#dragon level disaster

[theomnicode]

OPM 180 spoilers: Dragon-level disasters

Sheesh, ONE and Murata-sensei aren't painting a pretty picture.

That civilians and their buildings are just getting absolutely and violently murdered on the streets by casually appearing dragon-level monsters which are no joke even for S-rank heroes and becoming more and more common...and the civilians who have to live outside HA are always in this kind of danger and only by being rich, can you actually buy safety because they also relocated a bunch of the able heroes into the headquarters to guard rich people.

Sheesh. OPM world is being setuped for some kind of civilian uprising and unrest and some kind of revolution. This kind of shit is happening once a month too according to Crescent Eyebroll, which is just absurd to think.

This level of destruction makes all the abled heroes who can solo dragon level monsters even more valued but are they really valued by HA? Ofc course not, that would imply competence. Who's gonna protect the civilians if the heroes cannot? The only option left will be themselves, in any ways they can.

(Not so much different from irl now is it? Sigh...) (Now it really makes you think about if Saitama was relocated to HA because someone figured out what a true asset he is)

Oh well, least we have Saitama making a point and destroying corporation buildings like a bullet.

That poor indie company Small Video though, collateral damage.

RIP VHS tapes, you will be missed. *salute*

I distinctly recall all those early demon+dragon level monsters Saitama casually took out (unfortunately city b was collateral) and now that he's a bit too busy with a sassy lost child, we're seeing a direct effect of Saitama being unable to do much to help, instead he's being thrown around like a ragdoll and getting too emotionally incensed and invested in versing Tatsumaki that he's not caring much about demolishing stuff either.

Unfortunately...our poor man still can't fly and Tatsumaki seems to be using so much power that Saitama can't stop being ragdolled that easily. He'll need his footing first, but psychic powers seem to be like this man's achilles heel.

But then again, corps being demolished means less goods for the civilians, so as funny as it may seem, all this will come back to bite the innocent civilian asses too, when goods rocket in price due to no availability and greedy companies on the other side.

[dailyadventureprompts]

Scragglmop the Destroyer

Once feared throughout the land, a great and terrible dragon grew tired of being endlessly hunted for his hoard and faked his death with the aid of a glory-hungry gnomish bard. Living on for centuries in the guise of a street cat, the dragon is now a hair's breadth from resuming his rampaging ways after the bard's descendants have lost the fortune he gave over to them for safe keeping.

Adventure Hooks:

A series of unexplained fires has wracked the city in recent weeks, which has both the guard and the populace on edge. Rumours swirl blaming arsonists, saboteurs from a rival kingdom, even an illegal duelling society of mages, but none have yet put it together that all of the workshops and businesses were all patronized in one way or another by the famed Candlebright noble family.

Coincidentally, Hignatta Candlebright, young head of that same noble house has sent an invitation to the party to join her at a famed teahouse to discuss a delicate matter involving the retrieval of stolen property. Hignatta has all but taken over the teahouse and its guestrooms since her own family home burned down near the start of the panic, and the party might begin to draw a connection when half way through their meeting the teahouse begins to fill with smoke, panicking patrons, and a booming, sourceless voice that demands "WHERE IS MY GOLD, CANDLEBRIGHT?!"

If you really want to mess with the party, consider introducing them to the fluffy street cat completely independently of the arson plot, making a nuisance of himself in the market while they're trying to shop, or catching mice in their store-room should they have acquired a residence in town. Have them befriend the cat as they might any bad-tempered stray, only to realize after the adventure is half way through that the mice he catches are always somewhat charred. Also imagine the looks on their faces the moment the party's home is broken into by an enemy and their housecat incinnerates a wave of intruders for disturbing his nap.

Background: Everyone knows the story about how the legendary hero Gailen Candlebright saved the realm from the tyrannical dragon Slaggrath, a beast known to devour whole armies and raze kingdoms in search of treasure. It's the ubiquitous tale against which all adventurers are measured against, made all the more ubiquitous thanks to the fact that the deed is memorialized in drinking ballads, children rhymes, and even a few folk operas. Gailen was a troubadour of not insignificant skill before he became a legend, and he had little trouble using that skill and hardwon fame to ensure his deeds would never be forgotten.

As with many tales told by the bards, Gailen left out quite a bit of the truth when concocting his tale: It was a late night in a roadside tavern and the young Candlebright was approached by a sourfaced man with a tangled beard and clothes that might have once been quite fine. Gailen had sung for his supper and then some, his hat was overflowing with tips from a long night's work and a greatful crowd, and the old man wanted to know how it was exactly that the Gnome hadn't yet been robbed; The roads were full of all sorts of rough types who thought that their strength entitled them to others' wealth, bandits yes but worse yet kingsmen, who took what they wanted sure that that they were above any kind punishment.

Seeing that the old man had fallen on rough times, likely having been robbed himself, Gailen spoke from the heart: He'd been robbed a few times yes, but he got by looking like someone that no one would bother to steal from, dressing in his fine clothes only on days he'd perform, and keeping most of his riches in the safe keeping of others, such as the caravan masters he frequently traveled along with.

The old man considered Gailen's words and the two sat up drinking through the night debating the merits of the Troubador's duplicity. Was it not better, asked the old man, to defend what was yours with strength and reputation, That everyone might learn from the failure of those that had trifled with you before?

Gailen looked at the many scars the old man bore and countered that fools never learned their lesson, they just thought themselves better than the last fool who risked it and they'd keep risking it till luck won out or they went to join all the fools that had come before.

It was dawn when the two parted ways, Gailen tottering off to bed thinking he'd given council to a reformed bandit chief, the old man slipping out of the inn and taking to wing thinking he'd concocted a brilliant scheme with the help of his newest, and perhaps first, friend.

i was a week (and one pants-shitting revelation over the old man's true draconic nature) later that the legend of Slaggrath came to an end: Gailen walking into that very same tavern bloodied, burnt, and with the broken off horn of the great wyrm held above his head as a trophy. The news spread like wildfire, the name Candlebright ascended to the shortlist of the realm's great champions, and not a soul questioned when the newly knighted Gailen comissioned the construction of an elaborate series of vaults beneith the castle he'd just been awarded. The bard had everything he wanted, and in return he and his family would hold the dragon's horde in trust, not touching a single copper and adding a little to it each year out of respect for the wyrm's generosity.

Future Adventures:

Even before he charmed his way into unexpected riches, Gailen was an ardent follower of Garl Glittergold, god of ambition, wit, and wariness. Genresavvy bard that he was, he understood that this fabulous windfall wasn't just some gift from his god, it was a test, and that to keep his good fortune going he'd best abide by the exact deal he'd struck in that tavern. Gailen kept Slaggrath's treasure under lock and key all his life and made sure his children did the same despite never telling them where he got it, in accordance with his pact with the dragon . Feeling that the Candlebright family has sat on its laurels for far too long (especially since practical and buisness minded Hignatta has been increasingly questioning why her late grandfather insisted on keeping a giant pile of money in their basement and never spending it), the god has seen fit to shake things up, ensuring that some long lost blueprints for the vault have fallen into the hands of a group of thieves, who broke in and cleared the vault though the very same secret passages Slaggrath used to pop in every decade or so and make sure the count was up to date. The dragon is pissed, convinced Hignatta has reneged on her family's deal.. and all the while the thieves get closer and closer to escaping.

Depending on how the party handles it this situation could break bad in any number of ways: The dragon could give up on being Scragglmop and go on a rampage forcing the party to put him down, they could intercede on Hignatta's behalf and ensure the treasure is returned possibly earning themselves a cushy position as retainers of house Candlebright, perhaps most dangerously they could earn the attention of Garl Glittergold himself and end up being singled out for their own unstable blessing.

In addition to being motivated by the prerequisite desire to get rich, the thieves were hired by an ambitious mage who has long desired to get his hands on Gailen's Horn, the draconic trophy the bard thereafter used as the sigil for his house and hollowed out into a heavy instrument through which he channelled his most showy magic. The mage has designs on the horn as the centrepiece of a ritual drawing on the object's history of power and triumph. Given that the horn is in fact the centrepiece of a giant con it's going to bring some very unaccounted for variables into the mage's ritual which is liable to set off its own chain of problems down the line.

Art

[storm-arts-around]

The Inquisitor is the foil to Solas in that they gather people together to fight for the common good, and gain a title that grows beyond them.

Rook is the foil to Solas in that they meant to do good but oh BOY did they fuck it up SO bad.

[its-leethee]

Reflecting on Claudia's conversation with Terry about the leaflynx kitten, and how even though she acknowledges that it's cute, she still can't see the sum of the animal from all of its parts.

So far, only Ezran has been able to inspire Claudia to actually relate to another creature, and not just see it as a threat or a tool: Hey, that's like me!

2x09 // 6x04

Bonus: what's with this look, Ez?!

[sunflowerwizard]

I have 2 Dragon Age takes I think people will hate and thats

-Origins plays like an worse looking Baldur's Gate 2

-The whole "The Dawn Will Come" sequence in DAI is fine actually, and my two runs were with a Lavellan and an Adaar respectively

[couldeatthatgirlforlunch]

Just a concept, Yandere!Dimensional traveler!Batman X Gn!reader X Platonic!Batfam, also wrote a one shot about this

Synopsis: Batman becomes obsessed with a spouse and kids that he never had.

Pairing: Yandere!Dimensional traveler!Batman X Reader; Batman X Reader; Platonic Batfam X Batparent!Reader; Yandere!Batman X Platonic!Batfam; Batman X Platonic!Batfam

Tw: English is not my first language; mentions of Alfred being dead; I'm quite new on the fandom so there might be some mistakes about facts of the original comics, but this is a fanfic so whatever; this piece is more focused on Bruce and the batfam while still mentioning reader; stalker and delusional Bruce.

Word count: 1,4k

Requested? No.

General masterlist

Yandere!Batman who is very VERY, extremely, lonely, touch starved and grim. He’s also very unlucky apparently.

He never even met Dick. Sure, he heard about what happened to The Flying Graysons, investigated it even, but he's only seem him on pictures, videos or in passing, but he wasn’t there that night, he never talked to him, or maybe he did while stopping him from killing Zuko, either way, never adopted him, our boy went straight to orphanage and was adopted shortly after by a normal and loving family.

Actually this universe’s Bruce never met nor connected with ANY of his children, all he had was Alfred, and yet… Something happened and…

Safe to say it's been long, never ending harsh years.

The only thing this Bruce knows is pain, loneliness and misery. Don’t talk to him about Alfred. Maybe he can't even look at pictures. When he realized he couldn’t remember his voice anymore… He WON’T watch videos or listen to audio of him. Yes, Alfred being gone was one more trauma to the list of traumas he will carry on his tense and burdened shoulders for the rest of his helpless existence.

This Bruce is a loser, closer to madness than any version of Bruce (aside from Batman who laughs). His Gotham is nearing it’s doom. He didn't join the Justice League because of his level of emotional masochism, pride and lack of will to get back on his feet. He is so used to suffering he thinks it's possible to die if he doesn't have such bitter companion. Safe to say, he is depressed. And hyperfocused on saving a city he’s been working in for decades, too blind by his grieving to see that he is not doing the right things. There is no social projects on Wayne Enterprises or Wayne Foundation to help people, he neglected the company decades ago. He is almost becoming Michael Keaton’s Batman in The Flash.

Somehow, one day he is sent to another universe. It can be through some disaster like Crisis in Infinite Earths, or some villain who wanted different variants of heros to fight amongst themselves to death, doesn't really matter here, what’s important is that he (after years of being a hermit on his cave) interacts with people, more specifically, he interacts with himself.

Or definitely a lucky version of himself. Maybe the luckiest. He is jealous.

During the whole event they interact and imagine how he felt when he found out that this other Batman has an Alfred. And he is so successful that he is a billionaire who uses his money to help Gotham get better (or as good as we know Gotham can get). Oh, and he has a spouse. And children. Plural. So many he lost count. And pets. Two dogs, one cat, a cow (?), a turkey (a what now?) and a fREAKING DRAGON BAT (WHAT THA FUCK IS EVEN THAT????!?!?????!).

He is also more put together (looks like he showers and doesn't skip meals). And less temperamental.

Okay…

Bruce is confused. When he comes back to his universe, with a spark of hope in his heart, he does his research. He could start actually making effort on his company and thus helping Gotham, maybe even be good enough as a vigilant that he could join the Justice League and make some friends (even if the other Bruce was just as stoic, he was the only one who could see on his micro expressions while talking about them how fond he was of his colleagues, and how much he thrusts them, even with his trust issues).

He could find those damn kids and adopt them. Find the one who somehow managed to make him open up enough for a relationship.

(He could also just work on his company, philanthropism, do some therapy, make some new organic connections or whatever).

He is VERY disappointed to find out that some of those so called kids and are already adults, have lived their whole lives without him, maybe some have been arrested or even dead, they have their whole lives and families that have NOTHING to do with him. Some don't even exist (the only explanation for not a single clue in months of research). And his partner, Reader, is either living their own life that doesn't allow space for him or also dead. He lost his timing. He is old and lost his timing. He is alone. He shouldn't have hoped so much that he got blind by the improbability of the small chance. The other Batman did mention that his family started growing decades ago.

He just lost another family. This one he never got to have. He wishes he never knew about them.

He hyperfocused on them for months for nothing (hey, It was hard to find info on the ones that don't live a very civilian legal life, like Cassandra, or the ones that never even existed, like Damian, or the ones that are dead — again maybe Cassandra, or perhaps Jason. Maybe Jason joined a gang just for survival or something like that, life on the streets is harsh, and he is not very lucky. And I’m not even being specific on what could have happened to every single one of the batfam. Also Tim is probably a CEO right now). No connection and family will come from all of that. Especially because he is greedy, starved, he doesn't want bits and pieces, he wants it ALL. He wants that other Bruce's life.

Yandere!Batman is born. He drowns and gets drunk on the pit of his own madness and he can’t get out of it. Doesn't want to.

He could… He could get rid of the people on their lives, brainwash them and make them a happy family. They aren’t vigilantes, they don't have his abilities, they don't have his intellect, it won't be hard.

Of course, Batman doesn't kill, but this Batman is looking for a change.

But they aren't what lucky-billionaire-put-together Bruce had.

Don't get me wrong. He is not just petty and jealous, nor resents Bruce for his privileges and better decisions, or whatever.

Okay, maybe a little. Why? Just why ones life was perfect (hello? Didn't you hear the part where he told you his own problems? Not even about the DEAD RESURRECTED CRIME LORD SON?) while the others had to draw the short stick?

But majorly he is just desperate, foaming at the mouth for a happy ending, and projected all of that on that poor random bat.

Now, enough brooding, back to solutions.

He could clone them.

Could work. Not exactly easy but he could just hack onto Luthor archives until he found how he cloned Superman and made that Superboy, Superman, or whatever he goes by now.

Again, not the same as the original ones. The ones he craves. The ones he wants.

Alfred is screaming in his grave about how Bruce, please, needs to realize that no one will fill the expectations he puts on them, not even the “original ones”.

Another hard, but better fitted solution is to… Simply… Find a way to go to that other universe, or one similar enough, stalk and study their whole lives until he can perfectly replicate “lucky” Bruce’s persona, and just… Get rid of him and take his place. Hello Alfred, hello honey, hello kids, daddy’s home.

Looks like he finally got luck on his side, maybe the sun will rise tomorrow.

