#TEAM FOSSIL FOR THE WIN BABY

[stcries]

waddles out on dash. any other moots doing art fight this year, if so, i need your accounts stat. this is not a request, this is a threat.

[ki1ldeer]

Oh goodie!! My favorite time of year!!!

[itsartlee]

TEAM FOSSIL FOR THE WIN BABY! YOU SHOULD COME ATTACK ME!!!

[mbenz1357]

Sorry it's been a while... life just a bit busy but anyway another batch of Pokemon Sky Trekkers! Quick warning it's been a while since I saw Yugioh GX, so some things might be off. Without further ado...

Jim "Crocodile" Cook

As it was stated in Duel Links, Jim dropped out of South Academy and quit dueling for a while. After doing some traveling, he ran into Axel along the way after the latter graduated.

After they both Fell to Poke-Earth (more specifically Galar's Wild Area) they at first feared they were in the Different Dimension again, but that theory quickly died when they A) noticed the area was less of a wasteland and B) saw Shirley, Jim's pet crocodile has turned into a Krookodile. She's become sort of a middle ground between eebydeeby and mystery gift.

While decently smart as a croc, becoming a Pokemon gave Shirley true sentience. Jim once pointed out to the crew, "It was like getting to know her for the first time"

While she can walk alongside him more easily now, Shirley still likes being carried around like a backpack.

He participated in some archeological digs when traveling with the Sky Trekkers, although he feels a bit... iffy about reviving fossils. The only reason he has a fossil mon on his team was because he saved it from poachers who stole a Tyrunt from some scientists, and the Tyrunt didn't want to leave him.

In a similar vein, Cara Liss is on his shit list when he heard about her poor Frankenstein abominations of fossil mons.

The Eye of Orichalculm gives him minor Aura sight, but he still keeps the eye bandaged because, unlike a Lucario or an Aura Guardian, he can't turn it off.

Him and Hanji tend to be research partners often, and like Dogday, he does tend to make sure they don't go overboard

Axel Brodie

Axel had to do a lot of paperwork to still use his gun despite it only shooting cards. (A lot of the crew still raise their eyebrows at that)

He did modify the gun a bit to also fire pellets made from Type Gems. (Law enforcement have similar weapons)

After a while and some convincing Axel and Jim did Duel to demonstrate how it works. (Aoi: "Still don't really understand how your world revolves around this card game... Axel: "Well, man, no one's home is normal from an outsiders perspective. Aoi:"....Well I suppose I can't argue with that logic."

He's one of the few people who can arm wrestle Donkey. He doesn't win, but he lasts longer than most.

Gammamon

His egg was found in the Wild Area by Shirley. It triggered some nesting instincts.

When he hatched as a Curimon, nobody really knew what he was. They thought he was a new pokemon since all he said was "Curi!"

But until he digivolved into Gurimon and started to say more words (granted, they were mostly things like "Play!" and "Hungry!" but still) was when even Jim and Axel, whose pokemon knowledge was limited, realized this probably wasn't typical.

When he finally became Gammamon, he could finally speak full sentences and say he was a Digimon not a Pokemon but...

Jim- "All right, squirt, what's a Digimon?"

Gammamon- "... I dunno!😃"

Shirley still sees him as her baby and constantly fusses over him.

It wasn't until they meet another Digimon, a SymbareAngoramon who's fighting in the Ferrum League, that they had a more complete picture about what a Digimon was.

Him and the other Sky Trekker kids, June, Cody, and Ika, are his best buddies and get into a lot of mischief together.

After a while, Gammamon could digivolve into his champion forms depending on his emotions.

BetelGammamon for when he's feeling strong and confident

KausGammamon when he's feeling light and carefree

WezenGammamon for when he's being protective

And even GulusGammamon for when REALLY mad, sad, or depressed.

PHEW! This took me forever cuz I really had to think about what I wanted and even then I'm not 100% on it, especially with Axel.

Well, there's one more headcanons post for the Canon Sky Trekkers as I call them before we get the OCs. See you next!

[the-zapped-part-timer]

▲ MUDDLEBURG ▼

ˏˋ⚡︎ MASTERPØST ⚡︎ˎˊ

▲ø▼ø▲ø▼ø▲ø▼ø▲ø▼ø▲ø▼ø▲ø▼ø▲ø▼

This is a Muddleverse (my AU) take on every episode of PZPTH.

It follows Rippen Jhhbrhhhrnnen, an art teacher of Muddleburg Central High who moonlights as a part-time hero! Leading the way on interdimensional missions alongside his sidekick and principal, Larry. Zapping into the bodies of heroes in need and saving the day!

On the opposing side, Penn Scillan's ultimate goal is to finish his parents' main mission: finally defeat Rippen! With the reluctant allyship of Boone Henchman and Sashi Watanabe. All it takes is zapping into the bodies of the most wicked villains and simply trying to win one singular mission.

▲ø▼ø▲ø▼ø▲ø▼ø▲ø▼ø▲ø▼ø▲ø▼ø▲ø▼

|- TAGS -|

#Muddleburg AU

#Muddleverse

#Muddled Renditions

#A Muddled Situation

#Muddled Fanart

▲ø▼ø▲ø▼ø▲ø▼ø▲ø▼ø▲ø▼ø▲ø▼ø▲ø▼

|- A MUDDLED SITUATIØN -|

Chapter Øne: Zapped (Ao3)

Chapter Twø: I'm Nøt Super! (pending)

Chapter Three: Ghøst øf the Wild West

Chapter Føur: Wøuld Yøu Like Fries With That?

|- DRIBBLE DRABBLE MISCELLANEA -|

(Muddleburg/Muddleverse Related)

Strained, Tø Say The Least... ~ Muddled Dad!Rippen (Ao3)

|- MUDDLED RENDITIØNS GUIDE -|

(Chapter placement and title names subject to changes)

|- SEASØN ØNE -|

Nørth Pøle Døwn (Ao3)

A day before Christmas, Rippen and Larry are zapped to the North Pole to save the holiday from a festive uprising by the hands of their students and armed gingerbread men.

In With the New West, Out With the Old West

Rippen and Larry enlists the help of the new sheriff of Big Butte, Amber Briggs, to stop Penn and team from rustling all the Cow-o-saurs in town.

Chicken or Fish?

Baby-Pocalypse

That Purple Girl

We're Super!

The Fast and the Floor Rugs

Brainzburgerz

Chuckle City

Flurgle Burgle

Temple of the Porcelain God

Defending the Earth

One Wheel, Two Wheel, Third Wheel

Double Trouble

Cereal Criminals

We're Still Super!

Balls!

The Princess Most Fair

Hail Sashi

It's a Colorful Life

Larry Manor

Lady Starkeeper

Rippen becomes entranced by peaceful space captain, Lady Starkeeper, who shares similar sentiments as he does. Seemingly finding his perfect match, he hopelessly falls for her as does she. How could this possibly go wrong?

Fossilized Feller

Totally Into Your Body

Fish and Chips

The Ripple Effect

Where Dragons Dare

Rip-Penn

Chuckle City 500

Rock and Roll

Plantywood: City of Flora

Boone's Apprentice

The QPC

Shirley B. Ruthless

Massive Morphy Merge Mechs

Ultrahyperball

Mr. Rippen

Rippen's origin story is revealed in a flashback on his birthday, from being hired to his very first mission flood his mind on what should be a happier day.

Zap One

Penn's origin story is revealed in a flashback after his 50th loss, from his first day in high school to his first mission. Setting up for future failures all caused by his art teacher.

Save the Worlds

When Phyllis' MUT is damaged and dangerous vortexes open throughout the multiverse, Rippen, Larry, Penn, Boone and Sashi team up on a journey through every world they visited to close the vortexes before it's too late.

|- SEASØN TWØ -|

The Pirates, the Parrot, the Puzzles and the Talking Boats

Alpha, Bravo, Unicorn

A Game of Cat and Mouse

Wings of Destiny

Sensitivity Training

The Bewildering Bout of the Astounding Automatons

Back to the Past of Future Balls

A Tale of Two Wizards

Rockullan, Papyron, Scissorian

Be My Ghost

The Chinchilla

The Kobayashis

Cereal Fugitives

The Last Mountain Beast

Ninki Ninja Fight Town

My Mischievous Bunch

That Purple Guy

Rootilda

Tredecuple Troubles

The Most Dangerous World Imaginable

Trading Faces

At the End of the Worlds

|- BØNUS EPISØDES -|

Always the Sidekick Never the Hero (s0)

Larry's origin story is revealed in a flashback during a surprise party for his workiversary, from his first day to important moments with his old team.

The Old Old West (s0)

When Rippen and Larry are zapped into an old west cowboy world where the cowboys ride dinosaurs, the town's sheriff joins them on their mission to prove he still has what it takes.

Glass Bottled Thoughts (s0)

The Shadøws We Cast (s0)

A Wiseman Ønce Said (s0)

Boone's origin story is revealed in a flashback

Minion For Hire (s0)

Sashi's origin story is revealed in a flashback

Scrambled Egg Hunt (s1)

Striking Gutters (s1)

Deep Sea Trouble (s1 or s2)

A Wedding Most Fair (s2)

Memoirs of a Dinosaur Ridin' Cowboy (s2)

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The concept of this AU was based on a scrapped episode by the same name ⬇️

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[arayaturner]

🇳🇱 Netherlands please, Turkey 🇹🇷 cannot win so the Coach needs to step up and put my husband ( Weghorst ) on.

- Depay cannot finish for the life of him

- The whole Dutch team need to attack and bc all they do is stand still when Türkiye has the ball

- Xavi Simmons, my baby, in Midfield all by himself

- The fossil ( Van Dijk ) being useless and stumbling everywhere

- Dishonourable mentions : Dumfries

STEP UP NEDERLANDEEE

* My husband is subbed in

[sifyang-sniles]

go follow my artfight guys… all my s/is are on there… btw TEAM FOSSIL FOR THE WIN LETS GO BABY ITS TIME FOR THE SKELETON WARS LETS GOOO

[clanwarrior-tumbly]

Hello hello! I just read your writings about Pokémon and it inspired me to make a request if that's okay!

May I request some fic with Raihan and Reader who has a team of, like, really intimidating Pokémon? But they are actually are big softies? Just a happy lil' Scolipede with a little bow munching some berries! Or even Slither Wing that crawls towards the toys like a kitten, pheh-

That's okay if you decline! Take your time, I can wait ^^

Have a good day/night!

-✒️ Anon

"C'mon, Rai! I have some friends from Paldea who are dying to meet you!"

"Oh are they, huh?" Raihan raised an eyebrow, exchanging a brief glance with his Duraludon. But they both did their best to keep up with you as you rushed to your campsite, excited.

For the first time since he's met you, he was finally going to see your main Pokémon team. You briefly mentioned having some from Paldea, but a few were from this region, as well as Kalos. Based on your history of winning lots of tournaments, Raihan could only assume you had a lot of very strong Pokémon with diverse typing to help you adapt to any situation.

You haven't battled anybody in Galar yet, so he wasn't sure what to expect. He was looking forward to today.

Upon arriving to the camp, however, he's....quite surprised.

All of your Pokémon were ones notorious for being highly aggressive and intimidating, but he quickly realized how tranquil and pacifist each of them seemed. They weren't sparring nor scowling at one another.

If anything, they acted sort of...cute?

He spotted a large Scolipede, the archnemesis of all Centiskortches...happily snacking on berries with a tiny Sizzlipede resting on their back, sharing the bowl. And amusingly enough, Raihan could see you adorned the vicious poison/bug's horn with a cute little bow, which it didn't seem to mind at all.

Then he saw a Volcarona...except it looked a lot fluffier and was crawling on all fours, its wings folded upwards like some sail. Not to mention it looked gigantic, as though it belonged to the same ancient time period as Tyrantrum and all the other fossil Pokémon.

"Is that some kind of Paldean variant?" The dragon tamer pointed to the Volcarona lookalike.

"Oh! Well..yes and no. That's my darling Slither Wing, a supposed ancestor of Volcaronas. They look scary, but they're sweet on the inside. Just watch this." Smiling, you took out the feather toy and shook it around, the tiny jingling bells making Slither Wing turn their attention to you.

With a happy chitter, they scampered over to you, before standing up on their hindlegs and towering over both you and Raihan. He jumped back with a small shriek, throwing his hands up in front of him.

"Woah what the-?!! Back up, buddy!!"

Sensing its trainer's distress, Duraludon hissed at the potential challenger.

Yet Slither Wing seemed blissfully unaware of the threat they posed, their focus being fully on the feather dangling in front of them. They gently batted it with their front paws, delighted at the jingling noise the bells made.

"Sorry." You laughed a little, feeding them a berry before setting the toy down. "They get excited easily." Then you rested a hand on their fluffy chest, to which they flopped to the ground, allowing you to rub their belly. "Awwh, who's a good Slither Wing? It's you~!"

Raihan blinked several times, awkwardly putting his hands back down as he stared at you, watching you baby this fierce-looking Volcarona. He would've thought you were talking to a Yamper or Growlithe.

Looking elsewhere, he saw a Pokémon who appeared similar to a Bisharp, except it was bulkier, resembled a samurai, and was....somehow sitting on its own hair???

Upon closer examination he could see it had some flowers in said hair, put there by the cutesy wild fairy and grass Pokémon that have gathered around it. It seemed to be telling them a story, smiling all the while...which was very unlike the serious Bisharp lineage.

You noticed where Raihan was looking and smiled, whistling for Kingambit. It glanced over and headed to you, being able to move without standing up at all.

"King?"

"Your majesty." You stood and bowed to it in respect, before turning to your friend. "Rai, this is Bisharp's final evolution, Kingambit He had to best three other Bisharps wearing leader's crests in order to evolve, so he's pretty strong."

"It took beating three?" He raised an eyebrow. "That's pretty specific. How didja figure that one out?"

"....well how did you figure out how to evolve a Galarian Yamask into Runerigus?"

