From lingering lows to climactic highs, it’s time to finish the fight!

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TSF Showcase 2024-34
Pokémon TSF Series (Seasons 3 – 4) by Vel

Previously on TSF Showcase, I did a broad overview of the first two and a half seasons of Vel’s Pokémon TSF Series comic. Going over the many flavors of insanity it has to offer, the bouts of TSF brilliance it delivers, and some of its more questionable contents. But that is merely the first half of the story! …Well, actually it’s more like the first fourth of the full story if you want to count the entire extended multiverse, but I’m just focusing on the main story.

If you have no clue what I’m talking about, please check out TSF Showcase 2024-33, where I go over the background and start of this series in great detail.

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Did you do it? Good! 

Already read TSF Showcase 2024-33 before clicking onto this? Great! 

Didn’t check out the last one and don’t care to? I admire the moxie, you tenacious sonuvagun!

Now let’s get started!

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TSF Showcase 2024-34.3
Pokémon TSF Series Season 3 – Better Than BDSP

Seasons 1 and 2 of Pokémon TSF Series were ultimately part of the same storyline, and that storyline was primarily driven by two things. The author’s love for exploring TSF concepts with a deluge of monsters and cute characters. And an original story about someone trying to create a world where humans and Pokémon are treated as equals. Season 3, however, is grafted onto the foundation of Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. The story operates in parallel with the story of BDSP, is full of references to the relevant events, and aims to tell not one but two stories of characters going on their own Pokémon journeys. …While also delivering a wholly original narrative and finding opportunities to insert TSF into things whenever it can.

What I’m getting at is that, in terms of narrative ambition, this is at least two levels above what was done before, and even for a creator with such energy and passion behind their work, it’s a lot to take on.

The season begins with Ditto, still transformed into Dawn, and the Mimikyu possessing Cynthia approaching the real Dawn. The hero of Sinnoh in this universe and an aspiring Pokémon master. With Ditto’s transformation powers and Mimikyu(Cynthia)’s Garchomp, they are able to put Dawn on the ropes, forcing her to use her Dialga, which is exactly what Ditto wants. Upon seeing a Pokémon, she can transform into it and gain all its powers, just like they were able to do after seeing Palkia in season 2. With this power, she can now transcend time and achieve whatever she has planned. She begins her transformation, eager to open a rift in time, only to be betrayed by… Cynthia. She, somehow, was able to absorb Mimikyu’s powers and regain control, becoming a hybrid of a Mimikyu and a human. 

Ditto flees in light of this betrayal, attempting to travel through time to escape, but Cynthia gives chase and narrowly hits her with Garchomp’s hyper beam. This impact loosens Ditto’s bond with the human they absorbed back in season 1 chapter 3— who’s a girl now. Her body is unstable, death is likely, and in a final move of desperation, Ditto shatters the flow of time, sending her and Cynthia off into a new timeline. This leaves them stranded at the beginning of the events of BDSP, de-leveled, de-powered, and, in Cynthia’s case, de-aged to a child.

…As for the human who Ditta consumed and then was separated from, he got sent to a Planet of the Apes style Pokémon world where Pokémon are the trainers and humans are the creatures who do the battling. That sounds like a crazy side story concept, but Vel just threw it out there as a quick gag, made in a few hours tops, not even colored or anything.

Upon arriving in the past, Ditto, or rather D as they are referred to throughout this season, is unable to sustain herself and requires a human host. Without many choices before her, she bonds with Barry, the Sinnoh rival. A hyperactive yet good-spirited kid who, like most Pokémon rivals, seldom ever accomplishes much of anything and routinely gets trounced on by the actual protagonist. He has moxie and is shown to be competent, even if he just hates evolving his Pokémon, but he at least completes all eight gyms, unlike some rivals. 

Together, they go through the events of BDSP, trying to get all gym badges, running into Team Galactic, up until the latter portions of the game, where things start to deviate.

Meanwhile Cynthia and Garchomp, or rather Gible, are depowered and going on a journey of their own to regain their age and experience while trying to track down where D could have done. All of which leads them to eventually pair up with Dawn— the Dawn of this timeline— as allies as they work together to stop D from achieving their ultimate goal.

