The players arrive in their new forms. Begins here.
- The players begin to wake up in the ruins. They react to their altered physiologies in varied ways and begin to interact.
- At the request of PJ the Ribombee, the players introduce themselves.
- Some new players arrive in the middle of introductions and begin joining in on the group interactions.
- PJ silently wanders off to scout the area while Eliot the Smeargle breaks down and cries.
- The group (sans a few members) realizes that every one of them was a frequent user of TV Tropes (though some called it TV Quotes, possibly in fear of interdimensional copyright lawyers).
- Vjoi the Charizard flies off, not to be seen again until 900+ posts later.
- Eliot begins to draw using his tail-brush, eventually making a group shot of the present players and unwittingly Sketching Oz the Octillery’s Octazooka.
- Cyber finds a nearby town. The group is too preoccupied to investigate, however.
- After Beldum scans the perimeter, PJ returns, having stumbled upon another Pokemon in his scouting escapade.
- The group elects to meet the Pokemon PJ saw rather than go straight to the town.
The players meet a Type: Null named Yalta who divulges some information about the world. Begins here.
- The group begins looking around for PJ’s mystery Pokemon, and Mila the Raichu and J the Archeops suddenly appear.
- The players begin talking about their memory loss and the connection of them all using TV Tropes comes up again. Some insist on calling it TV Quotes, but PJ decides to yell “TV Tropes” at the top of his lungs to quell any fears over interdimensional lawyers.
- PJ’s shouting attracts the attention of the Pokemon he spotted earlier, a Type: Null, who approaches everyone with an aggressive stance and asks what their business is.
- The players tell Type: Null about their predicament, and after some convincing and hearing mention of the Pokedex and also experiencing a dose of flirting, realizes that they’re telling the truth. Type: Null becomes disconcerted due to this information, but agrees to answer any questions the group may have within reason.
- Sushi the Litten is displeased with Type: Null’s preemptive refusal to answer certain questions and bickers with Finley the Fennekin. Sushi soon decides something to eat and disappears, climbing up a tree.
- Type: Null informs the players of some important details before attention shifts from them to the dead Fletchling dropping out of a tree. Among these details are the following:
- The players aren’t the first ones to suddenly wake up in this world as Pokemon, with four primary instances being known (basically, the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games are canon).
- There is a nearby town of Psychic-types called Orichalcum that they can seek refuge in temporarily.
- Advanced technology (i.e. computers) is scarce in this world.
- Humans are most likely extinct after some sort of event centuries ago brought on the collapse of their society, and only ruins, hoaxes, and legends remain of their existence.
- The group begins to ignore Type: Null to focus on three Fletchling Sushi killed, with two of them being eaten. Reactions range from freaking out to not having much reaction at all.
- Type: Null decides to take their leave during all this commotion, revealing their name to be Yalta as they leave.
- Two newcomers are welcomed into the group as the remains of the Fletchling are buried, and the gang decides to head to the town of Orichalcum as Yalta advised.
The players travel to and arrive at the Psychic-type town, Orichalcum. Begins here.
- The group begins their travel to Orichalcum, with some newcomers tagging along.
- Everyone decides to talk about anime to kill time.
- Mila becomes separated from the group and destroys a tree with a Thunderbolt by accident. This catches everyone’s attention, and after freaking out about what she just did and realizing her electric charge has run dry, she rejoins the group.
- Beldum spots a Natu watching the group, who takes a peek into the minds of several group members before deciding to lead them to Orichalcum, which is guarded by an illusory barrier.
- The players meet Barry the Mr. Mime, who welcomes everyone and offers to help them around town and find temporary residence.
- In the group’s sightseeing escapades in the village, there are two close calls in which Sushi wanders off from the group. Nothing bad comes of these events, though.
- Barry informs the group of an Electric-type citizen who can help Mila with her electricity problem. After some debate, the group decides to find some food first.
- The gang stumbles upon some berries and vegetables free for anyone to take. As they eat and joke around, Eliot begins to puke up paint. This subsides after he coughs up a strange orb of paint that splatters everywhere, and everyone is left bewildered by this development. It is speculated that this is in some way related to Smeargle’s signature move, Sketch.
- A Slowpoke named Carl offers to help the group. He does nothing productive.
- Vjoi returns, having taken out some bandits and stolen their loot in the meantime. He tells the group of an abandoned mansion he stumbled across, but that matter was deemed unimportant at the time.
- Barry pops up again and informs the group that the High Oracle of Orichalcum is willing to offer them room and board for the time being. He offers directions to her home before taking some of the group to the resident naturalist and Electric-type’s house, leaving the others to head over to the High Oracle’s mansion.
- Eliot begins to sing a melancholy tune before being interrupted by PJ’s off-key rendition of Nuclear from MGSV. This manages to bring his spirits up considerably.
- Mila’s portion of the group meets up with Orichalcum’s naturalist, Koss the Alolan Raichu, who helps Mila out with her condition and tells the group about a scarcity of electricity in the area.
- Rei the Alolan Ninetales suddenly pops up in Koss’ house and is brought up to speed as everyone has some refreshments.
- The gang leaves Koss’ house after exchanging pleasantries with him and goes to regroup with the members who went to see the High Oracle.
The players enter the mansion of the High Oracle of Orichalcum, Frau Morbitesse. Begins here.
- The players arrive at the High Oracle's manor and make their way inside, meeting the High Oracle herself, a Gothitelle named Frau Morbitesse, in the foyer.
- Sushi has odd premonitions while in Morbitesse's presence, and Morbitesse detects "a dark cloud" hanging over them.
- Morbitesse agrees to provide room and board for the gang, provided they can do a favor for her later. She directs everyone to the guest rooms and they all settle down.
- Several interactions take place before everyone drifts off to sleep for the night.
- Finley and Mila share a room and talk about their current conditions. Mila begins to break down, but Finley manages to comfort her.
- Eliot offers PJ a room, and the two discuss the lives they've left behind in this new world before remembering the common link of them all using TV Tropes before entering their current predicament. Rei enters the room, and after a quick exchange of usernames, they all realize that they know each other and share a tender moment, knowing that they aren't quite leaving everything from their old lives behind.
- F the Espurr notices a Sylveon occupying her room, and it is quickly discovered that the Sylveon is F's sister Mandy from the human world. The two hug, thankful to be reunited in this strange new world.
- Sushi has a cryptic dream in which something is hunting them down.
The players set out to take care of a band of ruffians situated in an abandoned woodland mansion who are suspected of hijacking a shipment of valuable goods. Begins here.
While en route back to Orichalcum, the players get lost in the woods and run afoul of an angry Trevenant named Dras-II, who is under the influence of an unknown "menace". After the battle, Eliot, having sketched Dras-II's Phantom Force, has another bout of Power Incontinence, indirectly resulting in the party fighting and arguing among each other. Begins here.
The group meets up with a healer, the Espeon Uryu, who helps them recover from the fight with Dras-Il. Meanwhile, a second wave of humanmons start appearing all over town. The group heads to a bar, run by the Alakazam Teller, to get a better lay of the land. They learn about numerous possible destinations, including a volcano and its nearby city of Hoard, a beach resort town named Silversand, and a mysterious underwater castle off its coast. Starts here.
Concerned about recent bouts of Power Incontinence, as well as the mons on the opposite end of the scale, some of the group decide to train. Finley evolves from male Fennekin to a female Braixen, after a training bout with Jani. Upon conclusion of their training, a couple encounters come their way — first with a bunch of Cherrim, a Cherubi, and a Ludicolo. This ends abruptly when a Blaziken named Bash rushes in and takes out the Ludicolo, along with Max (Machoke) and their "leader" Lars (Hakamo-O). After being misdirected for a bit, the humanmons (who set traps during the diversion) fought the trio into submission and learned about their leader, a Bisharp who has gained interest in them. Starts here.
The group rests at Frau's for one last night after seeking council from the High Oracle in the wake of their somewhat intense battles. Upon waking, a quirky investigator of Orichalcum branch of the Swords of Justice (aka Musketeers Guild) named Voxno appears and seeks the party's help on quelling the spread of the Viral Aggression, which the party earlier encountered with Dras-Il. Eventually the party agrees, and goes off on the road to Silversand Town as acting members of the guild. They stop at a restaurant and meet up with a pair that belong to Andy's gang, one being a female Leavanny claiming to be Andy's daughter. They eat their fill and manage to get through the encounter without violence. Starts here.
The group arrives at Silversand Town, a beach resort with a touristy boardwalk in the south and some slums to the north. The group splits up between beachgoers and guild check-iners. The beach group encounters a number of mons with various motivations, hawking wares, pranking others, and even a potential crush or two. The guild group discusses where to go next. It's interrupted when Jani wanders off and gets mauled by Perigo, a Delcatty who was stalking the group the entire time. Leaving Jani hospitalized, the party mobilized at the guild and laid plans to head to the slums not only to capture the Delcatty if possible, but also to handle possible further incidents from the plague-inflected slums. Starts here.
The party moves into the slums to investigate the Viral Aggression. Their first encounter is with a Meowth and a Golem, the former attempts to extort the party to avoid an encounter with the later. The party isn't impressed, and plan B is equally unconvincing. The encounter causes Voxno to enter a corrupted Voxno-W form, which unnerves both itself and the party. They hold position and scarf down Koss' remedies before pressing on. The party then encounters a woman, Jessica, with her child — the woman works for the guild, which appalls Voxno that she is clearly being poorly compensated. After a brief exchange, the party moves on. Reaching the northeastern corner of the slums, the party was eventually attacked by a Sawk named Raheem and a Numel named Mookie, who were agitated due to the Viral Aggression. This eventually erupted into an all out brawl, with the duo summoning their plague infected gang to fight the party, and vjoi temporarily returning to help out in the fight. Much of the party eventually fled out of the slums, but vjoi and Wohm remarkably held their own for a long time, eventually culminating in vjoi scaring off the gang and killing Raheem by kicking him into a window sill. Raheem's death brings the gang together, and cures Mookie of his Viral Aggression. Meanwhile, the party had split up between the hospital and heading down the Boardwalk to get some lunch.
Enraged by the party's expedition into the slums, the plague vector of Silversand (a ghost) possesses the body of the hospital's Chansey receptionist and essentially gives her a stat boost, forcing her to demolish her desk and barrel over mons while chasing after the group who went off to enjoy the town. As everyone met up to battle her, they slowly started whittling down her health, but ended up causing far more injuries to her than the ghost. Furthermore, the miasma of the Viral Aggression spread throughout the town, instigating riots around the fracas — luckily Koss' remedies protected the party. Cyk's hypnosis eventually forced the ghost to flee, upon which it created a Trick Room and turned intangible to taunt the party. Finley and Andy managed to enrage it enough so it would reveal its true, solid form:
◊He then fought the party long and hard, injuring a number of them in the process, and revealing himself all this time to have been a hard working family man in his previous life who was exploited by the town's rapid expansion, and died a gruesome death. By some miracle of good timing, his wife and daughter accidentally slipped into the trick room, their familial bond allowing them through the otherwise solid structure. The party got him to focus on them, and he regained his sanity to hint about a woman who had the power to turn him into a plague vector before he took his own future sight that was earlier intended for Goobert, which knocked him unconscious. The Trick Room dismantled itself and the miasma very slowly dissipated, and same goes for the riots — slowly dispersing.
The party headed to the hospital for a bit to get checked out. Voxno pulled some strings and got everyone bonus pay for taking out the vector, for a total of 25,000 Poke (~$250) per person. After a quibble between the guild and the cops, the guild got custody of Yamaropu and put him in quarantine, his family deciding to follow. The party members who could leave the hospital decided to enjoy whatever amenities the recovering town still had to offer.
After defeating Yamaropu, the gang decides to take a break...that is, after taking Gloria to the hospital as well as tending to their own wounds. Jani finally wakes up from her coma, and the group gets some well needed rest...except for Jani who is sleepless and ends up wandering outside of town. Next morning, the group decides to take it easy...Goobert heads to the docks, while Mila and Eliot decide to just see the sights. Jani barrels into town on a cart made by a local professor but with vulcanized rubber tires — an "invention" she unwittingly leaked from the human world — and ends up joining with the group that attends a rather odd wrestling match. Said match ultimately ends up being crashed by Finley, Jani, and a Blastoise due to the arena being rigged to kill the contenders. Finley uses Protect to hold off the rising lava (aided by Jani's Rock Slide levee), while Jani digs a tunnel for the Blastoise to carry the unconscious contenders to safely. Elsewhere, Eliot is pickpocketed — losing the majority of his money. Meanwhile, Goobert encounters some surly Gyaradii out at sea, and when he comes to, he isn't exactly himself...
After finding Goobert in the body of a Primarina, the gang leaves on Andy's ship to return him to normal. Hijinks ensue as they play a mix of Spin the Bottle and Truth or Dare while waiting to arrive at the Gyarados cave. Approaching said cave, they meet up with Sushi, now a pirate captain, on the high seas. She somewhat reluctantly decides to join the party for a bit as they dive underwater — by means of the Gyaradii eating (but not swallowing) them and using a special move on them before diving down themselves. They managed to get Guy down as well, albeit as unceremoniously as one might imagine with a Snorlax. Unbenownst to the party, PJ was stowing away with Sushi, and even slipped into one of the Gyaradii undetected. Infected by the Viral Aggression, he had intended to ambush the party with his newly learned Dazzling Gleam, but Mila noticed him and managed to unwittingly snap him back to relative sanity.
At the underwater castle, the group meets the Primarina's children — a sarcastic, deductive 14 year old Brionne girl and a curious and energetic 8 year old Popplio boy. The girl almost immediately senses something is off, and comes to the conclusion that a Ditto has taken her mother's form. She trolls Goobert-as-a-Primarina mercilessly as they enter the castle, and the group is split in two — with only Goobert+"Family", Marlon, Finley, and Eliot being granted access to Prince Manaphy while the rest wait in the guest area. Eventually, stealthy little Andy slips past the guards and finds a Riolu in the dungeon, while the exploring group encounters the patriarch of the Primarina's family. Awkwardness ensues, but eventually it's revealed that Goobert was body swapped with Belle, the owner of the Primarina's body. Eventually they reach Manaphy, but something sets him off and causes him to randomly swap the entire party. Eventually, the party convinces Manaphy that not all Goodras are evil and releases Belle-as-Goobert, fixing all the swaps and returning them from the castle to Andy's boat.
Upon returning to Andy's boat, the gang returns to Silversand and are greeted by Jani, who's riding an upgraded version of her and the professor's cart
◊, who chats up the group for a bit while they disembark. The group meets up with Koss at the guild to make sure PJ is okay. The infected PJ struggles to not reveal his hand as he's definitely not acting himself, all the while Jani (who was never inoculated) starts herself exhibiting vague symptoms of the Viral Aggression. Eventually, the party pushes PJ too hard and he flees, while Jani digs out of the guild to follow him, foiling a barrier Koss put up to allow PJ some privacy. A small contingent decides to discuss issues by the fountain, while Voxno shows up outside the guild and asks the remaining party a few questions before heading inside and learning about the goings on. Voxno requests to be placed on reconnaisance duty to monitor the humanmons secretly.
Meanwhile, the fountain group runs into the Delcatty who attacked Jani, and Finley is gravely wounded while getting too close and trying to reason with Perigonote . A vicious battle ensues and Perigo manages to wound Eliot and Mila as well, while Nyquil evolves to Quilava to fight him off. With Dana and some others showing up and Perigo reasoning he can't fight them all off, he flees into the slums, injures Andy who had decided to hitch a ride, and then tricks a Furret to let him stay and recuperate at his house.
Most of those uninjured from the fracas (excluding Jack and Nyquil) attend a meeting Voxno staged at a dive bar in the slums. By sheer luck, Voxno happens across PJ and Jani and gets them to come along with, and Voxno shares Koss' remedies and flatly tells the group that PJ, Jani, and possibly others in the group are infected. This causes Jani to break, while PJ isn't handling it much better. Voxno suggests the group head back to the roadside restaurant and interrogate a female Ribombee who trained PJ. The mood changes rapidly when Lars bursts in, intent on revenge against the extremely type advantaged PJ. This causes the infected PJ to switch to full on aggressive mode, while reinforcing Jani's own issues and the two approach Lars, nearly fighting him indoors.
