#eyestalk problems

[sluggoonthestreet]

Sluggo, not having a head for hats, waits impatiently for someone to invent eyemuffs.

[reddpenn]

I'm back from the rock show! Here are the Cool Rocks I got!

Let's start with the fossils this time.

This year I finally tracked down a Tully Monster, which is my state fossil! He's not a complete fossil, but you can see his eyestalk and the bottom of his proboscis very clearly.

A big chunk of dinosaur bone from Utah! Dino bone is easy to ID due to its distinct pattern, where agate and jasper have filled in the porous structure of the bone.

This is a coprolite, a piece of fossilized dinosaur poop! This one is from Madagascar.

This one is a stromatolite, a rock formation created by a colony of bacteria! Stromatolites are some of the oldest fossils on Earth. In fact, the microbes that make them were likely the very first lifeforms on the planet. And they're still around today, mostly unchanged from their ancient ancestors, and still making rock formations! This little stromatolite came from Madagascar.

A giant chunk of Turritella agate, which I won at the silent auction! Turritella agate is made of a bunch of fossilized snail shells all packed together and filled in with agate. (Despite the name, they're not actually Turritella snails, but rather Elimia tenera.) When cut and polished, it reveals beautiful organic patterns. This stuff comes from Wyoming.

That's all the fossils I brought home! Now on to the minerals!

I was very responsible and didn't come home with a million agates this year, but I couldn't resist this gorgeous rain flower agate! Hailing from Nanijing, China, these agates are naturally polished by the Yangtze River and have a unique, frosted finish.

Another cabochon for my cab collection! This is afghanite, a blue mineral that isn't related to the sodalite family, but likes to grow alongside it.

It fluoresces!

Vesuvianite, a mineral that gets its name because it was first discovered on the slopes of Mt. Vesuvius! The dark crystals growing on its surface are garnets. This piece is showing off a great example of vesuvianite's crystal habit and terminations.

A huge zircon crystal! Zircon is the oldest mineral on planet Earth. There's a deposit in Australia which has been radiometric dated to be about 4.4 billion years old! Not this guy, though. This one is from Pakistan.

It fluoresces!

An AMAZING specimen of anatase! It's extremely rare for anatase crystals to grow this large. In fact, the only other anatase crystals I've seen in person had to be viewed under a microscope!

Here's the most expensive piece I came home with - a South African diamond! Can you believe I didn't have a diamond in my collection yet? That problem has been remedied.

It fluoresces!

And finally, my friends and I broke open a few geodes at the geode-cracking booth. I picked out some Trancas geodes from Mexico.

This locale produces weird, wavy, wormy crystals! These formations occur when quartz (in the form of chalcedony or hyalite) grows atop hair-thin, curly crystals of anhydrite.

They fluoresce!

And that was my haul from the rock show!

[ntls-24722]

A "two-headed" alien concept I had. I did try to Music-Man it up in the face, though.

The "heads" have no brains or esophagus in them. They're extremely derived eyestalks that also evolved to Grab and Smell. The heads function primarily as their hands, and what's fun is that they therefore emote much like hands rather than with facial expressions, as their facial muscles are almost nonexistant - the heads are Very Special hands that can see food, grab food and bring it to their actual mouths (below their "necks"), and not much else (though their heads' jaws are actually very dextrous)

Their eyes can't rotate due to being tube shaped, which is no problem, as they'll simply turn their heads towards what they need to look at. The heads are symmetrical and appear as "one" when they come together to view something with better depth perception, but otherwise their eyes often look in independent directions, which comes off as very freaky to the rest of us one-headed weirdoes.

One last thing - their heads are to be used as hands 90% of the time. Unless there is a specific thing that is made to facilitate using their front legs, they are to use their heads, especially for eating, where otherwise it would be seen as incredibly impolite. So now I'm imagining a human-socialized hydra eating with a bunch of homeworld hydra, using their front legs to eat the way their human caretakers do, and the rest of them absolutely fucking gobsmacked by it. It's not just impolite, it's also extremely weird, because it's literally like taking off your shoes and shovelling spaghetti into your mouth with your feet at the dinner table.

