Draco: You know... one of my favourite added bits in Eternal Colosseum was inserting an ominous conversation between the big names in Cipher, right after what was the conclusion of Colosseum, as the lead-in to Episode XD. An ominous conversation between villains is just ripe for sinister implications. But I didn't really get to reveal anything, as a consequence of the story's premise being "Gen VI pesudo-remake of Orre".
So I think I'm going to enjoy this.
Pokémon and protagonist © Nintendo. Character designs © Koei. Ransei © somewhere in the middle.
Ultra Kingdom: Project Nezha
"I take it the message is delivered?"
Takatora groaned at his superior's remark. "Yeah," he confirmed, "handed it to her personally."
The 'G' who had written the message for Evia of Aurora was an older man clad in black, with any hair he might have had being well contained by his hat. "And where is your Pokémon?"
"Piss off," Takatora muttered, stepping past him.
"I hope that your anger is because you failed to defeat your enemy," G insisted. "If your enemy was not there to be fought, I apologize."
"No, it was her," Takatora admitted. "The old pirate was right. The Heroine of Ransei is the same Warlord from Aurora who kicked me out for the most bullshit reason." He shook his head. "She might be more talkative, now, but the stupid bitch still has more might than sense."
G turned to him. "If might is your failing," he mused, "then perhaps we can help you improve on that front."
Takatora turned. "Huh? I thought you said that project of yours was only for your personal disciples?"
"Developments may be changing," G admitted, "but this is about something else. He has developed a sort of armour that will amplify the wearer's physical capabilities. If the reason for your defeat is that your enemy is stronger than you are, then we can augment your strength and see to it that such weakness does not hinder you."
"...What's the catch?" Takatora demanded.
"Only that it is bespoke," G replied. "It will take several days to prepare. I'm also told that putting in on and taking it off tends to be rather painful."
A grin rose on Takatora's face. "Small price to pay," he insisted. "No pain your equipment can inflict upon me is too much for the chance to wreck that bitch."
A similar grin rose on G's face. "I shall keep that in mind."
"But..." Takatora looked down at the empty ring on his hip. "Dammit, she broke my sword."
"We can provide you with a new weapon," G replied. "And if you will accept what you are given, rather than insisting upon your choice, I may be willing to keep you in consideration."
"For the project, you mean?" Takatora chuckled. "Sure, what have you got?"
+x+x+x+
The memory vanished, and Takatora opened his eyes.
He was lying on what looked like a medical bed in a closed room. As he got to his feet, he realized his armour was gone, leaving him in a hospital gown - and exposing the incision scars on his arms and legs from when he had been equipped with it.
"You're awake."
The voice from nearby drew the Warrior's attention; G was standing at the entrance to the room, hands set into his pockets. "You."
"Seems that your enemy's might comes paired with skill," G observed. "Where is your Pokémon?"
"Got stuck after the battle," Takatora replied. "Trying to get both of us back would've gotten both of us captured." He glanced down at his scarred arm. "Where's the suit?"
"We had to remove it in order to repair it," G replied.
"Yeah, well, don't bother planning another fitting," Takatora snapped. "That armour didn't do shit."
"Then what do you intend to do?" G demanded. "If you could not triumph over your enemy with amplification, how do you hope to triumph without?"
Takatora rose from the bed. "Who said anything about going without amplification?" he demanded. "I want in."
G narrowed his gaze. "If I saw fit to include you, I would tell you as much," he warned. "I very specifically told you not to ask for-"
"I'm not asking, G," Takatora snapped. "I'm telling you to let me in on whatever the hell you're giving those brats."
Silence in the room for a long moment.
"...Walk with me."
G turned around, opening the door, and Takatora followed him out into the castle.
"Are you familiar with artificial Pokémon?" G inquired as they walked.
Takatora narrowed his gaze. "...Not even close."
"Then allow me to explain. 'Artificial Pokémon' is a blanket descriptor for those Pokémon who exist as a result of human action. Some, such as Golett, were created deliberately for a specific purpose. Others, such as Trubbish, are the result of freak accidents arising because of human developments. Regardless of their origins, those who research Pokémon classify them as Pokémon all the same, and research them just as they do naturally-occurring Pokémon.
"An arguable subset of artificial Pokémon is human-influenced Pokémon. These Pokémon already existed as they were, but changed in some way as a result of human action. Some, such as Rotom, are simply appropriating human creation for their own purposes. Others, such as Meowth, adapted into a regional form based on the experiences of generations of their kind. And still others, such as Grimer, are only suspected of having existed at all before humanity shaped them.
"Then there are fossil Pokémon. These prehistoric species are generally considered extinct in the modern day, but modern science has developed ways to restore them to life using their fossilized remains. They are not the same individuals, mind; for all intents and purposes, a Pokémon restored from a fossil is a new specimen of a given species. Occasionally, scant populations of these species are found in the wild, but it is widely debated if they have been reproducing hidden from human eyes, or if they are restored specimens that have been released by those to whom they were entrusted."
"As interesting as this history lesson is," Takatora mused, "where are you going with this?"
G slowed to a stop before another door, glancing at Takatora over his shoulder. "One must first understand the ordinary if they are to grasp the extraordinary."
He seized the door and pushed it open; this was a much narrower hall, with large collages of imagery on either wall. G beckoned to the wall on their left, and Takatora saw images of a Pokémon that was at once humanoid and feline... wreaking much destruction.
