#and a tiny beny

[stomach-rental]

I've decided to post them Here Too because I am very normal about these guys-- I NEED to draw them doing more fall things immediately

Will, Louis, Reese and Beni all belong to @peachnewt and her series, Getting in Deep!

[laugtherhyena]

So fun fact about me and the another series; I found out about it back in 2018 just one or two weeks before Ch3 came out and spend the next 3 or 4 years being hooked onto the game until the fixation died down and only returned to me around August or September of lasy year.

Meaning that through 2/3s of Sdra2 i was able to see the chapters as they were coming out and that's honestly something i wish more people in the current fandom could have experienced because it was so fun seeing the hype around a chapter that's soon to come out spike up with all kinds of theories, predictions and people hoping their favorites won't die (i remember i even had a dream once where chapter 5 released and Teruya murdered Iroha by tying her into a train track and waiting for it to run over her after she came to him and told him about being a void and he was like, trying to get rid of all remaining void by killing Iroha himself and wining the class trial, which would in kill Mikado too. Wild shit, but it's a dream you know?). And of course, whenever a new chapter did release the entire fandom would collectively freak out for the entire day as random instagram accs posted Cgs and bits of roughly translated information through the day alongside the deaths and executions and this hype around the newest chapter would sprout all kinds of art, edits and more theories for the following month or two.

All around awesome experience? Not exactly. Because this also means i got to see Linuj's crazy plot twist as they were being revealed and here's where we get to the actual subject of this long ramble/rant; Kokoro Mitsume and how i really wish i could have spoiled myself of what happens in Ch0 because that would have spared me of so much pain.

And let me tell you, when i say pain, i am by no means exaggerating. You people have no idea how much i cried when Ch0 came out. My little 15 year old head was going through the 5 stages of grief over that plot twist, that shit didn't even feel real to me until one or two days after its release.

One thing you gotta know about me is that before i became the Ayame person™ Kokoro was my absolute favorite character of the another series, and if you know me for even just a little while then you know how insanely attached i am to her despite being a minor character who dies 1/3 of the way through the game.

Like, y'all don't understand, i was so happy when i saw that one Cg of her and Mikado in my timeline, so genuinely ecstatic to see more of her after i thought her character done with since the events of Ch2. Can you magine how i felt after watching the character i adored so so much turn out to be a vile human being? I was genuinely so distraught man, i spent a good while being one of those people that ignored everything about the characters irl selves because that twist hurt me so damn much, but even then i was never able to look at that character the same way again, even now she just makes me feel bad.

And it's s not that i think Kokoro is the worst person to have ever existed, i like antagonist/villain characters who've done much worse than her, hell, I don't even think her character was absolutely ruined or anything. When i think about Mitsume nowadays i genuinely find her an interesting case of a good person with big plans who lacked a proper support system or even friends which led her down a path where she became cold and cruel without a semblance of care for her own family so long as she could work on her project, and seeing the difference between the Kokoro we see as a teen and her adult self just makes all of this even more heartbreaking. I still like her, is just that having my perception of this character be completely shattered when Ch0 came out permanently affected how i view her and as much as i still enjoy her character even now I can't help but simultaneously hate her for how she made me feel ❤️

[thecornercat]

America's biggest enemy

(Italian version under the cut)

The best example to understand that Trump's tariffs have little to do with real threats to the United States is the case of Lesotho.

Lesotho is a tiny state in south Africa, that most common people won't have heard much about until now; but according to president Donald Trump, it must be one of America's biggest economic enemies. Check it out.

This tiny piece of land received a 50% tariff from the US, the highest of all. Why? Because Lesotho sells $228 million a year to the US, and buys $7 million. Why this imbalance? Because Lesotho has diamonds mines, and the US wants diamonds, but despite this it is one of the poorest countries on earth, so not much money to buy goods from the US.

It begs the question of what was the reasoning behind this, if there was one at all.

Il più grande nemico dell'America

L'esempio migliore per capire quanto i dazi di Trump abbiano poco a che fare con le reali minacce per gli Stati Uniti �� il caso del Lesotho.

Il Lesotho è un piccolo stato in Sudafrica, di cui la maggior parte delle persone comuni non avrà sentito parlare molto fino ad ora; ma secondo il presidente Donald Trump, deve essere uno dei più grandi nemici economici dell'America. Date un'occhiata.

Questo piccolo pezzo di terra ha ricevuto dazi del 50% dagli Stati Uniti, i più alti di tutti. Perché? Perché il Lesotho vende beni per 228 milioni di dollari all'anno agli Stati Uniti e ne acquista 7 milioni. Perché questo squilibrio? Perché il Lesotho possiede miniere di diamanti, e gli Stati Uniti vogliono diamanti, ma nonostante questo è uno dei paesi più poveri della terra, quindi non ci sono molti soldi per acquistare beni dagli Stati Uniti.

Viene da chiedersi quale sia stato il ragionamento alla base di tutto questo, se c'è stato.

[tarithenurse]

Mending

Fandom: Fireforce AU. Pairing/starring: Benimaru Shinmon &/x fem!reader. Word count: 1628. Content: Angst, heartbreak, bad mental state, first step to recovering, best friend to lover? A/N: Oh the angst! The pain and hearbreak and breakup and such sad things. Please reblog and comment.

Mending

You haven’t answered calls or texts for almost three days now. You haven’t showered either and barely eaten anything. Why should you? You just want to sleep because when you are awake, you lie and stare on the picture on your phone’s screensaver, knowing that it’d never be like that again. You’ll no longer get to wrap your arms around your boyfriend, kiss his cheek. Well...you shouldn’t even think of him as your boyfriend but old habits die hard for you at least.

You’re half asleep when there’s a knocking on the door but you just roll around with a sigh, tug your phone close to your chest and ignore it.

Or you try to.

The knocking turns into a hammering that eventually grows so loud that it sounds like the door might break. What’s worse though: you can hear your name being yelled too and you recognize that voice. Beni. You haven’t seen him in a long time because whenever you did your boyfriend would act sullen and silent afterwards. But Benimaru was your best friend and you’d made sure to send him a text every now and then when you were at work or on the loo...send and then delete all evidence. You’d hated sneaking about like that but you always ended up doing it again.

Now he’s screaming outside your door: “C’mon! I know you’re in there! I just need to make sure you’re okay then I’ll leave again if that’s what you want! Open!”

You gather the blanket around you as you sit up slowly. Even the little bit of movement makes you dizzy but you manage to get to your feet and shuffle out into the hall, where you unlock the door and peek out past the crack.

“Waddyawant?” you mumble, blinking against the sunlight.

Beni is still standing with a hand lifted to bang on the door with as he takes what little he can see of you in and you become disgustingly self-aware of what a mess you are as he lowers the fist and his mouth fall open.

“Fucking hell you’ve had me freaking out,” he admits. “Can I come in?”

You hadn’t wanted to let him in but now he’s here it feels just a tiny bit less horrible so you shrug and shuffle to the couch.

