Noctowl_News @ NightyNight
Gym Leader Blaine held a press conference shortly after his triple battle with the three champions.
Here's some clips from the conference:
|| Reporter: "Gym Leader Blaine!! The various pokemon leagues and Interpol have decried you for exposing the existence of legendary pokemon to the public and potential pokemon hunters. What do you have to say about that?"
Blaine: "I say that those pansies are being too overly paranoid like always. History has shown that no matter how much they try to hide the existence of legends, it only takes one very dedicated rich lunatic to dare to attempt to search for and capture a legendary pokemon.
As for the hunters themselves, I only have one thing to say to them. They are welcome to try, but remember this: unlike in the games of Gudao's world, no amount of ultra balls or paralysis is going to help you when the legendary decides to take your little posse seriously.
They are intelligent and wise beyond most pokemon and humans, so they will not hesitate to attack a trainer directly. "
Reporter: "People are accusing you of cheating for using a legendary pokemon in an official match. What do you think?"
Blaine: "There are no rules that ban the use of legendaries in a match, and it would be foolish for anyone to implement such a rule.
A legend does what they please. If they want a battle, they will battle and they will not allow a person to prevent them from doing so."
Reporter: "Why the name Princess?"
Blaine: "Because I spoiled her too much and she can be very haughty towards most other people beside me. She also really likes fancy and expensive offerings that always burn a hole in my pocket."
Comments:
» I just can't believe it, here all this time we have been decrying the government and interpol for messing with our pokemon capture rights, yet all this time we've been helping spread their propaganda.
»ArmpitLikyLiky: Meh, If what the media in Gudao's Earth says is true, legendaries are always being targeted by shitty people regardless of whether the public knows they exist or not.
And honestly? I'd rather a seasoned former Elite four own a legendary than a lunatic like Giovanni or worse, a ten year old game protagonist.
» Wasn't former Champion Red a game protagonist? Does he have a legendary pokemon too?
» That guy is illusive af, and keeps to himself. Fat chance we'll find out.
» Come to think of it, former Champion Gold was also a protagonist in those games.
» Corphish-Clobber: Hey Hey, let's not get too hasty guys. Heatran barely counts as a legendary. If Blaine had pulled out a Groudon or Entei during that match, then that would have been cause for concern.
» AbSolutelyCool: Tf do you mean? Heatran is known to be extremely aggressive and has always made volcanoes spontaneously erupt. That's why the salty Team Galactic in the games tried to awaken one so they could drown the land in fire.
How can that not count as a legendary?
»PachiRitsu: Iirc, the Sinnoh and Unova games introduced a lot of legends to Earth, and it made the debate around what qualified as a "legendary" much more controversial since they were all so numerous.
The addition of "Mythical" pokemon just diluted the terms further.
» How do we know this isn't just another Rotom situation? Rotom were once considered legendary pokemon before the Rotom Phone Company somehow found a way to mass replicate them and sell them through their phones.
» HardBoiledHappiny: Because unlike Rotom, Heatran was actually depicted in the creation myths. There are still a handful groups of people around the world who worship Heatran.
Rotom is as much a legend as Arcanine is.
» Fyre&Flamez: Don't diss my GOGOAT like that!! He squared up against one of the strongest Garchomps in the world and didn't immediately get obliterated!!
» This reveal comes with some very scary implications. One being that the weapon that Ghetsis used against Opelucid city may have very well used an actual Kyurem as a fuel source for its cannon.
Which leads credence to Blaine's words since Ghetsis was a really wealthy lunatic.
» Charizard-MASTERace: You know who else was a wealthy lunatic? Lysandre.
» Bro, what have you done? The mere mention of his name is going to set off a massive powderkeg in the comments.
» FUCK YOU ASSHOLE, LYSANDRE DID NOTHING WRONG!!!"
✦✧✦
Sinnoh Region, Pokemon World
Natural Harmonia Gropius POV
Most people who knew of him assumed he only hung out in the wilds like a hermit.
While that was partially true, he still occasionally went back to civilization to resupply on certain essential foods or for special occasions when he craved something… and today, that something was dumplings.
Usually he liked to land near a city or settlement and walk to his destinations so as to not reveal his partner, Reshiram, to the world. Reshiram never cared for the unspoken rule, but didn't push him on his decision… until now.
Reshiram also wanted dumplings and did not want to wait for him to come back with take out.
