#I fought on the battle subway

[lightning-neko]

Made some iron on t-shirt designs for the twins. Feel free to use them. These are sized for 10x15cm iron on transfer paper.

[ethanharmonia]

Pokemon doodles but i got a bit too silly (Volo my beloved)

Man with his kids bro

Is this trainwreckshipping yall cuz i dont see them wrecking a train while kissing

(this is how i see them in my au / in general if they ever met)

[thehappiestgolucky]

Tiso going to fight god with Emmet, Hop, and Barry was not something I knew I needed until today.

Emmet, Hop and Barry just want to get it to give their loved ones back, with a pokémon battle to prove themselves if need be.

Tiso however, is ready to fistfight god. It worked for Ghost after all!

[gothicknightz]

family ties | ethan landry

notes: oh boy you guys are gonna like this one. VERY MAJOR SCREAM SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT!!!!!!!!!! I cannot get any more specific than that.

part 2 out now!

When she moved to New York with her best friend, they both had planned on getting an average college education, having fun, and graduating. 

That was it.

Why couldn’t it have been that simple?

The four of them were stranded in the abandoned lobby of the theatre when Sam had gotten a call from the Detective, claiming that he had done some digging into Kirby and that she was let go from the FBI a couple of months ago for being mentally unstable, and he believes she is the killer.

She quickly turned her attention towards Sam, “What?” She snapped, her arm still wrapped up from her paired attack alongside Mindy on the subway. 

Putting a foot down, she crossed her arms, “There’s no way we can stay here.” Attempted to try the entrance in which they came in, to find out it was locked, “Shit.” She turned around quickly to face the, “It’s locked.”

The group frantically looked for a way out of the theatre, as they weren’t going to be trapped with the possible killers. Tara had noticed some sort of fire escape, but that wasn’t until Ghostface appeared and attacked the group, which they fought back. 

Chad decided it was a good time to be a hero, as he fought against Ghostface so that the girls could run. This proved to be a bad decision for him, as a second Ghostface came up and started stabbing alongside the other before ushering the trio back into the theatre.

As the five of them make their way back into the theatre, Kirby suddenly reappears out of nowhere and claims that she was knocked out by two Ghostfaces, but the trio can’t trust her after the Detective’s claims, who arrives subsequently after Kirby.

After what seemed to be a battle for trust, the Detective shoots Kirby, revealing himself as the third killer.

(y/n) screams as she was the closest, her heart racing in anticipation, afraid of what was going to happen next when the other two Ghostfaces de-mask themselves. Subsequently, after the Detective reveals himself to be the third killer, the Ghostface wearing Nancy Loomis’ mask revealed himself.

It was Ethan, (y/n)’s best friend. The friend she had planned on getting a college education and graduating with. The friend she had known for years, the friend who was responsible for their firsts.

Somebody she had trusted.

It was then revealed that Quinn was the final Ghostface, much to everyone’s shock, as they had seen and heard of the brutal murder Quinn had endowed.

The trio was cornered at each end by the three killers, with Sam slowly connecting the pieces that all three of the killers were related to none other than Richie Kirsch, one of the killers of the Woodboro Massacre in 2022.

As the trio was attacked and coerced back to the center of the theatre by the killers, the Detective sighed, “It wasn’t until I saw that photograph of what you had actually done to him, that I knew.”

“That I knew you had to fucking die- that you had to be punished, along with anyone else who stands in our way.”

Pushed and insulted by Quinn, Sam, and Tara were forced to stand in front of the Detective, with Ethan taking hold of (y/n), and holding a knife to her throat.

As the Detective went on about how he indulged in his son’s love for the Stab movies, and how they were a bit dark for him, he explained that there was no deeper bond than of a father and his firstborn.

“Despite the loss of Richie, I couldn’t have been happier after learning of a new addition to our family.”

The look on both the sisters’ faces was beyond puzzled as they watched the detective make grandiose gestures as he waved the gun in (y/n)’s direction.

“I knew it was a bit young for those two to get hitched, but,” the Detective paused, taking a breath for a brief smile, “She made it a lot easier to get us in here, and I’ve never been more proud of a future daughter in law, right (y/n)?”

The Carpenter sisters had another round of fear and shock as they turned their heads to one of the closest friends the gang had had, with even Mindy trusting them.

(y/n) was breaking away from a kiss with Ethan as Tara and Sam watched them in awe, the girl breaking into a fit of giggles and a content sigh.

“You know, Sam,” She said, turning towards the illegitimate daughter of the original Ghostface with her boyfriend slash fiance’s knife in hand, “You should really save the date.” She took a swing at the eldest Carpenter sister and laughed.

“Because it does fucking run in the family.”

[raisans-art]

Volo’s boss fight theme being a remixed version of Cynthia theme implies the idea that THAT song was passed down to her which creates two hilarious scenarios

A. When volo finally goes all out. Boss fight mode, pulling out all the stops, reverting to hisui boss fight

In like. The battle station with emmet’s employees/ hired-menaces-to-his-love-life off to the side to see how good of a battler volo and fires him up to the point he decides to bring out the big guns

and then.

spirittomb comes out of the pokeball, the piano starts playing. It starts with shadow ball. Volo has an arm on his hip.

Someone pulls up a picture of Cynthia and waves it next to volo

Mass panic ensues as the workers realizes that emmet is in EMINENT DANGER OF BEING SWEPT

bonus points if all of the workers had fought Cynthia before and got ptsd from her and there was a joke bet that volo is Cynthia in deguise/is related to her

Extra bonus points if emmet never heard of Cynthia’s theme and is wondering why they’re yelling at him to surrender before it’s too late

B. Cynthia, posting a picture of volo, full on red, hiding his face into a pillow to the regional champion group chat: my great great great great great grandfather is responsible for my battle theme which traumatized dozens of children and he looks like this after emmet texts “I love you”

Iris: im sorry yoUR GRANDFATHER???! HE LOOKS LIKE THAT? AND HES DATING THE SUBWAY MASTER

cynthia: I know right? Can’t believe he nearly took over the world 2,000 years ago lol- oh, gotta feed his garchomp

Iris: HE HAS A GARCHOMP???

2/2

I always think that boss battle themes are actually something less inherent to the world of Pokémon and more like a more modern development to enhance gym battles. The music will play over speakers to add tension to the battle, and even some trainers will play battle music from their phones. So at the subway, the Battle Subway theme would play over the speakers! Volo did make his battle theme as that started to become popular and Cynthia revamped it for her own battles and eventually implemented it in her champion fight. It probably wouldn’t be until Volo volunteers to play his battle theme would people be like: ._. Hey wait a minute

And tbf

Cynthia probably sends a lot of texts like these to people:

[battle-facility-zine]

📇Contributor Spotlights: Writer Blue

Working hard on a story that you're sure to eternally love, is our writer, @ingo-ingoing-ingone!