Beni follows. You can hear him sniffing and he makes a detour to open a window in the kitchen and then the two in the living room.

Then he turns to you. “You’re a fucking mess,” he points out the obvious, arms crossed across his broad chest.

“Thank you. Good to see you too,” you hiss before tipping over onto your side, taking up almost all the space – the couch is not that big.

“C’mon,” he drawls, “y’know what I mean. You send me that text and then you ghost me? I have to come here to find that you’re a ghost, almost?” He comes over, lifting you partially to get a spot to sit before letting your head rest on his thigh. “So...before I make you shower...what happened?”

You don’t want to talk about it but the thing with Beni is that he can be silent and you hate silences so of course you want to fill it with something. Anything. Slowly but surely, the words starts pouring out of you about how you’d find out your boyfriend was cheating on you. With his ex whom he’d always said was just a friend now. Of course he denied it at first when you confronted him. The man was even cocky enough to give you his phone and yeah maybe he didn’t think you were really going to search it but you did and there they were, messages send from her except her number was saved under a different name. Texts full of intimate details and plans. He couldn’t deny it any longer so he blew up in your face, screaming and yelling and telling you how it was because you weren’t good enough. That hurt.

Luck is on your side at least a little bit because the apartment is in your name and your boyfriend – your ex – had very few things he wanted from your shared home. Just his clothes and laptop. Then he left. There are still items all over the place that remind you of him, but you’ve avoided looking at them since he walked out the door. You don’t know where he’s gone to but you suspect you can guess anyways.

“What a dick!” Beni growls when your explanation ends, his hand soft on your cheek. “You’re better off without him.”

It hurts to hear in the same way that picking at a wound hurts: a sweet sting. You can feel how the pain rips in the hollow where your heart used to be, then it clogs your throat and steal your voice so you only can nod. The tears come next, hot and silent, leaving new salty streaks on top of the old tracks.

Benimaru just holds you as you sob. Silently rocking you.

Once you’ve calmed down he disappears into the bathroom and you can hear things clonking before the water starts running.

A moment later he’s back and methodically starts to unwrap you from the blanket despite your protests and you’re all too aware of the pungent smell released from under the comforting layers once he’s got you in your shorts and top...but he doesn’t care. He just picks you up and silently carries you to the bathtub where he sits you on the edge.

“Now...either you take care of this part yourself or I’ll see to it,” he flatly explains. “Get washed. Good long soak. Use one of your hair masks or whatever.”

You nod, still snivelling a bit, but remains seated until he’s out of the steamy bathroom and has closed the door after him. Then you look around: every product that belonged to your ex is gone together with the plastic bag in the bin.

“I can’t hear water splashing!” Beni suddenly yells through the door.

“Okay okay,” you mutter back.

It’s enough to get you moving, though. Slowly you peel the dirty clothes off before stepping briefly into the shower, wanting to get the worst of the dirt off before you crawl into the tub.

The moment you do abandon the shower and step into the scalding water, you have no more tears to give. The ache is still there but it’s dulled somewhat and you slowly entertain yourself with an extensive self-pampering routine while you try to ignore the odd sounds coming from whatever Beni is doing. Sometimes he’ll stop his actions and come to knock gently on the door:

“You okay in there?” he asks.

And every time you’ll hum a yes because you kind of...are? Not great. Not happy. But...at peace?

Eventually the water gets cool and you reluctantly step out of the bath and dry yourself down, making sure to scrub extra hard.

Still wrapped in the towel, you tiptoe across the hall and into the bedroom and stop. You don’t even have to investigate you just know that things are different: the bedding has been changed and if you were to look around you know you wouldn’t find the windows and memorabilia from your time with your ex. It’s all gone.

“Beni?” you call, voice wavering.

It’s too much. It’s almost like your ex was never there.

“I know,” Beni says, entering behind you, “but you need a clean start. Nothing’s tossed. You can look through it later...right now you just need you.”

Turning to see his serious expression, your vision doubles from the tears that are collecting but you’d be damned if you’ll cry more because of that ass-hole. Sniffling, you straighten up. You nod.

“You got this,” Beni promises you.

---

Tall Benimaru has somehow managed to curl up on your couch, refusing to go home for the night and have you be alone again. Still, you feel alone, lying in the big bed where there used to be someone beside you.

Tossing and turning, you eventually give up and tiptoe into the living room. You just want to see him sleep a bit, maybe that can calm you down. But of course you step right on the one single creaking floorboard and he pushes himself up by the elbows.

“You okay?” he asks, voice heavy with sleep.

“I...” You don’t really know what you want except to not be alone. “Come into bed...it’s big enough for us both,” you decide.

“You sure?” he sits up properly now, trying to read your face in the dim light of the street lamps.

“Yeah...don’t want to be alone.”

“Okay.”

He follows you as if he needs to be shown the way, blanket partially draped over a shoulder though it’s not enough to obscure the broad expanse of his naked chest.

In the bedroom, he lets you get settled in first before crawling into bed, close to the edge to allow for enough room between the two of you.

“I don’t bite,” you point out, earning a crooked smile.

“I might.”

“Never.”

Shuffling a bit closer, he eventually comes to rest on his side, facing you. It’s easy to reach out and take his hand, weave you fingers with his without even thinking about it until it’s done. But it feels right and he doesn’t pull his hand away.

“Hold me?” you ask, voice tiny and fragile like the little bloom of something inside your raw chest.

“Always.”

He scoops you into his arms easily, chest to back so you can feel his heartbeat thundering and his breathe slowly levelling out. There, you drift a way. You barely register the soft kiss he places on your temple.

[shannonsketches]

Friday Stream Doodle Dump - Jan 19 2024

suggestions @reedraws: beneona, gan wearing a shirt to cover his abs for once, beni in a tuxedo @eisibee: one of those tiny hats that just stays on somehow

vg faves height chart

@eisibee: what if gan met bill cypher

a man and his horse

tumblr inbox

BBZel + Gan Spooky Practice

@eisibee: gan if he ate the triforce

[mr-1-2-3-4]

-Efren walking around the street and turns around to find a tiny Beny-

Efren:you again!?

-Beny hides behind a tree, Efren sighs and slowly walks over noticing a new black eye-

Efren:kid who hurt you.

Beny:some gang members your age I think….

-Efren picks up Beny and grabs a megaphone and yells-

Efren:whoever decided to put their hands on my kid please come outside so I can peacefully break your bones.

-Ashley walking around in the background after she escaped the happy home-

@pampanope

[deluluduck227]

El Ayla | Ez.Abde

Warnings: none, the tiny tiniest sex mention

It was summer already, Abdessamad wasn't summoned to the national team, indeed he was called out to play with the olympic football team and the tournament was set to begin in the late ten days of june. So it meant you guys were going to visit morocco. Abde was so thrilled to see his family since it has been an eternity since the last time he did, and so were you. It wasn't the first time you visited Beni Mellal, your husband's hometown, a beautiful and small city.

