#and counters for battles or fights won probably

[a-eo-iu]

[creates a new guy instead of drawing the guys I already have]

[redbleedingrose]

Warm

Azriel x Reader

A/N: Just a cute little Drabble for Azriel bc I miss him and love him and he is so sweet to his mate. He deserves the world, and all the good things (even tho he is a major slut).

The winter nights of Valeries are some of your favorite nights of the year. The lights that are hung along the shops and townhomes which sparkle like stars in the night sky, the never ending laughter of children and quiet chatter of the people roaming to find gifts for their loved ones, it makes for something found only in stories. But here it is, your reality. The icy wind brushes alongside of your home, once built by your mates bare hands with the help of his brothers, an homage to his dedication to you. He is out with said brothers, has been all day, busy with their so-called annual snow ball fight.

You can’t help but wonder as you smile to yourself, humming while stirring the cream and melting chocolate on the fire stove, if your mate was named champion of this years battle. He has been for the past six years, prior to that, Rhysand had won, the year him and Feyre found each other. Smug bastard probably was trying to show off to his newly named bride.

Your eyes crinkle, thinking of how Azriel won the snow ball fight each year for almost a decade after you were officially mated. Poor Cassian really struggled with his pride for a while, the Illyrian baby whined every chance he could get, earning a pitiful kiss on the cheek for his grand efforts from you with Azriel glaring hotly at his brother from across the table. A tiny giggle escapes you while you reminisce, the shadowsinger of course earned his own reward, something far more… heated in the cold winter nights that left you rather… well- unable to walk in the next morning.

The whispers of Az’s shadows stroke across your bare skin, leaving goosebumps in their wake, gliding up your arms and through your hair, whisping and playing with the loose strands falling out of your braid. A firm arm wraps around your waist, while the other arm settles onto the counter in front of you, scarred hand flexing as it grips the edge. Kisses, soft and sweet, pressing into the side of your head, behind your ear, peppered onto your neck and at the crevice of your shoulder, into your hair and on the side of your forehead, blissfully sliding right onto your cheek and down with a gentle bite to your jaw that leaves you gasping for air. The arm around you tightens, good thing too- the rough, raspy voice from your mate behind you has you weak in the knees, “Guess who won, my beautiful, gorgeous, brilliant, sexy wife?”

The shadowsinger’s front is completely flush against your back, you can almost hear the smirk forming on his pretty lips, regardless, you can feel the curve of his cheek against yours as his warm hand stroke up and down your side. From the corner of your eye, you can see his grip on the counter tightening as he takes in your scent, no doubt muddled with the hot chocolate you were making for him. Licking your lips, you quickly turn your head to the side and plant a wet kiss to his cheek before turning back to the pot before you, not wanting to burn the drink you spent so long trying to make for your presumptive winner.

Impatient is not a word you would use to describe your mate in most scenarios. However… it seems the spymaster cannot wait for his prize, forcing you to turn around with heady, half lidded, beautiful hazel eyes focusing on your lips. “The hot chocolate Az-“ a kiss lands onto your lips, fast and hard, warm hands cupping your cheeks and pulling you in closer, “Forget the damn chocolate.”

Your laughter interrupts his kisses, but the stubborn male continues with teeth gnashing and tongues barely intertwining, “I spent a while making it for you shadow boy.” He huffs, pulling you closer, tilting your head back so the expanse of your neck is exposed.

“Is-“ Kiss.

“That-“ Kiss.

“So?” Kiss.

His own smile lilts as you hum, running your hands up his forearms, holding his wrists in place, squeezing them with each kiss he lands on you. “C’mon Azzie,” brushing the tip of your nose against his when he finally faces you with that gentle look that is specifically reserved for you. You grin up at your mate, humor racing through you until glints of mischief flicker in your eyes, “S’okay baby, Cassian had to win at some point. It’s okay to lose, you are always the winner in my heart.”

The “heart” is barely audible through your cackles and grunts, Azriel throwing you over his shoulder and carrying you towards your bedroom. A swift smack to your ass has you squealing, “Azriel!” The Shadowboy ignores you of course, biting at the rounded flesh before tossing you onto the bed. Your heart skips once, twice, three times as he pushes the fabric of your dress up to your waist leaving you utterly exposed and heated all over despite the night chill, his playful growl sparking your bond with need and love, “I think it’s time to receive my prize for winning, don’t you think my mate?”

Anyway… that is not what I expected for this fic to be, but it is where it ended up so I hope you enjoyed!

Masterlist

[snowblack-charcoalwhite]

Both Aegon and Aemond had to deal with a lot of negative feelings and trauma since their childhood years.

They suffered the neglect and indifference of their father combined with his clear favoritism towards Rhaenyra; on top of that Aegon was being crushed by the enormous weight of being the firstborn son and, as far as his mother and grandfather were concerned, an heir to the throne (the title that would be contested and that he would have to defend), and Aemond, already a second born, had to learn to live with partial disability that should have drastically decreased his chances to gain power and true respect (for physiological and psychological reasons alike).

Aegon, at least since his early teens, was drowning his pain and inner turmoil in alcohol (as well as in promiscuous sex). He desperately sought to silence the voice of his hurting soul with the cacophony of pleasures of the flesh.

And, as it is illustrated in this post by @very-straight-blog, it`s really been going on for years. But where teenage Aegon`s face was contorted with some kind of disgust (either at the taste of wine or at the feelings he tried to quench - probably both), older Aegon gulps cup after cup without flinching. He needs more and more women, alcohol, probably even drugs to make his pain go away, even for a time - but it always comes back in the end. And yet that doesn`t stop Aegon from going down the path of self-destruction.

Just before the last supper with Viserys starts, Aegon has a conversation with his brother where he counters Aemond`s accusations of 'drinking more than a Braavosi sealord' with "I drink just the right amount". Just the right amount for his hurt to let him breathe, to just forget.

During this exchange Aegon also points out that Aemond 'does not drink enough'. It is not phrased as a question but in a way it is one: why do you not step away from all this? Why do you insist on keeping dealing with it? Does it not hurt? I know it does. Why do you not try to numb the pain?

The thing is, Aemond deals with his suffering in a different manner. He doesn`t want to forget. He doesn`t try to make the pain go away. Instead he embraces it and fights through it, with precision and relentlessness he can`t allow himself to let go of - otherwise the pain will become meaningless.

Aemond found his solace in constantly proving - to himself and everyone else - that he is worthy: fierce, brave, knowledgeable. Unbeatable. He was being looked down upon for quite some time, but it won`t happen again. He was hurt and humiliated, but it won`t happen again. Aemond`s life has become a never-ending battle fought with weapons of his choice. Even the cup of wine feels like a sword being drawn.

He will always remember the pain - to never let it get close again.

@dr-aegon that`s what I was talking about the other day😉

[cosmic-ghost-hermit]

Hiii, I'm back to do regular pick-a-pile readings! However if you interested in booking a private reading please join my discord server! In todays reading I am working with Apollo to send the collective this message. Take what resonates and leave behind anything that doesn't. Thank you all 🩵 -ghost

PILE ONE

Crystal: Yellow Aventurine

Astrology: Leo, Sagittarius, Scorpio, Gemini

🧡💛🌻🍯🥮🥧🏺🔑🌟💫☀️🦂💰👘🧶🎃🤬🚼☣️📙🏮🏵️🥉🏑🍺🍹🍊🍋

Hello, pile one! I see you have been looking for your intuition. You have been searching high and low. Purchasing all manner of metaphysical assistance. You seem to think you aren’t powerful. You believe you are simple and small. My friend you are very mistaken. Your third eye is open and active. There are two thing about intuition that I had to learn that I will now teach you. The first thing is that you must trust yourself. Activating your intuition is only one step in the journey. The second thing is that you must be grounded to be able to use your intuition. This lesson I’m still learning. You must establish yourself to yourself to make any progress. I see you crave progress over everything else. Focus on who you are and focus on trusting the person you are. You have done good work so far. The journey is just a little different than what you expected. You can’t escape yourself in spirituality. Forgetting who you are is much more counter intuitive than you might believe.

PILE TWO

Crystal: Tigers Eye

Astrology: Pisces, Cancer, Taurus, Libra

💚🫛🥒🍀🐉🪲👒🪖🔫♻️🥗🥬🍃🦚🐍🐢🪀🧩⛰️🔋🪛✅📗🏡🚛🏄🏿‍♂️

Hi there, pile two! You have been looking for a battle to wage. You have had to fight a lot in your life. You have probably been fighting since you were a child. You fought so hard back then. You are blinded by the war you fought, my friend. You have aleady won your war. The enemy is defeated and yet you still look for the next flying fist to dodge. You cannot fight anymore. There is no one to battle. There is a new goal you must strive for. You have been such a strong soldier for a long time. Now that it is done you must rest. You must heal. You must clean your wounds and take the medicine required to get better. You have suffered enough. After war, when soldiers come home, it is understandable that they might not know how to come down from shellshock. They might have gotten physical or mental wounds that are in need of proper care and attention. It is time to learn to cope and learn how to fill you cup. I must reiterate, you fight is over. Your war is finished. You are safe. You have been grasping for safety while clinging to your violence. They cannot exist in tandum. Please sleep, my dear soldier. Please. Once you decide the war is over in your mind you will be able to finally relax. You will find things you enjoy. You will share peaceful moments with yourself again.