Unlike prior seasons, the storyline of season 3 is a lot more serialized. Chapters lead from one to another. There are only the two major storylines involving both parties. And things build up and grow over time. Every chapter offers some fun TSF fueled concept or meaningful plot progression, but it is far easier to condense the overall storylines at the same time. So I’m not going to do a beat-by-beat recap of the story like I did with prior seasons, as there are too many minor things going on. But I do want to talk about the big moments, and about the season more broadly, firstly by talking about the main characters.

In Pokémon TSF Series, Barry is presented a bit differently from his game counterpart. By bonding with D, Barry retains control of his own body, but D remains a persistent voice in the back of his head, feeding on his insecurity, and urging him to use her transformation abilities. She ultimately wants Barry to become someone else, for him to grow dependent on her, and to ultimately prefer a form that is more aligned with her tastes, i.e. Dawn. 

Initially, Barry is more interested in using transformation as a means of fulfilling his sexual desires— masturbation. But as he spends more time as Dawn and other women, he gradually begins feeling the psychological effects of D’s transformation. While he does not gain his form’s memories, he does gain access to his assumed form’s tastes and habits. Meaning if he transforms into someone confident, a ‘born protagonist’ like Dawn., he will feel more confident as her compared to regular old Barry. The more time he spends as Dawn, the more he starts to feel comfortable in her form, as a woman, and the less comfortable he feels as himself. His greatest goal in life is to be a great Pokémon trainer, and if he’s better at battling as Dawn then… maybe he should reassess who he is.

I have a strong love for TSF stories where the protagonist is being haunted by a little voice in the back of their mind, just in general. I think it’s an underrated niche of TSF that speaks to how easy humans can be to convince or manipulate, how strong one’s will can be, and reflects the messy feelings one might have when pursuing an alternate identity. I think it is a great character dynamic in how it distributes power between the one piloting the body and the mental passenger. And I think Vel does this premise justice with Barry and D. Barry resists at first, gradually learns to embrace the act of becoming someone else, and his conclusion feels justified.

Meanwhile, Cynthia’s story is mostly played for comedy purposes, taking this intimidating and beloved character and turning her into a kid. Though, that’s not quite the full story. As a a result of her counter-possession of Mimikyu, Cynthia is no longer actually a human, but rather a shadowy ghost with immense power. But not psychic abilities like the ghost Pokémon seen previously. It’s more that she can easily destroy things, horrify people, and also crawl inside and possess them. When she does this however, Cynthia sheds her body as a skinsuit. A skinsuit that anyone, or anything, can just wear by crawling into it… such as her Garchomp.

Yes, Cynthia’s Garchomp is a playful little creature that just looooves to crawl into her master’s body and have sex with her, no matter what body she is in, which… I’m not gonna lie, I just think that’s funny. You have this apex predator, this Powerhouse Pokémon™, this iconic mainstay in competitive play, this flying sand shark, and their favorite thing to do… is become a hot goth blonde lady and have sex. Vel knows this is hilarious, and even includes little scenes of Garchomp just being a horny little shark girl, clawing for her master’s skin, like a kid begging their momma for candy.

…However, there’s a slight problem with this concept.

Cynthia is a kid for a good chunk of this story. As in, her body is said to be 7 or 8 years old. And the only way she can become older, can get back to her adult form… is by having sex. And she does. Meaning Vel not only included multiple scenes featuring a character who is, physically and explicitly, a minor, being involved in sexual activities, he made it a damn plot point.

…What the fuck, Vel? I get that this is all done for the sake of comedy and absurdity, that mentally all the characters are adults— except for the children whose bodies are used against their will. But this is something I can’t really defend here, especially when it happens three times. (Maybe even four depending on how old she physically is at the Team Galactic HQ)

This is an unfortunate aspect of this comic, as I do think that Cynthia’s depiction here is a lot of fun. The general consensus among the fandom is that Cynthia is a stone cold bad bitch, but peripheral media has never shied away from her sillier side, and in turning her into a kid lets her indulge that. She’s a cute character. She makes for good comic relief during the first half of the comic. And she makes for a fun couple with Dawn, who’s just a regular girl being thrown into this wild world, but is determined to do the right thing and not afraid of even the most dire situation.

Now that I’ve addressed those more general themes and concepts, there isn’t a whole lot to talk about for the first chunk of the story beyond novel moments. How Barry meets with Dawn’s mother, who treats him as her and gives him a spare of Dawn’s outfit, allowing him to better become Dawn and raising his confidence in his impersonation skills. If he can fool someone’s mother, he can fool anyone. The encounters with Cryus, whose revolutionary rhetoric stirs some discontent within Barry, even though the story chooses to not go in that direction. A scene where a collector steals Cynthia’s skinsuit and has his horny Aibipom fuck him, which is just on-brand for Ambipom. Or basically the entirety of chapter 9, which is just a ghost story where Cynthia and Dawn get spirited away to Old Chateau.