You were stretching you arms since you spent what felt like eternity in the car, the road's duration from Casablanca, where your plan landed, to Beni Mellal was 4 hours,so obviously you both grew tired, especially him cause he was driving. Abde told his mother that you guys will visit soon but he didn't specify when so it was like a surprise. You felt the hot breeze of the city against your body, agitating your long hair. Abdessamad's arm was now wrapped aroud your waist to draw your attention to him since you zoned out, your eyes wandered aroud his features but you didn't get the best view since it was dark.

" Let's go " He whispered in your ear, clearly excited, the thing that made you smile at his cuteness, you nodded as you made your way through the gate of the mini villa reaching the door. He exhaled, you sensed he was a little nervous so you held his hand, giving him a reassuring nod as he raised his hand to knock the door. Silenced ruled the atmosphere, you both heard footsteps coming closers, the door flicked open and revieled abde's mom. She was chocked at the unexpected visitors and before she could register, her son already threw himself at her, squeezing in a thight hug and kissing her head occasionally. You smile, your heart brusting with happiness at the sight before as you felt tears prickle in your eyes. Abde's mom engulfed you in a tight hold, kissing your temple and you let your tears flow, you felt warm, you felt home even tho it's not but wherever abde is it felt home. She then separated the hug, cupped your face in her palms smiling brightly.

" Masha'allah a bnti, ghzala " you smiled at her comment. " Come on inside, you must be tired"

" I'll grab the luggage quickly and join you " Abdessamad conceded and you both nodded and launched towards the living room, it was so traditional, a mix of off white and golden. You sat on the 'sdari' as she kept asking you about you, how your family doing and abde joined along with his father, you got up and kissed his hand of of respect as he gave you a side hug, you considered as your father. You guys kept chatting, doing the catch up and occasionally laughing. You felt your eyelids heavy as ever and you yawned, drawing your mother-in-law's attention.

" Bnti! You must be tired, go to sleep. Abdessamad, take your wife to your room. It's all clean, you just grab covers from the drawers." She exclaimed, rubbing your forearm gently as you nodded. You got up to follow abde who grabbed the luggage and mumbled a good night to them.

Abde's room was quite big with the king size bed that was centered. You hurried, oppening the windows to aerate the room since it was suffocated. You felt abde's arms snuck around your waist, his chin upon your shoulder, planting soft kisses on your neck. You leaned at his touch, enjoying the peaceful yet loud moment. You turned aroud so now you were facing him, wrapped your arms around his neck and they hugged long enough to hear each other's breathing. After a while, you separated the embrace earning a whine from him which made giggle.

" You ruined my parade" He accused childishly.

" Awa3di yana, I'm not going anywhere babe. Just wanted to change my clothes i'm exhausted. And you should do the same" You suggested, already openning your suitcase and grabbed a random sleepwear, doing the same for Abde who just smiled at how thoughtful you were, small gestures mean a lot for him.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

The sun poured through the window causing you to wake up, you oppened your eyes to the unfamiliar ceiling then you switched your gaze from the roof to the warm bundle that was snuggled against your beating chest, his legs were caging yours, the same for his arms. He was a real Koala! And you weren't complaining. You tried getting up without waking up Abdessamad but you failed cause he jolted awake. You pitied him as he looked so tired so you patted his lower back gently and whispering " Just comeback to sleep babe." he hummed as response.

After doing your morning routine, you joined abde's mom in the kitchen, she was busy preparing el msemen, its scent was in the next level, it was the scent of a moroccan morning.

"Sbah lkhir Khalti" you greeted softly, kissing her forehead. She smiled at you first but she suddenly frowned which made you confused.

"Uh Oh, you calling me khalti! I'm disappointed ! you should call me Mama." She protested sweetly, making you smile. You nodded your head " Wakha a yma"

You offered to help her but she completly refused so you just sat in the lauchroom, sipping at your moroccan mint tea and chitchating with your mother-in-law who was beyond happy for your presence. You knew Abdessamad wouldn't wake up any time sooner.

"We have a long day awaiting for us." She exclaimed while the two of you were eating, Abde's father had some errand to run. She smiled after seeing your muddled features, then she continued

" We'll go to the Hammam near. " You could help but jolt from excitement, it has been an eternity since you went there, surely you exfoliate weekly in Spain but it isn't anywhere near The traditionnal Hammam. After you finished your breakfast, you insisted on washing the dishes and you made your way back to the bedroom, entering as quiet as you can so you'll not wake up your sleeping princess, you packed what you'll need and skipped quietly.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

You were currently in your father-in-law's car, making your way back home after the never-ending hammam session. You felt like dying, the heat was too much for you to handle, your shoulders were sore from the exofoliating but nevertheless you felt fresh. You made your way to the house, meeting abde who was laying down in the living room and scrolling through his phone.As soon as he acknowledged your oresence he droped the phone and made his way towards you, the smile creeping to his face when he noticed your state. Your cheeks were rosy, it is ’serr dyal lhammam’, your hair was hidden under the 'zif Hayati', you were wearing an simple navy blue Caftan. His eyes traveled aroud your apparence and he loved what he was seeing. He came closer and planted a gentle kiss on your forehead, his hand between your shoulder and you couldn't feel more appreciated.

"Bseha ya omri" you smiled at his whisper but you made some distance between the two of you when you heard footsteps approaching. Abde giggled at you as you smiled sheepishly, you left the scene , heading to your room to put your things away and the next destination was the kitchen cause you thought some mint tea would be cool to serve at the moment, plus it would freshen you up. A while after, you were heading to the living room, holding a silver tray full of teapotand its glass cups.

" Lah irdi 3lik ya bnti, you shouldn't have done that you're my guest"

" Rbi ikhlik lili a yma, it's not a big deal!" You smiled as you started serving the tea, then you sat next to your husband who was beaming proudly.

" Abdessamad, Wallah if i ever found out you're giving here a hard time I'll disown you." your mother-in-law spoke firmly, subsequently she started giggling when she saw her son's offended featues, then she switched her her gaze to you and resumed " If anything happens you just call me and you'll see" you nodded firmly, looking at abde from the corner of your eyes who scoffed.

Your parents in law started chatting when your husband took it as an occasion. He leaned closer to you, fingers flicking at your earring.

"Babe you're driving me nuts. I missed you." You knew exaclty what he meant but you just decided to pull your dumb card, since his parents were literally in front of you.

" How can you miss me when i'm sitting next to you babe?" you responded, and had some troubles holding your laugh at his face.

" I missed you in bed !" he decided to play along, thinking he won.

" I literally slept next to you, you were clinging at me like a koala !" He shook his head, laughing unbelievably. The chitchat was enthusiastic, the hushed town added the fun. It's like you guys disconnected from your surrounding, forgot there's two ppl in front of you.

" I missed fuck-" you didn't let him complete his obscene sentence as you pinched his thigh. " Awa3di ana hchouma, Basl !" he gave a sheepish look and you knew he wouldn't stop anytime sooner so you escaped to the kitchen claiming you'll cook lunch.