PILE THREE

Crystal: Black Tourmaline

Astrology: Aries, Capricorn, Virgo, Aquarius

❤️‍🩹🩶🏓🍉🦴🍚🍓🌹🐚🐁🐓🎒🧣⛑️💃🏼💋💯🗞️🔍💌📮🧲🪓⏰🚢🥁🎸⚾️🥡🥢🎂

Hi, pile three! Welcome to your reading. You have been carrying the weight of the world in your arms and I know you hate to admit it but you are tired. You are only one person. I understand you have needed to be independent. I understand you have been searching for help but my dear you have been refusing it at every opportunity. Your friends are here for you and you won’t open up. They are knocking at your door. They are asking to see you and love you. You seem to believe accepting their help makes you weak. Darling, that is not the case. You are human. You are not a machine and honestly even if you were machines need maintenance. Machines can’t always self-maintenance. You need help and you want it. Please accept it the next time it comes around. I see you might have some religious trauma or some kind of self-sacrificing wound. You are not a tool. You are not livestock. You are not alone. Humans are evolutionarily not solitary creatures. They need companionship. Humans are pack animals which means they need other humans. Every instance when a human is left completely alone usually the human goes insane. Talk about your hardships with your friends. Release some of what you are carrying on your shoulders. Let go of the mindset that you must sacrifice your mind or your body to be considered a good or successful human. You are already a good human without over-exerting yourself.

[fag4dykestobin]

i kind of sat down and thought about steve and robin cooking together, and then i entered a fugue state and came out of it with a little over 1.7k words written about them being domestic besties (domesties?). so um. enjoy :)

-

Robin has destroyed one of her mom’s pans again, so she’s been banished to Steve’s house.

Well, okay, let’s back up.

Robin, waking up and feeling especially productive, had taken it upon herself to make some scrambled eggs. Nice and simple, right? So she had grabbed the first spatula and pan she could find, and… scrambled those eggs! She even remembered the salt and pepper! Unfortunately, as Robin had remembered after she oh-so-lovingly scraped off the nonstick coating, metal utensils and nonstick pans didn’t really get along. Oops. Panicking, she had scraped her mess into the trash and called Steve to pick her up. So, really, she had banished herself, preemptively.

“How the hell did you even do this much damage?” Steve asks, holding up the pan. The look of befuddlement on his face is picture perfect; you could teach children how to identify emotions with that face. Robin would pinch his cheek if she wasn’t so embarrassed.

“I don’t know! I just tried to make some eggs!”

“Rob, there’s like, a solid cube of—”

“A cube is a 3D object, dingus.”

“This is a 3D object!”

“Not in that way! It’s not a cube! You mean a square!”

Steve throws up his hands, one of them brandishing the pan and waving it around. “Fine! There’s a solid square…” Steve gives Robin a look. She nods her head at him in acquiescence. “... Of coating rubbed off of this thing. Why were you punishing your eggs like that?”

Robin leans back on the counter she’s been sitting on, legs swinging. Her heel hits the cabinet once, and Steve’s eye twitches, but he says nothing. Because he loves her. But she tries to avoid doing it again, for his sake. “I had to get that yolk distributed! I was working fast, Evie, the burner was on and I wanted it evenly mixed—!”

“So why didn’t you mix it in a bowl before that?!” Steve looks so stressed. It's kind of funny, given how unimportant the subject matter is. Robin suppresses a grin.

“I forgot! I was groggy!”

Steve groans, setting the ruined pan down and rubbing a hand over his face. “... When we move in together,” he says, pointing an accusatory finger at Robin, “I am keeping my metal utensils in a locked safe.”

The warm, fuzzy feeling that always appears when Robin is reminded of their future together, their permanence in each other’s lives, it fizzes and pops in her chest like a sparkler. It’s still such a comforting feeling, even after all these months.

It doesn’t stop her from antagonizing him a little. “Like I don’t know what combination you’ll set it to,” she scoffs.  “I could just break in. To spite you.”

Steve sits with that for a moment. “You’re breaking my heart, Robbie, you know that? You break my heart.” Not a real comeback. She’s won their battle of the bits, this time around.

“Well, anyway,” Steve continues, “I am really hoping you didn’t eat those eggs after seasoning them with metal filings.”

“It wasn’t— I don’t think the coating is metal. I don’t know what it is, actually, but I don’t think it falls under metal filings.”

Steve hmms. “Well, it’s not, like, plastic, right? Or silicone? That would just melt.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Well, it can’t be metal, because it loses a fight with metal spatulas.”

Steve thinks for a second. “Is… God, I mean, I guess there are other, other uh… what’s the word? For, like, not from plants?” Robin scrunches her brow in thought. “Synthetic? Inorganic?”

Steve snaps his fingers. “Yeah, both of those work. There’s probably things that aren’t plastic or metal that can be used to cook with, but it feels weird. That there’s another category out there.”

Robin nods in agreement, and they sit in companionable silence for a moment, contemplating on the nature of cookware.

“Anyway, no, I still haven’t eaten.”

Steve curses, gets up from leaning on his kitchen island, and steps over to the cabinets where he keeps his pots and pans. “Yes, God, okay, let me feed you. Still want eggs?”

“You know it!” Robin says, and Steve gets to cooking, bustling around the kitchen with practiced motions. It’s nice to watch him cook. He gets very focused, in a way that doesn’t usually come naturally to him. Steve doesn’t usually like talking while he’s cooking, but he hums bits of songs, bobs his head to the beat.

In no time at all he has a plate of scrambled eggs and toast in front of Robin, and she hops off the counter to sit at a stool at the kitchen island. She grabs the plate from Steve and smacks a wet kiss on his cheek, making him roll his eyes with a smile and subtly wipe her spit off.

Steve takes a seat across from her, and she notices that he doesn’t have anything. Did he already eat? “Did you already eat?” Robin asks.

Steve blinks. “Oh. No, I forgot.” He has a tendency to do that; when he cooks for someone, he can get so caught up in it that he forgets to make some for himself, and is left to scramble afterwards. “I’ll make myself some eggs after you’re done.”

An idea comes to mind. An attempt at redemption, maybe. “Let me?” Robin asks.

“And let you ruin my pans? No thanks.”

A flash of genuine hurt passes through Robin, and she lets it show on her face in the form of a pout. The comment isn’t unfounded, but… “No, please! I know what I did wrong, I’ll do better this time. I’m not sleepy anymore, either.” She just wants to take care of Steve like he takes care of her. She wants to feed him eggs, goddamnit! When was the last time anyone fed him eggs? Actually, if she thinks about that one, she’ll get sad, so she stops thinking about it.

Steve can obviously see her earnestness, and he softens. And rolls his eyes. But that’s just him being Steve, so Robin loves it. “Whatever you want, Birdie. Just don’t burn them. Oh, and use garlic powder.”

So Robin practically inhales the rest of her eggs and toast (very tasty, as always) and gets to work. Steve sits at his stool at the island, trying and failing not to watch Robin like a hawk as she bumbles around his kitchen (“That’s not enough garlic powder, Rob, put some more in there, it won’t bite!”  and “Use the small pan on the top shelf— no, the other small pan. No, the other—”), but she does eventually get a plate of eggs and toast in front of him. Not as good looking as the one Steve presented her, but it smelled good, and didn’t have weird inorganic pan flecks in them. Steve gives her a sloppy kiss on her cheek this time, over-exaggerating and putting way too much saliva in it, seriously, was he a dog or something? Robin BLECH’d and rubbed at her cheek, but he looked happy at his plate of food, so. Overall success, even if sacrifices had to be made.

Robin leaned on the island on her elbows, face a foot away from Steve’s as he picked up a forkful of egg. He side-eyed her.

“Do you… want some…?”

Robin waved a hand at him. “No, dingus. Eat it! Do you like it?”

“Okay, okay!” Steve rolled his eyes and ate his forkful. Robin stared at him as he chewed, looking out for emotions such as delight and wonder, but also disgust and revulsion.

She found nothing. Steve looked normal. He ate another forkful, eyeing her.

“So?” Robin prods.

“They’re eggs?” Steve says, mouth still half full.

“Swallow!” Steve rolls his eyes and does as she asks. “Nothing else? They’re just eggs?”

Steve nods, shrugging a little. Robin feels a little let-down. The first time Steve had made her eggs, it was life-changing. He put heavy cream in them. Robin doesn’t think her parents had ever bought heavy cream in their lives.

Robin guesses that it makes sense, though. This is just how he makes eggs, duh. Still, it makes her feel kind of bad, that she couldn’t give Steve the same feeling he gave her.

Steve seems to sense her inner turmoil. “They’re— it’s good, though! You did a good job. I do like it.” He seems kind of… embarrassed, but grateful. “You didn’t have to make them for me. Thanks.”

Robin bumps his shoulder with her own, and then retreats to her seat, allowing him a bit more personal space. But not too much! She kicks at his shins, and he kicks back, a smile on his face.

Cleanup is easy as Steve washes the dishes and Robin dries. It’s the small, domestic things, like this, that make her so excited to eventually live together. It’s so easy and companionable, full of chatter about band practice and Dustin’s latest science experiment. She can’t wait to graduate.

After the dishes, though, they’re both at the kitchen island again, silently staring at the pan Robin had ruined at her house earlier.

“... It seems like a waste to throw away,” Robin complains.

“I know, right? But it’s, like, useless now.”

Robin hums. “I mean, no, it’s still like… metal. I feel like we should be melting it down.”

Steve stares at her. “In what world would it be more useful melted down?”

Robin squawks, indignant at her idea being challenged. “You know what I mean!”

“No I don’t! Do you just want a, a… what’s the word? A bar of metal.”

“Ingot.”

“Do you just want an ingot hanging out on our mantelpiece?!”

“Well, I didn’t before, but now I do!”

They look at each other for only a moment before dissolving into simultaneous giggles, shared joy crackling and leaping between them.

Steve settles down first. Still grinning, he turns to put the pan at the very top of a relatively bare cupboard. “Fine, we’ll just… keep this to be melted down later.”

Robin can’t do anything to stop the twin grin on her face, not that she would ever want to. “I love you, Evie.” The words come easy, and the delight and surprise on Steve’s face is as wonderful as always. He pulls her into a hug.

“I love you too, Rob.”

[eueuphoriaz]

Arguing like Levihan an old couple.

I know we have been robbed of this scene in the anime.

But, the anime changes make Levihan more interesting to decipher and enjoy.

Ok. I am not sure if this is a cultural thing. For Asian, sometimes when parents are in disagreement, they sometimes utilise a third party to communicate to the other person. More often times, the children play that role. So, if mummy wants to tell something to daddy, mummy will say that to the child instead. Much like using insinuation but not in a bad way.

