The Diplomatic Team: The Diplomatic team has made contact with Lord Marrow of House Ellia. He was fairly hostile to the group mostly because of their ties to the Gold Tribe, but also because of the fact that they were foreigners. Marrow alluded to the fact that all foreigners were generally forbidden inside Tollen, and there could be consequences for bringing them in. The Diplomatic team also discovered other names, including Lord Arron of House Durania, who was briefly mentioned. The diplo team convinced Marrow to give the guys a chance to explain themselves, and so Marrow went over to appeal to the other nobility to grant an audience before all of the dignitaries and nobility of Tollen, where they might be able to present their case for aid.
Also, the diplo team discovered that a portion of the network psychics have been taken hostage somewhere. Maybe something the thieves could investigate sometime. Lord Marrow returned around the same time that the two thieves were partially discovered in the palace. He was angry about the situation, asking if they had anything to do with it. The Diplomatic team assured them that they didn't, and Marrow informed them that the audience was set up.
The following day, the Diplomatic Team was presented to the audience, where the nobles of Argime gathered. Among the seated once who presided over the others were Lord Marrow, Lord Arron of House Durania, Lord Caellen of House Jenoscent, who was the son of the true head of the House (who was away because he was apparently ill), Deputy Commander Elewyn of the Royal Knights, and General Marcus Tyren of the Standing Army. Later, the savior everyone was referring to, and the Royal Commander of the Knights entered, who turned out to be the same Greninja Gabriel from Valkaria. In a slight state of worry, Thomas urged the diplomatic team not to mention Cresselia, so they approached the meeting from a call to aid for troops approach. The meeting surprisingly divided the nobles and military officials, with Lord Marrow and General Tyren supporting to toss them out, and Elewyn, Caellen, Arron and surprisingly Gabriel voting to hear them out more individually.
The diplomats met with various dignitaries following the meeting. They first met with Lord Arron of House Durania, who explained that he was informed somewhat of Gabriel, at least on the part of him being a nuisance to many nobles of Tollen, and also supported him being removed from power. Lord Arron explained his ties to the Brotherhood of Shadows, a group bent on getting rid of Gabriel, and of various other secret networks. He explained that if they were to help him get rid of Gabriel, he would provide them troops for their fight in Gold City, as well as any information they seek. He also asked as a condition for this that the diplomats ask the Queen to allow Arron to sit on the Throne of Rectitude, which is a position reserved for the most trustworthy of Tollen. The position involves that should no heir be named to the current ruler, that 'mon which current sits on the throne will take over as the ruler of Tollen. Currently, Gabriel is allowed to sit on the Throne.
Following the meeting with Lord Arron, the diplomats met with Lord Caellen, son of the leader of House Jenoscent. He was much more shy than his father, as he claimed, and clearly didn't have the knack to rule. However, he did say that his father was not sick, but rather that he was out of the city in secret, as he did not trust was Gabriel said, and he wanted to see the condition of Tollen for himself. Lord Caellen promised what support he could if the diplomats helped return his father to him.
Their next meeting was with the Deputy Commander of the Royal Knights, Elewyn. Elewyn seemed sincere in her support of the situation in Valkaria, offered support in troops without any favors or requests in return. It seemed that there were still quite a few Royal Knights who were brought up viewing the Gold Tribe in a relatively favorable light.
The meeting after Elewyn was with Gabriel himself. The meeting was an odd affair with many fronts and double meanings behind it. However, when he did begin to explain himself, Gabriel seemed intent on keeping his motivations somewhat secretly while still implying a few things, including that the presence of the diplomats in Tollen did benefit him as well as them. It seemed like it was all a game to him, with Gabriel even betting the diplomats that they couldn't bring him down within two nights from their meeting, where they were to attend a banquet of sorts, in which the Queen of Tollen would also be present.
The Thief Team: Two thieves, Charlie and Obsidian, decided to gather some information by infiltrating the palace of the Queen. Along the way, they heard something about a 'mon named Popous, who it was later found out didn't make it into the Royal Knights despite many thinking he should have because he was very skilled. Obsidian and Charlie also ran into a Herdier who was of nobility, whose House had the insignia of an Emerald Dragalge. The Herdier sniffed around when Obsidian and Charlie were close, but didn't comment on the thieves presence if he knew they were there. Charlie and Obsidian discovered a book, which detailed the line of succession of the General of the Standing Army. Apparently, the General has recently been replaced in the last year, from General Isabella to General Marcus Tyren.
