#but augh i love him so much its so crazy to me that he exists and hes mine and im his. everything is worth it bc i have him

[sirpeppersto]

me every time i remember we're getting married

[sunsetstarving]

ok hi i like think i talked abt your ocs with you when you first shared the slides with me but i was going through my drive and i saw it again and i was like ok wait let me look! and i now have Thoughts

- FIRST OFF nefise is like so eldest daughter immigrant trauma. if this makes sense. i also understand why she turns evil for a bit

- dani's like my fave ever btw im like so not normal abt him. just the implications of the whole being someone whos always positive and optimistic (slightly delusional) and then starting to lose all that when the world starts ending. starting to lose yourself bc youre the literal fucking symbol of hope but you cant bring yourslef to be the least bit hopeful. god. rattling him around in my brain

- pls give kore a kazoo. im begging. also a turtle fits the green theme. shes like the coolest btw and i get the whole. like wanting to be someones first chocie but you feel like theyre always going to choose someone that they can love and love them romantically and hating yourself a little bit for not being able to like ouchhh man why you gotta zir like that. ough

- TESNIS LIKE THE BIGGEST LOSER im so obsessed w her. i love that you made her a jock but also a debate kid i think thats the funniest combo. also like the whole trying to remain unchanging/constant like the "if it aint broke dont fix it" mentality but then it DOES break and DANI breaks so then she HAS to change to fix it and. arhghghgh

- felicite!!!!! dude. ok the implications of her being the symbol of chance and the fact that the symbol of chance even exists at all is so crazy to me because like yeah. sometimes it truly is Like That. sometimes things are so out of your control and you can do nothing to stop it its just pure fucking luck and fate and the univesre shifting and ohhhhh god. i am so !!!! amped abt her and skull/fibula btw

- YOOO nefise and dani. idk if youve watched jjk but they are So satosugu coded i will elaborate if youd like but this is rlly long already i might have to take this to disc

- tesni and delshad WILL drive me insane. the absolute vulnerability and horrors of being so deeply known........ ugh

- said this already but. felicite and skull chance and death like broooo the fact that something so horrible something that takes so much from ppl is so closely tied to the concept of randomness and the unknwon. driving me insane

ANYWAYSSS thats like all of it um. yes i have thoughts! anyways

HIIII okay i finally got on desktop it took me a little bit we have been going everywhere. traveling is enjoyable sometimes but also...not always lmao BUT ANYWAY ILY AUGH i've been thinking abt this since last night. HELP all lighthearted but i do not think u ever said anything!! only the discord interaction i have been waiting ever since and boy oh boy.... the personal connection to every single one of them and the way u pointed them out immediately.

YEAH nefise is kind of just Like That. it came with the territory (being the asian character i project on forever) and also like..... the turning evil bit is everything to me bc the way she regrets none of it when she thinks about it from a distance but all it took was the sliver of hesitation, the flicker of exhaustion from constantly throwing herself at every problem, to simply take her down completely and have the team lose her. Yeah

dani my beloved... he was the original knight concept too. upon seeing this i HAD to draw him being a miserable fucker (<- phone battery ran out i will send these once i can grab some pictures!!) *jeopardy voice* what is burning out from the expectation to lead your world to the future despite having none of what you're supposed to be giving

YEAHHHH YOU GET IT. the. knowing that you're not broken and that this is just you but then the people you love make it feel like you shouldn't be the way that you are, that you need to change? forever experience. and while it continues to hurt and i don't think we can escape it i think good friends are a good remedy for the pain... and also ur so right they need a turtle so bad

and AHAHAHA tesni wahoo loser overachiever asian parents' favorite child (good at everything) and also biggest problem (anger issues) of all time. also love the family drama aspect like Yeah ofc she's going to have to change and yield and give ground. she has a sibling to take care of damn it

FELICITE AND FIBULA AOUGH.... this is so funny bc i literally had no clue what she was going to be but then chance sounded good. and then i was like Oh. the Implications of this are horrific. additionally yeah i think abt it all the time.... i've been following this comic series on instagram abt the grim reaper being a kind guy bc he's the messenger, not the one who controls any of it, and like... ouch, you know? the fact that it is unfair and horrible and there is no good timing about it. that sometimes it lines up just in time for a hilarious pun. death and chance being intertwined in the most cosmically random ways but in ways that absolutely make sense.

I STILL HAVEN'T the urge to ask vs the urge to wait until i've gotten to it vs the knowledge i will Not be doing that any time soon and. i should probably ask. pls tell me more in disc i would love to hear

tesni and delshad will kill me btw. that's like. going to suck. i'm gonna be so emotions about it bc it is not something i have yet delved into but i think abt it all the time. even more family drama. all of them scrambling to adjust to some of the most awful news one can never take back. grahh or whatever

anyway. i love this i love u i am SOOO happy you sent this!!!!! i am always so ecstatic to talk about the kids they are so beloved to me fr <333

[yuukei-yikes]

That post str Harutaka angst hurts my heart a little but I do want it

HEH. CONFLICT IS SO FUN OKAY. haruka and takane get along too well i need a little something to have fun with.... also thank u for sending this im totally using it as an excuse to talk about it. i went crazy in this ask sorry

ok. i KNOW forward by winterhats exists...... and thank god it does 🙏in case u havent read it erm read it. thats like harutaka content 101... not to spoil stuff but something about haruka not telling takane abt his condition Does take place in that fic. but the thing with that fic is haruka has no memories.... (post str no memory haruka is a concept i was never a fan of bc it doesnt rly make sense to me?? Still love forward though🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏) SO IM THINKING OF a canon situation with haruka remembering fine yknow...

logically i think takane would be sad rather than angry once finding out. also she'd hear it from shintaro who is the only one who knew, aside from kenjirou but he's x_x post str💔 so shintaro it is. also it's such a shintaro thing to do isnt it?? accidentally mention it to takane or assume she knew and realise he messed up like, way too late. like he already said it like 5 times before he realised takane is asking him to repeat it so many times precisely because SHE DIDN'T KNOW

like i said i think its kinda a fragile thing because God its so sad. how could u even get mad at someone for choosing not to say they're dying. so yeah logically takane Would be mostly sad about both the sad reality haruka was living AND how she wasn't told, because to her it means haruka didnt trust her or maybe felt he couldnt count on her.

im abt to overanalyse: personally from a writing point of view i think the reason haruka doesnt tell takane is because headphone actor was already written and the narrative where takane doesnt know was already there. haruka's 1 year to live thing was written a lot after, with over the dimension. but besides that: from a character standpoint, of course haruka wouldn't tell takane. she is the last person he wants to worry and the one he wants the most happy memories with. and something important about haruka and takane's relationship is the fact neither knows much about each others conditions. in both their povs upon introducing each other to the audience, they both explain their illnesses briefly. they both say "i havent asked much". to me its always been about haruka and takane deeply relating to each other about people feeling sorry for them. so they dont owe each other the explanations theyre so used to giving to others! so to me, haruka doesnt tell takane because 1.he doesnt want her to worry more than she already does 2.he wants to have happy memories of her 3. related to that, doesnt want her to look at him differently. she is the one person who gets it. if he were to come clean abt it, he'd lose it. besides, haruka tells shintaro by the time he's like. LOSING HIS MIND and really deeply depressed abt the situation. kenjirou also knows... but haruka's father could've told him since its mentioned they used to be colleagues. personally i think haruka told him himself, since he also mentions kenjirou is the only adult he's ok sharing stuff with, so in a way its implied if ur delusional like me.

erm. anyways. i got a little sidetrack IM GONNA GET TO IT OKAY its just, haruka's dying words for takane man. don't cry anymore, you're gonna meet so many new people, etc. he basically tells her he is just 1 person in the long long life he assumes she will have. theyre best friends, he knew takane would mourn him terribly and thats why he thinks all that stuff he cant actually tell her.. augh haruka's goodbye to takane always gets me so so badly. bc he KNEW... like, ene lives in so much regret for not telling haruka how she felt but haruka died knowing she loved him. even if he didnt know it was romantic, he still knew she loved him :( i was going somewhere with this. (pacing around my room) oh yeah. his dying words. haruka doesn't convey all this to takane while he has the chance because of the stuff i said before but the most important was number 3. he doesnt want takane to look at him differently. plus everything he says while he is dying... god id post the whole screenshot. but he says "dont get mad at anyone but me" "please dont cry anymore" "im so sorry youve given me so much and i couldnt give back" he... doesn't Want to see takane upset. he knows she will be upset anyway but its like. at least he wont be around to see it, in a way. we could see this as kind of selfish but like The guy's dying come ON. i think he has the right to do that. lol.

WELLLL COMING BACK TO THE ORIGINAL APPROACH LMAO.. takane finding out post str....... i went on that tangent to defend haruka precisely cuz i dont think takane would be genuinely mad. its a tricky situation and its not like she can be like WELL BUT U KNEW AND U DIDNT WARN ME!?!?!?!? Like THAT IS a pretty lame position to take. HOWEVER. CONFLICT (PUTS HANDS DOWN) i think takane just needs to be mad

WHILE TAKANE WOULD BE MORE UPSET THAN MAD she IS also super impulsive. like insanely impulsive <- finds out she loves haruka and immediately runs for it even if it terrified her. so in the spur of the moment she blows up on haruka about it LOL like as SOON as she finds out. like i imagine she probably hears it from shintaro and like immediately leaves mid conversation to go find haruka and yell at him. that kind of thing.