Yandere!Bruce won't just brush aside that he is rusty and definitely not a better Batman then the other one, but he's got time. He will developt patience. But can he learn enough to trick his perfect vigilant kids though? Is he seriously thinking straight? I mean, the batkids are dope though. They learned from the best. As a proud (wannabe) father he knows they will be better than him one day, perhaps already are.

How much of watching their lives, everything that he craves, can he take until he snaps? How much of watching Bruce's interactions with them can he take? He swears he won't take them for granted when he has them, he will take care of them, protect them, be a family, be happy.

Can he really keep his distance?

Looks like another supervillain just arrived in Gotham for the batfamily to battle against, he is quite persistent though.

Like, comment and reblog 🥰

[madmaxxing]

Coming up with silly little aus for my silly little dnd ocs is so much fun :)))

[ohsalome]

Today is a 37st anniversary of the Chornobyl Nuclear Plant disaster. It's hard to talk about one unprocessed national tragedy while living through another.

The Chornobyl disaster was totally preventable and it took away countless lives of people living in the region, especially in Ukraine and Belarus - both the liquidators and the civillians. Despite the very air and dust being literal poison, the soviets had not only hid this information from the people, but forced everybody to partake in the May the 1st parade - because god forbid we lose our face before the international community as a working class paradise! If not for the nuclear scientists in Sweden who raised the alarm about the dangerous levels of nuclear particles coming from northern Ukraine, who knows what would have happened. It definitely would have been swepped under the rug and forgotten by the international community, together with its victims - just like Semipalatinsk in Kazakhstan is barely known abroad.

With russia constantly threatening to turn Zaporhizhzha nuclear plant into second Chornobyl, the wound caused by this tragedy is cut open again.

We all love the HBO Chornobyl series, and I genuinely am grateful to Craig Mazin for the amount of empathy and respect he brought to the series; but for today I indulge you to watch something made by ukrainians, to try to understand what this tragedy means to us and how it influences our lives even today.

For the documentaries, my favourite series by this day remains the "Dragons live here" by Your Underground Humanitarian School Youtube channel, which, unfortunately, can only offer automated english subtitles - they should, however, be sufficient.

As for the feature films, I recommend "Gateway" (you can stream it online with english subtitles here). And here is the official english trailer:

[teshadraws]

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Seekers of Soul

[Chapter 58]

<< First | < Previous | Next >

-

Nia, Tobias, and Junie talk with Will, and run into someone unexpected.

-

Nia wakes up all on her own for once. She’s cozy and warm, and it takes a few minutes to realize where she is, tucked away into one of the alcoves of the inn they’d stayed at the night before.

She relishes the chance to move at her own pace, and stretches as she slips down to the stone ground. The torracat innkeeper, Clara, is nowhere to be seen, and bright sunlight and distant conversation stream in through the open windows.

Nia yawns as she walks outside, leaning against the warm stone wall enclosing the city so she can get a good look at the settlement in daylight.

The buildings stretching on either side of her are a blend of tan and brown, made of stones and clay. Little pops of color come from billowing curtains and a mural painted onto the side of one of the buildings.

Nia leans to see it better, heart aching as she recognizes humans and animals painted with painstaking detail, too unique to be anything but real, remembered loved ones. They’re relaxing in front of a house, a forest behind them and a city visible in the distance. It’s one of the most human sights Nia has seen since coming to this world.

It’s beautiful.

Nia tears her eyes away, leaning back to look instead at the top of the cliffs above them. The solidity of the mesa is a comforting strength, anchoring the buildings carved from its face.

At Nia’s back, over the stone wall, the sky is a bright blue above a canyon of rocky brown terrain and scraggly green trees. A cool breeze slips by, balancing well with the warm sunshine, and Nia closes her eyes as she takes a deep breath.

Pokemon—humans—pass by her, chatting and laughing amicably. Nia opens her eyes to watch them go about their business.

They look just like regular Pokemon, aside from the clothing and accessories clearly worn for comfort rather than necessity. But somehow, Nia thinks she can tell they’re human in other ways, too, just in how they move, how they walk and talk and act.

A delicate cat Pokemon with purple tufts of fur sits back on her hind legs to gesture with her forepaws as she talks, rather than with her tail or ears. A boulder Pokemon with a lizard-like face keeps overbalancing as he walks, and has to stutter-step on his short legs to regain his equilibrium before he tips over. A round little dragon Pokemon, blue with a shark-like fin and a red underbelly, grins wide as she spots a friend, her fangs on full display in a way that would feel distinctly threatening to Nia coming from a natural-born Pokemon.

They’re human, just like her. They don’t fit into this world quite right. It’s comforting, somehow, knowing that they’re all in the same boat Nia is. Knowing that no one here is going to get upset about her wanting to go home because that’s what they want, too.

On some level, Nia wishes she could stay here with them. She wishes she could forget that she has obligations to this world, to Giratina and Tobias and her guild. Some part of her just wants to…relax. No more scary fights with criminals. No more heartbreak from helping injured ‘mon after a natural disaster or mystery dungeon. No more pressure to save the entire world. To save multiple worlds.

…Would Nia leave Tobias and Maggie and everyone at the guild behind, for that kind of security? That kind of peace?

Her heart stabs with grief, and then with shame. No, she…she doesn’t think she could.

Even if she kind of wishes she could.

“Finally awake?”

Nia jumps, straightening up at Tobias’ voice. Her partner walks up to her, holding something in his hand. When he reaches her, he plops it on the rock wall. Something small, wrapped in cloth?

A delicious scent reaches Nia’s nose, making her stomach rumble. She unwraps the little package and perks up when she realizes it’s some kind of…burrito? She wastes no time stuffing it into her mouth, moaning at the taste. It has gooey cheese, vegetables that taste similar to potatoes and peppers, and…eggs? How does that work here?

Nia chooses not to question it.

“Thank you!” Nia says between bites.

Tobias leans away from her, torn between amusement and disgust. “Figured you’d be hungry, but you don’t have to go feral on me. They have more.”

He juts a thumb back the way he came. Must be the cafeteria. Or maybe a restaurant or something.

Nia just hums a happy sound, continuing to stuff her face. The ingredients have a distinctly non-human taste to them, the spicy red bits just a step to the left of a human world pepper, but it’s still undeniably human-inspired.

She’s just finishing her last bite when she hears “Nia!” from somewhere up above.

Nia looks up, hand over her eyes. Junie peels away from a small flock of flying types, diving down and flapping to a stop just before she would‘ve crashed into the top of the stone wall.

“I wish you’d stop doing that,” Nia whines, hand on her chest.

“It’s fun!” Junie chirps. Her eyes are bright. “You ready to try out the baths? I’ve been waiting for like an hour! Firebutt said I shouldn’t wake you.”

Tobias casually shoves Junie off the rock wall. She disappears over the edge with a squawk, then flutters back up with a glare.

Oh, the baths! She’d forgotten. “I’d love to try them, but don’t we need to talk to Will?”

“He can’t meet with us until later,” Tobias grumbles. “Fidel said he’d come find us when he’s ready.”

“Which means we can try their fancy baths!” Junie presses.

Nia smiles, then falters when she looks at Tobias. “You could come with us and see if they have, uh…anything for fire types?”

Tobias waves her off. “Go splash around in your fancy water. I’m not done looking around anyways.”

Nia watches him a moment longer, uncertain. He’d been in a bad mood last night, and they hadn’t had a chance to talk about it. Before she can push, though, Junie is flapping madly at her back, nudging her forward by her shoulders.

“C’mon! C’mon!”

Nia laughs, letting the rookidee guide her towards whichever building the baths are housed in. “I’m going, I’m going! We’ll come find you when we’re done, Tobias!”

Nia hears Tobias grunt in agreement before she’s pulled away entirely.

————————————————————————————————

The bathhouse is impressive, a larger building with a few deep, bathtub-like basins cut out of the stone floor. Tiny lidded pots circle the edge of each one, and there’s a makeshift drain cut into the bottom of each basin.

Late morning seems to be an unpopular bath time for the settlement. There’s a large white-and-black sheep Pokemon taking up almost the entirety of one basin, dozing peacefully in milky water. Nia can’t imagine cleaning up the wet fluff he’ll leave behind will be fun.

The only other Pokemon inside are a grumpy-looking anteater with fiery colors and pipe-like ridges on his body, and a large blue toad Pokémon with bubble-like lumps on his arms and head. The two of them are standing at a counter and the toad greets Nia and Junie with casual hospitality, so they probably run the place.

After confirming that they’re here for a bath, the anteater ambles over to a wooden ladder that leads up through a gap in the ceiling. He climbs it and disappears onto the second floor.

The toad leads them to one of the smaller bath basins, placing a cover over the drain and warning them to stay back. Then, a wooden gutter is lowered from the ceiling at an angle, tipped right over the bath. A few moments later, steaming hot water gushes down the gutter and begins to fill the basin.

“Whoa,” Junie murmurs.

Nia watches, fascinated, and looks up to find more gutters inlaid into the ceiling, each positioned above a different basin. It’s a really cool system. How long would it take to make something like this?

The toad gathers a few of the clay pots filled with soaps, offering them for a sniff so Nia and Junie can pick a scent they agree on before pouring it into the bath. Once they do, the water quickly froths with bubbles and the soft, soothing scent of lavender wafts throughout the room.

Junie hops onto Nia’s shoulder, watching the toad Pokemon work. Then she whispers, “D’you think he makes the water himself?”

Nia twists up her mouth. “What? No!”

“He might,” Junie says, playfully serious. “He looks like a water type, and we don’t know where that water comes from.”

“So you think he just spits it out himself?!”

“I’d bet ten breakfast burritos that that fire type went upstairs to heat up the water. Why else would they need a water type here too?”

Nia looks again at the toad, pasting on a smile when he glances their way. “Wouldn’t that be…unhygienic? It would come from his mouth!”

“I’m just saying! It’s gotta be hard to get fresh water up here. A water type would be super handy for that.”

Nia hates that she has a point.

When the basin is mostly full, the toad croaks a signal of some kind, and the water trickles to a stop. The ropes holding the gutter in place reel up, lifting it to lock back into the ceiling.

The toad wishes them a relaxing bath and says to let him know if they need anything. He lays a couple of cloth towels on the edge of the bath before ambling away.

Junie wastes no time fluttering into the bath. She stays near the edge where it’s shallower, fluffing her feathers and splashing about like a bird in a fountain before settling into a relaxed puddle.

“Ohhh my God. Nia, get in here, this is awesome.”

Nia hesitates.

“C’mon! You’ve bathed in rivers, right? Water type spit can’t be any more nasty than that!”

“It’s a lot more nasty!” Nia protests, but finally dips a foot in. It’s hot, almost too much so, but it feels wonderful. Slowly, Nia wades in deeper, then sinks down to sit until the water comes up to her chin.

Okay, mouthwater or not, this is so nice. The water feels clean, at least, frothy with bubbles and scented with relaxing lavender. Nia melts into it, slumping against the curve of the rough stone basin and letting her limbs float.

They both relax for a while, soaking in the quiet and warmth, until Junie speaks up.

“So since we’re having girl time—painting our nails, fluffing our hair…”

Nia opens an eye, giving Junie an amused look.

“How’s the whole thing with you and Toby going?”

Nia opens both eyes now, giving her a confused look. “What do you mean?”

Junie, floating on the surface of the water like a rubber duck, squints at Nia. “…Huh. So you really are just oblivious. Wonder if Toby is too.”

Nia sits up. “Oblivious? About what?”

Junie waves her off with a wing, sending water droplets scattering. “Nothing. I’ll tell you if it gets annoying.” Then she tilts her head. “Wonder if I could get a betting pool going with your friends at the guild. Oh, Bo would definitely be in.”

“A bet about what?!”

“You’ll figure it out eventually,” Junie dismisses. “Hey, did I ever tell you about the time me and my cousin dumped a bunch of bubble bath into my neighbor’s pool?”

Nia frowns. She’s not happy that Junie is hiding something from her that’s apparently about her, but she knows better than to push when Junie has already made up her mind.

Instead, Nia scrubs at her fur as she listens to Junie’s story, relishing this rare opportunity to take an actual bath for once. She even dunks underneath the water, coming up soaking wet. She shakes out her fur to splash Junie, and the rookidee shrieks and splashes Nia in return.

Eventually the bath starts to cool. Junie hops out first, ruffling her feathers, and Nia uses one of the towels to cover the little bird and rub her dry. Then, when Junie is a puffball, Nia does the same for herself, combing her short claws through her fur to smooth it.

They thank the two Pokemon running the bath, then head outside. Nia takes a deep breath and stretches, enjoying the way the cool breeze slips through her nearly-dry fur.

“What now?” Junie says, looking up at Nia. “Find Toby?”

“Probably. We’ll need to meet with Will soon, and I want to make sure Tobias is doing all right. He seemed a bit upset last night.”

“Don’t know how you can tell that apart from his usual grouchiness,” Junie jokes. She flaps into the air. “I’ll look for him!”

Nia watches as Junie swoops over the rock wall and to the left, flying high above the canyon below. She really has made a lot of progress since they last saw her. Nia needs to thank Bo for looking out for her friend and teaching her so much in such a short amount of time.

Nia shakes her head and goes right, looking around for her partner’s distinctive orange scales. People wave and nod to her as she passes, and she stops once or twice to exchange quick pleasantries with ‘mon they met at the convention.

Nia smiles as she walks by a hopscotch court drawn onto the stone walkway. Pokemon—probably on the younger side from how they screech and chase each other, stumbling over too-large paws and feet—play on it, hopping across and jeering at one another. A Pokemon that looks like a cross between a honeycomb and a bee floats effortlessly over the hopscotch squares, and two other kids (notably on two legs) yell that that’s cheating.

It’s just past the kids that Nia spots Tobias, leaning against the rock wall and watching the children play with a distant expression. He looks up when he notices her.

“Hey. Get your fill of fancy water?”

“I did, thank you very much.” Nia reaches his side and bumps his shoulder, then holds up her arm. “Feel my fur.“

“Why?”

“It’s soft! Seriously, feel it!”

Tobias rolls his eyes, but pets the fur on her arm. Then he stops, looking surprised, and does it again, as if entranced.

Nia laughs, and Tobias yanks his hand away.

He looks away, flushing. “It’s…fine.”

“Smell me too! I smell like a candle!”

She leans closer to him, and Tobias shoves her back, cheeks burning darker. “I’m not smelling you, you weirdo!”

Nia laughs again, burying her nose into her own neck fluff to take a deep whiff. Oh, she is going to miss these fancy baths. Her fur is silky smooth, finally free of dirt and sweat. She needs to talk to Maggie about getting something like this at the guild. She bets she could get a petition going.

Junie finds them shortly after, alighting on the rock wall and smirking at Tobias, who is still cherry-red. It’s pretty adorable.

“What’d you do?”

“Made him pet my arm.”

“Ooh. That’s evil.“

“I just wanted him to feel how soft my fur is!”

“Exactly.”

Before Nia can decode what Junie is talking about, someone clears their throat behind her. She turns, surprised, and looks up to see a brown deer Pokemon with yellow, eye-like antlers smiling down at the three of them.

“Hello. I hope you all slept well.” He takes a sniff of the air. “I see you found the baths!”