Here, we have our dear Eren, playing that role, while Levi and Hange fight out their unspoken war.

----------------------

Round 1 - Hange attacks

The very first line we hear after the scene cuts from the military court, is Hange complaining about Levi.

Now, of course Hange knows it hurts a lot, cos look at Mikasa's and her expression when Levi was kicking Eren.

Hange knows the purpose and the need for Eren to go through the pain. She also knows that Levi doesnt kick Eren out of pure violence, unlike Mikasa. But she had purposely implicated Levi after the trial, probably to show that she is on Eren's side (she did get interested in him immediately after this). I mean, she could have explained the rationale of Levi's actions to Eren to comfort him, seeing that Eren was traumatised, instead of agreeing and complaining that Levi had been mean.

So, I am thinking that Hange really think that Levi had taken it too far. But unlike in the manga where she confronts him directly, she decided to form an alliance with Eren and complain about Levi's mean-ness. She made her point to Levi indirectly via her conversation with Eren.

Erwin's move

After Hange fired her first attack, uncle Erwin recognises that the couple is going on a war on their own, so he quickly abstain himself by explaining the rationale to Eren, hoping to comfort him.

He did not want to get caught in their battle. Same like Miche. He had wisely maintained silence from the start.

Levi's defence

So, there is no one to help Levi against Hange's unhappiness. It was a personal grudge between those 2 anyway. So Levi made his move. Since Hange attacked via her conversation with Eren, Levi defended himself with Eren too.

So, Eren allowed himself to get caught by the 2. Levi won because he gave an indirect answer to Hange, that Eren did not hate him, or didnt mind his actions, which means it doesnt matter if he had gone too far.

Hange recognised that she had lost, had no choice but to address her unhappiness and providing evidences to Levi directly now.

Levi, seeing that she is not using Eren as a vessel to talk to him, responded back directly to her too.

Round 1 - Levi won for getting Hange's attention back to him

-----------------------------------

Round 2 - Levi's counter-attack

So, they started their own dialogue and Hange went into her curiousity mode. Levi decided to attack Hange, by throwing shades at her titan obssession, again indirectly by addressing Eren.

Hange knew better to engage him, stood her ground and continued to assert her curiousity of Eren, which eventually allowed them to discover that Shifters can regenerate in human form.

Round 2 - Hange won for Humanity

-------------------

In the manga, Levi's words actually can be interpreted as "having a broken tooth is always better than getting dissected". But the anime adapted it such that Levi and Hange had their own conversation/ dialogue, and how the two of them banter around each other's weirdness.

Quite cute actually.

[deusvervewrites]

luminary: How does Izuku do in the sports festival

Um. Whoops.

After careful consideration of the abilities of the students in 1-A and 1-B, the canonical entrance exam, and the hypothetical abilities of the Aldera Squad following Midoriya's advice, I believe that Uraraka, Mineta, and Tsuburaba would not have made the cutoff into the Hero Course.

In 1-A, I am replacing them with the girl who can control water and the girl who can control wind, under the assumption that with training they'd be on par with basic waterbending and airbending. In 1-B I have replaced him with the girl who can turn into fire, under the assumption that she can turn part or all of herself into fire and not just her hands.

That leaves five of them in Gen-Ed where I am certain they would befriend Uraraka. This AU wouldn't go full Gen Ed Sweep but Midoriya would be interested in helping out his friends who didn't quite make it, and that now includes Uraraka.

With that established, I can now discuss the actual event.

Midoriya is simply too fast for an Obstacle Race to matter. That entire event has to be changed. Hmm... what about a version of King of the Hill where players have to stay within a specific, shrinking area? That would handle the mass elimination event while still challenging someone as fast as Midoriya. Additionally, this event would work out great for four of the five Aldera Squad kids that are in Gen Ed (smoke boy, hair girl, rock boy, stronk boy).

Cavalry Battle teams would be different. Todoroki's team would probably be the same, but Midoriya would stick with his friends. There's enough that Uraraka would probably be on a different team, and Midoriya would be a horse to exploit his speed. Let's pair him with the Wind Girl; that'll be a busted combo. add Smoke Boy as another horse and the Hair Girl as the rider they're incredibly fast, flying team, that'll be nigh-impossible to catch.

Uraraka can use a similar strategy by pairing up with the fire girl, Grab their telekinetic friend as the rider and can take headbands at a distance. Assuming that someone from this friend group won first in the previous event, they would point Hatsume towards this team, since Midoriya's strategy has no room for her.

That gives us enough room for one more team. With Fire Girl in 1-B, there's less chance of them following Monoma's plan and honestly those teams were so suboptimal anyway.

Alas, of the three remaining Aldera Kids I find to be noteworthy, two have Quirks that are redundant with the established cast (that being the guy who can buff himself up and the guy who can cover himself in rocks), so I might send them to a different Hero School entirely for peace of mind. That leaves only the Water Girl unassigned

Regardless, the final team is probably still Bakugou's.

Lemme quickly randomize a tournament bracket

Tournament Preliminaries:

The Tournament Round gets things off to an interesting start. Bakugou faces Hair Girl, and assuming she can produce more hair as a restraint like similar anime characters, it'd be a close fight, but Bakugou's Quirk counters her decently well.

Second round is Midoriya against Fire Girl, who happens to be one of the few people who can counter him by simply being fire. Though I feel Midoriya would likely win because of his analytical mind.

Yaoyorozu faces off against Todoroki next and wins, but only thanks to her training against Fire Girl and Water Girl with Midoriya--and Todoroki dropped his guard after the big ice attack.

Hatsume forfeits after her presentation, so Sero moves on

Smoke Boy beats Kaminari when Kaminari TKOs himself.

Iida beats Telekinesis Girl.

Wind Girl beats Kirishima--he's too straightforward to counter her effectively at this point.

Ashido vs Uraraka would be much closer if Ashido knew what Uraraka could do. Yeet.

Tournament Quarterfinals:

Midoriya beats Bakugou; Bakugou puts up a good fight because he knows Midoriya, but, well, Light Powers.

Yaoyorozu beats Sero.

Smoke Boy is hard to hit, but he's still working on his offense while Iida has more training in that department, so Iida wins.

Wind Girl is a hard counter to Uraraka. At least they're friends

Tournament Semifinals:

Yaoyorozu can't beat Midoriya (she takes too long to think at this point) but her clever use of a mirror at the start nearly clinches the match for her.

Iida is used to running into the wind, but Wind Girl can fly, so... sorry Iida.

Finals:

Midoriya vs Wind Girl. Midoriya should win this one pretty handily, but her flying makes it tricky for him.

[stillness-in-green]

thoughts on the new chapter? you said before spinneraki is a pillar in the story and i think this chapter continues to be evidence of that

For these two anons who asked for them, have some Chapter Thoughts, 411-version. Herein can be found two big chunks of musing about, respectively, OFA & Shigaraki and the Shigaraki+Deku+Spinner confluence, as well as the usual handful of stray thoughts.

(I'm also going to throw in a few last minute thoughts about plot events between here and the last chapter I had a post on, Chapter 392. They'll be off-the-cuff and not comprehensive; feel free to send an ask if there's anything specific you're curious about, though I can't at this time promise e.g. the twelve thousand word essay on why the AFO vs. All Might fight sucks rocks.)

Chapter Thoughts — Chapter 411: History's Greatest Villain

OFA Vestiges vs. Shigaraki Tomura

Shinomori remains my favorite OFA bearer by a large margin; I enjoy how his quirk allows him to be the one bearer with his act together this chapter.  I also like that him being the vestige that actively chooses to sacrifice “himself” for the good of the rest of One For All makes a nice bookend with my preferred headcanon that he was the bearer who had the power forced on him against his will.      That said, it is a bit ironic that Danger Sense surely had to rank right up near the top of OFA quirks that it’s most dangerous for Deku to lose to Shigaraki!  Like, throw Shigaraki En or something; Smoke Screen’s not going to let Shigaraki do anything Deku can’t counter with Danger Sense!  Sacrifice Nana; Deku and Shigaraki both already have ways to keep aloft enough.[1]  So I appreciate both the display of Shinomori’s instinctive heroism and the dramatic choice to deprive Deku of such a key component of his defense, after god knows how many chapters of dramatic choices I pretty much hate across the board.      1: That said, it does look like the person Shinomori shoved most directly out of the way was Banjo, his own successor, which speaks to their bond and also spares Deku losing a crucial quirk, as Black Whip has been his main way to exert any control at all over the battle with Shigaraki and is also helping keep his arms braced.  As someone who wanted those humerus consequences after the first war, I say, “Go, Shigaraki, go!  Get the Sixth next!”     

My god, the rest of them are such a mess this chapter.  Very funny, actually.  Shaking my head at them in there talking about how to “bring down” Shigaraki, who they know good and well Deku wants to help.  “Our entire reason for still existing!”  No, Bro Bro, you existed solely to take down All For One, which Bakugou et. al. have neatly taken care of for you.  The only other purpose ever given to you was to save people, but I guess you’ve already forgotten that.      Seriously, I love the discord this chapter, the panic and fear, particularly from the youthful En—watching that unified will crumble in the face of Shigaraki’s hatred is a wonderful balm to all the times I had to suffer through seeing commenters elsewhere on the internet blithely taking it for granted that One For All could never be stolen just because All Might said it was so, laughing it off when Ujiko promised Shigaraki otherwise.  My villain fan agenda aside, though, it’s also a rare highlight for Deku that I like, which I’ll circle back to.     