Here's a little more about them:

Hi hi hello, I'm Blue! You may have seen me posting pictures while cosplaying Emmet on tumblr, or writing a whole lot of fanfictions. I've been a pokemon fan for many, many years, and I'm excited to be part of this zine! (Have I ever fought Ingo or Emmet on the Battle Subway? Not yet!)

➡AO3: ImpossibleJedi4 ➡Twitter: bluejediforce

[1863-project]

For the anon Pokémon asks: which battle subway conductor is the cutest?

Okay, this may get long, so bear with me.

First, a little disclaimer: Ingo and Emmet both make me feel incredibly seen. I was born in 1989 and wasn't diagnosed with autism until 2009, and I never got to see characters like me. I'd see some who were similar to me, or some with things in common with me, but Ingo and Emmet feel like looking in a mirror to me, to the point that I don't go in the Submas tag because I've seen too many people perpetuating the ableism that got me bullied as an undiagnosed autistic kid. Every time an autistic or autistic-coded character is portrayed as "weird" or "off-putting" or "too intense" or "scary," it's repeating things that my bullies used to excuse their behavior towards me and essentially treat me and my autism as entertainment. Most people aren't doing this, of course, but since I'm in the process of working through a lot of that trauma, I choose not to take the chance of exposing myself to it because I'd rather heal instead of open old wounds again and again.

Anyway, with that said, I adore them both, but only one of them makes me act like a giddy teenager.

I have the most ridiculous fictional character crush on Emmet. It's unreal. Part of that is likely the fact that if he was real we'd actually be extremely compatible, but unfortunately for me, he is not, and so I can't take him on locomotive photo charter dates and kiss him on the City Hall looparound on the 6 Train. That aside, here's what I genuinely like about the goober.

He's deeply passionate about what he loves.

It's that passion that often gets people like him and me labeled as "too intense," but when he likes something, he really likes something. Battling is like air to him. When you befriend him in Masters EX, you find he'll actually talk your ear off about battling if you give him the opportunity. He vibrates with excitement when he sees strong trainers.

[Image description: Emmet and Ingo, two adult identical twin men with knife-shaped sideburns wearing exaggerated versions of railroad conductor uniforms, stare off to the left at people who are off-screen. Emmet, in a white uniform, is holding his hands at his sides but his hands are in an excited, almost 'grabby' position; Ingo, in a black uniform, also has his hands at his sides but his hands are balled into fists. Ingo's Excadrill, a Pokemon that looks like a mole combined with a tunneling machine, stands in front of him. End description.]

In this screenshot from Masters EX, Emmet and Ingo have just run into Steven Stone and Roark. Emmet is barely holding back, and you can tell by looking at his hands. He wants to battle now. It's delightful that he's in a franchise of video games where that passion is normalized and encouraged. (As long as he never visits Paldea, anyway. Nemona is proof of how well that would go.)

Battling makes Emmet genuinely so happy and excited and I love when people get that way about their hobbies. It's so nice to see passionate people. Emmet even says he's excited about it when you battle him in Black and White and beat him at the highest level possible:

"I am Emmet. I am a Subway Boss, but I lost against you again. But I feel good. Because it was very fun! You want to win, and I don't want to lose. That's real. When we clash in battles, I feel very excited!"

[Source]

He lives for this, so much that even losing a really intense, serious battle feels good. And it's a delight. But, of course...

[Image description: Emmet, described above, claps his hands together excitedly and says "Winning a serious, hard-fought battle is the best feeling in the world!" with a huge smile on his face. End description.]

...he, in his own words, likes winning "more than anything else."

He's verrrry direct in his communication...but also verrrry supportive.

Autistic folks are often told we're too blunt, and to neurotypicals, who are used to saying things more indirectly, we can come off as a bit...too direct to them, to say the least. Arguably the best example of Emmet doing this is in the PokeSpe manga, where he just says things without a filter.

[Image description: a manga panel in which Emmet bluntly tells trainer White, "Yes, we're studying you as an example of a trainer who gets overwhelmed and loses every single match." The next panel leads off with Ingo saying "That's not nice, Emmet..." End description.]

But that bluntness isn't intended maliciously, he just has no filter and says what's on his mind. In reality, he's delightfully supportive and friendly, and that honesty leads to the most wonderful exchanges with him:

[Image description: two screenshots of Emmet from Pokemon Masters EX, smiling softly. His dialogue reads, "Hi, Steph! Your smile is always the best. Perfect! Whenever I see you, I can't help but smile, too! I'll have to make sure my smile is just as good as yours!" End description.]

As a side note, this dialogue has been destroying me for over two years now, and every time I boot up the game and he says this I feel my face get warm. He's actually helped me stop being self-conscious about my smile.

He has a habit of listening in on things, even if he has no intention of gossiping or anything. He just likes knowing stuff.

It's a habit he seems to share with his brother, but Ingo is significantly less obvious and more apologetic about it. Emmet's just really funny about it.

[Image description: two manga panels and one screenshot from Masters EX. The first manga panel shows Emmet marching over to White and Bianca as they have a discussion, saying, "I'm overhearing an interesting discussion over here. It seems profound, so I'm going to stand nearby and listen in. Oh, don't let me distract you. Go on. Keep talking." The second panel shows Emmet cupping his ear with his hand and still attempting to listen in on the discussion from one subway car away, with Ingo standing behind him. The screenshot from Masters EX shows Ingo hiding his eyes with his hat and saying, "I apologize for eavesdropping, but we happened to overhear your conversation at the Pokemon Center" as Emmet stands beside him, hands on his hips and smiling with no shame. End description.]

He doesn't use the information maliciously, and a lot of the time he doesn't even use it at all. He just enjoys hearing these things and knowing all sorts of weird drama is going on elsewhere. It's like when you find out about drama in a fandom you're not in and you read the posts and eat popcorn. It's great.

He likes his work uniform because it helps his posture.

As a fellow "leans forward too much" autistic, this one really resonates with me and I love it.

[Image description: A screenshot of Emmet in Pokemon Masters EX. He's standing straight up and holding the brim of his hat with his hand. His dialogue reads, "Wearing it gets me motivated, of course! It also helps me stand up straight and tall!" End description.]

He stops scripting when he gets to know people better because he's able to trust them.