Taking it outside, PJ launches a Gleam at him and Jani manages a line-attack version of Earthquake, though poorly controls it and sends out a couple more line, one which damages the Spittoon. Guy is finally 100% confirmed as being infected, and charges at Lars, grabbing hold of him and leading him to the beach. PJ falls out of focus while Guy nearly takes out Lars before getting KO'd by a STAB 2x effective barrage of punches. Jani ends up fighting a weakened Lars alone after whipping up a sandstorm, and manages to tire out Lars by using several aborted Digs to spew sand geysers and misdirect his attention. After unintentionally KOing Lars with a Dig to his windpipe, Jani herself is taken out by Dana's Roar (at Voxno's urging) and the infected all sleep at the beach — though Voxno deposits Lars at the hospital before holding vigil.
Meanwhile, as the hospital group grieves for Finley, a rather perverted Mr. Mime feigns illness and eventually blocks the door leading to Finley's room while ogling her with perverted intent. By now, Finley has woken up, but being a strict pacifist, strongly urges the party to resolve this without violence. In spite of this, both Nyquil and even Andy, who until then had himself been a pacifist, attack the mime and eventually force him to flee. This causes tension between Nyquil and Finley, causing the former to bolt...eventually, everyone at the hospital falls asleep.
The party wakes up at the hospital/inn/beach. Jani has a mental breakdown and simply disappears underground. Goobert himself decides to leave the party and try to live a normal life in Silversand. Nyquil decides to train, and learns Wild Charge. PJ reunites with the group, seemingly having better control over the Viral Aggression. The hospitalized Lars has a chat with his father's consigliere, a Noivern named Ripley, who reveals to the readers a complex double-agent style relationship between the Kapitani and Lars' father. Everyone heads to Hoard, with Jani having left a couple hours before the party on her cart.
Voxno rejoins the party for awhile. They all revisit the diner, where Andy meets up with old acquaintances and the group meets Belladonna, the Ribombee waitress who trained PJ, while Voxno interviews the staff. Arguments erupt among some of the group and they end up camping for the night. The group uses a passphrase to bypass a VA checkpoint and they reach the entrance to Hoard.
After dealing with a bit of bureaucracy to get in, the main party reaches Hoard. After a bit of bazaar shopping, they chat with the Chairgon who seeks to get more secrets to human technology from them. Dissatisfied with the results, they are ejected from the council building. While that's going on, Jani confronts Bella with an "I know what you are" speech. The group, after being ejected, sign up for the tournament and then search for Jani, finding her at the library doing research on the VA. After violence and bickering erupt, she flees underground but leaves some research notes behind. Meanwhile, Voxno-V, Serris, Sudeaux, and Ripley decided to work together to remove the VA infected Chairgon. The cracks start to form in Belladonna's psychopathic facade. The party heads to a karaoke bar and the night more of less peters out. Jani left a note for Finley along with a bunch of research notes.
The party wakes up at the inn, and a mysterious letter arrives from Ripley, reporting that Fan is missing. Several of the humanmons and NPCs participating in the tournament head to the dojo for some morning training. Groups coaslesce within the arena itself and chat before the fighting. (more info needed)
- Marlon is victorious over Kevin (Wartortle), the First Responder's kid from Silversand. It was a more or less friendly battle.
- Maran is victorious over Shichiro Fukui, aka the Aqua Phantom, though not without first having his transformation curse triggered.
- PJ soundly, albeit slightly bloodily, defeated Iris, a Dewott. Iris ended up in triage.
- Jani struggled at first, but then defeated the heavily type-disadvantaged Larry the Lairon. She, too, caused major injuries due to her VA, cracking the Lairon's shell plating with an earthquake.
- Noriaki defeated Fire Prince Christof (Houndoom), in an elegant regal battle.
- Guy defeated The Puffin Prince (Delibird), in a comic relief battle involving a cartoon bomb.
- Sushi defeated her rival Pirate Queen Lisa (Midday Lycanroc) with a desperation, VA-triggered attack. It took awhile for that victory to be officiated, due to its resemblance to a Z-move.
- Khmalidze is victorious over Bash, which caused a bit of discomfort among some present (particularly the announcers) due to her being well overqualified for an amateur tournament, using her vast influence to get away with it.
- Jack is victorious over Shao Kahn (Arcanine), winning by tiring out his opponent.
- Nyquil secures a narrow victory over Fubuki (Swellow), aka the Radical Dreamer.
- J defeats The Question (Quagsire), nearly falling to his own Outrage in the process.
- Don Giovanni (Dunsparce) easily defeated by Armin.
- Alejandro defeated The Widowmaker (Salazzle), though not without Andy just taunting the hell out of Alejandro from the stands.
- Freddy defeated Opera Phantom (Gengar) with a Nightmare.
- Cyk is victorious over a The Invincible Imp, (Sableye) the latter had a strong start and was nearly ejected from the tournament for excessive force.
Concurrent with the above chapter. Following up on the letter about Fan, eventually Mila and Eliot head off to search for her, using Eliot's Phantom Force to sneak around. Eventually, Eliot finds Fan (as Mila runs off to seek help), but Fan, having morphed into a Voltorb, uses Explosion in a last-ditch effort to shake off her pursuers, knocking out most of the Pawniards and almost Eliot himself. They get her to safety (the Drosen Lum Cafe), Ripley reveals she and a handful of others are involved in a plan to oust the Chairgon, and Fan then disguises as a Salazzle to get through town undetected. Paranoid over being caught and being involved with the resistance, Eliot sketches Transform and...it doesn't go well, though eventually he too stabilizes...also as a Salazzle.
Meanwhile, Finley and PJ end up arguing about fighting in the arena despite being infected, and PJ runs off to Bella. It is revealed that Bella has been manipulating PJ's mind for some time. Elsewhere, Merqury's mental deterioration is becoming more and more present, as he further isolates himself from his staff. Jani reunited with the group, as she popped in hoping to get some of that free buffet food while a large amount of the party was present. The party regroups at the inn and splits up again, with some at the bazaar, some searching for PJ, a small group having a girls' night out, Vox tending to Fan, Jillian giving Sushi rather cannibalistic ideas, and others off doing their own things.
The group fights in their second round matches. Highlights of the matches include:
- Marlon defeating a Dragonair named Arnold
- Jani defeats a Mightyena fairly quickly using the Focus Sash-Reversal technique — albeit aided by the VA.
- Alejandro defeats the White Knight, a Zoroark
- Freddy is defeated by a Probopass named Maui, hailing from Wild Ridge
- Armin is disqualified and arrested for breaking off a stalagmite while battling a Tsareena named Alice, hailing from Wild Ridge
- Jack and Sushi engaging in a wire-to-wire fight, with Jack emerging victorious.
- Max and Guy having a similar hotly-contested fight, with Guy emerging victorious.
- Cyk defeating an Alolan Muk named The Slimy Smasher, in spite of being inebriated.note
- Nyquil and Noriaki facing off, leaving the former the victor as the latter forfeited during the match.
- PJ finishing a Kabutops with one Silver Wind.
- Bella curb-stomping a Gible kid, to which the party takes exceptional notice to.
Goobert returns to the group, having been airlifted to Hoard along with the Silversand Trio: Marsha, Delilah, and Benji. Benji later shows off a technique where he can surround another mon and act like a transformation "shell", albeit with reasonable size and physiological limits. Jani has a chat with PJ where she apologizes for her earlier treatment of Bella, worried about being ostracized and wondering if the VA is all that bad. This leads her to allegedly plot to steal the party's remedies, but ultimately this is revealed as a farce in which Voxno was complicit. (though it ends up being a dropped plotline overall)
Finley and Mila's relationship is finally revealed to the party as a whole, having been discerned by Jani during their three-way dinner the earlier night, and is shown to develop much more profoundly during this day. Jillian returns per se...in actuality, she was staying at the same inn as the humanmons. The first time she's seen, she brings a Pawniard cop with her, trying to get Finley, Mila, and Jani arrested — the trio retort by calling out Jillian for being a cannibal stalker. Ultimately the Pawniard decides not to get involved and simply leaves without taking action. Later on in the day, Jillian tries to meet up with Andy, and after being blocked by the humanmons for a bit, Andy declares he doesn't want to be with her anymore. This is only a half-truth, as he voices his frustrations about having to cast off his old life just to be with the party. Cyk and Goobert also break up, after Goobert finds Cyk's yandere-esque shrine to him.
Wohm is revealed to be sharing a body with the soul of the body he was put into when he entered the world. The friends of this individual abduct him and force him to evolve, and the old soul is beginning to completely wrest control of the body away from the human Wohm. After the tournament, Niles, Jani, and the Goo Crew head to the dojo to train. Jani teaches Niles reversal, while the Silversand Trio trains with Goobert and Marlon. The latter two have recently acquired Mega Stones, but opt not to use them due to Delilah's harrowing tale of going berserk and crippling her mother during a botched attempt with her own Garchompite. Perigo, elsewhere, also manages to purchase Delcite with funds stolen from a merchant he murdered en route to Hoard.
Having been spirited away to the inn, Fan subsequently hid out there for awhile — trying to disguise as Cortez, the innkeeper who was cursed with a permanent age reduction and subsequently left with Maran to try and find a cure. As the day came to a close, Yalta arrived at the dojo to meet the newer humanmons, then followed them back to discuss the VA with the humanmons. All the while, Merqury's growing instability has become untenable as he brutally murdered his trusty bodyguard. It is clear that he is a ticking timebomb with mere hours left on the clock.
The battles in what ultimately turns out to be the final round of the Hoard tournament continue:
- Marlon wins a battle against Vince, the Tangrowth Goobert had a run in with at the Salty Spittoon in Silversand.
- Cyk fights and wins against Guy in a battle.
- Jack fights one of the Wild Ridge Defenders, a Probopass named Maui. Jack wins by the skin of his teeth.
- PJ and Niles fight in a heated battle that Niles is ultimately victorious in.
- Jani uses VA powered moves against Belladonna, but ultimately loses to her.
Main Plot:
The day's events begin with a bang, as Goobert has another dream where his Sludge Wave attacks melt Cyk, Delilah, and others. Upon waking up, Goobert is violently ill, as he swallowed some of an (actual) use of the move. The circumstances ultimately lead to Delilah and Goobert both having a Love Epiphany and a Relationship Upgrade ensues. Marlon has a conversation with Wohm and discovers that the Clauncher form that he landed in was actually the half-dead body of a Clauncher named Cannon, and they now share a body. Between battles, the party explore the bazaar and/or train in the dojo. Some significant events that occur during this include:
- Goobert finds a way to successfully use Sludge Wave without poisoning himself with assistance from Jani. He also uses Outrage for the first time, but only by being provoked into becoming angry first thanks to his cheerful demeanor.
- Goobert and Marlon getting fancy carriers for their Mega Stones while Delilah acquires a Mega Stone herself along with a swimsuit that she takes to wearing. The party later finds out that Delilah has a fear of the entire concept of Mega Evolution after she went behind her mother's back and Mega Evolved with her mother's Mega Stone, going crazy and critically injuring her mother. She only became interested in the concept again through Goobert's own interest in Mega Evolving.
- It's discovered that Maxine and Marsha used to be childhood friends, having grown up together in the same neighborhood in Silversand. Marsha finds out about Max and Bash's shady misdoings (including those against the party), but is willing to forgive Max when she sees that Max is truly repentant for her and Bash's actions and are willing to change for the better.
- Benji befriends fellow Ditto Fan and has a long discussion with her about her life in Hoard. Benji also takes a Noivern form based on Ripley's appearance (but with slight physical differences) and remains in it for the remainder of the party's time in Hoard.
But the fun times draw to an end as Serris calls upon the party to help he, Khmalidze, and Ripley subdue Chairgon Merqury, who is all but confirmed to be carrying VA by now. In a discussion at the Drosen Lum Cafe, it is decided that the only feasible way to subdue the two VA vectors in Hoard (the Chairgon and Belladonna) is to get them to fight each other, as it has been discovered that vectors will always try to fight each other. The ball begins rolling when the party provokes Belladonna into showing her true colors, with PJ breaking out of her spell in the process, while Merq's VA is also triggered and he goes on a rampage.
The party throws several punches during the battle, which much of the party fighting Belladonna while Goobert and his Silversand friends face Merq. Goobert winds up beaten down by Merq and gains a gash on his chest in the process. Belladonna is turned into bug paste by a well timed combined attack from Marlon and Niles, while Ripley ultimately wears Merq down and prepares to subdue him, only for Khmalidze to fatally stab Merq to death before this can happen.
Subsequently, the party discovers that there was a hidden clause to them helping Serris, Ripley, and Khamlidze take down the two VA vectors...and this was that the party stays in Hoard forever to turn their knowledge of the human world over to them, to the party's displeasure. They are only spared from this fate by Ripley, who is clearly not on board with this part of the deal, negating the deal and allowing the party to leave and continue their journey. The party hurriedly leaves Hoard, but it's heavily implied that they will meet Serris and Khmalidze again somewhere down the road....
The party leaves Hoard, still reeling on varying levels from the battle with the Chairgon and Belladonna (as well as the revelations about Serris and Khmalidze's true plans immediately afterwards that very nearly ended the party's journey). After briefly meeting up with Koss (who gives the party some extra supplies) and a young Meinfoo named Sho, Andy leads the party to the Bedsheets (which Finley and Cyk briefly visited with Andy several days back), where they rest for the night. (At least most of the party does, anyway. Philly and Andy hit the bar within the inn and party all night.) The next morning, the party locates PJ and Eliot (who both spent the night in Eliot's Phantom Force parallel world), and have another run-in with Jillian before evaluating their situation and deciding to head towards the town of Gleamscape.
En route to Gleamscape, the party comes upon a carnival along the main path and decide to pay it a visit. The party enjoys some good-natured fun, including the couples in the party taking rides on the Ferris wheel, Eliot transforming into Marsha and going around with her and Benji as three Marshas, blowing the lid off a scam, and Marlon and Delilah overcoming their fears and/or reservations about Mega Evolution and successfully Mega Evolving. One of Niles' opponents in Hoard, Fukubi the Swellow, makes an appearance and decides to attack PJ for some reason, but Niles and Lady Castien (who happened to be visiting the carnival with her kids) successfully put Fukubi away. Marlon and Goobert also befriend June, a hyperactive and friendly Zoroark who owns a fun house that she runs with her grandfather, a Delphox named Darnell, and her sister, another Zoroark named July.
As the party's day at the carnival begins to wind down, outside the carnival, a Raticate steals a bag of Wonder Orbs from Exploud and Whismur Rich and Marty's shop and runs into the carnival. The bag is upended and orbs are sent flying upon the party, resulting in PJ being turned into a Helioptile, Finley becoming a Metapod, Niles turning into a female Leafeon, Goobert swapping bodies with June, Delilah turning into a Dragonite, Guy turning into a Midday Lycanroc, Light turning into a Piplup, and finally Dana turning into a Swablu. At the same time, Jani is hit with an Escape Orb, which teleports the entire party (plus June) into a house in the underground city of Argatha. The party reacts to their various transformations in various ways and are subsequently tasked by the Exploud Council in Argatha with finding a pair of missing Whismurs who have the council's warp semantics, with their reward being the Reset Orbs necessary to bring the party back to normal. As this all happens, Darnell and July join forces with Rich and Marty in order to find the missing June. Marlon later expresses to Marsha his feelings for her (which have been around since Hoard), and a Relationship Upgrade ensues.
Making things more complicated during all of this is the sudden kidnapping of Metapod!Finley and Mila by an Onix who runs some sort of operation in the bowels of Argatha, as well as the puzzle pieces involving the unusual circumstances that Jani was brought into this world begin to fall into place...
The party wakes up and has breakfast at the mayor's house. Jani states her belief that she and the real "Milly" likely displaced each other, and coaxes the two Diglett sisters to join the party, realizing she'll have to figure out how to return to the human world. PJ continues to struggle with the events of Hoard and separates himself from the party. After various other morning banter, the group heads over to Dr. Durango's clinic to pick up Eliot. They then split up to kill time before the 9am meeting with the mayor. Noriaki and Nina(Niles) spar for a bit since Nina needs to learn how to function as a Leafeon. The Goo Crew drop off Delilah's swimsuit at the tailor's, though on a subsequent errand alone, Benji (as a Lanturn) ends up getting kidnapped.
