Seems like a very supportive relationship indeed.

 I actually reached 100 followers on Facebook, so I celebrated with a little thank-you doodle. I thought it would be fun to have the subject be a species that lived around 100 million years ago, and I picked Oryctodromeus because I have a lot of experience drawing it by now (and I thought the tunnel-number idea would be fun).

There's a little mammal popping in to say hello because smaller burrows have been found branching off from orycto burrows, and it's thought that mammals may have done their own tunneling inside the burrows.

I'm really grateful for everybody who enjoys my art (and maybe my writing)--I'll keep doing my best to create a bright spot on an Internet that can get really scary sometimes. Let's all be kind to each other--that's what really makes things better.

Return to Lynwood, Chapter 13

 Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7
Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12 - Chapter 13

It was a couple of hours after lunch on the third day that they found the ruins. The landscape had become more and more familiar to Isengrim these past few kilometres—this was land that he had not only traversed before, but had once roamed regularly. Even individual trees were familiar now. There was the thick old pine with the knots like a twisted face in its trunk. Here was the oak where he and his packmates found gold buried under the roots. The memories came flooding back to him. A look around at the other Werelupes’ faces told him they were experiencing the same thing.

Through the mist, Isengrim could see a number of immense fallen conifers, moss-covered and long stripped of their needles, stretching toward the approaching company like the spears of a hostile guard.

One of the Werelupes drew a sharp breath. “We’re close now,” she whispered. “Those are the trees that toppled when the keep fell on them.” Her packmates nodded.

“Let’s keep going,” Isengrim said. Now back on foot, he led them through the blockade, beneath rotting trunks that sat propped on the remnants of undergrowth where they landed nearly fifteen years before.

 

 And here we go again with the featureless void where a strange old man indoctrinates you into a world of monster fights.

 Unlike the Gen I games, Gold/Silver/Crystal have you start out in a black void where a disembodied voice is talking to you and asking you to set the time. Which is actually pretty terrifying if you stop to think about it too much like I have!

Return to Lynwood, Chapter 12

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7
Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12 - Chapter 13

For the rest of that day and the first half of the next, they travelled further south, deeper into the ancient Woods. The rain continued off and on, which Isengrim appreciated as it drowned out any scent trail they might be leaving. Nevertheless, he did not see any more V’s slashed into trees. He guessed that Vakhtang probably operated more northward, where there were towns to raid. This increased their chances that the iron-hearted Werelupe hadn’t stumbled upon the artefact—but not enough for Isengrim to stop worrying.

If there was any upside to the situation, it was Connor becoming slightly more personable. Although still quiet and far from chatty, he no longer seemed so sulky, and by the twitching of his ears seemed to actually be listening to the others instead of outright ignoring them.

Isengrim was not sure if the pup had taken to heart his companions’ promise to protect him, but it looked as though Connor at least found them better company than Vakhtang. Although the dark-furred Werelupe could hardly consider that a compliment. He was fairly certain a mutant Kiko with the Sneezles would be better company than Vakhtang.

 

 Aaaaand welcome to Book 2!

I'd been wanting to make a chapter covering the Johto games since the very beginning of the comic; Gen II is my favorite Pokemon generation and Gold/Silver/Crystal are some of my favorite core series games. Unfortunately, at the time, there was a bit of a snag--the Gen II cartridges released in America are notorious for having unusually low lifetimes for the save battery, meaning my games didn't save anymore. 

This was back in the day before virtual re-releases on newer consoles, so I did what any dedicated fan would do: I bought a new battery for my Silver cart and a friend of mine helped me get the cart open so we could replace the battery. Miraculously, that worked, and I was able to have another Johto adventure.

If you know anything at all about those games, you're probably wondering what Kris is doing as the player character when it's supposed to be about Silver Version. I did indeed base these comics off Silver (so no, no Eusine or Suicune subplot here, sorry), but Crystal was the first core series game to allow you to choose the gender of your player character, which, being a girl, I really appreciated. So I decided to honor that by making Kris the main character of chapter 2. (No shade to Ethan, but Kris is kinda more fun to draw anyway.)

So buckle up--the adventure starts tomorrow!