Notice how his dialogue in BW and BW2 is on the Battle Subway - "I'm Emmet. This is my job. I like doubles. This is why I like doubles. Here are the safety checks." He's scripting around people he's not familiar with, and it's the sort of thing that gets autistic people labeled as "robotic" by people who don't know it's a way to help us maintain some semblance of control over an unfamiliar situation. The preprepared dialogue is a coping method in an ableist world. But when you get to know him in Masters, the scripted dialogue shows up a lot less. He's able to talk genuinely and excitedly to you, because he knows you're safe to be around and you're not going to judge him for who he is. That hits me hard.

He has the most adorable goddamned laugh in the world and it kills me on the daily.

This is a lot more in line with my personal tastes, as everyone who knows me well knows, but that damn laugh makes me all fluttery inside and weak in the knees. And he does it a LOT.

This update to Masters EX, where the characters laugh if you tap on them on the upgrade screen, destroyed me, and multiple people were apparently waiting for me to find it and die because I'm really predictable. I may or may not regularly pull the screen up just to poke at him and hear this. It's...not fair.

This one is...also unfair. I won't elaborate in public on what I think when I hear it because it's embarrassing.

So, uh...yeah. I really, really like Emmet a lot. I'm really normal about Emmet. I promise.

[leggerefiore]

An unexpected rain had overtaken the village suddenly, which resulted in the Warden of the highlands to pop into your home to escape it. You did not mind, naturally, as Ingo was always more than welcome in your home. He slipped off his worn coat and cap to let them dry. It was also a day off from your duties. Your captain had insisted on it, saying that you had earned it. That meant she would not accept your refusal, of course.

So, you bought some wood and began a carving project. You had already nearly completed it by the time Ingo appeared to take a rest in your home. Your attention drifted up from the wood in your lap to him. He seemed more exhausted than usual. The dark circles under his eyes were more pronounced, and he laid back against the wall as he sat. You sighed. This was not a recent development. Lately, he had just appeared gloomy. Battles were still fought fiercely when you challenged him, but the beginnings lacked energy. His smile was still genuine after it alongside his praise, but you saw the way his posture faltered when he believed no one was watching.

You knew there was much about his past that he could not recall, yet memories still fluttered across his mind in the cruellest form of torment. Distant memories without any focus or understanding would enter his awareness. It would make him happy at first, recalling anything always did, but the joy soon faded and was replaced with something more sombre and longing. Not entirely knowing was clearly torture for him. That man who shared his face seemed to peeve him most of all.

You finally finished the wood carving after allowing your mind to wander. It sat in your hands. The plan had originally been to paint it, but it felt as if that was to change. The small train carving was fine enough as is.

“Hey, Ingo,” you called out to the Warden, who appeared to be lost in his own thoughts as well. Your voice did call him back to reality as those pale eyes of his gazed at you curiously. The gift had been hidden behind your back. He responded with a simple yes. Bringing it out from behind you, it was presented to him. “I made you this… I know you have been thinking a lot about your memories, so I thought this might help.”

He reached a hand to gently take the carving from you. Closely, it was observed by him. The small details you tried to remember of the subway train car were hard to see without colour. You wondered if it really might have been better to wait. Before you could offer that, a small smile grew on his face. A finger delicately traced the decals you had made. It was not the best thing in the world, but he enjoyed it clearly.

“Ah, this is…” he trailed off and continued to examine it. His mind seemed to wander again. Perhaps it trailed back to the days he spent in the Gear Station watching the trains depart and return… Or maybe it went back to his time inside the cabins, checking on passengers or engaging in battles. A sigh left him. “A Single Battle car…” he said quietly, “… I used to ride on these rather frequently.” Your heart raced. Did he truly remember that much?

“Thank you, dearest,” he spoke genuinely as he approached you for an embrace. His strong arms held you tightly to his hardened body. Hisui had not been the kindest to him, having changed him from the lanky man that you had known back in Unova. “I… I would be so lost without your kindness…” A gentle kiss was pecked to your cheek, “I'm so glad that we ended up here together.”

As were you, despite how badly you knew Emmet must hate this.

Soon, you would find a way to return you both home.

[raynavan]

I have Many Thoughts about this AU, but for now:

Ingo met the god of victory when he was young, fought it, and lost. they fight again and again and again, but nothing can beat a god that will Always win. Ingo tries anyway, and then Victini starts to seek him out. how could he resist one who would battle against Gods? knowing he would lose every time?

Victini sticks around, helping Ingo create the Battle Subway, and laughing when he exerts some of his power to trip up particularly rude passengers. he occasionally wears a face like Ingo's, and calls himself Emmet.

what a silly little guy!

[matchibee]

A Web of Their Own Design (pt. 2)

I’m not spoiling anything, nope. Not me. (Not proofread)

A backpack clad in a cacophony of compartments weighed heavy on your back, trudging through the halls of Newer York’s most prestigious university.

The only university that allowed you access to your job.

I suppose that amounts to something.

The final stretch, the finish line. Soon enough you’d be out in the world, a fledgling taking first flight.

What would happen then? You couldn’t possibly pursue this life forever, could you? Eventually the sleepless lights would manifest into something more sinister, fighting against you as you fought to abolish crime. Your body would age, slowly, but noticeably. Would you be capable of protecting the people while knitting webs in the retirement home?

You shook the thought from your head, running your fingers through your scalp, tapping your foot with impatience as you awaited the call of your name — a morning coffee, a pick me up. Not that tackling a bank robber on your way to the subway station wasn’t exhilarating enough.

Soon enough, you order was called, a student like yourself handing over the mug with a soft smile — a forced one, no doubt. Who wants to work? In this economy?

Thanking her, you tapped at your phone to check the time. A few minutes to spare, your class the building adjacent to the coffee shop, a stroke of luck in the most unfortunate times.

Your name was called, you cringed, not keen on the impending scolding you’d receive, the halls whispering prayers.

After all, you’d ditched karaoke to fight a villain you’d never encountered before.

They kept glitching in a rainbow of colors you’d never believed the eyes capable of beholding, insisting they were in the wrong universe, a portal swallowing them and spitting them out in a foreign realm.

An entire nut, case intact.

You’d defeated them, thankfully, but found at the conclusion of your battle they’d entirely disappeared, not a trace left to remain. Was that even possible?

“Aubrey… what’s up?” Your finger tapped against the rim of your coffee in a beat of your own design, nervous smile on full display without the majesty of your mask.

“What’s up?” Her voice was laced with vines, on edge. “You totally ditched us and all you have to say is what’s up?” The pink ribbon fashioned in her hair and bubblegum dress ceasing mid-calf did nothing to deter the terror she exude. “You totally missed Alador’s solo! He went all out, y’know.”