[deusvervewrites]

Tomura growled as he walked towards the source of the noise that woke him up. He knew this shit would happen as soon as he got that game. The doctor's little science project didn't need to sleep, meaning it had pretty much free reign of the whole lab during the night. Usually, it was pretty harmless, pushing shit around and eating a few rats. And sometimes, it pulls this instead. He entered the room, not at all surprised to see his brand-new controller utterly covered in pink gunk. From the very center of said gunk stuck out a single stalk with a black eye at the end, completely focused on the TV screen. Tomura walked towards it, slapping the eyestalk to get its attention. Instantly, the pink mass jumped away from the controller, the entire thing getting tense... until the eye actually looked at him, and the pink piece of crap relaxed. "The fuck are you doing so early? People are trying to sleep!" He glared down at it... and it had the audacity to perk up! It slid towards him, clinging to his shirt as the eye kept waving between him and the TV screen. It was about as subtle as when it first got acid and kept dissolving shit and checking if he watched. "Oh for- seriously? I'm not playing the damn game for you!" What the hell even was the problem? Tomura looked at the TV screen, then froze. "Are you a boy? Or a girl?" "...Nope." He walked away, shaking the thing off of himself as he went. "Not dealing with this shit so early in the morning. Figure it out yourself." Honestly, he shouldn't have gotten that game in the first place. He only bought it because it would like it there was nothing else good in the store.

Shigaraki staring at the screen like, "Sorry tiny blob, the doctor barely lets me outside. I'm not qualified to figure out my own shit let alone yours."

[theology101]

A Simple Financial Decision HFY - 1/3

Aboard the Command Ship Mother of Invention

>>> FTL JUMP SUCCESS

>>> BEGINNING SYSTEM SURVEY

>>> ERROR; INTERFERENCE

>>> ANALYZING INTERFERENCE

>>> CHEMICAL AND FISSION EMISSIONS DETECTED

>>> ERROR. PARAMETER ‘uninhabited’ NOT MET

Junior Commander Wa’l Hildnid was not having a good first night on duty. Despite serving on the bridge crew several times, tonight - or what passed for it in the carefully controlled light system meant to match their circadian rhythm - was the first night that Hildnid had command of the bridge. Which of course meant that the first (and hopefully only) unexpected problem came up on his shift. Although perhaps the Celestials were playing a joke on him - after all, the fierce and ruthless Foreman Wa’l Sonogth in charge of this operation, was his uncle. 

After a firm rapt on the door and announcing his presence, the door was opened from the other side. Already - or perhaps still - awake, he was hunched over with one of his three eye stalks on a different display. “Report,” he said simply.

“Capt-“ He cringed, reminding himself he was no longer in the Navy, “Master Foreman, - one of our long range probes has encountered an error.”

The question hung for a moment - Sonogth turned one eye towards his nephew. “And?” he asked dryly.

“Oh! Apologies uncl- sir. The system-“

“Which system, Junior Captain?” Foreman Sonogth interrupted, crossing his bulky arms over his chest and foremen’s pin. “Our charter is to strip mine any system within a hundred square parsec region. So far, we have sent out four hundred drones and most have already reached their secondary target.”

“Of course, sir, sorry sir.” 

“Make sure it doesn’t happen again - which system?”

Grimacing at failing to answer with his apology, Hildnid was pleased the correct screen was ready. “The star has been codenamed as ZN0-52081, sir, and the error was unexpected life form contact.” Songoth’s eyestalk returned to its central monitor at that.

“Two ice giants and gas giants, an asteroid belt, a habitable planet, and a deathworld, on top of a few dozen barren moons…” his uncle thought aloud, his voice sonorous as he dropped into a contemplative tone. “Too remote for pirates, too much work for colonizers, and not near anyone who could’ve taken it…” 

The eyestalk came back up. “Were the life signature Bioforms?”

“No, no sir.” He knew that one, at the very least. There were several ways to tell if one of the Old One’s children was lurking, and none had been present. “What little evidence we have at the moment suggests the usage of traditional, albeit old, spacecraft. No psionic resonance or evidence of interstellar gas manipulation.”

The eyestalk bobbed a nod. “Good, at least we won’t need to deal with any damned Citay.” Wa’l Sonogth sighed, leaning back in his chair and finally turning all three of his eyes to his nephew. “They’re either smugglers or political dissidents illegally occupying our territory. If it’s smugglers, we can pay them off and give them one of our empty systems, if they’re rebellious colonists…”

Wa’l Hildnid swallowed so hard that it seemed to travel through his neck and into his shoulders and chest. 