On a separate adventure of sorts, Lilly heads to the tailor's herself but is accosted by Andy who had been desperate to seek out Mila up until that time. He convinces Lilly to dig, and the two enter the tunnel alone. Andy leads the way by detecting the power fluctuations caused by the operation. After a bit of exploration, Lilly and Andy make it through the long, winding tunnels to the kidnappers' hideout. Lilly just emotionally falls apart from fear when the two end up ambushed while Andy tries to talk his way out of it, but ultimately Lilly is captured and Andy is cut off, trapped within the tunnel system.
The main group eventually becomes aware of Lilly and Benji's disappearance (Andy had kept to himself the whole time, so it didn't come up) and ultimately this becomes a major motivation in their meeting with the mayor and the chief of police. Triss behaves like any mother in politics would, and both expedites and assists the rescue operation. After learning about the ancient tunnels and multiple human ruin excavation sites, they settle on three to search. A small contingent also ends up staking out the bar and a shop that sells the kidnappers' illicit goods, though the bar group eventually moves to the shop.
The main group heads to the ramp in and out of town, and the mayor herself digs a path to the old tunnels. They first explore the southeast route, which ends up having a custom manufacturing plant and some hollowed, nearly disintegrated and non-functioning computers. The Onix kidnapper had been there, and clearly the larger machines were harvested for parts, but otherwise it was a dead end. The northwest route was next, which landed them at a pharmacy. Everything there was putrid and decayed — they found ancient pills and potions, but no sign of the kidnappers whatsoever. Finally, the northeast path took them to the kidnappers, who had made their base in the ruins of a Pokémon Center — which was partially functioning, though not including the healing machine. They managed to get past the rockslide undetected but while planning, a Stunfisk came by and attacked. Most of the party fought the kidnappers while Dinah and Tilly rescued the imprisoned, which included Finley, David, Lilly, and Koss. The Onix kidnapper turned out to be their leader, and she revealed she was doing this for the sake of her injured brother. Andy just lost it on the Krokorok kidnapper and very well near killed him. Eventually the guards themselves were defeated and taken prisoner and their victims joined with the party briefly as they all headed out. Jani followed the Onix and tried to talk her into surrender, but she feared mass violence erupting over the ancient technology and triggered a cave-in. Jani escaped, but got lost while underground and ended up digging up all the way to the surface.
As for the shop group, [MORE INFO NEEDED].
It turned out the prison they raided was beneath Yalta's Ruins, leaving a sinkhole in its wake. Jani ended up there upon surfacing and encountered Yalta, who walked and talked with her as they headed back to Agartha. The rest of the party headed back to Agartha via the tunnels, easily arriving first. The shop group was ejected upon news reaching them that their base had been destroyed.
Eventually all three groups reunited to some degree. Finley had some serious emotional scarring from her ordeal. Mila eventually took it to herself to care for David, the Pichu whose mother was never found. Benji had met some (actual) Lanturns who were abducted while on vacation. Lilly so far seemed to take her events in stride. Goobert and Delilah stayed at the doctor's to tend to Delilah's injuries. Jani was a bit moved by her experience with the Onix, though eventually she, Marlon, and Marsha along with the Diglett sisters headed outside to train. Mayor Triss had spoken of a reward, and eventually, the party headed over to the mayor's house for lunch.
After lunch, Jani, Tilly, Marlon, Grigori, Marsha, Benji, and Dinah decide to pay a visit to Orichalcum. While there, the party visits Teller's bar, where the party mingles with Teller at his bar. Grigori learns from Teller of a dangerous Crabominable that Grigori decides to go hunt down. Marlon and the others stumble upon PJ (still a Helioptile) who ran away from the party and (somewhat reluctantly) agrees to return to Agartha with everyone. Jani pours out her frustrations and worries over the situation she's in to Andy over drinks. By evening, the party heads back toward Agartha for the night, but not before Jani rediscovers a satchel belonging to Milly that contains a music box that Milly was on her way to present to Frau Morbitesse when Jani landed in Milly's body.
Meanwhile, back in Agartha, those who stayed behind at the mayor's house get in a squabble over David, the Pichu rescued from the Onix, and whether or not the little guy should be allowed to travel with the party considering the danger involved. Mila somewhat reluctantly agrees to either find David's parents or, if his parents cannot be found, at least leave him with someone who they can trust take care of him as soon as they can.
Once everyone is back in Orichalcum, the party has supper, which, like before, is prepared by Doug, but also with "assistance" from Benji, who goes into the mayor's house in the Noivern form he adopted in Hoard and poses as a Noivern maid named Marjorie. Once the party has finished eating, they go to bed. The night is fairly eventful, with dreams had by many, including Dinah having a terrible nightmare about being eaten by Victreebel that seems to have a personal vendetta against her, PJ continuing to have nightmares about Bella, and Grigori wrestling with his dark side. Meanwhile, away from Agartha, Vince's ex-girlfriend Audrey and a Sceptile friend of hers named Mack are anxious about facing Audrey's father, who did something terrible fifteen years ago...
The next morning, the party gets up and has breakfast, which includes some very spicy pancakes inadvertently created by Benji (who is still in the form and persona of Noivern maid Marjorie) when he accidentally puts bits of a Tamato Berry in his pancake mix, which some find to be actually be pretty good while others...not quite as much. Jani proposes that the party go back to Orichalcum to show Morbitesse the music box and also explain Jani's (and Milly's) situation to her (as well as the fact that Jani just wants to be out of Agartha already). The party agrees, and they head out to do so, now with Tilly and Lilly travelling with them. Along the way, they bump into a Honedge named Dore, who has a massive vendetta against Andy's gang after several members of it murdered a farming family who lived nearby and wishes to kill them all in retaliation. Despite protests and suggestions of less violent solutions from members of the party, Dore brushes them all off and goes on a potentially suicidal mission to exterminate the gang.
The party eventually reaches Orichalcum. Once Delilah and Lilly (who haven't yet visited the town) are sponsored, the party goes to see the Frau to explain Jani's situation and give updates on what has happened around them since they first left the town. After this the party mingles and have various conversations with each other. Among other convos, Finley and PJ converse about the past couple of days, Goobert and Grigori exchange their backstories, Cyk reveals that she has acquired a Gardevoirite, and Eliot decides to learn how to use his Salazzle form in combat with Marlon, Goobert, and their respective beaus agreeing to help him. Finley also seems to be acting...different...
It's during this that Dore reappears, having been successful in destroying the entire gang after duping the doorman into collapsing the mountain onto them all (and murdering the doorman afterward), to everyone's shock. Further complicating things is Benji and Dinah befriending a young Riolu named Lucy, whose parents, as it turns out, were in the Bedsheets when Dore went there (her father being a gang member and her mother trying to get him to return home). Upon learning about what happened to Lucy's parents, Niles goes off to teach Dore a lesson. During the ensuing battle, which interrupts Eliot's sparring with the Goo Crew and Jani's sisters, Dore is revealed to be none other than Andy, having turned himself into a Honedge and murdered his own gang in a bid to reinvent himself, to the shock of everyone. At the same time that this is going on, PJ and several of the others still in the mansion receive a horrifying vision of Finley hanging herself, though fortunately, the real Finley is alive and well, and what they saw was some sort of illusion produced by an unknown source. Benji also discovers that he has fallen in love with Dinah, who gladly reciprocates Benji's feelings when Benji confesses his love to her. Marsha is briefly worried that Benji pursuing a relationship with Dinah will result in Benji ceasing to be Benji, though Marlon and Benji himself reassure her that Benji will not abandon his old life that easily.
After this is all said and done, the party calls it a day and all return to the mansion. It's decided that the party will head to Gleamscape in the morning as they were originally going to do before the Orbs incident. The party learns from Benji that a music festival in the town will be starting by the time they get there. The party heads to bed and has a variety of dreams, some bad, some...less bad. As the party sleeps and awaits a new day tomorrow, though, Finley continues to be concerned about something that she has failed to tell the party since the day they first arrived in this world...
Morning arrives, and the party prepares to leave for Gleamscape. Due to concerns over the orphaned Lucy travelling with the party (and thus with Andy, her parents' killer), Benji, Dinah, and Lucy leave ahead of the party. Before the party actually leaves, however, they get accosted by Lars again, who is looking for PJ as he thinks PJ played a part in his father's death and wants to settle the score. However, Jani convinces Lars to bury the hatchet and travel with them to Gleamscape, which the party does so via a local carriage service run by a group of Sigilyphs. The party meets another humanmon, a Litleo named Dieter, as they prepare to leave. The party catches up with Benji, Dinah, and Lucy at a souvenir shop run by a Primarina named Arie, who, as it turns out, is the sister of Belle, who arrives at Gleamscape with her family and Manaphy to help judge a singing contest at the music festival.
At the suggestion of Lucy, Manaphy uses Heart Swap on some of the party. Goobert, Marlon, and Benji all switch with Delilah, Marsha and Benji, Jani switches with PJ, and Eliot switches with Lucy. Goobert, Marlon, Marsha, and Delilah all switch back after a few minutes, but the others stay switched for a while. Jani revels in being able to move around outside of the ground for the time being and Lucy has some fun with Eliot's ability to shapeshift and bonds with the Smeargle while at it. While this goes on, Finley finally can't take it any longer and confesses to certain members of the party her big secret...that she has always been a Pokémon and only has some of the memories of a human, simply sticking with the party and pretending to be a former human because she wanted to fit in somewhere. At the same time, PJ reveals to Finley and Jani of his recent discovery that he had actually landed in a female Ribombee (now Helioptile) body from the start of their journey, much to his chagrin. Jani also reveals to the two her plans to use a Transfer Orb on herself in order to get the Terranports out of her hair. During all of this, the party also briefly meets a rock band called Carbon Footprint, here in Gleamscape to perform for the festival, consisting of a Sableye named Wentworth, a Lilligant named Aspen, a Sawk named Topher, and a Hydreigon named Colton. Sushi turns out to be quite a fan of this band.
Once all of the swapped party members are back in their normal bodies, they regroup at the local hotel and see to signing up for the singing contest and just hanging out. Niles leaves the party for some alone time, though Dana cheers him up by presenting to him a custom made hat that she bought for him when he comes back. Marlon meets Marsha and Benji's parents at the hotel, who give Marlon and Marsha their blessing even with Marlon being a former human. Jani goes drinking with Andy and Noriaki and briefly interact with an egotistical Vibrava who is convinced that he is of royal blood. Nori also discovers some mercs for hire at the hotel and hires them to travel with the party, starting with an Alolan Raticate named Chang and an East Sea Gastrodon named Wendy. Lucy has discovered a desire to learn how to sing while hanging out with Eliot and wants to sign up for the contest, prompting Eliot to sign himself and Lucy up for it. However, Eliot makes the unfortunate decision to sign up again in his Salazzle form, gets caught, and is disqualified from the contest. After Eliot breaks the news to Lucy, it's decided that Lucy will perform with Jani's "sister" Lilly instead, and she, Lilly, and Eliot go off to buy some supplies for costumes that Lucy and Lilly will wear during their performance. Marlon, Goobert, Andy, and Jani attempt to talk to Carbon Footprint after suspecting that one of their band members is a humanmon. The attempt backfires, but not before Wentworth acts very suspiciously...
Other party members who sign up for the singing contest include Mila, Niles, Goobert and Delilah, Dieter, Jani and Dinah, and Andy. Some other NPCs that the party has met before also sign up, including Sushi's pirate peers Dread Pirate Lisa and her crew, Raumati the Alolan Marowak, Maran the Flygon (who was unknowingly signed up by Cortez in an attempt to find a way to make extra money), and Merna, a Pawniarmy member.
The contest begins rolling and opens with a dancing instrumental performance by Raumati, impressing the judges, who consist of Belle, Richard, and a Sunflora name Asahi. This is followed by a performance of an original song by Carbon Footprint. Then the rest of the performances singing contest contestants follow:
- Mila does a cover of Fake Wings.
- Maran (in his female form) performs an unnamed song that ends in disaster thanks to his poor vocals and changing form mid-performance thanks to a thrown water bottle.
- Merna plays and sings a song on the guitar.
- Lucy and Lilly's performance of "Dreams" is a resounding success with the judges and crowd.
- Andy covers "Don't Lose My Number" by Phil Collins.
- Goobert and Delilah do a duet of "You've Got A Friend In Me", which goes awry when Delilah spots her mother in the crowd watching her (having not yet told her about changing from a Garchomp into a Dragonite) and begins panicking mid-performance.
- Dieter has a very showy performance with use of Double Team as part of it.
- The Dread Pirate Lisa's band winds up being a no-show.
- Jani performs Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird", with Dinah playing back-up on a guitar.
- Niles performs "I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire".
At the end, Mila, Merna, Lucy and Lilly, and Jani and Dinah advance to the next day of the contest. During these performances, Marlon and some of the others in the party meet a peculiar Umbreon named Milo, who seems fascinated by the long-since gone culture of humanity. Milo joins the party. Finley reveals her secret to several others in the party, such as Andy. Goobert and Deiter reflect on the situation they are all in while sitting under a tree. Delilah does eventually face her mother, accidentally bumping into her without Goobert at Hotoke's slushie stand. Renata is quite concerned about Delilah and how she came to be turned into a Dragonite. However, once Delilah and Eliot explain what happened that caused this, Renata understands and supports Delilah's decision to remain a Dragonite. Delilah leaves Renata with her Garchompite and rejoins the party alongside Eliot, Lucy, and Lilly. PJ returns to the party after a short absence and gets a pep talk from Mila and Marlon.
Once the festival concludes for the day, the party is invited by Richard and Lucille to stay at their place for the night. Along the way there, though, the party hears a commotion from within a restaurant they are passing by and discover Aspen, the lead singer of Carbon Footprint, being harassed by bandmate Topher. The party intervenes by having Jani, Goobert, Dieter, Delilah, and Benji pose as wild Carbon Footprint fans to distract Topher while the others (aided by Dread Pirate Lisa) sneak Aspen out of the restaurant. Topher puts up a fight, but the party eventually wears him out and he is arrested while the party safely takes Aspen to Richard and Lucille's place. As they do, Aspen reveals that she also goes by Lucas Lance and and had gotten stuck in an abusive relationship with Topher.
The party reaches the mansion at last. It's there that Finley finally reveals to the majority of the party how she's always been a Pokémon and was never a human. The news gets a mixed reception from the party, with some (such as Goobert and Noriaki) taking it worse than others. Lucy and Lilly make plans for their next performance, Lisa and Aspen/Lucas go off by themselves to chat, and Jani prepares to follow through with her plan to stop being Jani and become someone else in order to escape Tilly and Lilly. She uses the Transfer Orb on herself and becomes a Purrloin named Sarah, which seems to have a highly adverse affect on Tilly and Lilly. Jani spends the night training at the local dojo and exploring the town.
The night comes with a number of dreams had by the party, like usual, with Finley's reveal dredging up tainted memories for Noriaki (and, apparently, Benji as well). During the night, Belle's sister Arie is kidnapped by a mysterious character (heavily implied to be a Ditto), and a Mudsdale ticket-taker is quite brutally murdered by a red Basculin, resulting in a commotion in the business district of Gleamscape.
Rumors abound in the streets of Gleamscape as the town is reeling from the murder outside the café — the right-paw killer has returned. The humanmons and their companions end up splitting up into multiple groups:
- Jani (who now goes as Sarah) heads to the local library before anyone else gets out, to research on her new cover story — a world native from Lunalis. She meets Aspen there and gets a bit fangirly in the process — Aspen's there to read up on some fiction and check out a few books. "Sarah" struggles to hide her true intent, but manages to BS her story while low key reading up more on Lunalis. After awhile, they head to the pizza place.
- Finley and a small contingent of Noriaki, Grigori, Tilly, and Lilly head to the murder cafe and learn from her that she's actually Princess Autumn Farbridge of Foxfell. This hits Noriaki to some degree, given his own past with a noblewoman named L'Arachel. Finley and Lilly split off and return to Lucille's mansion while this group then heads to the library, around the time Sarah and Aspen leaves. Noriaki researches nearby islands while Tilly researches regional quirks of her species. Eventually, this group heads to the crime scene to investigate — with Grigori in particular taking interest in taking down the right-paw killer. Dana ends up joining them around this point. After gathering clues, they head to the pizza place, being the last group to do so.
