Luri

Replies ^18: I do wonder that as well. It seems rather expansive...and we have no idea if there's more beyond the Dark Zone and Lapide. I do remember Nova mentioning to Lilith that Odis Village is the culmination of discarded dreamers, although I can’t recall if she specifically says all of the Dreamscape is. Some NPCs outside of Odis have moved to their respective locations from the village and others reference places in Ayrith though everyone else is a big mystery. It's quite possible that some Dreamscape residents, especially outside of Odis Village, are figments of the dream. Or something similar to that. They have been targeting people for quite a while now…if more and more people started to fall asleep and never wake up again every year the region would be a lot more abuzz with concern. Absolutely. Plus, I figure something must have inhabited the Dreamscape prior to the dreamer abduction plans since it’d be weird for Darkrai to create a vast dream like the Dreamscape and not have any inhabitants. So, either some of them are figments or maybe people who were caught up in the dream during its creation. It is still an interesting question though…why do so many people have the ability to dream and have the capability to release Darkrai? Heck, what is even required to release Darkrai? Yeah, I can see Cresselia being a component near endgame given her connections with Darkrai and all that. So far, the two things that seem like they would be able to beat Darkrai are either Perfection or Cresselia, maybe even a combination of both. Given all that both of those possibilities seem likely. I wonder where one could even hide a Legendary pokémon without it being found? At the end of the gauntlet is a surprise battle with Perfection Darkrai starting on the second stage of the darkness field Maybe Perfection Cresselia will lean into its celestial motif and elegance. I feel like a lot of the Perfection design elements from Umbreon could work well on Cresselia. And that’d make quite a bit of sense… one of the settlers did have a Darkrai after all. And it’s quite possible, if Darkrai and it’s trainer didn’t realize the protagonist was alive I’d bet Cresselia wouldn’t either. Everyone knows except for Garret, who didn’t know what a Darkrai was lol xD I always assumed those in Crescent thought that because the Darkrai was special that it can control whether it unleashes dreams or nightmares upon someone. I can totally see them chasing after Cresselia before Nova weaseles her way into Crescent and starts the hunt for Darkrai. That would be a neat way of explaining their team name. If that is the case, I assume they’d at least have some info about her status and location…if there is ever a Crescent team-up in the future, especially one where both Waldenhall and Darkrai are our targets, maybe they’ll share that info and we’ll go track down Cresselia. Either that or we could find the information while raiding another one of their bases or something. I guess I never considered it but is the Dreamscape a dream or a nightmare? Another possibility, albeit not sure if it’s intentional, is the fact their motif is of a waning crescent moon which is the last lunar phase before a new moon. In pokémon lore Darkrai is supposedly active during nights of the new moon…given Nova’s association with Darkrai maybe it was just a cheeky way of announcing Darkrai’s eventual arrival in Ayrith. Oh! Another idea…it’s in the same vein as to why Cresselia might be hidden in the Wildwoods…maybe we’ll encounter Cresselia in Cellia. I mean the name alone sounds pretty close, and it’s the city of dreams. Maybe she’s hidden somewhere beneath the city in the Depths? Absolutely, that’d be an epic way to face Darkrai and their trainer. Especially after gaining a Perfection Cresselia! Ooh, that’s wonderful! Sounds like you have a lot planned for the fanfic. When it comes to relationships, the first ones that come to mind are any with Reeve, Garret, and or Rosetta, absolutely. Those three work well together It’d be cute to see Emily and Rosetta though, definitely a secondary option right there. I’m pretty basic when it comes to ships xD Connor/Scarlett and Ava/MC…maybe it’s an odd one but Ava/Reeve mightttt work. Yeah, for all we know we could be missing some mythos, oooooor we are just too blinded by the allure of the dark lol Agreed, the darkness does seem to be a literal lack of illumination, and can be construed as void when the field is completely doused in shadow. And this gloom elicits feelings of hopelessness the more one becomes enveloped in it. If the Dark Zone does indeed have anything to do with darkness or its field, then it’s possible that it is erosive and toxic as well. By itself it feels very traditional for darkness, both in a literal and figurative sense. One idea mentioned before is that it’s tied to Darkrai. The only move to advance the Darkness Field two stages is Dark Void. It’s also what the move does, drags its victims into a world of complete and utter darkness which puts them to sleep. It could probably be a manifestation of this dark void, maybe made possible due to the effects of the Perfection state it achieved before. Plus, if the inscription in the Wildlands Cave is to be believed, presumably the cave is possibly where the dream started or where Dark Void was cast to create the dream? That may explain why any encounter in the cave takes place on the darkness field. Although that doesn’t exactly explain why moves like Wish, being the only non-light-based move of the bunch, can reduce the darkness field by one stage, or why Last Resort can work on the first stage. They more coincide with the idea of Perfection, or at least the idea that hope and willpower can break through the darkness. It could be possible that darkness isn’t tied to or the result of something, maybe it just is. There are Blessed and Holy fields that represent light and the power of Arceus. Maybe the Darkness field is just the representation of the other side of the coin, void darkness or some such. Darkrai could easily be using the darkness to amplify its power and reach. Another question we should be asking is where it originates from? Also, side note the background for the title art is reminiscent of the darkness field. True, it is called the Wildwoods after all. It could start off pretty whimsical but the closer you get to the secrets or Darkroot the more protective and haunted the woods get. Who knows? Absolutely! It is possible Perfection pokémon may not share any design traits and may all be unique, akin to Mega Evolutions, but given the strict requirements of Perfection I’d be surprised if there aren’t some similarities between pokémon. I suppose we just have to wait and see :D Haha the Dreamscape is just the equivalent of Lorule. Crack theory time! …Darkrai and the settlers originated from a different realm/reality altogether and found Ayrith through Grid travel. There they discovered Perfection and the events of the Settler’s Ruins transpired. Afterwards Darkrai ran back to its reality where it decided to create a dream there and merged with its reality to become the Dreamscape. Then Darkrai lost its Perfection state and ended up stuck in the dream. Realistically Darkrai just worded it like that since the Dreamscape is its creation, which seemed to have held some sort of significance for it at some point. And the fact it has most likely been stuck there for over a century by the looks of it. Also, a side though but I was just thinking if Darkrai is totally okay with using and tossing away a figment of Tristan/Tristan’s spirit or whatever it was, it’d be pretty interesting to see it use a figment of Scarlett if she had perished in Blackview…certainly would be a fun consequence for failing…or willingly allowing her to die. If there won’t be any more repeating typing, going forward I would peg Delica as poison. I agree with Kairo using ground types, it seems like a good candidate for him! Speaking of Delica…if Delica and Reeve have a great relationship I wonder if this Delica person may have helped Reeve with Perfection research at some point? Honestly, I had completely glossed over that pattern in Reborn, that’s pretty neat! If that is a pattern that will be adopted in Deso Hendrick will be the odd one out. So far it sounds like he only uses normal types instead of wielding two types like Azura, Atlas, and Damon. I really like that idea though. It would give Azura a nice boost and end up calling back to Reborn and Rejuv. I enjoy the inverse field quite a bit as well, so I do hope we see at least one battle on it! Following this pattern then Atlas could be using a Mega Charizard X or a Turtonator and Damon could be wielding a Mega Sabeleye or Mightyena. Who knows what Hendrick will be doing. The Ayrith League is certainly shaping up to be pretty atypical. If Shiv is still the Champion in this region, he’s still walking around with his Aipom of all things on his team. A little purple monkey may win in the cuteness category, but it certainly isn’t a powerhouse. Aurorus has a higher base-stat total than it xD

Thatttt they are lol It shall be, especially considering all the potential circumstances that we can meet them under. Welp, the Ayrith region has hoverboards…maybe they do have holograms? Or androids or something. That would be the cheekiest deception in the game. True I can very well see them with personalities according to reputations, or yeah, they can be a rowdy frat squad, totally opposite of their media personalities. Replies ^16 : That’s roughly the age range I was thinking as well. Yeah absolutely, there’s still more for us to uncover in the Dreamscape, most notably when it comes to the lake guardians. I wonder if something will happen once, we catch all three of them and bring them back to the Waterscape Temple. If I remember correctly that odd book in the Waterscape Temple mentioned that Uxie is located in the mountains and Azelf is residing in the depths of Lapide. Considering that there were some rock-climbing spots north of the Waterscape that looks like it will lead to some rockier terrain, I assume that’s gonna lead to the mountains and Uxie. Lapide is another story. Since the only other non-explored route open to the protagonist is the Dark Zone, it’s possible Lapide either resides somewhere in the Dark Zone (maybe a branching path that leads out of the Zone?), or is situated on the other side of the DZ. In any case I do think Azelf is around there. Oh absolutely, it’ll be both, he’ll make the most stylish entrance and save us in the nick of time ! I’m definitely looking forward to that moment. That is quite a good question. I suppose where she’d go after her visit to the Astraciel relies heavily on what her motives are and what she accomplished in that field. Given the circumstances, however, I’d say that most of those motives (helping us, decommissioning the Foxes or reclaiming her seat as the Head of the Foxes) should have her located somewhere on Arcanius still. A Darkrai Death Ray though…with the rate our merry band is going we may need it xD Maybe the Darkrai Death Ray is powered by Cresselia’s or Arceus’s energy or something and she’s on the hunt for them? Haha I’m quite paranoid as well, no worries. All the antagonists are gathered nicely on one island, and we still haven’t seen Perfection Darkrai yet. Juuuuust waiting for things to go south, and we get hit with some challenges to up the ante. I’d be astonished if that didn’t happen. True, given that they are the lunar duo and counterpart to Darkrai I’m surprised neither Reeve nor Ava had thought of the idea considering Darkrai is, in fact, real and not some myth. It’d be pretty interesting if Darkrai somehow wiped her from everyone’s memories. It does have some capacity for manipulation, control, and altering memories…who’s to say it hasn’t? Other possibilies include her roaming the grid or something. Or one of the settlers had a Cresselia and it was one of the pokémon that perished due to that outbreak of Perfection wayyyy back when. This may be a bit of a tangent but…I always kinda wondered why Team Crescent is named Crescent…and subsequently wonder if they will have something to do with Cresselia. Her motif is the crescent moon, and their motif is obviously silver crescent moons. Aside from that there doesn’t seem to be too many other connections I can see between the team and Cresselia. If Lilith’s goal is to help take down Darkrai, then seeking out Cresselia would be an understandable course of action. Ya know…maybe Cresselia is residing in the Astraciel Wildwoods? That one journal of Shiv’s on the cruise mentioned some energy present in the Astraciel but when he tried to look closer, something in him pulls away…maybe that was Darkrai’s influence recoiling from Cresselia’s presence/energy? It’s a long shot, but hey, maybe that’s another possibility xD It would be very interesting to have the pieces summon something that would be directly counter to Darkrai. The Lilith-detector and the Cresselia summoner are the ones I like the most. Right now, she hasn’t been a factor in the main plot but there’s still time for her to make an appearance …only time will tell. Though an interesting question is whether or not Cresselia would be of help in this situation. She has the power to dispel Darkrai’s nightmares, though could that stop the Dreamscape and Ayrith from merging? Or even ending the dream itself? The Dreamscape seems too peculiar for it to be dispelled by a normal Cresselia. Perfection Cresselia on the other hand… Agreed! Ooh color me intrigued, what character relationships do you have in mind? It is possible emotional turmoil leads to darkness, or at least the darkness is a metaphor for said turmoil or hopelessness. Heck, maybe it’s a physical manifestation of Perfection energy or something akin to that? That’s an interesting idea, darkness feeding off emotions. We do know that, once a pokémon reaches a Perfection state they seem to exhibit maliciousness, anger, and or restlessness. Lots of negative emotions. And, while we don’t have any direct evidence for this, I have a feeling Darkrai wasn’t always malicious. It’s like the positive emotions were stripped away due to ascending to Perfection. Or fed upon/absorbed. Maybe even suppressed or lost somewhere. Like you said one of the requirements for natural Perfection is those unwinnable odds, while the other is supposedly a bond, or love between trainer and pokémon. The requirements for Perfection are very interesting in my opinion. Especially since there are quite a few people who end up targeted by Darkrai like Lilith was, you’d think that would be a scenario where quite a few pokémon reach Perfection. It’s possible that Lilith did end up with the right cocktail of emotions and along with the strong bond of her Umbreon Perfection was achieved. Being in the presence of someone who was under the influence of a legendary is an interesting line of thinking. It does seem like those who are being influenced by Darkrai have something to do with the darkness field…maybe being in the presence of that darkness/presence plays a role in that somehow. The presence idea also works with the impossible odds as well. Although Nova seems to really care for her Gothitelle. She even gives the protagonist an egg from her Gothitelle as a symbol of commitment to our cause and a hope that the protagonist will learn to trust in her again. However, her Gothitelle never reached a Perfection state, despite her ending up in a similar position. What differentiates her from Lilith in this case? Is there something we’re missing? Does she not have a strong enough bond with her pokémon? Was her situation somewhat different? Militant flabebe…that sounds like a fun scenario xD The flabebe or whatever resides there could be protecting some sort of secret there. Or hauntings could be a thing too since we don’t really know what sort of energy is permeating though those woods quite yet. Honestly yeah, they really are. Props to the devs and artist for such great designs and sprite work ! I adore every mega evolution and Perfection Umbreon. I’m stoked to see Perfection Darkrai as well (haha I’m kinda hoping it ends up gaining Perfection next update just to witness what it looks like). If Umbreon is anything to go by I’m sure Darkrai will be just as cool, if anything a bit more menacing. I wonder if there are any specific design traits that are shared between Perfection pokémon or not… Oh my gosh a whole squad of Perfection Eeveelutions… that truly would be perfection! I’m most curious about Espeon, Vaporeon, and Sylveon although I’m sure every one of them would look really neat. I actually haven’t thought about that, yeah…is the Dreamscape also affecting Darkrai? Is it even possible? I always thought it was kinda odd how Darkrai referred to Ayrith as the protagonists’ world, a new world…didn’t it originate *from* some other region in reality along with the settlers? Is its mind a bit muddled as well or something? They are quiteee suspicious indeed, that’s the plan! I’m definitely gonna check on them every so often when the next version is out. I’m pretty certain we’ll see more of Jarred in the future… It’s possible he may show up in Astraciel or Darkroot considering how he just ends up everywhere the protagonist is. Plus, he seems to have ties with the elemental orbs/relic so maybe we will see more of him during our Ranger activities. We certainly haven’t seen the last of our blue bearded friend. Honestly, I wanna know why he was removed from the league, that should be an interesting story lol And I do find myself agreeing with both of your predictions on the order of the gym leaders, especially with Kairo being the last. The question is: what types do Delica and Kairo use? Desolation is pretty good at doing their own thing at times, with there being 12 gyms and all. It’s quite possible they may shake up that rule the Reborn and Rejuv has set.