At that, his uncle laughed. “Don’t get squeamish on me, boy! Your mother told me about what a brave military man you are, don’t tell me you never killed before?” The black of his sclera seemed to grow even darker, “if it’s easier on your soul, I’ll make it an order. It’s a simple financial decision.” 

“Yes, Master Foreman.”

“Good. Send the probe to its next target, and…” The left eye moved back towards its screen, “order ED-3 to move in. Clan Gis also were a gang of firebreathers…”

“If that will be all, sir?”

“That will be all”

Aboard Mining Ship Salinonk

Captain Ghis Halnfur was looking forward to an extremely profitable day. 

In charge of “ED-3” - Excavation and Demolitions Team 3 - and the seven ships that made up that command. Two of them were traditional deep space mining ships, barely a hundred meters long, three more were of the wide bowed transport ships that would carry full loads for processing, two hundred and twenty meters long and capable of safely transporting its precious cargo without additional protection. And of course, his flagship, half again the size of the transports and the most heavily armed, was to act as the command and operations hub for the mining operation, as well as transporting any workers or engineers to ground-based projects - in this case, a legion of Galfrei-class combat units and a platoon of enhanced mining equipment retrofitted into combat-ready suits. And of course, the final ship, and Halnfur’s personal addition to ED-3 - the screening ship.

Taken from his days in the Navy, the idea of point defense protection against fightercrafts and gunships would also work when it came to asteroid mining. Halnfur himself captained the first one deployed, and saw to his immense delight that it could cut through those asteroid fields like air… it simply made it harder to collect them afterward - so instead his poor Lii’lya had been reduced to operations like this, where collateral damage was expected. 

Blinking out the white that always came from leaving faster than light, he kept his eyes on the stellar horizon while his communications officer began a survey. “Near distance, clear. Middle distance, clear. Far distance… occupied.”

“Occupied?” Ghis Halnfur’s second in command, Ak’no Jel, asked as he moved to take a better look at the display.

“Yes ma’am,” comms responded. “By… a battle, it looks like,” she paused, another bright flash of light from the viewport, this time significantly smaller and at range. “Yes, it’s a battle, ma’am. The fission signature we just picked up was equivalent to one of our class-4 explosives.”

“Who’s fighting?” Halnfur felt obligated to ask, if no one else would.

“It’s hard to tell from this range, sir, but I’m seeing two distinct ship design styles, maybe three.”

“Are you ready to go in, Captain?” Jel asked, back behind his command chair.

He surveyed the scene for a moment longer, tapping his chin dramatically. “Yes… I believe we shall. Navigations, plot me a skip-jump, pull back a hundred fifty kilometers from the plotted edge of the battle. I want them to know we’re there, but don’t fire yet.” He’d never believed Sonogth’s predictions - and he knew who was behind this whole damn thing - the Citayans. If he could get proof, solid evidentiary proof, that they had not only moved into the Celestia Republica Castelleum, and that they fired first, it would be the airtight justification they needed to finally wipe the Citayans off the galactic map, then their unevolved Citay vermin, and then all the other Bioforms. At least the Citayans didn’t use bloody animals for space-craft.

The flash was proportionally weaker this time - but the battle was not what he expected.

Aboard the War Ship Antioch

Aleksandrya Sokolov-Meyer of the United Nations of Terra and Venus Navy, and captain of the Zeus-class Antioch, was having a terrible day. “Status!” she barked, leaning over the massive command table and wincing at each new red mark on her ships. And they weren’t even supposed to be her ships! “I need those torpedo tubes unjammed!” she yelled to no one in particular.

“Torpedos still down, ma’am, repairs underway!”

“Rio’s Pride is requesting additional firing support!”

“Acknowledged, patch me over to the captain.” It wasn’t looking good for Rio’s Pride. The only destroyer she still had on her left flank, Rio was built for capital ship combat, and the swarm of Jovian Stinger and Biter drones that had just polished off her support ship. “Captain Holt,” Meyer said when she saw a flicker in her periphery. 

