Episode 127: Just Us

Episode 127 is here at last!

While traveling, Ash comes across a group of Pokémon in need. But before he can help them, another Pokémon, one with a strong sense of justice leaps in to save them itself. But when Team Rocket attacks, Ash and the Pokémon are forced to work together to save everyone, even though they don’t get together too well.

The Pokédex and Character Guide pages have been updated accordingly. Also-

???: Miss us?

Yuni Oha: Oh no, it’s April 1st… How could I forget…?

???: You won’t ever bother us again!

Yuni Oha: Huh! What’s going- [Disappears]

Episodes 125 and 126 Review

As always, anniversary episodes are so fun to write. So, background for these episodes. As of January, I actually had no idea what I wanted to do for a 25th anniversary special. I knew I was going to do something, but I just couldn’t figure out what. I had already done most of the relevant plots I had come up with, and the ones I hadn’t done I’m saving for specific times later. While brainstorming, my mind went to the original anniversary special, The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon, which was made for Pokémon’s 10th anniversary. First I tried thinking about what they did for an anniversary special, then realized that a sequel to it could be an option. At first I wasn’t a fan of the idea, but as I brainstormed ideas for it, I grew to like it. Then I watched the special for the first time in years, and realized that the way it left things, it was basically begging for a sequel. The rest just fell into place.

The idea I focused on with these episodes was showing the implications of the Mirage System. If the Mirage Master could make any Pokémon he wanted, including Legendary Pokémon, matching even their power, then surely their must be some crazy consequences that leads to. With that in mind, using Arceus to make his mirages real was an obvious choice.

On the topic of Arceus, I decided to have Arceus be the “mascot” of my 25th anniversary celebration mostly on a whim. I assumed we would be getting Diamond and Pearl remakes announced soon, so I figured there was a pretty good chance Arceus would end up being relevant to the anniversary. Even if its wasn’t, Arceus is still one of the most important Pokémon, lore-wise, so it was a win-win. I couldn’t have imagined they would have announced an entire game centering around Arceus, making the choice absolutely perfect.

Back on topic, in addition to exploring the potential of the Mirage System, I also wanted to explore Mirage Master/Dr. Yung’s story, so that’s why I created Mira, as she allowed me to show a different side of the villain and explain his sorely needed backstory. Mira also allowed me to add a more personal element to the story.

Also adding a personal element was Gladion. I’ll admit, bringing Gladion back for an anniversary special is an extremely random choice, but I really wanted to explore the lore connecting Silvally to Arceus, and Gladion is lumped in with Silvally. For those who don’t know, it’s made fairly apparent that Silvally was an attempt by the Aether Foundation to recreate and harness the powers of Arceus. Not only is Silvally very reminiscent of Arceus visually, but its ability to change it and its signature move’s type is based directly on Arceus. You can also add to that the fact that its ability name is RKS System, with RKS being pronounced almost the exact same way as the official English pronunciation of Arceus. You can also add to that the fact that in Japanese the ability is called AR System, with ARSys being pronounced very similar to the Japanese pronunciation of Arceus.

Of final note is Velocivity. It’s also a little random in this episode, but I had been waiting for a good opportunity to fully introduce it, and this seemed like as good a time as any, especially since I needed a Pokémon that could stand up against the Mirage Monstrosity.

Cosmic Destiny Chapter 9: Destiny’s Whim

Load Game

Today marks the one year anniversary of Cosmic Destiny. I may not have any special way of celebrating this date, but at least you can read the latest chapter of the series.

Yin-Yang-Xing is finally out of the sickbay, and he’s ready to go on his next adventure, a hunt for the second fragment of the map to Earth. He thinks he knows where it is, and he wants to take Team Nova with him. But when Turcell and Kappaqua get split up in the dungeon, both of them have to learn what it means to be without the other.

The Dungeon Listings page has been updated accordingly.

Cosmic Destiny Chapter 8 Review

First off, I wanted to explain that my original idea for chapter 8 was actually the first time I had ever started to write a chapter, ben then completely scrapped it. Originally That Which Haunts Us was to be the ninth episode, and before it would be a more standard “filler” episode. The episode would have seen Team Nova traveling to the Forlorn Forest at the request of Heliolisk, but that dungeon is forbidden, and it’s actually a scheme by Heliolisk to get Team Nova kicked out of the Ranger Corps. The episode would have featured Heliolisk following Team Nova and doing whatever ridiculous thing he can to get Team Nova to give up on the mission, mostly revolving around pretending to be a ghost, as the Forlorn Forest is said to be haunted. These schemes would all comedically backfire on him, and in the end Team Nova would make a discovery that would justify their entry into a forbidden dungeon and Gigastar would praise both Team Nova and Heliolisk, for his idea to send them there. The purpose of the episode would have been to add some more humor to Heliolisk’s character, as I wanted him to be the kind of guy you laugh at, despite the fact the he himself is not completely likable. In the end, I had to cut the episode, as I just couldn’t make the plot work for me in any meaningful way. I also decided that I wanted this series to short and concise. No reason to waste time with filler. So I decided to simply skip to the next episode. Though, the breakfast scene at the beginning of this episode was actually originally written for the other, hence the focus on Heliolisk.

As for the episode I actually ended up writing, this is meant to be where the stakes start to rise. We had the story start to get serious in chapter 7, with the discovery of the first map fragment, but there were no stakes yet. Now we learn why it’s so important to find Earth, not only for Turcell personally, but for the galaxy as a whole. The rest of the episode was mostly designed to deal with the fallout of the world-shattering revelation, as there’s no way anyone should be okay with learning they might have been the ones who destroyed their entire world. The Orbeetle backstory was also thrown in to help get to know this character who will become more important as the story goes on, while also providing an example of how there are other Pokémon who also feel a need to find Earth for their own reasons.

The Mindscape as a dungeon was something I thought was an interesting idea. It was partially based on Explorers’ dungeon The Nightmare, the dungeon which takes place entirely within Azurill’s dreams. A non-physical dungeon was a concept that fascinated me, and I thought it would be interesting to use in my story. Furthering the concept, I realized that making the dungeon take place in the player character’s own mind would make things even more interesting, and would have a logical excuse, given the character’s amnesia and desire to cure it. Like The Nightmare, Mindscape would be a dungeon which can only be visited once.