Lily was positively brimming with excitement after the group passed through a town on their journey back to Kyukonais. "So many exciting new things to see!" she exclaimed with a broad smile and swishing tail.
"It was just a boring old town," Chadwyck deadpanned.
"On the contrary, my friend, that was the capital of the province of Caenhaulais," said Max.
"Ruled by, ugh, Duke Ulysses Kenhallow," Helena added, her tails clenching.
"What's a duke?" Lily asked. "And… what was that other word? Province?"
"I see you spoke truly when you claimed you never left your village," Max chuckled. "Fear not; we can teach you everything you must know about the kingdom. Let us start with what you do know: a village. Each village is usually ruled by a count who owns the land. Serfs farm the land and pay part of the harvest to the count in exchange for protection from bandits who wish to steal food."
"Oh yeah, I've been warned about bandits before, but when I snuck out and saw the knights chasing them away, they were just normal pokémon like us. Why can't they farm like the rest of us?" Lily asked.
"It's a lot easier to steal food than grow it yourself," Chadwyck said.
"Speaking from experience?" Terry asked with a smirk. Chadwyck ignored him.
"So you can see why pokémon have formed villages - farmers naturally do not want their hard work stolen, and a village can provide that protection," Max stated.
"Assuming the nobles care enough to defend their serfs," Helena added. "They don't always bother. Admittedly, that is one thing Duke Percival did right, unlike my father and his counts in Kyukonais. They don't bother protecting our villagers from bandits..."
"Wait, so your villagers have to farm all day, and it might get stolen? That's so unfair!" Lily cried.
"Well, we're gonna fix that!" Terry promised. "That's why you're here with us."
"If everyone is doing their job properly, you can see why farmers come together as a village. Now, let us think one level bigger," Max said, spreading his little arms out with a smile. "One count looking over one village might not be able to protect themself from a whole gang of bandits. They will pay taxes to someone who will be able to protect them from bigger threats. This powerful pokémon is called a duke. They own the largest village in the area, sometimes called a town if it is big enough, and look after many villages and their counts. This collection of villages and the land between them is called a province. In exchange for owning all of the land and collecting taxes from everyone who lives there, the duke is responsible for protecting each and every village from serious groups of bandits."
"Then there's one last layer, the king," Terry added. "All the dukes look up to the king, the strongest and grandest of them all. All of their provinces combined make up the kingdom. And you know someone who's related to the king!"
"You mean Helena?" Lily questioned.
"Yup!"
"Wow, I didn't know you had so much responsibility," Lily said, turning to Helena. "You have to protect the whole kingdom, then? I thought princesses just lived in castles and threw parties."
Helena laughed. "In an ideal world, yes. Max and Terry described how the kingdom is supposed to work, but unfortunately, things aren't as smooth and nice in real life."
"Aw, really? Why not?"
"Well, what makes a pokémon a noble? You'd think it'd be the strongest, smartest, and most caring pokémon who gets to own and protect the village, but that isn't always true," said Helena.
"Yeah, otherwise you'd be in charge of your village, Lily!" Terry added.
"What, me? But I don't know anything about fighting…"
"You were the only pokémon who posed a serious challenge to us yesterday," Max pointed out.
"But that was because of that… uh, super-speed thing I have, right? And all I know how to do is Leaf Blade. Don't the knights do all sorts of things?"
"Don't worry, we'll teach you everything you need to know," Helena said with a smile. "Anyway, where was I? Right, not every noble in charge is the best pokémon for the job because you can be born a noble. Rich nobles always pass down their titles and holdings to their children. A prime example would be, I don't know, that useless brother of mine," Helena remarked with a roll of her eyes. "He was given everything he wanted growing up, so he doesn't expect to need to do anything. Forget about defending subjects when there are parties to attend, right?"
"Um, I guess?" Lily shrugged.
"Another thing that's unfair is how all that talk about 'the best pokémon gets to be the count or duke or king and needs to defend their land' only applies to boys. For some reason, girls like us aren't included in all that glory even though our pokémon powers and brains are the same as boys'. It's just tradition that girls always had to take care of kids all the time, I guess. So the other way to cheat your way into power is by marrying off your daughter to some stranger whose family is even more powerful. It's basically free!" Helena half laughed, half growled, her next step turning into a stomp.
"Oh… are you getting married off to a stranger?" Lily hesitantly asked, her ears drooping in concern.
"Yeah," Helena sighed.
"Helena's fiancée is Horace von Haxburg, Prince of Haxony, a kingdom to the east of us," said Max.
"And he's a rich, ugly, self-centered, and useless Haxorus who embodies everything wrong with the nobility," Helena said scathingly. "I refuse to marry him."
"Then… don't?" Lily suggested. "You should like someone before you marry them!"