“Damn, Meyer, its a bloody mess that Gilly left us, isn’t it?” Despite herself, she let out a low chuckle, glancing up through the loose strands of red hair to look at her friend’s face on the screen. He wasn’t looking good, behind him the devastation of his ship was obvious, lights flickering and a disturbingly loud shudder. She was tempted to pretend that this was a simulation again, that this wasn’t real and she had enough time for a clever comeback.

But it was real this time. And with the death of Commodore Gilroy Faux and High Captain Tsoss, Aleksandrya was in command.

And she was about to kill a friend.

“Holt, we can’t send anyone to rescue you,” she said solemnly, turning back to her display and drawing her intentions. “If you yaw fifty degrees starboard and a few clicks further out-“

“I can hit the damn nest.”

“We’ll cover you for as long as we can.”

“Yes ma’am, over and out.” And just like that, exposing itself to more fire and making the battered destroyer even more of a target, Rio’s Pride followed orders. The swarm of drones saw that and gave chase, their hive programming convincing their fellows of better prey than the main battle group. No doubt some kid would notice and correct the mistake eventually, but it wouldn’t be immediate and every second counted.

“Comms Officer Henri, order picket group one to chase those fuckers, then patch me into the rest of the fleet.” The situation had already changed radically from the last time she checked - the enemy formation, surrounding them in a rough U, had begun to collapse inward on the port side as they moved in for the kill, while the automated Jovian ships - primarily their smaller ships though there were two cruisers in there. The Caliphate of Mars was stubbornly holding the rear line as a firing position, uncharacteristically cautious - especially compared to the Jovian Brillenschlangen, of all people - and the ship they were chasing, the only damn reason they were here, the Samel-Class Man of War Big Tex which should’ve been on death’s door, had yet to make an appearance. The only benefit to the situation was that another Jovian carrier had gotten speared through by a CAT-7 coilgun.

Again, the flicker in her periphery, again she began to speak. “Tighten up, those drones are going brainless in a few minutes and I don’t want any of them flying blind in between my ships, you hear? Good - keep your CAT-1s well-oiled, I want you all to coordinate on deflecting incoming projectiles” She glanced up, looking at the faces on her screen. Only thirty-three of the seventy-four ships that came out to Jupiter were still active, and soon it would be thirty-two. “Let’s see Rio be proud one last time and on my mark, I want complete offensive saturation on these targets,” Meyer selected them on her display for them.

Holt’s face popped up, his ship even more damaged with only the emergency lights active and a nasty gash on the side of Holt’s face. Meyer wondered how he got it - she figured that she’d never know. “On your orders, Admiral.”

Despite herself, she smirked. If she could manage to salvage this… but now was not the time to think of her career. Not when she was staring at the one who would give it to her. “Give ‘em hell.” And with a triumphant final firing of its massive primary canon, Rio’s Pride unleashed a two-hundred-ton rod of tungsten-depleted uranium alloy shell at a low, but not insignificant, percentage of the speed of light. The Nest - the hangar and control point for all the drones in the ether - was there one moment. The next, there was a blinding streak of white-yellow fire cutting straight through the thing, and then it began a cascade of errors as things meant to be held securely were suddenly and violently released.

Even knowing it was coming, she braced herself for the violent jerk of the main cannon. “Fire!” a second streak of light emerged, then another and another as dozens of missiles and high-category coil guns were launched at once - not targetting the battleships closest to them, but the undamaged secondary line. Expecting the luxury of a near-endless supply of drones the Jovians had programmed to make suicide rushes to intercept traditional and nuclear ordinance, the Martians were caught off guard by this sudden weakness in their defenses. Already, Aleksandrya could see their CAT-1s and teslogats ready for dealing with this, but not all at once and not nearly fast enough. And every second mattered.

And then, emerging off her starboard side, was a fleet of seven, massive ships. She had a moment of absolute shock and surprise. What? How did they move like that? But that quickly faded when the lead ship, a massive thing as long as her Zeus but much, much larger and heavier, rammed directly into Rio’s Pride.

Aboard Mining Ship Salinonk

“Blasted!” Captain Ghis Halnfur shouted, standing to his full two-meter height, his eyestalks pulled in tight to the skull. “Jel, I want to know what the hell is going on, Comms, tell the flotilla to open fire.”

“Captain-“ 

“They set a trap for us, Jel. I don’t know how, but they knew we were there...”