"In the Kanto region, a certain organization attempted to artificially create the most powerful Pokémon in the world, using the genes of the Wanderer. Created in a human's image, this Experiment was indeed well beyond the power of any common Pokémon - but it was also possessed of a mind of its own. It would not heed its creators' orders, and razed the place of its creation to the ground; as the years would prove, the Experiment would only ally with those who had overcome it in battle and earned its respect... or brought it to heel by means other than mere capture."
He beckoned to the wall on their right, and Takatora saw images of a Pokémon that slowly changed from image to image until it was almost unrecognizable as the Pokémon it had started as.
"Some years later, in the Unova region, another such organization struck upon a separate idea. If they could take a Pokémon and augment it by means of technology, it would become far more powerful than any naturally-occurring Pokémon - or so they believed. Their foundation was the fossil of a prehistoric Pokémon recorded as the Jungle Hunter. The project was initially shut down by a figurehead of the organization who thought the resulting Pokémon would be immoral, but it continued in secret with him none the wiser.
"When the finished project was presented, however, the organization's leader quickly realized the error in their course. While the resulting Pokémon had power, it was no longer the Jungle Hunter, and its instincts would not serve it. It would carry out orders, but it could not adapt to unforseen circumstances; to train it properly, to bestow it with new instincts, would risk exposing it to the world, defeating its purpose as a secret trump card. Thus was the project deemed a failure on all counts, and the resulting Pokémon - the Steel Hunter - was condemned as worthless for their purposes."
Takatora contemplated this information. "A created Pokémon that was uncontrollable, and an enhanced Pokémon that couldn't handle a real combat situation..." He turned to G in surprise. "But wait, hold on. Shouldn't the created Pokémon have had the same problem? If it was newly born, how could it know its power well enough to wreak havoc with it?"
G shook his head. "It did not know - not with its mind. But its power was born of the Wanderer's; it may have been mightier, more diverse, but it was still the same power at its core. Thus the Wanderer's instincts could serve the Experiment, at least well enough to escape its captivity - and once it had escaped, it could take the time to know, and then to comprehend."
"I see," Takatora mused. "But the enhanced Pokémon was too different from its original form, so its instincts wouldn't serve it. To make an enhanced Pokémon that could use its enhancements right out of the gate... those enhancements would have to be similar to something the Pokémon can already do." He set a hand on his chin. "If you wanted the enhancements to let it do something it couldn't naturally do at all, you would have to train the Pokémon to use it in advance, but... it would take some doing to try and convince a Pokémon that such a thing would be more useful than its own abilities." He shook his head. "And trying to inform them about the plans to enhance them wouldn't exactly go over well. Something that extensive would be unbelievably painful, and Pokémon don't believe in doing whatever it takes to win."
"This, I believe, is where humans have the advantage," G observed. "In and of ourselves, humans are weak, and so we use whatever is at our disposal to compensate for our weakness. And if it requires skill to use such a thing, we train ourselves in it."
They were reaching the end of the hall, now, and G set his hands against the doors to push them open.
"Therein lies the core of Project Nezha."
Takatora was baffled at what he saw on the other end; there was a giant cylinder full of some unfamiliar green fluid directly opposite the entrance, and several operating-table looking structures lined up on either side. "What the...?"
G stepped inside, prompting Takatora to follow. "I came across several displaced children with the power to communicate wordlessly with Pokémon, to connect with them and grow stronger together. The power to forge a Link, that Warriors might fight alongside their Pokémon on the field of battle. I took them into my care, and introduced them to various Pokémon. Once they had each found a Pokémon or two, and forged a potent bond, I saw them trained in combat... that they might one day be enhanced."
"To what end?" Takatora was genuinely curious at this point.
"To rule," G replied. "You understand, surely enough, that it is Pokémon which decide the course of a battle - so great is the disparity in power between human and Pokémon. In so many regions, this has led to Pokémon alone fighting on the field of battle. The humans provide the resources for a Pokémon to grow, guidance to learn how best to use their power, and positive experiences that they might have something to fight for, but they do not fight one another as their Pokémon do.
"Faced with Warriors willing to strike at them, such Pokémon Trainers would perish - and a Pokémon is not nearly so great a foe without human guidance. Thus would a land of Trainers be easily taken over."
Takatora narrowed his gaze. "And what about a land of Warriors? Even enhanced, if these children of yours haven't seen real battle, they'd easily be overcome by an experienced Warrior."
G nodded. "Indeed. Only a Warrior who has seen true battle before enhancement, with instincts honed on the battlefield, could truly hope to wield power superior to common Warriors. Yet a strong Warrior is not enough; they must also be paired with a strong Pokémon. Who, then, would be better suited to be the first Nezha than a Warrior willing and able to fight alongside a wide variety of Pokémon, rather than a select few?"
"Such a Warrior would be awfully potent already," Takatora observed.
A sinister grin stretched across his master's face.
Draco: Because I'm evil like that - and I haven't had the chance to properly be evil like that in an age.
Ahh... two big Ransei sequel stories, and every time I've introduced new characters from the Koei side of things, I've limited myself to the ones from Samurai Warriors or the Japanese origins in Warriors Orochi. But when I realized this big one might be my last one, I thought I might branch out a little bit. WO!Nezha just looks so Alpha-damned terrifying.
