Welcome to another exciting installment of Spacemon, the tale of a Pokemon TRPG campaign! This is a spinoff of the sci-fi space epic played using the Pokemon Tabletop United (PTU) system, this time GMed by yours truly. You can get caught up on the entire Spacemon saga here!
Taraka clutched his holoscroll tightly in his hand as he descended the stairs into the central atrium of the Grand Archives. The end of his journey was close at hand. It would soon be time to close this chapter of his life and begin the next.
As he crossed the atrium, Taraka passed the rows upon rows of the holoscrolls of those who came before him. Here, at the very center of the Grand Monastery, the collective history of the Universe the monks of the order had thus far catalogued stood as a testament to their efforts, rising from the floor to the very top of the Monastery.
Pausing briefly on the symbol of the Congregate inlayed in the floor at the center of the atrium, Taraka looked up to the true heart of the Grand Monastery. The giant psionic crystal suspended high above the Archives was no less impressive than the first time he had laid eyes upon it. The crystal channeled the collective wisdom of the scrolls. Soon, Taraka’s own scroll would be a part of that pool of knowledge.
Upon reaching the far side of the atrium, Taraka approached the counter behind which an apprentice archivist sat. She looked to be about Taraka’s own age, a few years older than him at most.
“Hello,” Taraka greeted her.
The apprentice looked up from what she was doing and flashed Taraka a warm smile. “Good day,” she said. “How may I help you?”
Taraka confidently placed his scroll on the counter and said, “I have come to submit my holoscroll.”
Taraka sat waiting outside the Grand Archives, meditating while the Archival Council finished deliberating on his scroll. Many hours had passed since he had delivered the product of his pilgrimage and he’d had plenty of time to rest and recuperate after the fight with Sikari outside the Grand Monastery. Thanks to his psionic healing abilities, the monk felt good as new, even after sustaining wounds that would have taken the average person weeks to recover from. Now the only thing left to do was wait.
Another hour or so passed before one of the apprentice archivists approached to let him know it was time. “The Council is ready for you, Brother Taraka,” the young man informed him.
“Thank you,” Taraka said. He nodded at the archivist, then got to his feet.
Taraka followed his fellow monk through the door into the Grand Archives, then across the atrium. At the far side, the apprentice archivist motioned Taraka toward the stairs leading up to the raised platform where the Archival Council waited. The younger monk then bowed and took his leave. The next steps were for Taraka to take alone.
Nine pairs of eyes gazed upon Taraka as he reached the top of the stairs. The members of the Archival Council sat in a circle around a small pedestal upon which sat his holoscroll. The head of the council, an ancient monk by the name of Isaiah with a long, flowing beard that extended below his waist, motioned to the one open seat, positioned directly across from him. Taraka bowed his head in respect, then took his seat.
“Welcome, Taraka,” Isaiah addressed the returning pilgrim, speaking with a voice that creaked with age. “This scroll you have brought before us is most intriguing.”
“Indeed,” another monk, this one known as Azriel, commented, nodding in agreement. Azriel was an older monk at least twice Taraka’s age, but beside Isaiah, he appeared quite young. “It has been quite some time since a member of our order has documented a previously uncatalogued nation of the ancients.”
“And what a fascinating nation it is,” said Riva, the youngest and only female member of the Council. She had joined the council shortly before Taraka began his pilgrimage and she was, in fact, closer in age to him than most of the other members. That said, she was still old enough to be his mother.
“Quite fascinating, indeed,” Azriel said. “Seeing their method of preserving the knowledge of the mind provides us a deeper understanding of those that came before. This scroll shall be entered into the Archive of Ancient Nations.”
“Thank you,” Taraka said. “I am glad to have been of service in expanding the Archives.”
“Tell me, Taraka, what will you do next?” Isaiah asked. “I foresee a promising future for you amongst the ranks of the order.” A murmur of approval sounded amongst the other members of the Council.
Taraka took in a deep breath. The time had come. “While I am honored to receive such praise, I believe that my path now leads me elsewhere,” he informed the council.
“I see,” Isaiah said. “So you intend to leave the order then?”
