on her own, buried alive, softly calling Sofia's name.
Sofia awoke with a shock, thoughts racing through her mind. She looked at the picture of two smiling, cuddling girls on her nightstand. There was one last possibility she hadn't thought of, one last chance. As the emotions of the dream started to disappear, she recognised it was a longshot, that it was almost certainly just a stupid dream. But she had to check; she had nothing to lose with it, and even if she didn't find any more mysterious empty rooms, it'd at least help her move on.
–
They moored the boat near the mouth of the river, within sight of Castelia City's skyline. Boreas gave Aqua a hug as she tensed a bit, seeing the skyscrapers and the great supports of Skyarrow Bridge. She never had liked humans and their cities much, and something about Castelia, even from this distance, clearly showed it was inhabited by humans, not pokémon. Perhaps it was the similarity of the buildings, which were created for a single species rather than 721.
Unova had changed. It took Boreas and Aqua a while to realise; after having spent so many months in Fournaria, it was easy to overlook it, but there were pokémon everywhere. That had always been the case, but now some of the pokémon didn't belong to any trainer. As they rode the train to Crimson Village, their impression of change was reinforced. It wasn't the first time they'd travelled by train without a trainer, but a lot of humans had looked at them a bit oddly in the past when they had done so, while now it seemed to be pretty unremarkable.
The train passed quickly through the desert, and stopped in Nimbasa for a while, the great city's vast expanses passing by outside. A little stab of pain went through Boreas' tail, followed by a stab of guilt in his heart. He took a deep breath, trying to forget Diego. The Zoroark wasn't worth feeling guilt over. He was nevertheless glad when the train left the city and moved through thick forests full of blossoming trees.
Boreas' heart lifted and Aqua cuddled him as the train crossed the great, metal structure of the Driftveil drawbridge, the river gleaming in the sunlight. There, on that dock, was where they had left Unova. The happy memories of his first meeting with Aqua were enough to drive away most of the bad ones that tried to start gnawing at him as the train passed Driftveil and crossed the hilly country to its north, passing by a great lake.
They passed Mistralton, great fields of tall grass and other plants stretching out everywhere. Pollen hung thick in the air and flowers grew everywhere. The train pulled into the station of a small village with bright red rooftops, and Boreas and Aqua got out. Boreas felt an almost floaty sensation, as if his feet weren't really touching the ground as he walked through Crimson Village.
"Boreas, look," Aqua said, picking up a newspaper that lay half-crumpled on the ground.
"'Champion Cheren Places Second In World Championship'" Boreas read. Below the title was a picture of a neatly-dressed human in his twenties smiling nervously at the camera, surrounded by his pokémon. Boreas' eye was drawn by the proudly grinning Houndoom, and the ruffled, grey-feathered Honchkrow sitting on his shoulder, affectionately giving his ear a nibble. Boreas' grin almost matched Lucius' in the paper.
They walked on, out of the village and over a stone path surrounded by tall grasses. After a while, they got to a pompous mansion. Boreas' heart skipped a beat when the path turned a corner and they were suddenly faced with a young Vileplume.
"A good day to you," she spoke, her high-pitched voice oddly eloquent. "What brings you to the land of the most noble house of Equinox?"
"Toxica?!" Boreas said. "Wh-what happened to your accent?!"
The Vileplume and Aqua both burst out in a fit of laughter. "I don't think that's Toxica, love," Aqua said.
Blushing with shame, Boreas realised she was right. His memory was just playing tricks on him. "Uh... Sorry. I, er, mistook you for a friend of mine."
Once she'd regained her composure, the Vileplume spoke again. "My name is Capella of the house of Equinox. Hihi, er, I think mum might consider your mistake a compliment."
"Mum?!" Aqua said. "Wait, you're Toxica's daughter?"
Capella nodded. "Indeed I am. My descendance from lord Equinox is patrilateral. I am-" suddenly, her eyes grew wide as she looked from Boreas to Aqua. "Hang on! Are you by any chance... Boreas and Aqua?"