Luckily, they were in the Sinnoh region, so dumplings were abundant.
The yatai cart owner and his Machoke, as well as a bunch of what he assumed were his regular customers, jumped in place when Reshiram landed with a graceful, but noticeable thud as his dragon feet touched the asphalt.
He slid off his partner's back like he had done thousands of times before and calmly walked towards the quaint food cart. The cart looked like it had come straight out of ancient Hisui, but the technology and the cute chibi picture of a Munchlax eating dumplings of various flavors undid the illusion the cart had been trying to project.
Still, it had a nice rustic charm to it.
He ignored the nosy bystanders who had already taken out their Rotom phones and started snapping pictures and videos of them and walked up to read the menu.
Hm… so many options. All of them sounded really good.
"Can I help you son?" The gruff voice of the cart owner caught his attention.
"Yes, I'd like some dumplings stuffed with the diced Pecha Berry fillings and a few Snorlax sized super spicy Tamato dumplings for my partner here."
He gestured towards Reshiram. The legendary huffed and spoke, which just startled the nearby gawkers even more, "I'd like my offerings drowned in boiling hot Wacan Berry syrup. "
The man looked at him then at Reshiram before he shrugged and started inputting the price on his register.
"That would be 5000 Pokedollars please."
He opened the bank app on his X-Transceiver and tapped the scanner that hooked up to the register.
The owner grinned at his purchase, "thank you, your order will be ready shortly." The cart owner looked over his shoulder and gollered to his Machoke.
"Order up Bruce! Be a pal and haul the snorlax crate over." He told the Machoke who gave an affirmative noise before he went on his way to bring Reshiram his food.
It didn't take a lot of time for his food to arrive, as the dumplings came pre-made.
He accepted the box of warm food in his hands and walked toward one of the nearby open air tables the owner had set up for customers to eat.
Reshiram joined him and made himself comfortable on the street next to his seat.
He waited until Machoke had already brought a large, fancy plate that was stacked with a small pyramid of red dumplings and placed it on the ground in front of Reshiram.
Reshiram was not picky about where he ate his meals, but like many legendaries, their pickiness for food was also something they were infamously known for to those who were lucky enough to befriend them.
"I will be back with your wacan berry syrup soon, Vast White one." Bruce the Machoke said with a small bow before he ran back to the stand. He came back shortly after while holding a saucepan with a hand coated in fire.
He was using a fire punch in a controlled manner so that the syrup stayed boiling. How novel.
Bruce gently poured the syrup on top of the dumplings, allowing the boiling liquid to cascade down the balls of dough as if it were lava.
Reshiram was pleased by this and took a bite of his meal. He let out a satisfied hum, "I am pleased, you may take your leave now."
"As you wish," Machoke bowed before he walked back to the stall.
Seeing his partner eating, he decided to join in by eating from his own plate.
He took a dumpling in his hands and bit into it, and the sweet taste of pecha graced his tastebuds. Fresh, ripe pecha berries tasted great but cooked and stuffed into a doughy bun made them 100 times better.
Sadly, his momentary bliss was interrupted when his floating screen decided to make its presence known.
The other patrons and the onlookers were too busy ogling and taking pictures of his partner to notice at first, but a few noticed once the stream unmuted itself.
The screen showed Gudao walking into the command room with Stheno next to him. They both faced Romani, who was walking around with an empty plate in his hand while humming something cheery to himself.
The Doctor noticed their gaze and started to look uncomfortable,"Woah, why are you two looking at me like that?"
"Romani, why are you walking around with an empty plate?" Gudao asked.
"Hm? Oh, I asked Mash to get me something from storage. The thing is, it's already been a while and she's been keeping me waiting and waiting. It makes me wonder if something is holding her up."
Gudao frowned at the Doctor's words.
"What's with that suddenly serious face all of a sudden?" Romani asked in concern.
"Oh nothing, I just thought it was a weird coincidence. Martha wasn't present for our morning training lessons and I was worried so I ended up looking for her." Gudao said.
"That is strange, well have you tried contacting her through your master/servant link?" Romani asked.
Gudao nodded, "Yeah, she didn't answer."
"Quite the mystery, well, hopefully she'll arrive when-"
"Hey, Romani, where are the dumplings? I'm about to show footage of the moon. Let's hurry up and hit the booze. After all, we've been holding out for this day. " Da Vinci barged into the frame and based on the slightly red tinge on her, he could tell she was already drunk.