"...touché." He clicked his tongue, before glancing at Kingambit again, who seemed to be admiring the flowers in its hair. Then he slowly took out his rotomphone to snap a picture of it--

"Gamb.."

Tensing, Raihan saw the dark/steel type glaring daggers into his soul, and he gulped, nervously put his phone back into his pocket. "M-My bad..uh...I just...."

However, Kingambit's menacing look suddenly vanished, replaced with a cheeky smile as it chuckled. And only then did the dragon tamer realize the fairy and grass Pokémon were gathered nearby, giggling as well.

"Awh, did King scare the "almighty Dragon Tamer"?" You teased, seeing how flustered he was getting.

"What? Of course not! What are you talking about?" He quickly shook his head, offering you a sharp-toothed grin of reassurance. "I don't fear anything!"

"..Tyran!"

Raihan turned his head to see a Tyranitar stomping on over to you, wearing a mega bracelet similar to yours. He recalled you mentioning that you've mastered Mega Evolution.

But of all the Pokémon to choose from, it just had to be his ace's number one natural rival??? He'd hate to see how that would go down on a battlefield..

'Mega Tyranitar against G-Maxed Duraludon...sounds like a good movie title..' He mused, before snapping out of his thoughts and sighing, watching you coo over the dark/rock type--just like you did Slither Wing.

His concerned looks caught your attention, as you just huffed in growing annoyance, cradling Tyranitar's head in your arms. "Rai, relax. My friends here don't have a single mean bone in their bodies."

"I find that hard to believe. Plus my Duraludon hates Tyranitars...isn't that right......?"

However, he trailed off upon realizing that his trusty Duraludon was no longer by his side, instead hobbling over to greet your Tyranitar. "Du....Duraludon?" He blinked stupidly.

"Tar!!"

"Ludon!!!"

Raihan could only gawk as the two gently butted heads, amazed that they weren't at each other's throats. Instead, Tyranitar encouraged it to come play with the bouncy ball near the curry pot, and the steel/dragon followed them without hesitation.

Soon enough, Scolipede, Slither Wing, and Kingambit went to join the fun, leaving the dragon tamer utterly speechless as he realized his initial assumptions about your team were wrong. "Wow...."

"Yeah." Laughing softly, you patted his back as he stood there, shoulders still slumped. "So do you believe me now?"

"...I do. I'll never doubt you again."

[robinplayspokemon]

pokemon anime 1x46-1x47

muk is so iconic, i want one 😭😭😭

in "so near, yet so farfetch'd" ash & co find themselves in the woods where the rare pokemon farfetch'd is said to live.

leaving aside the squickiness of humans eating pokemon (something that's come up a few times in the series), farfetch'd has never been an especially interesting pokemon to me? and i remembered the broad strokes of this episode involving a farfetch'd trainer being a scam artist, which also doesn't strike me as an especially interesting hook for a pokemon episode?

rewatching it, though, i was actually pretty impressed by the short redemption arc they gave the kid!! i mean, yeah, it's a pretty commonplace thing to see in children's shows, but i thought it was pretty well-executed as far as those sorts of things go, and honestly part of why i still watch baby shows for babies (in addition to nostalgia and it being part of a franchise that i'm still very much invested in) is because they more often have optimistic shit like that in them. b-rank

in "who gets the keep togepi?", the egg team himbo have been carrying around since the fossil pokemon episode finally hatches, and it's a togepi! something i really enjoyed about the anime back in the day was the way it kept teasing gen 2 pokemon without really giving us much about them. i was also actively going to shit like pokemon card swap meets, so i had seen some japanese promotional cards for like "pikablu" (what marill was called by u.s. fans when we first saw art of it) and the like. and in the first episode of the anime, ash sees a ho-oh! and that's our first real teaser that there are actually more than 151 pokemon.

but yeah, togepi is definitely the gen 2 pokemon that got the most featured screentime before gen 2 actually launched. this episode features team rocket eggnapping togepi's egg, meowth actually kinda adorably taking care of it?, team himbo rescuing it, and the egg hatching mid-rescue.

our heroes (plus meowth) end up fighting each other in a little tournament to decide who gets to keep togepi, as the episode title suggests. meowth serves as his own trainer, and it's pretty adorable? like, this is a genuinely great meowth episode tbh.

anyway, ash wins the tournament, but it turns out that togepi had already imprinted on misty as soon as it hatched, so the result of the tournament ends up being moot.

all in all, a cute little episode that i enjoy quite a bit! b-rank

[ronnie-azumane]

Haikyuu guys as stuff my dad did

This idea has been in my brain for a while, so I'm writing it out. Hope y'all enjoy :)

CW: idn, its pretty wholesome

Daichi answers your frantic phone call home expressing that you forgot your backpack and laptop for college when you went home over the weekend. Expressing that all of your notes are in the backpack, he decides to wake-up extra early Monday morning and make the 2 1/2 hour drive to your university, then drive all the way back to your hometown to go to work.

Sugawara came up with the best hiding spot for you while playing hide and seek at your 7th birthday party. He squeezed you in-between the back of the couch and the back couch cushions. Then, he sat in front of it to conceal the awkward lump it made in the couch. It took the others 30 minutes before giving up and telling you to come out.

Asahi asks you to style his hair for a zoom meeting he has later that day. After some deliberation, you both decide to do a mohawk style. He braces himself as you run off to get the brush, hairspray, hair gel, and hairdryer.

Nishinoya still wears the Annoying Orange shirt you got him when you were in 3rd grade. It's faded and has a giant picture of Annoying Orange on it, which faded from popularity in 2010, but he still wears it. In public.

Tanaka makes the dumbest jokes while in the audience of your colorguard/dance competitions. For example, he asked your mom if he should shout "Go get 'em George" to the group of girls performing to confuse everyone. Another favorite joke o his is to chant "the worm, the worm,, we worship the worm" while the previous team is carrying out their floor.

Ennoshida talks with you as you make one of the biggest changes in your life. Midway through your second semester at university, you determine that business is not for you, however, you do not have a backup plan. Talking with him, you end up changing your major to Geography, and now you love every second of it.

Kageyama drinks the milk out of you cereal. You hate the taste of milk by itself, but you don't want to eat dry cereal. To not waste milk, he drinks it after you finish eating your cereal.

Hinata fails miserably when your mom tells him to reapply the medical glue on your forehead. The day before, your sister threw a wooden block at you, causing a major tear in your head. Your mom took you to the emergency room, but they were busy and it was a school night, so they told her to just take some liquid band aid (which we called glue) and close the wound. Your mom told him to replace the glue, and he took ELMERS GLUE and placed it on the open wound. It hurt like a bitch.

Tsukishima takes you to go see the museum of natural history once a month. He knows you're the odd girl out of your class that would rather play with dinosaurs than dolls, so he takes you to see the dinosaur fossils. He also gets a discount because his place of work donated a significant amount of money and resources to one of the exhibits.

Yamaguchi helped set up your setup once you moved to zoom university. He attached your laptop to a monitor his job had extra, so now you feel like a badass whenever you use the two screens.

Oikawa out of nowhere invites all his high school friends over to stay the week at your house. A trip that probably should have been planned in weeks, even months, is planned in just a weekend. Everyone ends up sleeping on air mattresses and blankets on the floor due to your mom just finishing up replacing the floors in the house (she was not too happy with the sudden trip, but was welcoming anyway)

Iwaizumi makes you watch Godzilla with him whenever it's on TV. Some of his fondest memories include receiving Godzilla themed ornaments from his mom ever Christmas. He also unironically watches those cheesy fan-made Godzilla fights on YouTube for hours on end. Man just likes Godzilla.

Hanamaki and you wear funny hats to a volunteer cookout. The organizers told every one to wear a hat so that their hair didn't get in the food, but you two take it a step further. You wear a banana hat while he wears a hotdog hat.

Matsukawa taught you how to make all kinds of breakfast food at a young age. Whether it was a simple as a fried egg or as complex as French toast, he worked with you until the recipe came out perfect.

Kyotani scares the other parents off when it comes to the silent auction selling the class are projects. Now the shelf you and your kindergarten classmates fingerprinted flowers and bugs on sits proudly in your closet holding crafting supplies.

Ushijima scolds you for leaving the lights on. Most parents do that already, but he takes it to a new extreme. Your mom explains that he would never turn the lights on in his apartment when he was in college and would simply get his homework done before dark. Sometimes, if he had something to do, he would light a candle to finish something up.

Tendou recalls a story in which he stole a bus battery with his buddies to power an air conditioned tent at boy scout camp. He also recalls the year he and his friends tried to build a pool in the wilderness at the same count, only to get caught and reprimanded for it before filling it with water which totally had nothing to do with a camp counselor finding it and having a Vietnam flashback

Goshiki watches anime with you. He always acts like he is uninterested in whatever show is on, but he soon gets super into it and it will be the only thing he talks about for a week.

Kuroo sits at the table with you until 2am working on that math assignment you have been struggling with. You've definitely run out of tears to cry, and had to redo the assignment twice, but he is guiding you through the answers

Yaku isn't a fan of all the pets you and your mom have collected over the years. I mean, in his defense, at one point we had 8 cats an 3 dogs. However, he is also super cuddly with them, always giving them nose boops and belly rubs.

Kenma plays Xbox, Wii, and the ds with you. He doesn't find the bulk of the games you play with him entertaining, but he is willing to run through LEGO Star Wars with you. His personal favorite to play is Mario Kart and he doesn't let you win >:(

Lev is trying to convince the family to let him take the position in Alaska with higher pay. When mom raised the concern that the long winters wouldn't do well for your mental health, his counter argument was, "Yeah, and that sucks, but hear me out. We could have a pet Polar Bear." We didn't move to Alaska

Bokuto was definitely the most enthusiastic dad at the girl scout father daughter dance. He twirled you around in your pretty little JC Penney dress and made sure you two were the center of the dance floor. At one point, he lifted you above his head with each foot in a hand like a cheerleader. Truly terrifying.

Akaashi drives out to the 24-hour pharmacy to pick up some cold medicine when you couldn't sleep due to a stuffy nose. He also checks up on you every hour when you are coughing with some mysterious disease (due to the lack of tests and priority of the high-risk, I will never know if I had Covid when I got sick in late March)

Aone gives you the biggest hug after you get released from the graduation ceremony. He isn't the best with words, so this hug speaks so much to you.

Terushima has been taking you to Mardi Gras in New Orleans since you were a baby. He doesn't care that it's mostly an adult party, he believes that everyone in the family should enjoy a good ol' Mardi Gras

Atsumu carries you on his shoulders all the time when you're small. He just thinks it's the cutest thing.

Osamu makes sure to host a crawfish boil every year. Whether its the neighbors, family, both, or just the household, you can expect some good, spicy crawfish with corn and potatoes whenever he cooks.

Kita teaches you how to drive a stick shift. He's frustrated that you cant move three feet before stalling, but then realizes that the issue was that you were in third gear, not first. He is now impressed that you were even able to start moving at third gear.

Sakusa takes you along with him to work. His job is full of tough men, so when they see him with you in a little blue dress-up tutu and a plastic tiara on your head, their hearts just melt.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Understanding the aftermath of r/wallstreetbets

A couple days back, I wrote up my best understanding of what happened with /r/wallstreetbets and meme stocks like Gamestop, trying to show how all the different, seemingly contradictory takes on the underlying financial stuff could all be true.

https://pluralistic.net/2021/01/28/payment-for-order-flow/#wallstreetbets

In the days since, a new series of contradictory takes has emerged, these ones disputing the meaning of this bizarre financial spectacle, and likewise what response, if any is warranted as it unfurls.

I think that all of these takes can also be true, and as with the trading itself, reconciling them requires that we widen the frame.

Let's start with Jimmy Carter.

In 1978, Carter's IRS created the 401(k), a tax-sheltered account for people who wanted to gamble on stocks to fund their retirement.

That was a fringe proposition at best.

The normal retirement system was a "defined benefits" pension where your employer guaranteed you a certain monthly percentage of your salary from retirement to death.

The vast majority of Americans wisely prefered a guaranteed payout to a tax-advantaged gambling account.

Obviously, right? On the one hand, you have the guarantee of a pension (maybe even inflation-indexed); on the other, you have a bunch of bets, that, if they go wrong, leave you literally homeless and starving.

When gamblers remortgage the family home and cash in the kids' college funds to play the tables, we consider them to have a mental illness, a pathological condition that harms them and the people around them.

Giving up a defined benefits pension in favor of a 401k is just the same kind of bet - staking all the money that will support you when you exit the workforce on the movement of stocks and bonds.

Who would do that voluntarily?

Pretty much no one. But the transition from defined benefits to 401k was not voluntary. Finance ghouls like Ethan Lipsig wrote memos to major employers like Hughes Aircraft showing them how they could ditch their pension obligations by moving workers to 401ks.

In the 80s, Reagan created a bunch of legal tools that allowed employers to coerce their workforces into giving up the security of a pension and force them into gambling their salaries on the prayer of a win in the markets.

This was insanely, amazingly great for the finance sector, in three ways:

1. It made companies more profitable. Guaranteeing that the workers whose labor made your company viable wouldn't spend their dotage starving and homeless is expensive.

Helping fund wagers on shares is much cheaper. The finance sector represented the major shareholders of the companies that transitioned to 401ks. The savings were transferred to these shareholders and the finance sector got commissions.

What's more, this temporary inflation of share prices disguised what was going on with the pension switcheroo: workers' defined benefits pensions were liquidated and turned into stocks, just as stocks were going up because their pensions had been liquidated!

Their legs had been amputated out from under them, but so subtly that they didn't yet feel the pain - and now their bosses cooked their legs and snuck them into their dinner, and everyone marveled at how full they felt after that hearty, meaty meal.

2. 401ks brought a lot of suckers to the table. The market was - and is - dominated by "sophisticated investors," AKA predators, who knew all the ways to fleece the rubes who had no idea how any of this worked.

The predatory nature of finance only increased over time. Hedge funds, for example, exist to find unethical practices that are legal (thanks to loopholes in the rules) and exploit them until they are illegal.

