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kettouryuujin · 2 years

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Nobility AU: Noble's Summit

[Inspired by @monsoon-of-art's Pokerus AU and @jade-nargacuga's Pokerus: Ghosts]

To say the mood was tense on the way to the Temple of Sinnoh was an understatement. If it wasn’t for his new School, Iscan was sure he’d be freaking out so badly that he’d need help getting there.

All the Nobles - new and old - were meeting. Officially, it was to discuss what to do about the rift and Clans, as well as go over duties and all. Unofficially, it was to get everyone used to working with each other, since the Nobles were - somewhat surprisingly - a tighter-knit group than the Wardens.

Knowing what he knew now, it made sense. Both clans had assigned the title of Sinnoh to the wrong Pokémon, and the Nobles had known the whole time. So there wasn’t any sort of clan-based division, and they actually met up regularly. Honestly, though, this all wasn’t that worrying.

What he was actually worried about was how everyone would react to finding out that he and Palina were…together. He was sure some of the old Nobles had let it slip, and even if they hadn’t he was willing to bet that it’d come up.

Even if everyone knew about Arceus now, old animosity would still be there. Especially Melli…

Oh, ball-Melli was going to be utterly insufferable.

—-

Palina thanked her lucky stars when they got to the Highlands meeting point. Lord Electrode was off to the side, recovering from an Explosion, whilst being tended to by Sir Voltorb. “Well…that explains why we had to come up here. What happened?”

“Ah… who’s to say? This is the third time he’s exploded today…” A groan from the smaller Sphere Pokémon. “It’s like the smallest thing makes him go off.”

“Erm. Is he…safe to have here?”

“Yeah, new Poppa’s right! If Melli keeps going boom-boom…” Both lovers sputtered at the pup’s frank statement. They weren’t like that yet! (Right?)

“Wait, new poppa? Ohhhh, I gotta see this.” Looking up, Palina saw the new Lady Braviary swoop in, Sir Rufflet trailing behind. “Hah! I knew you two would get together! I guess the real question is, will the young pup have siblings only on land, or in the water as well? Hmmmm~”

…right, a dog and a fish might not be…compatible… well. Something to work around when they got there.

Iscan was still stammering and stuttering up at his fellow Diamond Clan noble, even as she snickered.

“...together?”

Each pair of eyes was drawn to the giant wooden orb.

“They…they’re together? A Diamond with a Pearl?” Out of the corner of her eye, Palina saw Sir Voltorb roll away. She gave IScan a gentle bite on a fin and pulled him away, her son and Sir Basculin following suit.

*BOOM!*

…really, it was the obvious choice.

—-

The one good thing about Melli’s…explosive tendencies… is that it was a good way to let everyone know just where the meeting was.

Miss Petilil was more than willing to give the new Noble some Aromatherapy, thank Sinnoh. Especially as it seemed to help everyone just calm down some. Otherwise, they might all end up at loggerheads over one thing or another.

Lady Sneasaler - the only remaining “natural” Noble - adjusted her ever-present black hat. “Alright, I’ll do the opening since I’m the only one of us who knows how. So yadda yadda yadda, I declare this Meeting of the Hisuian Nobles open.”

“Lady Sneasaler! You are not giving this the right gravitas!” Sir Basculin fumed from his spot in a nearby water bowl.

The Fighting-/Poison-type just shrugged. “Meh. It’s what works. Got any complaints, whitefin?” A growl. “Thought so. Now.” A sigh as she leaned back. “First things first. I assume everyone has been informed that the whole "Sinnoh dispute" your clans had was completely pointless?”

A series of “Aye’s” came up from the former Lords, with one exception. “I have told Lord Melli, but he…hasn’t exactly let me fully explain.”

“Oh-kay. Go ahead and give the talk while we get started. Don’t wanna push the little sprout too far with Aromatherapy.” Miss Petilil gaped at the taller ‘mon, then sighed.

Lian leaned to Sir Scyther. “...has she…always been like this?”

The Sir let out a sigh. “Since before her Trial, apparently.”

“I have ears, you know.” The bug-type Noble and his predecessor stared at the Sneasaler before she sighed. “Right, next up would normally be discussing Wardens, but given circumstances we can pass to Current events.” A deep breath. “And… this is the doozy. Not talking about the mass transfer of power, but everything that’s been going on.”

Her eyes swept across the assembled ‘mon. “Anything of note at the villages and all? You lot have had more experience there than us, so…”

Mai sighed. “Unfortunately, it seemed like us… ex-wardens… were the furthest along with our changes. The Clan Leaders were the closest to our levels, though.”

“I…right. Ok.

…Bird. You can stop jumping.”

Indeed, Sabi was just hopping in place, causing some rumbling on the ground. “Bird. Please. Staph.”

“But I have something to saaaay!”

“Is it from your ‘clairvoyance’?” The Lady made air quotes, not noticing her fellow Noble shoot a glare. And an evil smirk.

R.I.P. Lady of the Cliffs.

“Oh, the same thing that let me know you’ve been trying to learn human speech recently?”

“Yeah, that th-wait, what the?!?” Weasel-cat whirled on avian, gawking. “You - I - I haven’t been trying to learn human! Where’d you get that idea from?

C-Cut it out, you guys!” Nope. Despite her pleas the assembled Sirs, Misses, Lords, and Ladies would not stop laughing at the Sneasler.

Eventually, Sir Rufflet managed to talk instead of laugh. “A-apologies, but… I can confirm her talents for myself. We’ve saved several clansmen with her visions, and I’d be a fool to discount them.” Sigh and smirk, shaking his head. “Although that was one she had not shared with me.”

