Ninth Move
Speeches
Griffenhiem Empire
Nesting Hold Castle
Checkmate was lucky that Shredder had made friends with Swanhild before the sudden evisceration of her door. Of course, the part where Roll made herself acquainted with her instantly helped too. In the end they only had to pay for the door, although the blacksmith didn’t like the part where she had to wait for the mercenaries to be paid first. With that situation done, the Pokemon, plus one Pegasus, headed toward the castle once more.
Meanwhile, Roll proceeded to catch up with her friends; Pancha and Rouge, although she never broke her hold on the female Bisharp.
“So she helped take down an entire army?” expressed the Lopunny, completely ignoring Xavier’s earlier explanation regarding Daring’s aid during Terrowin’s attempt of assaulting the castle.
“Casi, she was dragged along during the ‘Checkmate Special’ stuff,” pointed out Pancha.
“Still she did her best to help us before that, not to mention she is the reason we aren’t behind bars by now,” added Rouge. “That was very generous of her.”
“She also will serve as a guide once you leave the empire,” contributed Shredder while Roll keep her arm under her hold, she didn’t seemed to mind for now, although her cheeks keep a constant tint of red.
“You girls know I am here right?” stated Daring Do. “You can just ask me.”
Roll turned to look at the mare directly. “Well, first of all, I don’t know you,” bluntly answered the Lopunny, “No offence.”
The adventurer didn’t seemed offended by the Rabbit Pokemon, but instead turned to her mate and asked, “What do you see in her?”
“… she is very persistent,” was all the answer Shredder could give before turning even more red.
Roll simply hugged her mate more and continued, “Second… actually, no, I don’t need a second reason, that’s all.”
“… been there” retorted Daring, “but if you are one of these crazy guys, then you are okay for me.”
“Thank you” thanked Roll, “we may actually get to be acquaintances, with some luck we may even become familiar with each other.”
“Coming from her dear, that is quite the compliment,” finished Rouge.
The rest of the team, plus two, walked a few steps ahead of the girls, heading toward the diner hall. Despite their rushed return, the pokemon lose enough time for Celestia’s sun to be beyond its higher point, so saying they were hungry was an understatement.
“I can’t believe we’ve in this world for almost two days already…” noticed Anzu as they enter the castle.
“Don’t go ending this day yet missy” replied Simon with his boisterous voice, “we still have a good meal to eat, next are those costumes we have to try out, then there is this event we have to attend to, finally is dinner, and then the day MAY end. Depending on whatever destiny have in store for us of course”
“I often forget he is actually intelligent” pointed Xavier calmly above them.
Anzu chuckled at their words, “my presence is not essential on any of those plans, so you can count me out,” her stomach grumbled, she blushed and added, “besides the meals of course.”
Daring didn’t take long to joining the front group, Roll’s silent treatment proving to be super effective, and asked, “How come someone like her became one of you guys?”
“We constantly ask that ourselves,” grumbled Simon.
“It has to do with Shredder...besides the obvious,” Weiss shrugged. “However; we can trust her on a fight, hasn’t backstab us recently nor constantly for us to grow tired of her and she is actually likeable once you give her time and get to know her better. But I do mean a LOT of time.”
“She is quite diligent, despite her appearance,” Xavier added. “Her hard work alone has granted her the head position of Bishop.”
“About that,” inquired Daring, deciding to leave her questions about Roll’s character for later, “I have heard of it before. That and Knight, what are those?”
Again, Weiss had to think before answering, since explaining stuff that was like breathing for him had started to become a habit since their arrival. “We are a mercenary group, as a whole, called Checkmate,” the Bisharp started as they entered the diner hall.
“What, was Royal Flush taken already?” joked Daring in response.
“Actually it was,” deadpanned Xavier.
“But why would we want such a simple name?!” steamed Simon, with Greninja surprisingly nodding in agreement beside him.
“ANYWAY!” finished Weiss as he took the conversation back on its trail, “Checkmate is our group as a whole, but the group itself is divided into five subdivisions. They are: King, Queen, Knight, Bishop and Rook.”
Both groups reached their usual table and sat down, a line of plates filled with food waiting for them already, while some servants made sure everyones’ cups were filled with the brewage of their choice. Once seated, Weiss continued.
“Each subdivision consists of members with special skills or abilities. Rook is formed by those good at defense and assistance. We still have yet to find any of them yet, but they’re likely somewhere in this world; Bishop has the fastest members of the team, which as you heard before, Roll is the head of the division. Pancha is also a member of this division; Knights are all about attack, not much strategies lies in their heads, and as you may have guested Simon is a member of them.”