3. 401ks created a political force outside the finance sector that would lobby on its behalf. Transforming America into a nation of stockholders meant that workers had to choose between supporting rules that protected their jobs and rules that protected their retirement.

For your pension account to grow, you had to support policies that permitted finance ghouls to offshore your job, or misclassify you as a contractor, or eliminate the safety rules that prevented you from being maimed, or take away your right to sue for compensation.

Every time there's a particularly ghastly bankruptcy driven by PE or hedge funds - Toys R Us, Sears, etc - it emerges that at least some of that money is coming out of a union pension fund.

That's marketization - turning the once obscure, boring business of market-based capital allocation into a matter of import to everyday people.

Marketization begat financialization.

While marketization is primarily about capital allocation (who gets what money), financialization is about bets. Sometimes those bets are about things - businesses, houses, coal and timber - but things are limited. Mostly the financial market consists of bets on other bets.

Bets are infinite. Every time you make a bet, you create inventory for a market in a bet on the outcome of your bet. And that's inventory for a new market: bets on the outcomes of bets on the outcomes of bets.

It's called Wall Street Bets for a reason.

Bets need referees, someone who decides who the winner is. In sports, it's a major scandal if a referee is caught wagering on one of the teams in a match. In the financial markets, it's the norm - referees that lay wagers on the outcome of the contest they're overseeing.

Let's take stock:

Workers are forced to play the casino, and if their bets fail, they spend their old ages homeless and starving;

The vast majority of casino games are wholly abstract - bets on bets on bets - and require layers of refs;

the refs are all crooked.

Every couple of years, we have a massive, systemic financial crisis, and every time that happens, the finance sector lobbies for a no-strings-attached bailout, abetted by suckers who hate the finance sector but fear starving in their old age.

We're about to be engulfed in the second-largest crisis of our lifetime - the reckoning from trillions in capital market gains propped up by the Trump administration's policy of buying all corporate debt as a covid stimulus.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/09/28/cyberwar-tactics/#aligned-incentives

(the largest crisis of our lifetimes is a few years off, as the climate emergency piles losses on losses, stranding tens of trillions in assets, from fossil fuels to obsolete gas-stations to literally underwater coastal real-estate to whole towns incinerated by wildfires)

That's where we're at: a crooked casino that we've trusted our futures too, a crisis on the horizon, and a bunch meme-stock "players" who have thrown the normal weirdness of the market into stark relief through a spectacular stunt.

A lot of people are angry at Robinhood, the stock-trading platform at the center of all this. Robinhood froze trading on meme stocks, and has only allowed it to come back in a useless, performative trickle that is seemingly calculated to prevent more meme-stock gamesmanship.

Is Robinhood just another crooked ref? Yes…and no. The meme stock run upset the stable cheaters' equilibrium whereby cheating never escalated to the point where the game just collapsed.

For example, the total short position on Gamestop exceeds its total stock issuance.

Translation: there were more Gamestop shares promised between bettors than exist. When the game stops, all those promises come due, and they literally can't be paid off because there aren't enough tokens in circulation to settle all the debts.

Robinhood halted trading in part because the big fish upstream of Robinhood also halted trading, because they have even more at risk than Robinhood does if the game collapses - they the refs for MANY players, all the same size as Robinhood or larger.

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-01-29/reddit-traders-on-robinhood-are-on-both-sides-of-gamestop

But remember, the refs are cheating. And they are both downstream and upstream from other games in which the refs are also cheating.

And the games, as a whole, encompass our economy, including the solvency of the "real economy" (the people who make masks, deliver groceries and drive ambulances), and whether you spend your old age homeless and starving.

So the people who say, "Don't blame Robinhood, they didn't halt trading to help billionaires, they halted trading to prevent the game from collapsing are right."

But they're not the only ones who are right.

Also, there's the people who say that meme stocks aren't making money for little guys at the expense of the big guys. They're right too.

First, because these stocks will all need to be converted to cash, and that means selling them.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/01/the-gamestop-bubble-is-going-to-hurt-a-lot-of-ordinary-investors/

When the selloff starts, the price will plunge, because even if the stock was undervalued before, it's certainly overvalued now. Every bubble produces wealth for its early bettors who sell out to later players who lose everything when they can't find a sucker later on.

From Beanie Babies to subprime, bubbles burst and leave suckers holding the bag. If you just heard about meme stocks last week, you're too late to make money off of them.

There's another version of the "this isn't little guys, it's big whales" that's *also* true: the main beneficiary of the meme stock runs is giant funds who magnified and the bets from r/wallstreetbets and got out smart and fast.

https://twitter.com/zatapatique/status/1354904995901136896

So given all this, what can we make of calls (from parties as varied as AOC and Ted Cruz) to investigate Robinhood and other retail brokerages to see whether they're honest refs, or in the tank for billionaires?

At Naked Capitalism, Yves Smith calls this a "fatuous uproar," saying that the Senate has more important things to do during the racing-out-of-control pandemic than to investigate a literal penny-ante grift.

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2021/01/the-fatuous-uproar-about-robinhood-and-gamestop.html

Do we really care who the winner is in "a beauty contest between Cinderella’s ugly sisters" ("clueless new gen day traders versus clumsy shorts")?

Smith is right too.

A speculator-v-speculator contest that falls apart when the crooked ref halts play to prevent collapse - who cares who "wins?"

But here's how they can all be right - the "who cares" and the "goliath v goliath" and the "bubble" and the "Robinhood is a plutes' honeypot."

*If* there's hearings, and *if* those hearings expose the absurdity and corruption of the system, *then* there is a chance to build the political will to make real, systemic changes when the crisis comes.

And there's a real crisis coming: two, in fact. The covid junk bond financial crisis, which is due very soon, and the climate crisis stranded asset emergencies, which will unroll with increased tempo and intensity for decades to come.

The half-century cycle of "addressing" finance crises by increasing financialization MUST stop.

If the meme stock spectacle gets us to pay attention to hearings that reveal the irredeemable rot of the system, then it's a unique chance to spread *real* "financial literacy."

And that literacy is the necessary (but insufficient) precursor to taking action when the time comes - and the time is certainly coming soon.

[doubleddenden]

So while I can't say I really enjoyed the majority of BDSP, this was a rather interesting team to run with.

Emperor the Empoleon just kinda got way too attached to me way too quick. He was the strongest too and his affection rose way too quickly, leading me to believe he is very clingy. Best moment I think was how he soloed Bertha, it and Flint's Infernape went toe to toe, and how it stood against Cynthia's Murder Milotic until I could come up with a plan.

Zeppelin the Drifblim was a pain and a half to get and involved having to work with the game's stupid 24 hour time change lock (I know it was there originally, didn't need to come back), but I eventually caught it. For a bit it was the strongest, then the weakest, and I almost boxed it. But it's Aftermath ability actually came in handy when the League decided to get fun and interesting. It's responsible for taking down Flint's Lopunny that was hopped up on an Evasion boost Baton Passed from his Drifblim, and also responsible for ending the Swords Danced menace of Cynthia's Garchomp.

Bussee the Lickilicky is next, named after one of my friends since I caught it as a female Lickitung in the Grand Underground. I did not want it at first, but it chased me down and a buddy of mine dared me to catch it, so I did, and it immediately evolved before the 2nd gym. I honestly did not think a goddamn Lickilicky would ever find it's way within my ranks, let alone be named BUSSEE (pronounced Bussy but every time it's sung like that one YouTube poop), let alone be USEFUL. She wasn't much for winning but as a wall and all around coverage, she was great. Bussee took down Cynthia's murderous Milotic after it wiped half my team and kept recovering, and worked in tandem with Zeppelin to take out Lopunny. Like holy shit, underdog moment.

Skorpio the Drapion was also a Grand Underground find. It's one I really wanted to test since I remembered Paul's being a beast in the anime. He was the baby, the last to evolve, but he did his fair share of fighting and even worked wonders helping me catch the Lake Trio. It's sad that I had to box him for the League, but he's alright.

Vespa the Vespiquen was a complete accident as I was trying to get to another wall to pilfer for a Skull fossil. I never had a female Combee before and it evolved fast, like before gym 2. I was actually tempted to box her, but she's just too good, and I got attached. In the league she helped with the bug guy, Flint, Will, and even Cynthia, where it Destiny Bonded her Gastrodon.

Skull the Rampardos was one I REALLY wanted and influenced me to get BD. I hunted for 5 god forsaken hours to find this thing, and I eventually did after finding several shiny statues. It was surprisingly useful in a few gyms, and especially against Will and the bug guy. His power was incredible, maybe too much so. It grew like a weed and hit like freight train, especially against Team Galactic.

Lastly but certainly not least, Himpo Potato the Hippowdon, male despite what the team maker would say. I'd say I spent way too much time with him considering he was always lagging behind, but he was useful for pretty much every battle he went in. He solo'd a few gyms, fought a few e4 members, and bought time against Cynthia's murder squad after stopping her Lucario.

Anyway, I may not like the game, but I always like my teams I put together.

[pokeexehasstoppedworking]

Love Doesn’t Do Encores Ch14 Battle Gym Leader Bea

You two had found yourselves out of Hammerlocke by sundown that day. But not before you went back into the town and stopped by that cafe you both had passed earlier, and each gotten a free piece of cake and small cup of tea from those coupon things that Applin Boy had given to Gloria as thanks for helping him. Cake and tea weren't exactly what you would call dinner but you weren't going to complain about free food. Your drizzilie sure tried sneaking it from you but settled for the small bag of fruit you tossed at it after you told him no.

"So," you asked Gloria after taking another sip of the tea you received, "You mentioned challenging Bea next right?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Remember how I told you there was four gyms that gave the same badge?" You nodded. "The Fighting Type and Ghost Type gyms give the same badge. While the Ice and Rock gyms give a different badge from the Ghost and Fighting gyms, they give the same one as well. So either someone can just chose the Fighting or Ghost type gyms then move on and chose either the Ice or Rock type gyms. But I plan on stopping by both. The closest one just happens to be the Fighting Type Gym run by the Gym leader Bea. Not only is she the top fighting type pokemon trainer, but she's been the winner of the Galarian Martial Arts Championship seven years running undefeated. They say she can go bare fists with her machomp and win."

"Wow. She sounds really strong."

"She is. Which is why I think that's why Hop's going there too." She frowned stabbing at a piece of her free cake. "He said he wanted to become stronger. Challenging another strong gym leader right after defeating Kabu but loosing to Bede sounds like he's trying to conquer another hard challenge to prove he's strong. ...I'm worried about him."

"I know, but don't worry," you assured with a smile. You remembered enough about the game to know Hop would definitely bounce back, and after hearing him speak the other day, you knew he'd be fine. "He's a strong and has enough determination in him to move a mountain if he felt like it."

...She smiled at you. "Thanks Y/n.  I knew I made a good choice in my traveling buddy."

You paused a moment...before blinking. "That reminds me. Why did you want me to come along with you back in Postwick? I mean it's not that I mind, but we were practically strangers then."

She shrugged. "I really don't know. I know it's gonna sound weird, but there's a really good atmosphere around ya. Like...You just give off good vibes, and my gut feelings are usually spot on anyways. An' I wasn't wrong!" She smiled. "You've been a great friend ta us!"

You smiled. Well that was strange. It was almost like what Sonia said about your 'good aura', but you weren't going to complain about the nice compliments.

"You're one of the gym challengers endorsed by Leon, aren't you?" Both of you looked up and blinked at the sight of an older woman, who looked older than Kabu, dressed in a blue and pink outfit with accessories, an umbrella in one hand, was pretty tall for someone you'd expect, and aquamarine eyes looking at Gloria curiously. Stunned that you two hadn't noticed noticed her walk up to you before now, both you two looked at each other before Gloria looked back to the old woman and nodded. She hummed for a moment before suddenly holding out something to her you recognized right away. "My name's Opal. If you want to know more, have a look at my league card." Gloria's brown eyes stared at the card for a moment before taking it from the lady. "I'll keep an eye on you, Child. I want to see what you can do when you go all out."

Both of you watched silently as she silently just...turned around and walked right out of the cafe. Like nothing had just happened. Leaving the two of you sitting there looking after her blankly before looking at one another with blank faces wondering if that actually happened.

Eventually you blinked as Gloria looked at the card handed to her. "Who was that?"

"According to this..she's Ms. Opal." She looked up to you holding up the card in her hand, "And the Fairy Type Gym Leader from Bellonlea!"

"What?" You held out your hand as she offered it to you. "Lemme see that." And true to Gloria's word, it was an official League Card with the picture of the very same elderly woman you just spoken too on it. "Huh." You handed it back to her. "I wonder what she was doing all the way here in Hammerlocke then?"

She shrugged before pocketing the card. "The same thing as Lee? Like maybe she's seein' the Chairman too? Or maybe traveling since I don't think anyone would challenge her yet. March is almost over so it's still pretty early in the year for anyone to gather many badges."

Wow. Almost three months had passed already? You must've lost track of time from traveling so much. You weren't too sure but shrugged. "Who knows? C'mon. Let's finish eating and hit the road before it gets too dark outside."

After the meal the two of you headed back out on Route Six as the sun nearly set in the sky making everything lightly darker but had enough light to still see. The lights of Hammerlocke shining out as the two of you left the dragon town. You were a bit nervous about running into Raihan or that Mr. Rose again, but you ran into neither as you left the town. Thank goodness. You and her then fell into the familiar routine of walking, camping, and more shaking of berry trees as you passed by them by chance. Only this time Gloria seemed to pick back up her hobby of taking pictures for her dex challenge again. The photos Victor had given her had filled up a good sizable amount of the book already but there was still more photos needed for it as well as for that curry dex challenge book she needed. It was a bit random but you were glad she found something to keep herself occupied on the way there, and photography was a pretty neat hobby. Although she didn't seem to be as into it as Victor was. If she wasn't doing that, she battled a pokemon here n' there as you either watched or gathered food or some other needed thing to be done and like before you traveled past a few small towns, houses, or other travelers heading in the opposite direction. No signs of the boys, but you were glad not having any more run ins with those Team Yell grunts as days passed as you two slowly made your way towards Stow-on-Side.