Alador, a restless Biochemistry major, stood behind Aubrey —the resident Pre-Law student on her way to Law School come next Fall.

“You sang a solo?” You were astonished, looking to Alador with disbelief, a man of little words typically unwilling to perform such a task.

He mumbled something under his breath, your neck craning to listen, asking him to repeat himself one too many times.

“Aubrey said if I didn’t she’d hide my monitor again.”

“…Again?”

Aubrey looked to you with a satisfied smirk on her lips, not an ounce of shame. “Last time we went to the arcade he didn’t want to win me a stuffed Panda! I mean, who does that?! Worst friend ever…”

Sometimes you could understand why the dwindling generations of the past were worried for the imminent rise of your own generation.

“And because he didn’t win you the Panda… You hid his monitor?”

“Don’t look at me like that, it’s not like I took the actual PC! If it was such a nuisance he could’ve hooked everything up to his laptop, I made sure of it!”

Alex whispered under his breath, as he always did, “At the expense of my frame rate.”

The two broke into an argument. Well, more like Aubrey bullying Alador into submission. A lighthearted exchange, one that’d occurred since the beginning of high school, lifelong friends bonding over the lack of brain cells dominating the student body.

You looked to your watch, class beginning in a matter of moments, taking the opportunity to slip away without a word.

“I’m not done with you!”

Maybe not.

“I know you’ve been like this since we were kids, jumpy and always on the run, but don’t you get tired of it?”

Whoa. You hadn’t had nearly enough coffee to process her psychoanalysis this early — you checked your watch — in the afternoon.

Shit. Class was starting.

“Aubrey, listen. I have class right now and I really—“

“You’re the star student, as always. You can listen to me for a few minutes.”

You conceded. Less out of compliance and more out of sheer terror. Only someone as headstrong as Aubrey was capable of bringing an arachnid vigilant to their knees.

“It feels like we’re seeing you less and less. We don’t have much time together before graduation, before we’ll definitely hardly see each other. Doesn’t that scare you?”

A prickle itched at your throat, burning with bile. It did, the entire situation terrified you, pained you with every waking moment. There wasn’t a day that went by you didn’t feel for your friends, a day that went by you didn’t regret how you’d last left your family.

How you yearned to tell them, to tell everyone.

You just couldn’t. Not if you loved them as much as you convinced yourself you did.

“I know I haven’t been the best friend to you guys but…” The confession was on the tip of your tongue, grip on your coffee unrelenting.

A crash.

Screams echoing down the hall, students rushing to get away as papers flew haphazardly behind them, foregoing assignments that’d likely kept them up all evening.

“What’s happening?” You called out to a passing student, their scream bursting your eardrums as they gestured down the hall.

A man dressed to the nines in a velvety green pantsuit trudged down the hall, mechanical tentacles clacking against the floor, uplifting polished marble flecked in gold.

Doc Ock.

Except, this looked nothing like the Doctor you’d fought previously. No, this man was far more distinguished, refined. Well into his years and wearing them well.

Your Doc Ock was nothing more than a child with an inattentive father and mommy issues on his sleeve, seeking validation wherever it could be found.

“You wouldn’t happen to know of a Peter Parker?” He was looking to Alador, entirely disregarding yours and Aubrey’s presence.

Alador shrugged his shoulders, adjusting his glasses before producing a book from seemingly thin air.

The Doctor’s kindhearted smile dwindled, “Then you’re of no use to me.” He swatted Alador away, your friend landing against the wall with a thud, wind knocked out of him and consciousness faltered. Aubrey rushed to his side, calling out to you, begging for your response.

Doc Ock traveled further down the hall, upheaving students in his path, uncaring for anyone except… Peter Parker?

His parents must’ve had a thing for alliteration.

You broke out into a sprint, traveling down the halls, maneuvering past students. “I’m gonna get help!” You called out to Aubrey.

No matter how badly you wanted to stay, tears pricking the corners of your eyes, hands bunched into fists.

You just couldn’t, not when everything seemed to fight against you.

Slipping into an abandoned classroom you were surprised, given professors cancel class anytime except important matters — Hungover? Exam next week! Space-Time Continuum collapsing? Don’t forget to turn in that essay at 11:59!

It proved a tedious task to change into your suit, opting to wear it under your clothes most days, the chilly weather forgiving.

Summer, not so much.

You kicked open the classroom door, webbing one of the man’s mechanical tendrils just before it could find purchase amongst another victim, he glitched, a pain ripping through his core, web falling through. You webbed him again, double, triple the amount.

“What’s up, Doc! Been a minute since we last fought.”

He scoffed, “You’re not Peter Parker.”

“Peter can’t come to the phone right now, but I’m happy to take your call.”

A tendril made its home against your chest, enhanced strength paling in comparison to the machinery, but you made it work. Freeing yourself from its clutches you sent webs it’s way, thoroughly coating it before moving on to the next, rendering them useless with every thwip of web. Two down.

“I thought doctors were supposed to help people — prescribe antibiotics, suggest some rest.”

Your quips were doing nothing more than fanning the flames of his anger, Doc Ock seething with rage. “I’m not that kind of doctor!”

“My bad! Thought you’d be able to help me with this raging headache I’ve been having.”

You thwipped another tendril in the midst of Doc Ock’s frustrations, useless. Three down.

This was too easy.

“I don’t know what happened to Peter Parker, but if you’ve taken his place, I’ll kill you all the same.”

Crash.

Out the window your bodies tumbled, the asphalt there to break your fall, back feeling as though it’d been shattered in a million different place. You strained to move, lifting your arm to produce a web in the man’s face, a move that should’ve been attempted sooner. Your body too weak, movement too slow, Doc Ock pushed your arms to the floor, slowly crushing them with his mechanical majesty.

“I want you to suffer in your last moments,” He pressed down, a groan hiding behind your teeth, Doc Ock far from satisfied. “I wish to hear your screams, the cries of the people, as their beloved Spider expires.”

No matter how hard you fought you were no match for his strength, straining to sit up, to do anything. It was futile, entirely. And suddenly you wished you’d revealed your secret identity to your loved ones, after all. At least then they’d know peace.

But at least this way, they were safe.

Pressing the back of your head to the asphalt, the screams of the people fading into nothingness, you decided it was your time to hang up the mask.

You’d been in this business since your first year of High School, a freshman bitten by a radioactive spider, forced to navigate puberty and the life of an arachnid vigilante. So many years, too many years of fighting for the people, being their savior when it felt nobody was there to save you.