Come chapter 10 however, the story begins wrapping up. After Barry fails to defeat Dawn in Canalave City, he has a crisis of fate, ashamed of his inability to beat her, of who he truly is, and wondering who he should be. While falling through this despair, D explains that he can become anyone who he wants to be and, if he works with her, she will change the world to reflect his desires. This emboldens Barry, and with his future on the line, he ventures off to stop Team Galactic’s plans. But not out of a sense of heroic righteousness. 

Barry and D infiltrate the Team Galactic headquarters, with Barry resolute in his desire to change the world in his image, and defeats Cyrus in order to obtain the Red Chain for himself. Dawn And Cynthia are close behind him, but remain a step behind. They reach Cyrus only to see the last of his life eke out of his body, and gather where he might be. They run to Spear Pillar hoping to stop him, only to see that the ritual is well underway. D has summoned Dialga, all three of the lake guardians are floating around her, and before Cynthia and her Garchomp can launch a single attack, time is frozen.

D has already won, her victory so secure she avoided a final confrontation. With a god before her, she is able to make her request. For three lake guardians to embed her with the gifts of humanity and allow her to become a human. A human who retains her powers as a Ditto, but gains a new permanent form. One that is based on Mew, with a pink bob and bright blue eyes, a la the debunked fan theory that Dittos were failed clones of Mew. I always love it when fan works just treat fan theories as canon. 

D, or as she names herself, Diem, has finally achieved her long desired goal, but she could not have gotten here without Barry’s help, so she rewards him by giving him what he desires above all other. To become the greatest trainer in Sinnoh, Dawn. But rather than initiating a body swap, Diem sends Barry’s memories back in time, into Dawn’s body, where they remain sealed away until… right now!

Barry’s body falls to the ground, robbed of a lifetime of memories and reverted back to an infant. While Barry takes control of Dawn’s body and incapacitates Cynthia, sealing her mouth so she cannot use her Mimikyu powers. Vulnerable, Diem puts her and her Garchomp to sleep, effortlessly dispatching the last threats in her plan. 

Diem then goes up to Dialga to thank them for helping her achieve her goals, only for Dialga to thank her for saving them from capture by Dawn and explain the origins of the world to her. That while Dialga is a god, there is a greater one, the Original One, and that Diem has powers similar to them.

Still, with her goal achieved Diem is ready to head through a spacetime rift back to her own world, and say goodbye to Barry, or rather Dawn. But right after grabbing Cynthia and opening the rift, a creeping shadow emerges from the floor, bearing a striking resemblance to a familiar legendary specter. Thus ending season 3.

Season 3 is not without its flaws and shortcomings. Some of its choices are strange, like incorporating the save file event Jiarchi is part of the story, omitting certain gym leaders and events, and just ignoring everything after the seventh gym badge. It does not do everything it could do, and it does not achieve everything that could be done by being a full-length TSF-ified run through a Pokémon game.

However, for a comic written, illustrated, and released in a mere four months, as a hobby project, from a creator who was releasing other works at the same time? It’s an impressive achievement. I did not cover most of the cute or novel TF concepts it plays with here, but it has a lot of creativity, throws in wild concepts with little hesitation, and feels like it is focusing on only the essentials or ideas that were good enough to rise to the top. It is a complete story that does what it needs to and maintains enough creative energy to carry it to the finish line.

Season 3 is ultimately both a good TSF story and a good Pokémon TSF story and once you get rid of the crap I detailed earlier in this showcase, it holds up pretty well. However, this is not the end of the series, as there was one final season that picks up from this cliffhanger. So let’s see where that cliffhanger takes us.

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TSF Showcase 2024-34.4
Pokémon TSF Series Season 4 – Crunch Unto Divinity

…I’m not going to bury the lead here. Season 4 of Pokémon TSF Series… is messy. The story was released from June 2022 to January 2023, spans fewer pages than season 3, and is trying to tell a more ambitious story than anything else Vel has ever attempted up to this point. Hell, more ambitious than anything he’s ever tackled since this. It’s the story of Diem teaming up with Giratina to take revenge on Arceus. The story of Pokémon Legends: Arceus. And a story to wrap up the entire series in a satisfying conclusion.