“Indeed,” Taraka replied. “I have seen and learned much on my pilgrimage, and now that I have imparted that knowledge on to the Congregate, I must set out on a new journey if I am to continue to grow.”
“I am sorry to hear that you are leaving us, but I understand,” Azriel said. “A journey of self-discovery is a commendable goal.”
“Thank you for understanding,” Taraka said, nodding. “And while the time has come for us to part ways, I am eternally grateful for everything the order has done for me.”
Isaiah bowed his head, prompting the other members of the Archival Council to follow suit. “May you have safe travels on your journey, Brother Taraka,” the ancient monk said.
“How’d it go?” Cyrus asked upon Taraka’s return to the Maverick.
“Well, I believe,” the monk replied. “The Council found my scroll to be interesting, but they were sad to hear of my plans to leave.”
The captain shrugged. “That’s about as good as you could have hoped for,” he said.
“Indeed,” Taraka agreed. “I am pleased that this resolved with an amicable split. They were quite understanding.”
“That’s good to hear,” Cyrus said.
“How will Mr. Silver feel knowing that your scroll has been entered into the Archives, I wonder,” Sikari said, suddenly appearing out of nowhere.
“It’s out of my hands now, so who cares?” Taraka asked rather bluntly. The assassin may have struck a deal with the captain, but that didn’t mean he was about to start trusting her. He was not about to forget her numerous attempts to end his life.
“I wouldn’t be so dismissive if I were you,” Sikari said. “Mr. Silver is not to be trifled with.”
“What do you want anyway?” Taraka asked.
“I’m just here to inform your captain that I have finished installing the upgrades to his ship using the tech I scrapped from my own ship,” the assassin explained. “Mr. Silver’s got my ship all bugged up, so the only option was to tear it apart,” she elaborated upon seeing the confused look on Taraka’s face.
“I see,” the monk replied.
“Good work,” Cyrus said, nodding at Sikari.
“Well, if that will be all, I’ll be on my way,” the assassin replied. Then, just as suddenly as she had appeared, she vanished.
“Do you really trust her making modifications to the ship?” Taraka asked Cyrus.
“Not particularly,” the captain told the monk. “That’s why I had Erik and Kasey oversee those modifications. We don’t have to trust her to use her skills to our benefit. If that other assassin comes knocking, we’ll be glad to have someone like her around.”
“Fair enough, Captain,” Taraka said.
“Anyway,” Cyrus said. “It’s about time we figure out where we’re headed next. Got any thoughts?”
“Now that my pilgrimage is over, I would like to learn more about Pokemon,” Taraka said, his lips forming a slight smile. “So you know my vote.”
“Of course,” Cyrus said, letting out a chuckle. “Guess I’d better go ask everyone else.”
Taraka nodded, his smile widening. “Indeed.”
Notes: This was a shorter chapter covering only a tiny chunk of session 45 , but it made the most sense to make these scenes their own chapter rather than part of the previous one or part of the next one. The ending of the battle with Sikari made the most sense as an ending of that chapter, and the party did something completely different for the second half of the session so putting this at the beginning of that didn’t work either. This section of the session was mostly just paraphrased descriptions rather than RP, so I expanded everything into full scenes to do it justice. The end of Taraka’s pilgrimage is important to his character development, after all. The first two scenes feature some callbacks and characters from previously written entries in the spacemon canon, though nothing major. I just felt like it helps tie everything together better. The only other thing of note that happened in this section of the session was Novi taking his fourth and final class with the exp gained from the battle with Sikari and for finishing his character arc. He took Mentor, which allows you to tutor moves onto your Pokemon, change their natures, and give them an extra move slot, among other things. Seems fitting for a monk leaving the order to become a full time Pokemon trainer.
That does it for this chapter. As always the Spacemon gang and I will be monitoring the comments to foster discussion and answer any questions. Feel free to give feedback and critiques of the writing so I can improve it for the future, or just leave a comment with what you think about what went down in this chapter or what you think might happen next! You can also revisit past chapters, check out the rest of the Spacemon saga, join the Spacemon Discord server, or like our Facebook page to stay updated on all things Spacemon! Click here for the next exciting installment of Spacemon: Frontier!
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