Second part of the Kitakami Field trip. I've been looking forward to it. Note that here we see some of the condensed parts of the story because otherwise, I fear I would be writing over 20 pages. I will be jumping back and forth between past and present, so warning for those who aren't the biggest fan. However, in context, Lincoln is sharing a story, so interruptions are part of it. If I ever get around to writing extra chapters away from the main canon of the story, there would be a "what we didn't see" section.
Reviews:
Mr. Haziq: 15 Pokemon in total, 14 named after a Donbrother Character, and 13 for battling. Meloetta is a capture in name only and is always roaming. Enya is a registered ride Pokemon so it is technically Lincoln's 7th Pokemon on hand, but it rarely battles. I also realized that I shot myself in the foot when I set the hard limit for how many Pokemon Students can have at a time (because I hate treating Pokemon like they are collectable pieces when writing). Let's just say that Lincoln has an exemption due to the Pokemon he catches while in Kitakami.
Njistar: I like Penny best as well, but she would have been in Galar at this point due to the fallout of Team Star, so sadly she can't come. Thus, Arven was chosen.
DragonEmperor999: Thank you. Sadly, Lincoln does not have a Dragonite, but he does have a Garchomp named Don Murasume. I recognize that I have a problem because while other people like writing about Dragonite, I prefer Garchomp. Also, it was the only shark Pokemon in Blueberry Academy and Kitakami.
digifan303: Thanks, and fair. I don't really see a problem with Lincoln being adopted, but it is meant as a joke and is not something that Lincoln actually told his family. They are getting a much less detailed story than the reader is.
Gamelover41592: Thank you
Lincoln's Life Changing Field Trip Part 2 - Let's begin
"From there, we headed up Apple Hill towards Loyalty and started our assignment. It wasn't long before we had taken our picture and were heading towards Carmine's house. On our way back, we ran into Kieran," Lincoln said to an enraptured audience. He shook his head when he saw Crispin and Lacey
"Well, it would be more like, we bumped into him right when we got back to the house," Lincoln corrected himself.
"Phew! That's further away than I thought," Lincoln stretched as he and Arven approached Carmine's house. The sun was starting to set behind them. Arven shook his head at the white-haired boy. Sweat was gleaming on his forehead.
"You will really need to up your stamina if you want to travel the regions. While places are getting more connected, most trainers have to walk to get to where they need to go," Arven commented with a wry grin. Lincoln seemed to slump over at that.
"Don't remind me," he groaned. "At least my mom can't complain about me not getting exercise. Lynn probably would be happy too before trying to get me into sports again." He shuddered as he imagined the extremes that Lynn would try to force upon him when/if she learned that he was getting more fit.
"Which sister was Lynn again?" Arven asked.
"5th oldest. Sports," was Lincoln's clipped response through his Thousand Yard Stare.
"You ok, buddy?" Arven prompted, shaking Lincoln's shoulder. He tried to snap Lincoln out of it, but he was unsuccessful. Unfortunately, the two were so unfocused on their surroundings that they missed a shy looking boy with hair similar to Carmine's, but with purple in place of red. At least, until the two boys ran into him.
"Oof!" Lincoln and Arven stumbled in place, while the unknown boy fell backwards. This did have the benefit of knocking Lincoln out of his terror. Lincoln quickly noticed what happened and went to help the boy up.
"Are you okay?" Lincoln asked. The boy said nothing and seemed to shrink into himself.
"I'm fine," the boy whispered. He was dressed in a simple t-shirt and athletic shorts that were slightly torn up. "Wh-what are you doing at my house?" He stuttered out.
Arven looked confused at the question, while Lincoln comically put a fist into an open palm. "That's why you look familiar!" Lincoln said. "You must be Carmine's brother, Kieran. I'm Lincoln, one of your sister's friends. I'm sorry for running into you." He looked apologetic to Kieran.
"I'm K-Kieran. I also think that I am partly responsible for running into you," Kieran stuttered out, though he relaxed a little bit. He had a wary look towards Arven. "A-and who are you?" Arven seemed to be unaffected by Kieran's waryness.
He gave a small wave. "I'm Arven, one of the students from Uva, and Lincoln's partner for our class assignments. Your grandparents have been kind enough to invite me to dinner after hearing how I will be working with Lincoln." He had a soft smile as he described his role in this situation. Kieran finally let down his guard.