"That's us."
She clutched her flower with her hands. "Moltres' toenails, mum and dad told me so much about you! Oh, it's so good to meet you at last!"
"It's mutual. Can you take us to them?"
"Of course, of course!" Capella said. "Come, follow me. They don't live in our ancestral home any more, they have their own cottage, but it's not that far."
They followed Capella, back off the path, through the tall grass as she rambled excitedly. After a few minutes, the grass cleared to show a wooden cottage amid a large, beautifully kept, flowery garden. "Mum! Dad!" Capella called. "You've got visitors! Look who I brought?"
Boreas and Aqua froze when the door opened, unable to take another step. A Serperior slithered out, as an older Vileplume popped up from among the flowers in the back. "Who is it?" Toxica said. Her eyes grew large in recognition. "B-blimey!"
Octa, Toxica, Boreas, and Aqua, were all stunned silent as they looked at their old friends again. Boreas felt tears begin to sting in his eyes. "My dear fellow," Octa whispered.
"Well," Boreas said, "we're back."
The End.
–
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Thank you very much for reading The Glaceon and the Shadow! I'm now writing a story called Dragondance, which you can find at fictionpress dot com/s/3254766/1/Dragondance. It's a story set in a world ruled by dragonriders who ride colourful, feathery dragons. If you enjoyed The Glaceon and the Shadow, I hope you'll give it a read and let me know what you think! Anyway, now we're getting to the 'making of' The Glaceon and the Shadow, so if you have no interest in the story behind the story, you can skip the rest of this annotation.
I had ideas for sequels throughout The Surprising Adventures. In fact, fairly early, I considered making it a trilogy. This was well before I'd decided how I was going to end that story, so I thought I was going to keep the ending similar to the game's ending. The sequel would've taken place in eastern Unova and involved Black's pokémon trying to stop the Seven Sages on some nefarious plan B. The third part would've featured an old Boreas in a continent where only pokémon live, and I don't want to tell too much about it, because I think I could use some of its plot elements in future stories. The 'Boreas being buried alive underground' thing came from there; except he would've been stuck there for years and years. It was not going to be a very jolly story.
As I got closer to the end, those sequel ideas disappeared as I realised it was better to make a good ending to the story than to keep the game's ending and write an entire sequel just for a proper ending. I was also starting to feel like most characters had run their proper course and I wasn't up for doing another story with them. However, I still included a few references to a continent of only pokémon, both because it seemed like a cool myth and because I knew I'd want to set any sequel in such a continent. The reason for that is that the interaction with humans was one of the Surprising Adventures' weakest points. The fact that most characters couldn't interact with Boreas, only with Black, hurt the story a lot. (Although the opportunity to look at humans through a pokémon's eyes was a lot of fun and provided a lot of good things about the Surprising Adventures, I feel like it did more harm than good overall)
In May 2013, the Surprising Adventures ended, and I didn't think of a sequel until March 2014, when I woke up with an idea for a scene in my mind. I may have dreamt of it, but I'm not sure. All I know is, I suddenly had an idea for how another meeting between Diego and Boreas might play out. I knew Diego's death scene from the Surprising Adventures hadn't been popular with the readers, and in that one morning, I thought of how he might survive, maimed and furious, and come up with a new plan to gain his precious power in Fournaria. (I hadn't thought of the name Fournaria yet, but it sounds better to just call it that than saying 'the continent with only pokémon' every time) I even thought of the conversation ending with Diego having Boreas buried alive. Yes, this idea eventually turned into their confrontation in chapter 16. (Although bits of it got worked into chapter 12 instead)
The idea for the scene made me very excited, and I really thought of starting the sequel then. But I realised I only had a scene, Boreas, Aqua, and Diego. (I had already expanded on it a bit to figure out how Aqua played into it) I had no actual story, and I felt like going into this was just begging for the sequel to be terrible. So, my interest in doing a sequel faded away quickly.