“Captain…”

“A damn trap, and Sonogth sent us-“

“Captain!” Jel said it forcefully enough that others stared - only for a moment before they risked one of her eyestalks finding them. “None of those ships exist in our records.”

“What?”

“They’re unknown configuration,” Jel repeated.

“I know what unknown configuration means, commander, what I meant was-“ One of the five ships closest, and turned directly to face Halnfur’s force, exploded as a few shots lanced from one of his transports. And at that, he grinned. “Ah, nevermind. We seem more familiar with their configuration now. No shields? How did they even make it through FTL?”

The Captain and Commander watched the battle for a moment, before Halnfur finally sat down in his chair, watching as the ships - and there were indeed three distinct designs, began to create a new line of battle. Clearly, whatever battle they had been fighting seemed to be forgotten against a superior enemy. A feral smile colored his face before Jel said something that made his heart stop.

“What if this is their home system and we made first contact?”

Aboard the War Ship Antioch

“I don’t care what you say, but that arschloch on this line, now!” Aleksandrya looked up just in time to see another CAT-9 shot get mostly disintegrated before whatever melted slag could be reformed in the coldness of space. “Come on you martian bastard, come on…”

“I assure you, ma’am, that Jamil MacCready is not here!” High General Sakira Morrison of the Jovian Coalition said. At least the fotze had picked up, which was more than could be said for that Martian Coward. “But the Martian troops have been placed under my temporary command while they recieve humanitarian repairs, as-"

“Humanitarian? He’s a murderer!”

“As we were given the right to by treaty. It was your forces under Commodore Faux that an illegal-“

“Halst den Mund! - Euphrates, Flaming Sword,” the two captains flickered on screen and this time, she did look at them. One clearly favored more of the Arab side of the “TexArab” people of Mars, while the other was more ambiguous - both were men, and oh what she wouldn’t give to hear them complain about being subordinate to two women. “One of those energy balls is coming at you both, nadir-starboard. I want to see how big of a coil shot it takes to defuse. General Morrison, are your crews in formation ready for a massed volley?”

“The battleships, yes, but it’ll take the drones-“

“Comms, patch me into all ships,” Aleksandrya said with certainty she didn’t have. Removing her officer’s cap to fix her hair, she instead tossed the damn thing away, pulled out her pins, and shook out her hair. If she was gonna die fighting an unknown evil from beyond God knows what, she wasn’t going to do it by regulation. “This is acting Admiral Aleksandrya Solokov-Meyer of the Antioch - on my first mark, coordinate Coil fire onto this target,” she tapped it on her display, “Upon my second mark, fire traditional ordinance - third fire nuclear. Ready… mark.”

There was the familiar lunge backward as the gun fired, joined in a loose arrowhead formation with the broken hulk of the Nest acting as their anchoring point. While not all ships could fire given the angle, the effect was all that she could’ve hoped for. As the first rounds made contact, they began to superheat, melt, and vaporize as before… but then the second, third, and fourth were all landing in the same spot too. And then, that etheric blue bubble that surrounded those ships began to bend inwards with a burning red fury… until it couldn’t bend anymore. The rounds hadn’t even all made their target before she called “Mark!” 

This motion was more subdued, as the still working torpedo bays launched too - straight into the hole they had just created in the shield, and not just the shield - somehow in that stream of light, they’d cracked the hull. Meyer imagined that the follow up missiles didn’t do much for the ship’s internals either, and this wouldn’t be much better. “Mark!” The barrier was already starting to close up, the cruiser was still opening fire… and then the nuclear missiles got inside the ship. Several dozen missiles exploded on the exterior of the shield in massive shows of light, but the dozen or two that made it underneath the shields before detonating?

For a brief moment, Jupiter had its own sun. And then the shield burst like an overfilled balloon.

“I want confirmation the second your guns are ready for another volley, we’re hitting him next.” She looked back at her display of Captains… having more faces with proportionally even more empty spots didn’t thrill her, but she knew the bastards could die. And that was good enough. “High General, I want an update on those drones, and for the love of God, someone get Jamil MacCready - or at least his ship!”

Aboard Mining Ship Salinonk

His flotilla was sent to pacify the whole system, Ghis Halfnur thought ruefully as he watched his last transport ship get destroyed. It was just him and the Screener left. “Jel?”