This was requested! As you may noticed, i used the chamali slang, mine since i lived there my whole life so deal with+ plus i think it's cute <3

[sheppyscribbles]

Boss Monster Concept: Labrysagitta

The Effulgent Hallow, as it turned out, was a misnomer.

Justin held his staff aloft, raising the lantern that Zeppy had affixed to the end. The warm glow only lit a small circle around the party as they followed the tunnel deeper into the mountain. Precious stones glimmered all around, set in intricate geometric mosaics along the walls and ceiling. Perhaps in brighter light, they would have been beautiful, but with only the oil lantern shining on them, every gleam brought to mind hidden predators in the dark.

"A bit strange to see one of these crystals without a bustling temple around it," he murmured.

"The last Spark'lings died out centuries ago," Ailura replied, wrinkling her nose, "and good riddance. They were terrifying even when they weren't trying to kill me." With a shudder, she added, "Any creature that can carry on a conversation while it rips its own arm off and puts another one in its place ... and then thinks better of it and sticks the first arm on its back ..."

Thunder rumbled somewhere outside the mountain. A few of the cut stones rattled in their sockets on the wall. Ailura flinched.

"As I said, the Spark'lings are dead." She sounded like she was reassuring herself. "And no one else wants to live on this storm-blasted rock. You saw how often lightning strikes this mountain, even with grounding rods on every prominence."

"Stranger still, come to think on it. With all the aether roiling outside, how'd this Temple come to be a null zone?" From the moment they'd entered the tunnel, Justin and Ailura had been unable to use magic. Try as he might, even his strongest efforts couldn't maintain so much as a magic candle -- he could feel the very walls of the Temple drink up his mana the moment he tried to exert it. No wonder Ailura was in such foul spirits; she must be feeling utterly helpless.

"You know what else is weird?" Beni tapped one of the crystals in the mosaic pattern and watched it rattle for a few seconds. "The Spark'lings were some kind of crystal beings, right? Bodies made out of that thaumalite stone. So why decorate this place with all these crystal mosaics? You'd think that would be like a king decorating a whole palace with bones and organs."

"Perhaps it's a different sort of crystal? Maybe they wouldn't find that as disturbing ..." Tyrus tapped at another stone, and it rattled softly. "... never mind, this is thaumalite after all."

"... and thaumalite absorbs magical energies ..." Justin gulped softly as he stepped out into the shadows beyond the end of the tunnel. Hundreds upon thousands of crystal facets twinkled from every cave wall in the surrounding gloom. "... which means this whole place is lined with mana-draining corpses ..."

"MY CHILDREN ..." What spoke then was less a voice and more an echo of the entire mountain, as though every lightning bolt in the storms above had struck it at once and the thunder itself was roaring in agony. Justin and the others held their breath as the mosaics began to rattle, softly at first, but then louder and louder until the stones ripped themselves free from their sockets.

"Hit the dirt!" Zeppy's voice broke the spell enough for everyone to throw themselves to the ground as the crystals flew overhead. The stream of tiny gems ripped a massive stone axe from one wall, stone pipes from another. They formed a maelstrom above the Archstone and coalesced into a massive eagle, with the axe growing out of one wing and bombard rockets loaded in the other. It perched atop the Archstone and shrieked a threat.

The party struggled to their feet, and Justin tried to project a shield over the others - only to groan as it fizzled out immediately. "T-try to play it safe, everyone ... I can't heal anyone until we get out of this place ..!"

[daevilpanda71]

Hey!! Tiny heads up!!

So I finally gotten around to starting therapy, and as a result started doing artwork for it that I wanted to start posting, Ontop of some other personal/weird art! I'ma be using the tags #Benis's Haze, #Therapy Art and #Eternal Falls for those that don't wanna see those, I'ma also set up a personal tag list in my pinned post as well! (Mostly so I can keep track of them myself XD) Nothing else too exciting just a forewarning!

hope y'all have a great day!💗

[zungumi]

Mei-chan no Shitsuji (Hoshigumi 2011) subs

AT LAST. between travel, wedding planning, and covid, this kind of fell by the wayside for a bit, but IT'S DONE. my first two act!!!

first of all, wow, otoha minori is great. that could be my entire translation notes. she's so cute. all the musumeyaku in this show are so cute. and the otokoyaku are just as good!! we have suave ikemen beni, loudmouth osananajimi miyaruri, and villain yurika, please, i am a simple creature, act 2 was so hard to sub because i kept blushing. plus, tiny baby kiki and coto! i didn't actually watch this show in full before i started my sub, and wanting to know what happens next was SUCH a motivator, lol. if you're familiar with the manga, it's pretty close except for some things left out or rearranged; if you're familiar with the drama, it is QUITE different. tl;dr this show is SO MUCH FUN, and if you like tropey 00s shoujo it is not to be missed.

TL notes:

yamada tami. all of her lines switch between several regional dialects, so i just kind of..... went ham ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

i do not believe in localizing honorifics when a story's set in japan, so. pretend you're all reading manga in 2004 with the little vocab guide in the back cover! i DID translate ojousama, because it's like, half the dialogue, and "my lady" felt romantic.

there's a line about "demon hunting" re: shinobu, which makes sense in the manga where he's referred to as the "white demon" - this got dropped from the script, so i localized it out.

timed to: the bluray, recorded 2/21/11

check my shows page (zungumi dot tumblr dot com slash shows) for the DL!

[laugtherhyena]

Akira: Longth...

Beni: Please put me down.

Only occasion in which she will appear a little bigger than she actually is

[onestepbackwards]

Ok but running on the streamer reader turning a pokemon, imagine if it was into a lil shiny Zorua.

They get the massive urge to cause mischief now and take it entirely out on Beni and Kamado🤣

Papers? Gone.

Plates? Floating in the air.

Reader can and will find a way to make a Whoopi cushion out of spite to embarrass Kamado during meetings. (Does that man ever sit down I swear we never see him sitting)

Or a lil growlith, just a fluffy lil babby that nobody can say no to, not even Cylene.

-Pierced Anon

You can and will have your vengeance, even if it means doing so as a tiny pokemon.

But hey! It certainly has its benefits. You will not show them peace the entirety of your banishment.

The only ones spared seem to be Cyllene and Laventon, who are just as confused as the others.

Though they certainly are in no big hurry to stop these strange occurrences. Both are still a bit miffed over you getting banished because of Kamado’s insecurities.

Meanwhile you will happily move Kamado’s chair just as he sits so he can fall on his ass. Or knock Beni’s plates from his hands again as he tries to serve food.

You do have to watch out for Beni though. Despite his looks, he is still a ninja. He will initiate a battle with you should he find the pokemon playing pranks. Even going so far as to track you down for it.

[the-maddened-hatter]

Ok so I only have one real genuine gripe about The Mummy 1999

I think Beni should have lived and joined the main characters at the end. Like I realize that's self-indulgent and not necessarily good writing but idc he's just a little guy your honor

Like yeah, he sucks, but kind of in the same ways that one of those shaky hypoglycemic lap dogs does that knows nothing in its heart but mortal terror and a deep-seated avarice for table scraps and will piss itself if you look at it wrong.