At the mention, the Excadrill gave a proud smile in response.
“But no, he isn’t the leader of them, neither is Rouge who it’s also a Knight; Queen is for the more outstanding and balanced members of the team. You could say they are elites just as the Queen is the strongest piece in Chess. They are often deployed as our jacks-of-all-trades. Shredder is head there.”
The Queen was currently trying to eat her meal, though the Bishop Rabbit made it a difficult task.
“And finally there is King. However, despite the fancy sounding name, we aren’t that spectacular. Members in this division are in charge of more delicate things like espionage, surveillance and tactics. Greninja, Xavier and I are Kings. “
“Please don’t laugh,” Xavier deadpanned again, as if that were a regular reaction. “We needed to organize our members in an easier way, and since we already decided to base our name on a board game, I deduced using such names was the logical action.”
“As you may have noticed, this whole system was Xavier idea,” pointed out Weiss bluntly, causing the Iron Leg Pokemon to shift his focus from the chat towards his food.
“I can’t say is that strange. In fact, I would say its quite smart,” Daring said sincerely. “I presume those ‘divisions’ can also work as some fancy code names.”
Xavier didn’t return to the talk, but he smiled widely as he continued to chew his large amounts of food.
“It has saved us a lot of time in various moments as well. Xavier only thinks its a bit ‘childish,’ although he did think this up back when he was a child,” Weiss added with a smile as well.
The Metagross simply continued to chew his food seasoned with a hint of nostalgia.
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The meal was fast paced, as one of the Empress’ servants asked them to make haste while reminding them that they still have to try their new garments before the ceremony.
The mercenaries obliged, Shredder, Roll, Daring, Anzu and Surskit head back to Swanhild’s place, since Shredder had her gear made by her. The rest only wanted to tag along, much to Roll’s annoyance and Daring’s enjoyment.
The other group found themselves in another section of the castle; the imperial wardrobe. Victoria’s clothes were held in there, at least the more elegant ones she used for important and official occasions like galas and banquets, and of course the current event. Her more personal clothes and attires were in her own chamber, which she reserved for less important yet more special events.
The imperial wardrobe had her private guild of tailors keeping the clothes for regal occasions in tip top shape, while also creating anything her Majesty had interest to try. Or at least that was the idea as she rarely asked something from them, since Victoria was a more practical woman, and most of her regalia was made by Swanhild’s forge.
So the moment she asked the tailors to manufacture something, the fashionistas become way excited, they didn’t care if the products wouldn’t be for Victoria herself but for a such a strange group of creatures, they were just happy to create something for their empress.
Thus, as soon Checkmate arrived, the griffin tailors and seamstress took each one of them to separate rooms where they could work properly. The only exception was Xavier, who was too big for any of those rooms. He didn’t ask for anything too exaggerated after all.
The rest of the mercenaries then had to inspect their respective garments, check if they were made with their specifications and try them on so the griffins could properly adjust them to their unusual bodies. Luckily some of them knew a thing or two about bipedal proportions from Minotaurs and Diamond Dogs, so they could adapt to the Pokemon’s physique.
Each Pokemon, including the former human, had to admit the job was flawless despite the short amount of time they had to made each piece, not to mention Checkmate did followed Victoria’s instruction and made some interesting requests, and yet there were only minor details and re-arrangements that needed fixing. The seamstress and tailors have to prove they could be up to their ruler’s expectations, and thus, they made the required improvements as they appeared.
As soon as a garment was finished, the Pokemon was then taken to a different waiting room where the constant noise of a big crowd could be heard. There were many chairs for them to wait as well as some guards with shiny sets of armor waiting for anything to happen, a red carpet laid on the floor and headed from the main gate towards a big wooden door at the other side of the room, from which the murmurs and whispers of many griffins could be heard clearly, the whole wall had more of those big doors, but none of them were as decorated as the one with the red carpet.
The first to be released by the tailors was Pancha, wearing a v-shaped brown poncho with a small emblem embroidered with black thread near her neck; however she wasn’t the very first member to be on the room, she soon find out by noticing the shiny Metagross.
“Hey Professor,!” teased Pancha, “What did you asked for?”
Xavier slowly moved one of his frontal legs before her, letting her see a leather bracelet tightly hitched around it, a small metallic plate similar to his skin placed at the center of it with the same symbol embedded on it.