Romani shook his head in disapproval, "...Hmph, yeah right. That's what you say,
but you've already started drinking like a fish, you lout… Wait a little while longer, Da Vinci. Not all the staff members are here yet."
"What's this about dumplings?" Gudao asked with a furrow of his brows.
Romani looked at Gudao with surprise, "Huh? Ritsuka, didn't you hear? The outdoor calendar shows it's almost the end of summer. Meaning it's almost time for the Moon Festival. It's said the harvest moon shall liven up conversations between friends."
He raised a brow at the screen, looked down at his dumpling, then back at the screen.
Was it just his imagination, or was the stream messing with him again? Who was he kidding? Knowing the stream, it was highly probable it was the latter.
Well, it's of no concern to him, he's only here for his treats, and if the Chaldeans just so happen to be indulging in the same kind of treat as he was, then he's fine with it.
He took another bite of his pecha berry dumpling.
Besides, it was preferable to hearing the death throes of the phantasmals they slaughtered during their missions.
He noticed that both Pokemon and phantasmals were naturally drawn to violence to settle disputes, so he personally doesn't hate Gudao for having to fight them.
What made him upset was that Gudao had no one there to properly negotiate between species, which meant conflict was inevitable and that usually resulted in the phantasmal's deaths.
Yet, despite how many of them Gudao and his servants had killed already, he didn't hate Guidao for it. The young man had shown time and time again how much he cared for nature.
Gudao's respect and love for animals and their habitats is something that he greatly respected and admired from him. Going out of his way to preserve that penguin colony proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Gudao was a great person.
However, he couldn't say the same about humanity in his world.
He'd been forced to watch Gudao's stream for a long time, and one thing he loathed about it was seeing how far humanity had decimated nature and driven thousands of animal species to extinction.
His ability to speak to pokemon didn't allow him to translate what language animals spoke, since they are not pokemon, nor have the intelligence to form complex thoughts like them. At best, he could get impressions of what they said whenever they made their cries.
Most pokemon have a healthy relationship with humans, but the animals in Gudao's world carry a deep rooted and intrinsic fear of humanity that is absent from nearly all pokemon…. one so strong that it was hard to ignore.
He had only ever seen such emotions from heavily abused pokemon, and his world is riddled with them.
Suddenly, his screen started blaring an alarm, which caused everyone in the nearby tables to send a glare his way.
"Hey!! Keep it down, you're startling my customers!!" The cart owner scolded him, which made him feel bad.
"Sorry I can't control it." He apologized, which caused the man to raise a brow at him.
The owner sighed, "Fine, you seem to be going through something difficult, so I'll let it slide. Just don't spend too much time loitering, I got more people wanting to sit down to eat."
He offered another apology to the man before he quickly went back to eating his meal.
"The alarm? What's going on?!" Romani asked in shock.
Suddenly Mash barged into the room, spoke with urgency in her voice, "Doctor!! This is an emergency!! Someone has raided our food storage!! They took all the offerings we prepared for the festival and everything else... Chaldea's food reserves are nearly down to zero!"
His eyebrow arched up, wondering who would be stupid enough to do such a thing when the facility was filled to the brim with powerful spirits who could easily rival legendaries in power.
He was about to take another bite when Gudao said something that gave him pause.
"That aside, those glasses really look good on you, Mash." Gudao said which elicited a pout from Stheno and a flushed smile from Mash.
"Ah... Thank you Senpai. My eyes are good so I don't really need them, but…"
"Darling, I think there are more pressing matters we should worry about right now. Like the stolen food?" Stheno said in a dry voice.
"Stheno is right!! This is no time to be flirting! We just had a major security breach!" Romani said, which caused both Gudao and Mash to splutter.
He sighed and shook his head, deciding to focus on his meal before it got too cold.
He took a bite and only half paid attention to the livestream after that, because somehow the stream always knew when he was not paying any attention at all.
Between the bites, he caught Mash's explanation of events. Apparently, the thief had used some kind of mysterious magecraft spell to vandalize the camera footage with painted heart marks that induced dizziness and fainting to those who observed the footage.
In other words, the thief who pulled this off was really good at manipulating technology like a porygon or Rotom could.
"Hmm… I see. This is a real pickle." Da Vinci said while taking out a tablet and fiddling with it.