Normally Nia isn’t one to turn down a friendly conversation, even with a stranger, but the casual greeting makes even her pause. Then, her eyes widen as she recognizes the voice. “Oh! Fidel?”

“At your service.” Fidel bows his head, then transforms with a flash of purple light back into his zoroark form from the night before.

“Why do you morph so much?” Junie asks with a tilt of her head. “If you aren’t gonna prank people like Asher, then it seems like a lot of effort.”

Fidel laughs. “Not at all! That’s like asking why a water type swims if he doesn’t have anywhere to be. It’s instinctive. Like…stretching a muscle. Keeps us sharp, too, for situations where we do need to transform.”

“Such as?” Tobias asks, crossing his arms.

“Well…” Fidel thinks for a moment. “It’s important to be able to disguise in more populated areas. Especially if we need information but want to stay discreet. If we blend in, no one questions us.”

“‘Us?’”

“Asher and I.”

“You bring your son along on missions?”

Nia elbows Tobias, giving him a look. She knows he’s suspicious of Will and Fidel and everyone else here. He doesn’t need to be rude about it!

“I like to have him close by,” is all Fidel says, though his smile is tight. He flicks an ear, then turns. “Come along. We can talk as we walk. Will is available if you’re ready to meet with him.”

“Sure!” Nia trots after the zoroark, and Junie lands on her shoulder a moment later. She can hear Tobias follow after them.

As Fidel asks how they liked breakfast, he leads them to a building nestled right in the middle of the settlement. It doesn’t look any different from the others, medium-sized with slices cut from the clay and stone to act as windows. The zoroark opens the front door, leading them in.

The area inside is relatively small. It’s a sitting area of sorts, with cushions around a small fire pit, and a table with chairs nearby. A wooden ladder against the wall leads up through a gap to the second floor.

“This is more of a casual meeting area,” Fidel explains. He leads them to a door at the back wall without breaking stride. “But considering the sensitive nature of the conversation we have in mind, we’ll meet with Will in the back.”

“‘The back?’” Junie whispers. “Okay, that does sound sketchy.”

“Not you too!” Nia mutters. “Come on, he just wants some privacy. We are talking about the end of the world here!”

Nia follows Fidel through the door. Considering it’s set against the back wall, where the building meets flush against the cliffside, she expects to enter a small room. A bedroom, maybe.

Instead, Nia stops in surprise as a cool draft slips past her.

Junie, on her shoulder, murmurs, “Whoa.”

Ahead of them, Fidel moves without hesitation into a…tunnel. It must cut straight into the cliffside, and it goes deeper than Nia can immediately see the end of. It isn’t dark, though, instead lit by lanterns lining the walls.

“Wait,” Nia steps closer to get a better look at the lights. “Are these using—“

“Electricity?!” Junie shouts, making Nia wince.

“Hm?” Fidel pauses, looking back from his place farther ahead. “Oh! Yes, aren’t those incredible? Ash is pretty taken with them. You humans have come up with some amazing technology.”

“How’re they…holding the electricity?” Tobias asks, clearly curious but not wanting to make it obvious. He looks at Nia and Junie, the two humans in the tunnel.

Junie holds up her wings. “Don’t look at me!”

Nia’s brow furrows as she tries to remember elementary school lessons from over a decade ago. “W-Well. In the human world I think electricity runs through a…wire? And it heats up until it’s so hot that it glows. I think that’s how it worked with old bulbs, at least.”

“But where does the electricity come from?” Junie asks. “They don’t have outlets and wires and stuff here.”

“Our electric type residents give us the energy we need,” Fidel answers, waiting patiently farther down the hall. “Will has been trying to set up electric lighting in all the buildings, but it’s difficult with only a few electric types living here and such a big area to cover. He also has the tendency to get distracted by other projects, so for now this one is on hold.”

“I get that. I’m easily distracted too,” Junie says, tracking a dust mote as it floats by.

“Speaking of…” Fidel says. His voice is light, but he tilts his head in a clear bid for them to keep moving.

“Oh! Right!” Nia hurries to catch up to Fidel.

The tunnel goes a bit farther into the mountainside before opening up to a large room, also dimly lit by electric lanterns. There are three more tunnels leading out of the room, and Nia wonders for a moment what kind of rooms they lead to and how deep they go.

A table sits in the middle of this room, with round cuts of stone positioned around it to act as stools. There’s also a large bookshelf full of tomes against the far wall, and a desk covered with papers at its side.

Hovering at the desk is Will. The yamask is crowded close to someone Nia thinks, for a moment, is a decoration rather than a Pokemon. They almost look like a mix between a totem pole—all colorful geometric patterns and black accents—and a…bird? They have thin, angular wings, and bring to mind art that Nia had seen somewhere in the human world. Maybe Native American or South American pieces? They have no hands, so they’re holding onto a few of the papers with psychic energy. The two of them are murmuring to each other, deep in discussion.

Fidel clears his throat.

Will’s thoughtful frown vanishes as he looks up. “Ah, come in, come in! It’s good to see you three again.”

Will hands his own papers over to the totem-bird, then leaves their side to greet the newcomers. He shakes Nia’s hand, skin cold in the brief moment of contact, and nods with a warm smile at Tobias and Junie.

“Good to see you too!” Junie chirps. “Nice digs you’ve got here.”

Will chuckles. “Thank you. It’s not much, but it works well enough. We wanted to build a safe inner space in case the outer homes became uninhabitable in poor weather, but it doubles as a great area for our research. And for discussing more, ah, sensitive topics.”

The totem-bird tilts their way at that, looking at them with a single cyan eye. Then they wordlessly take the papers they’d been reading and hover down one of the tunnels until they’re out of sight.

Will gestures to the table. “Would you like to sit? I hear you all had a long journey yesterday.”

“We did!” Junie says. She sits first on one of the stools, and then—when that’s too short for her to see over—opts instead to perch on the edge of the table itself. “I thought my feet were gonna fall off.”

“We carried you half the way!” Tobias protests, taking a seat for himself.

“Nia did.”

“You don’t weigh a lot,” Nia says, taking a seat too. “But we were definitely happy to see this place. Thank you for letting us stay for a few days.”

“Of course,” Will says. “Any human—or friend of humans—is a friend of ours. Our little settlement has grown a lot in the past few months, but we’re always happy to see new faces.”

“And yet somehow everything here is free,” Tobias says, almost casual if not for the accusatory stare he’s sending Will’s way.

Will sits down across from Nia, placing his golden mask face-up on the table. Unsettling human eyes stare blankly at the rock ceiling. “We have quite a few of our people acting as gatherers, and we’re working on building an agricultural system for this climate as well. So we don’t need to buy much to survive.”

“But you buy some of it.”

Nia kicks Tobias lightly under the table, fighting to keep a pleasant expression on her face. He stubbornly refuses to look her way.

“We do,” Will agrees. “We sell some of the goods the artisans make here, like our soaps, tools, and clothes, and that gives us a decent fund for necessities.”

“Human-made goods are considered luxury items,” Fidel adds, taking a spot at Will’s left shoulder, like a second-in-command at a guild. Even from his place on the floor, he’s taller than everyone sitting on the stools. “Humans craft differently than Pokemon do.”

“They really bring in that much coin?” Tobias asks, clearly doubtful.

“Dude,” Junie says, looking both amused and exasperated.

Will laughs. “Tobias, if I’ve done something to earn such distrust, you’re more than welcome to ask me about it directly. Or in private, if you prefer.”

Tobias’ face flushes, embarrassed to be called out. But he just huffs and crosses his arms, leaning back as far as he can on the stool without falling off.

“Look, you haven’t done anything…wrong, really. You just make a lot of promises that I’m not convinced you can keep, and you’re so vague about everything. Plus, you’re, y’know.”

Tobias gestures vaguely at Will.

Will just seems amused by this conversation. He raises his brows. “I’m..?”

“That!” Tobias says, pointing with a scowl. “You have all the reason in the world to get mad about me being so suspicious of you, but you aren’t.”

Nia peeks at Will, embarrassed and guilty and yet somehow a little relieved that Tobias is just putting everything out there.

Will hums, leaning forward to rest his chin on interlaced hands. “Well, I’m certainly not going to get angry with you for being cautious. I actually think a bit of suspicion is healthy when dealing with those you don’t know well.”

Nia blinks at Will, surprised. He’s always seemed so welcoming, so Nia had assumed he was more like her and just put his trust into people.

Tobias makes a low sound, unconvinced.

“As for being vague and making promises?” Will’s smile turns a little sad, a little self-deprecating. “I suppose in a way, you’re correct about that.”

Tobias doesn’t reply, waiting for Will to elaborate.

“While we are looking into all the leads we can, we don’t have as many answers as I would like to have by this point.”

“But you said you could get us home,” Nia says, voice small.

Will locks eyes with her. “And I promise you I will. That’s why I’m all right with making such promises despite not knowing exactly how I will achieve them. This is all I care about in this world. In a way, it is my life’s work. And I’m determined to accomplish it and return us home, no matter what.”

Nia nods, trying to swallow the uncertainty in her chest. There’s so much conviction in Will’s voice, a fire in his eyes, that she can’t help but believe him.

Tobias, on the other hand, still seems unsatisfied.

“And the funds to build this place?” Tobias asks. “You didn’t have any artisan ‘mon or goods to sell until after it was made, right?”

“Correct. I saved up for years to get the money, doing odd jobs and the like,” Will answers. “And I made quite a few friends over that time who were willing to help me get it started.“

“Like myself,” Fidel confirms, smiling. “Will and I were friends before we started working towards the same goal. He’s the one who told me all about the human world.”

“And that’s why you want to go to the human world with Asher?” Junie asks. “Because Will is?”

Fidel’s happy expression fades. “I decided long ago to follow Will, but like most of the other natural-born Pokemon who want to cross over, this world’s deterioration is definitely a factor. I…worry. About Asher growing up here. Perhaps the human world will be kinder.”

“I don’t know if the human world would be kinder, really. I like this place better, personally.” Junie glances at Nia. “But to each their own, I guess.”

“The human world can be plenty nice,” Nia protests.

“Even if they don’t turn into humans when they cross over?” Tobias asks.

Nia opens her mouth, then closes it, looking away. Which she knows is an answer in itself.

Fidel doesn’t seem surprised. “Even if we don’t turn into humans ourselves, we always have our illusions to rely on. They’ve gotten us this far.”

“I’m sure we can get you set up just fine,” Will says, all confidence. “I’ve learned a few things about making a new life in a new world since coming here, and I was doing just fine in the human world before.”

Nia perks up at that. “Oh! Right! You probably remember your human life since you’re a yamask, right?”

“What did you do before becoming a Pokemon?” Junie asks curiously. “Were you like a motivational speaker or something?”

“I was an accountant,” Will laughs. “Incredibly boring work, I’m afraid. I’m more interested in knowing about you all! Nia, you said in your letter that you remembered a bit about your human life after falling ill, correct?”

“Yes!” Nia leans over the table in her excitement. She’s shared a few of her memories with Tobias, and he sort of gets it since he lost his own family, but not completely. He wasn’t human, after all. “I don’t remember everything, but I remember some things about my family! I have a mom and a brother, Clay. And my best friend Toni is basically my sister.”

“That’s wonderful,” Will says, smiling warmly. “I can tell you’re close by how you talk about them. I’m sure they miss you terribly.”

Nia feels a stab of grief in her chest, so abrupt that it steals her breath away. She doesn’t like thinking about that, about her family wondering where she is and when she’s coming back and if she’s okay. “Y-Yeah. I really miss them, too.”

She misses joking around with Clay and Toni. Misses talking about school and everyday nonsense with her mom. Misses their house and their old swingset and the comforting routine of her human life.

Slowly, Nia sits back on her stool again.

“It’ll be all right,” Will says, reaching across the table to pat Nia’s hand. Despite the cold, it’s comforting. Almost parental. “We’ll get you back home to your family. I promise you that.”

Nia gives him a watery smile in response.

“Have you recovered any memories?” Will asks, looking at Junie next.

Junie cringes. “Uh. Yeah, some. I don’t, um. Really wanna go back, though.”

“Is that so?” Will asks, visibly surprised.

Junie opens her mouth, probably to deflect. Then her eyes flick to Nia, and she sighs. “…Look, I don’t have a lot I want to go back to, okay? I’m still too young to live on my own and I don’t have the best relationship with my parents. They don’t  really…like me. They think I’m too annoying.”

Nia hears Fidel suck in a breath. Will frowns. Even Tobias seems offended on Junie’s behalf. Nia tries to parse the words she just heard.

Too annoying? Sure, kids can be a bit much, but what kind of parent doesn’t like their own child? And openly enough for their child to state it as surely as the sky is blue or the grass is green? Like it’s fact?

“But they love you, right?” Nia asks, quiet.

Junie scoffs. “Sure. Maybe. Doesn’t matter if I can’t tell, though.”

There are a few moments of heavy silence.

Nia suddenly understands Junie’s adoration of Bolat. The skarmory is clearly as fond of her as she is of him, which must’ve been…new, for her.

Nia’s heart aches.

Fidel speaks up first, expression pained. “I’m sorry to hear that, Junie. No child should ever feel unloved by their parents.”

“Guess my parents didn’t get the memo,” Junie mumbles. “Probably happy to be rid of me, honestly.”

“Then that is their loss,” Will says, sharper than Nia expects.

Another moment of uncomfortable silence. Even Junie and Tobias look surprised by Will’s anger, sudden and biting. Nia would’ve expected Fidel to be angry, being a parent himself, but…

Will takes a deep breath, then lets it out, smoothing one hand across the tabletop. The other latches onto his golden mask. “…Apologies. I’m afraid that’s a bit of a sore spot for me. Well, for the both of us, I suppose.”

“Did…” Nia hesitates. She doesn’t want to be nosy, but… “Do you have kids? In the human world?”

Will smiles. “I do. Well, I expect I do by now.”

“You expect you do?” Tobias asks.

“When I first came to this world, my wife was pregnant. If time passes at the same rate in both worlds, then our daughter was born years ago.”

“I’m so sorry,” Nia murmurs.

“Thank you.” Will’s voice is rough, so he clears his throat before speaking again. “You can imagine why I’m so set on finding a way home.”

The yamask’s gaze shifts down. He strokes wispy black fingers down his mask, tracing the lifeless eyes etched there.

“I did not have the greatest parents myself, Junie,” Will continues. “But I was…so excited to be a father. I just can’t understand parents like yours. I’m sorry that you had to deal with that.”

Junie shifts on her feet, clearly uncomfortable. “Oh. Um…thanks? I’m not too broken up about it anymore. I think I like this place better anyways.”

Will looks up at that. “…I suppose that’s good. Just remember that there’s more than your parents’ disapproval waiting for you in the human world. They matter much less when you’re an adult, and I wouldn’t want you to avoid returning to the human world for something so temporary. You still have a whole life ahead of you.”

Junie looks like she wants this conversation to be over, so she just nods. “I guess I can understand why you want to go back so badly, if you have a wife and kid you actually like.”

“I just want to know they’re all right,” Will says. He gives Nia a sad smile. “I expect you want the same, with your own family. To see them again. Laugh with them and hold them. Grow old with them.”

“More than anything,” Nia says, throat tight.

It’s one thing to have someone be sympathetic to her situation, but it’s different knowing they actually understand where you’re coming from. That they’re feeling the exact same pain you are. Even Hazel, sweet as she is, has already established a life here in the Pokemon world. She has a husband and kids and grandkids. A business and a life. She’s lived here for decades. It’s just not the same.