“De lujo!” exclaimed the Hawlucha, “But, isn’t it a bit different?”
As she noticed this, other members entered the scene, Rouge; sporting a wide brimmed slouch hat with the left side elegantly bend upwards, and Greninja; who sported a plain looking, thigh length silk vest of a cream color similar to that of his tummy and clear blue stars impressed at each side of the chest. The group’s emblem could be seen on the slouch’s hatband and the haori’s back.
“Isn’t that a bit muy simple to take longer to be made than my poncho?” asked Pancha as a salute while pointing at the Water-type.
“It could have been a lot faster, but it took so long since the Griffins have no idea what a haori was. Not to mention our silent friend didn’t helped much,” Explained Rouge from beneath her new slouch.
“Then how was it made so ‘quickly’ in the end?” inquired Xavier.
“I had to tell them how it was done, not that I know much about this thing either, but at least I was able to speed things up.”
They didn’t have to wait long for the next member to arrive. Simon, who showed off his hooded vest as soon as he arrived. It had a brown tone similar to his skin with a bright red fire motif that covered most of it, especially on the back where Checkmate’s emblem stood proudly.
“What do you guys think?” exclaimed the Excadrill. “Makes you jealous doesn’t it?! The best part is that this is rain resistant and…” he then unzipped the vest and show them the interior in a flashing fashion, “This thing can endure my awesome moves too!”
The interior of the vest seemed to be made of some sort of metallic silk which shined silver in the light, upon closer inspection one could notice that the front was made of the same metal as well, although dyed brown and red.
“And check this out!” Simon then proceeded to place his hood over his head, showing that the spikes on his head passed through the cloth without scratching it. “Those tailors even managed to make my awesome hair go through it! They are damn good, for Flying-types.”
“You know Griffins aren’t Pokemon so I don’t see the point of giving them types,” pointed out Rouge as she adjusted her hat upon her head, trying to show up the excitable Ground-type.
Simon was about to retort when the door open once more, showing a couple of imperial guards escorting Empress Victoria and Grizelda. As soon as the ruler and her maiden entered, the guards made their way out and close the doors behind them.
“I see your attires have been finished,” greeted Victoria as she walked toward them. “Are they of your liking?”
“I would be proud to serve your rule till the end of times just for this gorgeous present your majesty,” Rouge smiled elegantly while placing her hat tightly against her chest.
“Same here!” added Simon with a pose.
“I think they will do their job of showing off just fine,” finished Xavier in his usual monotone.
“Gracias!” thanked Pancha.
Greninja nodded in agreement.
“It is good to know, but I see others have yet to arrive. Its okay though, we still have time. In fact I would like to use this time to ask for a favor Lord Xavier.”
Xavier didn’t ask and only turned to face Victoria, who in turn made a gesture for him to escort her to the other side of the room. He did so and started to talk with the Empress.
“Are you nervous, creatures?” asked Grizelda teasingly once her Empress had left the room. “I have taken a glance out of the doors and I seen an unusually huge number of citizens gathered before the castle, and I am not only talking about Griffins, oh no, there are some Ponies, Minotaurs, Diamond Dogs and Pokemon within the crowd as well.”
“And what about it?” shrouded Pancha, “It’s not like we are going to talk to them.”
“We are here to smile and salute,” continued Rouge with a posed salute of example.
“AND LOOK AWESOME!” finished Simon. Surprisingly, Greninja nodded again in agreement.
“… well that is boring. Can’t you do something to make this whole ordeal more interesting?” inquired the maiden.
“Now that you mention it…” started Simon, “You just gave me an idea.”
“… yeah, hard to believe you can have those,” Rouge jabbed as the Pokemon and griffin gathered into a huddle, whispering about Simon’s idea and discussing over it.
A few minutes later...
“What do you guys think?” asked the proud Excadrill.
“I think it’s...actually a good plan… that’s so raro,” expressed Pancha.
“Indeed, but I think I can go along with it just fine,” agreed Rouge.
Simon smiled. “What about you?” Greninja nodded for a third time and the group started to plan more in depth about their idea. Grizelda on her end started to talk with the guards in the room, so they wouldn't be surprised.
Each group was so into their own chatting matters that no one noticed when Weiss walked into the room.
The leader was wearing a grey trench coat similar to the one he used to have on the Pokemon world, the only difference being that he had four blades coming out from its chest. It seemed to be made of the same material as Simon’s vest, but instead of flaming motifs all over it, the coat had a single pin on the neck with the same emblem as the rest.