"A pickle?! Leonardo, have you gone bonkers, too?!" Romani exclaimed, clearly not amused by her wistful answer.
"Ah, pardon me. I was just having a bit of fun with modern sayings. But anyways, Romani, look at this singularity." Da Vinci showed Romani her tablet and pointed at something onscreen.
"Three minutes ago, someone rayshifted into a French Singularity. That must be the cause of the alarm going off."
Mash's face turned fearful at what Da Vinci said, "You're saying the culprit escaped by rayshifting themselves without any help or authorization? I-I can't imagine a Servant capable of something like that…"
Romani agreed with his daughter, "Exactly, Chaldea doesn't exist in a normal dimension. The only ones who can go outside are Ritsuka and his contracted Servants."
Romani's face suddenly turned grim, "Which means that it's possible either one of our own did this, or worse, that this incident is a sign that the gods aren't done messing with us yet."
"Are you suspecting Lady Amaterasu?" Gudao asked, but Romani was not confident enough to give him a concrete answer.
"I don't know, but it's highly improbable. If it was, she would have messed up our systems more. No, I think this is the work of someone else." Romani said while he held a thinking pose. The Doctor's eyes quietly drifted to Stheno, who had been holding Fou in her arms and giving him scritchies between his ears.
Reshiram scoffed when he noticed the self indulgent look on Fou's face as Stheno pet him, but didn't say more.
He had to admit, Fou confused him.
The small creature was clearly the closest representation of what a pokemon is in Gudao's world, but for some reason, his gift didn't work on him.
He knew Fou was intelligent and that there was more to him than met the eye. Reshiram himself confirmed it, but even with this evidence, it never allowed him to understand anything Fou said.
Every time the small creature spoke, all that his ears could register was the word: "Fou."
It was almost as if Fou was intentionally just repeating his name over and over again, but that couldn't be it… could it?
The rest of the room turned their gazes at the well endowed goddess.
Stheno noticed the attention and looked back at the group with surprise, but it fell and she was left unamused by their accusatory looks.
"I know what you guys are thinking, but it wasn't me. I am much too weak to pull off such a feat, if I could, I would have forcibly manifested myself in Chaldea without needing to be summoned the moment Darling finished his mission."
She kept petting Fou affectionately, an action which the small creature seemed to enjoy a bit too much given how he was practically pressing his head on her hand, "Besides, I care about my Darling's well being and depriving him of food is something I would never do."
Romani had the decency to look apologetic as he admitted his mistake, "Sorry for suspecting you Stheno, but you're really the only full goddess in our roster at the moment."
"Well, while it's highly likely a divine spirit could do such a feat, it's also possible that a special and extremely powerful Heroic Spirit could bend the rules of time and space." Da Vinci pointed out while also shamelessly taking another swig of alcohol.
"...Um, did you make a contract with such a powerful Servant? There are no records of it, as far as I know…" Mash asked.
"Not that I know of. Actually, speaking of my contracted servants,Da Vinci, do you think Martha's disappearance is linked to this?" Gudao asked Da Vinci, who seemed to be mulling over the question in her head.
"Possibly, but we can't know for sure, and I do not think any of your contracted servants have the power to pull off the feat that caused our food supply to vanish under our noses.
But it is possible that a future servant that you contract in the future could be powerful enough to stretch the string of possibility from 'eventually forming a contract' into the 'eventual outcome of a contract." Da Vinci said, which earned an affirmative nod from Romani.
He furrowed his brow at the unexpected time travel lingo before he decided to just not focus on it. Dealing with time travel was confusing, and while he respected the Master of Time and Celebi, he honestly hoped he never had to deal with such confusing shenanigans if he could help it.
"True, and if the culprit found the coordinates of Chaldea using nonsensical means like that, that just gives more credence to the theory that they are a very powerful heroic spirit.
That being said, if this Heroic Spirit is willing to form a contract with Ritsuka, then the damage we suffer shouldn't be critical. After all, no matter the future, Ritsuka would never form a contract with an outright villain." Dr. Roman while chuckling, completely forgetting the fact that Gudao already contracted three outright villains(Jalter, Carmilla, and Vlad the Impaler) into their ranks.
Mash didn't find Romani's joke very funny and sent a look of disapproval at him "No, Doctor. The problem is that we don't have any food left. At this rate, Senpai's health management and tea time after a Grail expedition can't be guaranteed. As Senpai's Servant, I propose we take measures quickly."