"Unfortunately, political marriages are a tradition in the upper class," Max explained. "Male pokémon who lead the family arrange marriages for their daughters to establish long-lasting alliances with other families. When said families control a lot of land, those alliances forged through marriage can prevent conflict and encourage cooperation."
"Which brings us to the bigger reason you can't expect the nobles in power to maintain a safe and prosperous kingdom," Helena continued. "After driving out all the bandits, the nobles aren't just going to sit back with their villagers and celebrate how safe the village is. They're going to invade other nobles to expand their land and their power. If the nobles at the top are lazy or incompetent, there will be internal conflicts amongst their smaller subjects. And even when there is internal peace, nobles will seek battles elsewhere and try to take more for themselves. It's not perfect at all."
"Way to be a downer, Helena," said Terry.
"Hey, you can't just repeat the perfect world that we learned about in school without pointing out how it actually works in real life. My father doesn't want to put the time and effort towards keeping his dukes peaceful or even his own villages safe from bandits. He doesn't want to bother preparing defenses against our neighboring kingdom of Haxony, so he'll just marry me off instead!"
"Moral objections aside, the fact is it has worked before," Max brought up. "Helena's aunt got married to the royal family of Luneland, the kingdom north of Solardie. The two kingdoms have been friends ever since."
"Except the Haxburgs are terrible pokémon," Helena interjected. "Even if our families were married, the Haxburgs would still not hesitate to invade us if they wanted to because they are scum. We need to build up our kingdom's army to deter attacks, but my father would rather hoard his wealth than spend it for the protection of our kingdom. So he thinks sending me off to make babies for the Haxburgs will solve all his problems and let him keep everything for himself," Helena snarled.
"Yikes, that sounds not fun at all…" Lily said sadly.
"Don't worry, all of that will never happen!" Terry said confidently. "That's what you and I are for, Lily. We'll help Helena become so famous that no one will try to marry her off!"
"Yeah!" Lily agreed, feeling pumped. "Um, how are we gonna do that?"
Helena smiled, Terry and Lily's infectious positivity cheering up her sour mood. "Thanks, you two. I really appreciate it. Seriously," she said with a warm smile. "Basically, I want to do everything a good king is supposed to do, so that my father, his advisors, and the dukes will recognize me as indispensable. It's going to take a lot of work, though. The nobles don't care about me. All except Terry's father, actually. My father only cares about my older brother since he is the heir to the kingdom. My mother passed away when I was little and my father never cared to take care of me, so Terry's father and mother raised me and Terry together. They sent us to school in Miloa, where we met Max."
"My dear Leafeon, if a town capital was enough to amaze you, my home city of Miloa will sweep you off your paws," Max declared.
"Really?" Lily asked, perking up.
"Definitely!" Terry said. "There's colorful streets, pokémon from all over the world who tell amazing stories…"
"The shrewdest scholars, the finest cuisine," Max added.
While listening to Terry and Max describe the city in more detail, Helena stared off into the distance with a smile. Between the fields of wild green grass and brilliant blue sky were some hills. She knew Miloa stood somewhere beyond those hills. She then faced back in the direction they were heading. One day, I will make Kyukonais shine as magnificently as Miloa, she vowed determinedly.
"Lily, want to demonstrate your Chlorophyll for us? I haven't seen you in action yet," Helena said once the group settled down for a lunch break.
"Chlorophyll?" Lily asked. "Oh! Is that what you called my super-speed from yesterday?"
"Yup. If I use my Drought, it should activate your Chlorophyll," Helena said.
"Yeah, let's do it!" Lily agreed, dancing on her paws.
Helena grinned and raised her tails to the heavens, firing rays of light until they formed a rising ball of energy, making a miniature sun and basking the immediate area in a blanket of warmth. Lily's leaves, ears, and tail started glowing a soft, bright green, a similar hue to her Leaf Blades, but not as harsh of a glare.
"Your leaves are really pretty during Chlorophyll," Terry complimented.
"You think so?" Lily remarked, raising a paw to observe the glowing leaves on her foreleg. "Thanks!" she said with a smile.
Lily took a step and felt extremely light on her paws and full of energy, just like yesterday. She leaped forward with a spring of her hindlegs and broke into a wild dash, laughing in joy as the wind ruffled her ears. "I love this!" she exclaimed when she whizzed by the others.
"Think you can dodge my Flamethrowers?" Helena challenged with a competitive smile.
"Go for it!" Lily hollered back.
Helena fired a few Flamethrowers, which Lily dodged easily with her Chlorophyll-induced speed. At first, Helena suppressed her flames severely, not wanting to hit the grass-type with a Drought-powered fire-type attack, but after Lily remarked on how "easy" this was, Helena went full force, testing her new friend to the limit. No matter what, though, Lily was too fast for Helena to even come close to hitting with Flamethrower.