He also had a small smile on his face. "Y-yeah. They are pretty great," he whispered. He started walking. "W-we should probably head in. If I'm much later, I may get in trouble." In a few moments, the three boys were at the doorway. Kieran hesitated before he pushed open the door. "I'm home," he called out with more confidence.
"Kiki!" Carmine's voice called out. She strode out, almost like a jungle cat approaching prey towards Kieran. His face turned pale as a sheet before he was grabbed into a tight hug by his sister. "I've missed you!" She cried, turning the hug into an almost headlock.
"Let me go, you d-dummy!" Kieran cried, struggling in the grip.
"What was that?" Carmine growled. Kieran quieted in the grip, though he continued to try to free himself. Arven and Lincoln looked quietly at the scene.
"Should we do something about this?" Arven asked apprehensively.
Lincoln shook his head. "If we try to intervene, she'll just put us in the headlock. Better Kieran than us. His sacrifice will be remembered," Lincoln whispered back.
"I can hear you, you j-jerks!" Kieran suddenly shouted, twisting out of Carmine's grip. He huffed before he seemed to remember who he was with and wilted into himself.
At this point, Yukito peeked into the room. His smile stretched across his face. "I'm glad to see that you all are getting along. Now, come on in and get washed up. Hideko has finished making supper, but she will not let you eat if you aren't clean," he prompted with a hard stare. He looked over the boys. "Especially you, Kieran. Guide our guests to the washroom, and then go get changed. I don't have any issues with you exploring, but you won't look like this around guests." Kieran straightened up at that and gave a hurried nod.
"Yes, grandpa!" He said, no hint of his stutter. He motioned for Lincoln and Arven to follow him. The two followed him.
"Wait, Kieran was really shy?" Lori suddenly interrupted. Her face was filled with disbelief, and most of her sisters matched in. Behind her, Carmine looked uncomfortable. "He's nothing like you described."
Lincoln waved her off. "We're getting to that. Just know that Kieran is going through some teenage rebellion right now," Lincoln explained briefly with a smirk. Carmine's discomfort disappeared instantly, and she rounded on the white-haired boy with the fury of a Primeape.
"You're never going to let that go!" Carmine growled. Lincoln looked unfazed, while his friends laughed at the exchange.
"Are we missing something?" Luna asked with some hesitation.
Drayton picked his head up from the table, being the only one who barely moved. He lazily pointed a finger at Carmine. "This one used to use that excuse anytime that Kieran started to do anything rebellious. It is only now that Kieran made Team Ogre that she stopped fighting it." He explained it all with an amused drawl.
"Shut up, Drayton. You're the worst," Carmine groaned, putting her head in her hands. Amarys placed a hand on her shoulder. Lacey and Crispin just sat there, eating from the big bowl of popcorn that Crispin had. Lillie had escaped from Oni Sister's grip and moved next to Lacey and began eating from the bowl as well. They had distributed smaller bowls to the rest.
"Getting back on track, and skipping a little bit ahead, Arven, Carmine, and I all decided to camp out for the night. We had a good time talking about the differences of Kitakami, Paldea, and the States," Lincoln said with a face splitting smile. "It wasn't long before morning came, and Arven and I were working on finishing the assignment. During it, we got to know each other better. It was pretty uneventful, and we finished it with time to spare so we ended up getting ready for the Mask Festival at Carmine's house. That's when the real excitement began."
"Come on you slow pokes! It's time to get ready!" Carmine called out to the two boys excitedly. She was already dressed in her blue jinbei. "Grandpa, where's my mask?" She demanded, chasing after her grandfather.
Meanwhile, Lincoln and Arven were watching the girl scramble about with unimpressed looks. "Leave us out of this," they said simultaneously, waving a hand in front of their faces.
"Isn't this something she gets to do every year? Why is Carmine so excited?" Arven asked.
Lincoln shrugged. "I've learned not to really question girls on stuff like this," Lincoln commented dryly. "Just don't fight them too much, and things will go smoother. I made that mistake one too many times at home. "
"Wise words from one so young," Yukito laughed as he approached with a red bundle of clothes. On top of it, there was a familiar red mask. "Here you go, Lincoln. It was nice making a new mask this year. It was a challenge in comparison to what I usually sell." He handed them to the white-haired boy. "The jinbei may be a little loose, but it should be about the right size."
"Are you sure you want to give it to me?" Lincoln asked.
