AoR29

***S.O.S.*** and ***Don't Say a Prayer for Me Now*** are a two-part chapter in *The Angel of Reckoning*. They were originally designated as Chapters 29 and 29.5 upon release; for the purposes of this wiki they are collectively referred to as Chapter 29, and are considered a single chapter released in two parts.

The first part depicts Matt and Amanda encountering their mother on the Ice Path as the latter leads a mission to recover Genesect for Polaris, while the second part depicts the fallout of these and other events immediately preceding them.

## Plot summary

### Part 1 "S.O.S."

Continuing from where *Runaway* left off, Matt Chiaki, Olivia Mistbloom, Nekou Lalume, Anabel Mistbloom and Amanda Chiaki venture into the Ice Path on their way to Blackthorn City. As they hike, they come across the Bisharp Clan in the midst of a battle to determine the new leader of their pack. One of the Bisharp dueling for the role, who had been the Pawniard whose head blade was damaged in battle during a prior encounter, loses and is thus exiled from the clan. Matt, intuiting from what the Bisharp tells him that Polaris is somewhere on the Ice Path, decides to take him in and gives him the nickname Jeremiah.

Later that day, Matt battles a Swinub with his Crabrawler, Edmund, evolving him into a Crabominable. Later still, Anabel recieves a phone call from Monroe asking if she has found Olivia. The ringing attracts a wild Cryogonal, and Matt reveals that he caught a Bouffalant on Route 38, who he nicknamed George, when he battles it. Matt captures the Cryogonal and nicknames it Victor.

As they pass through a clearing near the end of the Ice Path, they are accosted by Polaris agents led by Matt and Amanda's mother, Mercury. Matt and Amanda react angrily to her presence, believing that Polaris sent her because their participation in the destruction of the Guanosine Base has made the conflict between the cult and Team Rocket personal. Mercury tries to drive a wedge between the siblings by insisting she doesn't want Amanda caught up in Team Rocket's activity, but this fails. She offers to leave them alone if they return Colress Antimony's Genesect to her, but they refuse, forcing her to send out her Electivire and Pelipper along with a Bisharp; Jeremiah identifies this Bisharp as the Bisharp Clan's old leader, meaning Mercury's capturing her broke the clan up and led to Jeremiah's exile. As Matt and Amanda begin battling her, the clan appears and attacks Mercury's followers, driving the scene into chaos.

With the Bisharp Clan distracting Mercury's henchmen, Matt and Amanda work together to try and fight her. Mercury orders her Bisharp to attack, but as she is confused over the command to fight a member of her old pack, Mercury is forced to use a Meteonite-powered armband - another of Colress's creations - on her. This gives Bisharp a supercharge of power and brainwashes her to follow Mercury's orders, and she helps Electivire and Pelipper swiftly overwhelm Matt and Amanda.

Once she has her children at her mercy, Mercury stops Electivire from attacking further and again asks for them to return Genesect, framing doing so as repayment for her "motivating" them to escape from their father. Amanda lashes out at her, genuinely distressing Mercury, who pleads for them to understand and join Polaris so they can be saved and once again be a family. As they argue about this, Mercury reveals that she was the one who leaked Cyrus's plans for Amanda in Project Cortex to Matt, which motivated him to escape from Team Galactic with her. This revelation destroys Matt's will to fight, prompting Anabel, Olivia and Nekou to prepare to step in.

Before they can, however, Renzo Milos arrives, having heard of the chaos on the Ice Path while with Clair and Fran at Blackthorn Gym. Intending to send a message to Father, Renzo easily defeats Mercury's Electivire with his Camerupt, then sends Conkeldurr and Ferrothorn to finish off her followers, forcing the Polaris crew to retreat. With the battle over, Jeremiah parts ways with his old clan and their new leader on good terms, accepting his new role as a member of Matt's team. Renzo, meanwhile, rejects Anabel's gratitude and demands a battle with her in Blackthorn City as the first step of his revenge, to take place the next day.

Colress meets with Father and Finansielle in the former's office at the Polaris Temple. They inform him that Mercury failed to recapture Genesect, a loss he dismisses. Finansielle informs him of Polaris's true purpose, to aid the Forbidden Beast in acquiring the life-giving light of the Radiant One. Colress embraces his role in this agenda with unhinged glee, eagerly declaring that he will show the world perfection.

Throughout this chapter, flashbacks detailing Matt and Amanda's childhood are shown. Among these are Mercury leaving them with Charon, Sutter Chiaki's attempt to support them, the accident that blinded Amanda, and their attempt to run away from Snowpoint City that nearly led to their deaths until they were rescured by Cyrus.

### Part 2 "Don't Say a Prayer for Me Now"

The group retires to a hotel in Blackthorn City to recover from the events at the Lake of Rage, Guanosine Base and Ice Path. Olivia, while bitterly drinking a glass of Aprijuice in the hotel café, watches a FlareNet broadcast in which Malva presents a manifesto of Polaris's ideals. Anabel arrives, and the two have an initially tense confrontation that ultimately ends with them airing out their emotions about recent events, beginning to mend the rift between them.

In Celadon City, Giovanni reflects on his enslavement by Polaris and Team Rocket's downfall. He ponders if there is a place for the team in a world rid of Polaris, even though they must fight the cult either way, lest Ariana Lalume's death have no meaning.

Matt makes his way to Nekou's room at the hotel, angrily debating the implications of Mercury having helped him and Amanda escape from Team Galactic with himself as he goes. He discovers Nekou self-harming in her despair, struggling to get past the feelings of inhumanity that her regenerating from the wounds symbolize. She tries to push him away by insisting that she used him for her own satisfaction after saying she would stop, but he insists that he won't abandon her, as he now understands that she just wants to know someone will be there to help her when she needs it. In response to his comforting her, she breaks down, initially overwhelmed by her fears of everything in life being temporary. When he describes their traveling group as a sort of family that she's included in, she calms down and promises that she will do her best to help protect them. Having gotten all their feelings out in the open, Nekou asks Matt to read to her, and he agrees, beginning to read *The Prince and the Soul-Heart*.

Meanwhile, at the Polaris Temple, Finansielle approaches Father with information she claims came from the Oracle. She informs him that it is time to recruit Renzo into Polaris, which he replies is a day he has long anticipated. Father expresses doubt about whether the plan to recruit Renzo will work, but Finansielle promises him it will, and agrees to be the one who brings Renzo in.

Nekou has a nightmare in which she meets the Forbidden Beast. It menaces her in the dream, warning that she will soon become its avatar and gain control over the world it inhabits. When she snaps awake, Matt comforts her, promising her that she belongs where she is.

## Characters

* Matt Chiaki
* Nekou Lalume
* Olivia Mistbloom
* Anabel Mistbloom
* Amanda Chiaki
* Renzo Milos
* Clair
* Fran
* Father
* Finansielle
* Fumika Chiaki/Mercury
* Colress Antimony
* Malva
* Giovanni
* Bisharp Clan
* Monroe
* Sutter Chiaki
* Charon Chiaki
* Cyrus
* Ghetsis Harmonia
* Zinzolin
* Polaris members
* Forbidden Beast

## Trivia

* Part 1 of this chapter takes its title from the song of the same name by ABBA, while Part 2 takes its title from a lyric in the song "Save a Prayer" by Duran Duran.
* Malva's broadcast in Part 2 includes flashbacks to Zinzolin's speech in *Goldrenrod City Under Siege (Part 1)* and Ghetsis Harmonia's speech in *The Weight of the World (Part 1)*.