Romani cleared his throat nervously, "Y-yeah, I guess this is not the time to be thinking: 'If we're out of sweet dumplings, we can just have sweet bean paste instead.'"
Romani turned to Gudao, his expression official and completely serious, "Master Candidate #48, Ritsuka Fujimaru. For the sake of Chaldea's future, and our fun Moon Festival, would you go check out the situation for us?"
The serious tone in Romani's voice belied the absurdity of his statement. Gudao did not buy it for a moment and just replied to the man as if they were in a casual conversation.
"You really like sweet bean paste, huh?"
Gudao's question did not deter Romani as he doubled down on whatever act he was performing.
"Well, of course. Red adzuki beans have a lot of health benefits. It's good for high blood pressure, and has a lot of B vitamins that help turn the high amount of sugars and protein they have into fuel. Fuel which is indispensable to someone who works with his brain. That is why I love eating them-"
"Liar." Kiyohime's voice caused Romani to let out a squeak akin to a small rodent pokemon.
Romani turned to Kiyohime, who was looking at him with her usual unamused expression.
The man returned the expression back at her, "Really?"
Kiyohime did not verbally, but she made a face that conveyed the equivalent of: 'Yes, really.'
Romani sighed before he finally chose to say the truth, "Fine, the truth is I used to love pancakes, but after I visited Japan, I got addicted to the taste of red bean paste. I only bothered to learn about the health benefits after I stuffed my face with them."
He sent an annoyed look at Kiyohime, "Happy?!"
Kiyohime nodded and hid her gentle smile behind her fan, "Yes, very."
"I see young Kiyohime is working hard as always to surround her land with truth. N, please send a message to her for me. Tell her to keep up the good work in building a more truthful world."
He did not hesitate and sent the message to the petite dragon girl who confidently shared a type and mission with Reshiram.
The screen showed the small girl look down at her chat screen, smile, and physically type out a comment.
[Burning_Jealousy: Tell your partner that I am thankful for their praise, and that it brings me great joy to hear that I am not alone in wishing to rid the world of lies.]
Reshiram read the comment and nodded before he went back and devoured the last of his oversized dumplings.
Out of mercy for his dignity, Mash decided to reassure Romani.
"We're ready to head out whenever you're ready Doctor Roman, and don't worry, we'll be sure to get every last sweet dumpling back!"
Speaking of dumplings, he should probably get some for his friends.
He got up from his seat and threw away his trash at a nearby bin before he walked back to the vendor and asked for more to go.
Once the man gave him his order he climbed on top of Reshiram and they flew away from the growing crowd of spectators.
It took a short few minutes before he arrived at the clearing where he had set up his camp.
Dozens of pokemon had already gathered around by the time Reshiram landed.
He slid off Reshiram's back with the bag of treats in tow.
"I brought you guys some treats, gather around so I can hand them out."
The pokemon eagerly listened to his words and waited for him to hand out their portions. Once he had finished, he walked toward a log nearby and sat down to finish watching his daily quota.
Reshiram made himself comfortable and watched the stream with him.
Around the time it took him and Reshiram to arrive here and hand out food, Mash and Gudao had already rayshifted into a singularity.
Mash was wearing her usual revealing outfit, though when compared to the attire of the new servants they had met, it was actually rather tame.
Meanwhile, Gudao was wearing a sleek outfit that reminded him of the pokemon trainers of his world.
"Rayshift is complete." Mash looked around the area, "We're back in France, Senpai."
"Yeah we are, it feels like ages since we've been here, but it's not Orleans is it?" Gudao asked.
Mash shook her head, "No, it's a different singularity. A smaller one than the one we completed. Anyways, we should get going Senpai, the culprit should be here."
Mash stopped talking and looked east, "Senpai, there are shots being fired nearby…" Mash said.
Gudao looked to where Mash was looking and saw a woman with white hair and dress firing arrows from a very fancy bow.
He sighed when he saw that the woman was firing arrows at phantasmals but chose to stay his hand. He didn't want to get into an argument now, so he kept watching.
"Hm, so they've run into a moon deity, how interesting." Reshiram said while observing the screen with more interest than he was.
Honestly, he would have prefered if the creator of the stream had sent this accursed screen to his partner rather than him, but alas, he had to put up with it.