But Will gets it. He gets it.

“Now,” Will says. He straightens, face falling back into a more neutral expression. “Much as I’d love to sit and reminisce, I believe you came here for a reason, yes? You mentioned to Fidel that you have important information regarding the natural disasters.”

Nia has to take a moment to collect herself, so Tobias starts. “Yeah. Recently, we learned the cause for…well, everything that’s happening in our world, basically. Not just the natural disasters. Nia thought you might be able to help us with a solution.”

Will exchanges a serious look with Fidel. “That’s…certainly more than we were expecting. Please, tell us what you know.”

Tobias glances at Nia. She gives him a weak smile and a thumbs-up, so he gestures with his chin for her to start. They’re getting good at summarizing everything they’ve learned so far, after retelling the sequence of events to Maggie, August, and Junie.

“You know the letter I sent a while ago?” Nia asks. “About Giratina trying to pull me into the stream?”

Will’s expression darkens. Fidel, behind him, frowns but doesn’t look surprised. Will must keep him in the loop.

“Yes?”

“I did some research,” Tobias says. “And realized there was someone who could give us some answers about Giratina. A shedinja to the south, named Edme.”

Will’s face twitches, brow furrowing before smoothing out again.

“We got sidetracked on a different mission first, though,” Nia says. “And long story short, Giratina sort of…helped us out?”

With how Will had insisted humans avoid Giratina at all costs, Nia expects the yamask to look surprised.

Fidel does.

Will simply narrows his eyes, calm and collected. “You’re certain about that? That he was trying to help you?”

Nia exchanges a look with Tobias.

“Preeetty sure,” Tobias drawls. “We probably would’ve died on that mission without him.”

Fidel’s ears pin back, alarm passing over his face. He looks at the three of them in turn, as if to make sure they’re all right.

Will simply hums. “Interesting.”

That’s…it?

“That’s it?” Tobias asks, echoing Nia’s thoughts. His tone is more caustic than the voice in her head, though. “You were so against anyone even talking to Giratina in Ghatha, but you believe that he was helping us? Just like that?”

“Oh, I don’t believe that he helped you out of the goodness of his heart,” Will says, waving the idea away. “I can believe that he helped you, as long as there’s another motive behind his actions.”

“You’re…not wrong,” Nia admits. “I, uh. Actually talked to him, in Shivergleam.”

Will frowns. “You talked to Giratina?”

“Through a reflection?” Fidel asks.

Tobias snorts. “Nope. Edme tricked us and Giratina pulled Nia into his dimension for a little chat.”

“What?” Will floats off his seat. “You were pulled into the Distortion World?”

“Isn’t that dangerous?” Fidel asks.

“What did he say to you?” Will cuts in.

“W-Well…” Nia leans back from the intense expression on Will’s face. “He told me his side of the story, I guess? Everyone thinks he was banished to the Distortion World because he attacked another legendary, but Giratina and Edme said that wasn’t true.”

“Likely story,” Will murmurs. He shakes his head. “Continue, please.”

“Um. He said that the fight between him and Cresselia started because Arceus went dormant, and the other legendaries panicked. Since more and more of them were falling asleep and they didn’t know why, tensions were, uh. High. He told the other legendaries off for abandoning the mortal realm and Cresselia attacked him. He was just defending himself.”

Will makes a doubtful sound in his throat, clearly not buying it. Fidel seems more open to the idea, frowning but listening intently.

“The Lake Trio banished him to the Distortion World in all the chaos,” Tobias picks up. “And now Giratina can’t do anything, since he’s stuck there. But he thinks he knows why everything is falling apart—why the legendaries are going dormant, why the mystery dungeons are forming, why the natural disasters are increasing, even why humans are showing up.”

That makes Will straighten, eyes flashing. “They’re all connected? Surely us humans don’t have anything to do with it. That’s just fear-mongering.”

“We aren’t causing the disasters,” Nia agrees. “We’re just…another symptom of the root problem, like everything else.”

“And that problem is?”

Nia tries to remember how Giratina had described it. “Giratina said that his world, the Distortion World, is kind of like a…shell. It’s wrapped around the Pokemon world, which would be the fruit. It encases it. Protects it.”

Will nods.

“And it has…borders, somehow. The…outer skin of that shell, I guess. Giratina said that everything that’s happening is from that border weakening.”

“Weakening?” Fidel asks. “Like it’s…wearing thin?”

Tobias shakes his head. “The border is going to break. Something is going to rip right through it and crack the shell wide open.”

“Going to?” Will echoes.

Nia nods. “He said it hasn’t actually happened yet, because time doesn’t work normally there. But the closer we get to that point in time here, the more severe everything gets.”

“And when we reach that point in time…” Will murmurs.

“He pretty much implied the world would end. That it would be a thousand times worse than what we’re currently seeing.”

Fidel’s red mane bristles, like a cat. He looks horrified.

Will, on the other hand, just seems deep in thought. He has one hand at his chin and the other on his mask.

“What could cause something like that?” He murmurs.

“Giratina said it’d probably have to be a legendary,” Nia says. “Since it’d have to be something super powerful, and most Pokemon don’t even have the ability to affect the border. It’s more like…a sheet of life energy or aura, rather than a tangible, touchable thing.”

“But aren’t most legends already dormant?” Fidel asks.

“They are,” Tobias says, dragging a heavy hand over his face to pinch at his eyes. “So we don’t know how it’s going to happen.”

“Is it predetermined?” Will asks. “Inevitable?”

Nia nods. “I suggested trying to stop it before it happened—whatever it is—but Giratina seemed pretty positive that it was set in stone.”

Everyone falls silent as they digest that. Nia can hear the quiet hum of the electric lanterns on the walls. Will is absentmindedly tracing the lines of his mask, brow furrowed. Fidel is glancing anxiously at the tunnel they arrived through, as if itching to go find Asher. Tobias is staring at the lanterns, tapping his claws against the tabletop. Junie, probably wanting a bit of comfort, hops off the table and into Nia’s lap. Nia makes room for her and cards her fingers through the bird’s soft feathers.

“Giratina said that all of this is connected to humans showing up in this world, correct?” Will finally asks.

Nia nods. “Giratina said that the human world—well, a few different worlds, actually—are right next to this one. Like…fruits on a vine. And since the border is weakening, human souls are starting to…slip through, somehow?“

“Mew’s the one who transforms humans into Pokemon and suppresses their memories so they can acclimate better,” Tobias adds. “They were working together, according to Giratina.”

“That would explain how it was done,” Will murmurs. “Considering she is supposedly the progenitor of all Pokemon.”

“Giratina said Mew transformed every lost human she could find,” Nia says. “Any that she missed, turned into, uh…yamask.”

She feels a bit awkward explaining that. Giratina’s words linger in her skull, that yamask have a harder time acclimating to the Pokemon world. That they’re not…built for it, really. Not fully accepted.

Will barks a bitter laugh. “Well, that explains a few things. So if human souls are slipping through without intent, then we are here entirely by accident?”

“Seems like it,” Tobias snorts. “Yet Giratina still decided it’s apparently Nia’s job to fix this mess.”

“And how does he propose you do that?” Fidel asks, wary.

“Well…since the border is made of life energy, and we’re pretty sure it’s going to break no matter what…”

“Our only idea is to fix it immediately after it breaks, before the damage is fully done,” Tobias finishes. “Most legendaries are already dormant, but there are two that were asleep naturally before Arceus fell.”

Fidel’s eyes widen with understanding. “Yveltal and Xerneas?”

“The gods of…destruction and new life, correct?” Will asks.

Nia nods. “Giratina is hoping that since the two of them were already in a 1,000-year sleep cycle, that we can wake them early somehow.“

“Wake Xerneas early,” Tobias corrects. “Yveltal would probably just make everything worse.”

“Hm.” Will tilts his head. “I suppose he would.”

“So that’s our plan.” Nia says, the words feeling anticlimactic. “Right now we’re just trying to find Xerneas.”

“Which I assume is no small feat, if no one has stumbled across her yet,” Will says.

“That’s what we were hoping to get your help with,” Nia admits. “We have no idea where to start. Giratina only said that she should be here somewhere, in the Pokemon world.”

“August, our guild leader, is looking into it with the archivists, but Nia thought you might have different sources of information than they do.”

Will doesn’t answer right away, looking back down at the golden mask on the table. His hands are steepled in front of his mouth. “Nia, did you ask Giratina about returning to the human world while you were in his dimension?“

Nia blinks, caught off-guard by the sudden change in topic. “U-Um. Yeah, I did. He said that attempting anything like that while the border is unstable would basically be suicide.”

“Odd,” Will murmurs. “I would think it would be easier to travel between worlds while the border is weakened.“

Nia had thought the same thing. The border weakening is how they got here in the first place, after all. But either Giratina is wrong about his own domain, or…

Nia frowns, a prick of unease making her shift in her seat. “Do you think he was lying?”

“Perhaps. If Giratina is truly so desperate for your help, Nia, then he wouldn’t want to risk you leaving before the border is fixed. Making you too afraid to even try hopping back to the human world is certainly one way to accomplish that.”

“But why would he need to lie at all?” Junie asks. “This is Nia we’re talking about here. There’s no way she would just leave everyone behind while this world is falling apart. She’d obviously help fix the border before going back to the human world.”

“Either Giratina doesn’t know Nia’s character very well,” Will says, looking up to meet Nia’s eyes. His expression is grave. “Or…”

Nia’s ears pin back under the weight of Will’s gaze. “O-Or what..?”

Will is silent for a long, long moment. “…Or he’s worried that despite your character, you won’t fix the border if you know the consequences of that decision.”

The…consequences?

“Think about it. Fixing the border means sealing the only known entry point between the human world and this one. Which is also our only known exit point.”

It takes a moment for the implications to sink in.

Nia stares at Will, stricken. “If we fix the border…we’ll be stuck in this world forever?”

“It’s a possibility.”

Nia shakes her head. No. No, there has to be a way. Some way to fix this world without cutting off their only route home.

“Breathe, Nia,” Fidel says, quiet.

Nia had almost forgotten the zoroark was here. She looks at him, uncomprehending. He takes an exaggerated breath, waiting for her to match him before releasing it. Once, twice, three times. Slowly, her rising emotions plateau into something manageable.

“S-So then what do we do?” Nia whispers. “I-I can’t—there has to be some way to do both. Some way to fix this world and still get us home.”

“We don’t know that fixing the border will cut off your only way back to the human world,” Tobias points out.

“True,” Will says. He is clearly deep in thought, but he doesn’t seem panicked by this realization. His serene expression calms something in Nia, too. “I had already been looking into methods for traveling between worlds without Giratina’s help anyways, so this is simply another factor to take into consideration.”

“B-But if Giratina thinks it’s impossible—”

“The gods can be wrong just as often as mortals can,” Will says, voice hard.

Nia doesn’t know what to say to that. But strangely, it gives her some hope.

“So…does this mean you’ll help us look for Xerneas?” Tobias asks, eyes narrowed.

“Yes,” Will says, “Whether Giratina is lying or not, the fact of the matter is that we can’t find a way home if we all die from this calamity first. So finding Xerneas to stabilize the border takes priority.”

“How noble of you,” Tobias says, sarcastic.

“It’s basic logic,” Will says with a smile and a shrug. “Of course I want to go home to my world as soon as possible. But first we must survive this world. With any luck, perhaps the answer to one problem will lead us to the answer for the other.”

Will’s confidence that they can still do both—that they can fix this world and find a way back home—feels like a soothing balm over Nia’s frayed nerves. She definitely doesn’t want to abandon this world and everyone in it to a terrible fate, but she doesn’t want to seal away their one chance at returning home to the human world, either.

There has to be a way for everything to work out.

“Thank you,” Nia breathes. She realizes she’s holding Junie a bit too tightly, and relaxes her grip.

“So we’re officially switching focus?” Fidel asks, looking at Will.

The yamask nods. “Yes. Number one priority is to track down Xerneas or Yveltal.”

There’s a beat of quiet.

“Isn’t that the, uh, destruction guy?” Junie asks. “Didn’t we say we don’t want to wake him up?”

“Correct,” Will says. “But if we can find one legendary, their counterpart will likely be nearby, yes?”

They all look to Tobias and Fidel, the two natural-born Pokemon in the room.

Tobias’ face twists in thought. “That…sounds right, but I haven’t heard any stories about Xerneas or Yveltal in forever.”

“I believe legend states that they do sleep near one another,” Fidel confirms.

Will claps, straightening up with a smile. “Excellent. So we have our next step, yes? We locate Xerneas, wake her, and enlist her aid in fixing the border once the break occurs. Do we have a guesstimate for when that will happen?”

“W-Well, Giratina said it would definitely happen within the year. But I don’t think he was sure other than that? It could be sooner.”

Will nods. “Then we shouldn’t delay.”

“Would you like me to notify the research team?” Fidel asks.

“Please do.”

Fidel rises to his paws, shoots Nia, Tobias, and Junie a quick smile, then lopes down the tunnel the totem-bird had disappeared into earlier.

“Thank you so much for helping us with this,” Nia sighs, turning back to Will. “You don’t know how much of a relief it is having your support.”

“Of course,” Will says with a comforting smile. “Thank you for coming to me.“

Will grabs his mask and moves off his stool. Nia and Tobias follow his lead, getting to their feet. Junie hops onto Nia’s shoulder to hitch a ride.

“So what now?” Tobias asks, glancing down the tunnel Fidel and the totem-bird researcher had vanished into. “We go back to the guild and you let us know if you find anything?”

“You’re welcome to stay here at the settlement for a bit,” Will says. “While I doubt we’ll be able to locate either legendary immediately, it should only take a few days for us to give you a better idea of where to search.”

“That soon?” Nia asks.

Will floats a bit higher, looking proud. “My research team has access to a wide array of resources. Give us a couple of days and we can give you at least a vague idea of where to start looking.”

Nia smiles. “That sounds great. Thank you, Will.”

“Of course,” Will gestures towards the tunnel they entered from, as if to guide them back outside. “We’ll be sure to keep you updated, but let Fidel or I know if you need anything in the meantime.“

“Why the rush, Will?”

Nia nearly trips over her own paws, not expecting the distinctly feminine voice from the mouth of one of the inner tunnels. It sounds strangely familiar too, light and teasing with a sharp undertone, but surely it can’t be—

“Rosalind?” Tobias hisses under his breath.

Sure enough, there’s a hatterene leaning casually against the opening of one of the tunnels, her pink and blue colors bright against the natural tones of the cave. She has that same sly smile curling at her lips, dark eyes glittering beneath the hat-like piece on her head.

Will squeezes his eyes shut, looking distinctly irritated for a moment before pasting on a smile and turning to meet Rosalind’s eyes. “Rosalind. Finished with your tea?”

Rosalind laughs, dainty and light, then shuffles forward to meet them. “I was wondering who you had to meet with so urgently. You know I like to stay in the loop on these things, Will.”

“That I do,” Will sighs. After a moment of hesitation, he turns to present Rosalind to them. “Nia, Tobias, Junie, this is—"

“We’ve met,” Tobias says, tense.

Will falters, frowning as he looks between the three of them and Rosalind. “…Is that so?”

“It is! These three are some of my cutest little workers.”

“How…nice,” Will says, stilted.

