Pokemon Brick Bronze: Return of the Shadow

by 2b2tEternalLegend

After two thousand years, the Dark Lord has escaped his prison, amassing evil forces to destroy the world. His parents kidnapped, Bronze Tercano sets out to defeat the demonic Eclipse Alliance and restore the lost Empire of Logaria by applying age-old morals to a modern world ruled by politics. Only Bronze, his friends, and Arceus's holy power will destroy the Great Enemy. COMPLETE

44. Glossary: Author's Credits: Misc

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Glossary/Author's Credits/Misc

We need help, the Man reckoned.

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I thought of leaving Brick Bronze without any afterword at all; of letting Bronze's final rites to brave Cobalion and Robert Tercano be my last word on the matter. Then I realized that I had one more thing to say, a thing that actually needed to be said. It has to do with the simple lack of Pokemon in the story.

This thing was intended in 2020 to be a definitive ending for the Pokemon Special manga, and its lore and length grew in the telling. It produced a prequel and sequel, Legend of Arceus and Sword and Shield. Eventually I realized that this book was hardly a Pokemon story at all, but rather an outgrowth of Christian science fiction only loosely connected to the earlier manga volumes, all with storylines that did not match the ethics and interests of Brick Bronze. Despite its story tag, this is not a book about Pokemon in any way.

I have fictionalized the geography of the established Pokemon world to a great extent, trusting readers to grasp the intent of the fiction and to understand why I treated the worldbuilding as I did. This is a tall tale about devilry, not Pokemon battles. Whenever they might occur, they are by no means the real action of the story. And if you feel a need to drop in and request for more, please think again. The way the story ended up is the way I know you. Let them be your way of knowing me, as well. It's enough. And on behalf of Bronze Tercano and his friends—now facing an uncertain future, sorry—I thank you for coming along, and sharing this adventure with me. I never worked harder on a project in my life, and I know—none better, alas—that it has not been entirely successful. What work of make-believe ever is? And yet for all of that, I would not give back a single minute of the time that I have lived in Bronze's where and when. Those days in Roria and Beulah were quite extraordinary. Those were days when my imagination was so clear I could smell the Djinn's violet smoke and hear the warcries of angels.

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Credits

By many hands the gift come to me.

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Thanks to Jason Aaron, who hears the voices in my head.

Thanks to my mother, who birthed me. Say thankya.

Thanks to Jake Allen, who saved my life and mind.

Thanks to many more writers who inspired me.

Thanks to Hidenori Kusaka, Satoshi Yamamoto, and Mato for working on the PokeSpe manga.

Thanks to the Fanfiction team and staff who keep this damned site running.

Thanks to Farya Faraji, who made the music that moves my hands.

Thanks to NoCopyrightSounds, for my techno playlist.

Thanks to Collin, who endured my two-hour lecture on Byzantine history.

Thanks to God, again.

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Glossary and Terminology of Brick Bronze:

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In studying the Pokemon world, Roria, and the whole culture that produced Tar-Tercano, many unfamiliar terms occur. To increase understanding is a laudable goal, hence the definitions and explanations given below.

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Bi-la kaifa: Amen. (Literally: "Nothing further need be explained.")

Khef-kythe: Spiritual and telepathic communion between those that God has bound together.

Elohim: (Sing. Eloha.) Sapient spiritual being.

Lasgun: continuous-wave laser projector.

Superfrigate: a ten-section spaceworthy warcraft mounting heavy armor and shield protection. It is designed to be separated into its component sections for lift-off after planet-fall.

Oil lens: hufuf oil held in static tension by an enclosing force field within a viewing tube as part of a magnifying or another light-manipulation system. Because each lens element can be adjusted individually one micron at a time, the oil lens is considered the ultimate in accuracy for manipulating visible light.

Ray shield: the protective field produced by a shield generator. This field derives from Phase One of the suspensor-nullification effect. A shield will permit entry only to objects moving at slow speeds (depending on setting, this speed ranges from six to nine centimeters per second) and can be shorted out only by a powerful electric field.

Skycopter: (commonly: 'copter): any aircraft capable of sustained wing-beat flight in the manner of birds.

Hisuian Coda: the "Accumulated Book," the holy religious text produced by Hisuian and Logarian tradition. It contains essential elements of the Arcean faith. Its supreme commandment is considered to be: "Thou shall not disfigure the soul."

Durasteel: steel that has been stabilized with stravidium fibers grown into its crystal structure.