At least now he knew enough to not have to suffer sleepless nights watching Gudao play some random game.
[No way!! It's her!! It's the goddess from the video!! The one who accidently killed her lover!! Artemis!! ]
[Joseph-TheBigCheese: The moon goddess who we were all dreading would appear has finally shown herself… she is just as beautiful as the video on Utube.]
[WonderWoman: ….Is chat speaking the truth? Is this truly Lady Artemis? ]
[Saggiterius: Yes, it is. It's been a while since I last saw my master, but there's no way I'd mistake her for anyone else. ]
[WonderWoman: Inconceivable… To think that Lady Artemis would descend, it truly is an honor to see her. ]
It seemed that chat recognized this woman from one of the videos on UTube. He never bothered watching those videos because he was already being forced to watch the stream against his will. He would never voluntarily choose to watch something if he doesn't have to.
"...Senpai, that strange woman isfighting a pack of werewolves with improper posture and ineffective arrows!Your orders?" Mash asked while readying herself for battle.
"Let's help her!" Gudao ordered.
Both Mash and Gudao sprinted towards the battle, and the closer they got to the action, the clearer he could hear the wolf men..
He winced as one of the wolf men got shot in the eyes by an arrow, "Gah!! You ape looking bitch!!"
He blinked in surprise at the foul language the phantasmals spoke in. Though he couldn't blame the creature for saying so after sustaining such an injury.
The woman noticed the two running towards them, "Oh my! Are you here to give me a hand, stranger? Hehe, aren't you a decisive one? I will take up on your kind offer."
She looked back at the wolfmen with the same happy go lucky smile on her face, "Let's fight together. We can leave the fun conversation for after the battle. Right now, let's take out these bandits!"
"Cap!! More humans coming!!"
"Cheh!! They came for our dumplings? How dare they!! Let's kill them all and use their blood as dipping sauce for our dumplings!!"
… Just what the heck was wrong with this day?
✦✧✦
French Singularity
Ritsuka POV
"Bad connection again?" He frowned at the static that came from Mash's wristband.
Mash sighed, "Yes, but thankfully, we can still perform a Rayshift to return to Chaldea from here should things turn bad…."
Mash's eyes went to the woman nearby, who was humming something after defeating the wolfmen.
"But the more pressing concern is this woman. Chat keeps saying they are Artemis, the Greek goddess of the hunt. And if what Romani and Da Vinci said was true, that means she's the likely culprit."
Mash's expression hardened, "Stay here Senpai, I will speak to her."
Mash marched forward, but he grabbed her arm before she went any further.
"Hold on Mash, We shouldn't be jumping to conclusions. Even if she is Artemis, we don't want to provoke her into fighting us by making false accusations."
They can't afford to fight a goddess without proper support after all.
Mash pursed her lips, but reason won against her recklessness, "I understand Senpai. I'll be careful, I promise."
Seeing that she was being genuine, he let Mash go. His Kohai took a deep breath to calm her nerves before she walked up to the goddess, "Um... Excuse me. You're not a normal human, are you?"
The woman took notice of Mash and grinned at her, "Nope~ I am not. Do you want to take a guess at what I am?"
Mash pursed her lips and made the effort to try and find the right words to say, "Are you… the Greek Goddess Artemis by any chance?" Mash just bluntly asked which caused Artemis's open smile to close.
"While I am flattered that you would confuse me for the beautiful Moon Goddess of the Hunt, I am sorry, but you're mistaken."
The woman made a pose where she pointed at the night sky "I am the splendid hunter forever seen in the night sky. My name is Orion! That's me! Round of applause, please!" Artemis, or rather, the self proclaimed hero Greek Orion said.
[Orion? Isn't she Artemis? ]
[Sagittarius:... Apologies, I was mistaken. It seems my memory and eyes have deceived me, this is not Lady Artemis, this is Orion. ]
[WonderWoman: I see… well I suppose no one is perfect. ]
[She definitely looks like an orion to me, besides, we've already established that Gudao's world is shit at giving credit to female historical figures to the point they would rather genderbend them than admit a woman was in charge. ]
[Burning_Jealousy: You're all lying, That woman is NOT Orion. "( – ⌓ – ) ]
Mash looked back at him, clearly unconvinced but not willing to speak her mind aloud, "You heard her, Senpai. What do you think?"
He looked at 'Orion,' who was looking at him expectantly.