The woman had been trying to help coordinate fire with the weapon’s commander but came at his command. “Captain?”

“We never managed to do our full recon,” he said moreosely. It was his own fault, his own overconfidence. Removing his captain’s lapel from his uniform, he handed it to Jel. “Take one of our shuttles, take as much non essential personnel as possible, and then complete a survey of this system before reporting to your commanding officer.”

“Sir- that’s-“

“Foreman Wa’l Sonogth will want to know about this. And if you’re right about this being their native system…” Halfnur shook his head. They were doomed. No way about it now. Even if he could still win this fight - and given the numbers against him, he didn’t like those odds - as the commander on the scene who had belligerently initiated contact with a pre-uplift species, his life was forfeit. The Celestial Tribunal would ring him dry, probably most of his crew and commanding officer. “In your logs, write how you argued against my course of action, and wanted to file a report to the Castelleum and I countermanded you. Now go!”

Always a good sailor, Ak’no Jel did as she was told. He had confirmation that she and the evacuees made it on the ship, and waited another five minutes to make sure they were gone before he gave what would be his last, most bitter order. “We’re going in.”

Aboard the War Ship Antioch

The battlecruiser and spindly ships were the only two left - and for a moment, Aleksandrya had thought she had won. Or at the very least, was winning. For that act of pride, God decided that the placid, so far only supporting ships with its long-range fire. That seemed to be over now, now it was going to be a broadside. 

“Admira Meyer, the drones are online,” a both familiar and unfamiliar voice said over comms, the signal shakey and broken. 

“I want them running picket, sofort! If any fucking plasma gets through, it’s your ass!” Meyer was already turning to the weapons board, seeing that it was only at 90% charge… and the battlecruiser was getting closer with only missiles harmlessly bouncing off to show for it. But her secondary weapons… “Lower caliber until your main gun is fully charged, he’s not getting an inch without steel,” she ended that call, already having Comms initiating her second, “Admiral Meyer, do you read me Virgo I?”

“Loud and clear ma’am,” the voice sounded winded on the other side, the tight confines of a cockpit not allowing a view. “What can me and my jockeys do for you today?”

“That smaller ship, I want you to poke at it. Bring two squadrons with you…” she paused, thinking. With only teslogats and missiles, the hundreds of fighters wouldn’t do anything to the big ship. Short of just ramming it, she couldn’t see what the rest of the fighters would be doing. “Take as many as want to come.”

“Yes ma’am - think your Comms get can get me over to their jockeys?”

“She’s already on it - Henriette is very skilled.”

“Why thank you, Commander Henriette, over and out!” 

Meyer looked back at the display of the field - already she was down two of her bigger ships (a part of her wanted to add ‘thankfully, Martians’ but she restrained herself) and a dozen smaller ones. And her firing predictions still had it a click out from its maximum range. If those drones didn’t show up -

“Fighters pull back! Repeat, pull back!” It was a laser show over there. While having never taken a shot at any other vessels so far, it became abundantly clear why - it didn't have the range. The powerful plasma jets burned through any fighter unfortunate enough to get too close. “General, where are my drones? Fuck it, drones, this is your new primary target. Are all cannons ready? Good, on my mark - mark!”

Only this time, this time the brilliant display of light didn’t end with a hole. When the light cleared, it was the imposing blue of the shield bursting out through the debris cloud with only a few minor red spots, its impish friend chasing after her fighters untouched. “Prepare a second volley! Reroute power, shut down gravity for all I care, just get those damn guns ready or we’re all dead!”

“Don’t be so certain of it, Admiral,” the same voice from before, only far, far clearer now. And without the static and fuzz… she knew that voice. Thousands of drone ships came rushing by the viewport, creating a cloud of grey and blinking lights that covered the horizon before passing. “I apologize for arriving late but, my father always did teach me ladies first.”

“MacCready,” she snarled under her breath.

“Ah, so you remember me? As you can tell, my ship doesn’t remember either of ours from our most recent or first dance.” 

“Ma’am, a new signature just appeared as… leaving Jupiter’s upper atmosphere,” Henriette said hesitantly. “Samael-Class, and moving quickly. Designation-“

“Big Tex.”

