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Now because I know that the prior contents have only hinted at the intended plot behind TSoK, I thought I'd provide a crash course as the ultimate reader resource. This qualifies as extra curricular activity for me, but I feel obligated to give you folks something more than some disjointed odds and ends to chew on. Call it silly, but… I honestly appreciate your interest in the story, and I feel as though I let you down by discontinuing production. So to absolve my conscience and to answer your curiosity, I'll offer a brief breakdown of meaningful events that I intended to include in the narrative; starting with where book 1 left off.
The gym battle between Zane and Lt. Surge ends in a draw; but Surge concedes defeat out of respect for Zane. The gym battle was going to be fought on an unusual front; more of a triathlon than a traditional gym battle.
In this triathlon, Zane and Surge are dropped off in a Frontier Training course, where they're expected to marshal their mon into performing mock-military exercises; each checkpoint of the exercise pits the respective Trainers' leadership element against each other in brief high-stakes skirmishes, while the go between events is marked by a race across the Frontier. Trainers are penalized for being the last to arrive at an event, and because Zane was forced to deploy Mac in the Triathlon, his infantile Munchlax, Zane repeatedly accrued the runner-up's penalties.
Following this highly controversial match, Zane is publicly lauded by Lt. Surge, who commends Zane on his dastardly stratagem and indomitable spirit; before Theron makes a surprise return as the "Contested King of Kalos" to publicly recognize Zane's prowess in both combat and tactics. Interest in both Zane and Ranger Corps skyrockets after this level of authoritative recognition; while simultaneously, Indigo's private sector expands their interest into global politics; namely in Lord Theron Halcyon and his contributions towards establishing world peace via the Concordant.
Zane is involuntarily escorted out Vermilion City and Eastward into the Prague (Home of the dream-eating Drowzees) by "representatives" of House Halcyon (I.E. Halcyon Shadows; AKA: Kalos's Secret Service) to meet with Theron, who has decided to privately accompany Zane on a leisurely trip north towards Lavender Town.
Along the way, Theron insists on making camp, while Zane is adamantly opposed to such action; given the Prague's infamy for Drowzee attacks. Confident in his Ghosts' ability to protect him, Theron makes camp all the same.
As is discovered by Zane later in the night, Theron has little need to fear the Drowzee, seeing as his own Ghosts are more than happy to torture Theron while he dreams. A compromised Theron calls upon Grigori for assistance, and the motherly drakaina wards the weeping Theron from his own Ghosts.
This is where Book 1's Excerpts picks up.
Following the Excerpts, Theron and Zane travel northward with all due haste towards Lavender Town. Theron then insists on using a subterranean shortcut through the Kobold Mountains, where Zane and Theron share their first legitimate empathetic moment(Excerpts touch on this), and a friendship forged by mutual understanding begins to form between the two.
A friendship that is tested to the point of breaking when Theron murders Amy, an eight year old Channeler of Lavender Town, for seemingly senseless reasons (Book 2, Chapter 1's intro scene highlights the murder from Theron's perspective).
ACE forces Zane to accompany Theron westward through the Grey Mile, through Saffron City by shuttle, and into Celadon City. Zane, at this point, is wrestling with his disgust for Theron's betrayal of trust, and his own reluctance with returning to his homestead of Cerulean City. Alternatively grieved and relieved that none of his old contacts recognize Zane Bastard for who he really is (Clarence Hobbes), Zane takes a personal tour of his old haunts in an effort to separate himself from Theron.
In doing so, Zane encounters Lady Valerie Le-Faye of Kalos's Noble House Le-Faye; a strange young woman desperately seeking Theron Halcyon. On introducing himself to Valerie, Zane discovers that she is Theron's fiancee, and was secretly expedited out of House Arturia's custody by the combined efforts of House Le-Faye, House Halcyon, and House Lysander to track down the errant Eidolon King, and convince him to return home in order to resume the political battle between himself and Allan Arturia.
Valerie however, is far more concerned with mending old wounds between herself and Theron than she is with bringing Theron home; and through her loyalty and unconditional love for Theron; helps bring out the most human aspect of the Eidolon King.
This brings about a conflict in Theron, as he is disgusted with himself over the murder of Amy, and terrified that Valerie would abandon him if she ever learned that Theron murdered a child. However, Zane, in an act of spite, reveals just how lost Theron is to Valerie, and though the young woman is deeply wounded by Theron's actions, she does not blame Theron for Amy's death.