I think they could have kept him, maybe if he got just a *little* bit of redemption at the end. Rick or Jonathan could have pulled his treasure seeking ass out at the very last split second and bitched about how stupid he was to be in there looking for more trinkets when the place was about to come down to show us that he's still very much going to be a work in progress.

Like is he still obsessed with treasure? Yes. Does he manage to get his ass into dangerous and improbable situations? Hell yes. Is he still a coward? A *tiny* bit better than he was, but yeah. Why do they keep him around? Idk they just do. He's creative, he's good at finding stuff, he knows a lot of obscure knowledge relating to ancient treasures and myths.

Idk maybe you could weave some sort of thing where he actually does grow really attached to them because he's not used to people simultaneously keeping him safe and treating him well, so his loyalty could start out as just trying to keep a good situation going, but becoming something more genuine than that as things progress and it could be really nice actually

[blundergato]

@beni-o2 to be fair, i also hAte them especially the europeans THAT GET IN MY WAY AND JUST STAND IN THE MIDDLE OF AN AISLE OF AN ALREADY CROWDED STORE, GO BACK TO SPAIN YOU WORTHLESS ASSHOLES OR THE WHITE WOMAN THAT KEPT STOPPING EVERY FEW STEPS IN FRONT OF US IN A TINY ALLEY TO TAKE PICTURES MEANING WE COULD NOT PASS HER

id love to see white one white violence though which then leads to them getting kicked out. Would make the trip 10/10

[bluedesertbruja]

I love all these lfmb memories 😭taking me back to my childhood and happier times. The part where Fernando shows up with her diary, and he says he liked her drawing, it kinda looked like a child had drawn it, I laughed a little bit, was that just me? Don't you think they infantilized Lety a tad too much in this version? At least pre-Acapulco that's the vibe I got from seeing her purse, her desk decor, and just the overall way she behaved. Not that there's anything wrong with this because considering how sheltered she was, it made sense. Moreover, it is an adaptation so I'm fine with the characters having a different approach. But do you think that it was done on purpose to soften her part in the affair and the financial fraud? A lot of the harsh criticism people have for Betty is that she was "the other woman", so perhaps they wanted to portray Lety as more innocent (she's even deeply religious and is shown going to church constantly) although it kinda goes against the intent behind Betty's character as a whole which was to present a morally gray and flawed protagonist. Also, when they go to Cuernavaca, she will not sleep with him again and tells him over and over that she feels guilty and bad for doing that to Marcia. Just something I thought about after seeing your post about her diary and the drawing.

Sending you good vibes only 💜💜💜

The part where Fernando shows up with her diary, and he says he liked her drawing, it kinda looked like a child had drawn it, I laughed a little bit, was that just me?

No, bc I laughed too. It's hard to take seriously despite Fernando being so sincere. Betty's diary is shown to have doodles but not drawings like Lety's. Weird that she drew stick figures when I think in this version they established that Lety was an artist of sorts.

Don't you think they infantilized Lety a tad too much in this version? ....Not that there's anything wrong with this because considering how sheltered she was, it made sense....

Yes, they did infantilize her too much but they also infantilized Fernando too in a lot of ways. So it's fine? (Equality?).

I think their mutual infantilization was done for multiple reasons. Bc it's sole genre was comedy, bc it was meant to be 'family friendly', bc producers wanted this version to be different fm the original. Ive said before and I'll say it again, Rosy Ocampo (the producer) is the main reason the mexican version is like that. Bc she specialized in children's programing--that's why you have Marcia at the end saying she learned her lesson and now she's a good person who will never judge someone by their appearance. (Marcela would never say that, lol).

It's also a similar issue to Betty in BeNY, where they don't know how to deal with a character that's incredibly naive but incredibly smart. So in this version they go to the extreme with Lety but for comedy's sake. Regarding her upbringing--the relationship Lety has with her parents feels even more....She's more of the quintessential 'good girl'\'good daughter' than Betty is bc she lacks Betty's inner rebelliousness. For example, she ends up telling her dad that she lied about her job at Conceptos, that she started as a secretary who later got promoted. Why? Bc kids shouldn't lie to their parents. It's the hidden message imo.

But do you think that it was done on purpose to soften her part in the affair and the financial fraud?

A little bit. It's a tiny part of the 'multiple reasons' bit.

There's a part in the filler where Fernando has a daydream nightmare where Don Erasmo confronts him and says 'you corrupted my daughter by involving her in fraud AND an affair'. Which i thought was interesting bc now its presented to the audience that Fernando feels he is to blame for things Lety's done and that he feels guilty of said corruption. It's similar but different take to how Armando sees Betty's fragility and innocence.

Actually, a lot of the filler is spent on establishing that Fernando and Lety feel guilty for what they're doing. And that does feel like it's on purpose. It reads like the morality police.

A lot of the harsh criticism people have for Betty is that she was "the other woman", so perhaps they wanted to portray Lety as more innocent'...

Betty to this day gets a lot of criticism for being the other woman and for standing up for herself. And for ending up as president of ecomoda while Marcela leaves empty handed. When it was originally airing and it was revealed that Betty wasn't a virgin....it was a big deal. It's literally unheard of for female telenovela protags to have any sexual experience. She was a trendsetter. But yes, she is morally grey and complex. Lety is not morally grey at all despite making similar choices to her original counterpart. That's not a crime. But it is done on purpose---so that the general audience roots for her.

Nothing is really Lety's fault bc she was just a naive girl in love. And she feels bad about everything all the time so it's okay that these things happened the way they happened.

I've yet to see Lety be criticized the way Betty is in comment sections, btw.

I haven't rewatched the last third of the filler, but yeah despite having multiple opportunities to have sex again they don't bc Lety's feels guilty, which is insanely stupid and done in part bc of the original script and also bc they need show the audience that Lety is a Good Person Who Thinks Of Others.

Meanwhile in the original the only reason Betty doesn't sleep with him again is because she reads the letter and believes he never loved her. It's not because of guilt. If she had never read it, I can assure you that after the Arboleda event Armando would have gotten lucky. At the very least, heavy making out in his car.

Sidenote, Lety and Fernando should have slept together a third time if they wanted the letter to actually hit Lety where it hurts after all that filler. It doesn't make sense otherwise.

[a-land-lacking-sleep]

PLA Fic: A New Home - Chapter 1: Prelude Beach

Here's the fic I promised you back in June, lul. I had about half of it written back then, but I just finished the second half of it today. This was originally going to be a really long one-shot, then a 3 chapter fic, and now who knows. Not me. I hope it's just 4, but it could be 6!

While this story is connected to my Electric Trains series of fics, it is also made as a stand alone! I hope you all enjoy.

Chapter Summary: Jubilife is established, and The Diamond Clan makes themselves known. Chapter Word Count: 4440

As always, read below or on AO3! Comments and reblogs always enjoyed!