1) Milcery evolves at level 42 in v6. No items or anything required. 2) As far as I know the vendor that sells choice items isn’t available in v6. And yes, yes the game is really good!

1) I just experienced the ME trilogy for the first time not too long ago…yes, those Atlas mechs were quite a bother…. why is it always Atlases? XD Me too, I’ll settle for a few more tidbits of information until we get to meet them. I am really curious to see what personalities they will have. Will Azura be rocking an ice queen persona? What will Hendrick be like? Oh, the curiosity is killer xD Replies ^14: Agreed. Maybe she has that perspective as well. I do recall her referencing Amelia as girl, and I get the feeling Amelia is at least older than Hardy. We are getting quite a few shrines and temples. This may be a stretch but whoever wrote that passage in that book in the Waterscape Temple describes themselves as no scientist but a man of faith. Given that the only sort of religion that we’ve seen so far is based around Arceus it’s possible that someone related to that faith ended up in the Dreamscape and started investigating (I suppose Kanzen Temple could also be another possibility if they don’t have affiliations with the Temple of Arceus or the Hand of Arceus). Although, given the situation the author finds themselves in maybe the faith that he referenced isn’t necessarily faith in a higher power but one in the belief that they will find a way out of the Dreamscape or unravel its mysteries. Just some thoughts. If we are taking pokémon lore into account, the lake guardians have ties to the creation trio which in turn is tied to our favorite golden boy Arceus. Although I’m not sure of the Temple of Arceus worships the others ties to Arceus or just Arceus itself sooooo there is some potential that the shrines could have ties to them, but I suppose it depends on some things. Whatever the case it is a bit strange the lake guardians get several shrines and a large temple with a mural depicting them in the Waterscape. I didn’t know I needed this until now! I’m sure he has enough outfits for any occasion, that’d be pretty cool. Besides Reeve is like the second strongest gym leader in the group. Definitely having those strong psychic types would be a huge help. I completely agree, Reeve and Waldenhall already have quite a dynamic, seeing them interact more would be interesting, especially on opposing sides like they are now. Plus, there’s the fact that Garret and Reeve would be heading after the same person. Maybe throw in Eden as well if she becomes a factor later down the line. There’s definitely some potential there! I assume he’s gonna be tracking the position of the Perfection fragments in case Waldenhall, or the entity changes course or skips town all of a sudden. Or he could provide some more valuable information, being a scientist and all, as the events unfold. However, I am of the same mind. Right now, it looks like having a few more people on the field may be a good idea. It is possible Reeve will choose to enter the fray at some point during v7 if things get a little too heated…who knows? Quite true. We know from Nova and that one scene she headed there after Darkrai was released. It seems like there are three likely possibilities…one Lilith is still there, two she has already bounced (I wouldn’t be surprised if she left a clue or something there for when we arrive), or three someone made sure she was out of the race (probably not permanently but still). With that weird vision Nova was getting about her Umbreon I’m kinda of the mind she’s either not there anymore or someone is targeting Lilith. I’ll be surprised if we do find her in that field when we arrive. Also, the pieces forming a Lilith-detector would be quite helpful if she did start roaming around like certain legendaries do. Certainly wouldn’t have predicted that xD It would be very poetic, I’m definitely very curious to see if that will be the case. Especially if Darkrai ends up in a Perfection state before the final showdown. I can think of several other poetic ways to defeat Darkrai, maybe one of them will come to pass. I don’t mind having a battle or two with that sort of gimmick again in Desolation as long as the battle doesn’t take place on a field where several moves can easily nuke any or all progress (thanks Flower Garden Field lol) anddd has an opponent that’s wielding a full team with those moves that is more than willing to make the battle the player’s own personal hell. There were so many torched flowers that day… Maybe having one or the other would make it a bit more manageable and not as frustrating if that’s ever a thing. IMO Desolation has been pretty fair with its battle structures and comps thus far. None have been overtly difficult or underwhelming. I trust they would figure out how to balance a battle gimmick like that, so it works with their game if that’s a route they wanna take. Now that you mention it though, I wonder if any other interesting gimmicks will appear in Desolation, like a hypnosis/illusion battle (just need one in Deso to complete the trio!). Or some gauntlet since we haven’t run into one of those yet. Welp, Connor, I wish you luck with that. My protagonist will be over in the corner with some popcorn watching the show xD It really does. Another point towards darkness being significant is the inscription in the weird cave in the Dreamscape. It mentions find the dark before it finds you. I always thought maybe the dark could be referring to Darkrai (which could still be the case) but with the emergence of things like the Dark Zone and the Darkness field maybe the dark is something else. I forgot this but the darkness field is also a constant in the cave strangely enough. Both the trainers/Black Fox encounter and the wild pokémon all take place on the field. Yet another oddity of the cave. What this darkness is, however, and why it seems prominent is still a mystery. It’s definitely something to look more into. Or it could be all four of those combined XD We have fallen down quite a few rabbit holes, haven’t we? Whatever the case is, I hope our ramblings are an enjoyable read for everyone! I’m certainly having a grand time lol Four Dittos working with the Foxes though…a bit scarier than that Ditto Arceus. I’m well prepared for whatever the Elite Four Ditto Army throws at us, I have my trusty Persian and Furret. They don’t stand a chance! That could definitely be a possibility. Though Nova seems like an outlier in that case. I don’t recall battling her on a darkness field. However out of the four of them Nova was able to shake off Darkrai’s manipulation so maybe that’s why she’s an outlier? It does feel like there is some connection between Darkrai, those being controlled, and that field at least. I’ll be keeping an eye out the next time we duke it out with one of them, that’s for sure. The only other connection I can think of at the moment would be that those battles also happened when there were some varying levels of emotional turmoil afoot. Tristan’s guilt over being forced to trick the protagonist, Shiv wanting to protect Nova, Aurora wanting Nova out of the picture, and even Lilith’s desperation at stopping the protagonist from falling into Darkrai’s clutches. You know, that’d explain a few things, like that midnight breaking and entering into the protag’s hotel room…kidding as well xD Maybe it’s one of those obscure hints towards something to come, like those two gravestones that say Nova and Lilith or the Hardy and Emily ghostly figures in the cave in the South Settlement. The Dreamscape seems to be full of those. Or just a spook, things are getting a bit spooky now. I’m chalking it up to a spook until further notice xD Yep, it looks like a normal flowery field. Of course, looks can be deceiving and there could be more to the field than we know but right now that’s about all we got. Unless there’s more to Cellia underneath its city, yeah, I’d say you’re probably right. It does seem like the field is located in the Astraciel Wildwood. Which is quite curious considering how remarkable the Astraciel sounds, it’s surprising the field is just an unassuming flowery field. Now that you mention it, yeah no two trainers use the same new Mega (excluding the protagonist of course). If they aren’t wielding Perfection pokémon (the implications of more than one of them having a Perfection mon is a bit concerning…what did those trainers go through to end up with that many perfection pokémon?) then a new mega for each seems like a good idea. Which leads to a tonnn of possibilities for their teams. I’m certainly looking forward to that! Well, the Settler’s Ruins dates back at least a century. We don’t know how long the trainers/settlers were on Ayrith prior to finding Perfection and getting that whole ball rolling so I assume it’s been at least 100+ years for Darkrai. I dunno how good pokémon memory is, specifically a mythical who has gained a level of sentience not typical of pokémon, but that’s quite a long time and memory is a fickle thing. It also took the entity a good chunk of time to realize the identity of the protagonist as well so it’s not out of the realm of possibility that the particulars have slipped Darkrai. Although, there are those four strange NPCs in the Waterscape that mention something used to watch, and they are what remains now. This is a lot of inferring but they could be talking about Darkrai, considering it used to reside in the Dreamscape and most definitely watched over its domain, but isn’t doing so anymore. One of them mentions “I know what will come for me, trainer. But more importantly…I know what came before. I remember everything. Can you say the same?”. If they are talking about Darkrai it sounds like it didn’t forget what went down all those years ago. If not…then it’s still possible Darkrai could have forgotten the particulars. Personally, I can’t decide if those NPCs are referring to Darkrai or the entity (or someone/something else entirely). Or maybe I’m reading too much into it, also a possibility XD I certainly hope we do if the protagonist does turn out to be a settler who somehow survived. It’ll be interesting to see what pokémon it is, or if the pokémon will be different depending on the protagonist chosen. Yep, she gives you it if you talk to her during the events of North Cellia, provided you have enough relationship points with her. I don’t think you were mistaken; both are possibilities :D. The venusaurite was just an alternate idea if it turns out she doesn’t have a unique mega. I am more partial to your idea that she’ll have a unique mega. Not only is it wayyyy cooler, I also completely agree Jared is a pretty solid lead. He was once the water type gym leader, and he happens to be using a mega Feraligatr. Looking at it from a team comp perspective I dunno how likely it’d be for her to be rocking two starters (Meganium and Venusaur) during a gym battle so a unique Mega would make more sense for her to have, at least for me lol. And I feel like it’d be fitting for Ava to use a custom Mega considering that the protagonist’s other BFF Scarlett uses a mega Cinccino (still waiting to obtain that megastone DX).