“I don’t want to know,” was all he thought as he noticed the mercenaries huddled in one side of the room, so he decided to walk towards his tactician. He then noticed Victoria was talking with him.
“Your highness,” saluted the mercenary leader.
“Lord Weiss,” the Empress nodded. “Lord Xavier has just informed me about the results at the school. It is good to see you were able to find one of your members so quickly, not to mention that she was able to save my people as well.”
“We thought the same your Highness, and are glad to have one member less to look for.”
“I presume this new member will be in the ceremony then?”
“If Shredder comes, there is no doubt she will be here as well your Majesty.”
“Good, knowing her she will be punctual.” Weiss wanted to ask what kind of talk they had for Victoria to be so trusting and familiar with them. However, he decided to leave that for another day, not to mention someone else took the conversation.
“Your Highness,” started Rouge, the rest of the mercenaries closely behind. “I thank you again for your glorious gifts,” she patted her hat as she said this and continued, “But we couldn’t help but notice that our emblem was modified slightly.”
“NOT THAT WE MIND!” exclaimed Simon as fast as he could.
“Yeah, we don’t mind, but we’re still curious about it.”
Weiss had noticed the change as well, but as Simon said, ‘he didn’t care’ so he let it be. However he didn’t expect his team to not only notice this as well, but getting to the point of asking about it.
The circular chess board was the same and so were the pieces inside it. The only difference being that now the designs were slightly more elegant and less generic as before, and now four parallel scratch lines crossed the emblem from behind, a single wing spread from the contrary side and a crown lied at top of the design. Weiss had to admit that those simple things gave the former dull design a more elegant aspect.
“I’m sorry to answer your question with another question Lady Rouge, but have you noticed the emblem on my guards?”
The Poison-type nodded as she turned to one of the many guards on the room, the helmet and chest parts of his armor sporting the simple image of a griffin side-standing on its rear legs, both wings spread and claws wide open on the air as if were to strike an invisible foe, as single crown bestowed upon its head.
“That is the symbol of the great Siegfried, a once living legend of our people, and the current emblem of the imperial guard. Whenever my people see that emblem, they know they are protected, and whenever someone from another kingdom sees it on my people, they know they are under my protection.”
“So… what you are saying… es…?” asked Pancha a bit confused.
“That I am giving you my acknowledgement as members of this empire's guard,” replied Victoria with a smile, not seeming to mind the Hawlucha’s innocent curiosity.
“I like that,” added Simon with pride. “We are royal guards now!”
“Technically I still have to fully bestow that title on you,” Victoria chuckled. Then the entrance doors opened once more, revealing the missing members of the group.
The first ones who entered were Anzu with Surskit in her hands, both females sported a simple but elegant floral headdress, while Daring trotted beside them. They gave the Empress a graceful bow as they took a place beside the mercenaries. “Swanhild’s idea,” pointed Anzu while patting her flower headdress.
Right behind them were Roll and Shredder who quickly drew all their attention. Shredder was again wearing a metallic skirt around her legs, but this one looked way more natural and even more elegant than her previous one. Natural patterns of leaves and branches delicately covered the skirt, yet the metalwork looked able to take a hit head on. The metal plates were so perfectly aligned with the Bisharp’s hips that made it look like a part of her body, like the Embrace Pokemon Gardevoir. Finally, a single sword hung on her hip, a hilt with a wing motive being all one could see from it, yet it fit with her new piece of ‘armor’. Last, but not least, was a single piece of crimson cloth tied around her left arm depicting the same modified emblem of her guild.
Roll on her side wore a pearl white frilled skirt that let show her legs and a similar headdress than Anzu and Surskit with the only difference being a small veil like decoration, and a white cloth was around her neck like a silk scarf. “They said this is a dress for ponies, looks good isn’t it?” Explained the Normal-type with a twirl.
“Lady Shredder, I am glad you can finally join us, and I am just as glad to finally meet you Lady Roll,” saluted Empress Victoria with a warm smile, Roll in return give her a dignified bow with her dress, “I have heard great things from you. I see that Swanhild has outdone herself yet again.”
“You said it,” expressed Roll, “I couldn’t believe this beautiful armor was made from zero in just a day! Not to mention it makes her look even more gorgeous.”
“I thank her hard work enormously,” retorted Shredder, feeling embarrassed by her mate’s words, but still keeping close to her. It was needless to say Roll had a hand resting on Shredder’s arm.