and haruka's all like 😨😨😨 and he's stuttering cuz HE HAS AN ANSWER ABT WHY HE DIDNT TELL HER IT JUST SOUNDS RLY BAD LIKE "ERM I DIDNT WANT TO SEE U UPSET❤️" like in over the dimension haruka does get pretty nervous when takane starts pressing even if its as a joke. so especially with something so sensitive he has no idea what to do. i think he'd try to be all composed though bc its Post Str and idk str haruka is so. ethereal he is so calm isn't he. i think he would get nervous initially and then get himself together but ends up coming off as dismissive. so hes like i didnt tell you.....because i didnt want to❤️ and takane probably just needed to be mad for a little bit and was gonna get over it and be sad but hearing that just makes her so damn upset for realsies and haruka notices how she changed from😡 to 😐 and hes immediately like oh takane.... no... i didnt mean it like that...i just mean...OH DONT MAKE THAT FACE I DIDNT MEAN IT... and takane's like NOO DONT TOUCH ME WHATEVER IM LEAVINGGG unnecessary conflict in a romcom vibes

conflict probably lasts like. a day or something. a week tops. its harder for haruka than for takane. takane finds it a little refreshing i think its also cool to link it to all the other headcanons abt haruka being super desperate to be in company because erm Daze confinement gang🙏💥 while takane's a little like. i havent had a minute to myself in 11 days. so this distance actually helps her a little while haruka is like Hour 5 without my girlfriend I've cried so much i cant see anymore

they both feel like shit and do spend the time trying to see the situation from each other's perspectives though so takane realises she's being self centered and stupid and admits she just wanted to be angry and took it out on the first thing she could grasp at. but it was unfair. takane will apologize first and probably tells him she doesn't need or want him to "protect" her feelings and wants him to count on her from now onward. haruka's like *nod nod nod nod nod nod* and thanks her for apologizing. hed try to also apologize but takane doesnt accept it bc he wasnt wrong it was her who was unfair. hehe. i think he'd be crying so hard too bc to him its all these feelings coming back abt how he felt when he died and all the things he thought of telling her then. maybe he would tell her abt it, like i was thinking about all the people you'd meet and how u should be happy and not cry for me. and how in disbelief he still is that theyre together. sorry im. auauggagaggsgsggqgggg

all this just for me 2 enjoy the mental image of the little time in between where theyre awkward around each other and takane wants a little distance for a bit. i think itd be funny to see haruka being totally pathetic abt takane not paying attention to him. anyways. yeah. something like that i guess

[the-gayest-sky-kid]

venti for the unhinged bingo :]

OKAY

he has daddy issues AND issues with being a dad. double meaning

sonndnsndsmisus SOBBING AND CRYING AND SOBBING AND C

hes literally just like me fr its crazy and im not projecting onto him at all hahahahaha

I WILL MAKE YOU SO FUCKING SAD LITTLE BARD BOY

please. please just. augh

even if he was involved in khaenri'ah i Do Not See It. what are you talking about. whats a khaenri'ah

i love him which is why i want him to be in as much pain as possible

i hate myself which is why i need him to be in AS MUCH PAIN AS POSSIBLE

BITING GNAWING CHEWING AAAAAAUXUXHDHSNXNCNDNSJSJJF >:((!!!!!!!!!!!!! BARKING AT HIM IN A NONSEXUAL WAY

holding him so tenderly brushing the face out of his hair making him little apple swans drawing him flowers

imitating your best friend for 2600 years is NOT A VALID COPING MECHANISM. AMONG OTHER THINGS

why are you LIKE THIS WHY DO YOU EXIST WHY ARE YOU SO FUCKING CRYPTIC WHAT DO YOU FUCKING KNOW

me, the genshin venti blog on tumblr: i am so normal about genshin venti on tumblr dot com :)

if literally ANYTHING happens to him im blowing up my phone

SHAKING HIM. SQUEAKY TOY

hes not allowed to die

i fucking HATE YOU WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS WHY ARE YOU CONNECTED TO EVERYTHING

biting people who dont like venti biting people who call him neglectful of mondstadt and an irresponsible drunkard biting people who think hes annoying BITING THEM

i mean it already happened so? whoevers next is getting it though

what makes you TICK VENTI. AUGH

istaroth next question

:) :] :}

[tfw-no-tennis]

mtmte liveblog issue 11

and here we have to conclusion to the shadowplay arc...

clearly prowl hasn't seen national treasure smh

prowl, what exactly is confusing you about ‘secret government-sanctioned brainwashing facility’

the fact that prowl was willing to go so strongly against his morals to protect chromedome...oof bro 

so the senator is basically professor x and all the outliers are mutants. got it

senator shockwave was just a sexy thot who wanted justice....poor guy

so there ARE gloves on cybertron...am I to just assume that the doctors don't like using them for some reason????? I mean tbf I've known a few medical professionals who don't wear gloves during certain procedures, like giving shots which, imo, yikes I would never, even simple vaccines can cause bleeding, but to each their own...are ppe rules not strict on cybertron, or is there a low risk of infection transfer due to the nature of cybertronian diseases? ah, the real questions 

anyways. I should stop going on extremely off-topic medical rants

I relate to tailgate in his tendency to misspell. these liveblogs would be unreadable if it weren't for spellcheck

ouch, the fact that cd ‘never really forgave’ prowl for leaving the heist party w/out a word, even tho it turns out prowl stormed off w/a final request to keep cd safe and out of it all....cd and prowl are just a big tragic trainwreck huh

its interesting that skids used to be religious, when it seems like he isn't now. Wonder What Could Have Caused That Shift In Ideology! Hm!

oh my god I love how ironfist’s fanboy ranting about the primal vanguard is cut short just as he’s saying ‘a bomb disposal kit once used by-’ bc its like Oh I bet he was about to mention tailgate, yknow, the guy who (claims he) was the primal vanguard’s bomb disposal guy...that's such a great little detail

the stuff we hear from roller about senator shockwave is super interesting - it sounds like he’s been pretty aware of the state of society for a while, and has been trying to combat it from the inside...which isn't going so great, it seems, considering the state of society at the time. 

also the whole ‘modifying people to hold the matrix (sometimes without their consent?)’ thing he’s got going on is. interesting. again, is there any sort of ethics laws on cybertron, seriously guys,

oof, op cares so much abt senator sw :( they were in love okay 

red alert :( 

rodimus is such an interesting character AUGH the fact that he takes red alert’s potential suicide to be a personal failing on his part as a captain...which, yknow, that idea has merit considering rodimus’s part in the whole overlord thing, as well as rodimus having told red alert that ‘everyone thought he was losing it.’ yeahhhhh, that's not quite the approach to take w/someone clearly suffering from a paranoid breakdown

poor magnus has no idea about all the overlord stuff, which is what triggered red alert’s breakdown 

tho, magnus, idk that putting red alert in a cryofreeze chamber or w/e is the solution here. although maybe they’re all just at a loss bc cybertron’s only mental health specialist is current hanging out comatose in a bar

are we supposed to (retrospectively) read into rodimus and drift’s agreement to put red alert in storage as a way of covering up the overlord stuff? did they deduce that he figured out about overlord and that's what caused his breakdown? rodimus seems genuinely distressed about the whole cold storage situation, but is there more to it than ‘I failed as a captain bc this guy had a breakdown under my command’? I genuinely do not remember a lot about the overlord plot bc I was so confused the first time I read it and the second time I was too busy being extremely sad, so.

genuinely shocked that cybertron even has ‘health and safety inspections.’ it just figures that the one ratchet conducted wasn't an actual inspection, but an excuse to prepare for some good ole fashioned heisting

man I love a good heist/break-in

ok so skids rlly is just here for his grappling hook hvbhksddfjbjkdf my man

UH OH SENATE GOONS. never good

whoa, cybertronians have glenohumeral joints?? tho, ratchet says ‘glenohumeral socket,’ which doesn't exist in humans - we have a glenoid cavity/fossa/socket that articulates w/the head of the humerus to form the glenohumeral joint, so, close enough

anyways, that sure was a nonsequiter. ratchet busting out his lock picking skills is dope. do they teach that sorta stuff in cybertronian medical school? maybe its in place of the patient confidentiality lesson

seriously, ratchet sure knows a lot about bombs for a doctor. maybe they also cut out the courses on ppe and patient consent to make room for the cool stuff like BOMB CLASSES

op really DOES like jumping off stuff, doesn't he 

oh no senator :( 

JK HERES OP BUSTIN THRU A DUDES CHEST 

oh no roller :( 

‘remember me how I was’ NOOOO IM GONNA FUCKING CRY. SW AND OP MAKE ME SO SAD. GOD 

op yeeted that matrix bomb like he was trying to make a touchdown or...something. not sure why I chose football, the only sport I dislike, as my metaphor here 

lol it blew up a police station, nice

god, that reveal that the institute that we saw last issue was just one of many....and the one we saw was strikingly awful enough, so the fact that there's a ton more like that....oof

also, again, super interested in the fact that cd was involved in this arc where they see how scary and evil the institute is and then ended up working for the institute - well, the ‘new institute’ - later on

I'm weeping at the ‘big reveal’ for tailgate being that orion pax is optimus prime....its so funny that he didn't know that so it was a huge twist for him and absolutely nobody else hvbakdjhfbksjdf I love tailgate

also. is that the picture somebody drew of op for tg lmao

:D and then skids manages to wake rung up!!! all by getting his name wrong lmao. tho, maybe all the storytelling helped!

oh shit its zeta (prime?), here to talk to op, presumably about becoming the next space pope

HHHHHHHHHHHHHH GOD THAT REVEAL!!!!!!!!!!!!! BROOOOO the senator shockwave reveal slapped me right in the FACE the first time I read this, and that's saying something bc I seriously only understood like 40% of the shadowplay story my first readthru. but the shockwave reveal still had me SHOOK like oh god that was so fucking brutal. jesus

like the fact that the emotionless decpeticon shockwave used to have a completely different look and personality is already crazy enough, but then the tie-ins of empurata and shadowplay? brutal and amazing

like, this is the kinda retrospective backstory stuff that I love. it gives a lot of cool depth to both the characters and the world. I feel like it really helped cement concepts like empurata and shadowplay in the world 

and just, AUGH The Reveal still gets me...im pretty sure in my first readhtru I only picked up the fact that the senator PURPOSELY hasn't been named during this issue, and I was kinda ready for some sort of reveal but also figured it could be someone I didn't know bc of my limited tf lore knowledge, but even I knew who shockwave was and phew that blew me away 

that full-page art spread is fuckin banging also 

anyways, shadowplay arc! I really enjoy this arc and all its genre-hopping goodness, and the framing device of the characters telling a story is a lot of fun. plus we get to see a lot of cool backstory for many characters, and got tons of great worldbuilding for jro’s pre-war cybertron. 

I understood a lot more of the story upon my second (and now third) readthru of the series, which was super rewarding bc the first time I wasn't able to follow a lot of stuff (1st readthru I tended to assume that me being confused about something was due to my lack of previous knowledge of lore/story, so I didn't often analyze stuff seriously, or even employ critical thinking skills lmao). 

also some gnarly stuff went on w/the red alert b-plot, which we’ll pick up with later....