Sorry, I have been a bit busy as of late! 1) There’s an Atlas in BioShock which caused my skepticism of Atlases going forward xD Not that I run into many Atlases in the games I have played but still I’m always reminded of it when I see the name crop up. Going back to Deso’s Atlas, it’s pretty cool that even an NPC mentions that Atlas is named after the Titan Atlas in Greek mythology. The name also conveys enduring, which is a good quality for someone portrayed as a hero to have. I’m curious to see if that’s as far as the associations go concerning his name. Replies ^12: Yeah, I’d say that’s a safe assumption without any more information about the protagonist. Anything is possible but how characters react to them and their looks alone suggest they’re around that age range. And it is, maybe later down the line we will get a bit more concrete information but until then we shall work off of eyeballing and what we know. It certainly adds another layer to unravel. Totally, even if they weren’t related, having an Elite Four hail from the same town would be quite an inspiration. Adding that to my headcanon until further notice lol Oh man she did? I must have glossed over that. Yeah 19 is usually the cutoff for adolescent youth, so he’s most likely no older than 19. I’d pin him around 16-17, it’s a pretty good in-between given all that. Yeah, she has this morally ambiguous anti-villain (? Literary terms man…) archetype going on. Her gang has been a source of opposition for the protagonist and co. a good chunk of the game. The things people say she’s done and what we know for a fact are pretty awful. Her actions do make sense, albeit still not okay, once she reaches out and explains the bigger picture. It’s not easy to take on a rouge Darkrai that’s manipulating several strong trainers or finding concrete information on Perfection. Indeed, quite a good demonstration about how it’s not all black and white. With her pledging to help take on Darkrai and allying with Nova and the protagonist I wonder if her ambiguous morality will continue, like continuing to blackmailing Reeve if she is, or if she’ll go through a redemption of sorts…first we gotta find her though. With the way things are stacking up we are most certainly going to learn the hard way. I do hope we get a chance to have Aurora come to her senses a bit more. It would be great to see the Serenity subplot continue in e7. Maybe a sect broke off from the Hand of Arceus and became those priests that the journals talked about in the Settler’s Ruins. Or even the Kanzen Temple priests. Or maybe it’s neither and instead we will find out a bit more about Ayrith in general, after all the Hand of Arceus has ties to places like Weeping Hill, Keneph Jungle, and Vejyr Sanctum. Any one of those outcomes would be neat. Omg having Reeve join us on the field in Arcanius decked out in the most fashionable explorer gear would be a treat! Plus, I wanna earn a reputation point or two with Reeve. It’d be nice to have him join us in the field! All of those seem pretty advantageous considering the current circumstances. Especially distracting/slowing down Waldenhall. We don't know what his next objective will be now that he also has a Perfection fragment stuck to him, but whatever it is spells trouble for everyone else. Heck, crazy idea he could be leading us towards achieving a complete Perfection state, since the protagonist seems to react differently towards Perfection and all that. All I know is that it feels like Reeve has more up his sleeve. Yep, she does state that in one of her journals in the abandoned lab in Arcanius. I do think she headed back to the spot where the whole Nova fiasco happened. After Darkrai is released, Garret has that little pep talk with the Darkrai Destroyer squad in the manor and one of the cutscenes showed Lilith in a field that looks very similar to the one in the flashback she showed us. She does mention, in the same journal, saving Umbreon one day. What if her objective is to help Umbreon now that she has more information on Perfection? Whether her Umbreon is suffering more or having Perfection Umbreon in tip-top shape would be more advantageous to defeating Darkrai…who knows what the real motive is…but returning to the area could help Umbreon in some regard? Or at least maybe that’s what she believes? Oh man, good catch! It does feel like descriptive writing. Very ornate and flowery compared to the usual intro field text on other fields. It seems like the field may have different intro text depending on what stage the battle starts on, although only the first stage’s text is logged in the Field Notes in the Pokégear. The battle with Lilith does start in the third stage of the Darkness field (two Dazzling Gleams can reduce it to stage one). So far, it’s the only battle that seems to start on the third stage rather than the first (it also happens to be a battle that takes place in, what I assume to be, the very depths of the Dreamscape, in close proximity to Darkrai). Putting that aside, it really does tie in well with what we know about Perfection, the Dark-type coincidence of known Perfection pokémon, and the move Last Resort. It also fits well for that particular battle given the situation and what Lilith is fighting for. It seems like this field holds a lot more surprises…and significance…than I first thought. Hope Connor doesn’t have to battle on the Darkness field, being afraid of the dark and all that lol Yeah, there’s always the chance we could be chasing connections and shadows that may not be intentional, or even thought of by the creators themselves. It is fun regardless; the narrative and characters are so enjoyable, it’s easy to get lost in every nook and cranny that becomes unearthed. It’ll be a bonus if a sliver of our findings turns out to be true in some fashion! It’s also interesting as to when/where the Darkness field is used (outside of Mega Mightyena’s Dark Surge ability of course). It’s been a minute since I went through the game as a whole, but I don’t recall too many battles taking place on the Darkness field. There was Shiv/Aurora’s battle in Cellia and Tristan’s battle at the temple (both of which start on the first stage). Tristan doesn’t benefit from the field while using Mega Lopunny, and his other pokémon prior to him were fought on neutral fields so the usage of the Darkness field during this battle feels quite thematic in nature. Also, there is something I noticed while checking on Tristan’s battle. After you meet Nova in the Dreamscape, entering Shiv’s room shows a ghostly version of the protagonist (original design prior to Reeve’s glam-up) in the bed that kinda just fades away…can’t figure out what that signifies. Guess we are now just haunting his bed? Right? Way to go buddy My thoughts exactly. There is a pretty good chance Umbreon obtained Perfection on Arcanius, most likely in the Astraciel. Whether or not those mystical energies also have something to do with Perfection or not remains to be seen. With the way things are currently I’d say it’s within the realm of possibility. Ooh I hadn’t even considered that. Maybe the field has some significance (sentimental or otherwise) to Lilith. She could have found her Eevee or even evolved Eevee into Umbreon there. Or a place she went to clear her mind or train. Which field he’s referring to is unclear at this point. It’s possible that it will become clearer later on in the story. Haha welp if it wasn’t thought of before it can be a prospect now! I’ll make sure to write down any other sadistic ideas for the Elite Four while I’m at it~ Joking aside, it is the Elite Four, even if one of them happens to be a Ditto we’re gonna have to work to secure a victory against them. If Damon doesn’t end up using the Darkness field or a Perfection pokémon then I wonder what he’s gonna use. There’re so many possibilities! Oh, my goodness, that puts a whole new spin on all this xD Lilith won’t be alone anymore! Yeah, that seems like a pretty good reason as to why Darkrai hadn’t mentioned anything yet… Actually, it makes me wonder how much they do know about that. Aside from that I can’t think of too many reasons why it would remain unusually silent about it. Though it’s a missed opportunity for it to make a fleeting comment, allusion, or even a jab about it when abandoning the protagonist in the Grid in one of the Bad Ends. Neither of the twins are around, and Darkrai seemed a bit miffed about the feeble attempt to resist so it’d be the perfect time to rub it in. Besides being an amnesiac there’s also the fact that most, if not all, of the trainers/settlers didn’t survive (according to Reeve’s recounting of the old tales and the journals in the Settler’s Ruins). Maybe Darkrai thought it was impossible for them to survive and that’s why it never put two and two together despite the numerous similarities? Also…if that turns out to be the case…what pokémon did the protagonist have back then? Did all the trainers have legendary/mythical pokémon? I take it their pokémon weren’t as lucky as Darkrai? Yeah, Cradily and Meganium seem to be her favored pokémon. It would stand to reason that either of them could have a Mega. Thank you Jarred, you have given us hope that Meganium and/or Typlosion may get Megas yet! If Ava doesn’t have a custom mega like Mega Meganium (Meganium you will always be mega worthy to me) maybe she’ll have Mega Venusaur. She can give the player a Venusaurite during the events of Cellia North. Aside from that there isn’t too many mainline grass Megas so unless she gets a surprise custom Mega her options are a bit on the shorter side.