Perhaps there wasn’t, never would, and as much as the thought plagued you, it also allowed you a moments rest.

The rev of a motorcycle, gasps from the crowd, the blur of your vision suddenly less persistent. The pressure of Doc Ock’s many tendrils had lifted from your chest, air rushing to your lungs.

“You alive down there?” A heavily accented voice, someone whose costume appeared just like yours except… flickering? Constantly in a state of perpetual color change?

Your spider senses tingled, mind overwhelmed with his presence, multiple presences. So different, so unique. Yet entirely the same.

“I’m…”

“Look out!” A motorcycle decorated in bright hues zipped past you, a woman with hair you envied greatly throwing you onto the back of the bike, the character from earlier hot on your tail. “You alright, kid?”

“Confused, but I’m breathing.” Were these Spider-People?

The Spider decorated in spikes spoke up through the whir of the cycle, “That’s all we can hope for, yeah?”

You nodded, looking around for Doc Ock, blob of green a generous ways down the road, the motorcycle heading straight for it. You stood up on the seat of the bike, fellow passenger and driver speaking words of warning, their caution taken with a grain of salt.

Something about their presence empowered you, made you feel invincible despite the burn of your back, a possible breakage persisting somewhere.

When you were in range you hopped off, gasps and hollers following the movement, limbs tingling with the urge — no, the need — to unleash your webs.

Doc Ock hadn’t a moment to register your presence, caught up in battling a spider-man with webs akin to the hue of a flame, muscles built high as he towered the citizens littering the streets.

I mean, seriously, didn’t people know how to run?

“Thanks for the help with the not-so-doctor Doctor!” You stood in a crouched position atop one of Doc Ock’s tendrils, the spider-man looking to you without a word, nodding his head.

Tough crowd.

You hopped down, side to side with the spider-man, the height difference even more shocking up-close. Your webs thwipped from the mechanism you’d designed the summer preceding your sophomore year, webs more controlled, precision calculated. It was far easier than the initial prototype, and despite its age, you’d hardly tweaked it.

Doc Ock came down with a crash from your joint effort, weight imprinted in the street, a damage tax payers weren’t keen on beholding.

Being a hero had never been so easy, joint support, everyone pulling their weight. It was as though you hadn’t even tried, elated as a burden was thrusted from your shoulders.

A cage of crimson encased Doc Ock, a team emerging from a portal of the same hue, dragging him away, ignoring his hollers, glitching as he shouted his final words — “Peter Parker!”

Some of these villains had serious codependency issues.

“Thanks for the assist,” You turned to the spider at your side, Spikes. “Didn’t know there was more of me, of us.”

“There’s an infinite number of us, you’ll find.”

“No way!” You tingled with delight, unable to contain the joy you felt. “Where have you guys been this entire time?”

“We’re part of a—“

Spikes was waved off by a blue and red hand, the muscular spider from earlier, stoic as ever, regarding you with hardly a word. “Follow me.”

“At least take me to dinner first.”

The woman, who you observed to be heavily pregnant, and Spikes laughed at the remark, Spike clutching at his stomach as the woman coughed into a fist.

“I don’t have time for jokes,” He crossed his arms over his chest, “Your universe is one of many experiencing inter-dimensional anomalies.”

“Anomalies? Is that why they were glitching?”

The man turned to the woman, back rigid, “They?”

She raised her arms in mock defense, “You never asked.”

“I shouldn’t have to—!“ He groaned, cutting himself off as he pinched the bridge of his nose through the mask. “You’d be making this a whole lot easier if you’d come with us.”

You contemplated a few seconds, hands crossed over your chest, tapping your foot against the pavement. Your mind suddenly fluttered to Alador and Aubrey, whether or not they’d gathered medical attention, what his condition was.

“I really shouldn’t, I—“ The portal was steadily closing as Spikes and Spider-Lady fell through, leaving you on your lonesome with Spider-Dude.

“You really don’t have much of a choice.”

He was right. If these things, these… Anomalies, kept trickling into your universe, there was no telling what consequences would follow.

To protect Aubrey, to protect Alador. To protect your family and the people of your universe, you had to get to the bottom of this.

One foot in front of the other, heart wrenching, you stepped through the portal. But not before one final question, a few words to seal your fate.

“What’s your name?”

“Miguel. Miguel O’Hara.”

[indie-ttrpg-of-the-week]

Armour Astir Advent

https://weregazelle.itch.io/armour-astir A game about mechs fighting eachother! What else to do with a giant robot, I mean You could stand around and yell about ideology for a while, but what is this? Gundam?

Touchstones: Gundam (Turn A especially), Breath of the Wild, Escaflowne, Mazinger, Ghibli movies (add a quarter)

Genre: Mech game, PBTA, High Fantasy

What is this game?: Armour Astir: Advent is a game about mech pilots fighting against an oppressive empire, fighting using not only head to head mech combat, but also stirring dissent, using backhanded diplomacy, and guerilla tactics

How's the gameplay?: AAA has one of the most unique bits of gameplay I've ever seen in a PBTA game, refer to the Apoc World write up for the basics of the game, because there's a lot to unpack here. AAA's got a ton of standout mechanics, Let's start with Gravity Clocks! You got 3 Gravity clocks to use on anyone, and one to use specifically on your rival, Gravity clocks represent the volatile relationship you have with 4 different characters, the clock always has a value, starting at +1, that you can add to any roll related to that character, when you do so, you tick up the clock, when the clock is full, your relationship levels up, you change the nature of your relationship and that +1 becomes a +2 babyy, This encourages players to choose carefully what relationships they want their characters to focus on, and adds a lot to the Drama. AAA also has its really cool mech creation system, it's a bit too complex to get into here, but its less like Lancer's Subway style mech creation, and more like cooking from a recipe, you get to create some of your own abilities, and pick from a few pre-made ones, all mechs also have a type, which works into a weapon triangle type mechanic where certain mechs are better against other mechs. Another thing about AAA is the Faction Turn, the player's rebel group is made up of many smaller factions, each with a different role, while the empire is one group with small divisions, the idea is that while the authority is one imperialist gestalt, the rebels are more of a confederacy of farmers, local mercenaries, villagers, etc, but because of this, a lot of drama and miscommunication can happen, the Faction turn represents this, its intricacies are a bit complex to really get into, but basically during each Conflict turn, players run a scene where they instead of the big damn heroes, play as random soldiers and mooks from the individual factions, and try to fight back against imperial schemes, or try to solve local problems, this is meant to humanize the soldiers in the war, as well as show that the players aren't the last bastion against the Authority. That's about it for the gameplay, I tried to be brief but AAA is just something really really special when it comes to how it plays, there's a ton of other intricacies I couldn't even touch on here Oh right, half the playbooks don't even use mechs, they can fight during mech battles but are significantly worse during them, they're instead intended to help on the intrigue part of the war, commanders, celebrities, diplomats, footsoldiers, people who would be more connected to other parts of the war that aren't just the mech fights, during mech fights they play on the "B-Plot", basically a second narrative layer usually going on around the same time as the mech fights, think of it like a gundam episode where the main newtype child is fighting against a person who could have been a friend in another timeline and at the same time the soldiers inside the main base need to figure out who's been stealing their food supplies What's the setting (If any) like?: AAA is Setting Agnostic... kinda, there's 3 universal constants: - There's an authoritarian group known as the Authority, being fought by a union of scattered factions under one banner known as the cause - Magic exists, is fairly common place but restricted to certain people, and is connected to how mechs work - Some smaller chunks of lore like the existance of Angels, Demons, Eldritch entities, smaller scale vehicles called Ardents, etc, stuff you'd expect to see in any fantasy setting