"It would be no problem. It's just gathering dust, so I would be glad to see it used," the elderly man reasoned. He turned to Arven with an apologetic look. "I'm sorry to say that we don't have any jinbei in your size. You may be able to find some clothes if you stop by Peachy's, but you may have to go like this."
"That's fine. I'm more comfortable with my current clothes," Arven said. "Thank you for your hospitality."
"None of that," Hideko chided gently, entering behind her husband. "You are our guest, and I expect you to keep joining us for dinner as long as you are here. Right?"
"Yes ma'am," Arven practically saluted. The two grandparents had pleased smiles as they looked at them.
"Then go enjoy yourselves. Lincoln, you can change in the washroom. Arven, if you can try to wrangle my spitfire of a granddaughter, that would be appreciated," Yukito jovially announced. Arven looked at the man while Lincoln shot down the hallway at that statement.
"With all due respect, I like having all my limbs attached," Arven stated with zero emotion. Yukito started laughing like a hyena at that statement while Hideko shook her head disapprovingly. She pinched his cheek, silencing the laughter.
"You will help Carmine get ready. Arven, you can help me make some snacks so Carmine doesn't spend all her money on food like last year," she teased.
"Yes, dear," Yukito groaned.
It wasn't much later that Lincoln, Carmine, and Arven were standing by the front of the house. Lincoln and Carmine wore red and blue jinbei and masks respectively while Arven was wearing his usual uniform minus his backpack. Though Lincoln had his school bag around his shoulders, looking quite out of place. Yukito and Hideko were seeing them off.
"Now, make certain you behave, Carmine. I don't want to have to come down to the festival and pull you away from the candy stall…again," Hideko warned. Carmine slumped over.
"That was one time, like three years ago! Can't you let that go?" Carmine whined. Hideko had an almost unnoticeable smile that quickly turned icy.
"No! You threw a temper tantrum because I wouldn't let you have another candy apple. I just hope that I can trust you to behave now that you are a little older," Hideko warned.
"Yes, grandma. I promise to keep myself under control," Carmine groaned. Lincoln and Arven snickered behind her, but they did nothing else to antagonize either woman.
The grandmother looked at her granddaughter for a few moments, and then nodded. Her icy smile disappeared, and a much gentler smile took its place. "Good. Now, go have some fun, take some pictures, and enjoy your night."
"Yes, ma'am/grandma!" The trio called out with various forms of affirmatives.
"And if you can keep an eye out for your brother, that would be much appreciated. He left much earlier," Yukito asked.
"Not a problem, grandpa. We'll see you later!" Carmine said. She grabbed Lincoln's wrist and started to drag him down the road. "Now, we have a festival to enjoy!"
"Carmine, I know where we are going," Lincoln complained, as he was dragged along, though he didn't fight it too hard.
"Wait for me!" Arven called out, chasing after his two friends.
"Wait a second, is that why you always shout about a festival when you do your big entrances? Because of the Festival of Masks?" Crispin asked between handfuls of popcorn.
"Yep," Lincoln said simply. "I tried to model my Momotaro persona on a happy festival goer who is trying to drag everyone into a good time. I mean, the Festival of Masks is where I really started to grow into a trainer, so I decided to play into that." Beside him, Oni Sister had a fanged smile on her face as she listened to her trainer.
A gentle smile framed his face. "After all, it was where I met this one," Lincoln whispered as he patted the oni's head. She leaned into it, relishing in the attention. Lincoln idly noted Pixie snuggling up to Lily.
"You're a dork, Tarou," Carmine stated. Around her, Drayton snickered at the comment, while Lacey and Crispin laughed at the statement. Even Amarys gave an affirmative nod.
"Getting back on track," Lincoln drawled with half-lidded eyes to the amusement of his family. "Arven, Carmine and I enjoyed ourselves at the festival, but eventually we all got separated. I was just wandering around when I ran into this little Oni sneaking around the festival."
"Why would Oni Sister be galavanting throughout the celebration? Didn't you say that she was unwelcomed in her backstory?" Lisa asked.
"So you noticed. From what we understand, Oni Sister was only able to really interact with people during the Festival of Masks because she could blend in with all the kids wearing masks," Lincoln said. "The story you heard from me is actually historically inaccurate, and Kitakami is working on correcting the information."