1) Right? Heroes are always good, yeah? We’d never see it coming. Would totally end up blindsided by this revelation. Hendrick the Ditto was the red herring this whole time! Heck I wouldn’t be surprised if Atlas planted Ditto Hendrick and created that whole disappearing act to draw attention away from him and towards Mr. Ditto. Mayyybe it’s just my skepticism towards anyone named Atlas in video games talking lol Replies ^11: 1) I was gonna say Hardy seems to be in the same age range as the protag but now that I think about it, we don’t actually know the protag’s age. It’s easy to place them in the same age range as Ava and Scarlett (being on the younger side of the cast and all that) but considering our protagonist has no memories and there seems to a connection between that entity and them…I wouldn’t be surprised if the protag is like over a 100 years old or heck maybe has some existential age like Melia or something. And the wiki certainly doesn’t state it. It’s probably more accurate to say Hardy’s in the same age range as Ava, Scarlett, Connor. And according to the wiki this seems to be the case (18-21). Albeit I dunno how accurate these are considering the wiki seems to be in an in between state of v5 and v6 information so it’s probably accurate but there’s always the chance there may be a slight difference. That being said…that would honestly be kind of cute. If they were related maybe that could be a secondary reason as to why he wants to be the Champion of Ayrith. He was inspired by his mother/or sister Azura. Yep yep, we do have confirmation about a lot of awful things the Black Foxes have done, and the things Lilith has allowed to happen. Even if she didn’t kill cops and make people disappear, I could see other members of her gang doing so…looking at you Amelia. Which doesn’t help Lilith’s cause. Really makes her an interesting character in my opinion. True, as far as I can recall it didn’t sound like she dissuaded Amelia from blowing up the cruise ship and it was most likely quite a bit of people/pokémon that perished in Waldenhall’s experiments. All of those points are exactly why the idea of Lilith potentially dosing Hardy’s Zorua with Perfection serum came to mind. Not to mention she asks to meet the protagonist on Route 1, around the spot Hardy and the protagonist meet for the first time. One theory as to how Lilith found out about Hardy is through his interactions with the protagonist. Based on those visions she knew that Nova and the twins had a hand in her parents’ disappearance/murder. It’s not unreasonable to assume she’s been keeping tabs on those three. She’d probably realized that when they took an interest in the protagonist that something was afoot, so she needed to act. Obviously, she couldn’t reach out to Scarlett, Ava, or Connor but our protagonist did end up meeting someone on Route 1 who’s goal mirrored our own, to become stronger and take on the league. Who seemed to care very much about his pokémon and would do anything to help save them. Sounds like a good candidate to help her stop their machinations, willingly or not. This theory hinges on how long Lilith had known about the protagonist which we don’t actually know but it was still pretty fun to come up with. I do like the idea that Azura mentioned Hardy to whomever the Black Fox is. Especially if she doesn’t know about their double identity as a Fox and was making casual conversation about Hardy and his aspirations. That’ll just add to the already bad luck Hardy has. Yeah, he did seem quiteee confused after re-entering the Dreamscape, and then the whole thing in the sewers, I wouldn’t be surprised if he did at this point. Going through all that certainly isn’t easy on the psyche. Makes me quite interested in v7 considering those two were ordered to slow the protag and co. down. I know Darkrai deterred him from coming to his senses, but he still seems on the fence. Which makes me wonder, is he gonna stick to those orders or deviate? Omg that would be the most memorable prank ending I’ve seen in a while. I certainly wouldn’t be expecting that, they’d earned every minute of laughter at that point xD Man Insurgence, good stuff! As far as I can tell it seems like there are some aspects of Ayrith that may predate the whole settler situation (look at the Hand of Arceus situation where there were supposedly two secs about 2,000 years ago…that’s really far back in the past). We don’t get too much information about these wars, but they don’t sound like they had too much to do with the perfection/first trainers/settlers situation currently. So, it’s possible there are other beliefs or cults dedicated to other pokémon or whatnot, at some point in Ayrith’s history at least. Yeah, that’s completely fair, he could very well be. That’d definitely put him in a tricky situation especially since we still don’t really know what Lilith’s up to as of yet. I’m still slightly up in the air about the when as well. My guess is that if it was before the match then he found out through Connor. I do remember him saying he was in contact with Connor when the Fairbale debacle went down. So, chances are he was probably tracking the location of the Perfection fragment when he noticed a splinter of it moving (definitely Waldenhall since he left the Settler’s Ruins first). Whether it was through the powers of deduction or Connor’s information he probably gathered that it was Waldenhall and reached out to him between the time it took for the player to reach Cellia/the match. If it was after the match, then he definitely led our group astray or got really lucky with his guess. Also, I noticed at the end of the exchange Reeve mentions that he can’t fail the protagonist but there isn’t much more he can do...except… and it leaves us hanging. Reeve is a smart cookie; I doubt all he could do is point us in a direction. I do think Reeve is up to more than he is letting on, whether or not he’s lying about the location he’s sending the group. Or maybe I just have too much skepticism thanks to the first half of the game xD And yeah, I pretty much assume he knows mostly everything, give or take a few things. Right? She would benefit from vanishing Lilith that’s for sure. Indeed, it does sound like Lilith does have a goal in mind if her journals are anything to go by. I wonder what that goal/quest is? Why go back to an empty clearing? What’s she hoping to achieve? It’s not out of the realm of possibility if Cedric is a long-lost sibling, that’d be quite a turn of events! I wonder how Lilith would react to finding out she still has family around. Haha yeah Lilith’s battle had me puzzling my way through the battle. Fun field but oh my gosh xD. I found it incredibly interesting as well. It’s a move that feels like an odd-one out when looking at the field as a whole, so it feels like it has some lore significance going on. It was right as the protagonist and Connor entered the hut in the Keneph caves. Shiv says, and I quote, “That doesn’t quite add up… If she took her Umbreon from that field, then she-“ before Connor interrupts his train of thought. Of course, I was making a few inferences with my last post; the “she” being Lilith, cause who else has an umbreon in this game, and the field is a bit more vague but I took it as the Darkness Field. Any time Lilith’s umbreon is brought up it’s in regard to Perfection so based on that comment I ended up wondering if Perfection and the darkness field had some form of connection. In hindsight I suppose it could be an actual field, like the field/clearing in the Astraciel that Lilith and Nova had that tussle in. Also thanks, Connor, for not letting him finish that sentence >.> That’s an interesting idea actually. It hadn’t even crossed my mind whether or not the Elite 4/Champion are gonna use Perfection pokémon. If the whole Dark/Ghost types and Perfection theory holds water and proves to be true later on, he’s the best candidate to have one for sure. He does use both ghost and dark types after all. One of them could very well be a Perfection pokémon. If not maybe we'll fight him on the Darkness field...a full team taking advantage of that field...oh joy Yeah, that was my first assumption, the entity was already antagonizing him in the ruins, it’s not too much of a stretch to assume it was just another jab at Waldenhall. The settlers aspect would make sense for the most part, especially if the entity and Darkrai’s trainer are one in the same. I was kinda wondering the same but there’s some things that don’t quite add up to me. Like if the protag is one of the original settler/trainers then there’s a possibility Darkrai should have recognized the protagonist, yet it doesn’t show any recognition, especially upon meeting them face-to-face in the Dreamscape. And how did the protagonist live (and not age) for over a century, unless they were frozen in time or something xD If the protagonist does end up being a settler, then that would be a really fun way for Waldenhall to recognize them honestly. First Lilith and Cedric and now the protagonist and Waldenhall, man there are quite a lot of long-lost relatives. It'd be quite intriguing to see the protagonist actually have a blood relative running around, hopefully Waldenhall clears this up the next time we encounter him. It’s probably the Ditto, it’s always the Ditto XD

1) Oh yeah, I do recall that theory! Man, I should refresh my memory a bit before constructing more questions xD That’d make the most sense, kinda similar to the whole Elias/Bennet situation in Reborn. I think it’d be kinda amusing if Atlas was the Black Fox. He’s marketed as the hero the world needs and all that jazz. Replies ^9: 1) In all fairness it’s probably a flavor detail. Kinda neat how Azura and Hardy are from the same city though. Exactly, why not throw in more lies xD. I suspect we’re not fully done with them justtt yet. And in Lilith’s situation she had enough of a motive to alter those memories of hers. It was imperative that she sowed enough doubt about the twins and the situation at hand so that we started to seek the truth on our own. It’s still possible that she really did show us the truth and she wasn’t altering anything considering the lengths Darkrai went to muddle the protagonist’s perception of reality and dream. But she has allowed Waldenhall to abduct children/Eden, potentially blackmailed Reeve, (crazy theory alert) mayyybe infected Hardy’s Zorua with Perfection Serum to give him a reason to join the Foxes, and let Amelia run amuck, all in order to further her goals. Knowing that it’s hard to fully rule out the possibility that she didn’t alter or conceal any information in those visions, even if her intentions may be good in this instance. Those godlike powers are most definitely an ego boost, especially in Aurora’s case. He does, though, mention that his memories and emotions in Ayrith don’t match who he is in the Dreamscape. His actions in the Dreamscape do seem a bit more antagonistic than the encounters the protagonist has with him in Ayrith. And later in v6 we do see him struggle with who he is and what memories are real and whatnot. Because he can go between reality and dream unlike everyone else it does make sense that he is able to pick up on that difference of memories and emotions. That line was what prompted me to wonder if there was more at play in the Dreamscape. Although your one post reminded me that people in Odis are reacting to the news of being stuck in Odis so it’s probably the fact some are more lucid or are more likely to be lamenting over their new lives. Shiv’s case may just stem from Darkrai’s manipulation. It's probably easier to scramble his feelings and whatnot in its own domain versus Ayrith where it doesn’t seem to have as much control prior to being released. 2) Me too. Finding some form of concrete confirmation on whether or not the trainer is the entity/if the entity and that perfection signature are the one in the same would be a big help in determining what happened to them. Until then…lots and lots of theories! Well, if that is indeed what happened I wouldn’t be surprised if we see the trainer hunting down a time gear thief some point soon xD Interesting possibility is that there could have been local religions (devotion to Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres) that stemmed from the legend of the hero that quelled the conflict in the Ayrith wars. Although it seems like as time passed the people of Ayrith (or Ayrithians?) have pretty much forgone such worship, either forgotten the legend or chalked it up to fairytales. But yeah, at this point it pretty much leaves Arceus the most prominent religious figure assuming Kanzen Temple isn’t going to flip that on its head. That being said…Arceus has entered the chat finally. All those points are quite valid and honestly lead to a pretty interesting idea. That could explain why Perfection cannot be replicated by man despite harnessing residual energy from those who have attained it. Besides, the 1,000 arms of Arceus is such a cool idea that is quite underutilized in lore. Plus, Arceus created humans and pokémon, it’d make sense it’d want pokémon and trainers to care about each other. Given that some of Reeve’s dialogue after his conversation with Waldenhall mentions not failing the protagonist I’d say if it was a lie, it would be a lie out of safety. The possibility of a miscalculation is also pretty possible given that neither of them could have accounted for that entity, there could still be surprises lurking around the corner. Playing off your ideas there could be an option four…if Reeve is working for Lilith, it’s possible he sent us to the Astraciel because that’s where Lilith is/or was located at some point. Maybe she requires assistance or something. I think it does say some time ago... before stating it takes place someplace deep in Cellia East. What some time ago means though…it’s quite a vague way to indicate at some point in the past. I’d argue the conversation between Waldenhall and Reeve could take place anywhere before we arrived back in Cellia East to sometime around us boarded the boat after Reeve told us the locations. It could be an educated guess; Amelia mentions returning to Darkroot to the player. It’s not too much of a stretch to assume Waldenhall would head to Darkroot as well or potentially chase after the larger fragment, both of which are in close proximity to each other. Either does seem pretty possible. Looking back on it Hardy’s admittance about trying to save the protag from what was about to happen is probably a better indication of him and Lilith working together to some degree. Yeah, Hardy so far has given no indication that he knows where Lilith is. In fact, no one seems to know maybe except for Shiv considering we did find a black piece in her old lab. The very same lab that has Lilith’s journals detailing how she’ll return to the Astraciel where it all started. I do doubt she’s dead as well. Just don’t see her up and dying so unceremoniously. Besides she has her Umbreon to help defend her, not many people want to tussle with it. Could Amelia have sent a group of Foxes to make sure Lilith stays out of the picture? She did go to the Astraciel for a reason so maybe she encountered a problem with whatever she was trying to do and has been dealing with that for a time? A kidnapping could be possible also, two parties don’t want her around…although she does seem to have the ability to teleport so keeping her confined seems rather tricky. I absolutely agree, if Lilith had enough cunning and foresight to recognize Waldenhall will make sure nothing stands in the way of his goals then there’s no way she’d fail to notice the liability Amelia will pose in the future. Chances are she does have someone inside the Foxes to report back to her, Hardy is indeed the most obvious choice. He’s only there out of necessity so him being a double agent would make quite a bit of sense. You bring up quite an interesting point about Cedric. He really is weirdly concerned about Lilith. When we first meet him, he was undercover as a Fox grunt, and he mentions that he wants to take out the Foxes from the inside. If that’s truly his goal, it’s weird he’s still chasing after Lilith. Lilith isn’t the head of the Foxes anymore; Amelia seized the position. And if Cedric is still roleplaying a Fox, he’d know this. Even if he isn’t an inside Fox anymore, he has enough investigative ability to find Lilith’s old lab in Arcanius, so it’d be easy enough for him to learn about this change in leadership. Shouldn’t his priorities lie with Amelia, Hardy, and Waldenhall if his goal is to truly take down the Foxes? Maybe he really is reporting to Lilith but because he lost contact with her, he needed to visit old Fox labs to deduce where she is now. Okay this may be a bit, but I decided to deconstruct the Darkness Field due to that one stray comment from Shiv and that weird pattern of Dark types and Perfection. Several things stand out to me. Besides the fact the field seems quite eager to give me a bad time when we face off against Perfection Darkrai, there is an intriguing thing about it. Last Resort doesn’t require other moves to be used first on stage 1 of this field. I feel like this may speak for itself. A last resort. A final course of action when all else has failed, when there are no other options left. Sortaaaa like the requirements to achieve a Perfection state…yeah? And ya can just use this move all willy-nilly on stage 1 of the Darkness field but not on stages 2 or 3. Also bonus points for the fact that Darkrai can learn Last Resort via tutor…and so can Umbreon…that’s coincidentally fitting for those two XD The second is that dark and ghost types take reduced damage on stages 2 and 3. Stage 3 is when their weaknesses are annulled. Pretty defensive all things considered. Makes me think…what’s a creature with no weaknesses? Perfect perhaps? If that’s the case, then there really is some sort of connection between Dark/Ghost types and Perfection. No other typings are benefiting from this field after all. It’s an interesting order…stage 1 allows for Last Resort to be used regardless of other moves, stage 2/3 reduces the damage taken by these particular types, and stage 3 annuls their weaknesses. It loosely follows what we know about Perfection so far. Whether or not there is a direct link between Perfection and the Darkness field I’m not sure. Considering that there does seem to be some similarities I think that gives some potential merit to Shiv’s comment about Lilith taking her Umbreon from that field way back in the Keneph Caves. Or maybe he is on the right track but not quite correct, it’s something I’ve been ruminating on. Alsooooo a fun question I remember I had while playing through v6 the first time around: right after defeating Amelia in Fairbale Waldenhall emerges from the Settler’s Ruins all shaken up. After that whole ramble he notices the protagonist and, in his rattled state, he stutters out “Y-you…You can’t be…You…you look just like…No…no, no, no, no!” before running off towards Visinite Current. Obvious questions here are who does our protagonist look like? Does that mean there is someone out in Ayrith that looks like the protag? Or does Waldenhall potentially know the protagonist? Or is that entity also talking to Waldenhall, showing visions of our protagonist similar to what it was doing to us at some point? Maybe ditto Tristian or Hendrick is somewhere out there pretending to be the protagonist…who knows?