Regarding Shigaraki with Danger Sense, I know there was some discussion of whether he’d be able to fully utilize it against Deku when Deku wants to “save” him.  As giving Deku that out would have been the story yet again undermining the villains’ fairly won victories (and as Danger Sense has been so wildly inconsistently written that Horikoshi could have gotten away with practically anything), I’m pleased to see it’s working as intended!  That said, you probably could have some interesting discussion of exactly whose “intent” Danger Sense is picking up on.  Deku may want to help Shigaraki, but e.g. Banjo, Bruce and Kudou certainly don’t seem to want that!  Given how explicitly Kudou was synonymizing quirks and wills back in Chapter 369,[2] and particularly given that Shigaraki can perceive the vestiges now, it wouldn’t surprise me if their wills are bleeding over into Deku’s usage of their quirks.      2: I.e. the “gaslighting the readership about the historical usage of meta-ability terminology” chapter.     

I do wonder if this is set-up for Shinomori—and potentially other quirks as well, including any more OFA vestiges Shigaraki manages to snag!—giving us a tired retread of the “quirk vestiges mount a resistance against their unrightful bearer at a critical juncture” moments we saw with AFO, but I suppose that’d be what Shigaraki gets for trying to steal bits of OFA after saying previously that he didn’t care about it.  (Sigh.)

    

Deku, Spinner, and Shigaraki Tomura's "Personhood"

I appreciate Deku pushing back against Shigaraki’s dehumanization, though it does not escape me that he directs that pushback to Shigaraki himself, not any of the voices inside Deku’s head calling Shigaraki calamity and ruin incarnate, and certainly not any actual humans on his side in the real world.  It smacks of the same pattern heroes always fall into of leaping to castigate villains for things they tacitly ignore in their own allies.  Still, it is at least spoken aloud, and to Shigaraki’s face, which is a pleasant change.     

I swear to Christ, if after all this time Spinner becomes a bridge between Shigaraki and Deku after all, I am going to be so damn smug.  Albeit in different contexts, I called that years ago, and lo and behold, here we have Shigaraki, accused of having no friends, self-dehumanized, and depersonalized by Deku’s allies, immediately refute the point by bringing up his best friend of his own volition, tying his destruction to someone outside of himself.      While Deku hasn’t connected the dots on-page yet, he certainly can’t have missed it, though it remains to be seen how much about Spinner Deku actually knows/remembers from their encounter at the training camp—that encounter long being an important part of my reasoning that Spinner could, via his and Deku’s shared respect for Stain and desire to help Shigaraki, find some common ground.      Moreover, we get Deku flashing to Uraraka—as well he should!  Since Uraraka is the only one who managed to unearth some empathy for her designated villain foil without a familial or fated connection to them, she deserves to feature prominently in Deku’s attempts to connect with his own opposite number.     

I do wonder if we will yet get a flashback to the mall scene.  Honestly, Deku could have kickstarted his connection to Shigaraki all the way back then, when Shigaraki functionally laid his damage out in front of Deku like fine china, only for Deku to grab the first excuse anyone gave him to write it off and forget about it.  The story could probably get away with not reminding the readers of that—after all, Shigaraki hasn’t really changed his grievance since then, just expanded his invocation of blame!  His monologue at Jakku is just a refined version of what he said at the mall encounter, so the only reason to flash back to the less developed take is to have Deku vocalize that he could (and should!) have been wondering about Shigaraki as “a person, too” this whole time, instead of only coming to do so after their mindscape encounter.      Acknowledging the gaps in Saint Deku’s Miraculous Saving Instincts would go a long, long way towards softening me on the narrative BNHA’s been trying to sell me on its main character.     

Anyway, three cheers for Spinaraki; they never fuckin’ lose, do they?  It’s particularly gratifying in light of the way people on Twitter were speedrunning the shift from dismissing Spinner as unimportant to criticizing him as “toxic” as it became more and more clear that saving Shigaraki was going to be more complicated than just dealing with AFO.  People really thought that if Deku could just lay all the blame for Shigaraki’s anger at AFO’s feet, then he could just wipe it away, eradicating “Shigaraki Tomura”—who was never really a person anyway, just fifteen years of grooming and coping mechanisms—and leaving behind only sweet, innocent, undemanding Shimura Tenko.      But if Shigaraki was carrying anger for others, blame for wrongs that couldn’t be attributed to AFO, suddenly that narrative got messier.  Suddenly the League needed to be Bad For Each Other, needed to be separated for their own good, redeemed by the grace of their designated student foils—and nowhere was that trickier than with Spinner, who didn’t have one, and whose every flashback post-war made it clearer and clearer that he had a relationship with Shigaraki that went beyond the League’s stated purpose as an alliance of Villains to bring down Hero Society.      The tidier version of the story would still be salvageable if Shigaraki didn’t really care about Spinner more than anyone else in the League, if Spinner’s devotion were one-sided, if Shigaraki didn’t determine to share Spinner’s grievance.  If Spinner’s problems aren’t Shigaraki’s problems too, then Deku doesn’t have to address them.  And but so, the mad scramble to invalidate the connection by any means possible.      But then here comes Shigaraki not just mentioning Spinner, but mentioning something Spinner wanted that Spinner never even told him about on the page, meaning either Shigaraki was paying close enough attention to Spinner to simply intuit it, or he and Spinner had an off-page conversation about Deika where Spinner in all his insecurity was able to admit to Shigaraki that he thought his horizon was beautiful.  And not only does Shigaraki remember this, he dedicates his destruction of Mount Fuji to Spinner and the horizon.      Not so one-sided after all, is it?     

That all said, of course it’s also worth asking if Spinner actually wants the horizon anymore.  Judging by his tormented inner reflections when striving to reach Kurogiri, that doesn’t really seem to be the case.  At the end of Spinner’s strength, what he truly remembers and treasures is the time he and Shigaraki spent just dicking around talking about video games—just being friends.  Spinner wants Shigaraki to get what he wants—but if they’re both just crediting That Beautiful Horizon to each other without realizing it’s not really about what they themselves want anymore, where does that leave them?      One suspects that was one function of the possession plot—keeping them from talking to each other freely and being able to figure that out themselves.  As it is, with the possession plot seemingly off the table, at least for now, that brings us back to Deku and his resolution to reach the humanity in Shigaraki Tomura—a humanity that Shigaraki just helpfully signposted by referencing his friend Spinner.      So how long until we cut away to find out where the Rooftop Trio and Spinner have gotten off to?

    

Stray Thoughts

Re: Mount Fuji, Horikoshi’s grasp of travel times remains as totally unhinged as ever.  Someone who can make rudimentary animations needs to use that battle map volume extra to demonstrate exactly the distances that would have to traversed by All For One, U.A., All Might and especially Lady Nagant and her bullets in this final arc for them to keep arriving where the story needs them to be.     

I see the artistic indication is very much that Shigaraki can just spread Decay wherever he walks now.  That’s both wonderfully evocative for the embodied destructive divine impulse he’s nominally become and also a bit amusing, because if you can unlock a touch-based quirk to spread through your feet, maybe Overhaul’s not out of luck just yet after all.  XD     

Good riddance to the mask!  As others have pointed out, it’s modelled on All Might’s smile, and is therefore the last thing Deku should be wearing right now, given that Shigaraki has specifically expressed, to Deku’s face, that he hates All Might’s fucking smile, “As if there’s no one he can’t save!”  Hope Shigaraki gets that damn cape next, such as is left of it.

    

Events Up To Now (Chapters 393 - 410)

The resolution of the Ochaco vs. Toga fight is very solid emotionally, though hampered by yet more nerfing of Toga's power set to make sure she can't do all the damage she should logically be capable of doing, as well as a lot of incredibly tiresome shoehorning in of mentions of Deku just to make sure everyone gets how Not Homo it is for Ochaco to tell Toga she's the cutest girl in the whole world. But I love that Toga remains unrepentant and faithful to Shigaraki to the end. I will turn a lot less nice about this if Toga turns out to have actually died here, however.      (She should have gotten to stab fucking Hawks.)     

The All Might vs. AFO fight sucks rocks. The mech suit makes a nonsense of All Might's primary arc post-Kamino, it's flatly irreconcileable with his characterization throughout the Edgy Deku arc, it leans on a bond with the 1-A students that he has entirely failed to earn, and it parades their identies and power sets out in front of the world with absolutely zero indication that he ever asked them if they were okay with that. As an answer to the "quirkless hero" question it is purest sophistry, laughably detached from reality.     

The world's reaction to the All Might vs. AFO fight sucks rocks. The return of Wishing Energy is the obvious point of note, but I prefer to focus on how patently ridiculous it is that across the multitudinous barriers of age, language, culture, politics, national attitude, wealth level, and views on heroism, everyone in the world who watches the battle and gets into it enough to really pay attention is magically able to intuit that the man in the black military hardware suit injecting acid into the underclothed twelve-year-old is the "Hero."     

Kunieda is a delight and he and Aoyama should have had history going back to AFO's sway over the family.     

Shigaraki is great when he's getting actual attention, but as part and parcel of the AFO vs. All Might fight sucking on such intergalactic levels, it made Shigaraki awful, too, reducing him to generic last boss counting-his-evil-chickens-before-they're-hatched gloating. Praying we see no more of that going forward.     

It is extremely headshaking in retrospect that the Heroes actively acknowledged during the planning process for all this that they would prefer to engage with the AFO persona in Shigaraki than Shigaraki himself, the Heroes then find out during the battle that AFO is trying to get to Shigaraki with the specific aim of reawakening said persona, and yet the Jakku team, All Might and Bakugou still blow interminable fucking chapters on preventing AFO from doing the exact thing that would get them back the persona they explicitly stated it would be preferable to deal with.     

Edgeshot continues to be Just The Worst, not even having the decency to wait until the endgame to confirm what I predicted back when the nonsense about repairing Bakugou's heart first came up: that, "You won't be able to come back from this," is a bald-faced lie intended to ratchet up tension, one that would be rolled back the instant the danger was past and Bakugou could be gotten to a proper hospital room.     

AFO's backstory is the laziest of lazy dreck. The new information soundly deprives Yoichi of the marginal amounts of agency he had previously managed to suggest he exercised, conflicts with what's been previously implied about the brothers' personal history, fails to reconcile the child AFO with the man we met in Deku's dream prior to Joint Training, and reduces all of the interpersonal drama between AFO, Yoichi and Kudou into nothing more than a reason for Bakugou to inspire fear and distress in BabyFO. (See @robotlesbianjavert's post and Nal's tags on it here, and @codenamesazanka's post here.)     