The story is trying to do a lot, and its problems do not stem from what it does, but from what it doesn’t do. The details it omits or glosses over. The lack of breathing room. And the story… just lacks a firm foundation. It lacks the character arc and development of someone like Barry to help ground the story. It is trying to follow and abide by the story of PLA, yet makes so many omissions and has such a strange fixation to certain details that it almost feels like it shouldn’t have tried to be faithful.

I don’t like starting off a showcase with such a negative footing, but I think that preamble is necessary to talk about this story. Because it can be dope as hell one moment, and leave me questioning what Vel was thinking the next. In reality though, he was probably just stretched too thin. He started this project right when he began doing the Genshin Impact TSF Diary series, picked up the Evangelion TSF series right in the middle of publication, and got busy at work.

Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing but respect and adoration for Vel. It’s because I respect him, I believe in talking about both the highs and lows of his works, celebrating and criticizing them when I feel it is warranted. So, let’s go through this story, chapter by chapter, and do just that. …After first acknowledging that the English translation here is pretty sloppy. Vel has never been great with grammar or spelling, but this can get hard to read in spots. I can follow it, but even now, I worry that a mistranslation may be skewing my perception of certain events.

The prologue begins with Diem and an unconscious Cynthia arriving in the Distortion World on behalf of Giratina, who explains the central plot for this season. Giratina has been sealed in the Distortion World for decades after seeking revenge against Arceus during the plot of PLA and wishes to change history. To go back to the past and prevent themself from ever being sealed. And if Diem helps Giratina, they will use their powers to grant her immortality, so she’d be a fool to not help them out! But for Giratina to travel back in time unimpeded, they need a body, and fortunately, Cynthia is already a Pokémon-human hybrid, so she’ll be perfect! Also, they somehow procured Cynthia’s Renegade Sygna Suit outfit from Pokémon Masters EX. I won’t really question it though. It’s too much of a banger design for me to care.

Chapter 1 begins by quickly going through the opening of PLA. Dawn/Hikari— that is, the Dawn from the original timeline last seen in the prologue of season 3— gets isekai’d back to Hisui by Arceus and joins the Galaxy Expedition Team. Except the story tries to obscure this, with Diem saying that “even though she has the same face as the Dawn I know, her aura is completely different.” But I’m chalking that up as a translation error. Maybe she’s referring to Barry who became Dawn in the BDSP timeline?

Diem and Giratina are also members of the Galaxy Expedition Team, but their goals are more personal. Rather than trying to create a Pokédex or tame the noble Pokémon, they are trying to gather the tools they need to combat Arceus. Namely the 18 plates needed to summon Arceus, and the lingering souls that Giratina left in this world. …Which I need to make an aside to acknowledge, because this is an odd bit of lore that Vel just made up.

In PLA, there are 108 souls wisps scattered around that must be collected in order to encounter Spiritomb. It’s a bit of open world busywork, and probably the worst part of the game, but a neat bit of lore that leads to the formation of an artificial Pokémon. However, in PLA, this has nothing to do with Giratina and there is no connection between them and Spiritomb in any piece of Pokémon media I can tell. 

Vel, however, is choosing to tie Giratina and Spiritomb together and creates lore stating that Giratina implanted brainwashed souls inside people. They did this under the belief that if they were sealed in the Distortion World, they would eventually be freed by one of their followers. And Cyrus, in this rendition, was one such person. He was not a man disillusioned by the world who wanted to create someone better. He was just a person with a corrupted soul. 

…That’s lame as hell! 

Speaking of questionable decisions, Giratina is not afforded much personality beyond being the more stoic and brooding counterpart to Diem, but Vel chose to also make them terrified of Dawn. This is because she sealed them away in the Distortion World, and is used as a running gag… when it’s not really all that funny, nor does it make much sense. Yes, they are a dark figure and seeing them flustered can be funny, but they do not have a good reason to be irrationally afraid of just the sight of her like this. Vengeance and hate? Absolutely. Fear? No. Giratina is a dark deity and fears nothing.