“If you hadn’t done such a wonderful job damaging her, I might’ve been able to help from the beginning,” the man’s cocky voice echoed in the bridge speakers, Meyer’s face turning as red as her hair as his ship quickly advanced towards the enemy. She was going to kill that man. For his crimes, for the Moscow and her old crew, and for stealing her fucking victory! Already, she was watching as the drones broke against the enemy ship like the sea, dozens dying but always being just a few too many to get them all. And the shield was turning red. “Ganymede Spaceworks also added something new, I was hoping to surprise you at our next dance but… well, a Prince must make sacrifices for the good of the people, even if it scorns his lady love.”

All it took was a glance, and Henriette had cut off his comm. “Fucking prick,” she added for good measure.

Drifting into formation above the battered and broken Hive was a Samael-Class Man Of War. Over a kilometer long and with more than enough firepower to match three Zeus classes, the massive primary gun was its primary characteristic… only now it was even more massive, with two isosceles triangles coming from what should’ve been the barrel. And then, in a single shot, a massive round moved in an instant - she barely had time to see it before it had punched straight through the shield, the ship, and then out the other side of the shield. 

Not wanting him to get the last laugh, “Main gun on the spindly.”

“Yes ma’am.”

A rod of Tungsten later and Aleksandrya was mollified enough to call her query. The man she and all of Task Force Chancellor had been sent to capture in the first fucking place. “Jamil MacCready.”

“It’s customary to use my title when greeting me.”

“What was that?”

“Ah, you like my new tachyon-enhanced coilgun? It’s brand new! Honestly worked better then I could’ve-“ Aleksandrya ended the call herself. 

“Helm, take us to Venus Blue Dock. We’re going home.” To fix my ship, reconstitute my numbers, and figure out what the hell we’re going to do next. 

[sarifel-corrisafid-ilxhel]

Things I Want To Do

Stick an Andalite in a kiddie pool of colored water like a flower and see if they change colors.

Stick geophones in the surface of the Taxxon homeworld to eavesdrop on the Taxxons.

Same with the Yeerk Pool, but hydrophones instead of geophones.

Install trailcams on the Hork-Bajir homeworld that anybody can watch online. Will today be the day you see a monster? Who knows!

Find out what the Desbadeen look like. I want to know more about them.

Strap roller blades to a Garatron.

Put Tobias in therapy.

Make knitted hats for Andalites with little turtleneck sleeves that go around their eyestalks.

Throw TOWIM out of an airlock.

Throw Crayak out of an airlock.

Throw Toomin out of an airlock.

Send the CDC and DoE in to help the Nartec with the radiation-related gene problems.

See the Nartec win a court case recognizing them as US citizens because they were born in US territorial waters.

See a Nartec get elected President of the United States.

See a Yeerk born in the California Yeerk Pool get elected President of the United States. Or a Hork-Bajir born in the Hork-Bajir Valley get elected President of the United States. President Toby Hamee.

Taxxon Bite Strength Test.

Find out what Hork-Bajir would look like with tattoos.

Morphing Cube Petting Zoo.

[motheatenscarf]

In Mistbound D&D last night, our DM decided to throw a fucking BEHOLDER at us despite us only being level 6.

I was thinking, surely it can't be a REAL Beholder, he's just adjusted the stats somehow

and then it blasted a fucking disintegration beam at us.

Now, they dodged it, they were fine, but Talia didn't like that and is an oath of vengeance Paladin. So she ran up, swore a vow of enmity on him on top of her already holding Hunter's Mark, and smacked the shit out of it. I acknowledged that I knew it wouldn't do anything mechanically, but for flavor's sake, said I would grab the eyestalk that just shot at my friend and pull the Beholder closer to me as I smacked it to make myself a problem it couldn't ignore.

Then got a crit, for which Talia still had a level 2 spell slot to burn on a smite.

The results were disgusting.

We're level SIX.

I cannot stress enough, it COULD have been higher, had I not used my stupid Fallen Aasimar shroud in the trash fight leading up to this. It could have been 79 if I'd saved my resources better.

My character before this was a Warlock with hex and invocations boosted Eldritch Blast, at level TWENTY he got 2 crits on the same blast in our last fight and dealt 81 points of damage in a single turn and I'd never been more proud of him.

Talia is level SIX, and I was bad about my resource management, and she did seventy three points of radiant and slashing damage to a Beholder in its own lair, in front of its cult followers, doin em dirty in front of they dad.