Omni-Factor Unleash is a retread of Kamino AND Overhaul's minion forms AND Akira-fied Shigaraki. You guys, I think maybe Horikoshi is Bad At Coming Up With Final Boss Attacks.

[depressedhatakekakashi]

GOS, I've been thinking about the fight between Madara and Gai. Can I tell you how I picture it?!

Madara probably made an arena for it (bonus points if its a floating arena and people are FORCED to attend. Maybe even legs forced in stone restraints to keep them in their seats (no bathroom breaks. The monster!) Probably going to drop it and all the people in it as soon as his victory is achieved. Maximum pain/ horror/ humiliation he's going for (the drama lama.). Total gloat time.

I'm sure he has fun talking down at Gai and Kakashi from up high before the fight starts. Might even ask Gai if he's sure he doesn't want to surrender right now, and spare himself the pain.

Gai just grins back at him and says he'll happily accept Madara's surrender, if he chooses to back down after all.

The cheek on this mortal is almost endeering, and Madara starts the duel. When a clear victor is made, the battle will end.

Madara finds himself surprised by actually getting into the fight. At first he was just throwing a few things around, swnt some clones at Gai expecting that to be the end, but the mortal IS skilled. Determined. Showing NO fear and honestly, was putting up a good fight against Madara and his clones. Forcing hin to get more involved and send out fireballs, comets and whatecer he could think of to throw at him. Gai was clever and with the help of the sandals and wrist bands, he was putting up one hell of a fight. To the point Madara chose to fight him head on. When he manages to cut Gai really badly, the other just turned it around and ending up cutting him right back.

Honestly. It was hot as hell. Madara ain't gonna lie. He was having a blast!

But all fun things must come to an end and Madara ends up destroying the amulet in one horrifying strike, admitting he could have done it at any time but "I was fighting a "child" after all. It's more fun to make them think they can win at first," he then ends up destroying one of the sandles, and damaging the last one so its barely staying on, and cutting off one part of Kakashi's tri staff off.

Its the darkest hour and Gai is badly injured. He has 2/3's of a staff. And one sandel and everyone is scared... and he still raises his head to face Madara, and points his staff at the god flying above him. He is not giving up until he's dead or knocked out.

Madara respects this. He declares Gai the strongest of his kind! Now say goodbye to your savior humanity, be soothed with the knowledge you will follow after him shortly!

But this is where a glaring weakness Madara has will be revealed. One he can't see in himself.

He thinks he's invincible. He's certainly unkillable. And Gai is just an ant to him with some tools from lower ranked gods, and some training from the wet-cat-god so he could take a few hits better (like being cut open or having his flesh seared.) Kakashi trained him to be a punching bag and nothing else, Madara is sure of that. He doesn't think they could have possibly had a plan.

People who fight with that mindset, attack with huge openings. Leaving them vulnerable to counter attacks (got the idea from Helluva boss in the Vaggie Vs. Carmilla).

And Gai charges straight at Madara, prepares his staff, he has one last attack in him and Madara, thinking himself the winner already, has left himself open. He uses the sandle to raise him up, and uses the lightning staff to send a bolt of lightning out.

Not at Madara, but behind him.

The lightning sends Gai at speeds that can not be comprehended, and with the flying sandle, it launches him at Madara with his staff still going at such high speeds it can't be seen. Madara in all his mockery and thinking he won, has his defenses all down.

He can't stop it when Gai ends up splitting him in two with the speed / power of the staff.

And they're both falling. Madara hits the ground first. Completely in shock and Gai's last sandle gives in and breaks on his way down, sending him crashing down, he rolls with it but still.... OWWW.

But...he's not dead...and he's not knocked out yet. When Madara is staring up in shock, because only Hashirama has ever done him like this, Gai is getting up to his feet (maybe "foot" if the lightning went wide when he used it to launch and may have blown up a foot), and he uses the ramains of his staff to hobble to Madara. And all are freaking out when Gai raises the staff above him. Above Madara's head-

And slams the pointy end right beside his head.

It's a clear victory. Gai had won.

And Madara can never harm humanity again.

(Kakashi had approximately 86 heart attacks during this time and Neji, who foresaw the "end of humanity" is so absolutely confused. And everyone trapped in that stadium, is having the biggest cheer the universe ever heard.)

But yeah that's how I picture the fight going down. What do you think? (Too much?).

I think Madara knows better than to look down on Kakashi as just a wet cat god. Madara has hatred for Sakumo because he views him as ‘weak’ (he’s not but that’s how Madara see’s him) but Kakashi is incredably smart.

Madara making the mistake of thinking Kakashi just trained Gai as a punching bag is fitting of the characters arrogance, but he also knows Kakashi’s brain. He’s well aware that this is a very intelligent god who should not be ignored because what he lacks in conparitive strength, he more than makes up for in inelligence

And Madara forgetting that for even a second and not realizing Kakashi would tell Gai of Madara’s arrogance and would push him to inflate that arrogance in any way he can would be a great down fall.

Gai knows what to do because he has inside info. Kakashi didn’t just train him (he didn’t even really need to train him. A lot of the things he taught Gai, gai either already knew well or learned quick)

Kakashi spoke with Gai

He gave him information. Information that Gai used to win the fight.

He taught him how lightning can be a great force for attack, but also speed. That Naruto’s sandles could be mixed with the lightning in the staff (Darui’s lightning) to create such intense speed that not even a god would be able to keep up with it.

And Gai uses that information perfectly. He mixes his skill with Kakashi’s brain effortlessly in the fight and comes out with the win. A win Madara was not ready for at all.

Everything would still play out the same, but i’d say Madara would be called a fool by Hashirama and a few other gods for allowing his arrogence to get the best of him to a point where he forget that it’s not just shikamaru who is a genius.

Kakashi is too, and his genius mixed with Gai’s perseverance and strength whooped one of the creator gods.

[darkx-the-dragon-kn1ght]

Chapter 32- Part 11

Now with that, we send in Wulfrum to stall.

First, the Revive while Sturdy does its thing-

And that was a crit on Earthquake too! I think Solaris wasted his crit luck on that. Now, as Wulfrum goes down, we bring Coast back to full HP…

Now, Garchomp is still less than half HP. So since Counter did more than half last time, this Counter should be what finishes it. 

I just need to click Counter one more time…trust in the numbers and the calculations…and pray to whichever Pokémon god cares to listen that Garchomp doesn't crit again. We've still got Riptide just in case, but just…just don't crit this time…!

SHE LIVED! IT'S GONNA WORK, COUNTER'S GONNA-

SHE DID IT!! THE CUCUMBER THAT COULD!! And with two Pokémon to spare, LET'S GO!! 

I…still don't know if I was intended to win that fight, and I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't caught a Pyukumuku with Counter, but that's not the timeline we're on right now, we're on the timeline where I do have Coast and I did beat a Lv. 75 Garchomp boss fight, so SUCK ON THAT, SOLARIS! AND GIVE XERA YOUR WALLET, TOO!

Um, excuse me, why is that Garchomp still standing? I'm fairly certain Xera knocked it out, so like? Go back to your Poké Ball, please? Thank you?

A massacre for you, maybe, we knocked out your one Pokémon and Xera still has two.

“Powerless”?? What?? She beat you! You lost! What's going on here!?

Items!? You didn't bother using items when Amaria’s Kingdra froze Garchomp back at Blacksteam, you just returned it to its Ball like it was already fainted!

Heck, you didn't even use any items in this battle! But you wanna talk about them now, after you already lost??

I don't get it, why is Solaris talking like he already beat- wait. Wait, no…no, no, don't tell me it's one of those fights! You know, where the game’s like “you won this boss fight, but lol jk you actually lost ♥”? Like in Mystery Dungeon: Explorers, with the Manectric (or Luxray) fight and the Grovyle fight? You're kidding me, they're pulling that here!? No way!

Oh, hey Kiki, I uh…I was a bit distracted by my despair that I didn't see you come in. How long have you been standing there-?

Honestly, yeah- probably not a good idea to scale a super hot, active volcano with a terminal illness. I dunno, maybe she's got some kinda spiritual zen willpower stuff pushing her onwards right now, I'm not gonna judge.

Kiki wait! Stop! Get away from the Garchomp that's supposed to be fainted right now!!

WE ALREADY STOPPED IT WITH THE POWER OF COUNTER!! What is happening right now!?

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[randomkposts]

Reports of an irrelevant nature

Something I started years ago, for a revelations Ryoma. I dont think I will finish, but hope you enjoy.

---

"When Ryoma's retainers had defected to Corrin's army, the last thing he had expected was to receive reports from them still. "

----

Nothing in this war had gone as Ryoma had expected.

He had hoped that the confusion would die down once it started, and give him time to process important questions. Such as how Corrin was able to turn into a dragon. Or why Azura had been able to counter it. Was turning into a dragon, something that had happened regularly when royalty got upset in Nohr? Would Azura one day transform?

He had gone to the plains of Hoshido, trying to think of the words to properly ask those questions, not really expecting many surprises in the battle. Surely Corrin, now that the truth was known,  would fight with Hoshido. There probably wouldn't even be anyone important there.

He had been proven badly wrong. First the crown prince of Nohr had shown up with his siblings. Then Corrin and Azura had defected from both countries, and fought everyone. That they had actually won, was more than a bit embarrassing. Really, the conflict could have been over, by now. 

That Corrin was somehow persuading everyone to join was just baffling. Sakura,  could perhaps be understood, she was very close to Azura. Takumi, on the other hand, was completely baffling.  What, could have caused him to defect? Some secret third party, apparently behind the war, was pretty preposterous. 

Was this some sort of dragon charisma magic at work? Mikoto had said that dragons were stupidly charismatic and convincing, but he had never imagined it to be this extreme.  People whose loyalties he would have never ever thought to doubt, had joined Corrin. Even his retainers had joined Corrin, and fought against him. 