Nia understands the awkward tension in the air. She feels unsure about this whole situation, too. Rosalind isn’t exactly shy about being a shady underworld informant, so why is she here with Will?

For a moment, Nia considers Tobias’ ever-present suspicion of the yamask. Glancing at her partner, who has yet to look away from Rosalind, it’s clear that any rapport Will had built during their previous conversation has been wiped away. And for once, she can’t really blame him. What would Will need Rosalind around for?

…Then again, they needed Rosalind’s help to find the outlaw trio that Tobias is after. Who’s to say Will doesn’t have a similar arrangement?

Nia takes a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. They all have their reasons.

Rosalind’s dark eyes focus on Nia, and her smile grows. Right. Empath. “Good to see you again, Team Scarlet.”

“Wish I could say the same,” Tobias grumbles. He glares openly between Rosalind and Will. “Why are you here? How do you two know each other?”

“How forward of you!” Rosalind mock gasps, putting the hand of her hair-tentacle-arm thing over her mouth. “Don’t you know a lady’s affairs are private?”

Will sighs again. “Rosalind and I are…acquaintances.”

“Is that all we are? Come now, Will, we’ve known each other for years.”

“Rosalind.”

Rosalind smiles sweetly, clearly enjoying herself.

Nia isn’t sure how to feel about…any of this, really.

“Fine, fine.” Rosalind looks back to them. “Consider us…business partners, of a sort. You know that I like to stay informed about all the goings-on in the world. I can’t let an entire group of humans go off on their own without knowing what they’re up to, can I? I’m not very fond of surprises, after all.”

Nia…supposes that makes sense. Still, she exchanges a guarded, doubtful look with Tobias.

“So you get information. What does Will get out of your…partnership?” Tobias asks.

“He already told you some of his assets came from old friends, correct?” Rosalind says.

“You were listening to our conversation?” Junie blurts.

“Yes. A bit rude, perhaps, but it’s also rude to leave a guest waiting.”

“What do you want, Rosalind?” Will asks, sounding very tired.

“So impatient,” Rosalind tsks. Then she smiles at Tobias. “Since fate decided we should cross paths, I just wanted to offer a little tidbit of information that Team Scarlet might be interested in.”

Tobias straightens, eyes flashing. “Is this about..?”

“It is. Are you interested?“

Tobias glances at Will. “Not here. But yeah.”

Rosalind hums. “Fair. Will, darling, would you mind giving us a moment?”

Will does in fact look like he minds, but after a few seconds he relents with a stiff smile. “Of course.” He turns back to the three of them. “I’m going to confer with the research team. I’ll speak with you all later.”

Nia nods with a shaky smile. “Sounds good. Thanks again, Will.”

“Thank you as well,” Will says. Then he turns and heads down the tunnel Fidel had disappeared through, sparing Rosalind one last glance before vanishing.

Rosalind looks back to them. “Now, where were we?”

“First,” Tobias says, arms crossing. “What’s the price?”

Rosalind laughs, louder than earlier . More genuine. “You catch on quickly, don’t you? Good.“

Nia exchanges a worried look with Junie. Rosalind makes her nervous in the best of circumstances, but especially when they’re “negotiating.”

“My price is low this time around. I won’t even draw up a contract, seeing as this meetup was unexpected.” Rosalind leans over them, closer to their faces. Nia leans back, gulping.

“Personal space?” Junie mumbles.

“All I want,” Rosalind whispers, and the quiet tone puts Nia even more on edge. “Is for you to inform me immediately if our dearest Will makes a move to go to the human world.”

Nia blinks. “…W-What? But we aren’t—we’re only trying to find Xerneas right now. He can’t make the jump until we fix—“

“Can’t he?” Rosalind asks, smile dropping. She tilts her head, locking eyes with Nia.

Nia feels her stomach drop.

What exactly is Rosalind implying? That Will isn’t going to do what he says he is? That he’s going to try to go to the human world without fixing the Pokemon world first? He wouldn’t do that, not when it would mean disaster for everyone.

He…wouldn’t, right?

“What do you know?” Tobias asks.

“Mm. Nothing substantial.” Rosalind straightens up with a pleasant smile. “Just a hunch. I’ve known Will for years. He’s more desperate than he appears.”

“E-Even then, he wouldn’t do that,“ Nia protests. “It’s not safe to try until the border is fixed! For either world.”

“I wonder. Grief has it’s own kind of logic, to those desperate enough.”

Nia falls silent, wishing Junie was in her arms to hug instead of perched on her shoulder.

“Anything that sets off alarm bells, you tell me about immediately,” Rosalind reiterates. “Deal?”

“W-Why?” Nia can’t help asking. “Why do you want to know?”

Rosalind tilts her head. “Because that idiot is either going to make a horrible mistake with repercussions that I do not want to deal with, or he is going to be my ticket to safety when this world falls apart. Either way, he cannot be trusted to act in my best interests.”

Nia falls silent. She desperately wants to defend Will, but she also feels like arguing with Rosalind is liable to get her mysteriously injured. Or worse.

“Deal,” Tobias says. “If we notice anything, we’ll let you know as soon as possible.”

Rosalind smiles. “Good. In that case, here’s your payment. Are you familiar with Kaleido Bay?”

That does sound familiar. Nia looks to Tobias.

“The city to the south, right?” He asks, frowning. “Where the road meets the sea?”

“That’s it,” Rosalind says, turning to stroll along the wall of the room. “It’s had trouble with damages recently due to natural disasters, but it’s a lovely little city. Lots of shops.”

“Okay?” Tobias says with a scowl. “What about it?”

“It won’t be to your liking, Charmander,” Rosalind says, reaching out to tap at one of the lantern lights. “Half the city is floating above the waves and other half lies beneath them. However, it does hold something of interest, other than shops.”

Nia glances at Tobias. He’s tracking Rosalind closely, fists balled.

“Kaleido Bay, funny enough, holds a prison under its waves, reserved for particularly dangerous criminals."

Oh. Oh no. Nia’s stomach sinks.

“They caught them?” Tobias rasps, taking a step forward.

“They caught one of them,” Rosalind says, turning back to them. “The pangoro, Dismas. He’s under tight security, but if you’d like to talk to him I can arrange a conversation.”

“Yes.” Tobias doesn’t even hesitate, taking another step towards the hatterene. “Please.”

“Tobias,” Nia murmurs, laying a gentle hand on his arm.

He jolts, as if he forgot she was even there.

“Are you sure you’ll be…okay? Seeing him?” Nia whispers.

She can’t help thinking about Tobias at that crobat’s home in the desert. Overwhelmed by grief and destroying the gifts left on the outlaw’s grave. She’d never seen him so…lost in himself before. It was scary.

Tobias swallows. He looks away. “I have so many questions. I have to talk to him, Nia.”

Nia squeezes his arm once before letting go. “…Okay.”

Junie snuggles closer to Nia’s neck. Nia appreciates the warm point of contact and leans her head into the touch.

Rosalind smiles. “Excellent. In that case, go to the prison in Kaleido and ask to speak to Jude, on behalf of Rosie.”

“Rosie?” Junie mumbles, just loud enough for Nia to hear.

“When Jude arrives, tell him you need to speak with prisoner D22. And no, he does not get a choice. He either lets you in, or I tell his superiors about Sahara City.”

Nia doesn’t want to know what this Jude did in Sahara City or just how much trouble he’ll be in if Rosalind rats him out. Even the vague threat directed at someone else sends goosebumps down Nia’s arms.

Rosalind is terrifying.

Nia can tell Tobias is unnerved too, his shoulders tense, but he simply nods. “Got it. Anything else?“

“No, that should be it.” Rosalind smiles at them. “You’re free to leave. Good luck.”

Without looking away from the hatterene, Tobias herds Nia and Junie towards the tunnel they’d initially entered through.

“Actually, there is one more thing,” Rosalind calls, stopping them in their tracks.

Nia peeks over her shoulder, past Tobias. Rosalind has moved over to the desk with papers scattered atop it, looking idly through them.

“Remember that I do know you’re human now, Riolu. Rookidee.” Rosalind’s voice is calm, but Nia’s breath catches all the same. “And rumors can be a nasty, nasty thing to deal with nowadays. So step carefully.”

“Hey!” Tobias barks. In the low light of the cave, Nia can see embers glowing through the thin skin of his jaw. “I said we’d keep up our end of the deal.”

Rosalind smiles sweetly, looking up at them from across the room. “Then we shouldn’t have any issues, should we?”

Tobias growls under his breath and nudges Nia down the tunnel. Nia does actually stumble over her own paws this time, in her haste to leave.

They’re all silent as they exit the tunnel into the outer building, then even farther outside into early afternoon air. It feels…wrong, for the day to be bright and sunny, all blue sky and cool, fresh air, after such heavy discussions.

Nia takes a deep breath, leaning against the warm stone wall of the village. Tobias follows. The Pokemon—humans—of the village pass around them, still as carefree as ever. Nia can hear the children they’d passed by earlier shouting and laughing in the distance.

“Anyone else kind of hate Rosalind?” Junie asks.

Nia gives a nervous laughs. “I could do without her jump-scaring us, that’s for sure.”

They both look at Tobias, expecting him to respond as well. Instead, he’s looking out over the trees of the mesa, brow furrowed. Looking south, towards Kaleido Bay.

“…Tobias? You all right?”

Tobias takes a breath, shaking his head. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Thinking about Kaleido Bay?”

Tobias nods.

“I thought so,” Nia says, quiet. “When are we leaving?”

Tobias looks up at her, surprised.

Nia lifts her brows in return. Does he really think she’s going to let him go on his own? He should know better by now.

Tobias laughs a quiet, humorless laugh. “You know you don’t have to come.“

“You know I am,” Nia murmurs in return, reaching out to take his hand.

Tobias’ mouth twitches with a smile before falling again. “Kaleido should only be a day’s walk south. We could be back in a couple days and see if Will’s found anything by then.”

Nia nods. “So what time?”

“We could leave early tomorrow morning and get there by late afternoon.”

“Okay,” Nia says, closing her eyes as she leans back against the stone wall. Tobias joins her, hand still clasped in her own. Junie is unmoving on Nia’s shoulder.

Quiet falls over them again. Nia imagines they’re both thinking about the same things she is. Finding Xerneas and saving the world from destruction. Will’s promises and Rosalind’s suspicion. Tobias and the outlaw he’s going to talk to all too soon.

Nia wants to believe that everything will turn out okay, but there’s a pit in her stomach all the same.

[hugemilkshake]

May I kindly please get some headcanons of the five great dragons (Pitaya, Ananas, Lotus, Lychee and Longan) with a reader, who is called "Mother of All Dragons" having tremendous power, a lot of experiences when it comes to battles and high level of knowledges, but they just wanted to look after all dragons alike, protecting them from going extinct.

Enjoy the milkshake! I’ve been in a major writing block so hopefully this pulls me out of it to some degree, so if this is bad, that’s why

Also I’m going to be ordering the dragons in who I think is the oldest

“Guardian of All Dragons”

-platonic-

Legends state that dragons used to run the world all working and living together in harmony. But a disaster of unknown origin struck. It slaughtered dragons of varying powers. Only a few eggs survived, and one living dragon survived.

Longan Dragon

The first of the dragons to hatch and the only one too see the eldest dragons pain of losing so many brethren

Seeing a parental figure so mentally worn down can do numbers on a young child’s life

So that might be a cause for wanting dragons to rule the lands like once before

Needless to say Longan still holds a lot of respect for their parental figure since they were genuinely trying

Ananas Dragon

The second dragon to hatch and probably the most curious of the bunch

Hatching at a time were there was trauma still lingering but not as prominent can be confusing

Like why was there a protective nature over unhatched eggs? Why are there no dragons? What happened?

Ananas did find their love of nature by being told to look at plants so they would stop asking about topics that could open old wounds

Lotus Dragon

The third dragon to hatch, the calmest and the middle child

The middle child syndrome is strong since this was quite the boring time in everyone’s lives

Lotus was always wishing for stuff to happen, like a meteor strike

Now the guardian tried to give Lotus attention but two dragons who are starting to get moody and stuff takes attention away

Pitaya Dragon

The forth dragon to hatch with the most anger out of them

Now Pitaya was fighting every and being a little crap

So one lesson later about battle strategies and there’s less issues

Pitaya did challenge everyone to a fight so not sure how good that worked

Lychee Dragon

The last dragon to hatch and definitely the most annoying one

Youngest child mood

They were always getting everything they wanted

Lychee knew this fact so they used it for their whole life

[mysticmonkeybusiness]

Prompt: post s5, Mac goes to find Wukong and find him he does, along with a broken mirror; given by @visionaryscribe

-

He never knew the world could get more obnoxiously loud. The change was slow, but at this point Macaque’s certain it’s a side effect of shattering the five stones of creation. Now he can hardly step foot off Flower Fruit Mountain without reducing his hearing to human levels. Human. At least at demon levels he can still hear magic, but he’s practically crippled like this.

But it’s like the kid can’t go one day without getting into trouble, so Macaque sucks it up, deafens himself, and finds time to check in on him regularly. Wouldn’t want another world ending disaster to go unnoticed until it’s too late to do anything about it.

It becomes routine. A boring, straightforward task with little to no surprises outside of the mundane shenanigans MK and the dragon girl get up to. After a few weeks of this, Macaque makes the mistake of letting his guard down.

He lingers a little longer in the shadows of MK’s room, watching the kid draw. This is the most relaxed he’s seen the kid since the pillar. It relaxes him in turn, something within him unwinding and feeling a little less like the world is actually out to get him. The moment he hears the pig come up though, he makes his exit. The kid is getting better and better at spotting him and without a distraction keeping him from looking up, Macaque doesn’t like his chances of remaining unnoticed.

Returning to Flower Fruit Mountain is simple. Removing the deafening spell takes barely a thought.

Or it should.

It’s still too quiet and he wonders how he could have messed up a spell he could cast with his hands tied behind his back. Recasting the spell does nothing to fix things. Frustrated and assured he’s alone, he rips the glamour on his ears off as well to no change. His breathing hitches as he clutches at his ears and reflexively expands his range.

To his surprise, it works. It only takes a second for the thought to hit him with all the force of a certain red and gold staff.

Wukong’s not on the mountain.

With more panic than he’d ever admit to anyone – only because if Wukong’s missing, he must be getting into trouble – Macaque scrambles to locate peaches-for-brains and has to stop himself from slumping in relief at finding the white noise of Wukong’s magic at the temple on the mainland.

He tells himself it’s a reasonable response at finding out Wukong hasn’t brought some world ending disaster down on their heads.

Macaque finds it a bit strange though. Wukong’s been spending most of his time split between his hut and the noodle shop. If he wasn’t being an overprotective mother hen, he was lazing around in his hut and gorging himself on fruit.

Lingering adrenaline and piqued curiosity is enough to have him shadow portal to the temple. He grimaces as he adjusts to the noise volume, suppressing his hearing as best as he can without magic.

The sharp tang of copper lingers in the air and sends his adrenaline spiking yet again. When he finds Wukong he’s going to punch him in his stupid face for giving him this much stress.

He follows the smell of blood to the bathroom and immediately zeros in on the Great Pain of Heaven. He found Wukong alright, along with a shattered mirror.

Curled in on himself, Wukong’s claws are digging into his skull and his heartbeat so rapid that it’s likely without the immortalities he would have given himself a heart condition.