What's the tone?: AAA is a game with a tone set by players, but the overall tone is not asimilar to that of most post Gundam mech anime, there's an overwhelming sense of war being hell, but there's still hope in fighting an evil fascist empire, also there's always expected to be a little bit of Angst

Session length: This is one of the few games I've written about I've actually sadly never played, but from reading the rules AAA does lend itself to longer, 4 or so hour sessions

Number of Players: 4+ is recommended

Malleability:  AAA is as said above, setting agnostic, if its got mechs you can run it in AAA

Resources: AAA has a fanmade google sheet, a few fan-made expansions, and two official expansions, Encore (more playbooks) and Amor Astir (romance rules, yeah idk either)

AAA is one of those games that is just a mechanical treat, everything works really well and serves a greater tonal purpose, just a really good game

[racefortheironthrone]

In a hypothetical situation where Moris Hilquit wins the 1917 mayoral election by a plurality, how do you think the ideal socialist for successful dentists would have performed as mayor of new york?

That is a tricky scenario to pull off, as alternate histories go.

In "original timeline" New York City, Morris Hillquit (SPA-NYC) got 145,000 votes for mayor, which is impressive....for third place, with the Democratic nominee (John Francis Hylan, a man who had impressively worked his way up from railroad laborer to engineer and then to lawyer, and who managed to win the support of both Tammany Hall and William Randolph Hearst) winning 314,000 votes, and incumbent reform mayor John P. Mitchel (having largely alienated his Fusion alliance) winning 155,000.

So the first thing that would have had to happen was Mitchel not running and splitting the anti-Tammany vote. However, Hillquit and Mitchel together would still be 14,000 votes short - and you know what happens when there's a close mayoral election and Tammany Hall is on the ballot.

So the second, and arguably more important thing that would have to happen is for Hearst to run against Tammany, like he did in 1905 (as a "Municipal Ownership League" candidate, no less!) and 1909, splitting the Democratic vote. (Words cannot describe what a weird guy William Randolph Hearst was politically. Depending on what part of his life you're talking about, he was an imperialist or an isolationist, a supporter of the New Deal or an outright Nazi.)

As for how Morris Hillquit would have done as mayor of New York City, I think he would have faced a pretty unrelentingly uphill battle on a lot of fronts. Hillquit was running as an anti-war candidate at a time when the country as a whole was starting to shift in a pro-war and anti-socialist direction - which would ultimately see five Socialists ejected from the New York state legislature in 1920. (Note that it would take until 2020 for New York socialist electoral politics to reach its former high-water mark.) Mayor Hillquit might well have joined them as a casualty of the First Red Scare.

While I think that Hillquit's support for municipal ownership of the subway and other utilities, women's suffrage, and the Socialist Party's proposal for government food-purchasing to help deal with the crippling cost-of-living crisis would have been quite popular, I think he would have had a very hard time getting socialization of the subway through the Board of Alderman.

Whatever its temporary woes in mayoral or gubernatorial races, Tammany was always strongest in the legislative branch (in no small part because that's where the money was) - and Tammany's empire of corruption rested upon a foundation of bribes and kickbacks paid by private companies looking to get "franchises" (i.e, private monopolies) for water, gas, electricity, commuter rail, and subways. They would have fought tooth and nail to stop Hillquit from taking these utilities under public ownership and stopping their gravy train, so Hillquit would have had to win a majority on the Board of Aldermen as well.

So I think that Tammany would have tried to do to Hillquit the same thing they did with reform mayors like Seth Low and John P. Mitchel: wait him out. (Incidentally, this is what made Fiorello LaGuardia a terrifying enemy to Tammany Hall: he was the first reform mayor to ever get re-elected, which gave him the time he needed to push through a new charter that abolished the Board of Aldermen, essentially permanently crippling Tammany.)

[writing-time-bitches]

Ingo in Paldea. But when he was a teen. AND BEFORE HATERS SAY ANYTHING, INGO IS NOT SHIPPED ROMANTICALLY WITH ANY OF THE SCARVIO CHARACTERS!!!

Am i jumping the timeline a bit? Yes. Do i care? No.

So ingo, WITHOUT Emmet, is a foreign student who just moved in to Paldea for a few years at Academy(4-5ish years?) and everything that happens in scarvio games happens with Ingo as the “mc”.

Nemona and Ingo are battle buddies who sometimes meet up in either region(emmet usually tags along) and still keeps contact with Nemona well into their adult years. Ingo unfortunately lost to Nemona during the champion, not that Nemona was upset about as she was won by like a breadth of a hair and openly invites Ingo to come fight for Paldean champion title whenever he wants.

He still has his paldean team and thoroughly adores his Meowscarada(hes a cat person). Meowscarada is one of his favorite owned pokemon. His paldean team btw is meowscarada, gardevoir, orthworm(lovingly named Subway), lampent(when he arrived)/chandelure, fraxure/haxorus and klang/klinklang. He loves his pokemon dearly.

Penny and Ingo had something of an acquaintance relationship before his coming to paldea, as they went to the same school in unova when penny was studying abroad. They really formed a friendship during his days as he enacted Operation Starfall. They totally share silly pictures of their pokemon to each other irregularly.