September 30th, 1869

The name came from one of his more optimistic captains, Zisu Perilia of the Security Corp. Another victim of the war that Johto had endured with Kanto during the Imperial Unification, though thankfully a tad too young to endure many of the battles personally. Unlike Denboku, who had tempered his mettle with blade and tactics on the field of battle, where he watched both men and Pokemon bleed out their last.

But it was from her mind that the name of the beach landing sprung. “Prelude Beach,” she had said with a smile on her face. “The start of our new life, away from the pain that everyone had to endure back home.” A fine sentiment, and one that the other arrivals had latched onto with a fervent need. It wasn’t just Johto that had been hit by the succession crisis, but even the rural Hoenn had refugees fleeing from the nobles who felt that they were owed power and slowly crept their way south until they were trapped in Slatesea Port and either killed or imprisoned by the newly restored Imperial forces.

In fact, that was how Beni had joined him in that tiny village outside of Azalea, before the two became brothers on the field of war.

But that was all in the past now. Hisui is going to be a new beginning for them. It has to be. They will carve themselves a piece of land separate from the wilds and build themselves a village, one where they can live with jubilation and grow old without fear. And really, Denboku isn’t surprised when he finds a sign planted at the southern end of the planned layout of the settlement, and another at the northern end, both labeled “Site of Jubilife Village”.

Though he keeps his face set in the permanent scowl that is expected of him, his heart swells with joy to know that the people, the refugees of war and their protectors alike, felt safe enough to boldly claim such a name for themselves.

Nearing the end of the first week, they properly built a perimeter fence around the Village, though even calling it such in this state was almost humorous. It is a collection of tents, centralized in the middle of a large clearing split by a river and surrounded by small cliffs. The fence was barely chest high, just enough to keep curious Pokemon out, but not quite enough to keep actual threats away without a constant guard. Up against the cliffs to the east, Colza and Tao Hua are setting up the crop fields, and amongst the tents Sanqua and her right hand Flaoro are busy designating the spots where foundations will be built for houses.

It is an uneventful week, in all honesty. Their security patrols consisted of 8 men armed with daggers, along with trained Geodude and Scyther, with a Golbat to help patrol at night. And with that, the local Pokemon swiftly learned to stay away from the fences, in fear of concussions or gaping wounds leaving them as easy prey for other Pokemon. The only ones that still come close are the blue and black cats, which remind some of the Security Corp of the Manectric in Hoenn, and even they flee with a well placed Mud Bomb. 

It is the night of the 8th day in Jubilife that Denboku found himself sitting in the moonlight on the cliff east of the village, quietly meditating. He had picked up the habit while protecting the Sprout Monks back in Johto, during the war when they had become easy targets. After a long week of plotting out housing and preparing for the second ship to arrive in a week’s more time, sitting in the cool autumn air and listening to the odd big Pokémon chiming in the fields below felt like bliss. 

“Good evening, Captain,” he says brusquely as Zisu makes a spot next to him and sits down. 

“Evening, Commander,” she responds, a smile across her face as she settles into place. “You don’t mind if I join you, do you?” It was phrased like a question, but Denboku knew it wasn’t; Zisu knows she is welcome at any time.

“Are you here for meditation, or do you wish to speak about something?” Denboku hasn’t yet turned to face her, keeping his eyes closed as he slowly breathes in the night air. 

Zisu is silent for a moment before speaking. “Beni said he found a Pokémon rooting through his food supplies.” Denboku’s eyebrows furrow as he leans forward and rubs a hand against his temple. “I’m sure you know that means that it had to sneak in using more than just instinct. Especially since it was a Munchlax.”

That gets Denboku’s attention, causing him to look over at Zisu for the first time since she sat down. “Those are rarer than the Beasts in Johto,” he mutters before straightening his posture. “If there is a Munchlax ransacking our stores, then we need to stop it from continuing to do so. And if it can slip past a ninja in his own home, then it has to be well trained.”

“I already told my men to be on the lookout for any locals,” Zisu says. “If they see one, they’re to get a Captain who can speak the local language to talk with them and find the owner of the Pokémon.”

Denboku absently nods as he strokes his moustache. He was thankful that Ginter and those of the Gingko Guild were able to help his Team learn the local language, as they have been doing some trade with the natives for over two decades now. Ginter had also been keen to let them know that no foreigners ever set up on Hisuian land. “Do you think this is targeted? Or is this creature acting on its own?”

Zisu immediately shakes her head. “This Pokémon is most likely trained, but we haven’t seen anybody nearby this week since we’ve started setting up. I doubt we’re completely unnoticed, Commander, but I don’t think we’re being targeted.” Denboku huffs quietly, and nods in agreement after a moment.

As his companion starts to stand, though, he holds his hand out. “Stay awhile Zisu. I have a story to share.”

“You haven’t exhausted your stories yet, Kamado?” Zisu says with a laugh as she sits down into a more comfortable position.

“A Cianwood girl like you has plenty of Johto she doesn’t know about,” Denboku says with a glint in his eyes and a twitch of his facial hair. “I know you’ve been to the Ilex Forest when I was preparing the Galaxy Team.” Zisu nods, remembering the forest vaguely from her short time walking through it to Azalea. “But I’m sure you’ve never heard of the Protector of the Forest?”

When Zisu shakes her head, all Denboku does is nod and close his eyes. “Ilex Forest is special amongst the forests of Johto. It’s been tranquil since my grandfather’s youth, and it was tranquil through the war.” He breathes in deep as he hears Zisu settle in and lay back on the grass. “The forest has a protector, a sprite that keeps the trees tall and the waters clear. Even as the war raged and nearly burned down Goldenrod, it was untouched. All because of Celebi.

“Celebi is what allowed Azalea to be a safe haven during the war, what allowed me to go through Johto and find those in need of help and protect them, like it protected us.” He looks out over the fieldlands, the moonlight illuminating the grass and trees, and the distant river a smear of silver ink from this view. “It had fantastic powers, befitting a legend. It has taken platoons of men and moved them forward past the time of their battles. Brought us lost items days before they were lost. And so a shrine was built in the middle of the forest.”

“Never expected you to be a shrine goer,” Zisu says with a tease in her voice, looking over at Denboku with a smile to match her voice. “You always fit in with the monks, but never in that sense.”

“Wouldn’t call myself a shrine goer, neither,” Denboku says with a huff. “I would go before I left Azalea on journeys, but I wouldn’t go and leave offerings on a set schedule like a true devotee. But that’s beside the point.” He waves his hand to refocus the conversation and then strokes his moustache. “But it’s said that Azalea is not the only forest that was visited by a Celebi. Viridian was home to one for several decades, and people claim in Celadon to have seen two of them flying through the trees.

“But once war reached those forests, and people began to pare the forests down to settle in, the sightings vanished. Now only Ilex, a forest that has remained peaceful and untouched even after all these decades, has one.” Denboku looks out over the fieldlands, out to the forest beyond the silver river. “I want to ensure that our land here in Hisui would be one that Celebi would find hospitable.” 