"Anyways, I was just wandering around Kitakami Hall when I bumped into this little kid with the most elaborate mask I had yet seen…"
"Where did they go?" Lincoln grumbled himself. He was in a more secluded section of the festival, sitting on a set of stairs, catching his breath and enjoying the silence. Or he was until he noticed a medium-small figure at the top of the stairs. She had a larger and fancier mask that was based on what the ogre's mask was supposed to be as she hopped down the stairs. Despite the mask, Lincoln could tell that she was looking curious at himself.
In fact, they seemed to be really interested in Lincoln. Lincoln got up from his seat and then crouched so he was eye level with the small child. "That's a really cool mask you got there," he complimented.
This seemed to excite the child as she hopped up and down excitedly. She pointed at Lincoln's mask with a cloaked hand and tilted her body. "My mask?" Lincoln asked, fiddling with it. He took it off and showed it to her, also revealing his white hair. "I got this made for the festival. I'm not from Kitakami, and I didn't want to have something that everyone else did." Lincoln could practically feel the interest from the child.
"Do you want to try it on?" He asked, offering it to the child. She seemed to consider the offer, and after a moment of hesitation, took off her mask. As she was placing it down, Lincoln got a good look at her face. He was shocked that it was not a human's face, but he barely managed to hide his surprise. He almost missed it when she gently placed her mask down and took his mask. She held it almost reverently and placed it on her face. She seemed quite pleased with the design and feel of it as she hopped around Lincoln wearing the mask. Lincoln just watched content as the unknown Pokemon hopped along.
"Lincoln, where are you, little buddy?" Arven called out. Immediately, a change went through her. She looked frightful and rushed to grab her mask on the ground. It was a frantic scramble for the little Pokemon, and Lincoln was so surprised that he didn't notice she still had his mask on her face.
"Wait!" Lincoln called out, rushing after the escaping Pokemon. He didn't make it far because she tripped on the top of the stairs and dropped her mask. Lincoln looked on in slow motion as the mask clattered down the stairs, some of the crystals cracking as it bounced. He stumbled over a stair, but was able to catch it before it fell much more than halfway down the stairs. He breathed a sigh of relief as he inspected the mask. It was a little chipped, and there were a few cracks in some of the smaller gems, but otherwise it was okay.
"Pon!" The Pokemon cried out for the first time at the top of the stairs. It was looking down at the mask with Lincoln's mask in her hands. Her face was pleading and filled with hurt.
Lincoln cradled the mask and started up the stairs. He idly noticed that Arven was jogging towards him, but he focused on the Pokemon in front of him. He started walking up the stair, and when he neared the top, he offered the mask to the Pokemon.
"Here you go," Lincoln said, holding the mask flat like it was a plate filled with food. The little Oni hesitated, but went to take back her mask.
Unfortunately, Carmine chose this moment to come back. "There you are!" She cried out happily at the bottom of the stairs. This frightened the Pokemon and caused her to take off faster than they can respond, leaving behind her mask, but taking Lincoln's.
"Wait!" Lincoln called out again. He tried to chase after her, but he tripped on the top step. He would have fallen down, but he was caught by Arven who had followed him up the steps.
"Easy there, buddy," Arven grunted. "What was that about?" He asked, gesturing towards where the Pokemon ran off to.
"I'm not entirely sure. After we split up, I ran into that Pokemon. She was wearing this mask, but I have no idea what kind of Pokemon she was," Lincoln explained.
"Wait, what?" Carmine was only a step away from screaming. She stomped her way up the stairs with a serious look. "Let me see that mask!" She demanded, practically snatching the mask. Her face turned pale.
"Of course you have the devil luck to run into the freaking Oni!" Carmine complained to herself in a harsh whisper.
"What!" The two boys shouted.
"Yes. We need to talk to my grandpa and see if we can get this fixed before we have a rampaging Oni to deal with," Carmine demanded.
"Are you certain about that? From what I got, the Oni was just curious. She asked before she tried on my mask," Lincoln asked. He groaned suddenly. "She still has my mask!"
"We can worry about that later! I don't want to take that risk!" Carmine basically ordered. She practically shoved the mask towards Lincoln. "Put that in your backpack. We don't want anyone else seeing that." She demanded. Lincoln hesitantly nodded, and with a bit of effort, put the mask inside his backpack.
"Now, come on!" Carmine commanded, marching down the stairs and towards the festival. Lincoln and Arven looked at each other.