Glass crunches underneath his boots as he steps closer, but Wukong doesn’t even flinch. Worry breaks through his denial and he crouches barely a handspan away, eyes catching on the pinprick pupils, the glittering glass sprinkled amidst sunset orange fur, and the already healing scratches on Wukong’s face. Almost entirely hidden beneath his curled hands, a long, shallow slice on his temple tells him exactly what set this off.

A slow wave in front of his face doesn’t even make him blink. Wukong’s clearly not registering anything he’s seeing.

“Wukong,” he murmurs softly, trying to snap him out of it without touching him and possibly setting him off further.

Macaque should have expected something like this to happen, but with the damn circlet long gone, he thought they managed to get past it without an incident. Figures Wukong wouldn’t deign to have his breakdown when he is around someone that could help him.

MK would be better for this. Even out of his mind, Wukong would never hurt the kid. His instincts wouldn’t let him.

Macaque doesn’t have that assurance.

Claws twitch and dig further until there’s the distinct crack of hitting bone. Before he even registers the lump in his throat, Macaque is reaching over and ripping Wukong’s hands away from his head. Any damage he could do removing them would be nothing close to what Wukong could do to himself.

Like he has nothing better to do than cause Macaque problems, Wukong immediately begins thrashing, mouth open in a silent scream. He’s thrown off, but picks himself up, hurls himself at Wukong, and sends them both through a shadow portal back to Wukong’s nest.

As he had hoped, the change of location sends Wukong off balance. It’s enough to let Macaque pin Wukong to the nest and reinforce the hold with his shadows. Wukong still struggles, but slowly, that resistance fades away as the differences in his surroundings start trickling in. Familiar scents instead of blood. Comforting fabrics instead of sharp glass.

Capitalizing on the opening, Macaque thinks to himself, Can’t believe I’m doing this, and makes a low, rumbling purr. It almost hurts at first, having been centuries since he’s worked these particular muscles, but it gets easier as he keeps it up.

Beneath him, he can feel the gradual way Wukong relaxes. With his hands occupied he has to use his head to nudge the side of Wukong’s in encouragement, keeping the purr up all the while.

He’s not sure how long they stay like that, but by the time he feels safe enough to let go of the restraints, he feels exhausted. Wukong, the prissy princess, tensed up again every single time he so much as let up on the pacifying gestures. He leans back just enough to see Wukong’s face and has to fight the urge to strangle him when he sees the idiot is asleep.

Faintly, he considers portaling back to his own bed, but frankly, even that’s too much effort right now. Besides, after what Wukong put him through, he can deal with waking up next to Macaque. He lowers himself back down, this time on the side and gets the source of all his problems curling into his chest for his efforts.

He contents himself with the fantasy of kicking Wukong away and wraps an arm around him because Wukong might as well make himself useful as a blanket. His eyes slide shut and he takes a deep breath as a scent that never fails to register as safe despite everything that screams otherwise fills his nose.

Macaque never sees the way eyes peek open a sliver before falling closed once more.

[dailyadventureprompts]

Villain: The Hollow Lords

Though their reign was long thought ended, this circle of skeletal tyrants have returned from the dark depths of history to conquer the ream once again. Their awakening heralded by a tide of destruction and plague meant to destabilize the land and seed it with corpses to make up their army of undead.

Something is wrong with this story though, details that don't match up, an unknown will at work behind the actions of the lifeless villains. Whatever threat they may pose, an even greater danger pulls the strings of the hollow lords, a danger the party will confront all too soon.

Adventure Hooks:

Before they awaken, the hollow lords should be woven into the campaign as an innocuous background detail, a threat from a previous millennium which defined the heroes of that era. Forgotten today outside of festival traditions, old monuments, and the standing alliances between kingdoms, This sets a standard against which the party can measure themselves.

Scenario A sees the Hollow Lords emerging in the party's own realm, a wave of inexplicable disasters paving the way for the rise of an emerging threat just in time for our heroes to enter a new adventuring tier. In this instance it's about preventing the disasters from spreading/ the undead from establishing their foothold across a land the party has just finished journeying across. Our heroes will be stretched thin, People they know are going to suffer, and deliberate choices will need to be made about what they can save. Looking into the history of the lords only raises more questions, namely that many of them emerged from graves belonging to people who were born and died centuries after the original Hollow Lords were vanquished.

Scenario B has the Hollow Lords as an established threat, ruling over a Mordor like kingdom of darkness either bordering the party's own homeland, or being the party's own homeland if you want to get bleak about it. After our heroes defeat their first of the villains they receive a strange invitation, another of the Hollow Lords has broken partially free of whatever enchantment binds them and is pleading for help. If the party are willing to take a gamble, this rogue undead is willing to use all its dread power to aid them if they can figure out a way to put it to rest for good.

Though each was mighty or powerful in their own right, there was no unholy conspiracy that connected the Hollow Lords during their living years, at-least not on their part. Instead they were all called back to the mortal plane by a veiled necromancer who had some invisible claim on their soul. Stripped of their will, they were forced to act on behalf of this faceless puppeteer, allowing whoever it was beneath the skullmask and robe to carve out a kingdom while remaining in the shadows. Most troubling of all, those one or two Hollow Lords that were around for their first attempt at world domination also remember the veiled necromancer, speaking of a conspiracy centuries in the making.

Artist

[colourstreakgryffin]

The Six Pillars; Masterlist #2~

Welcome to my second temple~! This is the era of my Hellaverse love but really, it’s my joy and pride! I hope everybody enjoys skimming through this disaster called my Blog!

💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓

Pillar #1: Demon Slayer~❤️

❤️ Akaza: Of Different Worlds

💜 Obanai: Back Off

🌈 Douma: Snuggly Orders

❤️ Muzan: All Mine

🖤 Gyomei: Toasty Blood

💙 Giyuu: Fuzzy Morals

💜 Obanai: Serpents and Arachnids

❤️💜🧡 Tanjiro, Obanai and Kyojuro: Ribboned-up Niffty

💛 Hotaru: Nothing or Everything

💙 Muichiro: Wire of Fate

💜 Nakime: Hot Red Strings

💙 Giyuu: Sky-High Fortitude

💜 Obanai: Dragon Tamer

💙❤️💙 Muichiro, Tanjiro and Giyuu: Eating Drama

🖤 Gyomei: Typhoon Shelter

❤️ Tengen: The Best and the Worst

💜 Obanai: Sheathed Blade

💚❤️💙💛 Karaku, Sekido, Aizetsu and Urogi: Fishing for Prizes

🩷💜💚 Kanae, Shinobu and Kanao: Near-Death Experience

🩷🧡💜 Mitsuri, Kyojuro and Shinobu: Doll Mattress

💙 Aoi: Horseyback Rides

💜💜💚 Shinobu, Obanai and Sanemi: Victim Issues

💜 Genya: Unlikely Partnership

💙🩷🖤 Giyuu, Mitsuri and Gyomei: Hook Hashira

💜 Shinobu: Eyes on the Walls

❤️ Tanjiro: Wait, Your Majesty

🌈 Douma: Sharing a Heart

💚 Kanao: Feeling Flop

🧡💜💚 Kyojuro, Obanai and Sanemi: Past and Future

Pillar #2: Jujutsu Kaisen~💜

🖤 Noritoshi: Numb Senses

❤️❤️ Choso and Ryomen: Tiger Eye

❤️ Choso: One of the Same

❤️ Choso: Styling Perfection

💛 Kento: Eclipse Heart

❤️ Naoya: Toxic River

Pillar #3: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure~💚

💙💚💛 Jonathan, Erina and DIO: Clock Delay

Pillar #4: Death Note~💙

—

Pillar #5: Haikyuu~💛

Osamu and Atsumu: Plus Three

❤️ Kenma: Level 0; Training

🧡 Hinata: Impressing You

🧡💙💚 Atsumu, Osamu and Rintarõ: Clown of Mischief

Pillar #6: Record of Ragnorak~🩷

💚💙 Adam and Eve: Broken Little Heart

💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞

Pillar #7: Hellaverse~🖤

💜 Loona: Fuzzy Kisses

💛🖤 Moxxie and Millie: Appling

❤️ Valentino: Silkworm Caterpillar

❤️ Blitzø: All the Same to Me

💙 Vox: Baby Laptop

🩷 Angel Dust: Made of Love

❤️💙 Alastor and Vox: Climbing the Ladder

🖤 Rosie: Fire Lily

🖤 Carmilla Carmine: Love at First Meeting

💙 Vaggie: Bolt Spear

💙 Vox: Cameras and TVs

🖤 Husk: Dolling Up

🖤 Husk: Glass Barfly

🖤 Husk: Daddy’s Little Girl

💛 Emily: Counting Sheep

❤️ Alastor: Three Glowing Candles

💛 Charlie: Balloon Soul

🖤 Husk: Pootie-Kitty

🖤🩷 Husk and Angel Dust: Growing Up

❤️🩷💛 Alastor, Velvette and Emily: Mirage Mind

❤️ Alastor: Yin and Yang, Light and Dark

🖤❤️💙 Husk, Cherri and Vox: Pink Shoes

💛 Adam: Stem of the Apple

❤️🖤 Alastor and Rosie: Blood Spill

💚💙 Fizzarolli and Asmodeus: Ruby in the Rough

❤️ Alastor: Picking Favourites

❤️ Alastor: A Little Game

❤️ Blitzø: Guns & Volleyballs

🖤 Husk: Precious Kitten

❤️Alastor: Rose Drop

❤️ Alastor: Staying Here

❤️ Alastor: Fresh Meat

❤️ Alastor: Rainbow Irises

❤️ Alastor: Old Habits, Never Die

❤️ Alastor: Diamond Trio

💙 Vox: Vampire Canine

❤️ Alastor: Rabbitfoot

❤️ Alastor: Lies and Deception

❤️ Alastor: Little Mistake

❤️❤️🖤 Alastor, Lucifer and Husk: Wildcard

❤️ Alastor: Smile, My Dear

❤️💙🩷 Alastor, Vox and Velvette: Getting Over It

❤️ Alastor: Crystal Heart

❤️ Alastor: Beauty from Within

❤️ Alastor: Blood Draw

❤️ Alastor: Shopping Trip

❤️ Alastor: All the More Demons

❤️ Alastor: Follow Me

❤️ Alastor: Mischievous Rumours

❤️ Alastor: the Prey and the Predator

❤️ Alastor: Redemption Path

❤️ Alastor: Chaotic I.M.P

❤️ Alastor: Night & Day

❤️ Alastor: Reaching Out

❤️ Alastor: Hell’s Angel

❤️ Alastor: Hopping Little Heart

Here is the third temple of this blog’s lengthy Masterlist~ Masterlist #3

[lunar-wandering]

Kaiju's and Blankets

!!!Season 4 Special Spoilers are in this fic!!!

Summary: MK gets sick, and gets stuck in kaiju form as a result. Everything else that spirals from that point is nobody else's fault but Wukong's. (Who is DEFINITELY not sick, thank you very much).

Word Count: 6.6k

Read on Ao3

“MK are you… sure you’re okay to run deliveries today?” 

“Of course, why wouldn’t I be?” 

“Well…” Pigsy trailed off, uncertain, looking up and down at MK’s rather… unkempt appearance today, as well as noting how almost hoarse the kid’s voice sounded, watching as MK’s smile despite these facts remained unchanged- even as his whole body jolted as he flickered with a golden glitch. “You’re doing the thing.” 

“What thing? I don’t know what you’re talking about.” MK glitched again, reaching behind himself just in time to grab his monkey tail as it appeared, holding it behind his back in an attempt to keep it out of view- an attempt that severely failed as Pigsy leveled him with concerned look, Mei even looking up from her phone game to raise her eyebrow at his actions. He sniffled, raising his free arm and rubbing his nose on the back of his sleeve, grabbing the takeout bags afterwards, partially disguising it as a more casual movement. “Aaaaanyways- I’ll just be out delivering these! Won’t even take that long! Be back soon!” 

Both Pigsy and Mei watched in concerned silence as MK walked backwards out of the restaurant, giving the both of them a rather sloppy salute before turning off and sprinting down the street, leaving cracks in the pavement behind him- albeit he didn’t seem to notice. Mei sighed, pocketing her phone. 

“He’s going to pass out, isn’t he.” She deadpanned, Pigsy nodding solemnly in agreement with her assessment. She stood up, stretching her arms above her head and rolling her shoulders, loosening up her muscles. 

“You’d better go after him, Mei.” 

“Already on it, Mr. Pig Dad Sir!” Mei bent down, getting into a ready to run position- 

Only to be thrown off balance as it was like the entire world shook, the building trembling, a sound similar to an explosion resounding as both her and Pigsy got tossed into the air from the force. Mei, thankfully, oriented herself to land on her feet- using a touch of dragon power to zoom into the kitchen and catch as many objects as she could before they could shatter on the ground. 

Pigsy wasn’t nearly so lucky, instead slamming down onto the floor, the wind getting knocked out of him. He remained on the floor, taking a moment to catch his breath, before groaning as he slowly pushed himself up, Mei quickly setting her objects on the counter and rushing over to give him a hand. 

“What was that?!” He wheezed, giving Mei a pat on the shoulder as thanks before making his way towards the door. Before he could get there however, Tang was suddenly there, appearing in a golden flash of light, staff in hand and looking frazzled and panicked, not even letting Pigsy or Mei get a word out before he spoke. 

“You guys are going to want to see this.” 

With no further explanation, he slammed his staff on the ground, both Pigsy and Mei shielding their eyes, closing them against the light as they felt the now-familiar sensation of teleportation. When they opened them again, they both blinked, taking in the absolute destruction. 

There were buildings that were literally flattened, pressed down against the ground- a few fires starting up in the remains of some of them. Thankfully, there had long since been a magic system put in place to automatically teleport people in danger out of the way in the case of possible natural disasters, and most of this space was an area that had been abandoned since Spider Queen’s attack the previous year, so there wasn’t that much concern about civilians, but. 

There was a giant crater in the ground that most certainly had not been there before, one that they were currently standing at the very edge of. 

And, at the middle of the crater, standing awkwardly at the exact center of all the destruction, with his tails swishing nervously… was MK. 

In kaiju form. 

“Well,” Mei put her hands on her hips, “That’s less than ideal.” 

“You’re telling me.” All three of them jumped as Sandy suddenly appeared out of nowhere behind them, staring at MK with obvious concern. “He told me last night that he was just coming down with a little cold.” 

“Yeah, I don’t think it’s very little anymore.” Pigsy sighed in exasperation, stepping forwards, about to jump down into the crater and approach MK, planning on lecturing him about the importance of not hiding illnesses again- 

“Ah- wait!” Tang grabbed the back of Pigsy’s clothes, pulling him back towards him. 

Just in time it seemed, as MK suddenly twitched, all three of his tails coming to a complete standstill as he inhaled, turning to the side to face more towards the uninhabited part of town-

Another sound like an explosion went off, and Tang just barely managed to get a shield up in time to protect them from the resulting shockwave as MK’s entire kaiju body jerked forwards.  The ground shook, and all of them stumbled, barely remaining standing, a cloud of debris getting kicked up as more houses were flattened. 

It was only when the dust finally settled that Mei fully processed what had just happened. 

“Was that a sneeze?” She asked, as the shield slowly flickered away. “He did all this with just a sneeze???” 

“It… appears so.” Tang said. 