27 April is a holiday in the Netherlands; the king's birthday. To celebrate, people sell their old stuff in huge second-hand street markets. For me personally, it's a rather special day, because it's the day I began writing the Surprising Adventures, and then, two years later, the day I posted its final chapter. So as I was walking along the second-hand markets, I was thinking of the Surprising Adventures, going through it chapter by chapter and reminiscing. Naturally, this got me completely fired up and excited about a sequel again, and I started getting more ideas to make it work beyond just one scene. I decided to seriously look into doing a sequel and started doing a lot of planning, often at a little bench at the local lake where I did a lot of thinking.
I realised early on I needed new characters. This had two reasons. The first was, most Surprising Adventures characters had had their full development and didn't have that much more to offer a new story. Octa was popular, but I was already having troubles with him by the end of the Surprising Adventures; he was definitely out. Boreas had gone through his character development, but had room for more. He had always been arrogant and mercurial, and being quite brilliant and with no Octa to rein him in, I could easily imagine those vices becoming a lot stronger in him over the years. This would then offer him a new character arc. For Aqua, I could explore certain sides of her personality and her relationship with Boreas, particularly their differences. They are both very led by their emotions, but there are major differences between them. Aqua had a much more instinctive, wild side to her, as well as a certain wisdom Boreas lacked. I'd done a lot with these differences in the Surprising Adventures, but I was interested in seeing more of them.
The second reason I needed new characters was to bring in new blood. This is to keep it interesting for established readers, but also to give new readers someone to identify with. I knew right from the start the sequel would be a loose sequel, very readable to someone with no knowledge of the Surprising Adventures. If all the story's characters are pokémon who already went through tons of adventure together, new readers would feel much more like they were missing that backstory than when only some of the characters went through that, and the others didn't.
To make the story accessible, I also realised I had to start it off from the point of view of a new character and introduce Boreas and Aqua through her eyes. That wasn't enough, though; I realised the early parts of the story needed to focus on this character, so that when the focus eventually switches to Boreas, new readers have also got to know him through Larissa's eyes. The moment I realised this need for a secondary protagonist, I decided to make her very different from Boreas. I have a tendency to write certain types of characters. In terms of the Magic: the Gathering colour wheel, they are very Red-aligned. Impulsive, emotional, unpredictable, freedom-loving, almost anarchistic. Boreas and Aqua are both examples of these kinds of characters (although Aqua is also Green-aligned), and to lesser extent, there was some of this in Toxica, Lucius, and Selene. It's probably unsurprising that most of my Dungeons&Dragons characters are Chaotic Good.
To get something new, I decided to write Larissa as a very different than this. (to stay with Magic: the Gathering, she's White-aligned) Her protectiveness, belief in law and order, altruism, down-to-Earth-ness and unwillingness to banter with villains are all related to this. It's interesting to note I found her difference from my 'default-character' made her a lot of fun for me to write. A clear sign of the importance of going outside your comfort zone in creative endeavours.
By this point, I had thought of the story as being in three parts. The first part would focus on Larissa and feature Boreas being a bit of an arrogant knob. By the end of it, they confront Diego, Larissa dies (this was one of the first things I knew about her), and Boreas gets buried alive. The second part focusses on Aqua, and by the end of it, she rescues Boreas. The third part focusses on Boreas. Later on, I realised this structure left focus on Boreas until way too late, which is why the second part was made much shorter and only ended up as three chapters. In any case, I had the problem of how Boreas was going to escape. How would Aqua even know where Boreas was until Diego told her? This is why Sofia was created. I realised a seismograph could find Boreas by accident, by showing a mysterious empty room in the middle of solid ground. And a seismograph would probably be the best way to map an underground base. So I knew I needed a scientist character who would offer Aqua some help in charting Diego's hideout, and in the process inadvertently discover Boreas. Originally, Sofia would've been a minor character until this point in the story; I would probably have introduced her earlier, but she wouldn't have been a 'team member'. She would probably have barely met Larissa. I did think, as I thought of a personality for her beyond just 'scientist', that it would be fun to make her a bit of a goofball. I greatly enjoy characters who are a bit odd, and judging by Selene's popularity, a lot of my readers do too. I also knew her scientific background would make her a great character to not use her powers in battle, but instead create inventions.