There’s a moment of silence before Zisu responds with a soft hum. “Yes, I think that would be nice. Being able to keep this place peaceful and safe for everyone.” The two continue to sit quietly, letting the stars and the moon circle overhead.

—

October 10th, 1869

Though the cold was beginning to quickly set in on the Village as fall progressed, the men working on the foundation of the main Galaxy Building often found themselves dressed lightly. And most lightly dressed was Denboku himself, who is wearing but a gray hakama as he shovels dirt towards the ever-filling corner that his Golem is ever-emptying. And it is when he is in this state that Ress comes running from the town’s fence. “Commander Kamado, we have a local wanting to speak with you!”

Denboku sighs, and waves at his Golem to keep up its work, which it happily obliges to by rolling into the dirt and bulldozing it flat. Once he climbs out of the pit, Denboku quickly douses his face in the river water to wash any dirt off, and pulls his coat over himself, leaving it draped over his shoulders as he stalks towards the fencing to the east of the Village.

He is slightly surprised when he catches sight of the local, though he shouldn’t be as she at least seems a few years older than Zisu is despite his smaller stature. When it comes to her companion, however, he is completely unsurprised to see a rather large Munchlax chewing away at a berry.

“Greetings,” Denboku says, bowing slightly at the fence as he speaks in Hisuian to the best of his abilities. “Apologize for the state of my look. I have been at work. I am the Commander, Kamado.”

To her credit, the young woman only has to cover her mouth briefly as she holds back her laugh, then resets her face into neutrality. “I am Mai,” she says in heavily accented Kanto-ben. “I have more experience with your tongue than you with mine, so let us make this easier for us both.” While relieved, Denboku tries to hide it from his face by pursing his lips and twitching his moustache. “I believe you’ve been looking for me, Commander?”

Denboku nods, then gestures to the Munchlax absently eating beside her. “More specifically, I’ve been looking for whoever is the owner of that beast. We’ve caught it going through our food like it owns the place.”

“It has a better claim to the land than you do,” Mai says with a slight shift in posture, her hand resting on her hip as she leans slightly to the side. Not confrontational, but decidedly not welcoming. “You all showed up on your boats without warning, and he smelled food. While I didn’t plan for him to raid your storerooms, I can’t exactly blame him for getting easy food.”

“That easy food is what we need to survive, child,” Denboku says, glaring down at the young woman as she shakes her head. “We are working on getting farmland cultivated, so the food we brought with us is what we have. My people and I would greatly appreciate if you kept control over that beast of yours.”

“And I would appreciate it if you didn’t act like you were the lord of this land just because you believe you own this Village,” Mai shoots back, her tone unchanged from the neutral tone she’s held this entire conversation. “I would also refrain from telling others you own this land, unless you think you can convince my Leader, Adaman, to accept you.”

Pausing, Denboku takes a deep breath and releases it, then squares his posture and stares into Mai’s eyes. “Then how may I talk with your Leader? We don’t wish for conflict, we just want to live our lives.”

“He sent me a message this morning,” Mai says, a smirk forming on her lips. “He will be here in a few days time to discuss your ability to remain here.” Before Denboku could argue another word, she bows respectfully and turns to walk away, effortlessly scooping up Munchlax and carrying it away from the Village.

Denboku watches her walk away, then turns on his feet back towards the village. “Ress, go gather Zisu and Colza, and tell them to meet me by the main bridge. I’ll get Tao Hua and Sanqua, we need to discuss their arrival.” As Ress runs off into the Village proper, Denboku keeps his path towards the pit where the Galaxy Building will be, doing his best not to grind his teeth. Once he gets within earshot, he shouts out “Sanqua! Get on out of there!” He turns towards the store that is half-assembled across the grassy road. “You too, Tao Hua!”

There’s a bit of grumbling from the store as Tao Hua makes his way out of the building, sneering back at the way he came and holding his hip in place as he walks. “No need to yell, Kamado, I can hear you just fine!” He straightens with a grunt, his hip popping into place as he hobbles off of the store step. Across from him, Sanqua clambers up the ladder, wearing a simple white top streaked in mud, just like her hair and face. “What’s the big fuss?”

“We’re holding an Officers Meeting,” Denboku says, scratching slightly at his moustache. “That Mai woman told me that her Leader will be coming in a few days to discuss our right to be here.” Tao Hua sneers and looks in the direction of where Denboku had come from, while Sanqua gets a worried look on her face.

“Do you think they’d remove us? This is technically their land,” she says, looking back at the large hole for the building foundations that they’ve dug, as well as multiple skeletons of buildings around. Sanqua was younger even than Zisu, having gotten her position in Galaxy by being a fantastic worker and a good head for math. “This was the only good place in this area from what Ginter told us.”

“We won’t be leaving if I have anything to say,” Denboku grumbles as his Golem burrows his way up out of the ground behind the pit. He stalks past the pair to cross the simple bridge over the river to the southern side, catching sight of Ress coming his way with Zisu and Colza in tow. Giving a short wave, Ress breaks away to go cover the eastern gate again as the Captains all assemble.

“Something up, Commander?” Zisu says immediately before even stopping, her face pulled into a worried expression that seemed to mirror Sanqua’s, while Colza’s was filled with anxious energy. “Ress mentioned that he saw you speaking to a local?”

Denboku nods stiffly, setting his jaw for a moment as he thinks. “Mai is a member of one of the native Clans,” he starts, noticing the look of understanding on Zisu’s face and the grimace on Colza’s. “She says that her leader will be here in a few days time, and she’s also made it clear that she, at the very least, believes we are overstaying our welcome.”

Zisu, Colza, and Sanqua all share a look at one another, while Tao Hua simply glances away from the conversation. Finally, Colza speaks. “Are we in claimed land?”

A fair question. While a part of the reason that they had chosen this strip of land to build their homes was because it was by a river and relatively flat and protected, it was also because Ginter had claimed he’d never seen a Clans Member in this area. The Gingko Guild had even led their ships here before splitting off to land in their usual port on the eastern edge of the island, to ensure that they landed in supposedly unclaimed territory. “She didn’t say anything of the sort,” Denboku says after a moment of deliberation. “Just not to claim ownership of it ourselves.”

“Which we are by building,” Tao Hua says bluntly, looking past his juniors to look over the mostly finished structures that line the small road that they have leading toward the beach. “Homes, stores, farmland, and a large office for the Galaxy Team’s management. We even have a security detail, and signs.” Tao Hua scowls and spits on the ground in the direction of the entrance to the Village where Mai and Kamado had spoken. “Which they should have done if they wanted to claim this land themselves.”

“The Emperor doesn’t put a sign upon every shaku of land,” Denboku chides with a sharp glare. “And yet I don’t see you claiming ownership of Viridian Forest, Tao.”

“The Emperor is a mightier foe than some backcountry Clans,” Tao Hua mutters before turning away from Denboku entirely while Sanqua steps between them.