- Back at the mansion, a number of things are going on: PJ and Eliot are starting to have feelings for each other to varying degrees. Eliot and Lucy build their sort of brother-sister type bonds. Finley returns and informs everyone else (except Niles) that she's a princess. [DETAILS MISSING] Lilly and Lucy work more on their song for the performance. They all head to Arie's to greet Belle and her family, Arie having been replaced by a Ditto named Winifred, and eventually they all end up going to the pizza place, heralded by Lilly wanting to work on their singing with Lucy and Belle's kids, but not wanting to take them to the murder cafe.
- Upset by Finley posing as his friend from the human world, Niles heads out alone...wandering the streets for some time and eventually letting off steam at the dojo, where he learns some moves from the Pangoro master Mitsu Kata. He gets to the pizza place even later than the crime scene group.
At the pizza place, Sarah and Aspen encounter Dyson, the Aggron who was injured last night when the murder was happening. They try to cheer him up, and then some of the others start trickling in. This gives Sarah a chance to get in with the group while practicing her persona, though not without rousing various forms of suspicion with those present, with Finley and Eliot being the most difficult. People start picking up on PJ having the hots for Eliot. Mauveine (Belle's daughter) is sick and spends most of her time praying to the porcelain gods. Belle herself is lured out of the pizza place by Winnie and ends up captured and replaced. Finley then starts talking to Belle about mom stuff and is just as much lured out and captured.
Winnie as Belle makes an awkward performance in the pizza place and ends up drawing Mila's suspicion. In captivity, Arie and Finley work to free themselves. Mila eventually follows and confronts Winnie outside, and the noise of the encounter prompts the party to head out and help her. A battle ensues, with Milo, Sarah, and a number of other mons attacking Winnie who has since turned into an Archaeops-Primarina hybrid, flying high above. Benji turns into a flying mon himself, they come to blows, and Winnie then claims Benji ruined her life. Confused and unable to remember any of it, Benji eventually ends up leaving town — feeling he needs a break from all the madness as well. Goobert and most of the Goop Troop follow, except for Lucy, Marsha, and Marlon.
Mila falls ill and eventually Finley has to take her home. Aspen and Dyson both leave mysteriously shortly after. The contest is canceled, with Lilly and Lucy winning by default. A new arrival, James the Golett, appears and is aided to the pizza place by Mitsu Kata. Feeling the need to train, most of the party heads to the dojo with James and Mitsu. Sarah buys a wilderness first aid kit. Those at the dojo are chewed out by Finley for not attending to their sick friend. After Finley returns to the mansion, she and Niles eventually have a strained reconciliation. Ultimately, everyone reconvenes at the mansion for dinner.
- Light has returned to the party, still as a Piplup, and greets PJ at the mansion. Lilly and Lucy check out the remnants of the festival, but flee to the mansion when Marsha's parents come along to pick her up. At the mansion, Sarah and James give a hand with cooking, the former making a spicy soup, the latter making a mushroom soup. At dinnertime, it's revealed that the mushroom soup accidentally has hallucinogenic mushrooms and both Sarah (who taste tested it) and Richard briefly start tripping. Niles overdoses on the spicy soup and learns flamethrower — but passes out from keeping it going too long. Most importantly, though, is that the group (at Andy's behest) decide to attend an unusually cheap play, a Bland Name version of Macbeth called MacEd.
- At the play, it turns out to be the POLE operators running a sort of scam play. After the Caterpie (Edd) tries to play a shell game with their money, he runs to the Hitmon but is intercepted by Sarah, dropping his money which Sarah holds until they see a play. Eliot and others also try to come to blows, only to be interrupted by Finley. Eventually the Wailord (Ed) is pushed onstage, and the Hitmon threatens Sarah, who tosses the money to Marlon — holding it until they actually get a performance. This chaos is ultimately interrupted by Prince Michael, Slakoth brother to the king of Slak Rock, who says that the Wailord is actually a bastard prince.
- It turns out the true reason Andy lured the group to the play was to hook up the "Hoard humanmons" with Michael, who informs them that his brother has VA and needs to be cured. He offers the party each 10k Poké base with a bonus for efficiency. The party accepts, and they head back to the mansion to prepare to depart — the boat left that evening. Mila and Niles also have a heart to heart before rejoining the rest of the party in boarding the boat.
- Mixy the courier ended up becoming a stowaway after delivering a package from Hevea to Finley. This immediately rouses suspicion in Finley that Sarah is Jani. Mixy was apprehended by a guard who intended to try her, but ultimately they managed to get her off the ship, with a friendly Pelipper guiding Mixy back to Gleamscape. That bit of tension made the party very wary of what they were getting into, and they all started heading to bed, with a few staying on deck to chat for awhile. F and Mandy turn out to have been on the ship all along, having finally reunited with the humanmons.
- A loud noise followed by waves rocking the boat woke up the sleeping humanmons as the privateer "Admiral" Harry "The Glorious Bear" Horowitz shot at the Wailord prince. After having his cannons temporarily disabled, he was moved in closer to parlay — claiming (a baldfaced lie) that the prince was a feral that could have attacked the ship and that he was trying to help. It was revealed that Horowitz himself is another bastard prince, and also a valid contender for the throne. He declared his intention to be named the rightful heir and fled to his hideout at Hollow Cove, on the outskirts of Slak Kingdom. The party then slept, and then morning came...
- Arriving at a port a little away from Slak Rock proper, the party disembarks only to come across Marie, the third bastard child of the King they've met and another legitimate contender for the throne. Coming off as far more sweet and genuine than Horowitz or Ed, she manages to be on friendly terms with a number of the party. Meanwhile, Sarah and Finley have a tense conversation where Finley outright lays out her suspicion that Sarah is Jani. The party then comes across Jillian, who is brutally murdering a Smeargle who allegedly has VA. She claims rights as an officially sanctioned bounty hunter, under a group called The Blue Cross and lead by Scilio Orpatts but James ends up accidentally attacking her and is beaten to unconsciousness.
- Tilly buries the Smeargle and the party enters Slak Rock, sans Sarah who uses her first aid knowledge along with Dieter's practical knowledge to eventually revive James. The main party are greeted by swaths of homeless, which supposedly constitute 50% of the city's population, which Michael coldly dismisses. As the party expresses their disgust at the situation, Sarah ends up rolling James back into town, and starts giving him more and more details about her true self. Around this point, a Sandile appears who doesn't remember who she is, but does remember she used to be human. Further on the way to the palace, the party encounters a Komala laying on a bunch of pillows, Thalia Harris, a noblewoman who also claims to be in the line for inheritance.
- The party makes their way to visit the king, Raleigh Roughskin, who is tied up. He proclaims that he is a war hero and that he eradicated almost all of a Raticate house that currently is featured in a stained glass painting, the only two suriving members being Denny, who waits on him, and Marion, the wife of Scilio. While they have this meeting, Dieter pulls Tilly and Lilly's cart up the stairs and they talk about where Dieter was before joining the others and a potentially intact Pokemon Center PC that their mom had recently unearthed. During the meeting, a familiar Vibrava, Henry appears, claiming that he should be in the running. The king rebukes him and the party eventually convince him to give something else a try. The king then suggests the group visit one of two restaurants and they end up going to Mullion's on the Wharf. Some of the group are surprised by the Garbodor owner, but they have a pretty decent meal. During this meal, Niles heads out to get some fresh air, but is targetted by the Basculin serial killer. He is saved by Finley and is merely dealt a shoulder injury, though, he is taken to the hospital nonetheless. Eliot begins to question the king personally about how he got VA in order to find out who the vector might be. Sarah and James head over to a dojo to learn more Dark and Ghost moves.
- Around this time, Dieter and Milo run into a Tyranitar wearing paper bags over his hands named Rich who claims he has been cursed. Dieter helps him find a metalworker's shop where the metalworker proceeds to make metal gloves for him. Rich then demonstrates his curse on the metalworker's doubtful assistant, who changes into a copy of him for 10 minutes. Once he changes back, the gloves are ready to go and Rich puts them on. Rich begins to lead Dieter to Mullion's when Dieter expresses interest in experiencing Rich's curse themselves. Rich reluctantly gives in and changes the Litleo into another of him. The two Riches head toward Mullions and while one of them orders, Rich accidentally slips and Marlon becomes a third Rich. After a bit of confusion, they change back, but Lilly wants to try being a Rich too. When she transforms, Tilly experiences a similar strain after when Jani did, which leads her to further her theory that Jani is disguised as one of the new party members.
- Around this time, Andy comes to gather the groups for a meeting of the heir, heading to the Dojo to check on Sarah and James. Sarah ends up revealing to him her true human nature. The party at Mullion's was going to initially head for the Dojo, but at Finley's noting of Niles' injury and how the two should probably be alone, they head to the hospital to check up on him. Niles is initially depressed and mumbles things about how he lost a game, but it is revealed the game mumblings were due to him being asleep. Andy rallies this group as well in the hospital, remarking on how they will be late, and they end up following, though Niles decides to stay in the hospital for now.
- The party convenes at a party where the heirs are gathered, meeting a few more members, such as Olias, a laid back Emolga musician who smokes Persim leaves, and a cook at Mullion's, who is pulled along somewhat unwillingly by a Bunnelby. At this party, Fatima, Horowitz's second-in-command and advisor, decides to seek out Thalia to talk about an alliance, which Thalia willingly agrees to. While this occurs, Eliot tries to get further to the bottom of what happened with the VA, but he hits a wall and the king gets fed up with his questions. Also of note, Scilio meets with Henry, who expresses an interest in joining the Blue Cross. Dieter is a bit suspicious due to Michael claiming they shouldn't trust Scilio as well as some of their own concerns, but after hearing Scilio's response, they decided to believe him.
- It is at this point that a dinner convenes, which the party members head toward. Olias expresses a desire for the group to meet at a pub he plays at, Fragile Faces. Deciding they have an errand they'd like to handle, Dieter asks Marlon to hold their seat while they head into town. They get led down a dark alley by some Will-O-Wisps and proceed to have a nightmare sequence, after which, they wake up looking like a Girafarig. They get back into the party and are questioned as to who they are, but claim they had an encounter with a Transfer Orb. Noriaki notes that they are a bit hesitant at answering questions and vows to talk to them about it later.
- To conclude the dinner, Michael asks all the potential heirs why they want to rule. Some of them answer that they aren't sure if they're ready for it, but want to do well, while others such as Thalia desiring to advertise comfort and tourism, the Eds wanting to open a store, and Horowitz claiming due to being noble and leading a crew, express bigger plans. Michael is unimpressed by the Noble argument, as he and Raleigh were commoners and that no one acknowledged the large destitute population in Slak Rock. Thalia and Marie attempted to acknowledge this after the fact, but were delayed by the appearance of the Pawniarmy, a member of which, Frederika, reveals that they also are able to inherit the throne. Before the dinner ends, Scilio offers to put up the party in his tower, which Michael isn't too fond of. Grigori also has a discussion with Scilio during this time, initially hoping to force a duel between the killer and Jillian, but settles for a squad of Blue Cross members.
- Marlon offers to help Dieter learn how to use telepathy as the party dies down and the group starts heading for the Fragile Faces. Noriaki trails them as well. Eventually this leads to a few groups of conversation, Mila expresses to Finley how some of the situation is making her feel unsafe, Finley trying to extract information from James about Sarah and Marlon teaching Dieter about Telepathy while Nori asks what they're worked up about. Dieter eventually decides to try and come clean and asks Nori and Marlon what they think about Pokemon that eat other Pokemon. They react to this negatively, which Dieter reacts explosively to, revealing that they ate Pokemon. This ends up resulting in a confrontation, which Finley manages to intervene in and eventually it is clarified that Dieter only ate Pokemon corpses, didn't kill any Pokemon for them. Some of the group is still unsure what to think about this, but Finley explains that this is just normal for some people. Grigori appears as well, intending to stop Dieter during the confrontation, but the Frenzy comes through and they express a desire to skin the Girafarig alive. Nori discusses this slip with Grigori after the fact and discuss that this could possibly be due to Viral Aggression. Meanwhile, inside the bar, the owner, Dee Mascara, has a talk with Olias, welcoming that he brought new people, but making some unfortunate comments about Olias' mother as well.
- Inside the bar, Dieter begins to drink. Marlon and Marsha come over to apologize, but Dieter says its alright and explains that they were cursed into looking like a Girafarig who took them in when they first came there because they ate his corpse. This also leads with some talking with Nori about his own concerns and how he was blamed for something he didn't do in his past. Sarah, compared to the others drinking, gets some weed from the bartender and begins smoking. Mila is on the verge of a panic attack after the confrontation and the others try to calm her down. Grigori enters the bar for a bit, getting hit on by Dieter and discussing their plans with Tilly and having her come along as a way to detect moisture from the killer's Whirlpools.
- After a bit, Horowitz arrives with his captains. Thalia proceeds to discuss politics and strategy with Fatima, while Dieter decides to hit on Horowitz, though the latter doesn't realize until he's being hit on near the end. He expresses wishes for his dad to get better, though also gives Dieter a 'maybe', not wanting to advertise his sexuality during the selection process. Nyquil decides to join the others around this time, but something that happens with Marsha causes him to panic and attack her, seeing her as the killer. This brawl leads to the owner nearly throwing the group out and Niles going into critical condition, causing Finley to rush him to the hospital. Dieter ends up having a conversation with Sarah while she is extremely stoned, and attempts to get her to talk about computer programming, but this fails.
- Around this time, Bas appears with a Mienfoo on his back, revealing how he had troubles trying to find the group. Wohm then arrives shot down from the sky and caught by said Mienfoo. They discuss with Marlon how he and Wohm are to help the Mienfoo, Sho, integrate better with society due to the earlier kerfluffle with Wohm's organization. At this point, Mila is revealed to have had a panic attack because of the brawl initiated by Niles and is rushed, along with Sarah, to the hospital. Meanwhile, at the hospital, there has been an Orb mixup, leading to Niles devolving and going back to how he was when he was 8. The new Lilquil remeets the group and Finley takes it upon herself to care for the 8-year old. Grigori and Tilly, in the meantime, have set out on a search for the Basculin.
- Once the group leaves the hospital and begins to head for Scilio's Tower, many of the king's guards fill the streets, attempting to capture Ed because of multiple incidents making them believe he was plotting to kill the king. The guards arrest a poison dealer with some physical violence and take her in for questioning with a Slaking Guard who Denny saw put stuff in the king's drink. Scilio ends up intervening, because he says Ed is innocent. However, he says this is because Ed's two friends were killed by Jillian because they were experiencing VA symptoms. Thus, the Blue Cross frees Ed before he can be quickly executed. Dieter does not react well to Scilio's reasoning and ends up collapsing and running away. Sarah and Milo end up following them and they camp out in the forest. Eliot confronts Scilio about this back at the tower and Scilio reveals he killed the two because they were pushing Ed into the situation and was worried that'd get him killed. Eliot was decidedly unfond to this and headed off to Sketch Leaf Blade after giving Scilio a piece of his mind. Meanwhile, Grigs and Tilly don't arrive at any conclusive ends and head back to try and ask Scilio for more help and to use Jillian as bait.
- Dieter ends up sharing his body with Zeb, though it is ambiguous as to whether he is Zeb or just his memories. Sarah and Zeb confront Scilio. The party finds out the king was successfully poisoned. The group works out a plan to rescue Andy, who had been kidnapped earlier. Eliot pretends to be Finley if she had still been male while Finley pretends to be Niles' mother. The party also goes seeking the killer, Priscilla. Dieter acts as bait because Scilio was unwilling to lend Jillian. A Greninja, Kobayashi, joins them on the chase. They eventually find her house, which she has set up as Home field advantage. They beat her, though sustain some injuries. Grigs manages to land a good blow, but she lectures him about giving into the Frenzy. The party encounters a Mienshao and Koffing Detective Duo known as Genna and Harold. The party then goes to the hospital to get their wounds dressed while someone else goes to tell the remaining library group that they were alright. At the library, meanwhile, Lilquil was climbing a bookcase and had to be rescued while James was looking into his power core.
- The party, reunited, goes and delivers her corpse to Henry for the reward. He thinks it is a gift, looks inside, and throws up. Also Finley and Niles bond in their new roles as mother and child. They then make their way to Mullion's.
- Meanwhile, Sarah and the newly dubbed Finlord head to Mullions, enjoy some waffles, have a discussion, then seek out Fragile Faces in hopes of luring Andy's kidnappers out.