At this point, I knew Boreas' character arc, but not Larissa's yet, and this was a problem, as she would go through hers first. The main problem was that she didn't really have anyone to interact with in the right way. Around this time, I was also deciding on which of the characters would be gay. I didn't think it would really come up in the story besides maybe a or two line somewhere, but I consider representation an important issue, and try to include at least one gay character in every story I write. Since there originally wasn't going to be a romantic subplot, it wasn't that important to nail down, but I figured it'd be best to decide before I started anyway. I considered Larissa, Sofia, and several minor characters (some of whom were planned to be much more important at this point, and not all of whom made it into the story at all). At this point, I hit on the idea of Larissa and Sofia both being gay and falling in love with each other. This proved to be a major turning point in how to make Larissa's story (and the early chapters of the story with it) work, as Sofia's friendship and love gave me an excellent catalyst for developing her character. I also quickly realised it would make her death far more painful, and give Sofia a great opportunity for character development afterwards as well. I believe this is when I realised the slightly obsessive and mood-swingy personality I had thought of for her had the potential to go very dark and psychotic eventually, in sharp contrast to her bubbly and cute behaviour beforehand.
I didn't know what species the various new characters would be until pretty late. In fact, it's quite funny to look back at my planning file and see that for Larissa, I was in doubt between Zebstrika and Leavanny before settling on Quilava. Froslass, Lampent, and Venomoth (!) were considered for Sofia, and for the longest time in planning I was going to call her Zoe before settling on Sofia.
When I started chapter 1, I immediately knew its title had to be 'Boreas'. Not only was it a nice parallel to the Surprising Adventures' first chapter, but it'd tell returning readers just glancing at the story that it was a sequel, without having to alienate new readers by specifying that in the description.
We start off with Larissa protecting her brothers, and this is no coincidence. I like to introduce characters with a scene that immediately establishes a lot about them, something I learned after some poor introductions in the Surprising Adventures. That's why the first chapter does its best to show Larissa's badassitude, protectiveness and unwillingness to back down. I went a little too far, though, by having her break her leg in the process. That would be a bit awkward in the next few chapters, where Larissa is involved in a lot of action that probably wouldn't work too well with a broken leg. Just the result of me trying to fix the mistake I'd made by giving her a broken leg without foresight.
The introductions of Boreas and Aqua similarly do their best to establish their characters to new readers. And to returning readers, to establish that Boreas has become rather more arrogant, mercurial, and dangerous than they remembered. I've had complaints that the first chapters moves too fast and is too hectic, and I would agree. Unfortunately, the demands of its nature as a sequel, and the fact it was being posted chapter by chapter meant it had to accomplish a lot.
I had a backstory for why Mewtwo lived in Diamarina, but unfortunately I never got around to telling it in the story. I was planning to do a scene from its point of view at some point, as it was held captive by Diego and presumably killed so its brain could be used for his machine, but I never found a good place for it. The short version is: after its violent early years and being chased by pokémon trainers for its power, it realised it'd never find peace in the human world. It came to Fournaria and found a small, remote town to live in, as its inhabitants would just consider it some rare species they'd never heard of, and wouldn't realise its true power. Unfortunately, Diego found out and figured out a way to use Mewtwo's powers to control Groudon. He personally fought Mewtwo during the attack on Diamarina, and managed to win too thanks to his immunity to psychic moves and a lot of preparations.