Unseen World: in Arcean belief, that part of the individual that is always rooted in (and capable of sensing) the metaphysical world. Also a spiritual dimension, the mystical world of Elohim where all physical limitations are removed.

Aredians: a semipiratical, guerrilla desert people. The soldier-fanatics of the Logarian Emperor. They were men from an environmental background of such ferocity that it killed five out of thirteen persons before the age of eleven. Their military training emphasized ruthlessness and a near-suicidal disregard for personal safety. They were taught from infancy to use cruelty as a standard weapon, weakening opponents with terror. At the apex of their sway over the affairs of the Logarian Empire, their swordsmanship was said to match that of the Swordmaster tenth level and their cunning abilities at in-fighting were reputed to approach those of a Bibliographer adept. Any one of them was rated a match for any ten ordinary Rorian military conscripts. By the time of Tercano's late rule, while they were still formidable, their strength had been sapped by overconfidence, and the sustaining mystique of their warrior religion had been deeply undermined by cynicism.

Units: official monetary unit of the Association, its purchasing power set at quadricentennial negotiations between the regions.

Stunner: pellet projectile weapon throwing a poison or drug-tipped dart. Effectiveness limited by variations in manufacture and relative motion between target and projectile.

Suspensor: secondary (low-drain) phase of a field generator. It nullifies gravity within certain limits prescribed by relative mass and energy consumption.

Tar: honorific meaning "great."

Implant sound: one of several sounds empty of general meaning and which Arcean Elohim implant within the psyches of selected victims for purposes of control. The sensitized person, hearing the sound, is temporarily immobilized.

Ya hya chouhada!: "Long live the fighters!" The Aredian battle cry. Ya (now) in this cry is augmented by the hya form (the ever-extended now). Chouhada (fighters) carries this added meaning of fighters against injustice. There is a distinction in this word that specifies the fighters are not struggling for anything, but are consecrated against a specific thing: that alone.

Muzzelim: followers of a schismatic sect that broke away from Arceanism because of the teachings of Maometh in about 634. The Muzzelim religion is noted chiefly for its emphasis on the mystical and a reversion to "the ways of the fathers." Most scholars name Ali Ben Ohashi as leader of the original schism but there is some evidence that Ohashi may have been merely the male spokesman for his second wife, Nisai.

Harriers: Orreian slang in Kantoian for bandits or raiders.

Hal yawm!: "I am profoundly stirred!" an Aredian exclamation.

Frigate: largest spaceworthy ship that can be grounded on a planet and taken off in one piece.

Saha: rough Logarian equivalent to a formal version of "buddy."

Forget the face of Arceus/Father: to behave dishonestly or against the Arcean faith.

Poke Ball: a portable plastic hermetic seal used for transport and capture of Pokemon.

Plaz: cheap building material formed by the growing of jasmium crystals in duraluminum; noted for extreme tensile strength in relationship to weight.

Discordia: a fey plain in the Distortion World where the Djinn's Fast was banished.

Glowglobe: suspensor-buoyed illuminating device, self-powered (usually by organic batteries).

Great Peace: the universal truce enforced under the power balance maintained by the Association, the Corporate Alliance, and the League. Its chief rule prohibits the use of atomic weapons against human targets.

Duzakh: Logarian for Hell.

Hajj: Holy journey.

White: an elemental force combining faith in God or in a just universe. The White is the force of good and is the opposite of the Outer Dark—that force of chaos and destruction championed by the Evil Djinn.

Hnau-Erebol-et-Elohim: the language of the gods. Spoken before the fall of Babel. Understood by psychically or spiritually sensitive Arceans. Knowledge of the Erebol is considered essential to speak with Elohim.

Jihad: a religious crusade; fanatical crusade.

Cherubim: powerful spiritual beings known for their fearsome, winged appearance.

Tannen: religious verse or psalm from the Hisuian Coda.

Hoverpallet: Durasteel platform equipped with suspensors, used for bearing moderate or heavy loads.

Lur: the great sea of Beulah.

Chaflet: all of one's worldly possessions. In the case of a traveler, it is what he or she carries.

Tar-Elrosi: the first Logarian Emperor, a hero and the ancient lord of Southernesse—was a Warrior of the White. Bronze is Elrosi's descendant.

Swords of Justice: a cadre of angelic swordmasters. Considered benevolent holy warriors with magical powers and excellent skills in battle.

Fast-flyer: mobile craft equipped with high-intensity lasguns and a shatterproof plaz hull.