Arven and Ingo had a sort, domestic research partners relationship. After finding out about Mabostiff earlier than Arven had intended Ingo became an adamant ally in healing the dark type. Arven is forever grateful for Ingo’s help and will drop everything as a Pokémon dietician to come to ingo’s aid. Mabostiff also really likes ingo :)

Has a miraidon ride pokemon and koraidon battler. Koraidon, being a past pokemon and therefore more territorial, chased miraidown out of the crater. Miraridon is practically hardwired to have a more docile nature due to its(assumed) constant interaction with humans in the future, so it was easy to chase the living bike away. AIs of both Sada and Turo are fought, both with their respective ‘raidons. Chandelure was out of her ball when they were locked before the battle.

Teen!Ingo and Larry made a tired and always-looks-pissed alliance when they met and still talk from time to time.

[au-wannabe-the-very-best]

Akari doesn’t get annoyed with him.

It’s something that hits Ash one day while traveling, suddenly and unexpectedly. They’re closing in on Nimbasa City, rushing slightly to make it to civilization at long last after trekking through nature, and Ash realizes for the first time that while all of his travel companions in the past have gotten annoyed with him at some point, Akari never does. Even when he’s pretty sure he deserves it.

He doesn’t always think before he does things. He sometimes can’t word things the way he wants to. He gets impatient and can be irrational at times. It takes a really long time for lessons to stick in his head, too.

Akari never seems to mind. 

It’s really strange, when he thinks about it. Because, well, he’s seen Akari get upset. She gets angry and impatient and frustrated just like anyone else. She gets downright mean when Trip is around. She very nearly loses her cool every time Bianca is within a 20 foot radius. Iris and Cilan had to hold her back from physically engaging Burgundy in an actual fistfight, once. 

He’s confused. And grateful, of course, but also confused. 

“Hey, Akari?” 

Akari, who’s been smiling strangely ever since they boarded the subway towards the Pokémon Center, turned away from Cilan, who was gushing and clearly embarrassing himself in public. Unlike Iris, she seemed to find his behavior amusing more than anything else.

“Yeah?”

Now or never, he supposed.

“So, like... You know how sometimes I can’t, uh, remember things? Like, type weaknesses and immunities and stuff. Or genders. That sort of thing? How come you don’t get like... mad at me?”

Akari frowns.

“You mean your ADHD? Ash, I’m not gonna blame you for something you can’t control. You just learn differently from others. You get things eventually, so what’s the problem in letting you go at your own pace?”

Ash blinks.

“My AD-what?”

Akari blinks back.

“... Your ADHD?”

They stare at each other for a few moments. Akari seems to come to a realization, eyes going wide in understanding, but before anything else is said between them, the train comes to an abrupt halt. 

––––

“Akari!”

Ash watches as the Subway Bosses immediately go to squeeze Akari like a grape between their arms. She’s smiling wide even as she gets lifted off the ground, wrapping her arms around each of their necks and giving them both a peck on the cheek.

“Hey, dads. I see you missed me.”

Cilan loses his cool, then. Unlike him, Ash is less surprised by who her dads are, and more surprised that her dads are brothers. She certainly never mentioned that. Then again, unless directly asked, she tends to just not say anything about herself in general, so they probably shouldn’t be too shocked. The most she ever says are vague references to things she’s done or stuff that’s happened to her, and no elaboration. 

The twins turn to look at the rest of them.

“Might these be the friends you spoke so highly of, Akari?”

“Just a moment, Emmet, I believe I recognize one of these passengers!”

“Hmmm? Oh, I believe you are right, Ingo! Cilan, it is good to see you again!”

In the end, Akari stays behind to hang out with her fathers, who apparently fought for parental rights over her and settled for dual-custody. (Ash can understand that. Who wouldn’t want to have Akari as their daughter? She’s awesome.) Ash, Iris, and Cilan were dragged to the Pokémon Center soon after. 

Ash promptly forgets about his previous conversation with Akari.

––––

It’s days later when Ash remembers what Akari said their first time on the subway. Lots of things have happened at that point. The ghost train, Bianca’s father trying to stop her journey, Ash winning his gym battle against Elesa. 

It was Akari’s turn to battle Elesa, this time. And, as always, Ash can’t help but admire her battle prowess. She only ever uses the Pokémon she befriended on her current journey, rather than the army of buddies she got from wherever she used to live. Still, the difference in strength between the two teams seems to close rapidly every time she battles. Her strategy looks simple from the outside, hit hard and fast and don’t let up. But every move she makes is calculated. The snap of her fingers or clap of her hands indicated how the moves are supposed to be used. She predicts the opponent’s thoughts and adjusts accordingly. She’s aware of everything on the field, of everyone’s position, the terrain, the obstacles. 

She looks like a Pokémon Master, in Ash’s eyes. At least, one in the making, that’s for sure. There’s something in her gaze when she battles, something that isn’t seen in her at any other time. Intense and vicious, studying and understanding. 

Ash learns more from watching Akari battle than possibly any other battles he’s seen. It’s so easy for him to focus on every decision she makes, and unlike others, he can actually follow the train of thought that led her to her decisions. There’s a similarity in their way of thinking that Ash doesn’t feel with a lot of his other friends. 

And it’s that thought, the similarities in their way of thinking, that gets Ash remembering. 

AD-something something? Learn differently from others? Whatever she was talking about then, it seemed kind of important in some way. And not just important, either. She talked as if she had experience with Ash’s specific brand of... absentmindedness. Which is strange, because, well...

She’s amazing. 

Akari naturally wins the battle and earns her badge. Nobody expected differently, honestly. Elesa least of all, considering she’s apparently known Akari since her adoption. Akari is amazing at what she does. Her battling is a perfected art. Her understanding of people and Pokémon is uncanny. And her intelligence is unparalleled. She just knows things. She knows when Team Rocket is around before anyone else. She knows instinctually when something is about to happen, whether that may be good or bad. She knows what moves her opponents are going to make, knows what to do in order to counter them.

Akari doesn’t have difficulty understanding or learning new things like Ash, as far as he could tell. She soaks up information like a sponge, seeks out knowledge and digs her claws into whatever she may find. She’s just smart like that. It’s natural.

So why was she so understanding over Ash’s... everything? Is she just kind like that? Patient? Patient isn’t a word anyone would typically use for her, but maybe she is when it concerns her friends. 

When they return to the Pokémon Center, Ash takes some time to himself to do some research.

He doesn’t fully remember the acronym, but typing ADD gives him a result.

It’s a disorder. An attention disorder. The research isn’t too vast, most people tend to look at other studies when getting into science. But there’s enough that Ash can read through a list of symptoms and realize that it fits. 

And Akari recognized it quickly enough that she thought it was obvious. That he would naturally know about it. 

He logs off the computer and goes to get changed. He’s quiet.