Hey, it's no problem at all! ^_^ 1) Given all that we know/don’t know about the League that seems pretty likely all things considered. I imagine being an admin for the League is quite an ordeal…being baked would make the job a heck of a lot easier. Or just outright skedaddling xD The Black Foxes running the League would definitely give them a huge advantage. And they are one of the few that could probably pull it off as well. If they are I’m highly curious how they managed to snag the admin position. Replies ^7: 1) Yeah, I was pretty surprised she hasn’t seeing that she is a pretty well-known ranger herself. With Amaria Island devoid of trouble after the tussle with the Black Foxes and Crescent, it’s a bit of a surprise she didn’t catch wind of Elliot’s shenanigans and lend a helping hand. We have the Lightening Orb or whatever it will be called and two of Majira’s keys left to find, there’s still time for her to join us for an adventure or two. Hardy mentions he’s from Celeste City the very first time the protagonist meets him on Route 1 before we go about destroying him in battle. That’s the only time he’s mentioned it. It’s got me stumped as well. There is one obvious connection, being able to enter the dream and all that, but others tend to share that ability, so I doubt it’s something as simple as that. Maybe something of a connection was formed during that confrontation? It could have something to do with the Astraciel, where that confrontation took place. There’s some form of energy or presence there or something, maybe that ended up getting involved somehow. Other than that, it’s a big question mark for me. I’d wager if the flashback was false, it must have been a half-truth situation. True to some extent but some details were altered or left out to a degree. Whether or not it was fake I do think there is definitely a bit more to that situation than meets the eye. Agreed, while it is a bit hard to pin down how long ago that was, there has been more than enough time for Nova and Lilith to conspire after the fact. Although Nova was still influenced by Darkrai to some degree when the protagonist arrived in Ayrith. It seems a bit more likely the truce or whatever is going on between the two was established near the start of the game. That is true. Undoubtedly learning that some dreary dark land is “reality” would do a number on anyone and quite a few side quests in the Dreamscape seem to suggest as much. Jarred and Shiv seem to be outliers in this case…maybe it’s a combination of both, the realization for the people of Odis that their life in Ayrith had been a lie and some Dreamscape weirdness. Or I suppose it’s just other things going on with those two. Out of everyone I’m not surprised Jarred’s Dreamscape doppelganger would be the most lucid and normal of the bunch…dude’s obviously got some secrets going on. 2) Haha an Umbreon may be helpful indeed ^_^ Yeah, the Perfection Gem has been referred to as the Divine Light and a fragment by the trainer in those journal entries in the Settler's Ruins. It is likely the thing Waldenhall was searching for although I’m not sure if it’s what he found. I also thought that the entity was the fragment. It’d explain why the entity was able to attach fragments to both Waldenhall and the protagonist and why there was such an energy spike under Fairbale. Though rereading the journals and some other dialogue makes me wonder if they are separate entities. The trainer didn’t mention any sort of strange oddities surrounding it, like the fragment speaking to them for instance. And if the entity is the Perfection gem/fragment then what happened to the trainer? Did they fuse with the fragment or something? Reeve also mentions near the end of v6 that the large source of Perfection the protagonist is chasing after is chilling in Astraciel, which is north of the Canyon, and it remains stationary. We know based on the last scene that Darkrai is located on some mountain top and that the entity seems to be visiting Darkrai, which places it around either Visinite Peak or Frozen Peak. Considering the snow Frozen Peak seems fitting. Frozen Peak is north of Astraciel, as far north as one can get on Arcanius. Even if Darkrai was perched on Visinite Peak, that’d be before the Astraciel. Assuming that one cutscene at the end wasn’t before Reeve giving the protagonist the location that means the large source of Perfection we are after cannot be the entity unless it can be in two places at once or something... then again, we are dealing with an ethereal being of unknown power…maybe it is possible? My other line of thought kind of coincides with your other idea of Waldenhall mistaking the energy source for the Perfection fragment. No matter what happened down there we do know Perfection played a part to some degree. Whatever energy Waldenhall was picking up could have been residual energy or the entity that has a part of the Perfection fragment attached to it, or something to that degree. Waldenhall is quiteee an arrogant prick but yeah, I highly doubt even the most astute researchers in Ayrith could have foreseen that. Can’t blame him there. I went back and double-checked to make sure… the events of Cellia North led up to the protagonist finding a Pokeball that shed some more light on what Lilith went through. Since we ran into Hardy outside the Den, I had initially assumed he planted the Pokeball for Lilith while she was off doing whatever so the player could see the vision/memory that she wanted. Looking back, I suppose Lilith herself could have left the Pokeball in Cellia North prior to the raid as well. However, Hardy does mention he was hoping that he could stop the protagonist and save them from what’s coming. So Hardy was at least informed by Lilith of the situation to some extent and was actively trying to prevent the worst-case scenario from unfolding. I suppose it depends on whether you count that as an instance of Hardy acting on Lilith’s orders or whatnot. Yeppers, sometimes a different perspective can be beneficial when it comes to solving puzzles. And the priests certainly seem like they view Perfection differently so I’m quite curious to see how that plays out. There is no doubt about that. Episode 7 is gonna be one grand time!

1) Haha yeah it will undoubtedly fracture the protagonist’s psyche and give us a bad end but I am determined to see all the bad endings at the expense of the protagonist so bring it on! We already do have a sort of bad end with Jarred (albeit it is mostly not canon to the plot of the game as far as I know, so it’d be neat to see an actual canon ending involving him xD). 2) Five years of handing out badges for free, that’s gotta be against regulations of some kind. That’s such a major oversight on the League’s part it has to be intentional. At some point Jarred got the boot but no one decided to replace Tristan. Someone even let Connor into the League not too long ago XD Even the NPC near Tristan’s gym says she has been told not to let anyone near the gym. They know the position is vacant and aren’t doing anything about it. Yeahhhh it wouldn’t end well for whomever ended up elected as an administrative official considering those two…maybe it’s for the better lol. Taking out upper management is also a possibility especially when there are methods of entrapment in Ayrith that don’t require brute force such as throwing people into the grid or sending them off to dreamland. Jeez, what if the entirety of the upper echelons of the League are just gone without a trace. Replies ^5: 1) Connor does. I suppose he could still be worked up over what went down with Crescent and Scarlett. Combining those feelings with the mounting pressure from the Foxes and the Darkrai situation and I suppose he feels the need to pursue strength and eliminate every foe he comes across regardless of the situation. Though he did seem like he was pretty chill before the whole Darkrai situation. I wonder if there was some possible development during that time. I’m sure we will be seeing at least one of them join us at some point. Aaron does seem the most likely after all he did say we’d be seeing more of each other at some point so I’m holding him to that. Rosetta seems to be taking a break and sorting out some personal stuff. Maybe we may see her after she gets that done and dusted. It’d be cool to see her join the group without her Rosetta persona, or at least a laid-back Rosetta persona and becoming more in tune with who she used to be before her idol status. Ooh Aderyn would be neat to pair up with. She’s been on the sidelines concerning the main plot, so it’d be fun to see her take action and get to know her a bit more. Maybe she can also talk about Azura and Hardy since they both hail from Celeste City. Although I have a feeling she’s gonna be more active on the ranger side of things. Maybe she’ll accompany the protagonist when we are unlocking Majira’s Rest. She seemed to get along well with that Virizion. Duel of the century right there XD Waldenhall and Jarred duking it out would be a treat. Also, I’d love to see Baron’s reaction to Lilith dropping that bombshell on everyone lol. There is indeed some solidarity going on between them. I also believe Lilith did in fact pledge to fight Darkrai with Nova and the protagonist before she went off the radar. Not only that but Nova mentions something quite strange during our time trying to get answers from Reeve. She mentions she cannot contact Lilith for some reason, but she keeps seeing a vision, or memory of some sort. One that doesn’t belong to her. A vision of Lilith’s umbreon that started after Darkrai entered Ayrith and Nova’s powers started to fade. Nova wonders if Lilith and her are somehow linked. Linked how is the question. I have no clue if this has any bearing on the link or anything of that matter but there are two gravestones in the Dreamscape that have Lilith and Nova’s name on them. I always thought that was a bit odd…when we first enter the Dreamscape Nova was still under Darkrai’s command to some degree so her and Lilith seeing eye to eye hasn’t exactly happened yet as far as I am aware. So, pairing those gravestones together is odd. Jarred is in the same vicinity as those gravestones and he does call that place his settlement…did he put those gravestones there? Are the gravestones an early hint at Nova and Lilith having a connection of some sort? Also side question: why does the Dreamscape seem to alter some people’s feelings or personalities? We see it a lot from the residence of Odis with people losing their drive to battle or whatnot. Jarred seems pretty chill compared to his Ayrith personality. And we’ve got multiple examples of this happening to Shiv. But then other people like Aurora, Nova (when she entered with the protagonist), some Crescent grunts and even the protagonist don’t seem affected by it. Is it more of a willpower thing? Or Darkrai’s influence? 2) Haha it’s just hidden, pretty well I may add. The book on the table in the righthand corner of the room (I think said book appears after interacting with the scraps on the table after the Ryder events), and the depiction on the floor are hints to gaining access to the piece. It’s quite a cheeky one compared to the others. I’m not sure if you wanna solve it yourself so I’ll leave it at that. Though the process of obtaining the Black piece is detailed in the Episode 6 Encounters, Passwords, Side Quests, and more post (the steps are under Ryder’s quest) if you just wanna collect it. This time the piece itself isn’t the most interesting thing but the note attached to it. True, the canyon is home to several mysteries like some mysterious ruins, Kanzen Temple, and who knows what else. It’s quite possible that they went to the Canyon for a specific reason. And Darkrai was present during the entire thing way back when so it could also have needed something or been searching for something that we aren’t aware of yet. We don’t know what happened to the Perfection Gem, yeah? Maybe that’s what they were searching for. Chances are it was probably a fair number of pokémon to get that kind of information pertaining to Perfection. It seems kinda unlikely they found much in the ways of prior research documents (the research documents that seem to depict the first discovery of Perfection and subsequent experiments were sealed in the Settler’s Ruins until recently). Also there doesn’t seem to be any recent pokémon or humans reaching a Perfection state, aside from Lilith and her Umbreon of course. Reeve’s notes in his lab even mention “various pokémon” so not only was more than several but of different types and whatnot as well. I really like that interpretation. For Reeve to know the consequences of Perfection on humans their experimentation must have extended down that path at some point. It is some definite firsthand knowledge there. That seems like the most likely interpretation of the dialogue all things considered. And yeah, human experimentation may be a bit too much for the Council. I don’t remember when exactly the corruption of the Council started but yeah that could have either resulted in jail time at the very least, or potential blackmail against Reeve later on so it’s definitely a good thing they left out the whole human aspect. No wonder why Reeve turned to alcohol man. We did see her sort of do that with Hardy, she specifically chose him and at some point, was using him to leave breadcrumbs for the protagonist so it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Reeve was and or is still in such a position. Absolutely, there’s at least a centuries' worth of history on Arcanius that’s integral to what’s happening currently so it’s more than likely we will get more information on them in due time. Quite an exciting prospect! I do agree, it sounds like to me they were attempting to elevate Darkrai to a Perfection status. There are even diagrams in the ruins suggesting this. Although it still makes me wonder if they were actively trying to ascend Darkrai why mention that Darkrai is a threat to the future they envisioned. Waldenhall even points out that it seems odd for them to try and cast aside their pokémon despite their connection to Perfection being strong. Also, I didn’t catch this before, but Waldenhall muses that the specific journal entry may prove that it is possible to ascend to Perfection without a pokémon (which is probably not true without some major consequences). Maybe at the start of the research the trainer was trying to ascend both themselves and Darkrai, but at some point, turned their research solely onto themselves. Possibly with the help of the Perfection Gem (and the mirror?). I suppose it is possible that they could have changed their mind after realizing how important Darkrai is to them (which at least seems to be the case during the beginning dialogue bit). Motives aside, the dialogue seems to indicate whatever they tried failed, or like you’re saying they ended up in an impossible situation, and at that point the trainer definitely seemed to want to save Darkrai but it is unclear if they were able to do so. That is a very intriguing thought. Considering the strict conditions to achieve natural perfection for both humans and pokémon and the emphasis on natural and purity versus synthetic and tainted makes me inclined to believe something could go awry when artificial Perfection is mixed with natural. But who knows for sure. Another thought I had is that maybe the Perfection Gem could have caused a problem during the ascension phase. I assume the gem must be more potent than anything that has been encountered thus far, considering that most research in the current day and age has been dealing with concentrated amounts of Perfection energy. Maybe the potency could have resulted in either more drastic or altered repercussions for both the trainer and Darkrai? Such as Darkrai straight up losing Perfection status and the trainer becoming some ethereal entity. That’s what I was thinking, they are priests after all. There may have been some worship or a spiritual view of Perfection going on. At least before Perfection started turning people to dust, at that point (some of the) priests called it a curse and started pursing the trainer southwards lol. That being said, Kanzen Temple also kind of reflects this sort spiritual or religious mindset. Kanzen translates to perfect, perfection or completeness in Japanese. It is a temple, and one named after Perfection no less. They also use terminology that is more akin to spiritualism and divinity as well. For instance, “The Passing” as noted by Lilith in one of her logs. A good question to ask is if they are privy to aspects of Perfection that scientists haven’t considered because of the bias they hold. After all, those conducting research like Waldenhall, and the trainer regard the priests as fanatics and probably don’t take much of what the priests say to heart. So, it’s possible those at Kanzen Temple may hold some sort of insight on Perfection that we haven’t seen yet.