Mei wasn’t entirely sure if that was cool, or mildly scary. 

After a moment of deliberation, she settled on it being concerning. Something like that couldn’t be good for MK’s health, obviously. (Even if his power level being well over what must be 9,000 was awesome as all hell). 

“Yeah… I hate to say it, but I think we’re going to need Monkey King’s help on this one.” Pigsy crossed his arms, thinking. “Now, the only question is… how do we get a kaiju to Flower Fruit Mountain?” 

The words “Flower Fruit Mountain” seemed to have somehow managed to catch MK’s attention, as he turned towards them, seemingly only just now noticing they were there, as his tails and fur stood up on end in what could only be best interpreted as shock at their presence. In mere seconds, he had crossed over to stand in front of them, kneeling down on the ground to be closer to eye level with them- the ground slightly shaking with the motion. 

He looked… apologetic, a tiny noise akin to a whine escaping from him- Pigsy wasn’t even sure if he could speak like this- based on Macaque, he probably should be able to, but then again, Pigsy had never seen a sick Macaque kaiju (and, quite frankly, never wanted to). Still though, he gave his best disappointed stare up at him, MK shrinking back a little. 

“Yeah yeah, I know all your excuses, kid. Right now, let's just focus on getting you out of kaiju form- don’t think you’ve escaped the lecture though.” He hastily added on the end upon seeing MK start to look slightly hopeful. MK, in response, slumped a little, his tails and ears drooping. “Do not give me the puppy dog eyes, kid. We’ve got, for lack of a better word, bigger problems right now.” 

MK let out a small rumbling chuckle- and then instantly turned to the side to cough into his arm, the ground shaking again, but Pigsy focused less on his sudden loss of balance and instead on how… painful it sounded. Maybe that’s why MK wasn’t talking, he had sounded quite hoarse earlier, maybe it hurt more to speak now. 

Either way… 

“We need to get you to Flower Fruit Mountain.” Tang finished Pigsy’s thought before he could even speak it. “Albeit… I’m not entirely sure how. Sandy’s boat is way too small, and I’m not sure that I can teleport you when you’re like… this.” 

MK tilted his head to the side, seemingly in contemplation. And then, a very familiar smirk appeared on his kaiju face. 

Pigsy knew what that smirk meant. 

It meant trouble. 

“Kid, I swear-” Pigsy didn’t get the chance to finish that sentence, as, without any form of warning, MK was reaching down, scooping all four of them up into one hand. 

Pigsy and Tang’s matching screams were nearly drowned out by the sound of Mei’s loud enthusiastic cheering. 

MK slowly and carefully stood up, holding his hand close to his chest to help keep his hand stable as he slowly started walking his way out of the city, keeping a close eye on where he put his feet. Pigsy, subtly, used the opportunity to check the kid for fever- albeit, like this, with MK in this form, he couldn’t really tell. MK felt a little warm, but he had no idea what the normal for a kaiju even was. 

It was only when they reached the beach- and MK just kept going, stepping into the ocean, that Pigsy realized what MK was planning to do. 

“MK, this really isn’t the best idea, you’re just going to-” 

“Make myself more sick?” 

All four of them startled as MK’s voice came out in basically a whisper from behind them. 

Turning around, they could barely make out the form of MK, in monkey form, hovering inside of his kaiju, where the heart would reside. His position perfectly mirrored his kaiju’s completely, his legs moving in tandem with it- almost like he was controlling a mech. He was looking down, and it took Pigsy a moment to realize that it was because his kaiju was looking down at them- MK must only be able to see through his kaiju’s eyes, then. 

“I don’t think what happens in this form can really transfer to my physical state.” MK continued, voice somehow, despite being in a hoarse whisper, still sounding far more energetic than a sick person should sound. “I can’t even feel the water around my feet!” 

Pigsy huffed. 

“If this comes back to bite you, do not come complaining to me.” He mumbled. 

The rest of the trip through the ocean was slightly slow, but mostly peaceful. (There was one point, where MK had sneezed again, accidentally dropping them in the process as he turned away from them, but thankfully, Mei had been fast enough to snatch them up in her dragon form before they could hit the water. MK had, softly, apologized as they were settled back into his hand, to which Mei threatened to steal all his copies of the Monkey Mech game if he dropped them again. MK had whined about it for the following 15 minutes). 

When they reached Flower Fruit Mountain, MK stood still on the beach for a moment too long, the others turning back to him in concern. 

“...I swear, you better not be about to sneeze again.” Mei threatened. There was a moment where MK didn’t respond- 

And then they were all clinging to his hand as MK gave a full body shake, kicking both his legs, sending water droplets flying everywhere to the beach below. 

It was only when they were steady again that Mei let out a strangled laugh. 

“You’re like a dog!” 

MK pointedly avoided looking at them. 

“...I tried not to.” He mumbled, “Instinct took over…” 

Mei cackled at him, MK finally looking back down at them with a pout. Pigsy rolled his eyes. 

It took far faster than usual to climb the mountain up to the waterfall that led to Wukong’s recently rebuilt house, mainly due to MK not needing to take nearly as many steps. He gently lowered his hand to the ground, allowing the others to step off, before reaching out a finger, placing it in the water to split it in two, allowing a path of access through it. 

It was only when all four of them had crossed through it that MK let out a distressed sound, causing them to turn back around to face him. 

There was a beat, before they realized the issue. 

“Oh.” Tang said, “You can’t fit.” 

There was a slightly louder distressed noise. Sandy stepped back to the other side of the waterfall, patting MK on the side of the leg. 

“Don’t worry MK, I’m sure Mr. King will have something that will, at the least, make you a little smaller!! I’ll just stay out here with you while the others go in, if that’s okay?” 

MK glanced back at Pigsy. 

“We won’t be long, kid.” He affirmed, and MK gave him a nod, before slowly pulling his hand back, the flow of the water once more slamming down and obscuring him and Sandy from view. Pigsy turned back to Mei and Tang. “Alright- sooner we get Monkey King out here, the better.” 

Sun Wukong was not sitting out anywhere in his cave, unlike previous times that they had shown up unexpectedly. They would normally stumble upon him lounging on a sunlit rock or a shaded tree branch, usually either eating or reading something or other. Sometimes Pigsy wondered if he ever got up to much else (outside of training MK, that is). 

Mei, the fastest of the three of them, zoomed right up the steps to Wukong’s house to knock. 

“Mr.King!! We need your help!!” She called- 

There was a loud crash from inside the house, and all three of them winced. A few seconds later, the door opened, Wukong panting like he had run to them, looking slightly panicked. 

“What’s- what’s going on- where’s the kid?”  He looked around frantically. 

“He’s sick-” Mei started, having to stop mid-sentence to avoid biting her tongue as Wukong grabbed her shoulders and started shaking her. 

“Sick? Sick like- dying sick? Does he need a peach??? I can go steal a peach for him-” Wukong let go of Mei, the dragon girl stumbling back to be out of his reach as he turned to try and move off his front porch, likely with the plan of stealing another immortal peach in mind. Tang and Pigsy stepped in his way before he could. 

“The kid’s not dying, Monkey King.” Pigsy reached out to try and calm the monkey down, Wukong side-stepping away from his touch, but still pausing. “He’s just got a cold.” 

“...Oh. Well, y’know, even mortal colds can be deadly-” 

“It won’t be.” 

“...Okay… Then what do you need my help for?” Wukong tilted his head to the side, staring at them in confusion as he leaned back against the wall of his house, “I’m not exactly the best when it comes to medicine nowadays- it used to be so much simpler when you could just use a flower and a spell.” 

Tang mumbled something about having to teach the Monkey King about the advancements of modern medicine, and Pigsy sighed. 

“The kid’s gone all super-kaiju on us.” He said, “He’s sitting outside the cave right now, we were hoping that… at the least, if you can’t turn him back to normal, you could at least make him… smaller?” 

“Oh! Yeah, that’s easy.” Wukong smirked as he pushed off the wall, only to wince as it cracked behind him. “...Oops. Uh, I’ll fix that later, c’mon, let’s go see the kid.” 

Pigsy and Tang instantly turned to start heading back towards the waterfall entrance, Wukong trailing behind them, Mei taking a split second to glance between the Monkey King and the crack in the wall with sudden suspicion before catching up to them, sliding to walk in time beside Wukong. 

“Soooo, Mr. King. How’re you doing today?” She asked, leaning towards him slightly, raising an eyebrow as he leaned away, avoiding eye contact with her. 

“I’m fine.” Wukong sped up a little, tail swishing as he moved around to be in front of Pigsy and Tang just in time as they arrived back at the waterfall. Reaching out, he activated the magic surrounding it, parting the waters before turning back towards them with an over-dramatic smirk, giving them a half-sarcastic little bow. “After you, guys!” 

Pigsy and Tang simply rolled their eyes, walking forwards, but Mei made the point of making eye contact with the Monkey King as she walked past him, following it up with an ‘I’m watching you’ motion that made Wukong’s expression shift to one of nervousness, before he covered it up with a small laugh, stepping through the waterfall himself. 

MK visibly brightened up when he saw them emerge from the waterfall, shifting to lean down towards them. 

“Told you we wouldn’t be long, kid.” Pigsy said, lightly patting the side of MK’s face that he could reach. “...Where’s Sandy?” 

“Right here!” Sandy popped up from MK’s shoulder, sliding down MK’s arm to be on the ground with the others. “MK was just letting me braid his hair while we waited.” 

Sure enough, there were a few tiny braids throughout Kaiju MK’s hair- in all honesty, Pigsy was impressed that Sandy had managed to get so many of them done in such a short period of time. 

“Right.” Wukong said, shaking out his hands and summoning his cloud, floating up to be able to touch the center of the kaiju’s forehead. “I… can’t say if I can change you back to normal, per say, but I’m pretty sure I can at the least get you small enough to be able to fit inside the mountain.” 

There was a brief pause, and then Wukong’s eyes lit up gold, tendrils of magic swirling around the kaiju. There were a few small moments where the size of the kaiju fluctuated, getting smaller and then bigger again, followed by a bright flash of light that had the four on the ground shielding their eyes. 

When they opened their eyes again, MK was much smaller than he was before. Still a giant kaiju, yes, but he’d be able to fit through the entrance if he crawled, and should be able to stand within the cave itself no problem. 

“Well, at least that’s one problem solved…” Pigsy trailed off into a mumble, “We’re definitely going to need to find a bigger soup bowl somewhere though…” 

“...Why aren’t they moving?” Mei questioned, and Pigsy looked back up to find that MK and Wukong seemed to have entered… some kind of staring contest, both of their tails swishing. 

A full minute passed, the four on the ground waiting in complete silence, trying to figure out what was going on. 

…And then MK raised a hand, snatched Wukong off his cloud, and slammed his palm onto the ground, sending up a small splash of water that the others only just managed to avoid as he pinned Wukong to the ground in the shallow pond. 

“Kid!!! What are you doing?!?!” Tang yelled, as Wukong let out a wheezing breath- 

And immediately broke into a loud coughing fit, the others watching as Wukong’s whole form seemed to flicker before restabilizing. Mei let out a loud gasp, pointing at him. 

“Ohhhh- I knew there was something up with you!” She said, “You’re sick too!!” 

“I am not!” Wukong managed to hiss out, before starting to struggle, using his free hand to smack at MK’s fingers, his one free leg kicking uselessly in the air. “Let me go!!” 

MK didn’t move, and although his expression didn’t visibly change, everyone could just feel the tangible disappointment coming off of him. 

It didn’t take very long for Wukong to give in, suddenly going limp in MK’s hold. 

“Fine, kid. You win.” He let out an overdramatic world weary sigh, flickering again, only this time, once the flickering died down… well, to say it politely, he looked like an absolute mess. His fur, albeit now soaked with water, looked completely frazzled, like he hadn’t brushed it before getting out of bed that morning, there were dark circles under his eyes, and his face was slightly flushed. Pigsy would, honestly, be willing to say that he looked worse-off than MK did. 

MK, in response to his mentor letting down his glamours, let out a somewhat-pleased sound, removing his hand, freeing Wukong. Despite this, Wukong continued to lay there, staring up at the sky- his view of the clouds unfortunately blocked as Mei leaned over him, blocking his vision. 

“Jeez, you look awful.” She said, reaching down to press the back of her hand against Wukong’s forehead. 

“Thanks for the compliment.” He said, rolling his eyes. “I’m not sick though. Just didn’t sleep too well, that’s all!” 

“Mhm, yeah, tell that to your fever.” Mei huffed, reaching down to grab his arm, forcibly lifting him back up to his feet. Wukong, on instinct, shook, the water in his fur flying everywhere. “Hey!! You’re getting me wet!! Man, MK really did take after you a lot…” 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” 

“Oh, nothing!” Mei gave him her best innocent smile, dragging him over in the direction of the others- MK having used his hand to reopen the waterfall and let the others through again. “C’mon, let’s get inside before Pigsy goes full chaos mom mode on you.” 

“Goes full what-” 

Twenty minutes later found Wukong pouting, sitting cross-legged on top of MK’s head, MK himself having laid down on his stomach, curling up slightly like a giant cat. Wukong had been practically forced to change into a pair of peach-themed pajamas Pigsy had happened to find after rummaging through the Monkey King’s closets- and had a blanket draped over his shoulders as well (he had just taken a dip in the water after all- they were better safe than sorry). 

“I’m not sick.” He mumbled petulantly, MK reaching up and poking Wukong’s head as gently as he could with one finger in response, sending him slightly off balance to the side before he re-stabilized himself, grumbling incoherently. 

“Hmm, we’ll have to find some kind of blanket for the kid eventually…” Pigsy said, rubbing his chin as he thought. “Albeit, unlike Monkey King, he doesn’t seem to have a fever yet, so we can probably hold off on that for a little longer…” 

“Don’t have a fever! Cause I’m not sick!” Wukong called down from his position, everyone dutifully ignoring him. 

“I would like to find some way to get some form of soup fed to MK though.” Pigsy finished, “Which means we’re… definitely going to need some kind of large bowl… albeit I can’t think of where we’d find something like that.” 

“Oh! Oh! I know!!” Wukong waved his hands to get their attention, before pointing up. “The guys up there have tons of giant bowls you could take and use!!” 

“...Isn’t that stealing?” Sandy asked, Wukong shaking his head. 

“Naahhhh, they won’t even notice if one bowl’s gone. I can take you all you guys up there right now!!” 

“Ah- wait!” Tang’s shout only barely managed to stop Wukong before he could snap his fingers. “You’re sick, you can’t be transporting a large group of people- nevermind a giant bowl.” 

“Not sick.” Wukong said, sniffling, but still lowering his hand. 

“But who could transport a giant bowl for us, as well as the ingredients?” Pigsy hummed, the group falling into silence as they thought it over. 

“...What about Macaque? He’s got that shadow-portaling thingy.” Mei suggested- Wukong immediately bursting out into hoarse laughter, mixed with a few coughs. “What’s so funny?” 

“Please, like Macaque would ever agree to that.” Wukong said. 

“Well, it’s not like we have much of a choice…” Tang muttered, before raising his voice so that the others could hear. “Alright, but who’s going to stay behind with these two?” 

There was silence for a beat, and then Wukong scoffed. 

“We don’t need a babysitter.” He said, “I can keep an eye on the kid just fine- hEY!” 