[vacantgestures]

Ascendant Recollection :CH 03:

Franchise: Kingdom Hearts

Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama

Love Interest: Riku

Rating: Teen

The gang makes their way to a new world, filled with ups and downs. Still that’s the least of their problems, as the aforementioned underlying force from Yukari’s dreams, posses a new threat.

 I quietly slinked into the cockpit and took a seat, in the fourth empty chair, next to an unmanned console labeled "Teeny Fighter Controls." The boys hadn't immediately noticed when I came in as, they chattered away. Although Sora seemed to be more or less, listening then having been fully involved in their conversation. He was mostly looking about, taking in all the buttons and switches, and the view of space that hung over our heads, as the cock pit allowed a full 360 view. Amidst his ogling, he seemed to catch me sulking in my seat as when I looked up, he was there on his haunches, resting his chin on the arm rest.

 "You okay?" He asked with big, eyes.

 "Uh huh..." I responded half-heartedly, as I pulled my knees into my chest on the chair.

 "Well... How was your ten minute nap?" Sora supplied. "I thought you were tired."

 It was very clear I was in a mood. It was even more clear that Sora was trying get me to talk. In all Honesty, I truly wanted to say something-- to everyone, but I still wasn't... confident, I guess, about how factual the dreams were. I mean, yes, they seemed incredibly detrimental to share at this point, but how was I supposed to say to a bunch of strangers, and Sora, that I could see things while I slept? I mean, I'd been having these dreams for the length of several months, and only now was the crazy stuff coming to life.

 Maybe I should wait.

 "You think... Riku and Kairi are together, like we are?" I asked. I wanted so badly to talk about the point in my dream about where I'd seen Riku, but I held back. Besides, I wasn't even sure if everything was legit yet. And if they were... there where was Kairi?

 "Hmm..." For a moment, Sora hummed in thought. His half lidded eyes contemplated endless possibilities in a matter of seconds. "Maybe." He finally said. "I mean, it's hard to say for sure at this point. We've ran into some pretty crazy things, but we also met nice people."

 "More or less..." I said, recounting the fact, that Leon thought it was a good idea to beat up kids over holding a civil chat.

 "And you and me turned out to be Keyblade wielders!"

 "Sworn protectors of the world with endless opportunities of death at every turn." I remarked sarcastically.

 "They're bound to be just as well off as we are! Who knows, maybe even better."

 I looked down in to his deep blue eyes the sparkled with excitement. For a moment, we shared a small grin, delighting in the fact that we could still hope that our friends were in good health where ever they may be.

 Yet still... I couldn't help but feel guilty about not sharing what I'd managed to learn.

 I bit my lip as I prepared myself to speak. "Sora... I've been meaning to tell you that I-"

 "We've come across a new world!!" I little voices boomed from all around it. It took a minute for me to gather that it had been chip's voice coming from the intercom that was connected throughout the ship.

 "Convenient..." I grumbled.

 "Great!" Donald exclaimed, as I watched him hit a series of buttons before realizing he'd thrown the ship into a state of rest. "Let's head out immediately."

 I watched as he and Goofy made their way out of the cock pit, confident we'd follow.

 "Sweet!" Sora exclaimed, rising from his spot next to me.

 I frowned, yet still felt a bit of relief as I stood up and hesitantly followed the boys down to the air lock.

 The four of us huddled together around the exit. Donald felt the need to wait until this moment, to lay down a few ground rules.

 "Alright." He announced. "Before we head out-- something the two of you need to be aware, of, as Keyblade wielders. Protecting the balance and fighting monsters is a pretty big job. But, one thing to make absolutely clear is that you-- under no circumstances, tell anyone you are from off world."

 "Why not?" Sora asked.

 "To protect the borders of the world!" Goofy stated confidently, grinning as he stuck a finger in the air.

 "That's 'Oders' of the world, you dimwit!" Donald corrected

 "But that very order is being disrupted by the Heartless, isn't it?" I asked thoughtfully. "Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure the whatever world we go to, has already run the risk of having its whole state of peace of coherence pretty much thrown out the windows."

 "Which is why, stating the fact of us being off worlders, will make an even bigger mess of things." Donald, agreed. I watched as he moved to unlock the hatch. "It's pertinent that we keep business on a need to know basis."

 As he swung the door open, we were met by and impressive light show of energy the swarmed around the outside of the ship. A force field maybe? I watched as Donald and Goofy neared the exit, peering carefully outside.

 "Now, we're about to set foot on new ground." Donald informed turning back to look at us. "One thing to note is that you, under no circumstances, jump the air lock. Once we get down there, let's make sure to stick together, got it?."

 Sora and I nodded, wordlessly.

 "Alright. Let's get to it." Donald said, as he and Goofy step foot outside the ship.

 For a terrifying moment, I was led to believe, that these two were completely nuts as they had leaped to their deaths.

 Sora and I rushed to the exit to catch a glimpse of our new friends, go plummeting to their doom. Yet, once there we found no sight of them. They'd completely vanished.

 For a moment, we stood with expressions mixed with awe, horror and confusion-- completely unsure of what to think.

 "Do you think..." I finally asked.

 "Only one way to find out!" Sora shouted, taking a few steps back.

 "Wait a minute, you aren't thinking of-- Sora, no!" I tried to stop him.

 "Here I gooo!! Augh!"

 As Sora got off to a bit of a running start, he'd accidently shoved me half way through the exit, sending me dangling over the side. Noticing his mistake, he tried to somehow stop himself, as he reached out to make a grab at me. But he'd been much too late, as he'd sunk into the light that buzzed around the ship.

 Breathless, I found myself, once again gripped by fear, as I fumbled to try and keep myself from falling in, as well. But I was hardly holding on by the pads of my fingertips as I slipped and fell away from air lock and into the bright light, screaming for my life.

 Kingdom Hearts: Ascendant Recollection

Chapter 03

A Wonderland Deception

On top of the weird tingling and the slight dizziness from light travel, it was a weird experience to say the least. Getting zapped down to a new world, would have actually been quite exhilarating had it not included falling through an thicket of trees, and smashing my face into just about every single one. When I hit the ground, the loud thud of my head against the thick trunk, almost dulled out the sound of a little girl screaming in fright.

 I was starting to have a real bad relationship with trees at this point.

 Sitting up, I rubbed the back of my head, and blinked the black dots out of my eyes. Slowly my vision began to clear and the image of a blond girl, in a plain blue dress around maybe... eight to ten years old fazed into being. She looked at me with big black eyes. Her body language was apprehensive. She seemed just about ready to run.

 But... and you know I was probably losing my mind at this point from all the concussions I was getting and what not-- but this girl... actually seemed incredibly... small!

 She stood near the sole of my sneaker, blinking fearfully up at me. I wasn't able to really tell, but in comparison to her, I was at a height much larger than the clock tower back at Traverse Town. She was probably no bigger than my pinky.

 "Oh! I had no idea you--- How--? You’re so tiny! I didn't even see you! "I stammered over my words apologetically, feeling frantic about not having seen her. I could have squished the little girl, and never have known!

 "It's not that I'm small, but perhaps, that you still seem to be quite tall."

 "Still?" I asked. "You mean I should have shrunk before I got here?"

 The girl nodded. "Was that not clear? That door knob specially stated to, sip the drink so you could shrink."

 "Ah..." I paused for a moment, rubbing my head once again. Bad enough I had to keep up with this girl's rhymes, but I had no idea what door she was talking about.

 Coming to think of it, I'd landed in some thicket, alone, without my team. I'm supposing, Sora's fancy summersault out the airlock, left nasty effects for me and my crash landing, alone in the new world.

 "Well how do I get to your size?" I asked.

 "The shrooms, that around here, loom. Tall they are, but bland tasting treats. They'll help you shrink if you attempt to eat."

 I glanced around once again and realized that the trees, I'd come crashing through were indeed not trees, but mushrooms in which the girl had pointed out. In fact, this hadn't been the oddest, thing as I began to truly survey my surroundings. I sat in what I could only assume was more like great expanse of a possible field. Along with mushrooms, enormous blades of grass shot hundreds of thousands of feet in the air. The base of a giant tree trunk loomed so high in up, that it faded out of existence-- or at least just so, that I couldn't make any part of it out from where I sat with my size. I almost got tunnel vision when a gargantuan butterfly swooped down and picked up such a great wind that It tussled my hair.

 Turns out, that I wasn't the biggest thing here. Great...

 I looked back down at Alice, nearly shaking from the sheer disbelief of this world's capacity. I don't think I'd have too much trouble keeping the world order intact, here.

 I turned to find a mushroom, at my height. Gripping it in my hand, I ran a thumb over it, feeling for the texture. It was a boring, unexpecting looking mushroom. It was almost impossible to believe that it would make me shrink.

 "One bite?" I asked, looking down at the girl.

 "That's right!" The girl nodded

 Hesitantly, I pulled a small piece from the thing just to test its flavor. I wasn't keen on putting foreign plants into my mouth. Mushrooms were fine, but magical ones from other worlds??

 Carefully setting the small piece on my tongue I, bit down and met a chewy texture I really had no tolerance for. I would have spat it out had I not felt obligated to grow smaller. Continuing to process the chewy plant in my teeth, I swallowed and quickly began to feel the effects.

 At first my stomach bubbled before bursting into a fit of Butterflies. And before I knew it, the world around me increased in size and I went plummeting, once against, towards the dirt, right at the girl's feet.

 I groaned, sick of the falling.

 "Are you alright?" The girl asked.

 "Quite..." I said with a bit of a cheeky grin, standing and brushing the dirt from my clothes. "So... I'm sorry to bother you but, I'm a bit lost. I was kind of here with my friends, but I've gotten separated from them somehow. Have you by any chance seen a boy with brown hair, dressed in red, come through here-- or anyone for that matter?"

 "I wish I could say but, I've been alone this whole day." The girl said, with a droopy frown. "In fact, a little white rabbit is what I'm in search for. But the Cheshire cat failed to give a proper tour. So, now I'm quite lost in this maze. It feels less like hours and more like days. And worst still... the creatures with their odd features. I've been out running them for a while. Although, I haven't seen them in the last mile."