That had thrown him off more than he would have liked. Now, who could he send to gather intelligence? Corrin had three ninjas, to counter any spies he could send. As they were his retainers as well, a lot of his options were severely limited. 

The only retainers that were still around the castle were Hinoka's. And his sister… his sister had no sense in picking her retainers, and it was deplorable he had not paid proper attention to this, and gotten her at at least one decent retainer.  He could have assinged her Kaze, and maybe they would still have a ninja retainer among them.

Setsuna was good at archery, and that was the best thing that could be said about her as a retainer. Hinoka took care of her, everything from getting her up in the morning, to freeing her from the many traps she seemed to fall into anywhere she went. It was good that they seemed to be friends, but he would have hoped that his sister would have someone a bit more dutiful to her job, like Sakura and Hana. 

Azama was a monk, and while it was important to have healers in a wartime, his sister seemed to have found the most undiplomatic one in existence. Where did they even meet each other? Hinoka did not often accompany Sakura to training, and Azama's accent suggested against that anyways. 

[thehypotensivegrad]

THE ADVISER (8/35) | Bechloe Mafia AU

A Rivalry is Born Chapter Preview (Read More at ao3)

They set up a meeting with the family members seven days to the date since they decided to pick up the case. On the way, Chloe kept asking her who should talk first and how to properly kick things off. Beca had let Chloe take the lead in making the pitch so she figured that the ever so bubbly redhead should go ahead and do it, thinking she would just jump on if needed.

But then Chloe said something that stoked the fires of her competitive spirit a little bit. "That's fair, I mean, none of the tenants liked you at first either, what with the detached aura you have. You probably can't convince them even if you tried."

"And if I do, and you fail?" Beca asked.

"Impossible," Chloe replied.

"Alright then, a bet. You go on ahead with your pitch, if you don't convince them, I'll make my pitch. If that still doesn't work, well then you win. If you manage to convince them straight away, you also win. But if I convince them, I win."

"Simple enough," Chloe commented. "What's the prize?"

"What would you like?"

"Ah, how about the winner flicks the loser," Chloe suggested.

"A flick?" Beca repeated. "Are we children?"

"If it's something the other wants, and you manage to do the impossible and win, you're gonna name something super expensive," Chloe said, and it was quite the astute deduction. "Unless you're afraid of a flick on the shoulder or the head."

"I'm not afraid of anything," Beca countered.

"Then it's settled!"

Beca, as promised, had let Chloe make her pitch first. She listed her accomplishments, the cases she won… she even used her experience at DSM to try and sell the idea that she knows how the enemy thinks and can therefore go toe-to-toe against them, promising she will give it her best. But the family members just all looked disheartened. The Beale and Posen law firm was small after all, smaller than the one their previous egghead of lawyer came from. Not to mention, they recently had negative publicity with the RDU-90 case. Of course, this was going to be an uphill battle.

Unmoved, the family members looked ready to leave. That's when Beca stepped up with hers. She didn't list any of her wins or anything, instead, she got to the heart of the matter.

"I know, we know, how to win whatever it takes. The scales of justice are uneven, it favors the rich like Babel, but I know how to balance it. I know how to fight fire with fire. Unconventional, maybe, but our methods will be effective. I'm not here to promise you that we'll do our best, we'll win. You can mark my words now. I don't even really know how to lose," Beca said all cool, calm, and confident.

There was something about it that had moved the family members. Beca liked to think that it's her self-assuredness more than anything, but they agreed. They won them over. They were going to take their case.

This of course left Chloe astounded.

Once they were left alone in the offices, Emily busy running an errand and Aubrey visiting her other client, Chloe looked nervous and Beca grinned.

It was time to collect.

"I can't believe that just happened," Chloe bemoaned.

"Oh, you better," Beca said. She started rolling up the sleeves of her black blouse. "And I believe I have a flick to collect."

Chloe grumbled and Beca can't help but think of how cute the noise she made was. It might have been enough to concede her own victory.

Might've.

But Beca found that she enjoyed teasing Chloe Beale.

She stepped up close to Chloe. Thanks to the heels she was wearing, they were practically the same height. A grin was tucking at the edges of her lips as she pretended to flick her on the forehead once or twice, Chloe wincing away even when there was no contact. That's when she noticed the scar on her forehead instead.

Beca let her fingers trace over the little scar, a more solemn look on her face. When she pulled her hand away and looked at Chloe, she wound that Chloe was staring back her as well.

Something all together familiar and new happened in that moment, and Beca found that she couldn't quite help it but be lost in the blue of Chloe's eyes. She realized that this may have been the closest that they stood next to each other, an air of silence hanging between them, but it never felt uncomfortable or awkward. The passing of time had been forgotten, and everything else about the office too.

All that Beca could pay attention to was Chloe.

[sofoulandfairaday]

Who do you think would win if Bellatrix and Snape fought?

Edit: I can't even remember when I got this ask, only that I had received it. I am so sorry that this post took me so long to write, anon, I hope I was thorough.

Uhhhhh this is such a good question! I was planning on doing a long post about them and this asks seems like a good opportunity.

I think most people in the fandom would answer Snape, but to me, Bellatrix is the more likely winner, although it could go either way. The scenarios vary. In general, they are both very talented, but Bellatrix's duelling skills are, in my opinion, unmatched; it has to be said, though, that duels are not always won by the most potent fighter, mental skills also play a huge role (the ultimate reason Bellatrix loses to Molly, alongside deus ex machina, ofc).

I'll analyse the two individually and then give you some scenarios (duels under different conditions), with the relative outcomes.

Bellatrix "She was a witch, as Harry knew, with prodigious skill and no conscience."

Bellatrix was mighty, there is no doubt about that. Her duelling skills were exceptional and second only to Dumbledore, Voldemort and Grindelwald.

Bellatrix was a mistress of the Dark Arts, she was trained by Voldemort himself (probably for many years). She was particularly skilled at the Cruciatus curse.

She was unrivalled in martial magic - curses, charms, both regular and dark - and non-verbal magic. It didn't matter how complicated the spell was, Bella could cast it without speaking a single word.

She was a very talented Occlumens (so much so that she taught Draco Occlumency and he managed to throw off Snape himself, who is considered one of the best ever) and we can presume she was also a Legilimens.

Personality-wise, her emotions seemed to ignite and fuel her power, so angering and taunting her probably only made her more dangerous.

Experience: Bellatrix was nine years older than Snape, she participated in many battles during both wars and was capable of injuring badly both Nymphadora Tonks and Kingsley Shacklebolt (powerful Aurors), capturing, overpowering and permanently incapacitating Frank and Alice Longbottom (also powerful Aurors) and blocking a spell from Albus Dumbledore himself (!!!). She easily beat four Snatchers who took her on at once and Ginny, Luna, and Hermione were having great difficulties in keeping up with her.

Snape "Snape knew more curses when he arrived at Hogwarts than half the kids in seventh year."

Snape was encyclopaedic in his knowledge: by his seventh year, he knew more about potions and spells than probably any other student in Hogwarts at the time.

He was a potions master, and not only was he flawless in brewing, but he also found ways to alter the formulas to better the result and make the process easier.

He knew the Dark Arts very well: he surely had a theoretical interest in them, but he was also said to be good at curses, so much so that he invented a powerful spell (Sectumsempra), which is something that only the likes of Voldemort and maybe Dumbledore could do.

He was also proficient in Healing magic and counter-curses, he invented the counter-curse of Sectumsempra, Vulnera Sanetur (which is impressive considering how advanced both these spells are), and he was able to contain the "very powerful curse" that was put on the Gaunt ring. He also told Dumbledore he might have been able to do more if he had come to see Snape sooner.

Occlumency and Legilimency - this doesn't require much explanation, I think. He rivalled Voldemort and Dumbledore in this.

Charms and Transfiguration - the same as above. We see his skill all throughout the books.

So. First things first. Situation A: They duel during the First Wizarding War (...for whatever reason). Bellatrix wins. Obviously. (Pun intended). While Snape was without a doubt a very skilled wizard from an early age, Bellatrix was nine years older than him, at the peak of her fighting prowess. If they had duelled when he was 18 and she was 27, and already one of Voldemort's top Death Eaters, trained by the Dark Lord himself, the fight is pretty much decided for, I think we can all agree on that.

Situation B: They duel during the Second Wizarding War (because they fucking hate each other). Err. Harder to say. They're much more equal now because Bellatrix has been in Azkaban for so long while Snape has had years to train and practice, master curses and spells of various kinds. Still, a mere six months after her escape, in the Department of Mysteries, Bellatrix takes down Nymphadora, an Auror trained by Moody himself, Kingsley and holds her own against Sirius, who is described as a good duellist, and whom she ultimately defeats (although one can argue that she only gets one good shot in, and before that the fight was well-balanced). She also blocks a spell directly from Dumbledore. Unfortunately, I happen to think that Snape would have won against all three of these people too (while he would have probably lost to Sirius in the first war) and maybe blocked the curse from Albus too. We don't know how many battles Severus has actually been in, but I don't think he would do badly at all.

I'll start by saying that they both fight dirty, so none of them has that advantage over the other. I do think that, out of the two, Bella is much more suicidal. Sev has an ounce of self-preservation more, he's probably calmer and more collected in battle, while Bella is just... scary. However, this is both an advantage and a disadvantage.

Assuming that they were both rested and ready (surprise attacks, sneaky potions in their water pre-duel, one of the two being tired after facing five opponents previously, etc. don't count).

Scenario A: Bellatrix wins. She does so because she is objectively good at magic. Snape is too, but he is no match for her. Her best chance is to go hard at him, hit him with her full might, give him no time to think things through, formulate clever responses to her attacks, to even open his mouth. Severus would no doubt be able to cleverly use Charms, Transfiguration, the environment, etc. to his advantage against her, and in the long run, as both of them grew tired, would be able to see an opening, and hit her. Hard. That is how she lost to Molly, after all.