1) Absolutely! Also I do hope so. With the Perfection Serum at play anyone’s past seems to be at our fingertips, assuming the protagonist can get a high-five from them. If Nova doesn’t outright tell us maybe we could see a bit of her past instead. Besides Nova I’m kinda hoping we get an opportunity to high-five Jarred. I must know what he is lol. 2) Yep, and she’s the only NPC that does so as far as I remember. It may be intentional on his part. Shiv does seem like the type who’s more invested in the elusive and his goals rather than maintaining public appearance. It could just be he likes to keep off the grid or just doesn’t bother with duties and whatnot. And if I’m getting the order of events correct a good chunk of his life has been under the influence of Darkrai. I’m pretty sure it’d be hard for someone with a status like that to skulk about causing mischief to the magnitude they do so having a low profile would be beneficial. If it isn’t his intention, I have no clue why. None of that explains why no one talks about the champion though. Like I could see something along the lines of him leaving after gaining the title, so no one really knows what he looks like, and within time everyone becomes enamored with the heroes of the Elite Four and sort of forgets about the Champion and he becomes some mysterious urban legend in Ayrith. That seems reasonable enough, I think. But seriously, not one soul besides that NPC mentions the champion XD. Like even the media seems to skew the attention towards the three Elites when you’d think the champion would be front and center. If that skew is intentional, then that seems to be even more evidence of obfuscation. Right? It’s super peculiar. First, they are missing a member of the Elite Four and now they don’t have a Champion…man what is going on in the Ayrith region? Replies cubed: 1) Yep, with the numbers that the Foxes have, Waldenhall, and Darkrai (possibly on the verge of obtaining Perfection) and the twins…that’s a lot of adversaries even for a protagonist and several gym leaders. True, like what’s Aaron up to at this point? Not to mention our merry band of heroes keeps stretching our numbers even thinner. Garret ran off to intercept Waldenhall if possible and Ava is in Darkroot for some reason despite none of the major threats are currently situated there. At least we do have a bit of backup going into the Canyon but still. I have a feeling Connor may cause some problems for us in either the Canyon or at a key moment later on. He’s getting a little too heated. And what better time for him to cause problems when time is of the essence. Chances are Crescent may team-up when things are the most dire…unless someone explains to Baron that the group is also trying to stop Waldenhall and the Foxes. 2) Like you said it does feel weird, like that’s a prime endgame setup right there. All the pieces are set up for a major twist or conflict of some sort. With so many pieces on the board at the same time there I can think of countless ways Chryseum Canyon could go down. That…is a good question. While we don’t know his whole itinerary for those past several days, we do know Shiv visits Nova and the protagonist, and at some point, places the Black Piece in Lilith’s old lab. But Aurora and Darkrai? Absolutely no clue. For all we know they were catching some rays on Sunshell Beach before heading up to the mountain. Based on the dialogue bit at the very end it seemed to me that Darkrai was waiting for the entity to be released so maybe they were just waiting around. After all our group seems to be the only ones interested in taking Darkrai down, besides maybe Lilith, and it probably knows that. And it took time to pinpoint Darkrai’s location, so they had time on their hands. But for them to be waiting around idly doesn’t seem Darkrai’s style not to mention it’s highly unproductive. I’m going out on a limb here and say that they could have been targeting Lilith during that time. The note with the Black piece has a peculiar line that reads as following, “Thus, by removing her from the picture entirely, we finally regained control…”. Regained is past tense, meaning it already has happened. Could one of their objectives while waiting was to make sure Lilith doesn’t interfere? It’s obvious that they knew where she would be. And it could explain why we haven’t heard anything regarding her in a while. Whether or not they completely succeeded by removing her from the picture remains to be seen, however. Besides that, I’m not sure what they were up to. Good on Tristan for following his dreams! He finally made it big…before getting possessed lol Haha yeah probably not but still…makes you wonder, what a coincidence that turned out to be. Yep, that’s my headcanon now…Tristan and Hendrick are both dittos XD Completely forgot about that! So, he is also dabbling in Perfection research as well then yeah it was probably Artem who swayed Baron and most likely initiated the shift to Perfection research. Fair enough, as much as I like the color purple, I’d probably be done with it after months of never-ending glittery purple too xD. Oh, good point! Yeah, despite everything he doesn’t come off as callous, especially in comparison to someone like Waldenhall who pursued the same research. To me Reeve’s dialogue could also come off as cautious which could work with their convo. Like to avoid more deaths Waldenhall would need a massive breakthrough in Perfection research to warrant another attempt. Although being callous and cautious isn’t exactly mutually exclusive. It’s a bit difficult to interpret the tone without more context. I’m definitely digging your theory. That would certainly explain why there were Foxes in every part of Cellia except the East district. And I never put two and two together…the Foxes were active in several underground hideouts throughout Cellia, including the Undercity base. It wasn’t likely Reeve could find the serum without running into Foxes. Nice catch! Besides, we swept through that place pretty thoroughly and never seen anything remotely like the serum, so I don’t think it was possible for Reeve to pick through the Undercity base after the raid and find the serum either. With that line of thinking a lot of smaller details make sense. I’d say the latter. While Waldenhall is the type who works with whomever to get steps closer to his goal I don’t see Reeve being a member of the Foxes voluntarily. Especially if he was the one who told the Council and is actively drinking himself into a stupor because of his past regrets. Reeve absolutely has some more secrets I bet, though with him saying his peace to Waldenhall he may be a bit more willing to divulge those secrets. Having Reeve as a double agent is a neat idea, especially if he did have prior dealings with her. She wants Darkrai gone, and he needs to stop Waldenhall. Our party happens to want both of those things. Works out well. It also helps Lilith keeps tabs whatever our current party is doing as well. We have no idea what she’s doing in the Astraciel, maybe she can swoop in and aid us at some point. Yeah, the Astraciel has some mysterious energy to it, and I think Shiv’s journal mentioned something about something inside him pulling away when he tried to take a closer look or something along those lines. Anddd that there’s a whole underground section to Arcanius as well. Chryseum has some weird ruins and then there’s the Kanzen Temple. It’s looking possible that the Perfection Gem was discovered on Arcanius too. Not to mention that the protagonist was washed ashore on Darkroot Shore. Certainly, there’s so much about this island, I’m sure we will get at least get a bit more in version 7. This is rehashing a bit of an older topic, but I just thought of another possibility. What if it wasn’t necessarily a Perfection screwup, the pursuers, or even the trainer themselves that landed them them in the mirror, but Darkrai instead? Or at least it played a bigger role in how things went down. (I know I blame Darkrai for, like, everything XD) I can’t see Darkrai being a passive observer in these events upon closer inspection. Especially with the possibility of the trainer trying to banish Darkrai or something and the fact that the Perfection could have already warped Darkrai’s personality. At the start of a new save we immediately get dialogue from an unknown person many many years ago. It’s most likely that trainer that was holed up in the Settler's Ruins, possibly at the very cusp of whatever went down. Whatever they tried must have failed and they ran out of time and started to express sorrow, not wanting to lose Darkrai, the one remaining thing in their life. One particular line stands out though: “Wait…what’s happening?! Darkrai…what’re you… Wait!” To me it kinda sounds like Darkrai did something. Maybe Darkrai had its own plans or knowing about the trainer wanting to cast them aside at one point, stuffed them in the mirror. Or the Perfection screw-up happened and Darkrai bounced on out of there, leaving their trainer to their fate. Fun little observation I had that doesn’t have too much bearing on things: The mirror that the entity was in has an ornate golden frame inlayed with green gemstones. Gemstones in each of the four corners and two on the left and right side of the frame. While this is probably just mere coincidence, gold and green are a motif we see associated with Arceus (the mural of Arceus’s mantle in the Temple of Arceus for instance). The Perfection Gem that was found is referred to as “Divine Light” by both the priests of Kanzen Temple and the trainer from the journals (albeit I presume the gem itself probably looks like Deso’s current icon). Both light (usually golden) and divinity are also closely associated with Arceus. At least the mirror motif could be just my mind making mountains out of molehills of course. I don’t really think Arceus itself or its powers are connected to any of the Perfection business but it kinda got me thinking about the name Divine Light. Those who discovered it probably thought something that powerful must come from the heavens, so maybe they did think it was something from Arceus or something and dubbed it Divine Light. Little did they know of the poisonous nature it has without a complete natural bond between Pokémon and human. It perfectly (pun intended lol) plays into the irony that is Perfection.