Whatever game Artemis was playing, he couldn't afford to take it lightly, so he had no choice but to play along.
[GudakoBot: TTS messages have been disabled. ]
Unfortunately, that meant he would have to lie, which meant he had to make a call to ensure he could play Artemis's game without having someone(Kiyohime) blow his cover.
He gave Artemis his most cheerful smile and gave her a standing ovation, "Bravo, that was a jolly good show Miss Orion."
Orion beamed at his applause, "Hehe. Thanks for the applause. I don't know who you are, but I think we can be friends♡ "
He was about to introduce himself when Orion's eyes suddenly snapped upward. It seemed like she had spotted Chat's camera.
"Goodness, a multiversal viewing camera? It's been ages since I've seen one of those."
"So you can see the camera?" He was not surprised, Stheno pretty much confirmed that divine spirits had the ability to see the chat camera. Which meant that chat could no longer find a safe place to hide when they ever encountered another hostile divine spirit again.
"Oh yes I can, I can also see the screens hovering near you." She walked closer to him, which caused Mash to tense but she relaxed when she saw Orion meant no harm and leaned over to take a better look at his display.
The sweet scent of pine sap and other earthy tones invaded his nostrils as she leaned closer. The aroma made his brain bring up images of walking through a forest.
Also, there was an undertone of burnt charcoal, but it was very subtle.
"Poke!" Orion poked the screen and let her finger stay on it for a while.
Orion's brows were furrowed in concentration, "Hm, the encryption for this display is quite strong. Oh my, it's adaptive, whoever made this for you really wanted it to survive no matter the circumstance."
She was doing a terrible job of hiding her divine nature, but he kept his mouth shut and just basked in her holiness.
"Pgryu."
His ears suddenly caught a loud gurgling noise from the woman.
"Pgryu?" Mash tilted her head while vocalizing the onomatopoeia of the stomach growl that Orion just made.
Orion chuckled nervously as she got out of his personal space, "Hehehe. Sorry, I think that's my tummy rumbling. I haven't had anything to eat in so long."
Without thinking about it, he instinctively reached into his pocket. The plastic wrapper of the XL sized 'Lunala' themed Malasada crinkled as he took it out and handed it to 'Orion.'
Orion looked at the offering with a tilted head, "For me?"
He nodded, "Yes, for you. It's not a proper meal, but it should be more than enough to keep the hunger at bay."
Orion looked at the wrapper for a long, almost uncomfortable moment of time. The woman was transfixed by the drawing of one of Alola's moon themed legendary pokemon.
Finally, Orion snapped out of her trance and gladly accepted the pastry.
"Thank you for this wonderful offering." She opened the plastic wrapper and pushed the malasada out.
She took a delicate bite from the food before her eyes shot open and let out a satisfied hum.
"It's so sweet and smooth… but I don't recognize the fruit in this filling. What is it?" Orion asked with one of her cheeks slightly puffed like a chipmunk.
"It's a Bluk berry, it's not native to this place, but don't worry, it's not harmful." He said, which made the goddess nod before she continued to munch on the Malasada.
They let the goddess enjoy her meal in silence for a moment while he and Mash exchanged mental communications.
They had no idea why Artemis was pretending to be Orion, but it was better they play along rather than offend a major goddess of the Greek pantheon.
Mash decided to gently press the issue of their situation, "Miss Orion, by any chance have you seen anyone suspicious around here? We're looking for someone who stole a large amount of provisions from our base…"
"Suspicious people... " Orion muttered before she swallowed her food and put a finger under her chin in thought,
"Maybe that trio I just saw?" Orion turned and made a gesture to the east, "They were running that way carrying something strange, but they were dropping food all over the place. That's why the wolves were gathering, they smelled the free discarded food on the ground."
Mash let out a sigh, relieved at the possibility that Orion was not actually the culprit.
"Ah, thank you so much for the information Miss Orion!! We greatly appreciate it!!" Mash looked at him.
"Come on Senpai, we need to hurry and follow after them before they waste more of our dumplings!! Especially those super rare dumplings. I have to defend them at any cost…" Mash said with conviction in her voice and posture.
"Huh... Super rare... What?" He asked which caused Mash to gasp in surprise.
"You don't know? Well you see Senpai…" Mash then proceeded to go on a tangent about special dumplings made by a famous Japanese shop named Nanayabashiya.