- The group heads to Mullions and eats some things to unwind. Niles tries eating some Liechi berries but, while sweet, they prove too spicy for him. The group mostly heads to the dojo, with Dieter and Zeb/Zebediet heading to buy more berry supplies and Genna and Harold going elsewhere to continue their search for both the still missing Andy and a clan of Clamperl looters lead by a disgraced Gorebyss ex-student of the Spivey Pokémon University in Gleamscape named Phoebe Meyers and a Huntail named Gomer. The party meets a Flabebe named Jenny while training, she reveals herself as another humanmon. She expressed a desire to learn moves, claiming it was so she could kill people if needed, but this did not get a good reaction from the dojo staff. They found someone to train with her anyway. Meanwhile, a Ninetales named Niseko trained Niles, teaching him and later Dana how to use Extrasensory, though it led to Niles getting a headache. Zebediet also returned around this time and offered the party some berries. In the midst of some more training, a shiny Heliolisk appeared and met the party. She said her name was Sunny Burns and she was interested in heading to Foxfell. The party also found out she was cursed as well, her voice randomly shifting suddenly, given to her because she was selfish in her roles.
- Outside the dojo, Noriaki encounters a Roserade named Róisín, who the party finds out is also a humanmon. Done with training for then, the party decides what to do next with their scenario. Dieter offers a hotel Horowitz told them about and the party heads in that direction.
- Upon reaching the hotel, Rich's wife, Polly, meets the party and talks with them, confirming some of them do know her husband. Most of the party goes for a quick dinner, discussing who they'll be sharing rooms with. While they do this, Dieter talks with Horowitz, attempting to talk with him about the King's death, some of their own concerns, and trying to stay in touch. They end up spending the night with him.
- Meanwhile, Finlord and Sarah talk about performing on stage with Olias. They are met with resistance by a Bouffalant band member, but make it work regardless. Sarah sings a faux-Lunalan ballad, but as she and Eliot perform, the Lillipup they were hoping to trick fell asleep. Sarah again claims that she isn't Jani, but attempts to get out of her thing, still traveling with the party.
- Finally, Finley has a nightmare, affirming her desire to go to Foxfell ASAP.
- Finley is anxious to head to Foxfell after the dream, urging others to hurry up to get on the next boat. When they board said boat, they have a surprise encounter with Sarah, who boarded the boat after her confrontation with Eliot last night. After a boat ride, the group arrives in Foxfell. They meet some of Sunny's old troupe, a Rhyperior named Javert and a Wailmer named Eponine, who were ambushed by
- While this happens, Sarah, Milo, and Kobayashi split off from the group and head to a bar. In said bar a group of treasure hunters ends up gathering around a plan an Onix named Sirus and a Zoroark named Yukio have. They head out to buy supplies.
- The rulers of Foxfell turn out to be fine as they meet the party, informing them that they recently arrested an advisor, a Granbull named Anastasia, who was planning an assassination and had her under lock and key. Unfortunately, however, as they say this, she escapes. They urge the party that they'll handle this and urge them to rest at an inn. As they leave the castle and Finley suggests a place, another humon, a Glaceon, falls from the sky, confused. They join the party as they head to the inn, a nice inn run by a family of Luxrays and a suspicious Growlithe the family recently took in. As the party is checking in, Eliot, Goobert, and Delilah begin getting the itch to do some sparring, but there is no dojo in Foxfell. They also bump into Sunny's troupe leader, a Machoke named Tyrell Georgés, who learns the whereabouts of Sunny, Javert, and Eponine from the party and goes to find them, acting rather suspiciously all the way. Meanwhile, young Niles organizes a game of tag with Lucy and Benji, with Mila and Marsha also getting caught in the fracas, that ends abruptly when Niles runs into a wall trying to tag Mila and gets a scrape on his leg. The game of tag over, the party goes to eat at a local French-like restaurant. At the same time, the party crosses paths with Jack again when he and the crew he joined since seeing them (lead by a Walrein named Warfridge) last get lost on the way to the same inn the party is staying at and cause a ruckus outside the restaurant, as discovered by Grigori, Salty!Dieter, Benji, and a Tsareena named Eliza when they go out to investigate. Jack is promoted to a higher position in the crew while a Feraligatr crewmate of Jack's, Sharptooth, is demoted for getting the crew lost. Sharptooth doesn't take this well and goes to plan a mutiny against Warfridge with his ex-pirate friends.
- After eating, some of the party goes back to the inn while others go to the beach to spar, as that is the only real place to do so in Foxfell. As this happens, the party bumps into yet another humanmon, a Metagross going by Vassago, who befriends the party and watches the others spar with Noriaki. Benji and Dinah take Salty!Dieter on a ride on Benji's boat the Shifter and teach them how to sail for a while. Marlon, Goobert, Grigori, Marsha, and Delilah all either spar with each other or try new moves. Lucy takes the opportunity to spar with Eliot and show him her own moves that she's learned, particularly Copycat. She successfully copies Delilah's Wing Attack and Eliot's Flame Burst, and then manages to copy Eliot's Transform, morphing into Eliot's Sandslash form. After a moment of worry from the others (particularly Dinah) over how Lucy can return to normal, it fortunately turns out that Lucy can return to normal at will.
- Meanwhile, the band of treasure hunters bump into some rival treasure hunters consisting of an Alolan Golem (Stellian), a Sandygast (Sandy), and a Whimsicott (Delara). Like the party, they are heading for the mysterious box in the Eluant Mountains (which supposedly holds the remnants of a human city) for their own reasons, and Stellian has no qualms about getting the party out of his way. The two rival parties part ways, knowing they'll likely bump into each other again, and soon set up camp for the night.
- Soon, the day ends and the sparring folks back in Foxfell head back to the inn (or June's house in Benji and Dinah's case). The party winds down for the night, and various things happen. Niles, wanting to learn Agility, sneaks out of his, Autumn, and Mila's room to do so and winds up knocking himself unconscious outside the inn. Goobert and Delilah reflect on the day and get the idea to bring Renata to Danjor Island to restore her crippled legs, and afterward decide to...do things and stuff before going to sleep. Eliot finds PJ already in the inn, and begins to worry that the source of the Viral Aggression is what brought the humanmons to this world. As Eliot's worries escalate to a full-blown nervous breakdown, PJ manages to calm Eliot back down (all while still trying to hide his continued feelings for his best friend).
- Meanwhile, Maran and Cortez's band of cursed mons are at another inn, and Eponine and Javert, both feeling ill again, get a knock on their door. They open it to find Georgés there...along with Phoebe, Gomer, and the same clan of Clamperl that ambushed them earlier! Eponine discovers to her horror that Georgés has allied himself with Phoebe's clan to save his own skin and that the poison Phoebe used on her and Javert was actually a serum invented by Phoebe that painfully transforms them both into amnesiac Clamperls that the clearly insane Phoebe assimilates into her clan and calls her children. By the next morning, Phoebe, Gomer, Georgés, and the Clamperls have left Foxfell with the transformed Eponine and Javert.
- The next morning starts off with a bang when it seems that Goobert and Delilah have produced a Dratini egg thanks to their actions from the night before, shocking everyone (including Goobert and Delilah themselves). Meanwhile, Grigori starts to get a crush on Eliza, the Tsareena from the restaurant last night, and Niles is found and brought back into the inn. It's while the party is eating, that Goobert brings up Delilah's idea to take Renata to Danjor Island. After this, Autumn comes in and learns about Goobert and Delilah's egg. She points out to Goobert and Delilah that their egg couldn't possibly be a hatchable one since Delilah laid it so shortly after she and Goobert had their interesting night, but not before she (still groggy from just waking up) impulsively smashes the egg against the wall, to everyone's initial shock and horror. Delilah is briefly furious with Autumn, but they fortunately make up shortly afterward.
- It's almost immediately after this that one of the Foxfell guardsmen, badly injured, shows up at the inn looking for Autumn after the royal guardsmen had their heads handed to them after trying to stop the treacherous advisor. Autumn urges everyone to get a move on, and they all head to the castle. They are met by the king there, and they get the skinny on the rogue advisor, including how she is somehow using illusions to wreck havoc. The party winds up falling victim to one such illusion briefly when for a moment it appears that Autumn snapped and killed her own father. The urgency in the situation increasing by the minute, the party begins attempting to come up with a plan to stop Anastasia for good.
- Meanwhile, both sets of treasure hunters wake up and prepare for the day, with Stellian waking up from a nightmare about Phoebe and her clan. The "protagonist" group had a very uneventful night (with Sarah and Hellbender seeing nothing while keeping an eye out for trouble). They continue on, going through the small hamlet called Holstown that has fallen from glory since the Lickitung mobster Dorian came into power in nearby Narcia. The treasure hunters cross paths with Stellian and his two lackeys again here before getting some firewood and heading into Narcia itself. The crew learns just how terrible the situation in Holstown is from a Venonat miner thanks to Dorian and cautiously continue on. They end up passing by Dorian himself as he discusses something with a Magmar who seems to be from somewhere far away. The treasure hunters stop for a bite to eat and end up bumping into a Zoroark merchant, a wild Skitty named Tronne, and an old friend of Yukio's in the form of a Jynx named Even (who compulsively uses coin tosses to decide her every move). Cam befriends Tronne, who decides to tag along with the crew, and the group begins moving on into the Eluant Canyons...inadvertently leaving Yukio behind in the process as he gets tied up with Even.
- Meanwhile, the main party leaves the castle for now in order to continue their plans for apprehending Anastasia, stopping at a cafe in town. It's decided that the party will split up into groups as they head to the mountain, Mount Vert, that Anastasia is supposedly hiding in. It's during this that there is suspicious behavior from the mons passing by outside the cafe, and the kid Niles is returned to his normal form and age with one of the Reset Orbs the captain of the guard, Ludovic, gave to the party. Niles is quite embarrassed once he realizes that he was his younger self in front of everyone. The party decides to split up into five groups, with a Psychic-type in each one if possible to keep everyone in touch as they go on their monhunt (Eliot morphing into a Kadabra and Benji being fetched in order to help with this). The parties are split as follows: Niles and Mila. Noriaki, Zebediet, and Benji. Marlon, Goobert, and Wrench. Eliot, PJ, Jack, Lucy, and new arrival Draz the Salandit (who seems to have come from a sci-fi-type universe). Marsha, Delilah, and Ludovic. Lastly, Grigori, Tilly, Vassago, and Snaptooth. Once they are all prepared, the party moves out to head to Mount Vert.
- Meanwhile, the treasure hunters get to know a little more about Tronne as they continue their trek to the mysterious Fallo Ter, learning that she lives in the canyon with her mother and brother, and it's implied that they are wild enough to be meat-eaters, unsettling the crew. They are also being observed from a distance by a mysterious, yet familiar Mismagius. Sarah and the others then end up running afoul of Stellan and his crew again. Their arguments over who has claims on the treasure escalates into a brawl that ends with several of the party members injured and a large rock-slide. In the commotion, the Mismagius, who turns out to be none other than Winnie, the Shiny Ditto the party met in Gleamscape, abducts Tronne, makes her fall asleep, and then shifts into Tronne's form and seamlessly replaces her in the party. Winnie is desperate to get whatever treasure lies in Fallo Ter. The two rival treasure hunting parties then go their separate ways again, with Sarah and the others meeting up with Sirus again, who takes them to the entrance to Fallo Ter. Meanwhile, the real Tronne wakes up and follows the Onix's trail upon realizing that her new friends have vanished.
- At the door, the treasure hunters take advantage of Cam's vague recollections of using Flamethrower to get her to re-learn it and melt down the thick door blocking the entrance. Stellan and co. end up catching up as well, and a truce is made between the two parties to get through the door. Around the same time, the real Tronne catches up to the parties, forcing Winnie to reveal herself to Sarah and the others. The others are angry with Winnie, but begrudgingly allow her to stay and help bring down the door. Winnie, choosing to ally herself with Stellan's crew for the time being, complies by turning into Cam's exact double and using Flamethrower herself. It's shortly after this that Yukio catches up...having been set-back by Even duping him into getting messed up with a Gallade named Cillian and his gang of thugs, who forced him to lead them to Fallo Ter.
- The main party arrives at Mount Vert and separate to search for Anastasia. All parties initially get stuck in a looping area (except for a separate party consisting of James, a Totodile humanmon going by Castaway whom June discovered, June herself, and detectives Genna and Harold), with Marlon's group coming across the same boulder, Eliot's group seeing the same Dedenne scampering around, etc. Everyone breaks out of these illusions with varying levels of difficulty. Next, the party all come across various other (mostly Dark-type) Pokémon in the mountains. Some are hostile, such as the Mightyenas that accost Noriaki and Mila's groups. Others are actually other members of the party. Once everyone breaks out of the illusions, however, they all regroup (including the separate group lead by Genna and Harold) and shortly afterward stumble upon Anastasia's layer in the cave. A battle ensues, during which Anastasia reveals that she's the one who made Yamaropu, Merqury, and Bella vectors...though not the one who created it in the first place. She escapes upon defeat, and, after a moment to take all of this news in, begin to return to Foxfell. It turns out that Mila was also never there in the first place, as a Zoroark guard named Nika had assumed Mila's appearance to keep an eye on everyone (the real Mila had stayed in Foxfell with Autumn). The party is invited to have their injuries treated at the palace triage by Autumn and be treated to a celebratory dinner afterwards, which everyone is on board with. It's during this that the party is rejoined by Maran and Cortez (a mishap involving Rich's curse resulted in them losing their boat and having to return to Foxfell) and Benji offers to take them the rest of the way there as he goes to get Renata, with Goobert, Delilah, and Lucy deciding to go with them for some down time (Dinah opts to stay in order to learn from the others how to fight). Then Autumn reveals her plans to stay behind in Foxfell, to everyone's shock.
- After all of this, the party goes to the castle's barracks for some well-deserved rest. A couple of other things happen; Autumn does end up convinced to stay behind by Noriaki, and then proposes to Mila, who accepts in a heartbeat. Snaptooth leaves the party to visit his old crew, during which he brutally murders a Krabby crewmate who got promoted over him, and it turns out that the Golduck doctor Von Gold appears to be allied with Snaptooth, and they make mention of a mysterious pirate known only as "The Scarred One". Benji and Dinah realize that Lucy is starting to treat them as their adoptive parents and feel that whether Lucy should be considering them her new parents or not is worth discussing with her in the morning. Everyone turns in and has various dreams, though some significant ones include Noriaki having another dream about his past (which heavily involves Montresor the Noctowl) and Grigori having a nightmare about his old girlfriend Jenna that he had as a human...specifically how, under some sort of circumstances he ended up shooting her; waking up worried that the same thing will end up happening to the Tsareena, Elizabeth, he has been finding himself attracted to. Lastly, Voxno returns after minimal interaction with the party and tasks a Togetic in their guild named Hudson to travel with the party.
- Meanwhile, Phoebe visits L'Arachel (who it turns out she's good friends with) in order to learn how to create volcanic eruptions and how to teleport, and is bothered when Gomer dreams of being a Salamence flying with a dragon that seemed oddly familiar to him (but why, though?).
- The Eluant Canyon events continue on as the confrontation with Cillain and his goons turns physical. Stellan, Sarah, and Tronne face down with the many mooks above Fallo Ter's entrance while everyone else fights off Cillian and his Elite Mooks in front of it. Fortunately, the treasure hunters are victorious over Cillian and his party and continue to break through the door. As Cam continues to burn through the door, it becomes increasingly obvious to Stellan, Sammy, and Delara that Winnie is likely going to double-cross them all when they get inside and plan to outwit her. Meanwhile, Sarah tries to teach Tronne how to truly fight.
- The next morning arrives at last. Benji and those going with him toward Gleamscape prepare to leave. Grigori and Noriaki discuss the dreams they had the night before and comment on how similar their respective pasts were, as far as failed romances go. Autumn and Mila formally announce their engagement to the party and are going to discuss this with the King as soon as they can do so. Benji and Dinah's planned discussion with Lucy goes awry when it turns out that Dinah does want to be Lucy's adoptive mother, resulting in a squabble between her and Benji (who doesn't feel ready to be a parent to Lucy). Luckily, Eliot and Marlon help settle the argument. Meanwhile, outside, Maran and Cortez and company prepare to meet Benji, Hudson begins heading in the main party's direction, and Róisín and two friends, Isaac the Delphox and Philo the aged Ninetales, discover a new humanmon in the form of Lane the Wingull.