This in turn starts a suicidal feud between Theron and Zane; Theron who regards Zane's reveal to Valerie as a betrayal of trust; and Zane who regards Theron's unwillingness to confess to the person who loves him as a sign of personal weakness.
Wounded by Zane's incriminations, a furious Theron nearly kills the intrepid Ranger in a self-righteous fervor. Zane refuses to be coerced, and scores a number of telling blows against Theron's character; prompting Theron to retreat from the conflict.
Later in the day (at night) Exodus kidnaps Zane as per requested by a traumatized Theron; who is patronizing a top class jewelry store well after closing time.
Theron confesses to Zane that he requires Zane's help in picking a wedding ring, because Theron's eyes only show Theron decay when he scours the establishment for a fitting band. Theron, at his weakest, defers to Zane's judgement, and Zane in an act of pity, selects a fitting band for Theron's proposal.
Small points to note, while all the prior has been going down:
Cortez has begun his evolution cycle into an Arcanine, as has Mac into a Snorlax.
Zane has accepted a formal invitation to tour Erika's gardens, and discovers that the next gym leader is a cold-hearted and cordially mannered bitch who isn't above psychological torture (during the tour, Erika basically feeds her "garden" the corpses of Growlithes, Magikarps, and "defective" Bulbasaurs in an effort to take advantage of Zane's PTSD, but Zane just gets pissed off); during this tour, Zane is also reunited with Melissa, who works at the Cerulean Gym as a Botanical Physician.
Zane confides in Melissa during a private meeting (touched on in Excerpts) and miraculously, Zane finally begins the long road to self-redemption with Melissa's forgiveness. An awkward relationship is established between Melissa and Zane, as Zane is wholly ready to commit to Melissa, while battling his own feelings of inadequacy; and though Melissa expresses interest in Zane's advances, she is still getting over the loss of Brenda, which Zane willingly tames himself in light off.
Picking up from there, Theron and Valerie are secretly married, though Zane recognizes their wedding bands (he picked them out after all) for what they are. A moment of closure transpires between Zane and Theron over a "celebratory" dinner out with their better halves; and though Zane is unwilling to forget Amy, Zane can at least understand that it wasn't truly Theron who killed the girl (even though it totally was).
Theron and Valerie disappear after this dinner; presumably to celebrate their union in secret (They actually elope to Johto, where they conceive Anastasia in secret; though Valerie later dies in child labor); Zane meanwhile tackles an orthodox Cerulean Gym match, crushing Erika in spite of her psychological attacks on him.
Following the battle, Zane is "introduced" to a vague figure who apparently has history with him. It's heavily implied that this figure is Zane's father, who has buried the hatchet in hopes of rediscovering a relationship with his beleaguered son (touched on in Excerpts). The chapter closes with Zane demonstrating his willingness to teach the next generation of Trainers in how to not fuck up their lives.
After a time elapse, the story picks up with a fully evolved Mac, Cortez, and a recently Vensaur'd Vauban. For his exceptional performance in the League, Zane has been rewarded with "leave from service", which Zane spends exclusively on Deep Frontier Operations (namely the rescue of estranged Trainers, and the culling of exceptionally dangerous mon). During this period, both Zane and the Ranger Corps' popularity has spiked. Recruiters are being overwhelmed, and Zane hosts an Indigo sponsored documentary on Ranger activities, providing Indigo's population with a first-hand perspective on Ranger lifestyle and activities; replete with clandestine elitism, the personal and often inhumane losses suffered in the service, and the raw need felt by every Ranger to protect civilization. Public support for the Rangers skyrocket, and Zane becomes the poster child of this revitalization.
The narrative meanders to a rescue effort in the Kobold mountains that goes foul, when a tribe of troglodyte Machamp successfully drop a cavern roof on the Bastard Unit. Though most of the Bastards escape with minimal injury, and rescue mission ends in success, Damascus bears the brunt of the casualties, having been broken in half by the falling debris.
Desperate to save his squadmate, and hold true to a promise he made to Doug, Zane convinces Blackhat Team Seven to assist him in Damascus's rescue; and Captain Lewis reluctantly authorizes Damascus's admittance to Chimera's Experimental Therapy Faculties; where Zane finally meets the lunatic hippie of legend himself, Enzo Davinci.
While amicable (especially with Captain Lewis, who seems perturbed by Enzo's romantic affections), Enzo reveals his less than stable enthusiasm, and quickly assures Zane that Chimera Industries can save Damascus, except in the event that they can't, in which case, Damascus is fucking screwed (Enzo Davinci doesn't understand what tact is).