"Alright, you definitely win!" Helena laughed. "We're going to be unstoppable with you on board, that's for sure!"
"My turn!" Chadwyck announced, taking to the sky with his orange-glowing, Solar Powered wings, his tail flame roaring with power.
"Ready!" Lily called, accepting the challenge while hopping on two paws then the other two.
Chadwyck unleashed his Flamethrower, much more extensive and faster than Helena's. Even as the heat pricked her fur, Lily didn't flinch and continued to dodge with ease.
Meanwhile, Terry watched with amazement as Lily weaved through the fiery attacks. Even he wasn't that much of a daredevil! However, Terry audibly gasped when one of Chadwyck's Flamethrowers nearly grazed Lily's beautiful glowing ears. Shaking his head, the Torracat leaped up and landed on the Charizard's back.
"Ack!" Chadwyck grunted, flapping his wings rapidly to maintain his flight. He craned his neck around to see who landed on his back. "What do you want?"
"Can you calm it a little? Don't burn her, she's a grass type!" Terry cried.
"Oh? Why are you so concerned?" Chadwyck snickered.
"Hey!" Lily hollered, dashing right below Chadwyck. "Can I get a ride too?!" Without waiting for a response, she bounded off the ground and landed next to Terry on Chadwyck's back.
"Argh!" Chadwyck wailed, the green bullet nearly downing them all. He flung both of them off of his back with a violent whip of his tail.
Luckily, Terry could land on his paws no matter what, having had a lot of practice from his various pranks and misdeeds gone awry. Unfortunately, Lily crashed into Terry after landing, sending them tumbling into a sprawled heap.
"Oops! Sorry, Terry," Lily apologized, climbing off of him.
"Uh, n-no problem…" Terry mumbled, his cheeks and neck feeling way too warm. Jeez, he didn't remember Helena's Drought being this hot. It must have been Chadwyck's burning wings from Solar Power…
"Chadwyck, why'd you give Terry a ride and not me?" Lily complained.
"I didn't give any permission to Theodore," Chadwyck said pointedly, hiding a smirk. "Besides, I don't give rides to couples," he said gruffly. Then he threw a scandalous smirk Terry's way.
"Theodore?" Lily questioned with a tilt of her head.
"H-hey, don't call me that…" Terry whined.
"Why not? Isn't Theodore your real name?" Chadwyck pressed.
Lily glanced towards Terry, who was looking down at his fidgeting paws and his whiskers were twitching. "Are you okay, Terry? What's the matter?" Lily asked.
"Please don't call me Theodore. It is my real name, but, well, it just reeks of formality. I like my nickname so much more."
"Oh, that's fine! I like Terry better too!" Lily agreed.
"Thanks," Terry said, straightening up again.
Chadwyck quietly smacked his head with his claw. He would have to find another way to embarrass Theodore.
"Helena, how does your sun talent thingy work?" Lily questioned while they were on the road again.
"I'm glad you asked!" said Helena. "Let's hear Terry's take on it first. He loves talking about the stories behind this kind of stuff."
"Oh yeah!" Terry exclaimed, catching Lily's attention. "Legend says that Groudon created the desert to the south of Solardie in a victory over Kyogre. It entrusted the Ninetales clan with the power of the sun in order to keep out Kyogre's minions from encroaching upon the land. The Ninetales clan created the Kingdom of Solardie and ruled over it with their legend-gifted sun powers. However, the constant, intense sun made it harder to grow wheat, so the Ninetales had to stop perpetuating Groudon's Drought all the time. Over time, they forgot how to use it, but it was too late. Solardie would forever be sunny!"
"Oh, wow… So Helena wields the power of Groudon?" Lily asked.
"It is only a legend," Max chuckled. "The real reason Solardie is hot and often sunny is because we are close to the equator. As for Helena's ability, it just happens to be a technique specific to her species, just the same as how all of our species can do different things."
"Drought is often considered a 'hidden ability,'" Helena added. "There is some belief that my ancestors did have widespread knowledge of the ability and used it to their advantage to gain positions of power. However, the ancient Ninetales were a selfish bunch, not wanting to share their power with other species. Back then, marrying outside of one's species was very uncommon amongst the nobility, although it is no longer uncommon today. Many generations of inbreeding have caused problems making it harder to activate abilities, so the ancient secrets of Drought were eventually lost."
"It goes to show that an offspring's individual values are most influenced by their upbringing, not their heritage," Max remarked offhandedly. "Our ancestors believed that destiny tied the knot of their future rather than the value of their efforts. Quite frankly, that could not be farther from the truth."
"At the University of Miloa, I met a Torkoal from the desert who taught me how to unlock the power of Drought," Helena continued. "I spent years practicing to get to the point we are today, where my Drought can enhance the power of our fire attacks and activate Solar Power and Chlorophyll. All those years of training will truly pay off with you and Chadwyck on my team!"