Also, Cynthia is still around, but her human soul— not the Mimikyu part of her— has been put inside her own Garchomp and acts as a servant for Diem and Giratina. That girl just can’t catch a break…

Chapter 2 is where the comic pays the most lip service to the unique characters from PLA and… it feels kind of awkward as a result. The chapter begins by quickly alluding to how Diem and Giratina are collecting more plates while Dawn defeats the noble Pokémon on her own, effectively waiting for her to go through the game story. And as they are waiting, they encounter Adaman and Irida. Leaders of the Diamond and Pearl clans who have a habit of feuding with one another over whose interpretation of scripture is correct. Diem, known TSF enthusiast with many insights into humans, swaps them so they can have sex and make up. 

She spends the following morning playing damage control with them, telling them she might be able to turn them back to normal in three days. This means they need to do each other’s duties, and as they immediately run into their own TSF related episodes involving other characters from PLA. Adaman needs to find Palina, and when he does, he finds that she has been possessed by a Dusclops. A reference to both a quest involving Palina’s boyfriend, Iscan, and a nifty TSF concept that has a unique visual element. Bandages are a form of clothing, as an appendage, as something to bind and facilitate arousal, and a means of possession.

Regardless, Adaman is able to kick this Dusclops in its big red eye and free Palina. She’s overjoyed. In fact, she is so thrilled to be saved that she throws herself at Adaman, still in Indira’s body. Why? Because why not? Wynaut!

Meanwhile, Indira, in Adaman’s body, gets knocked out and bound up by a Mismagius possessing Melli. An androgynous character who I always misremember as being female because just look at that fabulous hair, but he is actually male. This Mismagius also thought he was a girl, so they decided to just casually transform their body, as ghost Pokémon can just do that, I guess! 

Anyway, this Mismagius gets powers through sexual acts and proceeds to give Indira a blowjob— then why go to the trouble of giving yourself a vagina if you’re just going to suck a dick, ya dumb ghost? But before Mismagius can go all the way, Melli is able to suddenly break free of the ghost’s control, out of love for their “brother.” …Wait, are Melli and Adaman brothers? I don’t think so. I think Melli just admires Adaman like a brother. Yet Melli claims they are brothers and is sexually attracted to them so… maybe this is just a way to tick off the incest box?

Anyway, the end result is that fem-Melli and Indira inside Adaman are now an item and so are Palina and Adaman inside Indira. A cute idea, one that is given enough time to be fleshed out, and displays some nifty concepts. But after chapter 2… the story just doesn’t do anything with this idea. There’s no escalation or subsequent development like the events of season 1 that led into season 2. It’s just kind of… there. Like a one-off inserted into this story in order to make it feel more like a soft adaptation of PLA.

Chapter 3 reveals that the whole soul collecting business is almost done and the characters are already halfway through the main story, just needing to visit the ice region to get more souls. Diem and Giratina hop down a hole to find them, only to meet with a Hisuian Zorua disguised as a human. Now, Hisuian Zorua has remained part of the key art for this comic since it was in the ideas phase, so they should be a key member of the team. Hell, as a ghost type version of a shapeshifter Pokémon, they should be a major character in this story, right? …No.

Instead of becoming the third member of their merry crew, they take the Hisuian Zorua and put them inside of the body of Sabi, the clairvoyant loli type character so they can get another plate. Now, Hisuian Zorua actually does not stay like this, and says they will join the group… but they vanish after this chapter. (Actually, the epilogue mentions something about how Hisuian Zorua actually possessed Cogita, when… that is not supported in the text. We never see it happen.)

Oh, and you know that whole soul collecting plot? Re-reading this, I thought they were just trying to get the souls for some greater purpose, but it turns out… they were only traveling around this region to get a Spiritomb. Now, Spiritomb is a good Pokémon. Slow but bulky and while not a diverse attacker, a great design and staple support Pokémon. But compared to Giratina? It’s garbage! I thought this was to make Giratina more powerful, possibly unlock its superior origin forme outside of the Distortion World, but… it doesn’t! At least I don’t see how it would do that.

It all makes me think that there was some greater plan for Spiritomb and Hisuian Zorua, but things had to change in order to wrap this comic up in 8 chapters. It would fit in line with everything else being skimmed over or rushed, but it’s still frustrating as… what have the main characters accomplished leading up to this point? Barely anything. 

Also… wouldn’t they already have a Spiritomb? Cynthia always has a Spiritomb on her team, it is one of her staple Pokémon, and if they have Cynthia’s Poké Balls, they should have a Spiritomb, right? Sure, she did not use it in season 3, but… did the Mimikyu possessing Cynthia get rid of all their other Pokémon? Why only keep Garchomp? I understand if there was some greater reason for all this but… there just isn’t. Spiritomb is used in chapter 4 for two things, battling and initiating a body swap, but you cannot tell me that a Spiritomb was the only Pokémon who could do that. 