Other thieves have been hearing continuous things about someone or something known as the Savior. From what they could gather, something has happened here in the last year which caused a lot of devastation of some sort, and many mon allude that the savior was the one to stop it, or save them from it. It is claimed that the mon was born in the Oddish Trail, a relatively poor and small part of the slums of Tollen. Other claims made him out to be from other parts of Tollen. The savior was clearly a prominent figure of some sort, having stopped the devastation known only as the Reckoning.
The thieves also planned a heist with a group they got in contact with after Snype saved a slum mon from a Royal Guard. The group mentioned something about another group known as the Brotherhood, but not much is known about it at present. On the day of the heist, Snype spoke with a citizen in Tollen named Popous, who somewhat upset about not getting into the Royal Knights, and thus was honorably discharged from the standing army. He passed on a bit of information that the Savior was a Greninja. The heist came, with the thief team meeting up with Roran (the initial 'mon who brought them the heist), as well as Joseph, Stretch, and a Bisharp named Creed. The group agreed to hit the shipping caravan as it traveled within the city, as it was found out that the most skilled Royal Knights guarded the entrances and exit to the city, where the supplies were bound. Jeice, another member of the heist, informed the group that there would be two standing army soldiers, and two royal knights guarding the caravan. The shipping job went off without much of a hitch. Except at the end of it, instead of leaving the knocked out royal knights, Creed suddenly killed the two Royal Knights.
The thief team took offense, but it was soon discovered that he was with the Brotherhood, and the shipping job was an initiation of sort to get the group to meet with them. He also mentioned that killing them would derail suspicion of another group with the Diplomatic team inside the capital. It was also found out that the Brotherhood stopped a Royal Knight from passing information on to the higher ups in the palace about them having SEC supplies, and therefore could be foreigners here. The Brotherhood asked to meet with the thief team that night.
The thieves returned to their hideout in a spa, where they met with a Seeker, who was one of the standing army soldiers posted with the caravan. There, he gave a good painting of the full story. A plague began in the capital, which killed the King and caused a lot of devastation. The borders were closed and all foreigners were dispelled to try and contain this Reckoning. It also seemed that a portion of the citizens, mostly nobility and those around the palace, seemed immune to the plague, which greatly angered the suffering poor and middle class. Finally, a Royal Knight came forward by the name of Gabriel and began to cure this plague. He became extremely popular among the people of Tollen, and so the Queen gave him a position of influence. The nobility were more hesitant to accept him given his roots, but agreed because they knew the people would protest if they did.
Following the meeting with the Seeker, the thieves met up with the Brotherhood in the same evening, where it was discovered that their leader was actually Isabella, the former General of the Standing Army. Isabella had begun to suspect Gabriel and his plans and for that, she believed Gabriel set her up in an assassination attempt against the Queen, and also an execution. Isabella escaped, and began working in the shadows to bring down the Gabriel. The two sides relayed further information about the situation outside, and Isabella relayed everything going on within the country, including her ties to Lord Arron of House Durania. They agreed on a loose partnership to bring down Gabriel by uncovering the past.
The first place they agreed to look, as suggested by Sylvio, was the events surrounding the Dark Tournament which took place over a century earlier. It was a similar incident that occurred during the Silver War, and was proof of Darkrai's involvement. Furthermore, Knights of Tollen as well as Gold Tribe fought together during this incident. Although it was initially covered up because of panic, there may have been some record left behind. The thieves sought to find this record, which Sylvio suspected was in the Raegal Center. The Raegal Center was constructed many years ago, and despite never being renovated, was allowed to stand from orders of the King directly without any explanation.
The thief group made their way inside the Raegal Center the following day and began to look for the records. They managed to discover it below the old library, but someone else seemed to track them as well. An Abomasnow formerly employed by Lord Arron, but who was recently 'outbid' into another 'mon's service, attacked the group and killed Creed. They met up with the brotherhood again later that day, where they discussed the event, as well as began tracking down further leads to bring down Gabriel.
The Thieves pursued several leads the following days. Skuld would go and find the Abomasnow and end up tailing him. From there he would learn that he was indeed in the service of the enemy, specifically General Marcus Tyren, who appeared to be allied with Gabriel. Other leads including diving into Isabella's memories, where they discovered a possible connection between the plague and Gabriel, and saw how Gabriel used a strange object to possibly influence the effects of the plague. Other leads were found in the palace, where Snype infiltrated and found an encrypted note. After the encryption, it was discovered to be from someone named 'Xander', and which details Gabriel's relationship with Darkrai. Snype would also find an interesting book known as 'Guardians', as well as a documentation of the orders of the Royal Knights, most of them which seemed against what was best for Tollen. A strange vial was also found in the room, one which gave Snype a vision of something menacing, perhaps of Darkrai's power, or even Darkrai himself.