Enzo embarks on a personal theory of his pertaining to the Onixia species, and begins a 2-week long process in which he entombs Damascus's rent halves in an experimental autoclave, in which he attempts to "repair" the ancient Onix via extreme exposure to pressure, heat, and the introduction of high carbon iron alloys. Long story short, Damascus is not only restored, but also recorded as the very first ever Terran-evolved Steelix; courtesy of Enzo's artificial procedure.
During the 2 week period, Enzo and Zane share some rather intimate details about themselves, and form a casual friendship. It's also during this period that Enzo artificially modifies Vauban into the very first Howitzer-Class Venusaur (Which Enzo achieved by splicing a Sunflora bloom into Vauban's botanical anatomy), which essentially bequeaths Vauban with the ability to convert Solar radiation into intense and directed electromagnetic laser bursts (Solar Beam, yo!).
Enzo also displays an intimate familiarity with the majority of Zane's crew (Vauban, Cortez, and Mac all remember Enzo fondly from their birth on the Ranch). To top the power trip off, Enzo not only "boosts" Darwin's lackluster susceptibility to evolutionary stimulus (Without Enzo's intervention, it's heavily implied that Darwin was incapable of evolving), but also imparts Zane with the sixth, and final mon of the Bastard Unit; Ramses, the gender challenged (and bitchy) Waterloo Pupitar, who is scheduled for a timely evolutionary epoch; right before the League Seasonal Finals.
Zane leaves Enzo's Ranch considerably more armed than before Damascus's near death experience; and prioritizes Darwin's Evolution into a massive Gyarados over all other commitments.
Zane ultimately succeeds in his hopes for Darwin, though the resulting evolution nearly kills Zane and his entire crew. As predicted, Darwin evolves into an unprecedented monster of a Gyarados, defying the criteria of the Disaster Classification Index, and ranking among the Lima-Ones in his destructive potential.
However, with great size comes incredible gravitational strain, and Darwin is nearly crushed to death under his own mass (Which saves the Bastards from an unseemly demise at Darwin's maw). Unable to cope with earth's gravitational attraction or its atmospheric pressures for extended durations, Darwin is restricted to maritime activity, where his natural buoyancy can support his sheer scale.
After having been surgically altered by Chimera Industries to improve his anatomical tolerance for atmospheric conditions, Darwin grudgingly accepts Zane as his Trainer, and the two renew a shaky relationship, given Darwin's newly developed homicidal reaction to any and all forms of aggravation.
Story cuts to Zane's trip towards Fuchsia. His leave is over, and Zane is returning to active duty in the League with a mon roster that defies collegial comparison. Given the addition of a Steelix and an unbelievably oversized Gyarados to Zane's team, most League Analysts have already predicted Zane Bastard's ascent to the Indigo League Throne. Riding on a wave of popularity, Zane heads south to tie up his loose ends in League, starting with the Kurosawa clan's Fuchsia City Gym.
However, a surprise event waylays Zane's ambitions, and the rising star of the Ranger Corps is alerted to a pokemon attack on Fuchsia; actively being carried out by a Lima-One known as "Articuno".
Rushing across the Fuchsia Coast to assist the domestic forces fighting off Articuno, Zane encounters the Fuchsia Ninjas through Janine (The Fuchsia City Gym Leader and Daughter of the infamous Koga Kurosawa) who have allied with both Kanto's Military and the Ranger Corps to defend Fuchsia City against Articuno's attack.
Given Zane's reputation, Janine turns over command of an "unauthorized" rescue op to Zane (Basically, Janine and Zane attempt to save a sequestered group of illegal Johtonese immigrants), though the deteriorating situation in downtown Fuchsia ends up commandeering Zane's priorities.
Articuno is kicking the shit out of Fuchsia, and nothing the Rangers, Military, or Kurosawa Ninjas can muster against it is waylaying the frigid siege.
Enter a Lima-One class Darwin on intercept with what is essentially the winged and weaponized equivalent of absolute zero.
Despite Darwin's immense scale and power, he doesn't have the speed to keep up with Articuno, especially when any effort to pursue results in lethal exposure to extreme-low temperatures and boreal weather phenomenon. Though Vauban offers fire support with her Solar Beams, Articuno quickly adapts its attack solution to account for the surface-to-air laser bombardment. Using Fuchsia's skyline for cover, Articuno evades the Bastards' every attempt to break the siege.