Getting into it, chapter 4 picks up after Dawn is kicked out of Jubilife Village. A plot point that comes out of nowhere unless you are familiar with the original game. Diem tries to befriend Dawn during her most dire hour, saying that she can fix everything and stop the sky from being all crazy. But first, they need to wait for Giratina to finish their job. At Spear Pillar, Giratina, with their Cynthia Garchomp and Spiritomb, managed to defeat Volo (somehow) and now they need information only Volo is privy to. 

Rather than interrogate him, Giratina decides the best way to go about things is to have Spiritomb swap Cynthia in Garchomp and Volo. Meaning Volo is in the body of a female Garchomp that gets raped by his Garchomp off-screen, while Cynthia is in the body of her male ancestor. …Because Diem is a TSF enthusiast and thinks this stuff is hot!

Now, the concept of memory transfers have been handled very loosely throughout this series, featuring a lot of different methods to transfer or consume them, but here we get an age-old classic. A copy of the memories remain with the body even after a body swap and can only be accessed via acclimating the mind to the body through a powerful experience, i.e. ograsming. It’s a bit of a nonsensical method but… I’d be lying if I said I didn’t personally love it. 

To help Cynthia in Volo’s body with this, Giratina, who is still in Cynthia’s body helps out by fucking her into submission. Cynthia is too overwhelmed by her male body to resist, and ultimately relents, embracing the sweet rush of new memories and becoming a loyal servant for the rest of the series.

With these new memories, Cynthia acts out the role of Volo before Dawn, taking her to Cogita in the Ancient Retreat, so Dawn can begin the quest to assemble the Red Chain. There is also a brief encounter with Diem and Cogita… but it barely amounts to anything. Cogita is just here for the sake of completeness and for a single panel gag at the very end.

After assembling the Red Chain, Dawn finally goes back to the Spear Pillar to summon Dialga. They do so, Dawn fights off Palkia, returning the sky to its normal color, while Diem fights off Commander Kamado and Beni, using her transformation powers. Dawn sees this and is shocked that her supposed friend is a Pokémon. Diem briefly tries to convince Dawn that these humans are paranoid and distrustful, that they abandoned her after she did so much to help them, and offers her to help reshape the world. …But Dawn’s a two-time protagonist, so she believes in the status quo.

As this rejection plays out, Giratina unleashes the 108 souls they gathered across Jubilife Village in order to… do… something? I honestly have no idea what the plan here was other than to possibly cause some disturbance to summon Arceus, who shows up two pages later. However, I think Diem repairing the Red Chain in order to control Dialga and Palkia would be sufficient for him to show up. 

Chapter 5 is the most visually ambitious thing Vel has ever done as a creator, being an extended action sequence with flight, rapid movement, a bunch of different creature designs, and energy blasts galore. He is clearly not the most well versed in these sorts of things, and was trying to draw things very quickly, yet I want to pause and reiterate that, for all my criticisms of this season, Vel still did it. 

He drew nearly 220 pages of a full comic in six months, and while some of it looks jank and rushed, he still finished it. And that matters. That matters a lot to me. When creating something as a hobby, it is so damn easy to just drop it and move on when it stops being fun or leaves your comfort zone, but Vel realized how many people were invested in this story and brought it to an ending. And for all the gripes and nitpicks I have with season 4, it ends on a strong note. 

The chapter begins with Dialga and Palkia already summoned, Dawn is standing by Arceus until the end, while Diem and Giratina are ready to fight. Dialga and Palkia announce how they are tired of how they are mere pawns of Arceus, forced to abide by his decisions, and they are putting their faith in Diem, the revolutionary, the one who aspires to dethrone GOD!

But Arceus is no pushover. He steals the plates Diem acquired, granting him immunity to most types. Grabs Dawn, protecting her as she rides on his back. And summons the ten companions of the ancient hero of Sinnoh ro keep Dialga and Palkia busy while he takes care of the real threats.