Snype fled the scene, but not before also recruiting the help of Rupert the Mr Mime advisor, and also hearing the story of the old Royal Knight Alistair, who shared the tale of the Prince's death by hunting accident. It appeared that back then, the same vial Snype had found was used then by Marcus Tyren (then a Royal Knight) to make sure the prince died. Snype found one more piece of evidence in the form of love letters from a lesser noble named Pieter. The love letters, which were directed to the Deputy Commander of the Royal Knights, stated information about the previous assassination attempts of the Queen, and that connection not to Isabella, but to Gabriel and Darkrai's Agents. With all of this information in tow, the Thieves now had enough evidence to take down Gabriel. However, just before they would present it, Isabella ended up losing two pieces of the evidence after losing it in a tussle with Royal Knights loyal to Gabriel. Gabriel had apparently found out about the identity of the group looking for evidence and decided to put a stop to it. Isabella ended up losing the Guardians book and the Royal Commander schedule. These weren't extreme losses, but they did have some important information in them.
Snype was also attacked following the scene, with some of the strongest Royal Knights pursuing him. He ended up momentarily evading them, and wandered the city for a while, seeing it go to mayhem as soldiers entered homes in search of the thief team. However, Snype ended up being trailed by none other than one of the strongest warriors in Tollen, Marcus Tyren. Tyren was powerful, and was in the process of taking down and defeating Snype. However, he was eventually saved by Popous, whom Snype met earlier while in disguise. Popous took Snype to his home, where once the Sableye recovered, he shared his entire story with him. Popous listened and agreed to help at the banquet, adding another ally to the group.
The Forest Team: The Forest Team left before the other groups, on the evening prior. They transported to Beatruce, where they were directed onto the backs of water Pokemon, and traveled across the river into Tollen. Upon reaching the shores the following morning, they found the outpost there largely abandoned. They did see tracks going in multiple directions, and when the 'mon tried to sense out the place to see where the most activity was coming from, they found out that going north had a lot of death. The group therefore proceeded north, where they walked through the jungle for hours. They noticed the area was quite foggy, but discovered this was a combination of smoke and mist. They reached a body, one of the hellguards of Tollen, and then came upon a group of Hellguards, the last of a scouting team of over 80, now just half a dozen. The scouting team, led by Lieutenant Trace, was returning back to Fort Trantrea to reconnect with the remaining forces in the area. They talked about how they were attacked from all sides in the jungles, from three different forces no less. The Morrians, a group of wild tribe-like 'mon with painted faces, were the biggest trouble in the Northern area. They also said if they wanted more information, they should speak to Commander Darrell in Fort Trantrea.
A few hours later, they arrived at the fort. When the forest team arrived with the hellguards at Fort Trantrea, they found it under attack by a Morrian scouting party. With the help of the forest team, they managed to push back the Morrians, and the forest group met with the Commander. There, he relayed what he knew. He explained that he has not received any skilled Hellguard reinforcements from the capital in months, and recently, he hasn't even had any of the bad kind. There was no news from the capital. From a few Seekers Penance found, it was also discovered that any remaining Seekers in the country were drafted into the Hellguards from the standing army and sent to the warzone.
After some time, the place received a message from a nearby village, which said that there was a Tollenian noble from Argime there. However, at the same time, Fort Trantrea began to be under attack. The forest group was left to decide whether to pursue the noble or help the troops in Trantrea, and they decided to remain and fight. The battle lasted the entire night and into the morning, with the Morrians not retreating until the last 'mon standing. However, the Hellguards won with the forest team's help. As they rest and recover now, they decide on what to do next.
The forest team met up with a Seeker from Valkaria, Alexis, who was strangely transported here by a Network Machine. The reason for his transportation was a mystery then, but it usually doesn't malfunction on this level unless some sort of strong psychic energy was the cause behind it, likely from another Network Machine. With another Seeker and psychic present, Penance/Brynn decided to try and contact Argime through a long, psychic chain of connections. Even though it was far away, they decided to try. They connected with every Psychic they had in the area, and tried to extend themselves across the forest. Their signal was picked up, however not by Argime. Instead, they were surprised to learn that there was a second Network Point established on the outside of Argime in secret. According to a quick message, it was placed there for the Pentosarrs and Morrians to go and use to get a quick path into Argime straight into the city. The forest group is somewhat skeptical, believing that the message could be a trap, so they send a scouting team there first. Following this, they called for the army to arrive in the location, which is by a town called Brookerridge, to finally put the pieces of the plan into place.