"So how long until we reach Stow-on-Side?," you asked one day while walking.

Gloria hummed for a moment before whipping out her phone and flipping through the screen once it turned on. Lately the region around you had started to get rockier with more and more hills and cliffs jutting out of the earth until it slowly consumed both side of the path the two of you walked. "According to Rotom we should be there sometime tomorrow if we keep on goin' down this pathway." That was great news! "Also accordin' ta this, there's another historical wonder protected by the Galarian Conservation Society! ...Hmm. I wonder if she'll be down here too??"

You rose a brow at her. "Her who?"

She looked at you. "When I was chattin' with Sonia at the vault I showed 'er some old pokemon fossils I picked up. Useless really. Ye find 'em sometimes and see 'em in your science classes n' museums and the like. I was gonna give 'em to Hop as a gift since he's into that kinda stuff but she told me an old scientist friend of hers was in Stow-on-Side trying out this new fossil restoration or somethin' like that. But she couldn't find any fossils to try 'em out on."

......You blinked. "Since when did you get fossils??"

"I found two by accident back when we 'ere in the Wild Area. Y'know. When I fought that wild diglett in the cave." You groaned remembering that experience. "And then some bloke traded me two he didn't want at the pokemon center for the applin I was gonna put back when the red-headed bloke didn't want it. I completely forgotten I even had them til I remembered just now."

"That reminds me. Whatever did you do with those other pokemon you were given? Especially that baby toxel. It looked pretty young."

"Ah! I sent it to Mum to take care of! She mentioned being lonely without us there so I thought she'd like raisin' the wee tyke!"

You rose a brow. "Can she handle a toxel??"

"She sent me pictures of the lil thing sleepin' with Munchlax so I think they're doing just fine!"

"If you say so."

The both of you traveled until the sun went down and you set up camp under a shady ledge before quickly packing up the next day at day light and going to travel again. Until coming to a bunch of bright stony ledges and cliffs in a dead end where the path ended just a few yards in front of the cliffside. .......Which left the both of you confused looking around.

".....Does this mean we're at Stow-on-Side?," you asked pressing you hand against one of the rocky hills before yanking and waving it back from the heat of them sitting in the sun all day. Speaking of which it was hot as you traveled. Must be entering summer territory. Your f/c eyes scanned up and down the cliffs surrounding you all and a hand pressed above your brows to block the sun. "Or did we make a wrong turn somewhere??"

"Can't be! We followed nothin' but Route Six all the way here!" Gloria had already brought out her phone giving it a little shake. "Accordin' to this Stow-on-Side's just up ahead!"

"So either your phone's broken or we have to suddenly learn how to rock climb." Your eyes scanned the ledges more. They looked a little too dangerous to just be climbing without any professional gear or unless you were a rock climbing expert. To which you had neither...."What about that corvisquire you have?"

"It's not big enough to fly either of us up these mountains!...*sigh* We might have ta just call a flying taxi at this rate."

Yeah. That might be the best option either of you two had at this point. ....Your Drizzilie, which had taken to fully putting itself into your pack with just his head peeking out from under the lid to avoid the sun, suddenly gave a look towards something shiny. Before it's eyes widened and it gave a loud chirp poking it's head out fully to the both of you. You looked over your shoulder as it continued to make noises at you. "Whoa! Hey. What is it boy?" It's arm popped out and he pointed his hand towards the other side of the dead end you were at. You both looked over and you blinked at something against the cliffside shining in the sunlight. "Hey! What's that over there?" You pointed and began walking towards it...Gloria blinked, before putting her phone away and quickly following after you. You approuched the shining thing and soon discovered it to be a- "It's a ladder!" Walking forward more it was indeed a metal ladder. Secured and bolted to the cliffside and going up until it ended at the very top of it. "....What's a ladder doing here?"

"That must be how people get ta Stow-on-Side from 'ere," Gloria reasoned. "Ya think they'd actually make this more easier to get too."

"You'd think so. Good Boy!" Drizzilie gave a huff before returning to it's spot inside your bag. Ok be tsundere. Pausing to look at it for a moment you grabbed it before immediately letting go from how hot it was. "...You really think this is the way?"

"There's no other way around here other than a taxi, and what do we have to lose? The worse case scenario is that we'll hit another dead end or just climb to the top and hail a cab like we were thinkin' anyways."

She had a point. And if you did end up just going to the top of the cliffs here you could get a better look of your surroundings. So reluctantly you nodded. "Alright. But let me go first to make sure it's safe."  Slowly and with a sigh you grabbed the metal ladder wincing in pain when the hot metal stung your hands lightly, and began to climb up. It wasn't too hard or high of a climb, and you were fast to release the ladder as hard as you can also considering the weight on your shoulders, it made it a bit more difficult. Once you reached the top however and climbed up all the way, you noticed there was nothing but more ledges, dead grass, and...another ladder leading somewhere ahead of you. Standing up, once you deduced it was safe, you carefully looked over the edge to Gloria looking up at you and waved. "It's safe! And I found another ladder!"

Gloria didn't even hesitate after that. In her excitement you weren't sure if she just didn't notice the pain or bared it to climb up but you were there to offer a hand and pull her up with you once she was there. And you two wasted no more time and got climbing. Not baring to stand in this heat anymore. The second ladder you climbed up lead to the top of one of the larger clifftops, a small pond of some sort, and another much longer ladder leading you further and higher into the mountain sides and you two went. Your muscles were sore and tired from the extra weight of your Drizzilie who peeked out and down from your bag every so often, and your hands burnt under the ladders' metal. You were sure it wasn't enough to be badly hurt for a long time, but it sure stung, and you were paranoid that at any moment you would fall. But luckily you didn't and by some miracle forced yourself NOT to look down before making it to the third ledge and ..another ladder. Gloria right on your heels. Rinse and repeat. Climb, pray to whoever heard you that you wouldn't fall, get to the top, and then do it again. The both of you must've been on your seventh or eighth ladder and ledge at this point and you were resting on your knees exposed to the hot sun tired, breathing heavy, and shaking your sore hands. Gloria doing the same with her hands before reaching up to wipe her brow and look around ...Before spotting and pointing to yet another ladder.

"Hey look! It leads up to a tunnel of some kind!"

You looked to the giant black whole that the ladder lead into and groaned. "Oh PLEASE tell me this isn't going to be another mine."

"Only one way to find out!" She happily bounded towards the ladder, and with another groan, you slowly forced yourself to stand and followed after. Where does she get so much energy? And in this heat? She was already half way up the ladder by the time you got there and began slowly climbing, grip so hard your knuckles turned white to keep yourself from falling. Gloria making her way right into the tunnel and disappearing from view as you got closer to the top yourself. "Y/N!!" She suddenly shouted echoed by the tunnel. "Ya gotta see this!!"

"I'M COMING!!," you strangled out in a shout still making your way up.

Gloria was waiting for you when you finally got to the top, letting her grab your arm to pull you with a grunt into the shady tunnel with her. With a sigh as your sore hands touched the cooled floor of the cavern, you twisted your legs around, and just sat there breathing and wiping at your forehead from the long trip you two had suffered. Gloria was kind enough to let you catch your breath, considering it must've been harder for you with your Drizzilie being no help, for around five maybe ten minutes before you turned your head..and blinked at the light coming from the other side of the short tunnel. Gloria went ahead and started walking towards it...and you again forced yourself up and walked after her. But slower this time considering how tired and sore you were. She stopped by the cavern opening and once you caught up, your eyes widened.

"Holy smokes!"

Carved into the cliffside was the BIGGEST statues you had ever seen! The stone digletts stared out blankly onto the horizon and were blocked off by a chained fence embedded into the stone ground below it. Was this the historical landmark Gloria spoke of yesterday? She started walking forward and after a moment you followed staring up at the massive stone beasts before you. A flash of light going off as she snapped a picture of it while passing....Before she turned and with a gasp that had you snapping forward pointed excitedly.

"Y/n! Look! We found it!" What was unmistakeningly a stadium shone brightly in the sunlight as you looked and blinked, and before it was a couple small buildings, one including that classic pink pokemon center. You two wasted no time in jogging towards it past the statues and up a small flight of stairs carved into the stone floor, past under a wooden gate of some kind and over to the buildings ahead. Where you saw people. PEOPLE!! Walking around doing their everyday lives as usual! You two had successfully found Stow-on-Side! The tall two story buildings were all carved from stone as well with a couple small tables in the pathway you two walked that had a few people yelling at passerbys to come and bye from them as they sat under umbrellas from the hot sun. As you walked past everyone Gloria took out her phone again and after a few taps on it nodded in glee. "This is Stow-on-Side alright! Apparently the diglett statues we saw are part of some famous ruins including an ancient mural up the path by the stadium! We should go check those out once I'm done with the battle here!"

"Once we rest first!" You sighed and again reached up to rub your temple. "I'm beat from all that walking and climbing! And it doesn't look like this place has any inn or public place besides the center we can rest up in."

You both turned right still walking along the path towards the stadium.

"Yeah? Well I can check on my regional map of Stown-on-Side. It should tell u-" She stopped. Freezing like someone paused her on tv. Her face suddenly drawing a blank. Curiously, you stopped too and turned around to give a raised brow at her suddenly blank expression. Before you turned to look where she was looking. A whine coming from your backpack as your Drizzlie poked it's full head out. And you under stood why she stopped. IT WAS THE BOYS!! Both were talking to each other walking down from the stairs leading to the big stadium, until they happened to look down towards the both of you and stopped. The four of you staring at one another in surprised silence...Before Gloria straight up BOLTED towards them both! "HOP!!"

"Glori-AH!!" The poor boy didn't even get a chance to finish talking before he was glomped by the brunette nearly knocking the both of them over in the process.

"I MISSED YOU SO MUCH!! YA PURPLE HAIRED LOONEY PONYTA!!," she shouted with a smile. "YA HAD ME SO WORRIED!! DON'T DO THAT!!"

"N-Nice to see you too!," he forced out strangled by the crushing hug, "M-Miss Y/N help!"

You walked on over but didn't need to pry them apart thankfully as she let go and let Hop breathed and clutch at his chest by the time you got there. Victor looking annoyed opening his arms. "And what am I? An invisible Sobble?" Gloria giggled before giving her brother the expected hug he wanted.

"We thought we'd miss you guys here by how long it took! Were you here that long?"

"Sadly yes," Hop answered rubbing at where Gloria nearly crushed him to dust. "Turns out there was a few people here itchin' to battle Bea before going on to harder gym leaders like Kabu, so we had to camp out for a bit for an opening."

Gloria paused...slowly retracting her hug from her brother and turning to him, face concerned. "Does...D-Does that mean you didn't win?"

...He smiled. "Took me two tries! But I managed to get my fighting badge!"

"You did!! Hop that's amazing! I told you, you could do it!"

He chuckled....before his face turned back to a neutral one. "But...Glory." His hands came to stuff themselves into his pockets. "I'm still not too sure what I should do about all that stuff I told you before. About me being weak and dragging down Lee's good name and all, yeah? "..He smiled again. "But the only thing I can do is get stronger right?"

With a sigh Gloria gave her own determined smile, reached over, and made him blink as she flicked his nose. "That's what we've always told you, Hop. I never lost doubt in ya."

He paused for a moment gold eyes blinking and looking cross eyed at his nose, before his face went pink again and he chuckled. "Y-yeah! A-Actually I was hoping for a b-battle with ya the next time I saw you." Your Drizzilie whined more. "Vi-Vic's been battling me and helping me build up my team and come up with new s-strageties on how to battle upcoming gym leaders. So I'm gonna try out all kinds of different things against you and see what works!..If you wanna battle that is?"

"Do you really need to ask? You're on!"

"Then let's do this! I bet an all out battle with my true rival will help me get my head on straight-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH-"

A screech that pierced your eardrums interrupting Hop from saying anything else. Immediately all your hands shot up to your ears and you all made some kind of cringed face or closed their eyes from the scream that came from directly behind you. You forced yourself to turn around at your drizzilie's head poking out from your bag. Mouth open wide and yelling at the top of his lungs before he abruptly stopped upon noticing you had looked at it in utter shock.....How could such a small thing make such a noise!! Slowly, the others uncovered their ears as well giving the three back and forth looks, before also looking in the direction of your bored looking drizzilie.

..........Victor blinked and pointed at your backpack. "What the absolute Arceous was THAT!?"

"I......have absolutely no idea." You eventually managed to get yourself to talk. "I've never heard him make a noise like that before."

"Could there be something wrong with him?," Hop asked rubbing one of his ears, "It is pretty hot and he's a water type. Maybe he's gotten dehydrated from lack of water or something?"

You jumped. YOU HADN'T EVEN CONSIDERED THAT WHILE TRAVELING!? WHAT THE HECK!! YOU WERE AN AWFUL TRAINER!! "I...." You swiftly turned nearly nailing Gloria in the side with your back pack in a panic. "I-I gotta get him back over to the center just in case! You two go ahead and have your battle!"

"I'll come too!" Victor stepped forward. "I meant to stop by anyways to grab some potions from the center."