He was cut off as MK reached up, grabbing hold of Wukong’s tail, dangling his mentor upside down, the Monkey King scrambling to grab the blanket that had been wrapped around him and hold it close to his chest to prevent it from falling to the ground. 

“I’ll keep an eye on Monkey King.” MK’s hoarse voice whispered, slowly swinging his mentor back and forth a few times, before setting him on the ground, lightly putting his hand overtop of him again when it seemed like Wukong was going to protest- Wukong instead accepting his fate, laying on the ground with a resigned expression. 

“Well, with that settled… I guess we’re off to see Macaque!” Mei said, turning to stand beside Tang as he got ready to teleport them to Macaque’s dojo. 

“He’s going to say no!” Wukong called, Pigsy waving him off. 

“We’ll just see about that.” 

-

“No. Absolutely not.” Macaque said, immediately, leaning up against his doorframe, raising one finger to silence them before any of them could even speak a word. “Wukong and the kid aren’t here. Which means that whatever this is about- because there must be something going on, this many of you wouldn’t be on my doorstep otherwise, this must be about them, and I want nothing to do with it.” 

“How do you know there’s not some kind of world ending threat going on?” Mei asked, slowly pulling out her sword behind her back, where Macaque couldn’t see. 

“Please, if there was a world ending threat, trust me, I would know.” Macaque huffed, crossing his arms. “Don’t think I didn’t notice the giant kaiju incident this morning, I’m not blind. I want nothing to do with it.” 

“Really now? And nothing will change your mind?” Mei’s smirk slowly grew slightly more dangerous, Pigsy, Tang, and Sandy stepping slightly to the side, knowing full well to not get in her way. 

“Nope. No way, no how.” 

Within the next split second, there was a sword embedded in the doorframe, just bare inches away from Macaque’s face. Macaque let out a slightly fearful breath, a few stray pieces of hair that the sword had managed to snag slowly falling to the ground. 

“That.” Mei hissed, “Is your only warning.” 

Macaque, for his part, recovered rather quickly. 

“...Nice aim, kid.” He muttered, before sighing. “Fiiinneee, I’ll help you out, but just this once- and you better pay me back for it. What do you need me to do?” 

-

Wukong stared up at the ceiling of the mountain. 

It had been twenty minutes since the others had teleported away, and they still weren’t back yet. Or, well, he thought it had been twenty minutes. He didn’t exactly have a clock on him. It had felt like it had been an hour, but he wasn’t really the best at keeping track of time, so he was going to guess that it had actually only been twenty minutes. 

…Twenty minutes were far too long though. 

Groaning, Wukong pushed himself up into a sitting position, MK opening up one eye to stare at him. Dang it, he’d been kinda hoping that the kid had fallen asleep since he had closed his eyes about… ten minutes ago? Yeah, ten minutes ago was probably a good guess. 

“I’m bored.” Wukong’s voice trailed off into something that borderlined a whine. Quickly jumping to stand up, ignoring the way it made his head spin a little, Wukong turned to the kid. “Do you want to watch a movie? I can go get my laptop!” 

MK let out a small rumble, opening his other eye to focus fully on Wukong. 

“The screen would be too small for me.” Was his response, “I wouldn’t be able to see it.”

“Mmm, I guess you’re right…” Wukong trailed off, tapping his chin in thought. “Oh! We could set up a projector! Get a giant sheet, set up like a movie theatre screen! I’m pretty sure I have a projector around here somewhere…” 

“What about the giant sheet, though?” MK asked, and Wukong paused, thinking. 

And then a brilliant idea struck him. 

“I can just steal some blankets from Demon Bull King’s house!” He said, moving from standing to sitting up, grabbing the blanket that was resting on his shoulders, tying the ends of it together to turn it into a blanket-cape. “Demon Bull King’s blankets are huge, if I get enough of them, we can probably use one or two to cover you as well!” 

“Ah- but you’re sick-” 

“Psh, I’m fine!” Wukong waved him off- and MK, unfortunately, was not fast enough to catch him, Wukong having summoned his cloud and zoomed out of the cave before the kid could even blink. 

It was only when Wukong was halfway across the ocean that the thought struck his ever so slightly hazed mind that maybe leaving MK alone by himself might not be a very wise decision, but, well, he was already almost at his destination, so there was really no point in turning back now. 

By the time he was climbing in through the Demon Bull Family’s kitchen window, carefully making sure that his blanke- his cape didn’t get caught, landing silently on the floor, he was right back around to considering this to be the most genius thing he had ever done. 

“Right.” Wukong whispered to himself, clapping his hands together. “Now, if I were DBK, where would I put the blankets?” 

Probably the hallway closet, most likely, which meant getting past all the traps that Demon Bull King likely had installed. Wukong sighed, about to open the hallway door- 

Only to pause, noticing the coffee-maker sitting on the counter. 

Now, Wukong wasn’t much of a coffee drinker, it was a little bit too bitter for him. But he remembered hearing that coffee-makers could also make hot chocolate… surely this one could too? He was kinda in the mood for a hot drink… and hot chocolate sounded really good right now… 

Blanket retrieval mission temporarily on pause, Wukong started digging through the small box of insertable coffee’s that was sitting beside the coffee-maker, hoping to find one for hot-chocolate. And, sure enough, he managed to find one. Giggling slightly to himself, he inserted it into the machine, pressing the on button- 

He was not expecting how loud it was. 

“Ah, no- shh shh shhhhhhh!!” Wukong waved his hands, panicking. If Demon Bull King heard this and found him now, he’d never be able to get those blankets. Quickly, he started pressing buttons, but none of them would seem to turn the damn machine off. 

Making a split second decision, Wukong reeled his arm back- and punched it. 

He paused afterwards, slowly shaking his hand clean of the bits of debris as he stared at the destroyed coffee-machine. 

…Ah. That probably hadn’t been his best decision. 

Well, at least it was silent now. Carefully, he swept the broken pieces together, opening a cupboard with his foot and depositing it in there. Surely no-one would notice that. Or, well, at the very least, it wouldn’t be noticed until he was far away from here. Nooo consequences for the Great Sage, Equal To Heaven tonight!

Wiping his hands clean of the whole mess, Wukong turned, opening the door to the hallway, deciding to return his focus to his original mission; stealing some of Demon Bull King’s blankets. 

After a minute or so of staring, analyzing the many traps lining the walls, he took a deep breath and went for it. 

Dodging the traps largely went without issue, Demon Bull King seriously needed to update his home security. (Albeit, there had been a point where a couple of arrows had flown a little too close for comfort when Wukong had stumbled, a wave of dizziness hitting him, likely from the fever- the fever that he definitely didn’t have, yep, for sure, he was as healthy as a horse, definitely). 

He had also been right, Demon Bull King did, in fact, store his blankets in the hallway closet. He did have a bit of a struggle getting them out of the closet- one of them falling over top of him and causing him to have to take a moment to free himself from it’s horrible confines, but he managed to get about three, giant blankets. 

Three should be enough, right? One for the projector, and two for the kid. That worked. 

Slowly making his way back to the kitchen, dragging the blankets behind him, Wukong froze mid-step in the hallway. 

And then turned to the side and sneezed- completely obliterating the wall that had stood beside him. 

He blinked, as the dust cleared- revealing Demon Bull King, Princess Iron Fan, and Red Son sitting on the other side, in their living room, staring at him in shock. 

“...Oh. Hi?” Wukong lifted his free hand to give them a nervous little wave. 

Demon Bull King’s bellowing yell of “Sun Wukong!” was all the warning the Monkey King needed to take off running at full speed, the entire Demon Bull Family hot on his heels. 

Fifteen minutes later, MK, who had taken to using his hand to draw shapes into the ground of the cave, jumped- before hissing as a bright swirling fire appeared in front of him. 

“Relax, Noodle Boy, it’s just me.” Red Son said, the fire clearing away to reveal him standing there, carrying Sun Wukong over his shoulder- who was still holding on to the three blankets he had stolen. “I’m just here to deliver your idiotic mentor back to you.” 

“Hey! I take offense to that!” Wukong struggled, getting unceremoniously dumped on the ground for his efforts. MK, instantly, grabbed him, lifting him up and holding him in his hand, to make sure he wouldn’t run away again. 

“That taken care of-” Red Son clapped his hands, “I’ll be taking my leave-” 

Red Son was cut off, as suddenly one of MK’s tails reached out, scooping him up off the ground. 

“What- Oh come on Noodle Boy, I can’t stay here!I have stuff to do!” MK gave no response to that other than a small rumble, not making any move to put the fire demon down. Red Son huffed, adjusting slightly to make himself more comfortable, grumbling, “I hope the Dragon Girl is having a better day than I am…” 

-

Mei panted, bent over, one hand against the giant bowl, the other against her knee, as she tried to catch her breath. The others were in similar conditions, Tang outright laying down on the floor of Macaque’s dojo like he was dead- the only sign of life from him being the way his chest quickly rose and fell with desperate breaths. 

“That-” Mei inhaled, “That was-” 

“Awful?” Macaque suggested, from his position of being down on his hands and knees on the floor. Mei shook her head. 

“No, amazing!” She said, tilting her head back with a laugh that, in her state, made her seem near-insane. “We absolutely need to do that again!” 

“Let’s put ‘doing that again’ to the side for now.” Sandy said, patting the side of the bowl. “We have the bowl now, but we still need to get the ingredients.” 

“Oh, no problem.” Macaque said, snapping his fingers, various shadow portals appearing above the bowl, dumping various vegetables down into it. Pigsy stood up, grabbing hold of the edge of the bowl, leaning down over it to pick up a carrot and inspect it. 

“...Where did you get these?” He asked. Macaque shifted nervously. 

“Ah… you know, here and there.” He shifted his hands side to side, before letting out a sigh. “...From some stores nearby.” 

“Did you pay for it?” 

“Why would I need to do that?” 

There was a moment of silence, before Pigsy groaned. 

“Y’know what, I don’t have the energy to deal with a ‘stealing is wrong’ discussion. Let’s just get all this back to the mountain.” Pigsy didn’t need to say any more, as a dark shadow spread out under each of them, and within the next heartbeat, they were back on Flower Fruit Mountain. 

…They all paused, taking in the scene in front of them. Somehow, there was now a giant white sheet of fabric hung up on one of the walls, a small projector on a table projecting one of the Monkey King movies onto it. There were also two blankets over top of MK’s kaiju body, and Wukong was curled up slightly by MK’s hand, as well as- 

Mei blinked in disbelief. 

“Red Son? What are you doing here?” 

Red Son turned to face them, looking slightly irritated. 

“I’m being held hostage.” Was his response. Not even a second later, Wukong popped up from his curled up position to turn and stare at them with a bright smile- despite his expression however, he somehow looked more frazzled and feverish than he had before. 

“Oh, you guys are back!! You should join us- Red Boy over here makes amazing popcorn.” Wukong said, Red Son reaching over to smack him on the shoulder. 

“...Yeah, okay.” Pigsy decided that you know what, today had already been so weird, he might as well just take this in stride. “We have to make the soup first, though.” 

Getting things set up for soup-making shockingly didn’t take as long as any of them thought it would- Red Son’s presence ended up being particularly helpful, making it easier to get a fire started to cook the soup with. It didn’t take long at all for the soup to be ready, everyone getting their own small bowls before MK sat up and took his much larger one, the entire group sitting in a small semi-circle beside him. 

Or, well, almost the entire group. 

“C’mon Macaque, aren’t you going to join us?” Mei asked, looking over her shoulder at where the aforementioned monkey was standing a rather good distance away. 

“No thanks.” 

“Why not?” 

“Cause I know what Wukong will do.” 

“What will he do?” Mei tilted her head to the side in confusion, Wukong also turning around now that his name had been mentioned, albeit with a devilish smirk on his face. 

“Yeah, Macaque, what will I do?” He asked. Macaque glared at him. 

“He’s going to lick me.” He said, “He’s going to wait, until I’m distracted, and then he’s going to lick me, and then I’m going to get sick, and I don’t want to get sick. I mean- look at what he did to the kid! I am not dealing with that!” 

Everyone shared a brief glance up at MK, who just stared back down at them blankly. Admittedly, up until this point, it hadn’t occurred to anyone that Wukong having worse symptoms- or, more likely, being further along in the stages of the illness, likely meant that he had been the one to give it to MK in the first place. Almost simultaneously, they all turned to Wukong to give him a light glare. Wukong held his hands up in self defence. 

“Hey- it wasn’t me- I’m not even sick!” 

No-one even bothered to argue with him, instead rolling their eyes. Mei, for her part, set her soup bowl down on the ground, and then, despite Macaque’s protests, zoomed over, picked him up, and brought him over to sit with the rest of the group- Pigsy setting a bowl of soup down into his lap. 

For a blessed twenty minutes, there was silence, the group watching the movie in relative peace. 

And then there was an ear-splitting shriek. 

They turned, and, sure enough- Wukong had used Macaque’s complete entrancement with the movie to grab hold of his wrist and lick his hand. 

“I told you!!! I told you this would happen!” Macaque yelled, pulling his hand away from Wukong, shaking it almost like it was on fire. “Gross-” 

“Oh, c’mon you big baby, it’s not that bad.” Wukong rolled his eyes, sniffling a little and rubbing his nose on his sleeve. Macaque glared at him with visible disgust, before groaning, wiping his hand on his pants. 

“If random shadow portals start showing up everywhere within the next few days, know that it will be your fault.” 

[fanstuffrantings]

Wendy and Gajeel being feral together and also bonding over taking care of their hair. He would craft cool little hair accessories for her.

Just dragon siblings.

I'd like to thank you for making me think of the most unhinged duo.

I saw this ask and stopped working on anything else because I had a vision. I love Gajeel, but he would sink to her level every single time.

None of the dragon slayers have a single brain cell in their body. Two feral creatures in a room can only spell disaster.

[captainsvscaptains]

Round 1 Part 8 Poll 2

Propaganda

Spoilers ahead

Crow is what's called a "spore eater", which protects her from physical harm but also causes severe dehydration. Like most spore eaters, she feels the tradeoff is not worth it, so she manipulates her crew into piracy so they'll be desperate enough to venture into the dangerous seas where the dragon Xisisrefliel lives, as Xisis is reputed to be able to "cure" spore eaters. (It turns out that the cure requires ongoing maintenance from the dragon in order to be ongoingly effective, so her plan was flawed to begin with.)

It's Lucky Jack! On his very first command, took a frigate with a sloop, and filled up Port Mahón with prizes. He's a disaster on land, kind of shit with money, but he is brilliant at sea, ingenious and strategically minded. He loves his wife, Sophie, and his bestie, Stephen Maturin, and he gets up to all sorts of hijinks with the latter. He rescued Stephen from being tortured by the French, actually, and Stephen frequently uses his own connections to try and work to Jack's advantage. He's obsessed with gunnery, and his crew generally love him because he's disciplined but not a hard-horse, plus he's lucky and brings them lots of prizes and prize money. He's a jock, but later in life he starts to love math for its own sake, as well as becoming an astronomer of no mean ability; he's presented papers on math and astronomy to the Royal Society. He's a great musician, a violinist, and his duets with Stephen (a cellist) are so incredibly touching to read about. His music is just... beautiful. Stephen's hands were wrecked by torture, and later on we find out that Jack's been downplaying his own ability to match Stephen's level, because he'd rather play average with Stephen than perfectly alone.

There's so much more I could say but tldr he's the best I love him.