"Yeah! I can't wait to fight together!" Lily cheered.
"Woooow…" Lily gawked as they approached the tall stone walls of Kyukonais.
"Wait until you see the palace," Helena chuckled. She approached the guards, who let her and her team through the iron gates without question.
A few steps into the city, an Exploud stumbled up to Helena and caught her attention. "Princess Helena," he droned in a low, monotone voice, his eyes glowing red.
"Eep!" Lily squeaked, freaked out by the creepy Exploud. She darted behind Terry, peeking her eyes past his head then flinching back.
Helena rolled her eyes. "Eugene, you have a 'prophecy' for me?" she asked dryly.
Eugene opened his massive mouth to its fullest extent, speaking in a deep, booming voice. "His body has been draped, by whom you do not know, in a white cloth now stained red by his lost vitae. They say he was found in a clearing in the woods. You know the place they speak of. His face is calm, almost serene. You reach out to touch him. The terrible reality of the situation dawns on you. The cold you feel is that of death." After speaking, Eugene grabbed one of his horns with an arm and tugged it. Then he turned around and walked off without another comment.
Helena huffed, looked back, and saw that Lily was positively shaking, holding onto Terry with wide eyes. Terry was brushing her back with his small tail to calm her. "It's okay, Lily," Helena said. "Eugene suffers from bouts of insanity from time to time. It's because he sometimes has trouble controlling his Soundproof, so when he's cut off from the rest of the world, anything could come out of his big mouth. Not exactly ideal for a royal herald, but he's of noble blood so we can't replace him."
"Yeah, there's nothing to worry about!" Terry chimed in. "If you don't even bat an eye at massive streaks of fire aimed at you, what's a single strange Exploud gonna do?" he laughed.
Lily shook her head. "I hate creepy and weird stuff. I can see and dodge fire. I can't avoid nightmares…"
"What was the deal with that nutter?" Chadwyck growled with a glare in his eyes. "That was some strange stuff he was saying." The Charizard stared down the road, squinting at the departing herald's back.
"I must say, I felt a little unsettled myself," Max admitted. "Did the fellow say some individual died?"
"Relax, all of you," Helena laughed. "That was just the ramblings of a deranged Soundproof, don't worry."
"I hope you are correct," said Max.
"I'll be worrying in my sleep…" Lily cried, shaking her head roughly. "So creepy…"
"Who knows? Maybe he's just trying really hard to turn into a ghost type by saying random things about death!" Terry randomly hypothesized.
"Pfft! How does that make any sense?" Helena laughed, only to receive a shrug from Terry.
"Well he's not doing a good job at that," said Lily with a slight chuckle. Terry smiled, seeing that his outlandish joke seemed to have cheered Lily up a bit.
The group continued towards the palace at the center of the walled city, putting the strange encounter with Eugene behind their backs. However, they came across an unexpected crowd that got denser as they got closer to the palace entrance. The pokémon cleared the way for Helena when they saw and recognized her. Strangely, they averted their eyes when they saw her. "What's going on?" Helena asked aloud, voicing her concern. However, most pokémon ignored her or silently turned away. Narrowing her eyes, she quickly made her way to the front of the crowd at the palace entrance with her friends in tow.
Helena grew more concerned when she spotted what everyone's attention was on. Past the line of stern standing guards, she spotted her father hunched over a large cloth with some irregular shape beneath it. Helena slowly stepped forward, the guards wordlessly stepping to the side to let her through, their expressions blank. "Father?" she voiced out quietly. "What is this?"
The king did not respond. His ears did not even twitch. It looked like sorrow had overtaken him. It was Count Ignatio who answered. "Your Highness… your brother… died in a hunting accident while hunting bandits."
A/N 1/30/22: This chapter's title, "Hunting Accident," is a reference to an infamous random event in Europa Universalis IV. In the game, you're primarily playing as a country, but you always have a ruler who has stats in three categories (administrative, diplomatic, and military) that can vary from 0 to 6. The higher the stats, the more power you accumulate each month to do important actions. Your heir also has these stats and will take over when your current ruler dies. "Hunting Accident" is a random event that can happen at any time. Your heir goes out to hunt some animals for fun and ends up dying. Losing a perfect heir to the hunting accident event is one of the biggest EU4 memes. Eugene's deranged monologue is the exact text that shows up in EU4 when the hunting accident event occurs.
Did you catch Max's easter egg about how nonsensical the main series games' breeding mechanics are? I made references to EVs, IVs, and the Destiny Knot held item! Hmm, this reminds me of a time when I tried explaining the breeding mechanics to a friend.
"So since the baby has four perfect IVs and the dad only had three, you should make the baby the new dad-"
"Stop. That's disgusting!"
Yeah, don't think too hard about the pokémon games' breeding mechanics. :P