If you heard him you didn't pay him much mind as you practically stumble-ran your panicked self back down what few steps you had climbed up towards the stadium and RAN towards the center with Victor right behind you. You nearly tripped and slammed in your haste turning the corner and RUNNING past the vendors calling out towards that bright pink building. The people inside jumping and looking on in surprise when you practically ripped the doors off their hinges bursting inside and without missing a beat flew to the wide eyed nurse joy standing behind the counter, swiftly turning your back where your drizzilie still bored looking despite everything that was happening right now, and in panic DEMANDED she'd take a look at him NOW!! Surprisingly no one moved, too shocked to really know how to react. It took Victor coming in and explaining calmly to the startled Nurse Joy what the drizzilie did and politely asking her to look him over did she finally react accordingly. She took her sweet time in the next ten minutes pulling your water pokemon from it's hiding place, making it sit on the counter as you watched a nervous wreck with Victor assuring you he was ok, and slowly and carefully examining him as a doctor would a patient during a physical....All to just smile at you and tell you essentially......Your Drizzilie...Was throwing a tantrum akin to that of a moody angsty teenager during puberty. ....You blinked and had to be explained to again as, even though Drizzilie was a little dehydrated from the hot weather, he was actually throwing a tantrum because he was hungry. So you, worried you might have let something bad happen to your pokemon without knowing, had panicked over nothing and rushed him over here to be told he was acting like a toddler not getting their way because he was hungry......WHAT!?

"He's perfectly healthy, you probably just haven't fed him today yet and he was just expressing that to you in what way he thought you'd understand. Although in this heat he is naturally a little dehydrated, and you yourself look it too and exhausted. My advice to the both of you is to rest here for an hour or two out of the weather and have you both drink some water. I'll lend you some and some pokemon food so it doesn't happen again. After all we don't want anyone dropping from the heat."

You sighed. Relieved Drizzilie wasn't really hurt, but annoyed he had scared you for no reason. You shot a scowl at the pokemon standing next to you and as soon as it made eye contact with you looked embarrassed to the floor. Nurse Joy was nice enough to give you some bottled up water and a small bowl of pokemon food for the two of you and you thanked her before Victor was nice enough to help you carry them over to the table and chairs in the corner. You gladly plopped yourself down in one chair exhausted, sighing as at last your muscles got a chance to rest among the cool ac of the center. Victor sat across from you as your drizzilie plopped itself on the floor by your feet with it's newfound food and water to make it happy.

".....Hey. Y/n?" You hummed from where you had laid your head against the table. "Are you ok?"

".......Yeah."

".......Would you like some water?"

".....Yeah."

He was nice enough to hand you a bottle of water which you chugged down before resuming your position of laying against the table silently resting. Even when the other two finally caught up to you and entered the center.

"My strategy goes right to the pot when I've got all these bad thoughts running through my head," Hop's voice came as you heard the door open just didn't look up.

"Yeah. But I also barely won. I blame the heat. 'Sides you're gettin' better!," Came Gloria's voice right after him.

"Hrmmm. I tried switching my team members in and out to max out their potential in every match up but we just couldn't get it together somehow. Maybe that's why I'm still so weak?"

"Call yourself weak again n' I'll drag ya ta Lee myself kickin' n' screamin' and have him talk ye out o' that crazy mindset!"

"Ok! Ok! I won't! No need to go all charmander on me, Mate. .......Oh! Y/n! Hey!"

"......Hi," you mumbled to Hop.

"So how'd it go? Is everything ok?"

"Oh yeah. Turns out he was just throwing a big whiney fit cuz he was hungry like a big baby, but he should be fine now. How was your battle?"

"OH! That's good to know he's not hurt or anything. It was fine thanks. I got to see how my tactics work on the battlefield and what to improve on. In fact I think we're ready to move on. Are you ready to go, Victor?"

"What?! You mean you're both leavin' us again?!" This time you did force yourself to look up. More out of concern than anything as Gloria stared at the two boys, and you noticed Victor had stood up from his seat. "B-But we just caught up with you!"

...Hop sighed. "I know, and I don't really wanna split up either but I still have some things I need to work out myself. And I wanna make more good choices when it comes to battling and strategies for them. .." He smiled. "But Lee really is the greatest trainer, and I don't want people laughing at him all because his little brother is rubbish. It's not enough. I've got to try harder and harder and hard 'til no one's laughing!"

"But....you're not rubbish to me."

Hop paused again before sighing again. "I know...That's why you make such a good friend and rival, Glory."

"............Hey Hop." The three looked at you and you hesitated for a moment. Would this change the game's story events?? Well it wouldn't hurt to give him some words of encouragement like you gave Sonia. "Listen. You got the Fighting Type badge right?" He nodded. "Then you're not rubbish! You said it yourself that there was a few other gym trainers were here because they didn't want to challenge Kabu yet. But you did. And you won against the guy that supposedly makes their numbers drop."

He blinked wide eyed, not really expecting that. "Yeah...But just barely. And not exactly how I would've liked."

"So? That didn't stop you from winning on your FIRST try either way. How many trainers besides you two have those bragging rights?? The dude's so powerful he personally says congrats to anyone who does beat him. A guy doesn't do that unless only a few actually manages to get past him. Sure Bede may have beaten you. Sure he said a bunch of stuff about you and your brother, but he's just doing it because he's trying to get under your skin. He's trying to make you doubt yourself. He's trying to make you lose." You pointed to the wide eyed looking boy. "Hop. You CAN'T just be calling yourself weak. Leon and you are both strong. Just in different ways and Leon sees that in you. Why else would be agree to sponsor you in the first place? Haven't you seen what you've been able to do so far?" You gestured to his back pack. "In there somewhere is four badges ok? Four badges that you won on either your second or even first try. Do you think I could have done that? Absolutely not. You have four badges and you just need eight to compete at the end of the year! It's been three or four months and already you've come farther than most of your rivals in the challenge." You smiled. "That's not rubbish or weakness Hop. That's your true strength plain and simple."

Hop continued to stare at you with those bright gold eyes for a long moment, before the biggest smile you had ever seen on him came through. "...Yeah...YEAH!!" He pointed at you. "You're absolutely right! ...I...Still need some time to think about a few things, but I appreciate the words."

You smiled and nodded. "You'll figure it out eventually. Until then, just keep calm and work hard and you'll get there. Don't worry yourself over what Bede said because Gloria's right about him being wrong."

With a nod, Hop turned back to Gloria who blinked back at him. "I'm off, mate. Off to find the kind of pokemon that I can really draw the strength out of."

She frowned. "We'll meet up with you later tho...Right?"

"Oh you know we will! I still have to beat you sometime. I'll see you around. Ok?"

....Gloria nodded and the two of you watched as they bid farewell and after a moment they were gone. You two looking after where they left....before you looked over at Gloria's sad face. "Hey. Are you alright?"

After a second or two she nodded. "Y-Yeah." She inhaled. "Yeah I'm good. It's just a bit unfair y'know? Gah!" Her hands came up to grip her head. "I wish I could just get my mind off all this!"

You opened your mouth to speak- "That child." And practically yelped, jumping up, as the both of you whirled around face to face with....Opal. The elderly woman staring at where they boys left. "Gym Challengers should battle for the sake of their own pokemon. Why worry about saving the Champion's name? We all know he's unbeatable."......You exchanged a look with Gloria. "Anyway, here's a little something for letting me watch your battle." To your surprise what she handed out (more like put in Gloria's stunned hand-) was another league card. "Now on you go, Child. You're headed to the Stow-on-Side Gym next, no? The Gym Challenge is about having fun."

You both watched silently as she once again appeared out of no where, before ignoring anything she just did, and just...Left! Gloria finally blinked before curiously looking down at the card in her hands. Slowly turning to you as she rose a brow. And looked up to you. "..This is Bea's League Card."

....You blinked. "You mean the gym leader from this gym?" She nodded. "Why on earth would she have that?"

"I'm more confused on why she's here too."

"I'm more impressed she managed to do all that climbing required to get here. Wouldn't be surprised if she did the smart thing and grabbed a taxi....But she's got a point." You pointed to the card in Gloria's hands. "We came here so you would challenge Bea. If you want to get your mind off things, then a battle against her would be the best thing to do just that."

Gloria stared at you a moment. Before looking down to the card in her hands a determined look coming over her as she inhaled and pumped a fist into the air. "You're right again! I came here to challenge the fighting type gym and it's leader! I didn't spend days travelin' and climbing an unholy amount to just quite now! Hop plans on challengin' me 'n the finals! I owe it to him to at least try my best to get there with him! If he can do it then so can I too!" She turned, her mind dead set and seeming to forget you. "Look out Bea! Cuz 'ere I come to get that badge!!"

"You can do it!," you called after her as she suddenly ran out of the center, fist still high in the air. And leaving you sitting there by yourself. After a moment you sighed and leaned your cheek back down against the table. You were too tired and sore to move at the moment and your back could use a rest from days of lugging that troublemaker aro- The chair in front of you creaked as Drizzilie climbed onto it, before pulling itself onto the table and sat there next to your head, careful to not sit on your hair spilt over on the table behind you. After a moment it gave off a questioning sound and tapped your head as if expecting an answer outta you. You blew out a breath. "I get you're used to being carried around by now, but now you're bigger and heavier. And it's starting to strain my back out." It made another squeak noise. "That means you're a big boy now. One day you're gonna be taller than ME!" You were right that Inteleons were genuinely taller than most humans if you remember right. "What then? You can't expect me to piggy back ride you everywhere. It tires me out. So after today, how about you start giving walking a try?" Your answer was a few pats to your head. "I'll take that as a yes. Because there's NO way in heck I'm trying to carry you back down those ladders."

It was...mostly a blur right after that. It was almost embarrassing how fast you were to fall asleep sleeping half way on a table, but you must've been more tuckered out than you thought. You weren't even too sure how much time had even passed. All you can remember was waking up to a flash of light from behind your retinas making your sleeping body flinch....And your hearing picking up giggling from a far distance. And the feeling of something pressed against your neck. It felt like a cool water balloon just laying again your neck, not that you didn't mind being inside from the heat and all that, but you definitely shied away from the something that was shaking and as COLD AS ICE sniffing at your cheek. With a groan from being deep in sleep for so long, your eyes slowly blinked open to blurry yellow-....Yellow?? You blinked back more in your sleepy stupor as your drizzilie laid lazily like a cat in the crook of your shoulder and next as you yawned. Reached a hand up to rub at your eyes. And looked at the yellow dinosuar as it tilted it's head at you curiously. Blank faced you sat there and stared at it. ......It blinked and gave a small noise. And you yelled up immediately shoot up to your feet as the thing gave a scared sqawk like a parrot and dove itself to cower behind Gloria shaking. Drizzilie chirping in annoyance at being disturbed from it's spot of rest on the table next to you! Everyone in the center was either hiding behind the counter or like you pressed against the walls away the scary looking pokemon who looked like a giant yellow dinosaur trapped in a blue upside down acorn. The thing gave a sad noise as you stared at it, body pressed against the wall, your chair knocked over in the process of getting up. Gloria was already cooing at it soothingly and patting it's head, camera slung around her neck and a picture in her other hand........You pointed.

"WHAT THE HECK IS THAT THING!?"

"Calm down, Y/n. Ya gonna scare Arctozolt even more than the wee babe already is," she said calmly patting it's head.

......You blinked. "I SCARED HIM!? Gloria what IS that?!"

"Oh this?" She gestured to the thing glancing around nervously. The only ones not so freaked out about it was apparently her and your Drizzilie who looked more annoyed it's nap was cut short. "Remember that scientist las I mentioned before? Well I found 'er wonderin' around with the weird contraption in hand. You were still sleepin' when I went back out for food so I figured why not give it a try? This is only one of four new wee ones I've got....But I wanted to come to you straight away because...well..." She looked nervously at you with a strained apologetic look. "I think we might have ta make a run for it."

.........You blinked. "....Run from what?''

She hummed making a rolling motion with her now free hand. "That scientist lady may be lookin' 'round for me cuz I ran off with her 'research'." She gestured to the pokemon who pressed it's nose against her arm curiously.

......"Gloria." You peeled yourself from the wall finally. "PLEASE tell me you didn't steal those pokemon."

She scowled stuffing the picture into her pocket. "I nay stole anything! Especially since it was mine in the first place! They were my fossils she just did some science whatcha-may-callit to 'em. It's not my problem she throws a fit once she sees me flee with 'em. 'Sides. Do ya really want them cooped up in some lab being studied like statues?"

....Well...You couldn't argue with her there. So with a breath in you breathed out calming yourself and held up your hands. "Right." You quickly moved to grab your bag, Drizzilie taking the hint and hurrying to climb off the table to join after you. "Ok then. Let's leave. And put that thing in it's ball-" You paused. ".....hey. What about Bea?"

"I told you I came for the Fighting Badge didn't I?", she asked pulling out a pokeball, in a flash of blue the light the thing was gone. "And I walked out with it as well! No need to worry ye head off!"

You nodded already going to the door. TIME TO LEAVE!! The last thing you wanted was to be arrested by a scientist for tampering with her research or stealing or-...Or whatever Gloria did while you were out cold. Darn it you had to stop being such a deep sleeper! You should've went with her instead of sleeping in! "Which is the fastest way out of Stow-on-Side?" You asked speed walking to the doors with your pokemon at your heels easily keep up with Gloria in tow behind you.

"The fastest way out is the back path leading behind the stadium." She said pointing as you sped walked out into the hot sun. "It's up that long stairway past the mural!"

You nodded. Sounded good to you! And your body was well rested from that powernap so you had the energy now to spare. Footsteps slapping against the stone pavement the three of you sped walked past people who looked like they'd seen a ghost. Oh no. Don't tell me Gloria paraded whatever ancient thing that was on the way there! Looking around, you peeled your eyes out for any sign of an angry scientist with a machine or anything the like. And you did run into a scientist. Just not the one you were fearing. As you two made it up the first flight of steps that lead to the stadium and path to the mural, a dash of yellow side lined you.

BARK!!

WHOA! You yelped and swung your arms out as you stumbled a step, only saving grace was Gloria who thanks to her quick reflexes grabbed onto your pack and pulled you back upright. Catching yourself back onto your feet as the yamper culprit wagged it's lightning bolt tail and panted happily at the both of you before giving off another loud bark. ....Wait a second. A yamper?? What was a yamper doing all the way up here? That could only mean one thing.