- All parties converge in front of the inn that Maran and Cortez and co. are staying in. The groups interact a bit before Goobert, Delilah, Dieter, Benji, Lucy, the Diglett sisters, and the cursed mons leave to head for Gleamscape and then to Whispering Pines. No sooner than they do that when Ocie returns after a long absence from the party alongside Jones, Jenkins, and Johnson, and the Watortle Kevin (now a Blastoise) and Woodruff the Furret also show up. It turns out that they're searching for a number of missing Pokémon, which includes the son of a worried Ursaring mother and Woodruff's own parents. At the same time, the party stumbles upon Noriaki's old rival Montresor (who is from Nori's world and a Shiny Noctowl), to Noriaki's horror. Fearing that more than just Montresor came from Nori's world and that there's a connection between them (particularly L'Arachel) and the disappearing Pokémon, the parties leave Foxfell to search for the missing Pokémon before it's too late.
- Meanwhile, Goobert and the others pass the time as they make their way back to Denalsi. An accident involving Rich's curse ends up damaging Benji's boat and waylaying them in the small farm town of Blissparce, where a group of siblings, Noémia the Machamp, Tiago the Conkeldurr, and Tiff the Cacturne, agree to help repair the Shifter. In the meantime, the group arrives in town just in time for the dedication of a memorial for the fallen towns Hiveton and Milkett, overseen by Blissparce mayor Rave Higgins the Dunsparce and his Bayleef assistant Amy G. Dala. It's here that Goobert and the others learn of a yearly-turned-weekly town tradition where the town has a ceremony that involves them burning a portion of their berries to appeal to the forest for good luck in Berry farming, and, as of late, protection from the Viral Aggression that destroyed Blissparce's neighboring towns. The townsfolk is visibly displeased with the tradition being moved to a weekly affair, given it's severely cutting into their supplies and profits, especially the wealthiest Berry farmer in town, Pancho Dos Santos (the father to the Mia and her three siblings (the fourth being an Alakazam named Izabel), who believes that the offerings aren't enough and they need to actively fight back against the VA. Higgins seems to feel that he has no choice, given the recent murders going on outside town. Once the ceremony is over, the Dos Santos siblings leave Goobert, Dieter, Tilly and Lilly, and the others at the local cafe and go to visit their parents, where they learn the shocking news that their fourth sibling Izabel has been discovered dead in the forest, one of the latest victims of the mysterious murders.
- Meanwhile, the main party arrives in Holstown. Lane has been given flying lessons from Hudson along the way, and Dinah (who has stayed behind to train to defend herself after a nightmare the previous day) begins to wonder what she's getting herself into. The party also meets up with Dana again, now accompanied by a new Monferno friend named Jinu. Holstown is a mess following an attack by super-charged mons working under Dorian, the corrupt Lickitung leader of Narcia who is allied with L'Arachel, now all but confirmed to be in this world. The party splits up to search for clues about the missing mons, what exactly caused Dorian's men to be a force to be reckoned with, and what L'Arachel and her associates have to do with it. Kevin, Dinah, Eliot, Zeb, Juni, Woodruff, and Lane interview Holstown residents about the missing mons (with poor Woodruff having a bizarre and disturbing encounter with an old Froslass friend of his mother's in the process) while the Marduo leads a party consisting of themselves, Nori, Grigori, Eliza, Nyquil, Dana, Castaway, and some others to look for clues about Dorian's crew. The party finds out a number of things, including that the missing mons are all but confirmed to have been transformed into mindless Combee slaves working under L'Arachel and Dorian and his men are using her magic to make themselves nigh-invincible. The Marduo's party ends up ambushed by Montresor, Notte, and Zelgius, and a huge fight ensues. In the process, Montresor and co use bizarre, magic-infused moves, Marlon's Mega Stone ends up destroyed (and Marlon gets an odd vision in the process), and Nyquil and Dana both get their heads handed to them. They fortunately get rescued by a group of Bug-type mercenaries (no relation to the ones Noriaki met in Gleamscape) and before they get beaten too badly, but they still return, beaten, to Holstown. Exhausted, the party (now joined by their new allies) head into the inn to rest, reeling from the long day and what all happened.
- In Blissparce, Benji decides to go ahead to Gleamscape while the boat is repaired and leaves for there with Delilah, Lucy, June, and Liesl. It's not long after this that Goobert, Dieter, and the cursed mons bump into the stunned Dos Santos siblings. Learning what happened and realizing their stay in Gleamscape might be longer, the Dos Santos siblings take some time off to grieve and Goobert, Dieter, Tilly and Lilly and their pals head toward the inn, with the exception of Maran and Sunny, who go on a date night. Said date night goes awry when Sunny and Maran run into Sunny's ex-boyfriend Harvey Cosby, an abusive clingy actor-turned-farmer who tries to steal Sunny away from Maran (with neither Maran or Sunny complying) and causing the two's relationship to be shaken up a bit. At the same time, Cortez learns that his inn has been closed down after Fan (who had been impersonating Cortez and filling in for him at Cortez's inn) fled Hoard, causing him to experience a Heroic BSoD. The weary crew goes to bed not really knowing what to expect in the morning. Meanwhile, Mayor Higgins is increasingly nervous about the going-ons in town, fearing a childhood tale told to him by his mother might be true, and changes the rules of the good-luck ceremony tomorrow. Meanwhile, something is in the woods outside Blissparce...
- Back in Holstown, the party winds down for the night. Marlon is still reeling from losing his Mega Stone and writes Goobert a letter before he and Marsha turn in. Noriaki chats with Grigori a bit more before they turn in. Dinah, after telling Eliot about her worries about not being able to contribute much to this current escapade, learns from Eliot about the horrors of being wrapped up in a group that gets into seemingly constant danger at every turn, and Dinah begins to think twice about having herself, Benji, and especially Lucy always travelling with them (especially since they're well on their way to starting a new family), though nevertheless reaffirming her determination to learn how to defend herself so she can protect Lucy. But the biggest surprise of the night is Nyquil, feeling like a powerless failure due to losing so badly to Montresor and his companions, wanders out of the inn and bumps into none other than L'Arachel herself. Preying on the emotionally vulnerable Quilava's mind, L'Arachel promises Niles great power if she joins her. Niles accepts, and he is instantly turned evil on the spot, willing to go after his friends.
- Meanwhile, the treasure hunters in Eluant Cavern finally get into the mysterious Fallo Ter, and it becomes increasingly clear that it's actually a fallout shelter serving an indeterminate purpose (Sarah assumes the obvious), and seems built to detect entry from Pokémon as it fires Pokéballs, including functional ones, at the treasure hunters, capturing some of them and resulting in Winnie (believing the Pokéballs to be killing the other treasure hunters) to flee for her life. What happened afterwards is unknown, though Stellan later assures Benji during a chance meet-up with him days later that they were able to find the treasure inside and safely leave.
- The next morning starts off with everyone hitting the ground running, with Achilles, the mercenaries, and the main party planning to face Dorian to overthrow him and get some answers in the process. After a plan is made, time is allowed for everyone to prepare for the oncoming battle by doing some training outside, something that'll benefit the inexperienced party members such as Lane and Dinah considerably. Dinah works with Whirlipede merc Nephenee, Armaldo merc Soten, and Marlon to learn various moves, Marlon and Marsha have some chats with Grigori and Eliza, and Lane bumps into former Slak Rock dojo trainers Cyrus and Bea and gets some pointers from them. In the meantime, Noriaki, Dana, and Castaway go to search for the missing Nyquil, finding him in the woods. They very quickly find out that Nyquil has been corrupted by L'Arachel (to Nori's horror) and the evil Nyquil mops the floor with the three. The situation having turned far more urgent, the party gets to work with taking down Dorian.
- In Blissparce, Goobert, Dieter, and the cursed mons start the day with some breakfast (and discover that Tilly and Lilly have seemingly left for Agartha already) and soon meet the Dos Santos family. Goobert, Dieter, Maran, and Cortez decide to join them to see what the town's traditional good-luck ceremonies are like while Cortez and Sunny stay behind to discuss her and Maran's run-in with Harvey the previous night. However, the ceremony goes awry when rules regarding it end up being disregarded due to Higgins's nervousness, and made even worse when a Tropius farmer discovers the mangled corpse of Harvey Cosby outside town and word reaches the stage mid-ceremony. As Maran and Sunny were the last known Pokémon to see Harvey (in a confrontation that turned ugly in the end), they're believed to be suspects in Harvey's murder, getting Goobert, Dieter, and the cursed mons caught up in the mess. Maran and Sunny end up cleared of suspicion as they have a good alibi, and Goobert, Dieter, and Rich are recruited by the police to find out who really caused the murders, starting with an old Pidgey friend of Harvey's named Ann Bland who was also murdered not long before he was. It's during this that the two cops helping the crew, Taylor Amarath and Taylor Barley, discover that Dieter looks like the "deceased" Zebediah and just why he looks that why. Nervous about more people possibly recognizing them, Dieter elects to disguise themselves as a twin of Rich (via Rich's curse) for the time being to avoid any nastier circumstances that could arise from more people finding out. The newly formed mystery solving crew heads back to the scene of the crime to look for clues.
- Meanwhile, the main party goes to Narcia to take down Dorian and his goons. Soten leads a group to face off with the goons in front of the building while several of the others take advantage of the distraction to sneak in through the back of the building. The party makes their way through the building (with Dana and Dinah's respective abilities proving useful at points) and eventually meets Dorian. Needless to say, Dorian is not pleased to see them and attacks with surprisingly strong attacks, among them being magic attacks unlike anything any of the Pokémon (native and former human alike) have ever seen. Both battles end at the same time when Pinsir townsmon Hector throws his former Heracross friend (corrupted by power) through Dorian's building, knocking both of them out completely. The deposed Dorian and his goons are arrested soon thereafter, and Dorian's father, an eccentric Lickilicky, makes a timely return to admonish his son for the terrible things he did and retake his position as the head honcho over Holstown and Narcia.
- The day saved, several of the main party head back to Holstown while some of the others go to see Dorian to find out what he knows about L'Arachel. There at the jail, Dorian describes L'Arachel using a strange magic that he describes as "closing one's heart" and making them ruthless and cruel. It's concluded that this must be the magic that L'Arachel used on Niles and they begin heading back to Holstown with this new info. But before they can make it there, however, they are unexpectedly ambushed by L'Arachel herself (cheesed off that the party took down one of her highest ranking mooks, namely Dorian) and a battle ensues. L'Arachel proves to be a very dangerous foe and beats a few of the humanmons within an inch of their lives until she is finally done with them and leaves. Reeling from the confrontation in different ways, the party catches up with the others in Holstown, and they all finally begin to wind down for the day.
- It's during this that Philly, having not been seen by the party since not long after the Hoard incident, returns to the party, now having evolved into an Electrode and toting a "wrecking ball" suit made by the same blacksmith who created Rich's gloves, invites several of the party to go out for drinks. Kevin, Woodruff, and Zeb take him up on the offer. While there, the subject of the Viral Aggression is brought up, getting the attention of a Golisopod named Shelley and her Mareanie companion James, who seem curious about the subject. At the inn, the party takes turns using the inn's bath house, during which many reflect on the day and get some surprises. Grigori, feeling depressed about the battle after his Frenzy drove him to do a number of reckless actions and worried about blowing it with Eliza, is able to relax for once and is able to rest following a chat with Noriaki. Marlon gets a very strange vision while in the bath house that makes him wonder if circumstances are pushing him to give up being a Gallade who always has to play the hero in favor of becoming a Swampert. Dinah ends up discovering that Bea was actually a Haunter who saved her life in the past. Eliot discovers a new, much easier way to shapeshift while in the bath house (entering a relaxed state enables him to essentially slide into other forms without losing any energy), and confusion ensues when he inadvertently transforms into Mila in front of Mila herself (as well as Dana, Noriaki, and Dinah). Soon after, everyone begins to head to bed and it seems that the day is over...
- Or is it? L'Arachel appears to Mila in a dream and informs her that Nyquil wishes to speak with her and Autumn at a seaside cliff outside town. Worried, Mila gathers up a small group of the party consisting of herself, Autumn, Noriaki, Eliot, Kevin, Dinah, Soten, and Nephenee to meet Nywuil there. However, it turns out to be a trap as they are ambushed by Nyquil, Montresor, and Notte. A scuffle between the party and the three associates of L'Arachel ensues, and it ends with Nyquil inadvertently fatally striking an already weak Soten with a blast meant for Noriaki. Some of the party members react in gobsmacked horror (with Dinah in particular having a panic attack and running away), and Nyquil himself is mortified. Mila ends up unleashing an enormous attack in an attempt to stop all fighting (exhausting herself and harming some of the others in the process), and a furious Nephenee evolves into a Scolipede on the spot and tries to attack Montresor and company. However, Montresor and Notte leave with Nyquil before the party can do anything else. The stunned party trudges back to the inn and has a very unsettled rest.
- Meanwhile, by the time Montresor, Notte, and Nyquil return to L'Arachel's manor, Nyquil finally breaks out of his Heroic BSoD long enough to declare that he no longer wants anything to do with L'Arachel and her crew and prepares to fight his way out of the manor. However, L'Arachel won't have any of this and puts Nyquil under a spell that puts him in a near-death-like state of unconsciousness. L'Arachel and her vassals (old and new) then party for the night.
- While all of this is going on, in Gleamscape, Liesl demonstrates an unusual brand of cursing dubbed "mon-shifting" used to shift Pokémon to a different species per their request (which she uses to turn a Clefable named Bo into a Chansey), Benji and Lucy bond over unusual goings-on in Gleamscape, and a pair of inept stage magicians learn real magic from a Yamask named Silas Dover, whom also seems to be abducting Riolus for a currently unknown purpose related to the Alakazam face on his mask. Meanwhile, there is unusual goings-on on the faraway island of Kalagasia regarding the will of a royal figure there...
- On the Blissparce front, Goobert, Dieter, and the other mystery solvers visit the local mortician, a Gourgeist named Wendy, who has been analyzing Harvey's remains to figure out some answers as to who killed him. The only lead Wendy has to go on is a piece of cartilage assumed to be from Harvey's assailant, but now believes there to be more than one killer acting on this, and promises to work through the night to learn more. The clue crew then goes to eat at Pappa's again before calling it a day. While there, Cortez pours out his frustrations with himself, his life, his uncertainty about his future after being uncursed (due to the loss of everything he had in Hoard), and his envy of Maran, Sunny, and particularly Rich's respective lives to Taylor A, who was a Rich clone at the time. Cortez is encouraged to simply start anew rather than give up, to which Cortez eventually, if reluctantly, agrees. The clue crew disbands for the night and hits the hay.
- The next morning, the party is still reeling from the events of last night in varying ways. The mood of both the humanmons and the mercenaries alike is generally dour, Marlon and Marsha are distraught that they couldn't help, and Mila is unable to recall any of the events until the party tells her as such. Mila panics upon learning what she did and runs away into the woods. Achilles, Woodruff, and Jyut run to talk her down. Meanwhile, the rest of the party go to attend Soten's funeral at the glade where he died. Nephenee is appointed to be Soten's successor during this. It's shortly after returning to Holstown afterwards that Noriaki and the others learn that Montresor wants to challenge Noriaki to a duel in some ruins in the southern part of the island. It's decided that Autumn, Eliot, Marlon, Marsha, Nephenee, and Dinah will accompany Noriaki to said duel. Meanwhile, Grigori, Jack, Eliza, Arsene, and the other mercenaries will go around to amass a group of Pok&ecute;mon to fight L'Arachel and her forces. During all of this, Woodruff continues to try and calm Mila down at the inn.
- Meanwhile, Goobert, Dieter, and the others wake up for the next day of mystery-solving. No sooner than they do so when they get word from the Taylors that Wendy has identified the cartilage found in Harvey's body, as well as some poison from the scene of the crime itself, as being from the pinchers and tail of a Gligar or Gliscor. As there are multiple Gligars and Gliscors in Blissparce, the party splits up to interview three of them: Goobert and Tiff go to see the calm, but wealthy Lydia. Mia and Taylor B go to visit the bubbly Ramona. Finally, Taylor A, Dieter, and Rich visit the reclusive Gligar David Oliveria. Lydia ends up being a dead-end as Lydia was ill during the time of the murder, but the others get somewhere. Oliveria seems to have become a recluse as of late, noted by Taylor A to be very uncharacteristic of him. It soon turns out that it's because David actually witnessed the murder and was intimidated into keeping quiet about it. Meanwhile, Mia and Taylor B visit Ramona and soon find out that she was the one who killed Harvey and forced Oliveria to not say a word, and killing Harvey (who had hit on her for a very long time beforehand) caused her to utterly snap. It's as she is arrested that the others find out that she wasn't the only murderer on the loose, wasn't the one who killed Izzy, and that something far bigger seems to be afoot. By the point that they find this out, it's the end of the day, so the party turns in. It's after this during the night that another Blissparce police officer stumbles upon a Trevenant at the scene of the crimes.