Diem and Giratina take to the skies to battle Arceus as he unleashes a relentless wave of Judgment upon them. Diem and Giratina try to keep up, try to dish out the damage, but Arceus’s plates make him immune to almost half of all moves and resist all others. Sheer power cannot defeat him. Despite their might, as the god of Pokémon, he cannot be defeated by a Pokémon, even hybrids like them. However, anybody who’s finished a Pokémon game knows that there is a surefire way to defeat even the most tenacious legendary. And anybody who’s played PLA knows that all you need to make a Poké Ball… is hands, fruit, and rocks!

Giratina holds off Arceus for two minutes, and just as he is about to kill her, Dawn intervenes, begging him not to kill Cynthia’s body. She leaves Arceus’s protection as she makes this plea and is spun around by a pink tornado. Arceus quickly rescues her, only to be duped by Diem, who reveals her ultimate weapon. A Poké Ball created using the Red Chain.

The Poké Ball is capable of capturing Arceus, binding him in the tools of mankind. There’s a moment of relief… only for that to be shattered as the absence of Arceus’s presence is causing reality to collapse. Someone needs to replace Arceus, to take his place. …And that person probably should be Giratina, since they plus Origin Forme Dialga plus Origin Forme Palkia are… Arceus. 

Kidding aside, this is Diem’s story, and when she sees divinity dangling before her, she takes it! She absorbed the Red Chain Ball, eager to gain the power of a god and then… she somehow steals Arceus’s power through a process that takes over 10 years and almost entirely happens off screen.

What the hell happened? Not sure, but now Dia is an Arceus gijinka, complete with white hair and red/green eyes, and has become the god of the multiverse, with Arceus’s soul being sealed in the Red Chain Ball. That should be enough to just end the story right there, except there is still a pesky matter to address, that of restoring the timeline. Making sure the world they are in connects to the one they are currently in. 

Dawn still needs to stop Volo, Giratina needs to be sent to the Distortion World, the Pokédex needs to be completed, and Dawn needs to give birth to her own descendents— wait, is Dawn her own great great grandmother? Well, probably not in canon, but in Vel’s series… probably!

However, there is a teensy problem with that. Dawn’s soul was destroyed with Arceus’s capture, and her body is an empty vessel, meaning they need to get creative. Diem impersonates her as she fulfills Dawn’s duties, becoming the savior of Hisui. Once that journey is complete, she visits Turnback Cave, revealing that she sealed Arceus’s soul in Dawn’s body and chained him up as a prisoner. Destined to remain even after his new body dies, his soul bonded to this place for all eternity. And if he ever tries anything funny, there will be a vengeful god eager to smite him down. Diem teases the former god of this world, delighting in her conquest… before departing.

From there, all that’s left is a bit more narrative housekeeping and the epilogue. Causality is connected, Gengar possesses Gloria, and the events of the entire series play out as expected. With both Diem and Giratina free, they choose to spend their time exploring other worlds and possibilities in this elaborate multiverse, enjoying the endless possibilities of this Pokémon TSF Series. 

…Wait, two deific women who underwent substantial transformations traveling around a multiverse and getting into a deluge of TSF related events within a TSF Series? Why does that sound so familiar?

Self-indulgence aside, this is about as strong of an ending as I could ask for. While getting there was a bit rough, it really comes together in the end and leaves the series on an open yet satisfying conclusion. One where it could continue with a new storyline, or just end there, and… it kind of ended there. After making so many hundreds of pages for Pokémon TSF Series in just a few years left Vel exhausted. Readers were hoping he would continue with a season 5 based on Scarlet and Violet, but he chose to end the seasonal format. Not an absolute end, but if he were to return to this series, it would be with one-off story ideas. In the past year and a half, he has added about 25 pages to this collection, including a brief glimpse into his initial idea for a season 5, and a commemorative piece drawing the major characters from season 1.

I think that’s a bit of a strange lapse, but it’s not like Vel has stopped producing comics. He still releases something new every week, still displays a lot of creativity, and his recent string of longer form commission works have consistently impressed me. He’s still one of my favorite TSF artists around, and I always look forward to what he is going to do, Pokémon or otherwise. Though, I would be surprised if we didn’t get a side story after Legends Z-A drops. 

In the meantime… read more of Vel’s stuff! Seriously, if you are hungry for TSF comics, Vel’s got a back catalog bigger than some 10+ year veterans I’ve been following.

…Now get outta here and hit up his Pixiv, darn it! 

Give him a follow and some hearts! 

…And be sure to say you’re not from America or the UK when setting up your account, because VISA and MasterCard SUCK! Go into your account settings and choose a cooler country instead!