"We could be enjoying ourselves for the rest of the evening," Arven suggested, almost pleading. Lincoln shook his head.
"I think Carmine is being really serious right now. We better follow her," Lincoln said with a grimace.
Arven slumped over. "Alright. Let's go," he straightened out, and the two began following the irate girl. Unnoticed to them, Kieran was watching the tail end of the conversation and followed them.
"Grandpa! We got trouble!" Carmine screamed as she rushed towards her home. Behind her, Lincoln and Arven struggled to keep up. Her shouting dragged out a drowsy old man from the house.
"This better be important! These old bones need their sleep," the man growled out with a scowl. Lincoln and Arven skidded to a stop beside Carmine, almost bumping into the frantic girl.
"It will be faster to show you. Lincoln!" Carmine bit out between deep breaths. Lincoln stumbled at the sudden call out, but quickly pulled out the mask. In less than an instant, the exhaustion and anger fled from his face and intense focus formed.
"You met the Oni?" He whispered harshly. He started looking around wildly before relaxing when he noticed nobody was around. "Into my workshed. We'll talk there." His voice left no room for disagreement, and soon the four were crowded into a small workroom. Lincoln looked around. There were several blocks of wood, some partially cute, some sanded into the general shapes of masks, and there were a few finished, but unpainted ones. Lining one of the walls were notes and blueprints for the masks.
"This is quite the set up," Arven whistled.
"It's amazing," Lincoln breathed out.
"Thank you, boys. Our family has been making masks for this village for generations," Yukito said, happily. "Now, we need to talk about the fact that you met Ogerpon." His happiness vanished, replaced by the stern visage.
"Ogerpon?" Lincoln repeated.
"Yes, that is the name of the Oni from the story… The poor thing," Yukito mumbled to himself.
Carmine hesitantly spoke up. "But you always told me that if I ever run into the Oni that I should leave it alone and tell you. It was one of the non-negotiable rules you had for me when I got my Pokemon."
"And I stand by that rule. It's a secret that our family had held onto for almost as long as we've been in Kitakami," Yukito said solemnly. "I must first ask, how did you meet Ogerpon?"
Arven and Carmine looked at each other. It was Arven who answered. "We didn't actually get to meet Ogerpon, was it? We were looking for Lincoln and kind of scared it away."
"Really, so it was only Lincoln that Ogerpon revealed itself to," Carmine's grandpa inferred.
Lincoln nodded. "Yes, though I didn't really get to interact with her much. I was just taking a break, when she approached me. She wasn't anything like the Oni from the story. If anything, she was curious and friendly," Lincoln recalled. "She did take my mask." He pouted at that fact.
A sigh of relief escaped Yukito. "Good. Then we can still help Ogerpon out," he mumbled just loud enough to be heard.
Unfortunately, he was heard by Carmine. "What are you talking about, Grandpa? You are not making any sense," Carmine declared.
"I suppose it is time to tell you the true story of Ogerpon," Yukito started. "This story has been passed down in our family by word of mouth. I learned it from my father. It's a story of truths… A story that must never be told to the rest of the village. You must never speak of it to others." He looked seriously at the three. Unknown to the four, the door to the room cracked open.
"A long, long time ago, a man and an ogre came to Kitakami from a foreign land. The people of the village feared the man and the ogre, who looked so different from them... And so they refused to let the travelers come anywhere near the village. The man and the ogre were saddened that the villagers did not welcome them... But they were happy just to have each other. They settled quietly in a cave on the mountain. There was only one villager who pitied the two travelers: the village mask maker. He made several masks for the man and the ogre. The masks were brilliant works, adorned with gems the man brought from somewhere far away. By wearing these masks, the travelers could hide their true faces and mingle with the villagers. The man and the ogre were overjoyed. They thanked the mask maker for his kindness. Wearing the masks, the man and the ogre started secretly joining the village festival. The mysterious pair soon became the talk of the village because of their brilliant masks. In fact, rumors about them quickly spread far and wide, even to distant lands. But rumors of exquisite, shining masks attract more than just innocent curiosity... A group of greedy Pokémon soon made their way to the land of Kitakami. These Pokémon sneaked into the cave in which the man and the ogre lived...and tried to make off with the masks, which were carefully stored away. The man happened to be there. He managed to hold on to one of the masks...but he was not strong enough to protect them all. The Pokémon stole the other three masks. Several hours later, when the ogre returned to the cave...it found its beloved home in ruin. All that was left were the signs of a struggle and a teal mask. The ogre donned that mask and went down to the village, perhaps to search for its friend. It found the greedy Pokémon there, gloating over their stolen masks, and defeated them. The villagers, of course, had no idea what was happening nor why. All they saw was the raging ogre. And they felt great fear. The villagers thought the three Pokémon had fallen trying to protect the village from the ogre. To honor their sacrifice, the villagers named them the Loyal Three and interred them with care. Wounded and weak, the ogre returned to its cave—alone and with great sadness."