 Quickly deciphering her poetry speak, I noted that this girl had been thrown into a pretty odd predicament herself. She was in a place she wasn't familiar with and was searching for white rabbit, she'd most likely lost multiple times. Some... cat gave her bad directions and now she was here in this ticket, alone. I had to presume that the creatures she referred to were Heartless.

 "Well... I don't mind tagging along to keep you safe from the creatures. We can search together to we find who we're both looking for."

 "Sure!" The girl cheered, clapping her hands and twirling about, excitedly. "Oh! By the way, how do you do? My name is Alice, and you?"

 "I'm Yukari." I nodded, glancing about the path. "Ah...Which way do we... "

 "Follow me."

 On recommendation, I followed Alice diaper into the thicket of enormous shrooms and towering blades of grass. The expansive dirt, crunched softly beneath our feet as we walked. For a good while, the walk had been far from eventful so, I supplemented the silence for a bit of chatter. I asked plenty of questions, allowing Alice to do the majority of talking. At the same time, my mind began to drift away.

 I wondered where my party could have turned up and if we'd meet at any point during this visit. I was so... small in the world, it was almost mind shattering. I tried not to think too deeply about it when we passed enormous insects and a bed of rude and pretentious flowers, that hung over our heads, and prodded over our appearances.

 The wandering came to an end, when our surroundings began to shift from lush vegetation, to a manicured hedge maze. The sound of men, singing a light hearted tune, hung in the air, and I couldn’t help but notice a strange shift in the artificial sky that boxed in over my head. Sure it was bright and blue, but there was something incredibly off about the place.

 "This way, perhaps!" Alice shouted excitedly as she made a sharp turn around a wall of hedge.

 "Hey, wait!" I called, chasing after her. "It could be danger...ous..."

 My words trailed off as I ogled at what lay before me.

 "I... must have completely lost my mind..." I said under my breath as I watched Alice, merrily joined in with what appeared to be a group of... card men.

 When I say, card men, I actually mean, they were literally people made of playing cards. Their bodies were a tall length of Bristol paper, decorated with spades, respective to their number. They heads, hands, and feet were all spades as well. I marvel with confused amazement at their incredible articulation, as they bent and jumped and danced around. All the while I noticed they been holding paint brushes, dripping wet with red paint. I watched as they messily slapped the paint onto what appeared to be white paper roses that sat, elegantly folded within the beautifully treated, trees that had been forced to grow into the appearance of spades.

 The faint, musical number floated about the small clearing, bringing life to the artificial beauty around me. I almost settled into the mood when loud yelled, tore into my ears.

 "WHO'S BEEN PAITING MY ROSES RED!?!?"

 My soul nearly left my body, I had been so scared.

 The three card men, leapt from their tree and scrambled about the placed until they had the neat idea of stacking themselves together, to hide their presence. Alice, afraid of the disembodied voice, just like the rest of us, had run to my side and cowered behind me.

 I did say I'd keep her safe, didn’t I?

 The world began to shake as, aggravated stomping came from the exit, opposite of the way Alice and I came in. An enormous, menacing shadow, creeped slowly into view from over the hedge's height. I could feel Alice's grip on my arm tighten. My breath got stuck in my throat as I stood there. I was somehow more afraid of whatever the consequence of painting roses red, than the actual... thing... that was advancing.

 "WHHOOOO WAS IT!!??" The voice demanded once more.

 From the darkness, the figure emerge and stared wide eyed as a plump, round woman dressed in a regal red and black umbrella dress loomed above us. She had puffy sleeves and a raised collar, that seemed particularly pointed. Her big pudgy face was red with rage. Her hair was a tangled mess that seem more aggravated by her mood than anything. Atop her had sat an itty bitty crown that was barely holding its own.

 A legion of card men, came trucking into the scene on either side of this women. Seemingly very aware of the culprits, they surrounded the three card men who'd made a poor attempt to hide. Ripping them a part, they were dragged over towards the angry woman and thrown down in front of her.

 "YOU THREE!!" The woman, exclaimed, loudly, pointing her small, chubby finger in the direction of the guilty party. "WHO!! Painted My Roses Red??!"

 I watched, completely paralyzed as the cards tried their hardest to hide amongst each other, shifting the blame and pointing fingers before finally giving up and admitting to their actions. "W-we did Your Highness." One of them said. "We thought you might... like them r-red."

 "Oh? So you did, did you?" The queen asked. Suddenly her beast like features vanished, as she reverted into a friendlier version of herself. But this was short lived as she immediately resumed shouting. "Who Told You, You Could Don't Such A Thing!? OOOF WITH THEIR HEADS!!!"

 On que, red card soldiers emerged to take away the perpetrators, who were dragged away sobbing and begging for mercy, perhaps, never to be seen again. I clamped my molars tightly against each other when the angry peach of a women, stepped in front of me. Her face was serene, almost as if she was enjoying a cool summer breeze.

 "And Who... might you two be?" She asked. She had that gentle tone in her voice that heavily hinted on apprehensive.

 "Alice..."/"Yukari"

 Both of us spoke together, afraid that hesitation would get us killed.

 The woman... or I supposed I should call her the Queen, eyed us as though we were mere, ugly looking ants. I could feel Alice shaking as she gripped my arm tighter. I would have been too if I hadn't been trying to figure out where to look, out of the lady's royal respect. So I kept my eyes strained on  the perfectly trimmed grass beneath my feet.

 "Perhaps you already know this, but in case you might need a refresher, I am The Queen of Hearts. And I hereby dub you two guilty of treason."

 My stomach lurched from where it had been lodged in my throat. "Tr-treason??" I blurted out.

 "Cards!" The Queen shouted. "Take them away!!"

 Panic filled me, as my eyes darted frantically about at the card soldiers that closed in on me. I turned, looking for Alice who'd already been grabbed up. She screamed and pleaded while struggling to get free.

 "No, no, no! Let me go!!" Alice squealed over the hollering and thrashing.

 "Alice!" I shouted. I would have rushed to her aid but, I was grabbed up by a few of the card soldiers. Surprisingly, they were stronger than I presumed, and their grip on we was uncomfortably tight.

 I turned my head to search for the Queen who'd put us in this predicament.

 "Please!!" I shouted. "We haven't done anything! Let alone commit treason!! Let us go so we can explain ourselves."

 "SILENCE!!" The Queen shouted, exploding int a fit of red rage!! "The two of you appear, suspect, as those who've attempt the theft upon my heart!!"

 "What?!-- Augh!" I was yanked back by one of the card soldiers, that was trying to now bind my wrist. “No!" I shouted. "I-isn't there a sort of trial or something!?! To prove our innocence."

 I watched, as the Queen stared over me, her anger slowly dissipating. Her expression was quickly replaced with that of contemplation.

 "STOOPPP!!" She yelled, suddenly.

 And everything ceased.

 The cards that succeeded in binding my hands, held me by my arms, and shoulders so I wouldn’t escape. I looked for Alice who looking up at the queen with a horror stricken face.

 "Indeed." The woman, said as a devious grin slowly grew onto her face. "A trial, of course. It's only way. I'll hear your plea, but then it's OOOOOOOOOOF WITH YOU HEADS!!!"

 Seemingly used to this sort of behavior, the cards knew exactly what to do. They took no time in shoveling Alice and I out of the clearing, past the maze. It didn't take long before we were roughly ushered into an "open air" court room, existing within the hidden recesses of the hedge garden.

 Even as artificial as the hedge maze was, there still managed to be something regal in the appearance of the "room." An enormous long, red rug with gold trim laid, through the center of the area. It looked like a normal court room with jury and judge panel. There was the witness and defendant stands and everything. The only issue was, no one was around.

 As Alice and I stood at our spread podiums near each other, I could already feel that this was going to go horribly for the two of us. The Queen sat as the judge, reclining happily in her chair. What we were waiting for, I had no clue at the time, but soon found out when a nervous looking rabbit came running into the scene.

 "It's him!" Alice whispered to me, almost excitedly.

I watched as a white rabbit dressed in an a red outfit of puffed sleeves and fancy frilled collar darted up the spiral of stairs that wrapped up around tall pedestal, likely made just for him. Once at the top, the rabbit drew out a horn, and inhaled sharply before blowing out a sort of commencement tune, that settled over the court room.

 "Court... is now in session..."The rabbit said, in between labored breaths. I watched as he wiped his brow with a handkerchief and stood silently at the ready.

 "These two are the culprits!" Accused the queen, promptly starting the meeting, cutting straight to the chase. She aimed her little gavel at the two of us, waving it back and forth, from me to Alice. "There's no doubt about it. And the reason why? Because I say so, That's Why?"

 "Why, this meeting is absolutely flawed!!" Alice cried out, stamping her little foot in protest. "Neither she nor I have done anything wrong!! I don't know whether or not, you're truly Queen. But, I've never seen someone so self and... and so mean!"

 The Queen let go a very exaggerated gasp, placing a hand at her chest. I glanced about me as the card soldiers all around came undone and started to low-key panic from where they stood. I could only assume what was about to unfold as I turned back to the Queen of Hearts, now ready to fight my way out of the situation if I had to.

 "You dare defy me?!?! Both of you are guilty!!! Guilty of the theft upon the heart of Queen of Hearts!! OOOOFFFF WITH THEIR HEADS!!"

 The card soldiers leapt into action, moving faster than I could think. They yanked and pulled at my hair and arms, struggling to force me into submission.

 "No, No!! Oh, Please!" Alice squealed, as they closed in around her.

 "Hold it right there!!" A voice bolted through the air, like a rooster breaking the silence of dawn.

 Raking my head free from the grip of one of the card soldiers, I found Sora barging into the court yard, with Donald and Goofy immediately behind him.

 "You Dare Interfere With The Proceeding Of This Court!?" The Queen hollered. Her temper completely dissipated at this point. "Manner less! The Lot of You!!"

 "Just wait a minute. We know who the culprits really are!" Sora declared.

 "Yeah!! It was the Heartle--" Goofy began to speak, but quickly covered his mouth, realizing he'd almost said too much.

 "Hogwash!!" The Queen spat. "You couldn't possibly know what you're talking of, lad. Have you, any proof?"