Footsteps rapidly approuched. "I'm so sorry!" You both turned. "Is everyone ok?"...Yep. It was Sonia. You both sighed in relief to see her. Thank goodness! It was just her. The red headed scientist quickly approuched scowling at the happily panting pokemon before wagging a finger at it and placed one hand on her hip. "Bad boy! You know better than to run off and scare people like that!" The dog pokemon tilted his head at her but otherwise didn't change it's expression as she turned to you two apologetically. "I'm so sorry about that. He can get easily excited. But it looks like my yamper really likes you, huh?"

"Sonia." A hand on your chest as your headed tilted back with a smile of relief, "Thank goodness it's only you."

"What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to come examine the ancient ruins and mural around Stow-on-Side after flipping through all those history books in the Hammerlocke library." They had a library?? "I thought maybe something was here. Anyway, we've run into each other at a good time." She happily turned and gestured up the way towards the stairs you two were about to run up anyways. "You know the mural here in Stow-on-Side I just mentioned? It's said to tell the story of the hero of Galar as well. Though what's there today is actually a replica of the ancient art that used to be here."...She paused...and you blinked as she turned to Gloria with seemingly a bright new idea in her mind. "Say. You tend to have surprisingly sharp eyesight, so I was wondering what you might think when you see the ruins?"

Gloria blinked..her hand coming to rub her arm embarrassed. "Uh..Actually I haven't see the ruins or m-mural yet."

She blinked taken a back. "Oh really?,'' she asked surprised. Gloria nodded embarrassed and Sonia held up a hand in assurrance. "Hey that's alright. There's a first time for everything. Since you haven't see it yet, how about we go together since I'm heading there anyways?"

"Would we!?," Gloria beamed and you coughed to gain her attention.

"Aren't you forgetting we're supposed to be leaving town for something?," You pressed raising your brows.

"Yeah. We're still going the same place anyways. But don't ya think running would make us look more suspicious?"

You opened your mouth...but closed it. She had another point. It's make you both look suspicious if either of you just ran outta here like a ghost was chasing you, it'd make you look like you were fleeing the scene of the crime. Acting along with Sonia like tourists would probably help you both blend in here a little better with the other people walking up and down the stairs...You nodded. Alright. You'd do that but then you two had better skedaddle while you had the chance too. Sonia looked please at your answer and would've probably expressed it too, if it wasn't for the earth rattling KA-BOOM sound that went off like a bomb somewhere above all of you. The echo of it boomed across rattling the sky, and you and the other two girls, and a whole bunch of other people looked up in alarm at the frightening sound. Which had come in the direction of the very place you were about to head off too. Sonia's yamper made a distressed bark sound and scampered behind the woman's legs. Drizzilie too seemed mildly surprised at the sound. The best you would describe it as a far away grenade or a firework going off, but who'd have either of those around here!?

"Wha...What in the world was that!? What's going on up there?!," Sonia managed to asked out before another ka-boom noise had you all more startled. "Sounds like it came from the direction of the ruins, too!"

"Maybe some of the old things are collaspin' in on themselves from age?", Gloria suggested.

That made a worried look come over the young scientist and a hand came up to her cheek. "Oh no! That's not good! Those are historical sights we're still studying!"She gave a look to the pokemon still cowering and shaking behind her heels. "Let's have a look! Come along, Yamper!" Her heels left loud footsteps in her wake as she turned and ran towards the stairs the yamper whimpering like a scare dog before quickly running after it's owner.

You yelped as Gloria suddenly grabbed you too and yanked you into a run after her. "Come on! We gotta see what's goin' on too! That's are way outta here remember!?"

You didn't argue with that. Only willed yourself to ran with Gloria after Sonia who was already ahead of you running up the flights of stairs as fast as her legs could carry her. Without the extra weight on your shoulders anymore it was really easy to keep up with them as you all ran past people who were looking with concerned, confused, or scared faces up towards the top of the stairs. One little boy even gripping the pants leg of who must've been his grandmother sobbing in fright. Sonia was the first to reach the top of the hot weathered stairs and stop facing what must've been the source of the sounds because ANOTHER giant boom noise echoed throughout the sky. Your heart raced in your throat, and your lungs heaved as you picked up the place. The second one to get there was Gloria and then a minute later you right behind her and then your Drizzilie who had resumed to running on all fours just to keep up with the lot of you. And the source of the noises were laid at your all's feet. No it wasn't a grenade. Or fireworks. Or even ruins collasping in on themselves from old age. It was a HUGE elephant looking pokemon who must've been the size of a large soccer mom's mini van who had it's trunk halfway stuck inside the cliffside where this strange but beautiful looking hand painted mural was drawn onto the cliffside. A giant hole was in the mural sadly disrupting it's beauty as many spiderweb cracks surrounded it as the elephant thing forcibly pulled it's trunk out of it scattering rock dust and tiny fragments at it's base. And the white haired boy encouraging it on as he pointed.

"Yes! Destroy it! Destroy it all!," he shouted to the elephant pokemon in absolutely frustration, "We're going to find those Wishing Stars!" Your eyes widened in absolute SHOCK. Holy heck!! It was BEDE!! What in the world was he doing!? The others must've been in shock too because they didn't react at all staring in horror as the thing raised it's trunk again and with a sickening crunching gravel sound slammed it's trunk back into the whole it created. More cracks slowly forming across the pretty painted picture. "We've got to bring the chairman more wishing stars if we want to please him! Copperajah! If you're truly the chairman's pokemon then you should feel grateful for this chance to help him find wishing stars!" The thing gave out another elephant sound and repulled it's trunk out from the now slightly bigger hole it made.

"BEDE YA BLOODY KOOK!!," you both jumped as Gloria finally found her voice, hands flying to grip her head as she stared horrified at the destruction before her. At the sound of her scottish accent Bede let out a high pitched wail of surprise and whirled around back pressed to the pokemon's side as his wide purple eyes stared. Surprised no doubt to see Gloria there. She threw her hands at him and his mess. "WHAT IN THE WHOLE STUPID HAIRBALL BRAIN SCHEME OF YERS ARE YE DOIN' NOW!?"

Bede continued to stare at her wide eyed for a moment, before instantly righting himself and dusting himself off. "Oh my. You again." He was WAY to calm for this to be normal. "So you think that you can start collecting wishing stars now and get in the chairman's favor? That's the way of things, is it?!"

Gloria blinked and looked at him like he was stupid for accusing her of something so...so...Well stupid too. "Have ye stumbled and hit your head on somethin' or is your head so stuffed full of that fluffy hair ya can't see what you're doin' right there!?" She pointed even more at the destroyed mural. "And what are ye goin on about wishing stars for!? Like I give a ratatta's arse 'bout lil rocks when I already have the one I need!"

"I see. So you have some cunning in you. But I won't have it!," he growled pointing back at her in anger. "I won't allow anyone to stand in my way! I have to win this for the chairman! Do you really think I'd let you keep me from everything I want!!"

"Did ya even hear what I just said!? I don't want ta git in your way! I want ye ta stop damagin' that thing! Are ye deaf!?"

He chuckled without any happiness. "Oh yes. My partner's move is simply splendid, wouldn't you say?" He held up his hand and with a snap the copperajah as he called it gave a giant elephant roar before lifting it's trunk back up and striking back into the same place it had been before hand. "Now leave me be until I can figure out what to say to you officially!" He turned back around. "I have work to do."

"What do we do!?," you turned to Sonia in a panic as she as panickedly looked back to you as you helplessly pointed at the GIANT elephant thing. "I can't take that thing on with Drizzilie! I can barely beat my own sleep time!!"

"I-I-..." She stammered looking around panicked hands lightly shaking not sure what to do herself before whipping to the stairs to everyone there. Sweat on her face. "SOMEONE GET THE GYM LEADER!! SOMEONE GET BEA NOW!!"

Good idea! Bea would absolutely be able to stop this but by the time she got up here that mural would've been nothing but rubble- ?! "GLORIA NO!!!" Your hand snapped to stop the girl but she was too fast as your hand grabbed empty air.

Gloria had dropped her bag to the ground. Her hands gripping her camera so hard her knuckles were white as she charged forward with speed you hadn't seen her use before. The copperajah pulling it's trunk back again to slam it for the hundredth time back into place in the crater it made in the rock as Bede persisted in barking at it to do so. It's trunk lifted high to the point it was about to slam it back down, when Gloria slid her way between them and the mural, before holding up the camera- "SAY CHEESE!!" And a flash of bright white shot out. The copperajah gave out a pained wail as it turned itself away from the flash quickly shaking it's head. The trunk that was raised to strike the mural more instead coming to it's own body to rub at it's eyes. Bede himself flinching back with a angry cry followed by a growl and gritted teeth as he was stopped.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?," he cried out angrily to her arm wiping at his eyes before blinking wide purple eyes full of confusion at the scowling girl. "I'm doing this for you! I'm doing this for everyone in Galar!!"

"What you're doin' is destroyin' Galar! Not helpin' it ya dummy! Why would I want ya doin' this for me!?" Bede stopped seeming stunned and...it might've been your panicked mind but he looked a little hurt at her words as she glared and held up her camera at him like a weapon. "Now stand down before I get more evidence of yer crimes!"

"...I...But why? How can this be?" ..He numbly pointed at her. "How could someone like you get in my way? I was the one chosen by the chairman! I was the one to defeat the champion!" He cried out at her. "I'm one of the elite! Someone who can shoulder the future of the Galar Region!" He pointed at her. "YOU EVEN AGREED WITH ME!!"

"Since when did I agree with destroyin' ancient sights for bloody sparkly rocks!?"

He didn't get time to anwer. In fact none of you did as a group of footsteps made their way from from behind you and your Drizzilie chirped in surprise before diving in front of your legs to avoid being swarmed by a few people in police suits like you'd often see Officer Jenny wear, a few gym staff people in white suits, and at least three pokemon that you supposed was to help restrain the culprit. You and Sonia looked around yourselves surprised but relieved to see the police coming FINALLY, and Bede suddenly looked even more panicked hands at his sides and lookig around widely as he was affectively surrounded.

"Make way for the Chairman!" Hey! You recognized that woman's voice. And turned just in time for the Chairman himseld and an angry Oleana part their way through the crowd. But instead of feeling relief anymore, a bad feeling pooled at the end of your stomach. "Challeger Bede!" She yelled and just when you thought Bede couldn't have gotten any paler, his skin turned such a white the bright white of his hair could've been considered darker than his skin tone. "I wondered what you were up to when you asked to borrow Chairman Rose's copperajah.I can't believe you'd try to use the chairman's pokemon to destroy a historical sight!"

Wait wait WAIT! HOLD UP!! They actually let Bede borrow THEIR pokemon without asking what he was doing and surprised about this!? ..A low rumble noise came from the wall as a piece of it slid away between the cracks around it. A few pebbles falling from it and landing right behind Bede's feet. No one noticed but Gloria who was still standing between Bede and the destroyed mural, blinking and looking up at the stone wall. You all were too busy watching the show between Bede and his sponsors to notice.

Bede had stood there stunned for a moment before scowling and pointing at her, but his tone was obviously scared. "Who cares for some ancient ruin when the next thousand years are at stake!? Did you stand in the path of a pokemon's simple beam or something?" Wrong move. Oleana looked even more angry now. "How do you expect to support the Chairman with that sort of thinking!?"

More pebbles fell down and Gloria looked right up, twisting her body around as she took a few steps back staring at the wall.

"Bede." Bede Froze. Absolutely. Freaking. FROZE as the Chairman addressed him holding a hand up to Oleana who immediately stood down at his motion. "Young Bede." His hand was slowly returned to his pocket, the chairman's eyes scanning his pokemon who still shook it's head and the absolutely destructon of the once beautiful mural. And shook his head. How was he so calm about this? "It pains me to say this but I am truly disappointed."

".....W-What?"

"It's true that I'm the one who found you, back when you were all alone." He sighed reaching a hand up to rub his head. "I saw talent in you. You reminded me a little bit of myself back when I was young. That's why I sent you to a trainer's school, to give you a chance at success. But trying to destroy the mural, part of Galar's history! You show no love toward Galar!" He looked back up to the boy who by this point was lightly shaking. Just staring at him like a little scared mouth. "You are clearly not a worthy challenger for the Gym Challenge."

"W-W-WHAT!?," Bede shouted at him. "B-B-But all I have ever done was for you!" He placed a hand to his chest. "All I have ever done was for Galar! Y-You must be joking right!? You're disqualifying me from the Gym Challenge?! But you're the one who endorsed me! T-T-There are a hundred different ways we could sort this out!" He insisted more desperate. "Why are you chosing the worst possible option?!"

Mr. Rose just held up a tired hand again. "I don't want to hear anymore from you, Bede. We will decide what to do with you later. For now you will return to Hammerlocke with us."

"B-B-But-.." He looked around in a blind panic around himself at every staff, policeman, and other adult there watching him. More pebbles falling and Gloria's eyes widened in danger. "I-I REFUSE!! THERE WAS A MISTAKE!!"

"Challenger Bede," Oleana stated firmly, "I'll be taking those wishing stars you have gathered. And you WILL be returning with us to Hammerlocke."

"I- N-No wait!" He was grabbed by two men in those white gym uniforms and his purple eyes shrank as Oleana walked towards him.

That's when the Chairman turned towards the rest of you and smiled apologetically. "AH! Sonia! And Gloria and her friend too!" You both turned to the Chairman as Gloria paid no attention to you, the Chairman, or Bede's shaking form as Oleana collected what looked like more sparkling gems out of his pockets. "Terrible shame all this." he gestured to the seen before him and you wanted to hurl at how disgustingly calm he could POSSIBLY be about all this! "An absolute disaster." OH YOU THINK!? "I never wish to see us lose challengers for this sort of reason. Yet we do what we must do to keep things fair and sportsmanlike."

"Then why did you lend him your copperajah without watching him?," you found yourself saying with a frown, "Or have a young boy collect stones from possibly dangerous mines?"

