//------------------------------// // PLA Meeting: Part 1 // Story: A New World, A New Way: Requiem from the Lostbelt // by Metroid Prime //------------------------------// King Trot reviewed the report he had just received, which contained both good and bad news. The refugees that had evacuated from Tortuga had made it to the nearest town, which was Alexandria. He had already given orders to send soldiers to escort them to Cario. Part of him thought that he should evacuate that settlement as well since logically the forces from the Lostbelt make their way eastward towards the capital. The entire nation itself would soon be aware of this threat, as news of it would reach every settlement in a matter of days. Trot could only imagine the despair each person would feel upon learning this news. After all, it was still not too long ago that Zebrica was in another war, with itself. While he could always count on Sev and the PLA to be eager to put up a good fight, he did not want to put his citizens through more pain and hardship. Life is not fair, he knew that. But he could not help but feel that Zebrica was the universe’s punching back when it came to bad things happening to it. Things always get worse before they got better. Trot signed a few papers that were official orders to marshall the nation's soldiers in preparation for war against these Lostbelt invaders. He handed them off to his messenger who quickly took them to where they needed to go. He took a short break to contemplate his thoughts. Several subjects danced in his mind, and one of them came to the forefront. It had been a day since he sent that Letter to Princess Celestia asking that she send help in order to push back this invading force. Given the seriousness and urgency, he thought he would get an immediate reply. But so far nothing. So for him to wait a whole day and get no answer, was concerning, did something happen to Princess Celestia? As worried as he was about her, Trot knew he had to focus on what he could do now. Zebrica had to fight this enemy before they gained any more ground, with or without Princess Celestia’s help. Trot finished signing the remaining papers and then got up to go meet with Sev. Thankfully, as eccentric as that snake was, he could always count on him. Sev slithered through the palace as he made his way to the meeting room where his generals were waiting. He had called for a meeting with them in order to discuss the recent threats that had appeared recently. The Servant known as Ozymandias, and the newly revealed Lostbelt forces that had invaded Zebrica. And for him, this news was welcoming. After all, the reports said that it was humans who were the enemy that came from beyond the storm wall. Had you asked him a year ago if he hated humans, he would say “Yes” as it was the most obvious thing in the world. But upon being brought to this new world, his opinions started to change. As a child, his entire reason for fighting humans was because his father, Commander Viper, who founded the Pokemon Liberation Army, wanted revenge on humanity. This was mostly due to their role in the death of his wife and Sev’s birth mother. His father told him that humans were evil and that the world rightfully belonged to Pokemon. He proclaimed himself as Arceus’s chosen disciple, and that his actions were not only justified but vindicated by God himself. His first major act in his role as leader of the PLA was to conquer and occupy an island with a human research lab. They slaughtered the human population and co-oped to human technology. While to outsiders, this act was an unexpected and shocking terrorist attack, in reality, his father had taken this island in order to lure and capture an even bigger prize. Rayquaza. The Legendary Pokemon who ruled the skies. Using the weapons created in the island's labs, the PLA was successful in capturing the mighty dragon. Viper took that time in order to try and convince Rayquaza to join their side and see that his cause was righteous. And if that didn’t work, Voria, the mother of Gard and Viper’s new lover, would make him see that light. But everything went downhill from there. Human forces came to take back the island, and they put up a good fight. Then eventually a strike team that was sent to free Rayquaza, succeeded in freeing the Legendary, while also killing Voria, and causing Viper to lose an eye. Despite being Gard’s mother, and in a sense, his new stepmom, Sev never really liked her. So he felt nothing when she died. After that, a special private military force arrived, led by a woman named Cynder. She challenged his father to single combat on the condition that whoever dies, the loser side will leave the island. That was the day his father died. The PLA retreated, and as one final insult, his closest friend, Gard was captured by one of the soldiers via Pokeball. But if there was one thing that Sev could say was good about that whole experience, was that he met his adoptive mother, Joy. Joy made Sev feel happy in a way he had never felt in a long time. Unlike his father, Joy showed him true and unselfish kindness. She taught him things, about being nice and how Sev deep down is a good person. Once he ascended to the leadership of the PLA side continued to fight humans but in his own way. He still viewed them as enemies needing to be overthrown, but he would not mindlessly slaughter and exterminate them as his father did. He would take them down through more practical means. Means such as replacing all their food with tapioca pudding, and painting their faces pink. Or clogging their toilets full of toilet paper. Oh, he had many great plans, but none of them ever saw the light of day when he came here. Arceus freed himself and took all he deemed worthy to this new world, with the humans being transformed into Pokemon as a ”gift” for being good to Pokemon. At first, this infuriated a lot of the PLA, that humans now wore their skin and form. It was heresy of the highest offense! Sev didn’t know what