- Noriaki and those accompanying him set off to the Eluant Ruins, journeying through a swamp full of sunken buildings before arriving at the ruins proper. It turns out that L'Arachel, Nyquil, and the rest of the vassals have all come with Montresor to the ruins as well, and by the time the party arrives, they have terrorized the ruins' population of Ghost-type Pokémon, driven them out of their homes at the center of the ruins where the duel is to take place, and abducted their Golurk guardian. Their Dusclops leader Theodore encourages the main party to take their home back, and the party goes on. It's at the center of the ruins that the party finds the Mega Evolved Montresor ready for battle, with L'Arachel and the rest of the vassals (including Nyquil) spectating. Noriaki, Nephenee, Marlon, and Marsha quickly get into a heated battle with Montresor while Autumn, Eliot, and Dinah try to knock some sense into Nyquil and later begin reasoning with L'Arachel herself (with a series of statements on Autumn's part putting all three of their lives on the line). The battle continues to get heated as Montresor reveals his ability to transform into a Shadow Pokémon, which puts some serious hurt on the party until Montresor gets exhausted enough that he is able to listen to reason. After a talk with Noriaki, Montresor realizes the life he is leading is a miserable one and attempts to commit seppeku, though he is saved from doing so by Eliot. At the same time, Notte is touched by this and turns against L'Arachel himself. Once Montresor is well enough, he and Noriaki turn to fight back against L'Arachel and the vassals still loyal to her. In the process, Noriaki ends up evolving into a Decidueye and really turns the tide in the battle. During this, Eliot attempts to help by Sketching L'Arachel's Attack Order, but it backfires horribly when L'Arachel nonchalantly murders the Combees that began fighting for Eliot, showing just how little she actually cares for anyone beside herself. She pulls herself and her remaining loyal vassals and Combees out of the battle, leaving the party sitting there in varying levels of stunned horror.
- The party returns to Theodore in the ruins and report what ended up happening. Theodore thanks the party for their help and directs them to head towards the port town of Becchel for the night. A Mimikyu by the name of Tomoko is assigned with leading the way there. Along the way, Philly (who sat out of the battle) shows the party a moving vehicle he created with his metal ball and a wagon to give the party a lift, and a Drifloon is sent to Holstown-Narcia to let those still there know where the party is headed.
- In Narcia, the party members there (having since been rejoined by Mila and Woodruff) have been successful in getting new recruits for the showdown with L'Arachel, which includes Hector (having turned over a new leaf), the fighting Hawlucha Rock, an Obviously Evil Duskull named Pix, and the now-unemployeed Roadside Diner bouncers Dodie, Gene, and Cole. The crew gets supplies and TMs at various shops in Narcia, and it's along the way that they bump into a new humanmon; a raucous Bronzong who goes by the name of Rainmaker. The crew fills him in on what's going on (with Mila telling him to be careful about outing himself as a humanmon), and soon the Drifloon sent by everyone else arrives. Now knowing that they need to head to Becchel, the Narcia party sets off.
- The parties converge on opposite sides of Becchel, a town with districts elevated on wooden piers and small villages beneath it. Notte and Montresor are treated with a great deal of suspicion by the guards there but reluctantly let them into town. Autumn and Mila end up having an enormous fight upon meeting each other again over the fact that Nyquil is still in L'Arachel's clutches. As the party finally winds down and begins heading inside the inn, they are joined by the Growlithe Whitney from Foxfell, who has recently made the revelation that she is an amnesiac humanmon whose memories were the ones that ended up in Autumn's head and desires to join the humanmons. She is allowed to do so, and the party goes in to have tea and discuss the plans for tomorrow before hitting the hay. After all of this, the parties go to their respective rooms for the night to rest up. Before doing so, Mila takes some time to leave the inn and reflect on both the day and her actions during it. Realizing that she can no longer stand by or refuse to take part in this and further escapades, Mila resolves to stand up and take initiative, and no longer simply stand by. Right after this, she ends up bumping into Koss, who seems to have arrived in search of Woodruff, and old friend of his. He goes with her back to the inn.
- Meanwhile, in Gleamscape, Benji and the others aim to keep Lucy safe in light of the kidnappings and meet up with yet another cursed mon (a Chandelure named Melani with a curse bearing similarities to Rich's) and Stellan following the incident at Eluant Canyon. Stellan sheds some light on his past with Phoebe the Gorebyss and the incident that lead to her Start of Darkness after being thrown out of Spivey Pokémon University. Furthermore, we are given more insight on the mysterious prisoner held captive in L'Arachel's manor; an Aromatisse named Hikari who is also from Noriaki's world and wants nothing to do with L'Arachel's plans.
- Morning arrives in Becchel, and with it comes a number of interactions as everyone prepares for the final showdown with L'Arachel. Things initially start off quietly as everyone gets ready for the day and prepares to start their journey, but then things go to zero to sixty when Nyquil sneaks up on the inn and picks off Dana from the group as they leave the inn to get breakfast at a nearby foodstand. A confrontation in a nearby alley ensues, which ultimately ends with the party managing to successfully subdue Nyquil as he tries to run away. Mila and Autumn fuss at the party for immediately jumping to harm Nyquil (Mila because she doesn't want Nyquil to be hurt and Autumn because of both that and her usual distaste for fighting), but once everyone settles things out, they sit down to have breakfast and determine how they'll storm L'Arachel's manor and what they'll do about Nyquil. It's determined that the party will split up and approach the manor from different sides (with the Pokémon who can fly approaching from above). As for Niles, while Noriaki initially suggests trying to pry the hex placed on Niles there and now, it's determined that it'll be less dangerous for everyone involved if they rescue Hikari and have her do it instead (as she has more experience with lifting hexes like the ones L'Arachel uses). Once everyone's ready, they all set off to face L'Arachel in her manor, briefly pausing in their journey when a weary Snivy humanmon going by Nero comes up to them and joins them.
- In Blissparce, the mystery Trevenant enters the police station with the Amoongguss police officer who found her, and both he and Taylor A soon determine that the Trevenant is none other than Izabel Dos Santos; having turned into a Ghost-type Pokémon after her murder. As everyone grills her with questions and Mr. and Mrs. Dos Santos (and their butler) rush in, Izabel struggles to remember everything that happened before her death. With assistance from Taylor A, though, her murder is traced to a local Bisharp named Norwood. Goobert, Dieter, and the others set off to interrogate him. Arriving there, however, Norwood seems to come along much quieter than Ramona, guilt-ridden over his actions. Once he's in jail, Norwood fairly quickly tells all, revealing that the murders around town were coordinated by none other than the mayor's assistant Amy in a scheme to keep the Viral Aggression out of Blissparce; hiring Pokémon like Norwood to take Pokémon suspected of carrying it out of town and murdering them. With this new development, Goobert and the others set off for town hall to confront her.
- Meanwhile, the humanmons and company arrive at L'Arachel's manor without incident and find it being guarded by the Ruins' missing Golurk guardian Arthur. Things begin to go awry when Nyquil suddenly Howls, attracting the attention of Arthur and allowing Nyquil to escape in the confusion. The party puts their plan into action and splits up. Noriaki, Eliza, Marsha, Cole, and several of Eliza's peers go to face Arthur. Mila, Koss, and Woodruff sneak past Arthur and into the manor while he's distracted. Marlon leads a party of the group (consisting of Grigori, Eliot, Autumn, Dinah, Nero, and Gene) to the side. Kevin the Blastoise leads another group (which includes Dana, Arsene, Dodie, and Jyut) to the back. Finally, the remaining flight-capable Pokémon like Achilles, Hector, and Rainmaker fly up overhead.
- As the front group faces Arthur, they discover that Arthur is not brainwashed and came to work for L'Arachel of his own volition, having begun to feel unfulfilled and nihilistic after many years of being a Golurk and convinced that L'Arachel can make him the knight that he was in life again. The party wears him down until it comes down to a showdown between he and Claude as Claude tries to reason with Arthur. After much banter, Arthur eventually remembers his purpose in life and eventually goes down and out happy. After a moment of reflection over Arthur, the front group moves ahead and runs straight into Nyquil in the manor's ballroom. The group engages in battle with either Nyquil or the Combees around him as Noriaki and Dana try to get through to Nyquil. Eventually, Nyquil is worn down enough that Noriaki and the others can restrain him. They tend to his injuries a bit (and are briefly interrupted by a Electrivire looking for a fight) before moving on to see if the rest of the party has found Hikari yet.
- The side group enters the manor through a weak part of the wall and journeys through an armory full of ancient medieval weapons before entering a hallway where Zelgius currently is. The party fails to sneak past Zelgius after Nero forgets to speak quietly and they are accosted by Zelgius. Zelgius is feeling despondent over being unable to win against the party earlier (and his past failures on Peace Island) and feeling like he fails everyone he tries to work for. Marlon and the others (including old friend Gene) try to talk through to him without a fight. Fortunately, Zelgius lets the group go quietly. It's in this room that Dinah stumbles upon a lost young Clamperl named Sally who is in search of her mother, who is initially assumed by the party to have become one of L'Arachel's Combees. The group keeps an eye on Sally as they continue on, without Zelgius who stays behind for now. Eliot and a handful of the others stay behind a moment as well.
- The back group enters through a back door to the manor and end up in a garden bereft of any Combees. It's here that Kevin and the others are met by Yukari and her own goons, and it comes out that she is from the royal family of Peace Island's Grass-type district Shinrin (which means little to the others but shocks Peace Island native Dodie). As the party fights her, they find out that Yukari ran away from home to join L'Arachel due to feeling unloved back home in Shinrin. Once she goes down, Nephenee gives Yukari a quick pep talk as the back group moves on. They pass through a throne room (almost assuredly for L'Arachel) and a basement kitchen without finding anything of note.
- The aerial group gets in fights with other Flying-type Pokémon on L'Arachel's payroll before descending into a tower and bumping into the side group as they fight off a few guards stationed here. They discover that Hikari is being held at the very top of the tower and rush up to the top. Sure enough, shut up in a room near the top is Hikari the Aromatisse. The group springs her loose and they begin to head down to find Nyquil so she can lift his hex.
- Mila, Woodruff, and Koss are the first ones to encounter L'Arachel in the manor's foyer after traveling through the manor's waterworks and a room full of statues of L'Arachel being built by a non-hostile Goodra. Mila wastes little time in going on the offensive against L'Arachel. Gradually, the rest of the groups converge on the same location and join the fight, with Noriaki and Hikari being happily reunited with each other after so long. Several of the group, such as Marlon, end up badly injured in the fight, Grigori, Eliza, Noriaki, Hikari, and their friends are thrown quite roughly into a pit that L'Arachel opens up in the ground, Dinah makes a very ill-thought out decision that nearly kills her, and Autumn is mortified when she sees Mila fighting the hardest out of seemingly everybody.
- In the end, L'Arachel flees to her throne room with the rest of the Combees. The party takes a short amount of time to recover from the battle, during which Nyquil is brought in to Hikari by Whitney, Dana, and Cole. Hikari successfully removes the hex from Nyquil, who wakes up remembering everything that happened to him and harshly lashes out at Montresor and Notte for getting off easily considering what they did to him and also shouts at the party for letting the two join their ranks. Eventually, Nyquil collapses in a heap, exhausted and angry. Dana, Whitney, and Gene keep him company as the rest go on to face L'Arachel for the final time. They find that L'Arachel has constructed an arena above the throne room, and she waits up a flight of stairs. All of the Pokémon (humanmon and native) who are still in a good condition to fight go up to face her one more time. The others stay behind to further recover and keep an eye on Sally. Sally's history seems very confusing and leads Marlon to suspect that Sally may actually be a Clamperl under the control of Phoebe, L'Arachel's apprentice and the looter that Genna and Harold told them about.
- Weakened by the previous battle, L'Arachel fights considerably less viciously. The party holds little punches, though, with Mila continuing to be steadfast in her fighting, Grigori and Eliza synergizing their attacks with flying colors, Noriaki and pals putting the hurt on their former mistress, and even Dinah going in with fists flying once she remembers who she is fighting for. As this is all going on, L'Arachel ends up letting slip that her actions were all a bid to make her feel like she had a purpose in life and to end her own self-loathing (brought on by her abusive parents), and once the finishing blow is placed upon her (knocking out her Combee slaves in the process), finally recognizes that she went too far in trying to do so. Finally repentant for once in her life and nearing death, L'Arachel accepts her defeat and gives Noriaki, Hikari, Montresor, and Notte (and the party to a lesser extent) some parting words before imploring Noriaki to put her down. Noriaki gives L'Arachel a quiet thanks for making him who he is now and pierces her head with an arrow.
- With the Vespiquen dead, her magic begins to wear off, and the Combees all begin to return to their normal selves. Among them are the Teddiursa Kevin had been searching for, Woodruff's parents (who are joyfully reunited with their son), and a couple of Yukari's retainers from Shinrin, among others. Marlon (with an injured leg from flying shrapnel) looks on as the restored Pokémon begin to leave the manor. Marsha, Eliot, and a Ralts tend to an exhausted Mila. As this happens, Autumn gets the chance to vent to Mila about how scared she was and doesn't want Mila to fight like that again. Mila, however, cannot make any promises, frustrating Autumn. Dinah is unable to find Sally's mother among the restored Pokémon and sadly breaks the news to Sally, who does not take it well. Dinah takes the weary Clamperl out of the manor (along with her own weary self).
- Noriaki, Hikari, the vassals, and Grigori, Eliza, and friends leave the manor to give L'Arachel as funeral. Cole, Gene, and Claude are joined by Theodore and give Arthur a funeral as well. Zelgius and Yukari emerge from the manor and prepare to return to Peace Island so Yukari can return to her family in Shinrin. The authorities arrive and arrest the Pokémon who remained loyal to L'Arachel. As everyone reconvenes, it's determined that everyone is far too tired to make the journey back to town so they must spend the night at the manor. Nyquil and Dana camp out outside while most of the others go to sleep in varying parts of the manor. Nyquil is repeatedly tempted during the night to leave following everything he's been through, but in the end, he remains by the manor.
- The next morning finally arrives. The party makes preparations to return to Holstown-Narcia and return the restored mons to their homes as various interactions and conversations happen: Autumn and Mila make up over their fight last night and prepare to join the others. Koss has been up all night logging his many journeys in case he does decide to use his Devolve Orb and joins soon after. Noriaki and Hikari continue to reconnect with each other over a pancake breakfast potluck prepared for everyone by Montresor and Notte, as do the others with each other. Shortly after finishing, the Pokémon all go their separate ways, with the humanmons plus Hikari and Eliza and company returning to Holstown.
- It's here that Eliza and her party have to leave the group, but Eliza and Grigori share a fond farewell (and a kiss) and vow to meet again soon before parting ways. Shortly after this, the mother of a child Pokémon who had been assimilated by L'Arachel and returned home practically drags the party over to her family's restaurant to treat them to a meal as a thank you for their service. Not all of the party members go; Eliot wearily comes to rest beneath a tree, Dinah decides to try searching for Sally's parents again, and Nyquil, Autumn, and Mila get their food to go before leaving for a stream nearby.
- In the restaurant, Noriaki, Marlon, and the others reaffirm the direction that they will be going from Holstown (which includes passing through Narcia on the way back to Foxfell). Eliot ends up stumbling upon PJ at the tree and welcomes PJ back into the party with open arms, relieved that PJ wasn't one of the many humanmons who quietly disappeared or left from the party. At the stream, Nyquil is still despondent over the actions he took part in while acting as one of L'Arachel's toadies and still furious with the party for forgiving Montresor and Notte. Autumn gives Nyquil a pep talk that convinces him to keep staying with the party. Soon, most of the party has reconvened in front of the restaurant (including Roísin and her own group who ended up getting caught up in other things and missed the showdown) and prepare to move on to Narcia.