Ghostwood: anomalous wood genus. The plant growth capable of being shaped in situ solely by the power of human thought.

Plastiglass: glass grown as a high-temperature gas infusion in sheets of jasmium quartz. Noted for extreme tensile strength (about 450,000 kilos per square centimeter at two centimeters' thickness) and capacity as a selective radiation filter.

Chandler pistol: static-loaded gun for firing laser bolts. Effective range about seventy meters.

Kyrie elesion: Hisuian exclamation of sincere peril. ("God have mercy.")

Sky-ferry: wind and fuel-powered vehicle. High-altitude skimmer.

Graf: Logarian alcohol derived from apples.

Objective Room: a distorted chamber that limits the carrying power of the voice and dampens thoughtwaves.

Kercheif: the all-purpose cloth used by Aredians (it can be set to reflect or admit radiant heat, converts to a hammock or shelter) commonly worn over desert suits.

Pulsesword: any thin, long blade (often poison-tipped) for use in fighting shielded opponents or robots. Electrically charged.

Carryall: any ship designed specifically for the transport of troops between regions.

The Tau: in Arcean terminology, that oneness and unassailable freedom/individuality of a believer when joined with the power of Arceus; intrinsic moral law that is above the herd instinct and rules over it.

Tarkul: humorous Rorian slang for pureblooded Logarians, used in banter or insults.

Way: network of mystical portals that connect the worlds together. Not all universes connect to every other universe. They are named from the passage in the Coda that describes human life as a journey across a narrow bridge (the Way) with "Paradise on my right. Hell on my left, and the Angel of Death behind."

Hologram: the three-dimensional image from a holoprojector using 360-degree reference signals imprinted on a wire reel. Kalosi holoprojectors are commonly considered the best.

Celebi: in Arcean tradition, the Mistress of Death and Eras. She judges and reincarnates Pokemon. The weeper who mourns for all mankind.

Uxie: most renowned of the Lake Trio to Rorian religion, called the female at the left hand of God; God's handmaiden and scribe.

A.F.: idiomatic for Aether Foundation except when used with a date. With a date it signifies After Fall and identifies the Arcean dating system based on the end of the Djinn's reign in Dor Daedeloth.

Rorian Jihad: (see also Great Revolt) -the crusade against computers, heretics, thinking machines, and conscious robots begun roughly in 2078 and concluded in 2090. Its chief commandment remains in the Coda as "Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind."

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Questions for the Author

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What do you want to be?

A writer.

When did you realize you wanted to be a writer?

As soon as I started writing.

When did you start to write?

When I was eight, I wrote a story set in the SCP Foundation universe. It was better than my teacher expected.

Where do you write your books?

Anywhere. I write on my computer, edit it once, then publish it. Then I go back the next day to look it over with a more careful (but still loving) eye. Grammarly is the best thing that happened to me.

What is the best advice you have ever received about writing?

To just get off your goddamn lazy fat crumb-covered ass and write. Write the truth and sooner or later you'll have made something original.

As a young person, whom did you look up to most?

My father.

What was your worst subject in school?

Why did I write this? Math.

What was your best subject in school?

History. (Social Studies, do ya fine.)

What activities did you participate in at school?

Quiz Bowl. Some sports. Why did I write this?

Are you a morning person or a night owl?

Depends on the day.

What do you value most in your friends?

Any willingness just to sit down and listen. Life is brutal and all that 99 percent of people want someone to listen to them. All anyone want is to live his life in his own way, to call his house his castle, to enjoy the fruits of his own labor, to educate his children as his conscience directs, and to save for their prosperity after his death. These are wishes deeply ingrained in civilized man. People that help with their realization are almost as necessary to our virtues as to our happiness. From their total absence, disastrous effects, both moral and psychological, might follow.

What is your favorite song?

Most things by Farya Faraji.

What time of the year do you like best?

Early autumn. The temperature's just right and the colors give me "inspiration."

How did you get the idea for Brick Bronze?

Where does anyone get any idea for a story? It's not really that impressive. There isn't any special state of creative enlightenment that makes the work happen. God sends it into my brain and it's my job to get the thing finished. I think it had something to do with not wanting to purchase any more manga novels.

Is there a sequel to this?

If you wish to follow Bronze and his friends, along with a heap of new characters, continue straight on to Sword and Shield.

(C'mon, read Sword and Shield. If it pleases thee.)

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Byebye. Say thankya for reading. The grace, love and splendor be upon you.

Bi-la kaifa.