he would have done, but before he could do anything about the humans, he met her. Princess Luna of Equestria. Through her, Sev began to come to a realization, that despite everything he was told about humanity, not all of them were bad. He still considered Pokemon to be superior, but the point of being better was not to belittle but to show others how to be better. Now even before this, aside from his mother, there were humans who were part of the PLA, if you could believe it or not. But Sev did not consider them humans, he considered them Pokemon. Because in his mind, humans were an evil species, and any human that was good could not possibly be human. And so his brain could only see humans like his adoptive mother as Pokemon since only Pokemon were good. It took a stern talk from Princess Luna to open his eyes to this contradiction. He had to acknowledge that his mother was human, even if she currently was not one anymore. Through his experiences on this new planet, Sev began to reevaluate his thoughts on humans. He could no longer see them as 100% evil, nor could he aspire to overthrow them as he planned. As thanks to Arceus, the PLA’s mission was essentially complete, humans no longer held dominion over Pokemon. He still didn’t really like them overall though. One does not get over their hatred for an entire race in one night. That fact that a former human was dating his daughter(whom he only just learned existed) did not help. And despite the fact that he held very little love for his father, the values he instilled in him as a child were hard to get rid of. Even though he was dead, some part of him still held sway in Sev’s broken mind. Sev wondered what the ghost of his father would say if it was still haunting him. If he was here to comment on what was currently happening. He would probably be in disgust over the fact that humans were a species that existed in many other worlds and universes other than their own, as Arceus had admitted. He would vow to destroy every Servant, to tear down and eradicate their Counter Force, and break the Throne of Heroes. He would curse and scream that it was unfair that humans held such importance in this world, that entire timelines were erased simply because they weren’t prospering. Thankfully, Luna removed whatever remained of his father's ghost from his mind. So for a while, his view on humans had not really changed all that much, until recently that is. When it was learned that humans would once again be their enemy in a conflict to be the ones who rule the planet. Sev could not help but feel glad to be fighting humans once again. Why is that? Was it because his PLA could once again fulfill its original purpose? Was it because he could fight humans in a justified way that no one would fault him for? Or was it because Sev once again had an excuse to fight something? He pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind as he opened the doors to the meeting room. All eyes were on him as he made his way to his seat, all the while taking attendance on who was here. The Pokemon Liberation Army was led by many Generals, who all had a distinct role in managing the various divisions that made up their forces. And most of them were here. General Rio, leader of the Lucario special forces and father to the Riolu named Lu, who was the boyfriend of Sev’s litter sister Lia. He and his team loved adventure, which is why he joined Sev’s army. That and Sev was very charismatic despite his many quirks. In fact, most of the PLA followed Sev’s lead due to his silver tongue, as without that they likely would have abandoned him long ago. Rio was not the most obedient when it came to following orders, but Sev didn’t really care all that much since he was pretty loose when it came to regulations anyway. Next was General Loom, a Breloom. Chief Engineer and the one in charge of the science and technology division, which was responsible for the development of weapons and gadgets that gave them an edge in fights. However, he was not a fighter and avoid being on the front lines. Plus he would often just send spies in order to steal tech rather than make it himself. And what he did acquire was not very useful at all. Still, he was the smartest and most understanding of human tech, so that's why Sev kept him. Sitting across from him was General Char, son of the late General Zard. The Charmeleon was the most religiously devout of the PLA and the one who believed in the cause the most. His father died saving his son from humans, so that made him an even more fanatic follower. Sev wondered what his opinions were on what the PLA had become today. To his left was General Pert, a large Swampert that was mute due to an old wound in his windpipe. He was the General in charge of their aquatic forces. He was a rigid and reliable person with a no-nonsense attitude which helped balance out the other less serious PLA members. Next came General Ag, an Aggron and the only female General. The commanding officer of their ground forces and the head Drill Instructor. It was thanks to her that the PLA was an actually competent fighting force. This made her very different from General Ludi, the Morals officer who was in charge of keeping troop morale up with his parties and the delicious food that made. Another General was General Drill. His role was not as impressive compared to others, but it was no less important. He was in charge of excavation and tunning, which was very useful in the construction of their former underground base, among other things. Having been recused from Team Rocket along with several other Pokemon, he showed his gratitude by joining the PLA. And last but not least was General Gard, his best friend, and their most powerful Psychic Pokemon. After being captured, he was raised by the daughter of the man who put him in a Pokeball. Said daughter was kind to him, not to mention a ballerina. Being a Kirlia at the time, Gard would practice along with his human trainer. It was through that he became