 "Well... uh..." This was where Sora's 'planning' went south. I assumed he brashly rushed in to save the two of us, but with no forethought.

 "Very well." The Queen hissed, as she glared infernos in the party's direction. Her nostrils flared aggressively and, it almost looked like steam was spewing out of her ears. "I shall humor your claim. Bring me evidence of these girls' innocence. Fail and it's Off With All Your Heads!!"

 At this, the card soldiers, roughly picked both Alice and I off of the ground and shoved us into a cage.

 "Until your investigations are through, the Court is adjourned!"

 The slam of the gavel marked the definitive end of the session. I could truly feel the harrowing sensation of our predicament, when the boys approached Alice and my, engagement.

 "Yukari, where on earth have you been this entire time??" Sora asked, keeping his voice level.

 "I'm going to assume it has something to do with my... erm... rough exit." I said, eluding to the events prior without dropping any hints of our being aliens to this world. "I've been here probably just as long as you but, got... 'turned around' a bit." I punctuated my statement with air quotes.

 "Well this is a fine mess." Donald said rubbing his temples. "This is what happens when you meddle in the affairs of other worlds. Now what are we supposed to do about... all of this?"

 "Hey, I hardly did anything." I snapped a bit, keeping my voice low. "But Queenie up there is impulsive. She does what she pleases, and I for one can't be so sure, that even if you find your evidence, she'll let us go."

 "Indeed." Alice whispered, standing next to me at the bars. "It would be a far cry to believe she'd hear it if you plead."

 "Oh--" Sora seemed a bit thrown. "I know it seems a bit hapless, but we're definitely going to get you guys out of here. Don't you fret."

 "Not at all. With Yukari here, I feel I've got a lot of gall." Alice smiled.

 Her faith in me was shocking, considering I couldn't help her escape the Queen's wrath. I suppose it's more to do with my keeping her company than anything else.

 "We've just got one problem.” Goofy interjected. “We don't even know where to start looking for any proof."

 "There does in yonder woods, reside the Cheshire Cat." Alice suggested. "Do seek him out and ask him where this proof is at."

 I realized, Alice had spoken of him before. But, the way she did so made me think he might have been a bit misleading. I would have debated if that were a good idea or not. But before I could speak, the Card that stood guard next to the cage seemed to grow irritated, at our discussion.

 "Enough talking already! Get a move on.

 Sora gave me one last, worrisome glance before the party strode away.

 I sighed as I plopped myself down near the back of the cage. Pulling my knees into my chest, I wrapped my arms around them and tried to keep my through from souring. I watched as Alice took a seat as well, elegantly sitting mermaid style as she clasped her hands into her laps. The look on her face was troubled, which made me feel worse.

 "I'm sorry about this mess." I said. "But those guys were my friends. I trust they'll definitely help us out of here."

 Alice shook her head. I took it she didn't blame me, considering how we got here. "Of course you aren't to blame. Yet even with your friends help, I'm worried all the same. Without you here, I'm sure I'd have much more to fear..."

 I nodded, resting my chin against my knees as the two of us patiently waited for the boys to returned. We settled into the quiet, not wanting to draw more attention to our situation. It wasn't even long, before Heartless exploded into the room, with the boys bounding after them.

 "Oh no..." I grumbled, as I neared to bars of the cage.

 "Here's the evidence your Queen-liness!" Sora shouted, taking down the Heartless as they surged towards the Queen of Hearts. Right as one was about to drive its claws into the Queen's chest, Sora leapt onto the judge panel and destroyed it, sending it bursting in a fit of darkness.

 "How Dare You!?" The Queen exploded, probably more shaken at the fact that she'd almost been attacked. "The proof is nothing but a farse!! This is all the evidence I needed to confirm that you are the ones attempting to steel my heart. Off With Their Heads, All of them!! SIEZE THEM!!"

 Suddenly, the cage lurched upwards, shoot up towards the sky before locking in place, raised above the court yard.

 "Sora!" I shouted to him.

 "Don't worry abou-- Augh!!" But his words were cut through as he was cut off when the legion of card soldiers, leapt onto him. To my great dismay, a curtain suddenly wrapped around the circumference of our prison, obscuring our view of the outside.

 "No. Nope!" I said, getting up shakily, trying to maintain balance. Carefully I made it to the latch and tried to rip the door open with force. Of course, this thing was high grade, thick metal or whatever so it didn't budge. I attempted kicking it in, but this only managed to rock the cage. Alice yelped in terror, trying to keep her balance.

 "Sorry." I told her. "I'm just trying to get us out of here, so I can hel--"

 And then it struck me. The Keyblade.

 I mean, it was a Key, maybe I could somehow get it to--

 "Yukari!!" Alice screamed.

 My head shot towards her, wondering what the problem could be. But when I looked upon her, I found, a pool of what looked to be inky darkness, culminating at the bottom of the cage. What was more alarming was that it wasn't just latched on to Alice, but myself as well.

 "Oh Goodness! What is this?!" She cried out, trying to pull herself free, yanking her leg out with her hands. But no matter how much she managed to free herself, the stuff latched back on to her.

 What was more frightening was that it began to suck her in.

 For a second, panic whipped over my senses and I was frozen in place. My mind raced with frightening possibilities of what would happen if she was completely consumed. Where on earth was this coming from? A dark tendril, latched onto my wrist and yanked my down, into the pool. I fought against it as much as I was able, but when I wouldn't come to Darkness, it came to me.

 Where I thought I was panicking before, I was truly freaking out now. Somehow I was tumbling through an expanse of dark fluid that curled and tightened around my body. I shouted, silent cries that were stolen away by the Darkness around me. I tried to call out to Alice, but it was fruitless. I fought against a tugging sensation that occurred all over my body, like a swarm of evil hands pulling me deeper into the darkness. I fought until I felt another pull, one much more pure, yank me in the opposite direction.

 Suddenly light erupted from my chest and everything came to a halt.

 "Sleeeeepp~" A hiss sounded in my ears.

 I found it almost startling. But not as startling as another voice that loudly buzzed though my head.

 "Get up."

 My eyes, shot open.

 Slowly I sat up, with great confusion. The two voices that chased each other in my head, sounded nothing alike. One raspy and evil, while the other was warm and inviting. At first, I wondered if I'd imagined it, before I noticed a body, of pure white, standing near me.

 "Stand." The voice of a women spoke. But even as such, I saw no indication of lips or eyes. Whoever this had been, was a complete silhouette of light.

 "Who.... are you?" I asked, a bit apprehensively.

 Last time I even looked upon a creature completely eclipsed in black, I was always almost eaten. Who's to say this lady didn't have the same intentions.

 "We must hurry, if you want to help you friends." She said, completely dodging my question.

 "My... friends?" I asked. "Wait... where am I? What happened to Alice, is she--"

 "You are in the Darkness between." The woman, voiced beginning to walk away. Her steps were so light in comparison to my own, against the wet, dark ground. "Your enemies pulled your through it, in order to capture you. Perhaps they intended, to use or destroy you... But in the end, their intentions are not pure, either way. As for Alice, she has lost the battle with the darkness and was captured. She's already within the enemies grip."

 For a moment, I considered her words. "Well... Well we've got to go and save her!" I suggested.

 "You are not ready." The woman said. "To face the enemies alone, would be suicide."

 I pressed my lips together, knowing any further suggestions, would be met with disapproving responses. I wanted to suggest taking Sora and the others, but I had no idea what was going on, how I ended up here, or even how I'd get back.

 "Due to my deep connection with you... I only managed to pull you away from their grasp."

 "Deep connection..." I echoed. "Then... who are you? You seem a lot like that screeched thing. But somehow... different at the same time."

 The woman, stopped, to do what I could only assume was ponder. "I suppose one could call us the Ladies of Light and Dark respectively. While I reside within your heart to protect you... she seems only intent on your destruction."

 "D-destruction??" I stuttered. "Wait! Do I even get a reason as to why??"

 But the woman let go a yelp, clasping her fingers to what I had to assume was her forehead. "I... cannot fully recall." She said. "For whatever reason... those memories are sealed off. I cannot even remember how I came to be here."

 "Wait... your memories are--"

 "But this is not important. You enemies have sent a heartless out to destroy your friends. You must hurry to their aid, as they cannot defeat it without you."

 "Flattering." I grumbled. "But Sora's got a Key too. I'm pretty sure that--"

 "Now..." The woman, dubbed as the Lady of Light, threw up her hand and created a sort of... portal made of bright, shimmering, golden light.

 "Wait... Seriously?! You can't just throw all of this on me and not even explain!"

 "SCREEEEEEEEEEUUUGH!!" A loud hissing sort of cry, sounded from behind us.

 I filched, turning back to pear into the infinite Darkness to see what I knew was approaching.

 "You must leave, now." The woman's voice was urgent. "You will get your answers, when we meet again."

 "But I don't even know--"

 "SCRAAAAAAAAAGH!!!"

 "Now!!" The Lady of Light grabbed me by the shoulder, and shoved my through the portal. The greatest inconvenience of my days was being tossed through the air twice now. Sadly, where I thought those would be my last times, I couldn't have been more incorrect as I went hurdling through the air, screaming my lungs out as I fell through an enormous room of pinks and whites. The place around me seemed full of three dimensional objects, put upon passing them, they all turned out to be false, drawn surfaces. I screamed harder when I noticed a large, round table below me, that I couldn't decipher as a real one or a flat 2D plain as I went rocketing towards it.

 But I did manage to make out three little figures stood upon the tables top, scrambled about.

 I plummeted, right into the arms of Sora who'd ended up crumpling, unable to support the weight of a girl who'd fallen from the sky.

 "What the heck!?" Sora shouted, picking himself up.

 "What is that???" I responded frantically, ignoring Sora's mild curses.

 Erupting from below the edges of table was an enormous... Heartless. For lack of better terms, the thing was odd-- sporting doubled limbed, double jointed legs, that looked good for jumping. It was a mass of folded paper like arms that that did nothing more but absent mindedly juggled batons of fire about while stomping around the room.

 The table beneath my butt, had suddenly vanished. My party happily went slamming right into the floor below.

 I yelped in pain as I massaged the side of my face. Glancing around at my team mates, they looked a lot worse for wear. How long that they been dukin' it out with... whatever this guy was. I turned to look for the Heartless only find an enormous black shoe coming down upon the four of us.