- A town-wide festival celebrating that things are back to normal is happening in Narcia, and the humanmons take the opportunity to relax after such a long, hard adventure. Some of the humanmons meet a very strong Bewear from Blissparce named Bertha, whom Kevin has an endurance test with. Nyquil buys Dana a nice new scarf. Others simply buy some food and chat. Still others visit June's funhouse again (being run by June's aunt Lilac in June's absence). It's here that the humanmons find four more humans-turned-Pokémon: A Kadabra going by Steph, a Mawile going by David, a Drifloon going by Bailey, and a Sandshrew going by Rex. The party later regroups at a small dojo run by Philo, where the new humanmons learn about themselves and what they can do for a bit, and soon begin to make their journey back to Foxfell. They get about halfway there before it grows too late and the party sets up camp along the path. The party reflects on everything that happened both today and the past few days for a bit before turning in for the night. Eliot and Mila are still concerned about Eliot's mental state.
- In Blissparce, the Clue Crew confronts Amy in the mayor's office with the evidence against her. They weasel a confession out of her, where Amy reveals that the Viral Aggression had gotten into Blissparce much like it did Milklett and Hiveton before said towns fell apart. Fearing Blissparce would destroy itself in the ensuing panic over the Viral Aggression being in its midst, Amy hired a bunch of goons to quietly knock off any Blissparce citizens showing signs of it while burying it under the guise of the forest being angry with Blissparce (hence the greatly increased offerings). The mayor is both furious and devastated that his longtime companion Amy would go behind his back like this, and Maria points out that the Pokémon of Blissparce are much stronger than they seem. Defeated, Amy lets the Blissparce police arrest her, but before they leave the town hall, the town hall is besieged by Amy's remaining goons who try to forcefully run away with Amy. A scuffle ensues until it is pacified by Mayor Rave's old acquaintance Lenton the Vileplume. The crooks are all put away in the jail, and in the absence of the mayor (who is too shaken up by everything that had happened), Amy must announce what she's done to the Blissparce citizens. Unsurprisingly, the townfolk have a hostile reaction to Amy's systematic murdering of them to cover up the presence of the Viral Aggression in Blissparce and all but run her out of town. Rave, devastated by all that happened, announces his resignation as mayor shortly afterward. Because of this, not only does the town have to figure out a way to fight against the VA now that they're aware that it's in town, but a new mayor and mayor's assistant must be sworn in over the next couple of days. Goobert suggests getting help from the Guild on the VA-staving-off front, but since he, Dieter and the cursed mons are not Blissparce citizens, they cannot really help out on electing the new mayor and assistant. Besides, they need to get going back toward Danjor Island. The Dos Santos siblings agree to get the Shifter repaired by lunchtime tomorrow, and the group turns in for the night, with Delilah and the others returning with Renata later.
- In-Game Time: Day 27 (with portions taking place in Day 26)Start: Page 1639 - Post 40958
- What starts out as a quiet nice morning in Blissparce takes an abrupt turn for the worse when Phoebe and her clan make landfall in Blissparce to steal from the town's Berry supplies, and steal valuables or shanghai Pokémon into her now enormous clan of Clamperl minions. Goobert and company and the Blissparce citizens are able to run them off before they can cause too much damage, but unfortunately not before Goobert loses in a confrontation with Phoebe and ends up assimilated into her Clamperl clan. Furious and not wanting to break a promise made to Renata, Delilah makes it known to Dieter, Benji, and the others that they have to go save Goobert, effective immediately. While Dieter, June, Renata, Stellan, and the cursed mons begin taking the now repaired Shifter toward Whispering Pines and Danjor Island, Delilah, Benji, and Lucy take flight to Harnicara to alert everyone else. The three of them arrive on the island by daybreak.
- Meanwhile, the party wakes up and does not wait long before making the last leg of their journey back to Foxfell. As they arrive there, Autumn, weary of the party's adventures, chooses to stay in Foxfell for the time being and will wait there for Mila to return. The equally weary Nyquil decides to stay there with her for now as well. Following this, the party goes to find something to have for breakfast and end up bumping into Delilah. Delilah fills them in on what happened in Blissparce and what's happening now. The party immediately prepares to set sail for Whispering Pines to save Goobert (and hopefully anyone else). Overwhelmed by the events of the past several days and in dire need of a break to recover mentally from everything that has happened, Eliot stays behind in Foxfell as everyone gets going toward Whispering Pines and Danjor Island.
- Both the main party and Dieter's group arrive in Whispering Pines to find the town heavily damaged from rampaging Clamperls, Phoebe having stopped to pay the town a visit on the way to Danjor Island itself. The only building that doesn't appear to be too heavily damaged is the inn, where the townsfolk who were not captured and converted into Phoebe's minions are staying. The party also meets Henry again, having since evolved into a Flygon who takes things more seriously and accompanied by his Scizor mentor Tenn and a timid Golisopod named Shelley and her Toxapex friend James (the last of whom became one of Phoebe's victims). Together with some of the stronger local mons, they look for clues around town and come to the conclusion that Phoebe wants Danjor Island completely gone for whatever reason, which will in turn destroy the Danjor Island spring and doom Dieter, Maran, Sunny, Cortez, and any and all other cursed Pokémon to be stuck with their curses forever and also send a tidal wave to wipe out Whispering Pines off the map. The urgency of the situation is only off-put by the fact that Phoebe cannot reach Danjor Island yet due to the stormy weather outside. The party goes to bed, ready to go after Phoebe first thing in the morning.
- Through all of this, Mila, feeling alone through the planning to stop Phoebe and worrying about the ways this adventure could end badly, mostly keeps to herself. Two more humanmons, a Fennekin going by Igni and a Dhelmise known only as Wreck, enter the inn as well. Lucy also befriends another (native) Smeargle named Patch who lost his family to Phoebe. Phoebe herself struggles to get Goobert to cooperate with her, as Goobert still has enough awareness to not completely blindly follow her directions due to a rushed use of Phoebe's trademark spell.
- In-Game Time: Day 28 (Morning - Mid-Afternoon)Start: Page 1654 - Post 41338
- The party gets up the next morning after a restless night and doesn't waste much time before setting out from Whispering Pines to stop Phoebe. Much of the main party goes out there on the Guild boat and the Shifter, along with Stellan, Ophelius, Renata, the cursed mons, a few Whispering Pines natives and Shelley, among others.
- Upon reaching Danjor Island, the party docks at a small village of Fire-type Pokémon called Respite Village; also where Phoebe parked her stolen barge. The village's leader, a Ninetales named Ronin, cautiously welcomes the crew and fills them in on what happened at the village when Phoebe came through, and the crew tells him what they believe Phoebe plans to do. The party goes to Respite's inn to plan further and discover that some other Respite villagers have caught two of Phoebe's Clamperl minions, specifically the members of Sunny's troupe Eponine and Javert, and are grilling them for information about what Phoebe is doing. The party is only able to glean information about what exactly the spell has done to them (and by extension, all of the Pokémon Phoebe has captured) and about another serum that Phoebe is planning to use, confirming everyone's concerns that Phoebe means to destroy Danjor Island by forcing it to completely explode, likely via the volcano. With this, the party prepares to chase down Phoebe before she reaches the volcano, following a somewhat treacherous path toward the volcano. Unfortunately, Phoebe has listened in on their conversation and forces Georgés and a number of her Clamperls to go impede the party's progress. Phoebe also threatens Goobert with forcibly turning him into a Wishiwashi and abandoning him if he continues to not cooperate with her.
- The party makes it through the dark jungle without incident and makes it to a ravine in the center of the island. Just as the party is preparing to cross over the ravine on a bridge, Georgés those of Phoebe's minions now with him (and now evolved into Huntails and Gorebyss) catch up to the party. The Huntails attempt to sever the bridge while the Gorebyss and Georgés fight the party. Luckily, Georgés (having long since been searching for a way out of working for Phoebe) surrenders quickly when the party (and Sunny) expresses their willingness to give the Machoke a second chance once it's clear that he is miserable working under Phoebe. However, the party is unable to prevent the Huntails from damaging the bridge before wearing all of them out due to Delilah leaving her post protecting the bridge to try to help Renata. Because of this, the Pokémon who are too big to cross the weakened bridge without breaking it or be carried across the ravine by someone else must find another way around. Once the party is safely over, the party continues. Renata chastises Delilah for leaving her post to help her when Renata had everything under control and tells her to focus on saving Goobert. Stellan continues to slowly remember the events that lead to his father's death. Meanwhile, at the base of the volcano, Phoebe assigns Goobert and Gomer with impeding the party there with many other Clamperls as she goes on, further threatening Goobert as she does so.
- It's at the volcano base that the party gets ambushed by Goobert, Gomer, and their group. Ophelius, Georgés, and others begin fighting off the Clamperls while Marlon, Noriaki, Delilah and others go to interrogate Goobert. They quickly discover his true identity the moment he opens his mouth and begin desperately trying to get Goobert to remember who he actually is. At the same time, seeing Renata causes Gomer to be distracted and causes hints of his own true identity to shine through, and it becomes increasingly clear that Gomer is none other than Renata's husband (and Delilah's father) Douglas Langley. Slowly but surely, the party is able to get Goobert and Gomer to trust them when they say they are really Goobert and Douglas (Goobert moreso due to being Phoebe's minion for a far shorter time). Phoebe attempts to make good on her threat to Goobert once it becomes obvious he is fully turning against her, but the serum she intends to use on him ends up afflicting Georgés (who blocks the serum from hitting either he or Delilah) instead, turning him into a Wishiwashi. She shows up from her hiding place to mock Georgés and goads the party into attacking her, but when the party does so, "Phoebe" turns out to be a Substitute left by the real Phoebe meant to distract the party. It's at this point that Phoebe discovers that her old friend Stellan is with the party out to stop her and loses a bit of her resolve, but tells herself to save him if nobody else and continues on.
- The party immediately enters the volcano after the real Phoebe. They are briefly set back by their path over a lava pit starting to collapse behind them and nearly causing Cortez and Daniel to fall in. Fortunately, Stellan, Ophelius' Dragalge companions, and Maran save them in the nick of time. After this, the party reaches the center of the volcano, where Phoebe and the few loyal Clamperls she has left await. Stellan initially goes by himself over to her in an attempt to reason with Phoebe and get her to give up on her plans while the others wait to act. However, it is too late and Phoebe has already ingested the last serum, and before the party's eyes she grows to a tremendous height, the last serum having forced her into a Dynamax state. Phoebe is so ecstatic that she forgets Stellan's pleas to her and begins trying to stop the party before she can use the attack that will destroy the island while the few remaining Clamperls attempt to impede them as well. Phoebe puts up a fight and succeeds in incapacitating many of the party (including Marlon), but the party holds strong against her. Even Georgés is able to get hits in due to a school of Wishiwashi that caught sight of Georgés eyes coming to assist him via a flock of Wingulls and Pelipper. Nearing defeat, in desperation, Phoebe attempts to destroy the island with a super-charged Psychic, pulling Stellan to herself to leave with him just as she claimed she would, but at this, Stellan gives up on Phoebe and declares their friendship over, shocking Phoebe both figuratively and literally through use of Thunder, along with a few final attacks from everyone else. The combination of the attacks aimed at her (and the serum she used on herself) put Phoebe's body over the edge and leaves her fearing that she may be dying. This combined with the loss of her friendship with Stellan result in Phoebe surrendering immediately and finally realizing the severity of her actions. She allows everyone to move on to the spring as the birds that brought the Wishiwashi in lift her out to take her back to Whispering Pines to get medical attention and surrender herself to the authorities, with Stellan (relieved that the Gorebyss he once knew was never completely gone) promising to keep in touch with her.
- With Phoebe defeated, the party makes it the rest of the way to the spring without any further problems. The spring's guardian, Volcanion, is waiting for them there, but rather than challenge the massive crowd approaching the spring, allows everyone inside without a hitch. Phoebe's victims are restored to their normal selves and Goobert is properly reunited with the rest of the party, and Douglas is properly reunited with Renata and Delilah. Dieter, Cortez, and Rich finally get rid of their curses as well and get ready to continue living life without them, though Maran and Sunny decide to try and see if continuing to live with their respective curses is possible. Georgés is likewise returned to normal and apologizes to the rest of the troupe. Daniel finds an old friend of his, a Kirlia named Aria, at the spring as well. Ophelius likewise comes clean to Stellan about what actually happened so long ago at Fallo Ter and how Phoebe was never truly involved with it. Patch's family is restored and are relieved to know that Patch himself is safe and sound. However, Shelley is unable to find her friend James among the restored masses and is devastated.
- With everyone finally back to normal, the party prepares to return to Whispering Pines and get everyone back to their respective homes and families.
- In-Game Time: Day 28 (Mid-afternoon) - Day 29 (Evening)Start: Page 1677 - Post 41922
- The party arrives back in Whispering Pines and are welcomed back with open arms by those who are still on the island. The day is not yet over, though. The party arrives back to find four more former humans in the form of Seth the Absol, Takoda the Dewott, Hikki the Pikachu and another Braixen. In the meantime, the Goo Crew (sans Goobert who goes to rest up at the inn and Lucy) go to help with repair efforts while the others come across a strange mystery involving some members of the Pawniarmy who attempted to stop Phoebe but lost with the lone survivor stealing a boat. The investigation is inconclusive and is soon interrupted by Lucy and some of the local kids running up to the party after being scared by a strange ghostly presence by the inn. After the party calms everyone down, the inept magicians from Gleamscape turn up and offer to put on a show, now accompanied by the Yamask Silas, now apparently the two's manager. The magic show goes awry when Silas, still kidnapping Riolus, abducts Lucy and tries to escape on a sailboat. Mila destroys the boat's sails and mast with a Thunder, enabling the party to catch up quickly. It's as the party is giving chase that Lucy and Silas discover that Silas is actually Lucy's deceased father; having died in the cave-in at the Bedsheets along with his wife and Lucy's mother Brenda. Unfortunately, Lucy discovers that Silas resented the fact that she was born due to it marking the end of Silas and Brenda's adventures. Fortunately, the party arrives before Silas can do anything else to Lucy and a scuffle ensues. Silas puts up a good fight against the party thanks to magic that causes Pokémon to experience the effects of various moves and incapacitates them. However, he ends up defeated when Dinah evolves mid-battle and attacks him with a Dark Pulse as he tries to escape with Lucy. Silas ends up being sent floating across the ocean, and the party is too disgusted with him to try to catch him afterward.
- The party returns to Whispering Pines to call it a night and prepare to go to Foxfell the next day. The cursed mons (formerly cursed in several cases) are shown to be doing fine, and Dieter is in talks to join Sunny's acting troupe (along with Maran). Meanwhile, Silas eventually gets his comeuppance when he washes ashore on a desert island inhabited only by an eccentric Runerigus, who turns Silas into a Galarian Yamask and forces him to help them paint the island.
- The next morning, the party returns to Foxfell at long last. They return to find Eliot away on a walk up the beach, Nyquil now part of Foxfell's royal guard, and Dana staying at the castle. The group reports back to Autumn at the castle, where she is glad to see the party again, but once again implores them to quit trying to be heroes for once and take some time to rest. The party agrees with her wholeheartedly, having had little chance to just rest and live life since everything started.
- The (mostly) happy reunion between friends is interrupted when Marlon visits the castle's clinic and discovers that his already-injured leg has suddenly gotten worse due to not resting since it was severely injured during the fight with L'Arachel. Marlon must spend a few days in the hospital. Goobert, Noriaki, Grigori, Hikari, Marsha, and Delilah go to visit Marlon there, where he is being waited upon by Uryu. Marlon laments going too far in trying to make sure his friends were safe at the expense of his own well-being, and vows to remember his limits going forward. Goobert likewise resolves to undergo training to better defend himself in order to avoid having to be rescued again. It's also here that Noriaki and Hikari reveal that they are going to be leaving the party indefinitely to join back up with Montresor and Notte at L'Arachel's manor to pick up where the other humanmons will be leaving off in continuing to help Pokémon around the islands and make the world a better place. The party members present wish Noriaki and Hikari luck and the two head off.
- Noriaki and Hikari later meet back up with the other two butlers at the manor. Noriaki and Hikari explain to their two friends what they plan to do going forward. Montresor and Notte agree to these plans, and Noriaki is declared the new Count of the Manor, with Noriaki appointing Hikari as Countess. The first long chapter of the humanmons' story ends with the four humammons from Roselle and a number of Pokémon who have chosen to stay and help Noriaki and company watching the sun set over the ocean, awaiting the new adventure to begin the next morning.