The army showed up and positioned itself in Brookerridge, and soon after the army of the Morrians and Pentosarrs showed up. It was a conflict that took the entire night, but with the help of the Valkarians and some Seeker reinforcements, the Hellguards prevailed. With the Psychics now in tow, the forest team was now able to help out their friends in Argime, and share what had happened, but not before the Hellguards promised their full support in the war against Darkrai in Valkaria.
Together Again: The Thief, Forest, and Diplomat teams reunited at the banquet, where they shared all of the evidence against Marcus Tyren and Gabriel to the entire city and the nobility and other dignitaries of Tollen. The evidence was large, and the Valkarians found themselves with an advantage, until Gabriel decided to take matters into his own hands and try to force the Queen to drink from a cup, which many believed was probably poisoned. Little did he know that Rupert, the Mr. Mime adviser, had switched out the Queen's cup at the last minute, potentially saving her life.
Backed into a corner, Gabriel, Tyren, and what loyal Royal Guards he had with him decided to make a run for it, with the Queen in tow. The Valkarians and the Tollen defenders pursued. They squared off against Gabriel's best, in a fight for the city. Tyren eventually decided to stop running and face off against the tag team duo of Raz and Kaveri. In a tough bout, the two were eventually able to defeat the Agent of Darkrai and apparently kill him.
Meanwhile, Callimer, Snype, and Obsidian decided to pursue Gabriel, who had the Queen as a hostage. They were eventually able to get the Queen out of his hands, and Snype scurried away to bring her to safety. Eventually backed into a corner, both Obsidian and Cal fought with Gabriel. They appeared to be holding him off, but the Greninja was powerful. It became apparent that the Greninja was relying on some power of Darkrai through a small orb he held in his hands. When Snype returned, the three hatched a plan to get rid of the object in question. They were successful in doing so, much to the dismay of the Greninja.
Gabriel demanded the orb back, but the three refused, instead demanding that Gabriel surrender. Gabriel proceeded to ask if Snype remembered what he had first said to him when they first met. Snype shrugged it off as some lame line he said in Gold City, but Gabriel clarified that their first meeting actually came 30 years before. To the shock of the three warriors, Gabriel proceeded to recite words spoken by Darkrai to Snype many years prior, and then subsequently transformed into the legendary before their very eyes. They briefly tussled with the legendary, but were overwhelmed. Darkrai put them to sleep, but not before he explained to them the necessity of keeping them alive: chaos. Darkrai then escaped Tollen as the three fell asleep.
They were awoken by Guardia, and then shared their experience. Alex came soon after and helped to remove any possible power of Darkrai inside of them. Oddly enough, only Callimer and Obsidian had any corruption inside, while Snype remained free of it.
The next few days were spent recovering and reuniting, and a few days later, a meeting was held where the dignitaries of Tollen all gathered. There, the Valkarians nominated Isabella for her old position of General of the Standing Army, and Elewyn became the new Royal Commander. Lord Arron of House Durania was also elected to have the honor to sit on the Throne of Rectitude, much to the disagreement of many dignitaries.
The meeting also featured the Tollenians providing what aid they could, including Commander Darrell promising the entire Hellguard force once they need it. Elewyn, Marrow, and Arron also pledged Royal Knights number a bit of 100, and Isabella also promised her support through what remained of her Brotherhood members. Rupert promised what help he could through hired mercenaries, and Popous and Alistair agreed they would be present at the fight. Roran also set up an alliance with Snype with the new Brotherhood, one that was more thief-centered.
The meeting also featured a few notable events and reveals about other matters, including the fact that the orb around Zai's neck was the same one, or a similar one, to the one Gabriel had. Many theories were put forth about this. It was also revealed that Raz had a bit of Darkrai's power inside of him. Arron also shared some stories about Anatellia, and how legendaries were confirmed to walk with normal 'mon there. He recommended they go there. Isabella remembered reading something of the sort in the 'Guardians' book she lost, but could not remember more than becoming more than 'normal 'mon'. Marrow also brought out the Psychics of Brookerridge and shared a message they received, one which specifically said that Cresselia had been found in a hymn. After some more deliberation, the group eventually voted to go to Anatellia, to find help against Darkrai from other legendaries, and to find the origins of the message.