Sofia's introduction, like the other main characters', was meant to instantly showcase her character. We find out right away that she's a goofball, a scientist, and that she tends to experience moodswings. Sofia and Larissa begin flirting from basically the moment they meet, and this is of course no coincidence. While they haven't fallen in love yet at this point, something inside them definitely already goes "yowzah". Besides, as you might've seen in the Surprising Adventures as well, I do enjoy putting this kind of stuff in. There was also the fun component of seeing how far I could push that before people started picking up on it. Most readers seem to have picked up on it between chapters 7 and 9, although some got it earlier, and I did get a very surprised comment from someone who'd apparently been oblivious to it all the way to chapter 11. I found this quite refreshing about writing a same-sex couple, actually: I could portray them as just friends at first without it being very obvious they were going to fall in love, as tends to be the case with straight couples in fiction.
Speaking of chapter 3, originally Fritz, the Nidoran who hears Sofia, was intended to potentially become a major character eventually. This ended up being his only appearance, though. There are a few other characters throughout the early parts of the story who were created to potentially play a role later on. Wolfgang, the grumpy old Gogoat we met once more in this chapter, was another one of them.
Chapter 4 features Boreas making up a brigadier of the police in his bluff to Lubyanka. Not long after posting this chapter, I realised the character Boreas had made up would actually be a very useful one to actually introduce to the story. In hindsight, we can probably explain this coincidence by some of the refugees having told Boreas about brigadier Stewart. Or perhaps Stewart is just a very predictable person.
During these early chapters, I wasn't sure if I was going to continue the story. I was very wary of falling into the trap of writing a bad, pointless sequel, and I knew if the Glaceon and the Shadow turned out that way, I'd rather stop, delete it, and pretend it never happened than finish it. Chapter 6 was to be the deciding factor here. It was a very important moment in Larissa's arc as she opens up to Sofia and the two call each other friends for the first time. (It's also when they begin to fall in love with each other, but we don't find that out for a while) It's a rather big step in her character development, and I knew that if the scene didn't work, I might as well stop, as the story would probably never get anywhere. On the other hand, if the chapter was well received, I probably had a solid basis to write the rest of the story on. As it turned out, the chapter worked well, so I made the decision to finish the story and stop considering stopping.
When we reached Praeclara, I made sure it didn't sound like an ordinary city. I did my best to imagine what a city built and inhabited entirely by pokémon in their vast variety might look like, mixed with a little of Luxembourg and Rome, two cities I've greatly enjoyed visiting myself. Not just because I enjoyed describing and imagining it, but also because its variety and vastness was like an example of the kind of place Fournaria was. I'd been a little vague on that so far, and this seemed a good moment to establish its utopian nature. I also already knew the city would be destroyed in chapter 16, and that it would hurt far more if the readers were first treated to a lot of beautiful scenery and description.
I wrote chapters 10 to 13 on vacation in Austria. Or to be more precise, I wrote chapter 10 in the train to Austria, 13 in the train back, and 11 and 12 while there. Cranking out all of chapter 10 (still one of my favourites) in a single day while travelling across Europe was a very fun experience, and I have a lot of good memories associated with it; it's one of the many reasons it's probably my favourite chapter.
Lubyanka was originally intended to be Diego's 'dragon' (as tvtropes calls the villain's most important and powerful henchman) for the entire story, but I soon realised her constant defeats and encounters with the heroes meant she'd get stale and non-threatening pretty fast. So instead, I decided to have her in this role, so prominently featured she might almost be the main villain for the first 10 chapters, have Sofia and Larissa beat her after that, and then she plays only a small role. The reason I picked Larissa and Sofia to beat her was that we already knew Boreas and Aqua could do it, and that she was much more of a threat to the girls. Incidentally, I don't know how many times I accidentally mixed up the names Larissa and Lubyanka. It only made it past proofreading a few times, but it was still very annoying to keep finding myself making that mistake. Tip for fellow writers: don't put two major characters whose names start and end with the same letters in your story.