From the way she prattled on about them and the way her mouth watered, she was eagerly looking forward to eating them.
He noticed Mash's voice becoming more and more desperate and heated the longer she spoke, so he decided to intervene, "Mash, calm down."
Mash realized she had let the topic escape her and blushed, "Oh... Right. Sorry about the tangent Senpai, I panicked and it got the better of me. It's definitely not that I'm hungry." The drool coming from her lips disagreed with her.
Mash cleared her throat, "Anyway, they're very special dumplings. They're humanity's greatest treasure, and must be defended at all costs. "
[MalasadaMayhem: I disagree, Malasada is humanity's greatest treasure. ]
[MashuMellows: Your opinion is invalid, dumplings are superior. ]
"I see! I understand." Orion said as she folded the plastic wrapper neatly in her hands before putting away the wrapper somewhere he couldn't tell.
"Can I help, then? You've helped me out more than once already, so it's only fair I help you out with your problem. If you'll have me of course, but that shouldn't be a problem right?"
Both he and Mash looked at each other.
'Should we trust her Senpai?' Mash asked through their mental link.
That was the million dollar question. This whole encounter was eerily reminiscent of what happened when they encountered Zenobia for the first time.
The unexplained interference in Chaldea, the broken communications, and heck even Artemis, or rather Orion, noticing chat without having joined the stream.
It was very suspicious.
"...Right?" Orion sounded less sure about her word based on her tone.
'I don't see the harm. She's willing to help, so we should accept. I get how you feel Mash… but we can't let our paranoia get the better of us and push people away just because we had one horrible experience.' He told his Kohai who accepted his reasoning with a nod.
"Well, if you're offering to help us, then we would be glad to receive it." He told Orion, which made the woman beam at his response.
"Thank you, and I can understand your hesitation."
Orion's face smile shrank a bit, becoming a bit more serious than before, "A lot of people say mean things about Orion because of some of the things he did in his legend… but they're wrong! He's actually a pure-hearted, wonderful hunter! That's why I am here, because I want to prove that!"
Her face did not change as her blue eyes stared into his soul,"Well, do you believe me?"
'So she's appeared in order to repair her reputation… In other words, to correct an incorrect history… it's just like last time...'
He inwardly sighed at the new coincidence, 'Yes, but so far it's still just a coincidence. A really, really freaky coincidence. If the worst comes to worst, I can always manifest Stheno's shadow and have her fly us away.' He turned back to the goddess, who had been patiently waiting for their response.
"We believe you Orion, and sorry about the coldness. The two of us just went through a pretty big betrayal recently, and it's made us act rude around you. We would be glad to receive your help." He told the hidden goddess.
[SthenoBia: … ]
Orion gave him a look that looked empathetic, "Oh, I am so sorry to hear that. I can understand why you would be hesitant to trust strangers after such an event. Worry not, I am not offended. In fact, I thank you for being so truthful with me…. Unlike some people I know."
Pgryyyrururur!
The loud rumbling noise of Orion's stomach made its presence known again.
"Ehehe~ Sorry, my tummy is making the rumblies again." Orion said in a bashful tone.
[No way! She just ate an XL sized Malasada!! How can she still be hungry?! ]
[MalasadaMayhem: You can never have too much Malasada. ]
[SthenoBia: Divine spirits require a lot of energy to stay manifested, the fact that that pastry was enough to sate her hunger even for a bit is impressive by itself. ]
[MalasadaMayhem: That too. ]
"We should get going then, the longer we stand around, the farther the thieves will get with our dumplings." He told Mash, who let out a panicked yell.
"Ah! I almost forgot!! Let's hurry then!! We can't let those thieves eat all our dumplings!!"
_______________________________________________________________________
AN: And so, the first event of FGO has officially started. Just to be clear to everyone, I am not mad enough to go over each and every event that occurs in the story. I am only focusing on the ones relevant to the story, or the ones I like.
Healthwise, my stomach is feeling much better now, I don't even feel any pain anymore. Thanks for your well wishes everyone.
In other news, I recently got addicted to Fire Emblem Fortune's Weave, and I am playing Cai's route rn. It's honestly a miracle I even managed to write this chappie on time because I spent most of Friday just playing the game and not writing much.
Anyways, I'll try to keep the event short and sweet before we move on to a chapter or two of Chaldea stream and we jump into Okeanos. See you guys later.