Deruta

￼Deruta was a female Faded Ninetales who led Team Prism, one of the most influential rescue teams to date.

## Personality

Deruta was known to be quiet and respectable, with a modest admiration for the spotlight. She enjoyed engaging and enthralling audiences, finding herself most comfortable speaking for larger audiences. She seemed rather selfless, enjoying making others happy and seeing them succeed.

When caught alone, Deruta was shy and amiable, yet prone to feeling cornered. She was emotionally malleable, easily sympathizing with any Pokémon who may speak one-on-one with her. When she spoke to individual Pokémon, she preferred to speak about them, steering away from conversations about herself. This led to a lot of mystery about her personal life.

## Early Life

Deruta was born in a far away place under the care of a human, who bred her for battle. Her trainer was an explorer and a pilot who loved to travel the world and battle with his team. While EV training Deruta, he inflicted her with Pokérus to accelerate the process. While he was still training Deruta, the trainer flew far south. During this trip, he encountered a problem that caused him to crash on Paradise Island. He died instantly, though Deruta survived rather unharmed. This story was wildly unknown to Century until she revealed it to Team Oran and Magenta soon before her death.

When Deruta reached the mainland, she was still Faded, which began the spread of the virus within Century. She suppressed and hid her condition with a veil she wore over her muzzle, which she infused with Apricorn dust.

## Team Prism

After arriving at Century, Deruta lived with Magenta in a quieter part of Century City. She and Magenta both led their own rescue teams, which they each founded as part of the Century Guild. Deruta spoke about Paradise Island, at first keeping it vague for dramatic effect but later realizing that its location would be better kept a secret. Still, the public took a keen interest on the stories she had already told about this mystical island. It tied to previous legends of a fireball that landed at sea, which was in fact Deruta's plane crashing.

Deruta decided to ride on this fame, claiming that Paradise Island was a fantastic, mysterious, undiscovered dungeon, and promising to discover it. Her team grew into an esteemed exploration team, discovering numerous dungeons during her career.

### Last Mission

Deruta decided to retire Team Prism during *Keepers of Prism* due to her age. Before officially retiring, she toured Century with the promise of a last mission: to discover Paradise Island by the end of the month.

Her true intentions with this, however, was to later disappear, choosing to stay on Paradise Island until the Faded status condition would fade away.

While visiting Trioe Town for this tour, she met Team Oran, to whom she gave a small hint to Team Oran: a small Apricorn on a chain, which later revealed to be the key Suicune required to take Pokémon to Paradise Island. She had hoped that a competent rescue team capable of figuring that out would help her reestablish Century upon return, assuming the worst case scenario that the Faded status condition destroys the mainland.

In doing so, she disappeared, moving forward with her plan.

## Death

Deruta's disappearance was intentional, as she had returned to Paradise Island. At this point, the Faded status condition had spread across Century. She had planned to stay at the island until the condition went away, only then returning.

Team Oran found their way to the island while she was there, as she had hoped. They brought along Magenta as well, which was unexpected, though it did not hinder Deruta's plan. Team Oran learned of Deruta's plan there, which they did not approve. Deruta expressed that she did not want Century to know about Paradise Island at all, fearing they would taint the beautiful island and kill off the rare Apricorn trees. Team Oran eventually sided with her on this in particular, agreeing to keep its location a secret for her.

During their stay at Paradise Island, Deruta awoke in the middle of the night, crazed by her very developed Faded status condition. In an uncharacteristic rampage, Deruta drew forth all of her power to set fire to two thirds of the island. Team Oran caught her at the crash site of her plane, stopping her from further damage. She prepared to battle them, but then perished from her Faded status condition and her extraneous use of her powers.

Upon leaving the island, Team Oran gave her a proper burial and vowed to continue her legacy, including keeping the location of Paradise Island a secret. Magenta chose to stay behind and help repair the island, after Suicune had extinguished the wildfire Deruta had started.