Incidentally, I found out something odd while writing the beginning of chapter 10, where Sofia and Larissa are locked up in a cellar: Kirlia can learn flash while Quilava can't. I was very tempted to make a joke about it, which would presumably have involved Larissa trying to light up the cellar but finding out her flames don't shed any light for some reason, only for Sofia to start glowing in the dark. Sofia's inventions, the heavy flirting between her and Larissa (I was making it more obvious with each chapter as their feelings were getting stronger), the action scenes, and Boreas defeating Lubyanka's troops through sheer force of ham all add up to making it one of my favourite chapters.
I considered having Larissa figure out she was in love with Sofia after the hair-combing scene of chapter 10, and having her spend chapter 11 doing her very best to ignore her feelings and not flirt with Sofia, only to fail completely time and again. However, I decided my other plan worked better. It had the added advantage of not spelling out they were in love until they kissed, and potentially surprising someone that way. It seems to have worked; I know at least one person was surprised.
Chapter 10 had concluded Lubyanka's stint as the story's most visible villain. Chapter 11 gave the characters a nice break, but with the next chapter it really was time to get the plot moving again and start playing the Shadow up as a villain. Originally, Boreas wasn't going to unmask Diego until chapter 16, but I realised that chapter was going to end up extremely intense and full of stuff, while chapter 12 was a bit light, so I made the obvious decision to move the unmasking there.
The story's pace forced me to give these chapters a greater concentration of romance than I would've preferred otherwise. If I'd had the time, I would much rather have spread that out a bit, but for obvious reasons, the romance plot had to be finished by chapter 16. I know some people got pretty sick of it by chapter 14, and for understandable reasons.
Killing off Larissa was hard. I have never done something that hard in my writing. Capella and Black were nothing by comparison. Even before chapter 1, I'd already considered trying to do chapter 16 another way, and as the chapter neared, I tried to convince myself more and more. I came to the conclusion the chapter could feel like the punch in the gut it was intended as without her dying and Boreas could still have his character development, but there was no way to do Sofia's long-term character development if she lived. Sure, Sofia would be very distraught about Praeclara's destruction, but she wouldn't cross into pure despair. If anything, Larissa would be more likely to react to it like that. While I could do a different kind of character development for Sofia, it would be a great shame to give up what I'd planned. There was also the problem that my portrayal of her up to that point had been influenced by the dark side of her I knew we'd see at some point. Think of it like a reverse Christmas Carol: in order to really showcase Scrooge's character development, he starts the story ludicrously mean and miserly. Sofia's enormous cheerfulness and cutesiness were at least partially portrayed that way because I knew what dark paths she'd walk one day. While she could've just continued like it, it would've made her character feel unbalanced, I think. In short: Larissa had to die, even if I didn't want to do it. I did make sure to at least make it a heroic demise.
Incidentally, I've since come to the conclusion chapter 16 was a bit too much. If I could do it over, I would dial it down just a little; maybe have Larissa's brothers survive the destruction of Praeclara or something like it. It was my intention for the chapter to make you feel the same misery as Boreas, and I may have succeeded a little too well.
Every person handles grief differently, and as I thought about this, I realised Sofia's reaction to Larissa's death would not be loud crying or screaming like you might expect. That's certainly what she'd do if she went through a severe loss while Larissa was still with her, and what she does when her grandfather gets kidnapped. It's what she does when there's someone to support her in her grief, but this time the last person who could is the one who died. Instead, we get gutted silence. I chose to focus on Sofia's grief, rather than Aqua's. Focussing on both of them would've felt either too disconnected or too repetitive, and it would be harder to identify with Aqua's grief since we know Boreas survived.
In my planning, Boreas would've been freed as early as chapter 18, which would've corresponded to the current chapter 20. The actual chapter 18 was unplanned until fairly late and inserted when I realised Boreas talking to the various sides of his personality would be both interesting and a great way to execute his character development. Incidentally, I've since discovered an excellent rock/metal opera that has a quite similar premise, but executed much better. It's called The Human Equation and it's by Ayreon, and I can definitely recommend it.