 "SCRAAAAM!!!" Donald shouted.

 The four of us all leapt in opposite directions, narrowly missing getting squashed likes ants. I rolled to a halt and quickly got to my feet and summoned my Keyblade. I glanced about me, taking a mental note of where the boys all landed, before gazing up at the towering Heartless above.

 "Can I ask?" I shouted. "What in the world is happening!?"

 "Talk later." An unfamiliar voice sung. My eyes darted all around the expansive room in search of the one possessing the voice. It didn't take long to find a disembodied, floating cat head spinning around on the ledge of the gigantic fire place. Slowly, it came to a stop, looking directly at me before it's body, of deep purple and pink stripes came into existence before reclining in his spot-- a big grin spread long across his face. "Fight! For now that the gang is all here, the Heartless can be defeated."

 "This was all a trick!" Sora shouted, as he rolled beneath an attack from the papery arms of the Giant Heartless boss.

 "A trick??" The cat, who I quickly began to gather was the Cheshire, tutted. "Nothing of the sort. The Cheshire Cat is always here to help those in need."

 Upon those words, the Giant Heartless rose it's firey buttons over its head. Spinning them in its hands, fire quickly began to manifest before he plunged his twirling weapons down upon our party as a wave of fire came surging directly at our quartet.

 "Some assistance?" I could barely hear the cat's words as the four us screamed for our lives.

 I almost hadn't realized the twinkling, magical aura that fluttered brightly around Sora and I. Too panicked to think I shoved my Keyblade out before me to block the oncoming attack. To my great surprise, a flurry of a blizzard shot from the tip of my Keyblade and swamped half of the Giant Heartless in ice and snow.

 "Wak!!" Donald voiced. "You just did magic!!"

 No kidding. I could really feel it too, as I suddenly felt completely drained. Much like the Heartless, half of my body from the right arm up and bit down to my waist was frosted over. I shivered aggressively with teeth chattering as I tried to find warmth, drawing back my key. Looking up, I watched as the Heartless shivered and twitched trying to recover from my spell.

 "That was amazing, Yukari!!" Sora shouted, throwing a fist in the air.

 "But incredibly dangerous!" Donald added. "If you're gonna use magic, you'll have to focus it. Channel it through your Keyblade. Don't just throw it around recklessly, or you'll burn yourself out."

 "Yeah.." I nodded, shaking the cold away. Slicing my Key through the air, I could see it glitter with little flecks of frost. "Sora. We've gotta rely on magic to take it down." I said.

 "I mean... I'll try." He said, ready his blade, looking determines regardless.

 The Heartless, now somewhat recovered, groaned as he weekly took a step in our direction.

 "Looks like that really did a number on it. Sora, follow my lead." I ordered. "Donald, can you back me up with some stronger ranged spells? We're gonna try and freeze it for good, but I think I used up most of my magic already...."

 Donald nodded.

 "Goofy, we're gonna need you in front to block his fire. Together we can take him down!"

 "Yeah!!" The boys all shouted before we broke huddle and rushed into action.

 Sora, Donald and Goofy and I rushed the big boss, with Goofy holding up the front. He bravely blocked fireball after fire ball, while we all ducked numerous oncoming swipes of his baton. I could tell it was getting annoyed with us by the way it started stomping around.

 Donald held up the rear, casting spells that did more area damage than, to the Heartless-- which was outright perfect as Sora and I hit him with little blizzard spells as we darted around the thing’s ankles.

 The Heartless began to slow, stopping in its tracks and, bending it's odd legs to their fullest as it crouched down low.

 "It's gonna jump!!" Goofy shouted, breaking formation as he ran for any possible cover.

 The four of us completely dispersed as it leapt high into the air, nearly hitting the ceiling of the room. It was then that a bright idea formed.

 "Donald!!" I shouted. "Watch it's trajectory!! Aim you magic at where it lands. Sora!! Focus on the enemy, keeping firing your ice!!"

 The boys did just as I'd ordered, casting magical cold spells all over the place. It was only when the thing came back down, that I had grown increasingly worried. Now completely frozen, the Heartless would only be good for a frosty explosion!!

 "Duck and cover!!" I shouted, turning to run. Instantly I slammed into Sora and together we'd plopped into a heap on the floor, only to attempt to scramble back to our feet to get to safety.

 "Firaga!!" I heard Donald shout as he and Goofy appeared ahead of us.

 A big, blazing fire exploded from the tip of Donald's staff, right at the moment where the Heartless hit the floor and erupted into a explosion of snow and ice that, had it not been for Goofy’s shield, would have impaled us all.

 For a good while, the frost hung in the air, obscuring our vision. But whence it cleared we found the heartless, frozen and in pieces. While no longer functioning, it had still not completely disappeared. Sora and I quickly disposed of the thing, sending off yet another one of those large, pink crystalline hearts that floated up into the air, before vanishing out of sight.

 "Phew!" Goofy exclaimed, wiping his brow. "Glad that's over."

 "Good, lord... What is all that racket?!" A voiced whined. I looked to find a talking door knob yawning sleepily. It's baggy eyes looking our party over with great distaste. "Do humor me a bit and tone down the brawl, could you? A door knob isn't to get any rest around here, he can't..."

 The thing, finished off its sentence with a grand yawn, opening it's maw perfectly wide, and holding it just right for us to notice something beyond the depths of his... esophagus.

 Suddenly both Sora's and my Key lurched towards the door, as if being controlled by some guided hand. Promptly, a beam of bright light shot from the tips of out blades and right into the door knobs mouth before dying away. A loud clunking noises sounded before the door knob could, conveniently close its mouth.

 "What... was that?" Sora inquired.

 "Sounded like something... locked." I suggested.

 The four of us continued to gaze on as something fell from the door, and rolled onto the floor at Goofy's feet. To which he picked it up to inspect what looked like a sort of bright green rock.

 "Ahyuck, it's a Gummi black!" Goofy explained.

 "It's doesn't look like a normal piece tough. Let's have it here." Donald urged, as he took it from Goofy to look over himself. As he turned it in his hand, he hummed in thought, furrowing his brows. "Haven't seen one like this before..."

 Clapping suddenly filled the air, cutting through our revelation. We all turned back to the newly appeared table that sat in the middle of the room to find the Cheshire cat, once more.

 "Superb performance! You're powers certainly do bloom true, if I do say!! Keep it up and someday you'll be florist! I can't wait to see what you'll do next."

 I frowned at such a poorly placed pun.

 "Who are you, really, Cheshire cat?" Sora asked. The tone in his voice informed me that he'd met with this cat more than he'd liked to.

 "Alice is neither here, nore there-- or available for any occasion." The cat echoed. It was only then that I realized that his body had phased out of existence, while his voice reverberated impressively around the great room. "She's past from this world to where I cannot speak... Borne off by the shadows, she has fallen to the darkness of obscurity. Perhaps, your feminine friend could shed some light upon your situation. Tip toeing around the truth will only get you thrown into deeper Darkness."

 All of the boys' eyes landed on me as, I became the new subject of interest.

 "Yukari... what's he talking about?" Sora asked. "Does this have something to do with why, Alice... didn't come back with you?"

 He Donald and Goofy traded worried expressions. I bit my lip, now fearing what I'd been putting off. But if what they Lady of Light had said, about our enemies was true... then I suppose it was indeed time to tell the boys about the dreams.

 "We should get back to the ship." I sighed. "There's... something I've been meaning to tell you."

To Be Continued

← Previous Chapter | | Next Chapter ➡

[theredwallrecorder]

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) pt 3 - SHOWSTOPPER

*walks up to the mic in a completely silent auditorium*

*clears throat loudly, opens mouth*

[this is what comes out of my gaping mouth]

( ͡°( ͡° ͜ʖ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)ʖ ͡°) ͡°)

I’m not gonna lie, I love Martin and company with a fiery passion, but sweet Redwall strawberries if I haven’t been waiting for this part since the beginning of this ridiculous fic. Our heroes have had their time in the limelight, and now to introduce the real showstoppers. We’re goin full anime up in here, and by “full anime” I mean “you about to be smothered in copious bromance and awesome combat”. From this point on, fic parts will focus on individual duels, but it’ll all get tied together in the end. @thegoldensoundtwice not a day goes by that I don’t blow a kiss in your general direction for riding this crazy train with me. Thank you for lettin’ me borrow your daughter ;3

Please enjoy Redwall Hell: The Anime pt 3, in which Martin and company are redirected to a new waypoint, and Vulpuz pretty much loses it. How are we supposed to hold all his pent-up anger and frustration? No clue, but I’m willing to bet that she would know the answer to that one. *wink* Also, if anyone’s curious, the top two photos at this link depict what she’s wearing upon her arrival, courtesy of @raphcrow. Thanks for the ref material, bae, and more besides. <3

A quick note on wounds/injuries in Redwall Hell: I’m working off the headcanon that you can sustain injuries in Hellgates. The visible ones (cuts, bruises, etc) leave behind a wound that glows with a soft light. I imagine this plays into the “yes, you are actually in purgatory” atmosphere. However, you do not actively bleed in Hellgates. I mean... you’re already dead, lol. You can’t die twice... right?

If there’s a part 3, that means there’s a part 1 and a part 2. Have at ‘em.

Oh, and here are some jams for your listening pleasure: /SHOWSTOPPER/, /LAST REMOTE/, /THROWDOWN/, /THIS TOWN, YOUR GRAVE/, /NOVOCAINE/, /DRUMMING SONG/, /DARK HORSE/, /GIRL/

Let’s rave.

- - - - - -

Martin and Laterose blinked. The quarry, the sea, the makeshift throne and all of the northeastern shore by Marshank was utterly gone, as if somebeast had taken an old rag and wiped them from existence. The scene from ages past had been replaced by the familiar veined brimstone and eerie reddish glow of the desolate landscape of Hellgates. They were standing in a small clearing, edged on three sides with a low wall constructed of mismatched obsidian boulders. Myriad chunks of brimstone littered the area. Warily, Martin abandoned his offensive charge, the point of his sword still trained forwards. The sounds of indiscriminate shuffling prompted him to look back over his shoulder.

