Serene Adventure Spotlight: Celes Marshall Garcia

by Lavon Samuel Davis

Given her feature story Baby of Mine is the first one in reimagined Serene Adventure series I’m writing, I figure do this write-up about her.

First, I’ll take you back to her first appearance in the Fanfic Pokemon World War. In that futuristic story Celes is born to her parents Ted and Ann Toss in the war-torn Johto region. I had plans to use her in that Pokemon Future Past series at some point but things just work working out. That’s when the teenage version of Celes Toss was introduced for the first time on Fictionpress in the story Our Family Matters in 2005. Her story is continued in her feature story Aeris C.

Whew. Looking back at it now I still can’t believe I posted in online. It’s pretty obvious I was all over the place when I wrote it. I had a plan going in but things just got more and more outrageous with what happened with her in both stories as well as the stories that followed. Having written the stories I can say that. Looking back, the plot was so unrealistic and so predictable it’s not wonder few people read it no matter how much I promoted it.

There is a BUT though: Celes’ first trip to Kyomora in As Life Goes On is where her personality really comes out. One thing she inherited from her father is her leadership skills during times of conflict. One would assume it’s because she a family waiting for her back on Earth but as you will soon see in an upcoming chapter of Baby of Mine, she has her reasons for being so aggressive.

Before we move onto the Celes of the present, I do want to say as I did in the Fanfic Toss Family Oddyssey Celes was originally going to become the first Eternal Champion instead of her father. Better yet, I should say how it was supposed to come about. Originally, Celes and Ted would fight for the right to be the first Eternal Champion since they were the first two people who could both use Internal Chaos and maintain their free will while using it. Marie would emerge as a third such person and later Victor Bravo as the first person outside the family demonstrating the ability to use Eternal Chaos. I decided not to have them fight since it was intended to the death and I wasn’t ready to have either of them die just yet.

Having said that, let’s talk about where things stand with Celes now.

By now I mean her new feature story Baby of Mine. As I said when I first started writing it two years ago it is a reboot of Aeris C.  Unlike that story, Baby of Mine has a more realistic plot and there is a far less emphasis on the supernatural. I’ve also retuned the characters to make them far more relatable. As to how that relates to Celes specifically, she’s competative but doesn’t like to take big risks that have big consequences. Ironic given her career choice as a doctor. She learned how to wield a sword from her father but unlike him, she will only draw it to defend herself. She won’t realize it until later but her decision to become a trauma surgeon will greatly improve her swordsmanship.

In regards to where she wants to go in Baby of Mine, Celes struggles with the pressures of getting pregnant and then graduating from high school at sixteen. Literally in that order by the way. In the as of yet unwritten story before this one titled Unshead Tears, Celes tells Alex as much as she would like to back out of the path she’s chosen she’s been on her current path for so long she feels she would get lost if she tried to turn back. That’s the gist of Baby of Mine prettymuch. Both for her and new character Kari Lowell.

Speaking of Kari, her younger sister Sumi offers to help her control Internal Chaos, a mental and physical state in which the subject’s humanity is slowly stripped away until they’re nothing more than walking emotionless killers. I’m going to talk more about Internal Chaos in greater detail in a separate blog post but to make a long story short and relvant: Celes’ case she inherited it from her father. Internal Chaos can be passed from parent to child and is known to skip generations. Those under the effects of Internal Chaos are distinguishable from other humans by their eyes, which turn red when they are under its effects. They revert back to normal once the effect has run its course. There is no cure and the only effective treatments are restraints or death.

Now here’s the silver lining to tge last paragraph and this is a major spoiler for Baby of Mine and another story I’m going to write down the road: A Nephilim whose Human parent has Internal Chaos is guaranteed to pass it on to their children. Sumi and Abyssion are two such people. Unlike humans who show the signs later on, Nephilim whose human parent has Internal Chaos are born with red eyes. While Abyssion is more commonly known as The Sword Demon, Sumi is known in my criminal circles as The Crimson Flash. As Sumi reveals at the end of Baby of Mine, Celes isn’t the first teenage girl with Internal Chaos she’s trained. The first is Celes’ yet to be revealed half-sister Mariko Ebihara, otherwise known as Marie Kwan. More on Marie in a separate blog post.

Anyway, the redesigned Our Family Matters Saga has less of an emphasis on the supernatural and fighting and more emphasis on family dynamics and competing personalities. For example, Celes keeps the whole sword training thing a secret outside family and a couple friends she knows she can trust. She doesn’t mind carrying a sword around but has vowed to only use it to when absolutely necessary. Baby of Mine is interesting as due to her pregnancy Celes is aware she can move as well as she could due to the extra weight and the shift in her center of gravity.

Celes Garcia cosplaying as the Swordmaster class from Fire Emblem Awakening

Impending parenthood has an interesting effect on her relationship with Alex and Jenna in particular. Alex tries to spend more time with her but after a strange encounter he had with Kari one night, Celes is keeping Alex at arm’s lengtth. As for their mutual friend Jenna, she’s suddenly busy with work at the family business and avoids spending time alone woth Celes for some reason. I know what the reason is of course but I’m not going to reveal that detail here due to plot spoilers. Celes and her older sister Katrin have become pretty close in recent years. The trial they face together in Baby of Mine fully awakens the Force Energy in Celes.

Now that I’ve covered the past and present, now I’m going to talk about my future plans for Celes after Baby of Mine is done. I referenced this a few chapters back but it’s revealed at the end of the story Celes’ new mentor had another student that she trained in Japan. When she sees Celes fight she notices a similarity in the way Celes and her other student fight. In the Serene Adventure Origins story Tokyo Rhonin Princess, what happened to the child born to Ted Toss and Leanne Kwan before she met her father in Boston is revealed.

Fast forward to the Serene Adventure: As Life Goes On story My Father’s Daughter (formerly titled Cheers, Boston). Due to plot reasons I’m not going to get into, Ted is out of town working with Abyssion on something. Damien, Aurina and Zenith are in town as well to observe the Toss Family but things get interesting when love blossoms between some of the siblings. The story’s focus is on Celes, Aurina and newcomer Marie Kwan, who has come to Boston in search of her father. The stories in the As Life Goes On Series takes place Four years after the last Our Family Matters story featuring Fin and Hannah. Anyway, It’s four years later and Celes works as a Trauma Surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital. She’s been living a relatively peaceful life over the last four years with her husband Alex and her four year old daughter Aeris and is expecting her second child.

When wanted criminals with cut-related injuries start showing up in hospitals and morgues, Celes realizes someone highly skilled with a blade has arrived and they’re targeting people wanted by the authorities. After Celes runs into the cause of the incidents one night, a misunderstanding pits them against each other. When each realizes the other can use Internal Chaos, they set out to put down the other before they get killed thenselves. When Sumi and Jenna realize what’s going on they convince Aurina to keep them from destroying each other and the city along with them.

That’s as far ahead as I’m willing to share. After all, I need to finish writing Baby of Mine first. Anywho, this is just the first of many more Serene Adventure Spotlights to come. Most will be on characters though some will be on other things like Force Energy and Internal Chaos for example. Unlike before I’ll put more of an emphasis in letting my stories speak for themselves and make them much easier for readers to follow.