Silence filled the room at the end of the tale. Arven and Lincoln had dropped jaws. However, it was Carmine that was almost steaming. Behind them, the door closed fully.
"Ogerpon didn't deserve that! And the Loyal Three… They're the worst! The story we've all heard is the complete opposite of the truth. Everyone's got to hear about this!" Carmine raged. She would have stormed out of the room if not for the solid grip of her grandfather on her shoulder.
"You mustn't!" Yukito commanded with an angry glare. "You will ruin this family!"
"What are you talking about?" Carmine screamed as she turned to her grandpa. Her face was twisted in an angry scowl, and her eyebrows were practically fused together.
"You think that you are the first person to try to spread the truth to Kitakami?" He shouted back. "My grand-uncle tried it once." He said in a much quieter voice. "I was only a boy, and the village practically chased him out of Kitakami." At the shocked looks from Carmine and the two boys, he knew he made his point. He let out another sigh.
"I know this sounds harsh, but the people of Kitakami don't want to accept that what they've been celebrating for generations is wrong. A few may, but I will not let our family be at risk for this," Yukito said. Carmine's boiling anger had settled down into a simmer. Lincoln and Arven looked on helplessly. Lincoln took a breath and stepped forward.
"That won't stop me," Lincoln asked. All eyes went towards him "I want to help Ogerpon. I will help her." His statement was said with almost tangible conviction that it cut through the conviction. "I know I'm an outsider, but that means that I don't have as much to lose if things go wrong. So, how can I help?"
"Am I correct in assuming that you will be joining Lincoln in this endeavor?" Yukito asked Arven and Carmine.
"Absolutely," Arven said.
"Don't even joke, grandpa. I'm helping, and you can't stop me," Carmine declared.
Some of Yukito's humor came back with that statement. "Very well then. It's late tonight, and I need to inspect the mask tonight. It looks a little damaged, so I want to inspect it for any damage and see if I can fix it," Yukito said, inspecting the mask. "Get back to me in the morning. I'll need you to get some supplies for me."
"Got it," Lincoln said after a moment.
"Goodnight, grandpa," Carmine finished. The trio exited the room and headed to their respective sleeping areas.
"And that ended our second day at Kitakami. Arven and I camped out again, Carmine helped her grandparents prepare, and from what I've been able to determine, this one was wandering around, looking for us," Lincoln announced, patting Oni Sister's head. "We met back up the following day, and was met with some good and bad news."
"Then what happened?" Carmine, of all people, asked.
Lincoln shot her an unimpressed look. "You were there. Why are you asking?" He commented bluntly. Carmine had a sheepish look that was soon replaced by anger.
"Well excuse me!" She snarled. "I got a little into the story. It's not my fault that you are good at telling stories." Her face was almost entirely red at her denial. Her friends and more than a few of the Louds laughed at that.
"The next day, the three of us met back at Carmine's place again where we were met with some good and bad news."
Chapter end
I don't know exactly how to cite this, but I directly quoted from Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's Teal Mask DLC with Yukito's true tale of Ogerpon. I added some actual consequences to knowing and spreading the truth about Ogerpon. It was consequences from about half a century ago, so there was some reason for Yukito's stubbornness. I also felt like the change was too quick in Kitakami since there would be no reason for any of the people to believe Kieran who is known to like Ogerpon a lot. Instead, I felt like it was better for the focus to be on helping Ogerpon over fixing history. It is out of universe, but Lincoln, Carmine, Jaqc and Briar (once they got caught up) worked for months to get the region to accept the truth. In the meantime, Kieran was able to get a few members of his Team Ogre while he was treated as an outcast in Kitakami.
However, I have to stop it now because we are almost 10 pages in and we are just getting to the real meat and potatoes of it. Next chapter we get some battles, but it felt right ending it one the second day. We should be done with Kitakami in the next chapter.