close with Ag who was also a Pokemon owned by the daughter at the time. When Gard came back to the PLA, Ag joined him, and the two of them became a literal power couple. So it would surprise you to know that the two most feared Generals in the PLA were not only very publicly affectionate with one another, but they incorporated their ballerina dancing into their fighting styles. For Ag, it barely made her less intimidating since she was still a very good fighter. But for Gard, it didn’t help him in increasing his masculinity. Combined with the fact that he was a Gardivor, he got mistaken for a woman on more than one occasion. The only General that was missing from the table was Scep, the commander of the Reconnaissance Teams, aka their spy network. A natural-born thief, he was good at slipping in and out undetected by human security. Unfortunately, the PLA had not seen him since they had arrived on this planet. While most of the army made landfall in Zebrica, some others were scattered all over the world. Aside from him, other important members like their best assassin Roa as well as Agent Gold were M.I.A. However Sev did learn later on from Princess Luna that Scep was last seen traveling with the infamous Phantom Theif Fox. But since trying to track down Fox was harder than a needle in a haystack, no one bothered trying to bring him back. As such, his duties were fulfilled by General Drill in the meantime. And so with him still missing, his Mother Joy was now a part of these meetings. As the former Nurse Joy turned Audino was a voice of reason Sev would listen to. Sev sat down next to his mother and General Gard, then the meeting began. “Alright, how is everyone doing? Great!? Then let's get started.” All the Generals sat at attention as Sev spoke, despite all their differences, they still at the end of the day listened to Sev, no matter how ridiculous his ideas were. “Now, as you all know, King Trot had informed us that Zebrica has been invaded by forces from beyond the Lostbelt wall. We all knew this was coming, and what's more, it had been confirmed that these invaders are human.” General Char spoke up. “What kind of humans are we talking about commander? Are they the blaphomus kind? The ones that deserve to be cut down in the name of Arceus?” “Pretty much yes General Char! They have already laid siege to a town and perpetrated an act of war against this country.” “YES! They shall rue the day they day challenged the PLA and its blessed followers!” General Gard then chimmed in. “So, these are not the Chaldeans we have heard so much about? But rather an army from these Lostbelts?” “Correct, while I like many of you were expecting the opportunity to fight against Chaldea, this was another threat we were warned about. These Lostbelts as you all should know by now are other worlds and timelines that were brought back from oblivion in order to conquer our new home. I won’t be going into full detail again, so you’ll all just have to ask Loom for the whole picture if you want.” “I just want to add that this is all still kinda confusing even to me,” General Loom said. “Anyway, now that we know this threat exists, it's our job as defenders of this land to protect it from those who would harm it, regardless if they are human or not.” “So what exactly do you have in mind?” “Excellent question Gard. Now, as you all know, I have had many great ideas in the past.” Several Pokemon raised their eyebrows in doubt. “But I think that this time, I might have just come up with our greatest idea yet. And as I am Sev, this plan shall not fail!” Sev slammed his tail on the table. “I propose, that we summon a Servant!” Everyone just stared at him. At this point, it was Joy’s turn to speak. “Sev, I know you mean well, and I can see why you would put such an idea on a table, but I have to ask you something.” “Ask away my beloved mother!” “Do you even know how to summon a servant?” Sev’s mind drew a blank, before rebooting and pick up where it left off. “No, but I’m sure I will know soon enough, after all, nothing is beyond me. I am Sev, if I say something will be done, it will be done. Regardless if the world wants it not done.” “Commander Sev,” said General Drill. “I would have to ask, how much do we even know about Servants?” “A lot!” Sev turned his head. “Loom, tell him what we know.” Loom adjusted his goggles as he recalled the information from his brain. “From what our intelligence team had gathered, and from the statements Sev gave from the Goddess known as Harmony, Servants are magical ghostly familiars. They are the manifestation of past heroes and figures from this world's human history. They are summoned from some extra-dimensional place known as the “Throne of Heroes” by a supernatural force known as the Counter Force. The Counter Force as we all know is the collective unconscious will of mankind to avoid extinction. A deterrent against whatever presents a threat to the human race. Servants are powerful beings, and despite being technically ghosts, one was able to fight against Princess Celestia. So it can be assumed that Servants are just as powerful as Legendary Pokemon.” “But none will ever be as powerful as Lord Arceus,” Char added. “Well, that may be possible. Anyway, these servants so far appear to only be able to be summoned in the presence of a Ley Line, magical focal points where the mana of the world is distributed from.” “Well we already got a problem right there,” Gard said. “All the Ley Lines in Zebrica were destroyed during the war thanks to that Witch Thirst.” “As I said, even if the world does not want it to happen, I will make it happen.” “But how will you summon a servant if there are no Ley Lines to provide the mana that allows you to summon them?” “Ah, but you forget, a servant has been summoned to this land without Ley Lines. The one who sits in that Pyramid and claims to be this kingdom's rightful ruler!” “...Oh you mean.” “Yes, I shall simply go and ask that Ozymandias person to help me summon a servant!”