“What is the plan going to be, Commander?” Her eyebrows were knit together in worry, but her mouth was pulled into a determined frown. “Should we halt our work?”

Denboku sighs again, bringing a hand up to stroke his moustache as he thinks. “No, continue to finish the housing. Halt work on the Galaxy Hall, though.” Sanqua nods, and with a flick of Denboku’s head, she rushes to the pit where the Hall would be to stop the workers still there. “As for the preparations for the Leader of the Clan to arrive, we should prepare to ready defenses.”

“Ready the defenses?” Zisu asks with an incredulous tone, giving Denboku an unsure look. “Putting up an aggressive front doesn’t sound smart, sir.”

“You’re right, Zisu,” Denboku says with a nod. “I simply want you to have security on the southern end, and people ready to move to the eastern gate if needed. I do not want to start an altercation, but if they seek to remove us by force, we must be prepared to defend ourselves.”

Colza and Zisu look at each other, still uneasy at the thought, but Zisu eventually nods. “Alright. I’ll get people together. Hopefully the ship that Cyllene is on will be here in time for this meeting, she would do good to cover the east gate for us.”

“I’ll be sure to get some Medicinal Leeks growing,” Colza says with a sigh. “I’ll probably have to uproot one of the Sitrus saplings, but I think I still have a pot to fit it in.” With that, both of the younger Captains broke away from the meeting. With a final nod, Denboku dismisses Tao Hua back to his shop, and walks down the singular street south out of the village, back to the beach.

—

October 15, 1869

It had been just after daybreak that the young sentry Rei, fresh off of the boat, had seen the group approaching through the Fieldlands, still nearly an hour away. This gave Jubilife time to prepare, though, with the Captains all getting themselves presentable and meeting with Denboku Just outside of the simple gate that Sanqua had finished working the afternoon before. Within the town, multiple houses were now finished on the far side of the river, arranged in two parallel rows facing each other.

“How many did Rei see approaching?” Denboku asks Cyllene, Zisu’s number two, as he approaches the gate himself. Cyllene had been an unexpected friend in Hoenn several years prior when Denboku and Beni had gone down there in a chase after a rebel Lord. And with her time with Professor Zelkova Elm having ended, she was willing to join the Galaxy Team with her protege Rei. 

“He claims there were seven people,” she says brusquely, keeping a hand on her sheathed katana while her Abra hovered nearby. “There was a large Stantler-like Pokemon, and what seemed to be a large Bird Pokemon flying overhead with one of the seven riding it.”

Denboku nods and looks out over the Fieldlands. Even from this distance, the Bird Pokemon was visible as it soared through the sky, presumably keeping an eye over the group directly below. “And that is it? Seven people and two Pokemon? That Mai woman had a Munchlax with her, did Rei happen to catch sight of it?”

Cyllene shakes her head, her gaze never leaving the Commander’s. Denboku nods, and turns to watch as Zisu arrives with Sanqua. “Then we can assume that at least one of them will have a Pokemon with them, if not each of them. Zisu, how are the defenses?”

Zisu straightens her top and gives Denboku a short bow. “Ress and Wenton are on standby down the road, and Cyllene’s Abra will teleport them in if they end up being needed.”

Denboku nods, and turns to Sanqua. “And did you finish the safehouse at the end of the Village? It looked complete when I went by this morning.”

Sanqua nods as Colza runs up to the group, tying his sash in place as he does so. “It’s fortified well enough to withstand your Snorlax running into it, and the tunnel to Prelude Beach is sufficient. If needed, the entire town could escape to the boats at the beach.”

Denboku nods grimly again as Tao Hua approaches the gate and passes through. “With Celebi’s grace, that won’t need to come to pass. Let us hope that this Leader is more willing to talk than Mai was.”

The Galaxy Captains stand in an uncomfortable silence for some time. They had all made good time arriving at the gate, and if Rei’s estimate was correct (which had proven to be reliable previously), they were still some 15 minutes away. Though Jubilife was up the hill from the Fieldlands proper, the gate was actually just past the crest of the hill, thus they didn’t have a good vantage of how close the traveling group actually was.

It was near the 50 minute mark that the large Bird Pokemon suddenly shot forward towards Jubilife Village, causing Denboku, Zisu, and Cyllene to all tense as it flew over their heads. No attack came, however, as the bird went to the far cliffs on the western edge of the Village and wheeled around to circle the entirety of the Village before returning to its previous location, dipping down out of sight.

“That rider looked quite old,” Tao Hua mutters, rubbing the sun from his eyes as the bird takes back to the air after a few minutes, now without said rider. “They must be quite experienced if they wouldn’t slip at such an age.”

“Did any of you recognize that bird?” Sanqua asks as they watch it come slowly closer, its tight circles showing that it was now following the group once more, and that they were quite close. As everyone gathered shook their heads, she sighs and slumps her shoulders. “So a native and unknown Pokemon. Let’s hope we don’t need to worry about it.”

Native and unknown. “Cyllene,” Denboku says, looking over at the swordswoman, who faces him in response. “Depending on how this talk goes with the Leader of the Clan, I want you to contact our Professor friend in Hoenn. He mentioned that some professor in Galar was looking for a project to work on with grant funding?”

Cyllene blinks, then nods in recognition. “Yes, sir.” With that, she looks over at the hill, and nods slightly towards it as she begins to step back towards the gate. “It seems our visitors have arrived.”

The Galaxy Team turns to face the road as a large Deer Pokemon crests the hill, the morning sun shining off its horns and giving it a slightly golden appearance to its fur. Atop it sat Mai, perched sideways, looking up from her conversation with a young man next to her. The young man’s hair was down, hanging to his shoulders with the bottom edges seemingly dyed green and an open blue haori with white trim.

Behind the two was a small group of others in blue clothing. A taller man with long lilac hair and a conical hat; A young woman with bright red hair with a red gradient on her legwear; A tall dark-skin man who was looking around everywhere with an anxious energy; Finally, an old man who notably was using a cane with a pair of simple slit goggles hanging from his neck, and a young girl with tumbling green hair running behind him, wide eyes staring directly at Denboku.

Once the group comes closer, Denboku breaks away from his Captains and takes a few steps forward, bowing at the waist in greeting before straightening up. “Greetings, Clansmen,” he says in Hisuian. “I am Commander Kamado, of the Galaxy Team.” Unsure of who exactly to speak to, Denboku put his gaze mostly towards the old man.

The young man looks up at Mai with a sly grin, then shakes his head and steps forward in kind, raising a hand and pushing it forward in some form of salute. “Greetings, Commander Kamado-han,” he says in heavily accented Johto-ben. “I agree with Mai, it would probably be easier to speak your language.”

The young man takes a moment to look over the group, and nods with the smile still on his face. “My name is Adaman, and I am the Leader of the Diamond Clan. I appreciate you making sure to be punctually, it’s always nice to be met at the gates instead of waiting around and wasting time. Good thing, too, because I believe we have some discussion ahead of us about you being here on my Clan’s land, yes?”