I got pretty stuck on chapter 19. The chapter was hard to write, and I found it felt very weird. In the original planning, Aqua and Sofia would've stayed in New Praeclara only briefly to get the equipment Sofia needed, and then headed back. This made the whole chapter feel very off. I was 70% done with it when I realised I had chapters 19 and 20 in the wrong order: it made way more sense to have Sofia meet Catarina before they returned to the hide-out, and I could throw in a scene of Aqua going after Diego herself, which felt like something that was missing. So I swapped the chapters out, and the chapter I was stuck on became chapter 20, and much easier to write in that position.
Catarina and Pedro weren't planned until fairly late. All I knew was that after Larissa died, Sofia would make new friends. I didn't hit on them being family until only a few chapters before their introduction. When I had introduced Sofia's grandfather, I had found out a Weavile can't be a Kirlia's grandfather, only its great-grandfather, so I had inserted a generation in between, without much expectation I'd ever use that in the plot. As it turned out, Catarina was a great opportunity to do something with that and use it in the plot.
Stabby Sofia was a fairly logical progression for her character after depressed Sofia. She's always had strong, swingy emotions, but we'd never seen her angry until chapter 20. With the universe (or me) heaping one disaster after another on her, she would eventually just snap. The choice of a knife as her instrument of choice was inspired by the excellent game Alice: Madness Returns, and of course chapter 23's name is a reference to the Jabberwock poem from Through the Looking Glass. Incidentally, chapters 23, 24, and 25 were originally all planned as a single chapter. It would've been about 20000 words if I'd done that. Thankfully, I realised this ahead of time and split it in two. Then, while writing chapter 24, I still found the chapter running extremely long (it's almost 10000 words as is), so I decided to focus the chapter on Sofia and split off the rest into chapter 25.
The farewell between Sofia and Larissa was unplanned. It came to me in a dream little more than a week beforehand, which is why there aren't really any advance hints to it. I loved the scene I'd dreamt of so much I really wanted to put it in, however. I wrote the scene down a few nights later, when I couldn't sleep because it kept spooking through my mind. I was extremely tired the next day, but it was worth it.
As recently as a few days ago, the story's climax would've gone differently. The way I was planning it, Boreas defeats Diego, but Diego still manages to awaken Groudon. Groudon's awakening causes an earthquake that causes Diego to fall into the pit, where Groudon kills him. Boreas, both to make sure Diego is really dead and not using an illusion and to get the blue orb, jumps into the pit as well and snatches it away. Next, two more chapters where the characters try to stop Groudon follow. As I was writing the chapter, I realised the story was called the Glaceon and the Shadow, not the Glaceon and the Groudon. Diego was the main villain, and suddenly changing to fighting Groudon wouldn't be nearly as interesting. Plus, it meant having Diego killed by some monster instead of Boreas again, and readers generally hated that in the Surprising Adventures. So I decided to cut things short and have Diego be the fake Kyogre they would've eventually used to calm Groudon. I think it works much better this way.
I knew from very early on the story would end with Boreas meeting Octa again. That's what the end of the Surprising Adventures promised, after all, and it also seemed like a good mirror of its ending. Not to mention just a lovely idea.
Q&A: And this is the end of a bastard... We are here today to remember Diego, first class asshole and only pokemon to ever not only win a fight against Mewtwo, but even got so far as to kill him and make him a machine. The power hungry asshole who started as a confused almost-villain and traversed more than once the line of "possible ally", but decided to follow his master's footsteps, event killing his best friend. After all, watching back to the days when he just evolved from a Zorua it comes to mind... He never needed Mewtwo's mind to control others'.
Goodbye Diego. You were a good character. And a perfect asshole.
A: I don't think I could've written a better epitaph for Diego.
Q: Well it's finally almost over. Can't wait for the next story! I just hope your writing the first chapter doesn't delay the ending of this one.
A: It did a bit, but not too much, I hope. Plus, this way you get to go on right now and read the start of a whole new adventure!