1) Glad I’m not the only one then xD. Treading the crazier theories is pretty enjoyable, especially when there’s only so much information to work with regarding some of these mysteries. That being said I don’t have any particularly interesting crazy theories regarding Eden…yet. You know…we truly don’t know much about Nova despite her role in things. We know how she was involved with luring the twins to Darkrai but what about before that? At this point I’d say we know a bit more about Tristan’s past than we do about Nova’s. How’d she end up under Darkrai’s influence anyways? Who was she before? Did she have parents? Any siblings?? Given that her past prior to her manipulation is a big question mark…’Eden being Nova’…at least in that aspect it could work. 2) Yeahhhh there are so many sketchy things revolving around the League, their administration, if they have any, and the Elite Four. I remember reading that a while back, good idea checking out the dev blog posts! The way it is worded really brings into question Hendrick’s existence. This falls in line with what we see in the game. He’s pretty much off the grid compared to the other three. The fabrication angle is pretty interesting. People would be much more concerned if one of the Elite Four had passed away or something compared to a gym leader like Tristan, and in order to stop people from investigating they made Hendrick for the time being to fill the role. If that angle isn’t to cover something up, then what could be gained by fabricating the existence of an Elite Four member? The Ditto though…imagine finally making it to Hendrick and he’s just wearing one of those cute, silly ditto faces xD. But yeah, who knows? We are told Shiv is the Champion, his memories confirm he once held the position, but we have no clear answer if he still is or not. Since no other character seems to refute this point at the moment, I’ve been working under the assumption he is until proven otherwise. There could be a couple of reasons as to why he doesn’t show any interest in his position. If the information we gathered from Aurora’s diaries in the Archives does hold some truth, it seemed like during his time growing up Shiv ended up in some depressive funk, with every victory and achievement he earned he sunk deeper into this depression until Nova appeared in his life. Maybe he still has this to some degree. Or his apparent fondness of Nova is more important to him than the title. Or he holds no interest in the title because he has his own troubles keeping himself together and aiding Darkrai at the moment. What I find strange about Shiv being Champion is that a majority of our friends and allies hold titles in the league. Yet they only ever seem to know him from his reputation as one of the twins that tend to cause havoc. You’d think at least one of them would know who the active Champion is. And if it is Shiv they would point out the fact that the Champion is working against us. It really feels like the upper ranks of the League are cut off from the rest of them. You know, I was wondering that myself. We don’t know if there is an active administration running the league like Reborn or Rejuvenation so it’s possible they don’t have any officials that could go check in on the Elite Four. Most of the gym leaders seem to think seeking them out is a pointless endeavor since they never answer in the first place. Granted I don’t see why Kairo, who’s probably closest to them, can’t just knock on their door and check to see if any of them are alive at this point. Ava or someone should shoot him a text and ask about that lol. Which leaves standard trainers. There seems to be at least a few people actively participating in the league challenge besides Hardy and us so it’s probably a mixture of the Reborn problem and the fact some of these leaders have other responsibilities (like running several businesses or being an idol for instance). It’s most likely difficult for aspiring trainers to track down leaders or schedule a fight. Let alone get enough badges to make it to the Elite Four. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that no one has made it to the Elite Four but still…not a single person has gotten close to the Elite Four? Perhaps anyone who has made it that far is chilling on Hydreilius Island waiting for their opportunity to duke it out with them. Replies to the replies (so many replies!): 1) Yeah, it’s obvious what the Black Foxes and Waldenhall are trying to achieve but Crescent is in a weird position. It was definitely after Blackview that their goals started to change. My guess is that Artem entered the picture and was either the cause or a partial cause of this shift. In regard to their research into Perfection Baron mentioned that Nova swung by before Shiv arrived on Bountilia Island and insisted on the shift to Perfection evolution because she was afraid of something. Despite ousting her as the head of the group, she could have the catalyst for the idea of researching Perfection. Or it could have been Artem. I suppose either work and it doesn’t change the outcome too much. That being said, we don’t explicitly know what they are trying to achieve, especially in regard to their research into Perfection but seems like Crescent is worried about Waldenhall and his research. Baron even mentions during our jail-break confrontation that we have our priorities wrong, that if Waldenhall found what he was searching for on Arcanius that it’d spell danger everyone (which leads me to think at some point we can see eye to eye with Crescent, maybe form a temporary truce to take down Waldenhall). I mean if their goal is to stop Waldenhall from achieving his goals then I’d say it sorta falls in line with their original motives. Crescent wasn’t inherently an “evil” team, just majorly misguided in their pursuit of peace. Waldenhall is clearly a huge threat to Ayrith now and they probably think it’s up to them to stop him. Maybe the shift to Perfection research is to fight fire with fire, to be able to contend with the Black Foxes and Waldenhall in case they fail to stop them from achieving Perfection. 2) Unless something happens to him in Chryseum Canyon. Since that canyon could become a hot bed of conflict when we roll up to the party, what with the twins ordered to distract our group and Hardy skulking around there for some reason… Besides that, I doubt it as well. Poor Hardy man, he can’t catch a break. Tell me about it, I’m quite invested in the Tristan mystery. It shouldn’t take more than a minute or two to give us some information Ava. As much as I like giving Ava grief about it, I’m honestly starting to wonder if that’s really all she knows about the matter. I have no clue. And any potential information from Tristan about the subject is now a no-go thanks to Darkrai. Now that you mention it is strange no one in Adenfall mentions the death either. It could be that most of the town just wants to move on, bringing up a death can be a touchy topic for some. It’d be nice to have some more answers soon. Maybe we’ll dig up more information about Tristan in the Dreamscape since at least he had a presence there. You know…Tristan and Hendrick are kinda in the same boat. They don’t seem to have a presence in Ayrith. No one seems to know what happened to either of them. Being a normal type specialist seems like a pretty cursed job honestly. Regarding the dev blog dialogue: I completely agree with you on both points. Assuming one of the speakers is Baron then I’d say it’s Waldenhall and the Ruins. Although Baron does view Shiv as a threat on the island, his reaction to Shiv’s arrival doesn’t sound nearly as worried as he did back in Cellia East when talking about Waldenhall and his plans. So, my money is on Waldenhall. Although that makes me question what exactly was Artem’s work? I mean we know he has somehow gained information from the Grid, but we don’t know if that was his main objective in the Grid or if it was a byproduct stemming from his actual work. Pertaining to the second one...I’m not sure myself. I do agree that at least the second speaker is definitely Waldenhall. Since it’s from the version 6 dev blog I’d assume “she” is at least in reference to someone we know. The line “she” is referenced in is all about the cost of power and how she is an example of that. Possible candidates could be Nova, Amelia, or Lilith. Nova has some funky powers but at the cost of her free will. Amelia is chasing power but has yet to reap what she’s sown. And Lilith’s umbreon has reached Perfection but that state is causing her Pokémon a great deal of anguish. If the first speaker is indeed Reeve, then I suppose Lilith could possibly fit. After all he was one of the first to delve into Perfection research and Lilith’s umbreon is a prime example of how Perfection can come at a cost. If it isn’t Reeve, then who? We only know of a few people Waldenhall has had contact with. I doubt he’s talking with Amelia; she so far hasn’t been one to shy away from chasing power and she hasn’t been shown to be this cautious. Maybe Lilith could be the first speaker. She has been trying to decipher her umbreon’s new state and Waldenhall could have presented her potential new findings on this subject (maybe this convo was when they shifted their search away from the Grid and more on Perfection). I wouldn’t be surprised if she had some reservations on whether or not these findings would prove fruitful. And she is smart enough to know that Waldenhall is in it for his goals alone, hence a bit of caution is warranted. Since Lilith can’t be referencing herself in this scenario then the “she” could be Nova. She knows enough about Nova’s situation and there’s also the fact that the situation with Nova was the catalyst for umbreon to reach a Perfection state which has been both a blessing and a curse. All that being said I’m gonna go with Reeve and Waldenhall, with Reeve referencing Lilith. Just gonna tag this on at the end here: while parsing through dialogue I kinda ended up wondering about the Great Tree of Visinite. It’s a pretty unique, and mysterious tree and so far, we don’t know much about it. According to Waldenhall that the roots of the tree is producing a supercharged energy that permeates throughout the entire island. Besides that, we know Raikou visits to recharge himself. Could that energy be charging or powering something besides Raikou on the island? For the energy to seep across the entirety of the island…that has to be at least influencing something in a major way, yeah?

We do have quite a bit of time before we get some more answers so I suppose we can be as late as we want xD 1) Especially after seeing Garret trying to teach Eden how to battle, I think that would be quite wholesome seeing them team up later. The Grid and teleportation go hand in hand at this point, so I’d say teleportation seems to be a pretty good guess. It’s not unreasonable to think that she has been searching for a way out, assuming she knows how to control this power of hers. Whether or not she freed herself, if she bumped into Artem while trying to free herself or is still in the Grid remains to be seen. One thing I didn’t think of before is that we don’t know how deep in the Grid Waldenhall sent Eden. If she happened to be in a part of the Grid where the flow of time is different, kinda like poor Keegan, Eden could be older when we finally meet her. 2) Absolutely! That’s quite a good point. Why would Azura stop visiting the town she hails from? If Azura does care for her roots, then I’m of the mind something is preventing her from returning. Whatever it is may also be the reason none of them have been seen in public for years. Another Hendrick oddity is that he uses normal types. A normal specialist? That is pretty unprecedented for someone of the Elite Four. So not only is he the only member that uses one type, but he also uses a type that isn’t typical of an Elite Four member. And he happens to be the one out of the four of them to vanish. Something is definitely up with Hendrick. Not only am I curious as to why he has vanished, but when he vanished as well. How recent is his disappearance? This disappearance must have happened anywhere from when the Elite Four stopped visiting to sometime during our adventures in Ayrith. Did he vanish prior to the start of the game or sometime within the timespan that the game takes place in? More replies to the replies: 1) Now that you mention it that’s quite a curious thing for Baron to say. I went back to check the scene again and Baron does say that when you side with Shiv, but refusing to fight with him results in a slightly different scene. Leaving Shiv results in Baron going on about Shiv being lost and a monster and once he’s out of the picture, he turns his sights on the protagonist, mentioning we don’t understand yet what we are and that he shouldn’t have let this go on for so long. No matter which option, however, Baron alludes to the protagonist being much more than they appear. Could Baron be alluding to the fact that our protagonist is one of the few that has the appropriate power or abilities or whatever to release Darkrai? Baron could have heard about Darkrai’s plans from Artem prior to Shiv’s visit. With this perspective I’d say it stands to reason that Baron would say something like that if we side with Shiv. In this sense he is right, the player should be opposed to Shiv as he has been one of our manipulators from the very beginning. There are clear signs that something is amiss with the twins. It’s baffling to Baron that we still aid Shiv despite this. Although I’m not quite sure why Baron says the feeling should be mutual on Shiv’s end. And on the flip side Baron either knows or has an inkling of what can happen if the protagonist ends up on Darkrai’s doorstep so he takes it upon himself to make sure that doesn’t happen, akin to Lilith’s confrontation just before things go down in the Dreamscape. Either that or there really is still some stuff Crescent and Baron are keeping from the player about our protagonist. Which isn’t out of the realm of possibilities. Artem seems to have gleaned quite a bit of information during his excursion. If this is the case, it could be something that Darkrai and twins don’t know about. Something that can pose a serious problem for them. Who knows? 2) Not immediate family but still related, this could be possibility as well. If Amelia did harm or abduct her sister, it is odd that Ava hasn’t at least alluded to this by now. The protagonist has known Ava for a much longer period of time and yet Garret opens up about his missing sister before Ava does. If something has happened to her sister because of Amelia, she must have quite a reason not to mention anything about it. Another idea could be that Ava’s sister was persuaded by Amelia or needed power to enact change or something and joined the Black Foxes. Ava could have tried to get her sister to change her mind, but she didn’t listen so she cut ties with her. 3) Yeah, I’d bet that we are completely off the mark at this point in time. There are so many curious bits and pieces about him but none of them seem to fit together quite yet. Fitting for someone like him I’ll say. Jarred is an enigma, one that I look forward to seeing more of in the future. 4) If that is the case, that pokemon can become sickly if their trainers don’t attain Perfection along with them… I wonder how that will affect Hardy’s Zoroark who is already plagued with some sort of illness if the experiments do eventually succeed. Regarding the many questions… 1) I initially interpreted Majira’s Rest as a sort of vault to keep his legacy, whatever that may be, safe until his successor is chosen. I skimmed over the name of it for some reason XD. If it is a tomb or place he holed up in would explain why he kinda fell off the face of the Earth. If he is somehow alive and able to talk maybe he has some key information for us that can help in the long run, and if we are lucky a rundown of what drove him to seal himself on a remote island. 2) That’s quite an interesting idea. Darkness seems to be quite a prevalent factor in the grand scheme of things so I’d be surprised if a place called ‘Dark Zone’ doesn’t have some ties to this seemingly Dark theme going on. I wonder if the Darkness field will take center stage in that area of the dream. 3) To screw up so bad you end up in a mirror for at least a century. Great example as to why you shouldn’t play with fire. Yeah, whatever they were trying to do down there probably backfired on them. I can see either of those events as interesting alternatives. The entity sealing themselves to escape their pursuers is an especially appealing theory. Whomever they are knew that if their pursuers reached them that’s the end of the line. In the end they didn’t unearth the full answer so in a last-ditch effort to avoid the inevitable they bind themselves to a mirror. Seeing that they still have some influence to a certain degree it isn’t the worst plan they could have come up with. 4) The Waterscape is quite intriguing indeed. The Lake Guardian spirits predating the awakening, the shrines, that strange book in the main shrine, the strange group of people talking about being remnants of Darkrai or whatever’s going on there, Shiv’s journal entry, the Dark Zone, that one cave…there are so many of mysteries in the dream. 5) Haha one thing I’ve learned to do in these fangames is to check every gravestone or suspicious nook I can. I dunno whether Shiv’s statement was about the scuffed gravestone that he happened to be hanging around, Keegan’s gravestone that is nestled in the Weeping Depths, or is just a lie. Curse those lies. I have no idea either. The letters Si doesn’t match with any name we’ve heard so far. It could be the name of someone we have yet to meet. Whoever they are might be another pawn or someone caught in the web of deception. One more thing to note about those gravestones is that among them is one that reads “Naught but flesh and faith”. Although I have yet to see the connection between it and the others. 6) Fair enough, there’s still lots to uncover about the dream. Honestly that’s quite a good question. The journal entries from Tristan’s father give you just enough to get the imagination jumping to some pretty dark conclusions. Initially that was my thought too while playing the game although I’m not so sure now. If what Ava mentions is true, I don’t think it was a murder-suicide. In the current day and age Tristan should be around the same age that his father was when he first started writing that journal. If the Tristan that died five years ago is indeed the same Tristan from the journals it is possible his father may have already passed away, or at the very least is quite elderly now. It doesn’t seem too likely his father was a part of his death. Which makes Tristan’s death stranger. Without any more information my current line of thinking would be blaming Darkrai for his death. Tristan’s spirit, or whatever he may be, was eventually used by Darkrai. His death may have been one of the preparations needed to be done to confuse and deceive the protagonist later down the line. If only Ava had elaborated a bit more. She needs to learn you can’t just drop that kind of information on a person without stating a cause of death my goodness lol.