Rose had stopped swinging her sling. She was kneeling alongside Dinny and Grumm, helping the two dazed moles to come back to their senses. Several feet behind them, Gonff sat up, patting himself down to make sure he was still in one piece. His face was the very picture of awed surprise and confusion, but when he locked eyes with Martin, the irrepressible mousethief burst out laughing.

“Hahaha! We’re alive!” he cried, leaping to his footpaws. Hardly able to contain his joy, Gonff cartwheeled over to where Felldoh still lay in a baffled heap, the warrior squirrel’s intact spear laying across his chest. Still laughing, Gonff snatched up the spear and offered Felldoh a paw. “Up y’come, matey!”

Felldoh groaned as Gonff helped him up off the ground. “Ooh, that’s a sore spot for sure. Would anybeast be able to explain what exactly just—”

He froze mid-sentence, his mouth hanging open. In their midst a vixen had suddenly materialized, a dark gossamer cloak swirling slightly about her. She stood, tall and stern, her unwavering gaze fixed not on any of the company, but upon the disturbed visage of the Great Vulpuz. The ruler of Hellgates was crouching close to the ground a few yards away, his jaw working spasmodically, his eyes fixed on the cloaked vixen. Without moving a single muscle, she spoke to the woodlanders gathered around her, her tone low and urgent.

“You have done well to come so far. Now, you must abandon this fight. Follow my lantern. It will lead you to the one who does not belong here.”

In that moment the six friends became aware of the presence of a gentle glow, softer and more substantial than the unnatural light of Hellgates. The light emanated from an elegant paper lantern affixed to a delicate pole of bamboo wood, which had appeared in the air next to Gonff. The lantern swayed gently back and forth in an unseen wind, its pole hovering several feet off the ground. The aft end of the pole rotated slowly upwards, the artfully carved handle coming to rest against the back of one of Gonff’s paws, as if the lantern was offering itself up to be held.

The mousethief hesitated, his brow creased with doubt. He glanced up at Martin. The warrior mouse’s mouth was set in a grim line, and he was watching the newly-arrived vixen intently. The thought of the group being confronted by another deadly trap flitted briefly through Gonff’s mind.

“It’s all right, Gonff,” Rose broke through the mousethief’s reverie. “This is the one who has been guiding us with her voice, the Lady of Hellgates.”

“Burr aye, take oop ee loight, zurr Gonffen,” Grumm encouraged.

Bolstered by his friends’ confidence, Gonff reached out to grasp the Lady’s lantern. The bamboo pole seemed to thrum with an energy all its own, causing a tingling sensation in his paw. He eyed the lantern curiously as it bobbed to and fro.

“How will this tell us where to go? Should I… ask it?” He gestured to the lantern with his free paw. “Will you show us the way?”

Without warning the lantern and its pole bucked so fiercely, Gonff was forced to take hold of it with both paws. The animated lamp seemed to gather itself before executing an enormous leap, effectively dragging Gonff across the clearing. “This waaay, maaaaaaaates!” he managed to holler back at the company before the lantern tugged him over the crest of a low hill and out of sight.

Loth to abandon what he knew to be a brewing conflict, Martin hovered betwixt uncertainty and his warrior instincts. It was not in his nature to leave another to fight his battles for him, especially one so mysterious as the Lady of Hellgates.  

“Go.”

The Lady’s spellbinding voice shattered Martin’s spirit of indecision. For the first time she tore her gaze from Vulpuz, a vague smile of admiration playing about her lips as she beheld the warrior mouse with her bright, piercing eyes.

“Your heart has courage, but you know not whom you face,” she cautioned. “You must be swift, warrior! The tenderhearted one called Blaggut needs you!”

The mention of a creature in need reminded Martin of the task at hand. He nodded to the rest of the company, and the five friends tore off across the clearing after Gonff, disappearing together over the distant knoll. The Lady breathed a visible sigh of relief as she felt the presences of the woodlanders grow faint.

Meanwhile, Vulpuz, ruler of Hellgates, had abandoned himself to a temper tantrum. At some point during the exchange between the Lady and Martin’s group, he had thrown himself upon the ground to writhe piteously in the dust, scoring deep scratches in the earth with his claws. At intervals he would throw up his head to snarl at the sky, tearing great tufts of white fur out of his tail as he did so. Ravenously he gnawed upon the boulders around him, crushing broken pieces of the fiery brimstone between his powerful jaws. He eventually succumbed to rapidly dragging his paws down his face in a repetitive, anxious blur of motion, all the while hurling accusations, entreaties, and insults at the Lady.

“How could you? How could you?!” he screeched, his voice rising to a fever pitch. “I had them! Do you know how many eons of insufferable boredom I could have blissfully passed through with those imbeciles as my pets?” Vulpuz’s eyes bulged, the veins in his neck pulsating as he gave full vent to his rage. “Curse you, foul and deranged vixen! How could you take this from me?! This was to be my moment of ultimate triumph, the pivotal instance where I, the Great Vulpuz, would steal the very crown of Dark Forest right from under the dripping snouts of those idiotic woodlanders! Why? Why?! What in my name have I ever done to you to deserve this sort of treatment?” The Great Vulpuz scrambled onto his footpaws with erratic urgency. He paused briefly, his chest heaving from the exertion of his outburst.

“I… I have to do something about you. I must do something about you!” Vulpuz’s upper lip curled into a snarl, flecks of spittle falling from his chin. “I… I know you will interfere again… if given the chance.”

The Lady placed one paw on her hip, regarding Vulpuz with mild amusement. “There,” she cooed at him. “You’ve spoken your piece. Tell me, how does the Great Vulpuz feel now?”

The white fox’s entire body shook, and he bent forward at the waist. “Ooooooh, I feel so betrayed,” Vulpuz wailed, his voice almost a sob. He continued to speak aloud to nobeast in particular, his gestures wild and distracted. “How could she do this to me? Me, the ruler of Hellgates? When I knew she had come, I rejoiced, thinking she would join me in my revelry… but, no.” He scuffed at the ground with a vicious kick. “No, no, NO! She protected those miscreants! Hellsteeth! Just thinking about it makes me want to tear myself limb from bloody limb! Augh! And the smell! How noxious and revolting the stench of Dark Forest that clung to their miserable bodies like fine mail!”

A full minute of complete silence elapsed, in which Vulpuz remained hunched over and panting, the inner flames of his fury stoking themselves into an untamable wildfire. Slowly he raised his head, locking eyes with the sole object of his hatred, and in his gaze was the pale light of a cruelty so chilling the Lady flicked one ear in acknowledgement of it.

“I feel… rage.” Vulpuz’s voice had grown deathly quiet. “Rage at the one who took what was mine by right of conquest. How deeply I long to thrash her beyond recompense, to tear out her eyes and commit them to the infernal winds, to defile her adulterous establishment, to completely and utterly…”

He smiled at her.

“… Devour you.”

The reddish light of Hellgates slowly dimmed until the Lady found herself surrounded by complete darkness. Though Vulpuz was unaware of it, she could still see him, his knack for warping appearances having no effect on her. He was laughing now, echoes of maniacal glee ringing about the stone-rimmed clearing.

“I’ve had enough of your kittish antics, vixen,” he admonished. “I will let the stroke of my chisel of anger fall upon you. Haha, finally! You will give me what I desire, and if not, I shall carve it from you by force.”

Four distinct presences manifested themselves to the Lady in the same moment, catching her off guard. Before she could react she was confronted by a heavy whooshing sound, and out of the corner of her eye she saw a great iron war club come barreling down towards her. In an instant there was an answering flash of drawn steel, and Willow Slay stood alongside the Lady, her flawless curved blade effortlessly parrying the fatal strike.

The Lady blinked. “Willow Slay, what in Hellgates are you—!”

The chef of Redwall Hell’s nightclub unceremoniously interrupted her. “My Lady, on your right!”

Out of the darkness snaked a cruel thonged whip, the metal barbs lashed to its ends seeking to tear gaping holes in the Lady’s flesh. Suddenly, the whip caught on an obstruction in its flight path. Nivedita did not even wince as the biting thongs wrapped themselves around her upraised arm. She snarled into the shadows, dislodging the projectiles from her wrist and forearm with a disdainful shake.

“My Lady, are you hurt?” Nivedita turned slightly to catch the eyes of her mistress, the glow from her wounds highlighting the contours of concern etched into her face.

“Well, no,” the Lady blustered, “I am fine… but, you both, I…”

Willow laughed out loud as she deftly tossed her blade to her off paw in order to summon forth a pair of throwing knives. “My Lady, I know you didn’t really expect us to remain at the nightclub while you went off to tango with the old fox. Damn well inconsiderate of you— erm, pardon the language.

“That is, we’d like to tango too, if it’s all right with you,” Nivedita finished sheepishly.

The Lady observed both her steward and chef with wonder. The unlikely pair were peering into the darkness around them, every muscle poised to defend. Very little surprised the Lady, but the loyalties of her most beloved children never ceased to prompt within her a spirit of humble gratitude. She bowed her head before glancing up in Vulpuz’s direction, a tacit gesture of submission.

“I… consider myself thoroughly chastised,” she exhaled, the slightest hint of a smile pulling at the corners of her mouth. “Forgive me, Nivedita, Willow, for attempting to deprive you of this honor your both rightfully covet.”

The chef and the steward seemed to swell with pride. Boldly they faced the darkness before them, fearing neither creature nor fate.

“Think nothing of it, my Lady,” declared Willow. She directed her knives to circle in the air above her free paw, the tip of her sword flicking up and down in sync with their rotation. “These blades are yours to command!”

“Yes!” Hope danced in Nivedita’s eyes as she adopted what she thought to be a cool and aggressive combat stance. “Let us fight with you!”

“Shut up, shut up!” Vulpuz roared from his hiding place in the shadows. “How dare you show your faces here, you worthless serfs! I will have nothing to do with you. Amuse yourselves with my right and left paws whilst I entertain your mistress!”

“Ha! Suits me!” Willow Slay scoffed. “I’ll tan any hide what shows its miserable self here! Prepare yourself to receive me, clubface!” Without another word the courageous mink threw herself into the darkness, leading with her blades.

Nivedita’s kind features were set with determination. “For you, my Lady,” she intoned, stepping forth to allow the shadows to swallow her up as well.