He fell silent, giving you a look that could have been surprised at what you said as you still stared at him. The reality of what you had said not catching up to you then and there because on top of what just happened something else struck. The sound of cracking walls and moving gravel made everyone look up as the cracks and wall of the cliffside moved ever so slightly under the weight of the lose boulder as it slipped free and fell down towards the earth. Down right towards the scrambling and screaming people. Right towards the frozen form of Bede as his mouth opened in a silent scream at the heavy rock barraling towards him as he stood in it's shadow- Well the rock did made contact with the ground, shattering into lots of tinier pieces on impact. Everyone yelped and cowered, arms flying up to shield their faces or turning away as the tinier rocks flew everywhere. Bede and Gloria laid upon the ground sprawled out from where she tackled him out of the flying death maker's way. Both groaned out before sitting up. Bede once again freezing at the sight of Gloria being so close and pulling him up into a sitting position with a scowl!

"Ye alright?"......he slowly nodded. "That's good." Before she began shaking him. "WHAT THE ABSOLUTE HECK IS WRONG WITH YOU!? NOW DO YA SEE WHY IT WAS A STUPID IDEA YA DUMMY!? YA COULD'VE BEEN CRUSH BY A STUPID FLYIN' BOULDER!!"

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!?" A loud female voice cried out and if you thought Oleana's loud voice was scary it was nothing compared to the slightly smaller than you woman who stomped her way through the crowd barefoot, angry, and with at least three fighting type pokemon behind her. Just how many people were going to show up here!? And how could she stand walking around barefoot on the hot ground!? The grey haired woman looked absolutely shocked at the state of her town's mural and all the debry around the ground from it, but unlike everyone else who stood around taking a long time to react, her reaction was instant. Anger flooding her features and her face looked like a tea kettle ready to pop as it turned beat red. An accusing hand was pointed at the destruction caused. Wait. She looked familiar. "WHO'S RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS!?"....Oh right! You saw her on the card Opal had given Gloria! It was Bea the gym leader of this place!...And she did NOT look happy to see what happened. Even more unfortunate for Bede some people around him pointed him out to the angry woman and once she snapped his gaze to himself still half held by Gloria, you could tell he was just one more heart attack away from fainting. "SO IT WAS YOU!!" She pointed right at him. "IT'S BAD ENOUGH YOU INSULTED THE TRAINER I ENDORSED BUT NOW YOU HAVE THE AUDACITY OF RUINING MY TOWN'S SUPPLY OF INCOME TOO!? WHERE DO YOU THINK SOME OF THE MONEY TO KEEP THE STADIUM RUNNING COMES FROM YOU LITTLE PUNK!? I SWEAR BY THE TIME I'M THROUGH WITH YOU YOU'LL BE GLUING THE ENTIRE THING BACK BY HAND WITH NOTHING BUT A LITTLE CHILD'S GLUE STICK!!" By now Bede looked pale enough to pass as a ghost.

"Bea now, now." The Chairman held up his hands to her in a calm manner. "Calm down. I'll pay for all the damages and repairs to be fixed. We'll have an exact replica of the mural back up in no time at all. It'll be like this never happened."

"WHAT?!" She snapped a look towards the chairman. "AND LET THIS LITTLE TROUBLEMAKER GO UNPUNISHED FOR ALL THE TROUBLE HE'S ALREADY CAUSED!?"

"I never said he wasn't going to be punished. We were just about to figure that out just now I assure you."

She huffed crossing her arms. "Oh yeah? Is that right? If you ask me you should take away the gym badges from him-"

"NO!!" Bede gave off an 'Oof' as Gloria suddenly grabbed him to her in a protective manner and his face hit her shoulder as he blinked confused. The adults looking at her in a way that made you nervous just standing there watching.

...Bea got a look of realization over her before she pointed at Gloria. "Hey. I know you. You're the trainer that I just badge the Fighting type badge too. Are you in on this too?"

Gloria shook her head no. "NO!! Are ye kiddin' me?! I'd never do somethin' as stupid as this!" Her hand pointed at her. "BUT YA CAN'T TAKE AWAY HIS GYM BADGES!!" She then pointed at the Chairman who blinked at her. "AND NEITHER CAN YE!! BEDE WON THOSE FAIR N' SQUARE!!" Bede blinked and looked up to her in shock. "YER RIGHT THAT HE SHOULD BE PUNISHED FOR DOIN' WHAT HE DID!! BUT GYM BADGES ARE A SYMBOL OF ALL THE HARD WORK YOU PUT IN AS A POKEMON TRAINER JUST TO GET THEM!! ONCE A GYM LEADER GIVES THEM TO YA IT JUST SHOWS HOW MUCH YOU IMPROVED AND GROWN FROM THEN!! IF YOU TAKE THEM FROM HIM THEN YOU'LL BE DOIN' NOTHING BUT TELL HIM HIS WORTH AS A TRAINER IS NOTHING AND I WON'T ALLOW THAT!!" Her grip on him increased slightly. "Punish him for what he did to the mural if you want, but don't you DARE take his gym badges from him!"

You weren't sure whether you wanted to bury yourself under a rock or be proud of her in that moment, but her words got the Chairman to stare at her a moment. Humming and eyeing her protective stance frowning at him before he sighed and nodded. "She's right Bea. I won't tamper with the progress he's already made thus far, but he sure will be answering for the mess he's caused everyone today." He gestured back down towards the stairs. "Come. Lets discuss what we can do about the mural out of the hot sun alright? Ms. Sonia I don't suppose you could stand by until my team gets here could you?"

Sonia blinked."...OH! I-i-...Sure."

The two of you stood there as everyone and their pokemon trickled out of the destroyed area and back down the stairs after the chairman and gym leader who shot a nasty glare at Bede before she left. ...Bede slowly pried hmself away from Gloria falling back onto his bottom as she blinked. He got up shakily, dusting himself off in the process, before looking back to her. The two of them silently staring at each others for the longest time.

"Bede," He jumped and turned to Oleana as she stood there waiting for him expectantly, "Come along. You're aware the Chairman doesn't like to kept waiting." Bede paused for a moment looking between her and Gloria exactly once, before turning and started walking towards her. She turned and walked away from the three of you as Gloria slowly stood herself. Bede not sparing either of you a head glance as he walked past the two of you head down without a word.

The three of you stood there watching everyone leave down the long flight of stairs silently ...before you finally broke the silence by looking at the mess as the copperajah lumbered past after it's owner. ".....Well I can say for certain that this so fair has been the most eventful day I've ever had in my life."

"Tell me 'bout it!" Gloria grumbled dusting herself off as she walked over to you to which you looked at her.

"Hey. Are you ok? You're not hurt are you?"

She shook her head no to your relief as she still deeply frowned. "I know the show ponyta was a looney but I didn't think he'd have the gall ta pull somethin' like this."

You hummed. ".....Somehow I don't think that was exactly all his fault."

"Whatcha mean by that?"

You went to answer her but was cut off yet again by voice. "Now that I think about it..." Both of you looked to Sonia who hummed. "You know. During one of Bede's matches, I heard the announcer say that Bede has no family. Apparently it was Rose who took Bede under his wing, and so Bede was battling for the Chairman's sake." Gloria looked between you two surprised, but you were more angry than surprised at this point gaining a frown. You had pretty much picked up on that by now. "*sigh* But that's a story for another day." She looked to the destroyed Mural. "Oh poor Bea. What an awful turn of events. I hope the mural survived all that."

"I doubt that." Gloria kicked a decent sized rock away from her at the mention.

And then that's when the rumble started. Just like the sound of the rock that nearly crushed Bede, only there was a lot more of it! The three of you looked up in horror at the cracks in the once pretty mural finally giving away under the strained weight, and it fell apart.

"LOOK OUT!!"

You quickly grabbed Gloria and yanked her behind you as your Drizzilie once again ducked behind your legs for cover as the rocks fell away and crumbled to the ground in a heap. Sending smaller rock fragments and dust everywhere making the three of you cough up a storm. But it's when you looked up however, is when the REAL mystery began. Because when the two of you looked up....your eyes widened. In place of where the mural used to be was a pile of rubble and a hole in the cliffside. But in the hole ..was a couple of statues. Two of which were two GIGANTIC dog looking pokemon holding a sword or shield in their mouths, and behind them were two kings carved into the stone.

"...Hey." You glanced at Gloria shaking dust from her hat and Sonia walked up wide eyed to the statues. "Are you ok?" She nodded before plopping the hat back onto her head. "Good. What about you Sonia?.....Sonia?" You blinked and looked over to the orange haired woman gaping up at the statues...Huh. Why did they seem familiar to you?

"......Not a brilliant turn of events, but the ruins were brought into the light for us to see!," Sonia finally said after a long moment of silence. "What does this tell us about Galar's legends?"

"Uuuuh." You rose a brow up at the statues. Not really sure if she was talking to you or not. "A....sword and shield?" You guessed based off what the things were holding in their mouths...Hey. Wasn't this whole game's thing revolved around a sword and shield or something??

She nodded. "Right! More than any hero, there's those things that appear to be pokemon that stand out! Not just that, but those pokemon appear to be holding a sword and shield as if they were using them! Anything else look interesting to you?!"

"Uuuuh. ...Those two guys there." You pointed to the two king statues. They're the same as the tapestries aren't they?"

"I didn't notice that! Oh good observation! There really were two heroes. But if that's the case then why only the one statue at Budew drop inn?"

You shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe whoever built it didn't feel like making two giant gold statues."

She hummed. "More than any statue of a hero or old tapestry, these ruins made in truly ancient times must show us the real truth! Which means that....."

"....The sword and shield are pokemon?"

"YUP!!" She snapped with a smile to you making you blink. "I was thinking the same thing! Seems like at some point in history the sword and shield were combined with the two actual pokemon and treated as the same thing!" She hummed looking back to all the rubble. "But then what? They just faded from history? Two young heroes. The sword and shield were actually pokemon. But why would the truth of these ruins be hidden when their stories were depicted in artwork?"

"...Maybe they had something to do with it?" She looked at you and you pointed to the human statues. "The kings or whoever they are. They went through a lot of trouble hiding this..maybe it was to protect the things that protected them."

She hummed. "Possibly. We won't be too sure until I get Mr. Rose's approval to study it more. Thanks! With your help I really feel like we made a big discovery here!

"Not sure how I helped but your welcome!"

"..So there was history being covered up by all that over stylized artwork. I'm gonna have to look into this some more. OOHH!! IM SO EXCITED!! NO RESEARCHER HAS EVER MADE SUCH A DISCOVERY-" A bark caught both of your attention as Sonia looked down at her feet in time for her yamper to drop something white at them. And she blinked. "Hey boy. Whatcha got there?" Not a bone you hoped. She quickly reached down as you leaned over to look and she stood up with a white mask in her hands. It was covered in does and a bit yellowed with a few scrapes, and had three black holes in it presumably for a person's mouth and eyes. "Well would you look at this. I dont think this is from the ruins. ...It kinda reminds me of the one's Allister wears."

"Who?," you asked trying to see it. Sonia handed it over to you and you grabbed it from her to get a better look.

"Allister. He's the boy who's in charge of the Ghost type Gym just down the road there." She pointed towards the exit path from Stow-on-Side. "It's located by the Stow-on-Side cemetary, but it'll take a full day just to get there from here. I just mentioned it might be his since the only one I've ever seen with that kind of mask was him at the Entrance Ceremony....But I guess you'll be headed to Bellonlea next, right?"

You opened your mouth- "Y/N!!!" You were nearly knocked to the ground when Gloria ran up to you and grabbed you suddenly. Yanking you forward hard enough to send you stumbling a few steps as she panicked. "It's that restore scientist lady! She's headed up the stairs this way!" She pulled you into a run away from Sonia as she watched bewildered down the path away from here. Your Drizzilie running at your heels.

"Bye Sonia! Good luck in your research!!," you called back.

Guess you'd be able to finally leave Stow-on-Side.

[popculturebuffet]

Purpose (Comission for WeirdKev27

Philli and Zan's Place: Recently Repaired from the Moonvasoin a few weeks back

Philli: I brought your Pizza!

Papa Swans: For When You Need a Pick Me Up

Owlson: Just.. drop it into my mouth

Philli: Okay that was fun the first.. dozen times .. and still is. But you haven't worked since you finished training that nice young moonlander to take your place.

Got them a dog too from one of my rescues. Their a very good boy... it's also their name.

Owlson: (Just takes the bots and eats somberly)

Philli: Okay hun I know it's bad because you didn't even go into a mild rant over two people naming their Dog Good Boy.

Owlson: I don't have it in me. I've lost all purpose. I can't find another corporate sector job. I don't WANT to work for some idiot again, but after a YEAR of my life wasted babysitting that toddler driving a grown man's body that's all people think of me, all they want me to do. I don't have other options.

Philli: Sure you do. Your Zan Owlson. You just need to get out of your rut, get a shower, get out of this house

Owlson: Penthouse

Philli: And get some time to yourself. Well with me because i'm not letting you go.. and not just because I glued my hand to your back.

Owlson: (Casually takes off jacket

Philli: Whelp now I got a jacket hand again. Point is You need a break. Get recentered, and find something NEW to do. Your brilliant baby, you just need some time to recharge.. which I know is hard for you and your work flow had me convinced you were a robot for the first few months we were dating.

Owlson: What

Philli: But you just need to take at least ONE day off to rest instead of going all in or wallowing that that's not working kay? I have some.. business to do in St. Carnard. JUst come with me

Owlson: Isn't that the place from that "Darkwing" show you like that recently has had an unstable lunatic running around like he's the lead character?

Philli: He's not unstable, he just beat me to it. Just go with me okay?

Owlson: Fine

ONE TRIP ACROSS THE BRIDGE LATER:

Owlson: Well the infastructure is .. terrible but your right, I needed the break

Philli: I called it didn't I... (is looking around antisly at the rooftoop)

Owlson:... your "reasons" were wanting to see this weirdo in a mask weren't they.

Philli(wearing her own superhero outfit, The Phiting Philantrophist) : Mayyybe

Darkwing: (From a nearbye alleway) I'm not weird. I am the terror that... hey this is my turp

Philli: Oh i'm just visiting

Darkwing: Then can we team up I haven't gotten to do one of those.