Man, there feels like a ton to cover. I may be late putting my two cents in but hey, least I’m fashionably late! I wouldn’t be surprised if Artem was able to spring Eden from her Grid imprisonment as well. If Artem did find her in the Grid she’d have enough motive to join them considering her circumstances. I’d be very interested in seeing Eden slinking out of the shadows and joining the fight if that’s the case. If our merry band of heroes can play nicely with Crescent at some point maybe we can see Garret and Eden take on Waldenhall together. I’d be rooting for that! There are quite a few implications that the entity is Darkrai’s trainer. I am of the mind it really is the trainer. If it isn’t then it’s at least someone with connections to them. It does seem highly likely the intent was to rattle Waldenhall enough to have him lash out at the mirror. He took the bait hook line and sinker. Which begs the question, how did the entity end up bound to that mirror in the first place? The Elite Four situation is quite interesting. The tidbits we have are few and far between currently. My initial thought was imprisonment or manipulation considering who the Champion is. It hadn’t crossed my mind that they could be aiding the gangs. It doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibility that they could be involved although without knowing more about them it’s hard to say which gang they’d aid. Heck there could even be a schism in the ranks, some aiding the Black Foxes and others Crescent which could have resulted in Hendrick’s disappearance. One NPC mentions that she had heard that Azura is slated to make a visit to Central this coming month. If she does end up appearing in public at some point, then that could give us some insight into the Elite Four situation. If she doesn’t…well…I suppose that says a lot in of itself. Regarding the questions – Laying out the facts we know that Ava found the protag on the shore near Darkroot. They have no recollection of anything prior. They have a strong affinity to the dream, enough to actually release Darkrai and upon subsequent visits are able to use energy wells to teleport. We know from Reeve that, despite having a Perfection fragment stuck to the protag like glue, it doesn’t seem to be affecting them in the same way it has the experiments. And lastly the entity from the mirror, I’m sticking with the assumption that it’s Darkrai’s trainer since it seems most likely to me, has been able to talk to them since they washed ashore after the cruise ship incident. Well before encountering the dream, Darkrai, or Perfection later in the game. This particular entity says something curious after our sewer excursion. The voice states the protagonist has no purpose. In its absence they were but a shell. Is the word shell to be taken literally? Could the player have a sort of artificial body that was meant for the entity to inhibit? The player would indeed not have a purpose for existence without the entity. Or is a sort of separation of soul and body? Maybe the protagonist is actually Darkrai’s trainer or something of a reincarnation at the very least. Or maybe it’s more of a shell of a former self, someone who has lost their purpose. Maybe the protagonist was someone from the past, maybe one of the first trainers on Ayrith. They lost what they cared about as the curse spread and their one motivation was to bind the one responsible for the loss of countless lives? Afterwards they’d have no purpose. Whatever the case that is a lot of major ties to this entity, the events of the past, and Perfection as a whole. They are no longer the ordinary tourist they started out as. We don’t have direct confirmation that Ava and Amelia are sisters but there does seem to be a few implications that they might be. If they are then it is a bit strange neither of them has alluded to their familial bond. Though there could be potential reasons as to why they haven’t. Maybe Ava dyed her hair and changed up her look enough Amelia hasn’t recognized her yet. It stands to reason that Ava would indeed recognize Amelia upon first glance but maybe she’s keeping her relations with her a secret. Or whatever went down between them was so dreadful that they refuse to acknowledge their familial bond at all. Although, considering Amelia’s overall personality I don’t see this being the case. If they aren’t siblings, then I’m not one hundred percent sure what her ties to Darkroot may be. I’m gonna go out on a limb and say Amelia’s connections to Darkroot coulddddd still be familial in nature. Maybe she has family there and something happened there while growing up that started her on her path, independent of Ava’s presence there. I’ll admit Jarred caught me off-guard a few times…especially while I was trying to hunt down my fire bird xD. Jarred’s case feels incredibly strange. He’s everywhere. He leaves in his wake a ripple of people obsessed with him or water. No other character seems to elicit such a response from others. His behavior and manner of speech is peculiar, but he still seems to possess some uncanny knowledge and potentially some information on the player as well. He is also the only person that we know of that has officially been removed from a position as a gym leader. I’ve just been throwing ideas at a wall and hoping they’d stick. Some thoughts on who he is includes but aren’t limited to: He was a gym leader whose curiosity and circumstances led him to coming into contact with some form of Perfection. One of journals in the Crescent mentions that when Waldenhall’s experiments saw the past of others they went completely mad. If he did come into contact with it maybe this could explain his odd behavior, assuming he wasn’t always a bit eccentric. A very outlandish idea but…what if Jarred is Majira, or more accurately was Majira. From the sounds of it Majira thought he was nearing his end and set up a trial of sorts for anyone worthy of being his successor. It stands to reason he scattered the three orbs and metal relic as well. For some reason Majira’s end didn’t come to pass the way he thought it would. Maybe he lost touch of who he was instead of shuffling off this mortal coil as implied. His sense of identity and sanity sort of shattered and thus he was reborn as Jarred? Lugia didn’t recognize Jarred as Majira and peaced out, leaving Jarred to hunt for the relic and orbs so he can be reunited with Lugia. Maybe the entity from the mirror is somehow in contact with Jarred as well. He could have a similar destiny to the protagonist? In Vejyr Jarred rambles on about how he thought they were all alone. That the protagonist wasn’t meant to be. A fleeting sprout, far from home…Those lines give me similar vibes to what the entity says. That the protagonist has no purpose, they are but a shell. Although I’m not sure why it would be searching for the relic and Lugia in this case. Maybe he’s in contact with another entity entirely. Another entity we don’t know about could be at play here. Or he is said entity. His title is peculiar being when we go to fight him after all. I dunno if any of these are even remotely true, maybe Jarred is just beyond our mortal understanding. Lilith does indeed mention that her Umbreon is conflicted, angry, impatient, and perpetually sick. It is possible that at least the conflicted, angry, and impatient nature could be a result of Perfection. Ava comments that this Darkrai seems unusually malicious compared to other instances of Darkrais, and we learn later on that it has achieved a Perfection state at one point. It seems that whatever this state is seems to invoke a level of negative emotions for some reason. If Hardy’s Zoroark achieves Perfection and displays similar traits, then it’s safe to assume this is true. The perpetual sickness and the reason Lilith didn’t obtain Perfection is a bit harder to pin down with the information we currently have. This state of being is supposed to manifest when at a point of desolation. If that’s the case, it is strange that only Umbreon achieved this state when confronting Nova. Shouldn’t Lilith count in such an instance as well? What if the sickness is because Lilith hasn’t attained Perfection too. Like a Perfection bond between trainer and pokemon is required to avoid the inevitable demise. Maybe the tokens could be separate pieces that can be used in a variety of ways. They could be exchanged for something once we collect them all. Or each act as a key of sorts to unlock something. Although we haven’t found any places where the pieces could be used. No places with tiny square-shaped indents that open a door or secret passage or vendors that accept specific currency, like little colorful tokens for instance. And none of the places that have ties with Shiv seem to have any correlation with the colorful Lego pieces either. However, it is possible we just haven’t discovered it yet. It could be possible that the tokens are a fragment of a whole. What could combining several colored pieces result in? Perhaps the act of gathering and combining them will create a helpful key item. To be honest I have no definitive idea yet. So far it feels easier to gauge the intent of the scavenger hunt rather than what happens when we collect them all ™. Despite stating he’s forsaking Nova and our band of quirky misfits Shiv’s still going around placing those little tokens and leaving notes for us to uncover. Dude’s existential conflict is strong. This line of thinking may be wayyyyy out there, but I can’t stop myself from thinking about it. Maybe finding them all could be one deciding factor to Shiv fighting back against Darkrai’s control or something akin to that. Only time will tell. That being said here’s some of my manyyyy questions - What’s behind those locked doors at Majira’s rest? If we are to believe Jarred the relic leads to Lugia. If Lugia is tied to the relic what could possibly be behind those doors that require five keys to unlock? Ho-oh? There seems to be a correlation between Perfection, the darkness field, and dark type pokemon. So far, the only pokemon that we know that has obtained such a state happens to be of a dark typing. And if the Black Foxes succeed with Hardy’s Zoroark then that’s another. Can other pokemon outside the range of the dark typing achieve that state? Why was the entity bound in a mirror of all things in the Settler’s Ruins? Who’s the author of that strange book residing in the Waterscape temple? There is a gravestone in the Weeping Hills that has the letters Si and the rest is scratched off. The surrounding gravestones are connected to those who are being manipulated by Darkrai. Could that scuffed gravestone be either Darkrai’s or Darkrai’s trainer’s name? What’s communicating with the player from the Quest Log? I kind of assumed it’s the entity from the mirror considering they ask the same “Who are you?” questions. If it isn’t the entity, then who is it? How is it possible? Why is it only when we are in the Dreamscape?