With the same smile, Victoria nodded and said, “Now that we are all finally here, I presume it’s time for us to do this for once before the audience starts to grow tired of waiting.”
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Grizelda gave the newcomers a quick tutorial of how they were supposed to go out a different door than the Empress and greet the civilians. As she did this, Victoria walked toward the door on the middle of the room and entered into a balcony high on one of the castle’s walls. From there she could easily see the small sea of creatures that were gathered beneath her, some were also flying too, all of whom had their eyes locked on her. As soon as she made her appearance, an instant silence befell on the whole audience, but only to be followed by a deafening roar right after.
Most of them were cheers for their ruler, but there were also questions regarding the current events and what should they do about it. Some of the Pokemon seemed to be part of this group as well.
The Empress let the crowd express themselves for a few seconds and then raised a claw to silence them. The light from the day was slowly turning the sky a vivid shade of orange, which give the moment an enchanted felling. Once there was enough silence for her to talk, she began.
“My dear griffins, fellow citizens from the neighboring lands and visitors from a land far from our, I am sure you all have doubts; a lot of you want to know what are these creatures that have appeared all over our fair land, while others are worried about their homelands and with good reason, and last, but not least, many must be very frightened about their current situation as well.”
The crowd below, formed by a mix of creatures from both worlds, kept their gazes at the Empress, wondering what was she planning to say.
“I don’t know if I can dissipate all of your doubts, but at least I would like to start with what we do know: these creatures are collectively known as Pokemon, and by reasons unknown for us have somehow arrived to Equss, and I mean all of Equss.”
The crowd started to murmur.
“Like I said, we don’t know the reasons behind the causes of this, but for now we found ourselves in this situation, so as much as we want to fix things as fast and peacefully as possible, it would likely still take time to achieve, if such a thing is even possible to begin with.”
The murmurs turned into chatter, but Victoria allow it to be.
“Thus, I would like all of you to listen to what I have to say regarding these creatures: I hereby proclaim…”
The chatter subdued instantly.
“That the creatures known as Pokemon will be treated as any citizen visiting this empire, and that means they will be left alone as long as they respect our laws. However, be assured that I won’t tolerate any attempt against my people as I won’t tolerate any sort of aggression against these creatures without a valid reason.”
“The chatters erupted once more; questions could clearly be heard from the audience.
“But how are we supposed to defend ourselves?” said ones.
“These creatures can use magic we have never seen before!” exclaimed others.
“Why must we give them the land? It’s ours by right!?” demanded others.
However other voices started to erupt as well, which said; “What proof do we have your soldiers won’t start hunting us down?”
“Why are we the invaders? We don’t know what has happened either!” exclaimed others.
“We want to go back home!” demanded others.
The voices of many pokemon around the crowd were now understood by the creatures of Equss beside them.
Weiss was currently looking at the events unfold from within the room. He quickly noticed how some Pokemon could be heard, and thus how they started to discuss with the griffin. Some seemed as displeased with their situation as the griffin, but none seemed to want to cause any strife out of it.
He then turned to the only being he knew could achieve such thing, his tactician; Xavier was in the middle of his meditating stance, which was similar to his floating stance with the only difference being he wasn’t flying.
“So you are doing this?” inquired Weiss, Xavier didn’t replied, as he was too busy concentrating on his current task of translating the thoughts of hundreds, if not thousands of creatures speaking at the same time.
He decided to let Xavier be and continued to look at the situation.
“As I said, there are few answers we can give, but we do believe we can achieve a mutual understanding. That is why I asked someone to make communication with one another possible, so take your time and solve any differences you may have with the Pokemon while you can, because this won’t happen again.” and with Victoria’s words, some griffins start to discuss with the Pokemon they had a personal misunderstanding with.
It was hard for the Metagross to keep up with so many minds, but he was the only one capable of it, his efforts would make it easier for his fellow Pokemon to be accepted.
Ten minutes passed with many members of the crowd reaching many understandings, although most of them were annoyed with the currents events and there were few discussions left, none end violently.
The Empress continued once the noise coming from the civilians quieted down a bit more. “I know it must be hard for you all, having to adapt so quickly to something so unexpected and large. But we shouldn’t be looking for who to blame and rather for a way to help one another."
At these words, she pointed at the other balconies besides hers, this being the signal for Checkmate to make their appearance, the only exception being Xavier by obvious reasons, Daring since she wasn’t a Pokemon, and Surskit who didn’t want to face so many people all of the sudden.