Scenario B: Severus wins. The fight lasts longer than expected, and Severus manages to wear her out bit by bit- they're both tired, but she's more than that. She is frustrated. Because she's not winning, of course. Severus has one clear advantage over her: he's much better with words and mental stability. Call it natural disposition, or maybe it's the fact that he did not spend fourteen years locked up with soul-sucking beasts, but he can manipulate her. We can see this very clearly in HBP when Bella & Cissy go to Spinner's End. We don't know if Bella started trusting Severus more after that (I really don't think so, I think they hated each other's guts), but he pretty much sassed her out, manipulated her, and used her own personality and devotion against her. She was clearly not convinced but had no reply to offer. Not that her arguments weren't good, but Snape was better at deception. So he's able to rile her up (Bellatrix is easily riled, that's for sure- once again, she's very fiery, even though the fandom likes to call that crazy). Of course, she responds in kind, and that might really anger him, truly, but he's been called an up-jumped son of a muggle nobody, Snivellus, all his life, while she's the haughty Black heiress, to whom people bow in the streets. Snape's not an idiot, he probably sees how Bella loves the Dark Lord and basically uses that and... well, everything else he can, against her (be it Andromeda, Sirius, the Black fortune passing to Harry and not her, the years in Azkaban, her fall from grace, Voldemort humiliating her, or the fact that Rodolphus stole the last scone at breakfast yesterday, he's using it). She loses focus, and that's when he strikes. He wins.

I... I think that's it, actually. There are a number of little variants, and it might just come down to chance. Both were really powerful people though, any duel between them would have been grandiose.

[nagdabbit]

⭐!

listen you ever forget to read the second half of something and you're like aw shit i did not foresee anyone choosing the star option (im jesting ily)

interestingly, the gummy has also just hit in a big way, so don't mind if ive talked about this before or if nothing makes sense i am inebriated

its no real secret that ive been depressed as shit lately, compounded by all the apartment stress and anxiety about things i can't do jackshit about. brains. but in response, ive been thinking about come through callin' a lot lately, which is probably my favorite thing ive written the longer time goes on. (if you've not read it, it's pre-exploding barbed wire death match mox/eddie, sad, dark-ish time loop fic) but very specifically, ive been thinking about the danny/yuta time loop, come through callin'-adjacent fic that exists in my head, and im never gonna write it, so im gonna tell you about it

where callin' takes place before the exploding barbed wire match, this one takes place the day of final battle 22 when yuta won the pure title back, from dannys pov. he's just put on a fuck of a match, it was gruelling and it was a fuckin banger and he fucking lost. he won that title from the little shit, he shouldn't have been able to take it back. he wakes the next morning, and it's final battle all over again. he thinks, okay, that was just a horribly realistic dream. it's whatever. i just won't do what i did in the dream and it won't come true, easy. except he loses again. and again. and again, and again, again again again. he can no longer claim it's a dream, it's real and it's happening and he has to just keep reliving that defeat over and over again, no matter what he does different. what if i counter here, what if i hit him there, what if i shake his hand, what if i walk away? what if i get disqualified, what if i piss him off so bad that he does? what if i betray jericho? what if i join them? and not one thing changes. until he simply doesn't fight. doesn't do a damn thing to defend himself, doesn't raise his hands or pick himself up when yuta knocks him down.

and yuta looks confused about it, of course he does. danny hasn't once backed down from a fight, not ever. he's never given up, he's never just quit. he hesitates and he falters, and with a start his eyes suddenly clear. "c'mon, danny," yuta says, standing over his prone form, blood on his knuckles from danny's nose, or maybe it's his lip. "let's get this round over with. this isn't gonna change anything, you're still gonna have to lose again tomorrow."

but he doesn't get up, he just stares and stares until yuta takes pity on him and chokes him out.

he's on his feet and storming down the hallway before he even knows what's hit him, barely remembering to even put on sweats before in the morning light. yuta remembers, yuta is living through the same goddamn day, too, the prick. couldn't even let danny go crazy by himself.

yuta has been living the same day over and over, too. he's not doing something right. he's winning, over and over again, but he must not be doing it right. he's gotta be quicker, he's gotta be more efficient, more vicious, more something. for all he knows, bryan's meditation shit was magic and he put a curse of him until he becomes the perfect wrestler. weirder things had happened, and bryan was already weird enough already.

he didn't even notice, not until danny gave up. they had the same idea, the same plan. to change enough, to find the right pattern, the right set of moves to win, and they were so in sync that it felt natural, a reaction to some tiny tell neither of them realized they had. they were too well matched, they would fight each other until the end of time before anything truly changed.

that night, danny lost again. but yuta grinned at him, looked a little proud, glad to have him back. he lost the next day, too, but yuta had laughed, breathless, as he pinned danny again. and fucking hell, it was so easy to get addicted to that sound again. they'd fallen into bed before, way back when. bitter rivals meant for great sex, and it didn't change anything, so what was the harm in a little fun? but, how fun could it really be when he still keeps losing? not very. they're evenly matched in a lot of ways, they fall into the same patterns over and over again, regardless. yuta becomes smug and mean and cocky, lording his wins over danny's head; and danny becomes bitter and hateful and resentful, stewing in his hurt until he snaps.

its bitter and it's painful and, goddamnt it, yuta makes him work for it, but he does it. he fucking wins and he keeps his belt. and he still loves yuta, just as much as he hates him, but fuck if that rage on yutas face doesn't satisfy the hateful little thing in his chest. he did it, he fucking won, proved he could, it was all fucking over, yuta would see. it was about danny, finally. it was his time.

except that it was final battle day again. hed won, finally. the time loop shit should be over, right? but it's not. danny is still stuck, and by the looks of the smug prick standing outside his hotel door, so is yuta.

that night he wins again, and it still doesn't work. sometimes yuta starts losing intentionally, just because he knows it's not the answer and it won't matter. lies down, feet crossed and hangs behind his head.

if he's not meant to keep the title, then what's even the fucking answer? how's he supposed to end this? is it even his? what if the entire loop is about yuta, and hes just dragged along for the ride? is trying to break the cycle what's keeping them locked there?

he sees yuta in the hall before the show. and some of that smugness has rubbed away, once the cameras aren't on him. he looks like he used to, back in the white eagle, when they were just kids. and danny hates him, just as much as he loves him, and that isn't gonna change if he wins or loses. they're were trapped in an endless cycle already, before the loops even started. their fates were always going to be tangled, their names always said in the same breath. if wouldn't matter which belt, what company, how many years down the line, whether they were other or apart.

danny was tired, and he wanted it to end. it was exhausting, trying to think about the whole mess, to change literal time and space on top of having to actually live it. and yuta looked tired, too, when he thought danny couldn't see him. never moving forward, just the same fight over and over again, just because they couldnt stop dwelling on the past. it didn't matter what belt, not really, and final battle wasn't the end. what was the point of trying to fight fate any longer? time loop or no, he'd still be fighting yuta for the rest of their lives.

and when he loses again, for the first time, he hesitates, belt in his hands. and he hesitates because he knows it's the last cycle. this is the one that ends it, he's got no more chances to change it, no more do overs. and it sucks, and hes gonna miss the weight of it, and in about three hours he's gonna be an absolute menace again. but it's not the end. their story doesn't end just because the curse did.

so like. that's what i mean when i say "dannyoots time loop au that im never gonna write but still makes me feel things" cuz i like writing out my feelings on inevitability and whether, by neuroscience and brain chemistry or godly machinations, we have free will and the ability to truly change fate, and whether fate exists at all—and if it does, is it possible to exist without feeling like we've no say in its execution

😃

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Super 072

There’s a lot of bullshit in this episode, but I keep finding myself outraged over Granny’s Secret Sauce.  

Okay, let’s take this one step at a time.  Last episode, Hit killed Goku, but Goku was actually ready for it.  Before he was struck with a fatal blow, Goku fired off a ki blast that was set to boomerang back down on him and restart his vitals.  I guess?  It’s all very goofy, and somehow I feel like a 1,000 year old master assassin would be expecting a trick like that, but whatever.  I think everyone knew going in that they weren’t going to kill Goku a third time. 

This could settle things, as Hit would probably leave the Earth, satisfied that he fulfilled his contract, but Goku wants to track him down and continue the battle.  Gohan, Goten, and Piccolo find this unwise at best, but they agree to support Goku’s decision, on account of all the times he’s saved the Earth in the past. 

Okay, I really hate this scene.  Goten is the most reluctant of the three to go along with this, and it’s not hard to imagine why.  He grew up without a father, and Goku didn’t return to his life until only recently.   And then he seems to get killed all over again, only to wake up again.  And now he wants to jump right back into the danger.  This fucking sucks.  I hate this.  This episode makes me hate Goku and I hate this episode for making me hate Goku. 

I know he wants to fight Hit on Hit’s own terms.  I get that.  This episode demonstrates just how limited Hit’s moveset is when he’s confined to a ring and forbidden from using lethal force.  Goku wanted to have a proper battle with this guy, and that’s nice of him and all, but if he has to put his son through this then it’s not worth it, not even close.

Also, they keep drawing everyone off-model, which really works against this grim atmosphere they keep trying to set up.  This episode feels more like a Batman comic than a Dragon Ball cartoon, but at least they usually draw Batman right in the comics.

I can’t even appreciate the fight because it’s so confusing that it’s impenetrable.  Hit used the Time Skip in their last encounter, but by this point Goku’s got that so well-scouted that it’s useless against him, and Hit knows it.  So Hit uses other techniques, like an energy blast Goku can’t see or sense, and some sort of trick where Goku can see Hit but not touch him.  Much of the fight is spent with Goku just trying to figure out where Hit is, which isn’t very exciting, because even if he finds the guy, he can’t actually do anything to him.