The Lady breathed deeply, her all-knowing gaze effortlessly piercing the darkness. She locked eyes with the infuriated ruler of Hellgates and gracefully held out an open paw.

“I am ready, Vulpuz.”

[tfw-no-tennis]

hhhhhhxh

more abt hxh bc my last post was too long n i had to split it off holla

so i left off talking abt when gon woke up....i love how polite gon is to pretty much everyone - hes such a good lad all the time. s/o to his aunt for raising him right (tho i think hes also just a rlly good boy inherently too)

also is he named gon bc ging was like ha ha im boutta be GONe lol seeya kid!!!! like ????

i find it interesting that kurapika and hisoka fought....we really havent seen them interact at all yet. also hisoka is so smirk-y i hate that bitch...what did he say to kurapika?????? 

this poor red shirt old guy lmao hisoka is SO clearly uninterested in fighting him and then he fucking dies. rip mdude

what did hisoka whisper to HIM??? guess we’ll never know #RIPLegend

oh mannnn if killua had just won against pokkle then he wouldnt have had to deal with illumi doing That to him :( my smug son......

leorio is such a good dude....also its so funny to me how tall and lanky leorio is, espec compared to the other 3 main characters lmaoooo

or maybe those 3 are just rlly short??? i mean gon and killua are literally 12, but whats kurapikas excuse

GODDDD I HATE THIS BIIIIITCH. FUCK OFFFFFFF tho the evil piano music slaps. but jeeeeesus illumi is so creepy and awful, and seeing him take off his disguise is not any better a second time...he and hisoka truly deserve each other wrow

does illumi have hair powers??? cause it kinda looks like it. or maybe hes just gay and dramatic 

ok but the sick electric guitar riff (?) that played when illumis face was revealed was lowkey kinda hilarious

man i was so wrong abt killua knowing that that was illumi :( poor kid

killua is immediately freaking out and meanwhile illumi looks bored as hell. dude ur the worst 

killua: [freaking out] illumi, completely blank-faced: hey 

I HATE HIMMMM even tho his catman design is regrettably kinda cute

why do illumi and hisoka both have such snatched waists i hate this

wtf so killua has another different brother??? i assumed he attacked illumi....how many fuckgin zoldyk sibling are there?????

leorio ur too normie for this conversation lmao. also wow fucked up family huh

killua looks so like...small and helpless, which is so at odds from what we’ve seen of him so far :( this poor kid

illumi totally has some weird brain powers man callin it now 

gon: wow killuas family sounds wack...  satotz: oh lmao you havent even heard the rest 

KILLUA ;_; 

this poor baby assassin :( :( :(

IMMM INCONSOLABLE. HE WANTS TO BE FRIENDS W/GON.......ARE YOU KIDDING....AUGHHHHHHHH

meanwhile gon decided he and killua are BEST FRIENDS like 10 mins after they met. GOD 

like in the recap ep he called killua his best friend ;_; and meanwhile killua doesnt even think they ARE friends god destroy me 

this calming classical music is throwing me off vbhjfjhbsdkgndks

i sense that leorio and kurapika are rapidly acquiring a new son

DAMN THIS IS SO FUUUUCKEDDDDD illumi is such a crusty bitch wow. leave killua alone asshole 

all that stuff abt killua like, only thinking he wants to befriend gon but really wanting to kill him....that sure sounds like some ‘worst fears’ type of shit for someone like killua....illumi is such a classic abuser wow

i have 2 know is satotz like, repeating this entire conversation verbatim in a calming monotone to gon rn. like....

LEORIOOOOO I LOVE UUUUUUUU AUGHHHH him telling killua it doesnt matter if illumi is his brother, fuck that guy, beat him up as usual and leave.....ooooughhhh leorio is such a good dude ;_; 

and the OF COURSE him saying the obvious - that gon and killua are ALREADY friends....i love this, i feel like leorio said all the exact things the audience is thinking...yet it still didnt get thru to killua bc hes so rattled by illumi appearing, and the abuse in general 

i think if gon were there things wouldve gone much differently 

of COURSE crusty bitch illumi is like oh ok now i have to kill gon.....biiiiitch i hate uuuuu 

also that just shows that hes lying to killua (which we already knew obvs), bc if it were inevitable that killua would kill gon to like, test himself or w/e, then why not just wait for that to happen? that would have a much bigger impact on killua than illumi killing gon....its obvious that illumi is just manipulating him, but killua is too BSOD to be able to tell (also, hes 12)

ok bitch illumi is preaching abt not needing friends but he and hisoka are definitely fucking and theyve been teamed up for the entire hunter exam it seems.....what a hypocrite. hate this guy

god im so glad we didnt rlly get to see whatever the fuck illumi did to that random hunter examiner guy’s face. jeeeeesus. also i cant tell but i wonder if him forcing that info out of the guy was the result of his freaky mind powers or if the guy was just like oof ouch pins in me face

LEORIO AND KURAPIKAAAA THE PROTECT GON SQUAD!! and joined by new member hanzo!!! who ironically beat gon up for 3 hours str8 like, a very short amount of time ago lmao. but still i love that sm

illumi u dumb bitch.....tho i dont buy for a minute that he didnt already realize that killing gon would disqualify him...he defs just wanted to get under killuas skin even more :^( 

KILLUAAAA ;_; when he goes to step back from illumi but illumi tells him not to....ughhh HATE this guy, leave this poor kid alone. no wonder he wanted to leave

illumi saying theres only 1 way that killua can stop him - does he mean by killing him, or something more specific, like some forbidden zoldyk murder technique? 

‘your beloved gon’ wow gay. theyre 12 and theyre dating ok. killua is literally that kid whos like wow i wonder if gon likes me...and meanwhile gon is like wow cant believe me and killua have been dating for 3 months now

leorio saying ‘we wont let him kill you or gon’ ;_; leorio ily sm...thats like the exact right thing to say - hes offering protection and reassurance as an adult figure...unfortunately killua is clearly too freaked out to even process anything outside of illumis gaslighting and abuse 

also illumi is defs doing something to killua w/his eyes via his freaky mind powers. js

illumi i hate you stop being weirdly cute. augh 

classic abuse tactics, being like ha ha nvm i wasnt gonna kill gon! jk!

killua just shutting down completely after that :( :( noooo

and then he kills that old guy and leaves, ‘proving’ that illumi is right....noooooOOOO

and now we boutta see gon go FULL shounen protag for the first time, oh FUCKKKKKK yesssss

this is the first time we’ve seen gon angry oooh man and of COURSE its on killuas behalf,....im so fuckign emo already looooord

god ok the episode preview where its gon saying ‘do leorio and i look alike?’ YES U DO LOL youre father and son so jot that down 

oof, gon and illumi have such fundamentally different POVs on like, family and life and morals, and you can tell by their 4-line exchange before gon does the ICONIC one-handed grab’n’fling

AUGHHHH gon saying hes gonna rescue killua....SO good...he recognizes that killuas family is wack as hell and killua shouldnt be w/them - the classic ingrained ‘found family is more important than blood family’ stuff

tho thats an interesting contrast to gon himself, whos looking for his deadbeat dad

‘but it wasnt his choice’ that so good ily gon BEST boy, hes so perceptive and good......he knows that killuas hand was forced and that he needs to be RESCUED (love that word choice) from his shitty abusive family

of course kurapika and leorio voiced complaints ;_; best parents 

kurapika should be a lawyer tbh 

leorioooo ;_; such a good dude, saying he should be disqualified instead 

HOW is leorio a stronger combatant than that old dude hvbajufjbsja that guy had some moves it seemed, and leorio has,....a knife? a briefcase? the classic premed attitude of ‘fuck it, i could die anytime, lets do this’? like.....cmon vhabjdfjbhsf i refuse to believe this man is of any use in a fight. ill believe it when i see it

pokkle pls ur not plot-important enough to be jumping into this convo rn

tho i am curious abt what hisoka said to kurapika. tho i agree that thats irrelevant to the discussion 

gon repeating satotz’s wisdom :’) and saying that killua will definitely pass if he takes the exam again...ough

gon is SO GOOD i cant get over it !!!!!!!!! AUGHHHH....recusing killua from his abusive family and making it so killua never has to see them again is like...so good. what a good good perfect boy.

also thats like, the perfect response to this. killing illumi would just start a ton of drama, and killua would be conflicted abt that....but removing killua from his situation is perfect 

ok ive ranted a lot ill talk abt the rest later woohoo

PREDICTIONS: 

i predict that hisoka will show up in this upcoming zoldyk arc somewhere bc illumis gonna be in it (i assume) and theyre dating. also hisoka is a central character so itd make sense for him to show up in the second major arc. tho tbh this could end up being completely false and i wouldnt be that shocked lmao

i think leorio is gonna get Big Sad someday bc hes like, so normal compared to the other MCs, and also hes suuuuch a bleeding heart (i love him....) so i feel like thats gonna lead to some sadness for him once his friends start doing crazy shit or w/e 

also i predict that if he gets nen itll be like healing nen or st. does that even exist??? idk jack shit abt nen lmao 

i think that illumi has hypnosis powers or something, even just based on design alone. it could defs be for aesthetic (character design in hxh is wild), but his eyes look noticeably different from any other characters. also he was doing some freaky shit to killua. also i held this prediction before seeing the part where this is brought up so we’ll see if its right lmao 

as for this upcoming arc -  ruth and i are wondering if itll be similar to the vinsmoke drama in one piece - character goes back to abusive family, squad goes to rescue them...and then character refuses to be recused. w/sanji it was partially bc the vinsmokes threatened to kill zeff, his TRUE dad, but i predict in this case it could be more like the zoldyks saying ‘look killua these 3 weirdos showed up looking for you, convince them to leave or we’ll kill them’ and killua will be like, oh shit bc like.....think abt it. the vinsmokes targeted zeff (and not the strawhats) bc they knew they could easily kill him. same goes here, i assume - a family of trained assassins vs Good Good Fishing Rod Smell-Power Boy (who hasnt thrown a single punch yet), Lanky Dr Man With A Switchblade We Havent Seen Him Use Onscreen, and Mx 2 Wooden Sticks, Bloodlust, and Arachnophobia - 3 For 1 Deal! its a no-contest. so thats one thing i could see happening, potentially 

im way too tired to remember my other predictions rip lmao