...Until Zane has the bright idea (Number 1 on his list of stupidest ideas he's ever acted on) to catch Articuno in a low altitude pincer maneuver; using Vauban and himself as bait, and a shaft-happy Damascus and a pissed-off Darwin as the pincers.
Long story short, Zane's gamble succeeds; Articuno is crushed between Damascus and Darwin; though Zane ends up delivering the critical blow, when he uses Doug's Knife to sever a crippled Articuno's throat; which costs him half of his face (Articuno pecked his fake eye out, taking most of Zane's left face with it), as well as half of Zane's right hand (Articuno's blood is colder than liquid helium, so Zane suffered some instant frostbite when he severed Articuno's throat).
Zane is rescued from lethal exposure to Articuno's frigid remains by the responding Blackhat Teams, and though they prioritize Zane and his injured unit's medical treatment, Team Seven vaguely mentions that they need to contact Chimera ASAP for immediate "specimen retrieval" (I.E. ACE has Enzo and his company working on some pretty shady shit, and Articuno's remains are going to contribute to it).
Zane wakes up in a hospital to a Hero's welcome. He's the first human in history to have slain one of the nigh-invincible Lima-Ones, and his exploits have become the stuff of international interest. Even though he's been irreparably disfigured by the ordeal (The left side of Zane's face is a scarred nightmare; his left eye socket can no longer support ocular prosthetics; meaning that it's eye patches from here on out matey, ARRRRGHHH!), and his right hand is missing a couple of digits (his right forearm is just as fucked up as his face), Zane still concedes that the sacrifice was a trivial price to pay given the amount of lives it saved.
During his recovery, Zane was made into an honorary member of the Kurosawa Clan (Zane was unconscious when Koga announced it, so he couldn't exactly contest his inclusion in a mobster family), earning Zane the Soul Badge as a testament to his heroics (Janine also points out that any gym battle hosting Darwin is a moot victory for Zane). Once again, Zane's popularity reaches untold heights, and the Ranger Corps ultimately benefit from Zane's rising influence.
After the festivities in Fuchsia (as well as an exposition match between Zane and Janine; more so for formality's sake than anything else), Zane is dragged off to a private ceremony in the Frontier by Captain Mary Lewis of Blackhat Team Seven. It's here that a playful Mary Lewis rewards Zane with his childhood dream; a Black Beret.
All 118 Blackhats stand in attendance to welcome their newest member into the fold; and Zane is commemorated for his bravery against Articuno by being recognized as the newest member of Blackhat Team Seven.
The narrative skips ahead, briefly covering Zane's predictable victories against Saffron's Sabrina, and Cinnabar's Blaine Breitbarth. With only one Gym Badge to go before qualifying for the Victory Road Trials, Blackhat Zane Bastard petitions to Ranger High Command to be included in a specific mission into Viridian's Sector Charlie.
The narrative picks up on Zane, leading a group of Ranger cadets to Frontier Charlie, intent on resuming the mission that he and Echo Squad failed almost a year before.
But this isn't the same Zane that we met back in chapter 2.
Little by little, bit by bit, Zane has changed as a person. Furious is still his default setting, but patience has tempered the old rage, and concern for his fellow Rangers has turned Zane into a mentor, rather than an elitist.
Calmly leading the new Echo Squad to Frontier Charlie, Zane picks up the pieces of a shattered life, and makes good on his promise to the original Echo Squad. Instructing this new generation of Rangers in the values that he learned throughout his many ordeals, Zane reveals a newfound quiet side; a mixture of depressed and hopeful.
After having introduced his second in command, and the soon to be Commander of Echo Squad, Tony (You guys remember Tony, right?) to the battlefield where Zane's Echo Squad fell, Zane imparts his wisdom to Tony in an effort to curb the enthusiasm of youth. Joining a training squadron of Ranger Aviation Cadets flying over the Long Sway, Zane, Darwin, and Tony commandeer the flight unit, leading them over Indigo Plateau in a display of the Ranger's renewed presence in Indigo.
With Zane vowing to knock Lance off his Throne, and wield the bureaucratic powers of Indigo's Champion for the good of the people, book 1 ends, and book 2 begins.
I'll commit to Book 2's plotline when I have time to do so. It was never intended to be anywhere near as massive as Book 1, but then again…
...I never thought Book 1 would turn out to be so fucking big.