My First Time Clearing Difficulty 5 On Swarm Disaster Went Fine I Dont Know What Youre Talking About

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Medali being Suspicious and Larry’s Purpose There

Medali is really suspicious! My cryptic takes on Larry are more of speculation, plus he really is just a normal guy despite how weird he is. But I KNOW there’s something off about Medali. I hope y’all aren’t tired of my constant Overthinking posts haha

First of all- why is Medali so hard to reach? There are deserts and cliffs surrounding the town, like a natural blockade. Despite this, this town gets many people passing by. An NPC says Medali sounds like ‘medley,’ a fitting name because the town is compromised of different people and things. Another NPC mentions how Medali is an important hub in Paldea. He doesn’t specify what kind of hub it is though, but I suspect it’s a trading hub.

The NPC says people “come through” the town, as if they’re just passing by. It makes sense with the restaurant district. Since so many types of people go through, there’s a wide variety to cater to every taste, instead of having a traditional food. Medali attracting so many foreigners makes sense if it’s a trade hub for Tera Orbs. Medali is the closest to Area Zero, where the Tera Orbs are made by the Professors.

I may be mistaken, but there’s no clear origin of where the Tera Orbs come from? We know they’re made by the Professors, but there’s no clear location of where they are traded/sold. Nemona gives the player character one, not the school. It seems like a specialized item, because we just get it without any explanation where it came from. If I’m wrong about this, please let me know!

Additional side note, but I think this building could have something to do with the storage of Tera Orbs?? The closed off garage environment intrigues me, and I don’t know what this is. There’s a Delibird sign, so it could also be a food storage area, but I don’t know if this sign is somewhere else in game too. I looked through the other towns and cities, and didn’t find a building resembling this one. It could be something insignificant, but the big garage doors just have me thinking haha.

Edit: This has the same logo as the Delibird Presents shops, which are only available in Mesagoza, Levincia, and Cascarrafa. Each branch sells their own exclusive (and expensive) battle items. Odd how this has the same logo, but isn’t accessible and looks like a storage container instead of a shop. More proof for Tera Orb storage, perhaps? Thank you for the comment mentioning this!!

Anyway, with this assumption, people all over Paldea and beyond come to Medali for the trade of Tera Orbs and Tera Crystals. Since the Academy doesn’t officially endorse them (eg hand them out to everybody), I believe they can only be accessed in Medali. They’re so valuable and sought-after, that people far away go to Medali to get them.

The locals talk a lot about rumors too. I thought that staircase area was really odd, but this NPC confirms it, saying that it USED to be for concerts and plays. Now it’s abandoned. I find this odd because of how many people pass through Medali- you’d think concerts and plays would be popular for visiting travelers. It feels like Medali’s sole purpose is trade-and-leave, not to attract people longer than they have to.

Medali’s gym is unknown to average people- almost like a deliberate protection despite being a commercial town. A gym area out in the open like the other gyms would draw too much attention from competitive players. But isn’t this odd considering it is a gym site? It almost feels like they’re using the lack of an open-gym to draw attention away from something else. Without the apparent gym floor, less people would be there to idle around town. Plus, the plethora of restaurants distract as entertainment sites.

Instead, there’s an extremely impractical mechanism hidden inside a restaurant. I’m sure the Treasure Eatery wouldn’t have been THAT popular if all the customers sitting in the arena get thrown into the Backrooms- or at least have to leave in the middle of eating. Haha pretty much every person I’ve seen has asked what happened to the customers. Why is the gym floor so hidden anyway? I could understand if Medali just didn’t want to install a gym, but hiding it beneath the floorboards seems a lot more complicated. Ridding the customers, moving all the tables and chairs, etc.

Also, this NPC states that he was shooed away by the Treasure Eatery chef when he asked about the ability to change Tera Types. This restaurant is the ONLY place in the game where you can change Tera Types. I don’t know why it’s in the restaurant of all places, but my guess is because that Larry’s a gym leader and a regular, he’s able to oversee this process. Since the NPC from before was rejected, I’m assuming that the only ones allowed are ones approved by Larry. His way of approval is making it through the Gym Test and beating him in battle.

The Gym Test is so weird when you think about it! The player character gets one clue, and there were three other trainers with a clue before the player arrives. The Secret Dish requires all four clues to order, and it’s a string of riddles hidden all across the town. So there has to be FOUR challengers at once just for one or maybe ZERO trainers to make it to Gym Leader Larry? Since the loser of the battle has to give up their clue to the winner, it’s very likely that no one can get all four clues.

This challenge definitely a puzzle, but also a test of raw strength. Unlike most gyms with battlers that work for the gym, challengers have to go against other challengers. There are no regulations on their teams, so any typing or level is fair game. Theres a lot of depth to this Gym Test, despite its impracticality. Perhaps that’s why Medali Gym’s floor is so weird- they rarely have to reveal the gym floor anyway because so few challengers make it. Maybe it’s purposefully obtuse to discourage challengers?

Random thought- but the name for the Treasure Eatery? It’s a cute name for sure, but considering how this game puts emphasis on Treasure due to the Treasure Hunt, it’s feels…sus. The Treasure Hunt is meant for the students to find their own “treasure” in their personalized journey. It fits with Terastallization appearing gem-like. Medali is the closest area to Area Zero, the place where the terastallization phenomenon was discovered.

Going through Medali is the only way to get to Area Zero. The town- or rather, Larry, serves as a secondary gate for Area Zero. Some of my previous theories have hovered around this idea, but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. Larry was stationed at Medali to prevent Pokémon, especially Paradox Pokémon, from escaping Area Zero. As Professor Turo/Sada say, these Pokémon are an extreme threat to the present ecosystem. And depending on your stance on the lore, Larry could also be a look-out for people near Area Zero.

Geeta has some suspicious stuff going on, which I’ll be making a theory post about. It’s likely she’s knowledgeable about how dangerous the Paradox Pokémon are, and knew there had to be a ‘gatekeeper’ to prevent havoc. Due to Larry’s strength and flexibility in battle, he was assigned there while also serving as a gym leader.

What do y’all think? I feel pretty solid about this theory, because there’s a lot we just don’t know about the lore. There’s more to Medali than what it appears. The game is hiding a lot, which gives me great hope and anticipation for the DLC!!

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