––––

It’s midnight and everyone is asleep except for Ash. The knowledge that there’s a label out there that explains... so much about him and his personality, he doesn’t know exactly how he should feel about it.

Pikachu is sound asleep on a pillow beside his head. He takes extra care when crawling out of the covers, doing his best not to disturb his buddy. Once free, he crouches on the ground and slowly waddles his way toward’s Akari’s bed.

There’s a frown in her expression while she’s sleeping. Her eyes are darting to and fro behind her eyelids. Ash is struck with the realization that she may have silent nightmares. From what little he’s gleaned about her past, that... yeah, that makes sense.

“Akari?”

His whisper is soft, but it’s enough to wake her up almost immediately. A light sleeper, as always. She seems so used to sleeping out in the wild, but any small noise that seems too close tends to jolt her awake. 

“Ash?” Akari squints at him, voice gravelly with sleep. “Why are you peeking over the side of my bed like a stalker?”

Ash splutters. Akari grins and he realizes that she was messing with him again.

“I’m not a stalker,” Ash grumbles. “I just... Remember when you said I had, uh. ADHD?”

Akari’s eyes light up in recognition.

“Oh. I can’t believe I forgot about that.” She stifles a yawn, slowly sitting up and scooting aside. She pats the empty space she left behind, and Ash scrambles to make himself comfortable beside her. “I’m guessing you didn’t know what that was, right?”

“I kind of do, now,” Ash admits. Akari pulls the covers over him, and it makes him feel small and vulnerable. Sometimes, she treats him a lot like a younger sibling, but not in the same way that Misty’s sisters treat her, or how May would treat Max. Sometimes it’s strange, but Ash can’t deny that he enjoys the feeling. “I checked it up before changing. There wasn’t a lot about it, but what I saw... I think it fit me?”

Akari hums, and lazily throws an arm out to wrap around Ash and pat his back. She’s very casual in showing physical affection, which is something Ash appreciates and seeks out with little to no shame. He shuffles closer and wraps his own arm around her.

“Yeah, I guess it wouldn’t be well known when there’s other things to research like Pokémon and literal human psychics.” Akari huffs, tucking Ash’s head under her chin. “Feels weird, huh?”

Ash hums in agreement. He’s beginning to feel tired, now. Being held like this, safe and secure, tends to beat out the worst of insomnia no matter how anxious or agitated he gets. 

“Yeah. I never got officially diagnosed, but I think I have it too. Or something similar to it.” Akari sighs, rubbing circles along Ash’s back. “I can’t focus on things I don’t have interest in. I’m lucky in some aspects, because the things I do have interest in are things people think are important to know, right? Like. Pokémon. I love them. I want to know absolutely everything about them. I’ll focus so hard on learning about them that I’ll tune out everything.”

“I thought ADHD means you can’t focus, though?”

“Not quite,” Akari murmurs. “ADHD isn’t that you can’t focus on anything at all. It’s more like you can’t control your focus, I guess. Sometimes that means you can focus too hard on things. Like, remember when I was reading that book on historical legends while we were traveling? Cilan called my name like ten times and I still didn’t hear him because I was too focused. Ended up smacking into a tree. You get like that sometimes when it comes to Pokémon or battling, I think. It’s easy to forget about or not even listen to things we’re not interested in, right? But it’s different for things we’re passionate about.”

True. Very true. Battling and Pokémon were just so... fun. Interesting and amazing. It’s the only thing he wants to think about a lot of the time. Other stuff, though, feels more like a bunch of fuzzy stuff that he needs to shake out of his head, even though they should be considered important.

“So,” Ash whispers. “Is that why you don’t get annoyed with me when I can’t get things? Because you get like that too?”

“Huh? Oh,” Akari snorts. “Nah, people with ADHD can get annoyed with other people with ADHD, Ash. I just don’t get annoyed because I like you and consider you like a little brother.”

She leans back, giving him a full view of her mischievous grin.

“Even when you do stupid stuff, it’s very cute!”

Ash groans, face burning, and kicks her. She responds by tickling him in the sides, causing him to shriek, push back, and fall off the bed.

Iris and Cilan aren’t too happy about being woken up. Doesn’t stop Ash and Akari from laughing, anyways.

[the-nimbasa-trio]

*Echo smiled at the effort of the twins to make her feel better, and nodded at the news about their eyes.*

"Born with it, or ghost exposure?" *She asked, leaning against Titan as he moved through the station.* "I know some traits can be added through exposure."

*She reached up to pull at one of the white strands of hair framing her face nervously, but made no other comment.*

*When Titan finally exited the station, Echo gasped at Nimbasa, blue eyes widening in awe.*

"Oh it's *gorgeous*." *She said about the city, pushing herself upwards to see as much as she could.* "Everything shines!"

"We don't know. Born with it, maybe?" Emmet answered.

"It's freaky to most people," Ingo added with a subtle shrug.

When the group exited the station, the sight of Nimbasa City was visible in all of its glory. It was a bright metropolis with bustling activity, especially in the amusement park and the famous Ferris wheel. It was a popular date site, and tourists from all over often visited the city. Not only was the amusement park very popular, so was Elesa's gym and the Battle Subway.

Just as Echo commented, the city was constantly shining ever-so brightly. The Ferris wheel and the amusement park as a whole had fairy lights that fought off the darkness of shadows threatening to snuff them out. There were some spotlights emanating from Elesa's gym nearby, almost acting like a beacon. The twins were quick to point down at the gym so Titan would fly there and land.

Once the large Golurk landed, the twins scrambled off of his back. They hurriedly gestured for Echo to follow, though it'd probably be best to put Titan back in his pokeball due to the crowd.

When the twins and their new companion entered the Nimbasa City gym, it was almost blinding with the lights that radiated from the runway. The crowd was going wild when Elesa stepped into view- the three of them were just in time to witness the start of Elesa's show.

As always, he was gorgeous. His outfit consisted of gorgeous shades of blacks and grays highlighted with blues and golds. He had a belt that had lightly dangling golden stars that resembled a Luxray's tail, and he spun a Quick Ball on his finger. He flipped his head back, causing his black hair highlighted with blue to follow suit.

Elesa was about to battle a challenger who wasn't as flashy as him, but had uniquely dyed purple hair. Longer strands of hair covered his left eye, and he had fluffy bangs with soft sideburns. He was holding a homemade pokeball in his hand, made from apricorns, and it had some kind of mark- presumably to tell which pokeball had which pokemon.

[unovasaved]

"I didn't know Ingo and Emmet were different people until I fought them both in a double battle on the subway. It's important to mention I'd known them for like two years by then."