Philli: Didn't you team up with Gizmoduck during the moonvasion?

Darkwing: (Eye twitching) Are you coming or not?

Owlson: Just go darling i'll be fine.

Philli: (smooches her cheek) you da best (Both heroes run off into the night)

Owlson: Okay what to do... (sees a crowd and a pig man at a podium) ohhhh political speech! Don't mind if I do.

Mayor Trumpcard: If elected I will keep things great like my hair,the giant statue of myself, that bridge I never finished, that literal road to nowhere, the zombie graveyard exibit I imported real zombies for that only killed three people last month, a new record low, and my...

Citzen: but what about the levy's? Their bound to break just like birdtowns!

Some Lady: And the schools. Billy brought home a billy club. That's not why I named him billy!

Old Man T-Rex: And what about that mad scientest turning people into dinosaurs!

Dr. Fossil: Yes what about him whose totally not me.. totally...

Yogi Bear: And er what about the hospitals.. the cafteria is attortious! And I don't even live here! I was just transportin a kidney that mysteriously vanished when I dropped it off a building.

Guy Bleeding Out: And I got shot yesterday.. by me but still the fact no one noticed say something about the city

Mayor Trumpcard: Those are excellent questions.. and i'm going to think about them while relaxing in the pool of money i've embezzled from this office. Good day (Runs)

Owlson: That's rediculous, a politician should be about the people. You fix levy's by putting pressure on the city's elitie to donate, I've put pressure on rich people my whole career. You just gotta work at it no matter how much gold or sharks or explosives or ottomans they throw at you!

You fix the schools, and the hosptail and this dinosaur transformatoin informatoin the same way! You work hard, you work deep and you work for your people's best intrests at heart!

Crowd: (Starts chanting) OWL LADY OWL LADY

Owlson: Uh .. it's Owlson.. Zan Owlson.

Crowd: Owlson for mayor owlson for mayor owlson for mayor!

Owlson: But I don't even live here.. but .. Philli HAS wanted to move here.. and ther'es so much I could do. What other problems do you fine people have?

Person: We've got a clown infestation in the road to nowhere... FERAL clowns

Owlson: Simply open up a new circuis, you have the staff you just need someone to run it.

???: Someone poisoned the water suply!

Owlson: Then try and filter fresh water from the ocean.

Can Can: The Ring came off my pudding can

Owlson: Then take my pen knife my good man

Crowd: Owlson owlson owlson

Philli: (Watching from the roofs) I'm proud of you baby (texts her)

Owlson: (reads)

Philli: WE CAN MOVE HERE. YOUR DOING AMAZING SWEETIE TALK TO YOU LATER

Cement Head: You know i'ts rude to text during a battle

Philli: It's rude to steal a bank

Cement Head: (Holding a bank) Touche

Owlson: (Beams proudly purpose found) I'm now announcing my offical canadacy as mayor of st canard

Trumpcard: (Puts mayor sash on her) I concede.. there's no possble way to win as that would require effort but if you want my money back you'll HAVE TO CATCH ME FIRST (books it only to trip and be mobbed by the citzenry)

Owlson and Philli: (Beam at one another, a bright future ahead.

THE BEGINING: .....

[sleeplessvalley]

actually you know what. that post reminded me of something and uhhhh

buckle up it's time for me rambling about splat2n stuff (mostly oe) and a bit of something else as well though it won't be getting stated directly.

this has a whole lotta headcanons, and a lot of it is put down in a jumble bc I have adhd and am completely incapable of putting things down in a way that makes sense to everyone else and not just to me. aNYWAYS

I've seen a couple posts from a while ago about how the japanese and the english versions of tartar's dialogue imply different things? something about how like... in the japanese version he actually comes across as having legitimate reasons for wanting to destroy the world and start anew, something something I don't feel like finding the post tbh and it's actually been a bit since I've read it myself so I'm probably not 100% correct on it.

anyways if you've known me for long enough or have been following this blog for a while you'll know that I am OBSESSED with this bastard telephone. to the point that I have about 15 different versions of him and apparently am not showing any signs of stopping.

so, to recap very quickly:

Commander Tartar is an AI created by a human scientist referred to only as "the professor" 12,000 years before the events of Splatoon 2. Its purpose was to pass down all of humanity's knowledge to the next capable species. The professor's intention to do so was to prevent the next intelligent species from repeating the same mistakes that lead humanity to extinction. However, due to spending all those millennia isolated and alone, the AI's thought process ended up going in a different direction.

Commander Tartar initially saw hope in the Inklings and Octarians, but eventually became repulsed by their evolution, needless wars, and fashion obsession, ultimately concluding that they were unfit for its knowledge and reprogramming itself to create a new form of life that would be worthy of its patronage, while annihilating the existing lifeforms on Earth.

taken directly from the wiki, because I am also not in the mood to summarize myself (despite knowing all this very, very well)

honestly? I don't think tartar hated cephalokind.

I think he loved them too much.

think about it for a sec. this is a sentient AI that was created by a professor that didn't want the next lifeforms to become extinct just like humans did. assuming that the professor treated tartar exactly like a fellow human, he went on to spend the next 10,000 years alone. and he had so much time to think.

humans became extinct because of the rising water levels. what caused that? for the sake of sticking with the whole water thing we'll say global warming. what caused global warming? many things, one of the most notable being the burning of fossil fuels in the industry. why does that happen? one could amount it to the industrial revolution. and the industrial revolution also contributed to wars.

an AI that was created to pass on humanity's knowledge would probably also be able to access all these things- and more- whenever it wanted, and 10,000 years is a long time. tartar probably read over so many things so many times and eventually reached his own conclusions about what the best things to tell the next lifeforms NOT to do would be.

and then the mollusc era started. tartar, from wherever he was, was able to watch the mollusc era from the moment it began, was able to watch cephalokind grow and develop at a rate that was equal to how humans developed, was able to have hope for the first time in years.

that hope was gone once the Great Turf War started.

things had been going so well; despite the water levels rising some, cephalokind was flourishing. everyone got along (more or less. someday I might get into salmonid stuff more but that day isn't today) and technology was advancing in ways humanity wasn't able to achieve. and then it hit the point that there was a shortage of land, and war broke out.

tartar spend 12,000 years waiting; 10,000 were spent in complete isolation, 1,900 were spent watching cephalokind grow, and for this I'm going to say that the last 100 years were spent doing all that stuff that happens in the octo expansion (and by this I mean creating the metro, having all those test subjects, agent 8, right up until destruction). honestly if we take the date the og splatoon came out (may 28th, 2015) we can argue that the great turf war is meant to parallel our WWI, especially if the calendar was recreated during the mollusc era because then the dates are... actually eerily similar:

if we take may 28th, 2015 and take away 100 years that gives us may 28th, 1915

WWI started july 28th, 1914, and ended november 11th, 1918

may 28th, 1915 literally lands in the middle of our WWI

I mean COME ON. that's uncanny.

back to my main point: the industrial revolution contributed to wars and also to the burning of fossil fuels, which contributed to global warming, which contributed to rising water levels.

tartar is watching all this happen just like it did to humanity (except slightly out of order), and to make things worse, not only are inklings more concerned with fashion, once the great turf war is over inklings start playing turf war for fun. one could also say that the splatfests are actually worse than turf war, because it forces inklings to pick a side and then fight for it- everyone wins something if they participate, but the losing team also has to accept that the winning team's side is better according to... whatever splatfest law it is.

---

(kind of off-track, but this also kind of parallels something in the great turf war as stated in the sunken scrolls, which I've pulled the summary of from the wiki as well:

[...] and the Inklings' victory over the Octarians was most likely due to their superior number of limbs.

there was another bit to this, but I can't find it. I remember some stuff about this being stated to be propaganda though.)

---

assuming tartar loved humanity, he also grew to love cephalokind for the same reasons (something like how a mother will get attached to the baby growing inside her even if that child is going to get adopted for some reason or other). and he didn't want to see another species go extinct just like humans did. so what does he do? he decides to destroy the world, and start over by finding capable cephalopods and unifying them (the primordial ooze from which the ultimate lifeform will emerge. I think that's how the line went, anyway.) so that it won't have to happen like that

everyone can just... not have to worry about failing to live a long life. everyone can be happy, and have their place in the world, and love one another.

if you think about it all at once? it seems sort of extreme. but also: we're human. if we have a friend going down the wrong path/in trouble or a family member or pet or- I don't know, some material object- we tend to go to extremes to help sometimes. and if you're raised by a human, even if you're different, you might do the same thing

[lovely-teeztaetae]

i have this idea that san or yunho (they seem to be big gamers) go up against their s/o in a game and they just get WRECKED and now they're being clingy because they lost, could you please write something based on it?

Requested by anon~

♡ PLAYER 2 ♡

~fluffy~

I sat comfortably on the living room floor and watched San in adoration as he got everything set up for our one on one game night. It was the way he was so determined to get everything perfect that made it so cute.

“Alright baby, I know you don’t play video games too often but-”

I squinted at San before speaking.

“I’ll still beat your scrawny little a-”

“Hey guys what are you playing?” Seonghwa asked looking at the t.v. that displayed a loading screen with exotic animals straight out of a dream.

“It’s called The Last Kingdom of Fantasia.” San exclaimed while he loaded a brand new game for the both of us to play.

“Oh, that game.” Seonghwa laughed, going into the kitchen and preparing a snack for him and the other boys up stairs.

I furrowed my brows,

“What about the game Hwa?” I asked while San looked over at me with a cocky grin.

“Oh nothing, besides the fact that I’m a pro-”

“Eh, no not that.” Seonghwa retorted, making his infamous painful smile. San on the other hand looked genuinely pained at the comment from Seonghwa, and the look on his face earned a laugh from me.

“Just that he won’t stop playing, and he claims to be the best, but how true is that statement?” He questioned while gathering all of the small snacks.

“We’re about to find out.” I said looking over at San with a silly look.

~

We were now in maybe 30 minutes and it wasn’t going too great for me.

San was already too familiar with the game and where everything was, and it’s like he even knew about the creatures hiding spots and spawning points, which he would always lead me right into.

“Wow, you’re actually a lot better than I thought you’d be babe.” San joked.

I didn’t even have time to think of a smart remark because of the situation I was currently in, being surrounded by multiple dragons and mythical creatures I couldn’t even decipher.

“Oh yea, you just watch Sannie.”

He only laughed at my response and generously helped me kill off the remaining creatures, disregarding the fact that we were on different teams.

“Wow, you’re really nice, I would have left you by yourself.” I said with a big smile.

We were now getting into a darker area of the game, with multiple jump scares and surprises, some that San didn’t even seem prepared for.

I peeked over at him and saw how he was visibly becoming nervous as we went further into the forest.

“What is it babe?” I asked with a chuckle.

“it’s just that I- I’ve never been able to reach past that last checkpoint.” He stammered, making sure to keep his small eyes wide in case of a sudden attack.

I on the other hand was thrilled.

“So you mean to tell me, I have a chance in winning against a pro?” I exaggerated, looking for a reaction but only being met with an uneasy looking San.

“Hahaha so funny, and no, you’re still not gonna win, there’s no way I’d let you-” He got cut off by a quiet growl in the bushes and we both stopped, scared by the sudden noise.

“What- was that?” I questioned, slowly walking into the woods while San stood behind an old dinosaurs fossil.

What we saw made both of our eyes go wide.

There was a ginormous creature that could only be crafted by the most creative mind. The way that the eyes were hazed over, and the fact that I couldn’t tell if it were a dinosaur, dragon, or a mix of both.

“What is that.” San stated rather than asking.

“I have, no, idea,” I started,

“But I’m gonna get it before you!” I exclaimed, quickly running up to it which was not the best idea, but I was thankfully able to slip past it’s legs and hide behind it.

Once the creature turned, they saw only San, and this gave me the perfect opportunity to climb onto its leg and begin going up its back.

I watched happily as San was trying his best to run from the creature, but simply couldn’t get away from it.

I laughed, but I immediately got worried as I began slipping down the monsters slimy back.

“CRAP!” I screamed, and soon after my outburst, the boys came down the stairs to see what the commotion was.

They were now all watching intently and getting just as worked up as the both of us, but no one was quite as nervous as San was.

I could nearly taste victory but was lost as to what I wa supposed to collect from the monster, but Yunho’s outburst saved me.

“Her eye Y/n her eye!” He jumps, pointing towards the creatures eye that held one of the seven crystals of Fantasia.

My eyes went wide as I stood on its head, and if it weren’t for San tripping her while running, I would t have won, this easily at least.

“I got it! I got the crystal!” I yelled, sliding down it’s back and running to the closing portal.

“You’re just gonna leave me here?!” San asked, now stuck in a corner while the monster thrashed around looking for its missing eye.

“You’re a pro baby, you’ll find a way out!”

~

The game has finally ended and, not much to my surprise, I was able to make it though the portal with the stone, resulting in San’s automatic death.

Everyone in the room was cheering for me and jokingly teasing San, seeing as he was in complete shock at his loss.

I had tried to leave it open in time for him to pass, but the creature had captured him before he could make it.

“You know I, I kind of let you win.” San said, looking up at me innocently.

I smiled down at him.

“Is that so?” I questioned, running my fingers through his hair.

“I swear! It’s just that, I would have felt too bad letting you lose.” He whined, slightly tracing my thighs.

“Well, if I may say so myself, you were really good baby.” He looked up at me with doll eyes and started to smile.

“But not as good as me.~” I cooed, kissing his nose. He let out a groan in response.

“You know what, I still have time to get you, there’s six chapters left in this season.” He said while pouting.

I laughed at his childish behavior and held both of his cheeks.

“You, are so adorable.” I cooed once again, but this time San let it happen, and blushed at my actions.

“Now come on you big baby, let’s go to sleep, the winner’s gotta recharge for tomorrow.”

And while we slept, he had staryed cuddled up to me the whole night, but it was the cutest thing ever to me.

- Player 2

I hope you all enjoyed~