Sabit just petered off into a snigger. “But the real question is, did I see your reaction, or did I see you actually practicing?” Sneasler just glowered at Braviary, causing the newer Lady to sigh. “Right, right. Anyways, I saw what was going to happen.”

“Y-you mean whatever had Sir Basculin scared enough to pass on his title?”

“The exact thing, Iscan.” Her head drooped some, eyes closing. “It…wasn’t pretty. In the vision, I…I wasn’t myself. None of the Clansmen were.”

“I assume you don’t mean physically.” Good on Gaeric for clarifying.

“No, I mean…” A small choked squawk came out, tears coming to her eyes. “I…Sir Rufflet? Can you?” And she had to let the experienced one take over? Oh-kay…

“Of course, m’Lady.” The smaller bird stepped forwards. “Lady Sabi had allowed me to view hr vision via my psychic powers, and her reaction is… sadly, justifiable. We thought she'd be able to tell you anyways.

Nevertheless. Her vision revealed that everyone in Hisui, except for the Nobles and a few lucky Pokemon, had been reduced to mere beasts that were hunting…something.”

The hollow itself seemed to still at this revelation. Background chatter from those in the meeting and those who were just peeping in died off. “She didn’t see the end result, but we are lucky it didn’t traumatize her.”

“...that bad?” Sir Basculin whispered. Sir Growlithe burrowed his head in his mother’s mane, while Sir Scyther just gawked. Sir Stantler laid down, forelegs over his eyes as he shook in fear. Tensions climbed as Miss Petilil’s Aromatherapy ceased in shock, Sir Ursaring sitting and murmuring about how this couldn’t be possible. Sir Bergmite had fallen on his back, not even bothering to move as Sir Voltorb stared, eyes occasionally darting to a thankfully-still-alert Melli.

“That bad.” Sir Rufflet nodded. “Truth be told, it seems like nothing would be set right without the Hero returning.”

Silence reigned for a few precious minutes.

—-

Lady Sneasler was in shock. This whole “Pokérus” thing was leading up to people being at each other’s throats? Hunting and killing? Nary a sign of intelligence?

…Sinnoh, what were you thinking, letting all this happen?

And more pressingly. “These… lucky Pokémon. Did you happen to see anything about them?”

The young Sir shook his head in denial. Crap, so the former Lords might be vulnerable now! Oh this wasn’t good this wasn’t goo-

“There…was one thing.” Eh? Miss catatonic had snapped out of it? “T-thinking back on the vision, I… I realized. It seemed like everyone who wasn’t… insane… had some sort of Legendary blessing.” Her gaze drifted to the young Sir Growlithe. “L-like you.”

The pup pulled his head out of Palina’s fluff. “E-eh?”

The Braivary - who suddenly seemed a good bit older - nodded. “Yeah, you… you were safe in my visions. Weren’t even a target.” A dry laugh. “Heck, if Palina was nearby and not… busy… she’d be caring for you.”

Time to step back in. “Oh-kay, that’s impressive. But the pup was blessed by Arceus then, and now he’s given that blessing to his mother. Don’t you think-”

“Erm, actually?” And Sir Basculin had piped back up. “My continued independence proves to me that Dialga and Palkia helped oversee Iscan’s Rite of the Waves. Would that be enough to protect us?”

“I’ll commune with them tonight, see what I can find out.”

“...erm. You sure you can do that, Miss?”

“Eep! Right. Sorry. I’m going to have to teach Arezu how to do the Dance of Connections…”

“The what?” Said Lilligant looked at her predecessor in sheer bafflement.

“I’ll explain it when we get back to the Arena.”

“Oh-kay. Erm. Anyone else have something to discuss?” Lady Sneasler got the meeting back on track, only to receive a series of “no” responses. “Right. Well, umm. Given the… magnitude… of what has been discovered, I’d like to call for an emergency adjournment so the ex-Nobles can start helping their new Nobles learn to fight. If we can’t get any answers from the guys upstairs, we’ll have to assume the worst. Sabi, Rufflet. Any signs we can look for?”

Sir Rufflet gladly answered: “We have until the skies turn red before anyone falls to insanity. Also, the hyper-aggression comes with glowing red eyes, so it’s easy to tell who’s affected.”

“Gotcha. Someone get that noted.

OK, all in favor of emergency adjournment, say ‘Aye!’”

A chorus of tiny “Aye’s” sounded out through the hollow.

Lady Sneasler sighed. “I…alright, kinda can’t take your word here, need the actual current Lords to say ‘Aye!’...”

“Oh, uh, Aye?” “Aye.” “Aye?” “Ayy.” “Aye-Aye!” “Aye…” “A-Aye…” “Erm, aye?” “I. Oh, um, Aye.”

“Alright. Oh, uh, first: I’ll be popping by after the Dance of Communion to see what Arezu’s heard.” The Grass-/Fighting-type gulped, clearly not having expected this kind of pressure. “Once I know about that, I’ll go around and see if we can get another meeting set up.

Now. Meeting adjourned, everyone get to practicing!”

Silence (except for Miss Petilil leading Lady Arezu away).

“TODAY, people! We don’t know when that red sky is coming!” That got ‘mon up and running, and soon only Melli, Sir Voltorb, and Lady Sneasler were left. And she wasn’t gonna stick around for the Electrode’s training - she preferred not being blown up, thank you very much.

And Legends, was this what it was like being the eldest Noble? She’d like the old Lord Basculegion back, please and thank you. Ugh. Well, if wishes were fishes and all that crap. She had to get ready to check on the Dance of Communion - probably get some notes - and make sure the kits were alright. Not to mention see if the sky was starting to turn red and all because that would be when pretty much all of Hisui would be hunting something. Quite possibly them.

“Arceus help us… we’re gonna need it.”

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