And this could work, if the story was about Goku figuring out Hit’s techniques and devising countermeasures against them.  I mean, I think that’s what happens in this episode, except Hit’s powers are so poorly explained that I have no idea how he’s doing any of this, and so I have no idea how Goku counters any of it.  Vados and Champa watch the fight from a distance, and she tries to explain it to Champa, and he gets frustrated because he doesn’t understand a word of her explanation.   You and me both, dude.

Oh, here’s a shot of Vados talking where they do that bit.  You know, the shortcut where they draw the face in profile, but instead of moving her jaw and mouth, they just draw a mouth on the side of her face and make it move for the lip flaps.  That one.  I hate it.  They could have just done a 3/4 shot of Vados and saved themselves from this crap, but nope. 

Then Beerus, Whis, and Vegeta drop in too, and Goku finally notices all these guys watching their fight, and some stuff happens, and I guess Goku won?  I mean, he’s not dead, so yeah.  Vegeta demands to know what this is all about, and it soon becomes clear that Goku was the one who hired Hit.  He had to use Whis and Vados as intermediaries to do it.  Also, I’m not sure how Goku plans to pay for this, since I’m pretty sure Hit doesn’t take Earth money or radishes as payment. 

Vegeta is legitimately jealous of Goku for enjoying Hit as an opponent more than Vegeta.  Seriously.  This episode inspired a Team Four Star skit where Goku and Vegeta were in couples counseling over Goku paying for a fight instead of being with his rival.  At the time it seemed like a humorous exaggeration, but no, it’s in this episode. 

Then Chi-Chi shows up and she’s so relieved because Piccolo told her about the assassin and she was so worried and look at how cute her face is while she holds her big dumb man.  Fuck you twice, Goku.  Hiring somebody to kill you because you like fighting more than being alive.

I could go on about this ratshit, but I need to talk about Vegeta before I get sidetracked. 

Okay, so while all this was going on, Vegeta was doing sparring drills with Whis.  He had to do 100, and he made it all the way to 97, but then he got tired or something and tried to convince Whis into skipping the last three.  So he offers him a delicious steak dinner in exchange.

Right so that’s asinine in and of itself.  First of all, Vegeta was the one who begged Whis to train him.  He even used this same offer to try to get accepted as his student.  Remember?  He took Whis to a steakhouse only to find that Whis had already eaten there.  And then it soon became clear that Vegeta had no special food he could offer to sway Whis, so he had to resort to instant ramen as a bribe.  So Whis already knows that Vegeta has no cards left to play.  More importantly, why is Vegeta even trying to bribe his way out of this?  He wanted to train with Whis, and now he’s training with Whis, and he wants to cut it short? 

I’m tempted to write an RP about this scene, something sometime my OC despises the Saiyan monarchy something something lazy royalist fraud, something something Where’s your Saiyan pride just do the last three drills you blueberry looking hypocrite. 

So Whis isn’t buying it, and Vegeta ups the ante by promising steak that’s been drizzled with his grandmother’s secret sauce!   “A prime cut that’s been topped with the Vegeta Family Recipe!” 

And I got excited, because the mere mention of Vegeta’s grandmother is like this lore faucet being turned on.   Tell us about your grandmother, the mighty and terrible bride of King Vegeta II.  Speak, O Prince, of her gruesome-yet-savory sauce, made from the blood of her enemies, eleven herbs and spices, and of an ingredient so secret that its name was forbidden among Saiyankind. 

And then I got disappointed, because at the end of the episode they remind him of his promise, and Vegeta panics because there is no secret recipe, and he’s not even sure he has a grandmother.  He made the whole thing up.  Lies make Baby Jesus cry, Vegeta. 

The least they could have done would be to use a picture of an actual Saiyan grandmother, instead of this stock image of an Earthling with two adorable Earthling children.  At least show me an actual Saiyan grandma, Toei!  Let there be an actual Vegeta Family Recipe, dammit! 

But no, this episode won’t let me have anything. 

This is why I make my own stuff.  Because in my own little made-up world, Vegeta has a distant ancestor who did have a recipe for secret sauce, and its zesty flavor wound up getting passed down through the generations until it made its way to the Vegetas.  The secret ingredient is love, Vegeta.  The love that comes from cherishing your family and your passion to the point where you can’t help but do those last three sparring drills, because you know it’ll make you an even better chef, and your drive will push your culinary skills even further than the limits of ordinary Saiyans. 

The secret ingredient is honesty.  The kind of honesty where you would sooner tear off your own arm than lie to your wife about how you paid someone to kill you instead of just doing your damn drills.    It’s the realization that you will never be good enough, but you have to do better, be better, because you’re an example for the future, whether you wanted to be or not. 

“I just think you boys should try harder, that’s all.  As much as it galls me to admit it, you’ve both surpassed me in all sorts of ways.  It’s not just about hitting things.  It’s about honor.  Self-respect.  Not making some back-alley payment so a cut-throat will jump you.  Not looking for shortcuts when you could be pushing yourself.”

“Okay, okay.  You made your point.  We’re sorry.”

“Tch.  I simply buckled under the pressure.   I suppose that’s never happened to you before, huh?”

“I get it, I’ve been there.  You have a moment of weakness, and you make mistakes.  If you two can admit it, then that’s good enough for me.”

“Then you’ll do it?  You’ll make the secret sauce?”

“Hah!  I’ve already got it simmering right now.  I just hope Earth’s livestock are hearty enough to compliment it.  I was always gonna bail you out.   I just wanted you to sweat for a minute.   The secret ingredient is compassion, boys.”

“Also, thousand island dressing.”

[wevelocityteampresents-blog]

OCTOBER 1ST

My schedule for the day was pretty packed. Besides trying to understand a specific class, I also had to design a new character for my website based on the results from last year's poll.

There were tons of potential candidates. But the most well-received ideas were a young Scottish Fold (Who could be a nephew for Angus) and a cat goddess. Both characters were always tied to a point where I thought I'd have to use a Pokétch app as a tiebreaker. However, once midnight fell, the cat goddess ended up receiving a vote more than the Scottish Fold and won the poll.

With the character finally settled on, I got to work on the design. Since I based her design on the Egyptian goddess Bastet, I used moons and rings as the main element in her design. She should be more older than Ann Boo and mature as well.

With Pokémon Violet, I mostly focused on training.

So PINK, you mean? (The outbreak event ended after that.)

I'm surprised that they managed to fix the graphic for Miraidon's box. It always had an orange on it. Even though this is the Violet version, and the box should have a bunch of grapes on it.

The rules for the new tournament came in today. I'm forced to use six of these Pokémon:

It's an interesting roster. But it's not something I've ever had trouble with.

OCTOBER 2ND

I've started work on another big project. I can't say much about it now. But it's a follow-up to a project I've worked on before.

I also managed to finish designing the new MEOWCO mascot. Her name is Cressaluna. I think she'd be the one pulling the strings behind a certain event that involves Angus.

In Pokémon Violet, I was getting ready to take Ogerpon back to her den. But not before messing around with a few things first.

To counter Bloodmoon Ursaluna and Sinistcha, I've brought Fruit Punch to deal with them. With Knock Off as a substitute for Throat Chop, she does just as well as in Sinnoh!

Figured she would want to tag along with me after all this time. I thought I'd fight her. But Kieran wanted to fight me instead.

It wasn't that tough of a match with the help of Greninja and Miraidon.

At least he fought for what he believed in. With Kieran taken care of, the only thing left to do at that point was to catch Ogerpon.

Of COURSE, the legendary Pokémon would want to fight me first before joining me.

I thought it would be a regular battle. But it turned out to be similar to the Titan Pokémon battles. To make things worse, Ogerpon switches to another mask once she takes too much damage.

She eventually used her Teal Mask, and became too much for Greninja to handle alone. Thankfully, Umbreon was enough to finish her off.

Not only did I catch another Ogerpon, but I proved yet again that Umbreon has finally gotten his strength back.

I thought that would be it. But after I got the masks from Ponsi, I was told to visit Carmine at the park.

I have no idea...

Before I had to study, I thought about training with my other Ogerpon.

I don't know which mask I should use against other Ogerpon. But I feel like the Cornerstone Mask should be enough to deal with the Hearthflame Mask and counter against other Cornerstone Mask users. My other Pokémon can deal with the other forms.

OCTOBER 6TH

Now that I have a design for the new site mascot, I've started working on a new art piece that features her, Angus, and Ann. I should probably restart with some different poses, though...

I've also gotten back into Pokémon Stadium 2. I've been learning a few new things at Earl's Pokémon Academy that I can use in matches at the Stadium and Gym Leader Castle.

OCTOBER 7TH

Since Pac-Man 99's servers will be shut down tomorrow, I've decided to play it for as long as I possibly can. Besides that, I've gotten better at memorizing some of the material for my classes. It's probably a result of how much my health has improved since the summer ended.

In Pokémon Violet, I made my way to the park to see what Carmine wanted. She wanted to fight Ponsi to see how tough Ogerpon could be. Ponsi wasn't strong enough to take anyone on. So I took my other Ogerpon with me. And it actually worked.

Since she was only interested in fighting Ogerpon, I fought her with just JiaranMiao. You can see how THAT played out in the Web Stadium.

After I beat Carmine, I was called by Briar to return to the community center.

I still can't believe it took weeks for me to finish this single "assignment"... Briar also informed us that she needed to return to Blueberry Academy with Carmine and Kieran to investigate something.

If they're that strong, I hope that school has something like a Battle Tower.

While all this was happening, Kieran gave himself a bit of a facelift.

I'd wait for the pass to Blueberry Academy to arrive. But there's still more things I need to take care of first.

OCTOBER 8TH

While I was on break, I played Pokémon Stadium 2. I only had the Gym Leader class exam to complete before I moved on to the Elite Four class.

After I was done in the academy, I went to the Gym Leader Castle to take on Pryce.

I would have also fought Clair. But I had other things to take care of.

Today was also the last day I had to play Pac-Man 99. I did pretty well in all the matches I played today. Sadly, I had to stop to study for a while. But not before checking out my stats. Even though I never became Pac-Champ, I was placed third on the leaderboard.

I'm in the top three, and that's all that matters.