“These Pokemon,” Victoria continued, “Have offered their services to the empire, and they are willing to teach us how we can properly treat Pokemon accordingly to the situation, so as to allow us to live together in peace and harmony while this situation lasts.”
The mercenaries could sense the uncountable gazes now looking at them, while some Pokemon even tried to enter into their minds. “It’s good to see there are indeed a couple of psychic-types down there,” said Weiss to himself.
The crowd seemed to see the Pokemon on the palace as a good sign. However there still could be heard the voices of worried individuals saying, “But how long will this situation last?”
This was obviously one of the hardest questions to answer...besides what caused such a massive exodus in the first place. However, both questions were suddenly answered when another ethereal voice entered everyone’s mind.
“Greetings citizens of Equus, both old and new.”
Boomed a voice inside everyone’s head, and I mean everyone, which made the whole ceremony silent in a single instant.
“I am Lord Arceus, creator of the Pokémon realm. You have no reason to fear me, I come in peace.”
“… that explains a lot!” thought Simon out loud as the deity give its explanation.
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“… Goodbye for now, though I doubt this will be the last you hear of me, and peace to you all.”
When Arceus’ message finished, the little calm Victoria’s speech had created slowly turn into murmurs of despair. Most of the Pokemon couldn’t believe they were brought to this situation by none other than their own god, while the denizens of Equss couldn’t believe there was a creature far more powerful than the Equestrian princesses.
However, before hysteria could take hold of the crowd, a roar-like scream could be heard from the balconies on Nesting Hold.
“SHUT UP YOU FOOLS!”
There was an instant silence.
“Listen up, all of you!” blasted Shredder with all the strength of her lungs. “What are you barbering about? ‘Whimsical gods,’ imminent chaos’, ’possible conflicts.’ Have you not put any attention to what Lord Arceus and your Excellency Victoria just said!?”
The mere fact the Bisharp could scream so loudly was enough to keep everyone silently listen to her words, but slowly they started to properly listen.
“Arceus himself did this for our own good, and the Empress wants us to co-exist with one another. What is wrong with that? I don’t see any of you trying to give a solution, yet you are all demanding for one!”
The crowd could be heard screaming in disapproval at Shredder words, with good and valid reasons, yet none of them dared to deny the fact she had a certain degree of truth in her words.
“I have been entrusted with the protection of this realm,” at these words, the Sword Blade Pokemon took her own sword out of its scabbard, revealing a silver leaf blade which she used to point at the crowd. “And as such I promise that I will personally crush every single being trying to disturb any of these wills, Pokemon or not. If someone has doubts regarding the Empress and our God, step forward, I will gladly deal with you!”
The general chattering continued within griffins and pokemon, however they didn’t dared to retort Shredder any more.
“… good.” Shredder retrieved her sword’s point from the crowd to the floor. “But if there is anyone willing to follow, then I ask you as well to step forward, that we will show this whole world how we can surpass all of these hardships and achieve harmony together.”
The crowd fell silent.
“So what will it be?” finished Shredder. “Are you creatures up to the challenge of living?”
And so the crowd erupted again on protests, however this protest weren’t as doom-filled as before.
“But of course we will follow our Empress’ will, what do you think griffins are you metallic creature!?”
“If it’s the work of lord Arceus we will followed of course!”
“Do not take Ponies lightly you alien thing!”
With a smile, Shredder took a step back while sheathing her sword. She then gave a deep bow to Victoria and apologized. “Excuse my rudeness your highness.”
“… It’s okay Lady Shredder, your words come from your heart, and there is nothing I would wanted more than that,” Said the ruler. She then turned to the crowd and addressed them. “Thank you for understanding.”
Those lines alone caused a general explosion of cheers from the griffins, which were quickly seconded by the other races, Pokemon included. Of course, the cheering wasn’t general nor total, as many Griffin, Pokemon, Ponies, Minotaurs and Diamond Dogs kept a puzzled expression and doubt filled silence. However, it was clear for the whole crowd that Pokemon were here to stay for some time, even if it were a limited time.
At this, Rouge summoned a rain of petals with her Petal Dance, which gave the moment an even more enchanting atmosphere. However the mercenaries weren’t yet done; Greninja started to shoot burst of water with Hydro Bomb which were in turn intercepted by Simon and Pancha’s Focus Blasts, making them explode like fireworks.
“I am glad I contracted you,” silently thanked Empress Victoria.
Weiss smiled, nodded and replied, “Your highness, I’m afraid we may need to depart sooner than we expected.”
Finally Xavier wondered, “Am I done yet?”