Anyway, our DM honored the pants shitting amount of damage she did by saying, yeah, no, you... you cut off that eyestalk. The disintegration beam is gone from the table now. That... what fuck, Talia?

And then getting even more insane, our Barbarian, after failing to make his save to avoid the 41 points of Necrotic damage he wasn't resistant to, had a realization. Talia was tanking the biting damage, and he was tanking the eye beams, but Talia resists necrotic and radiant, and he resists piercing, so we should switch!

So as a halfling, he jumped into its mouth to keep it from biting Talia and to ensure the eyebeams couldn't hit him!

It was.... completely insane and tactically brilliant???? Anyway, he carved it up from the inside out and emerged from that fight bathed in its blood with 3 levels of exhaustion.

It was a good encounter.

We're level 7 now.

[littjara-mirrorlake]

I filled another sketchbook page yesterday, so here's weird Phyrexians 8-13!

8: Sometimes, clever mites use discarded bits from other Phyrexians as protection and camouflage. They use one set of legs to hold up the disguise.

9: This highly flexible, mobile Progress Engine octopus is a surveillance device with both eyestalks for visual input and antennae for picking up psionic signals. They will often cling to and hang from the spheres that form a major part of Progress Engine architecture, surveilling people who pass below.

10: Plants that grow wild in the Hunter's Maze, with bulbous glowing heads and trailing filigree veils like those of certain fungi. The patinated coppery stalks that twine up to support the heavy heads take the shapes of humanoid hands, and as a result can be a good quick place to harvest replacement parts if you don't insist on getting them custom.

11: Wearable secret familiar, popular among cenobites who want a little extra assistance. Its tail is longer than the pendant would suggest, as it telescopes out with stretchy red sinew in between the porcelain plates. In addition to attacking or spraying oil at foes with its hidden stinger, the familiar can be surprisingly effective at simple fetch tasks thanks to its prehensile tail.

12: This... monstrosity was originally designed to be a safer version of a viron, a massive Furnace beast that forms manastorms at its upper half and conducts electricity down its legs into the ground. Supervisors were disappointed, and goblins were thrilled, to learn that it was not in fact safer. The jubilant goblins then threw themselves fully into making it as unsafe as possible (its official purpose is now "intruder deterrent"). Problem is, it has been slowly breaking down as it wanders because no one wants to go close enough to maintain it. Great against Orthodoxy angels, though!

13: A Gitaxian automated scroll/reading wheel. It has spinners on each of its vertices, on top of which parchment is mounted, and this allows it to scroll as it or a user reads and writes. I had extensive conversations with friends about the potential silliness of this one, due to its bulk and tiny, spindly legs. Sometimes, when it tries to stop, it just keeps rolling. The Gitaxians keep it around anyway.

[patchwork-crow-writes]

hey, welcome back, patch!

when you first announced your break, i definitely considered information overload to be at least one of the culprits; when the media i enjoy get new content, i find myself wanting to run away from it, sometimes, and that often leads to me having to consciously diagnose why it makes me feel that way, and what steps to take to reduce that feeling, because usually actually running away just makes me feel sad. these are things i love, after all!

as for feeling like you needed to "defend" your headcanons and viewpoints, OH MY LORD i completely understand! honestly, i feel like defending one's headcanons has kind of become the norm within fandom as a whole, and that is just poison to mental health. no one should have to feel like they need to justify why they like or dislike something, or why they believe a certain headcanon. the eggshell walking is everywhere. and so are the people who attack others over different opinions and ideas, so despite me even being aware of the problem, it's still easy to fall into that mentality where you think you need to aggressively defend yourself, even just through passing by someone else's opinion. as is the case me with me, anyway, haha

usually what works for me is receding out of fandom spaces and surrounding myself with the source material and/or my own works. i find that fandom spaces, while fun to participate in, can be a huge stress-inducer. but seeing as avoiding the thing i love altogether still doesn't make feel better, i just return to the things that drew me in in the first place. taking a deep breath and acknowledging that there's nothing to flip out over also works pretty well for me LMAO

anyway, i'm very glad to hear that you're (kind of) back! i really missed you! wishing you all the best in this crazy world <3

-🪥

Hey there, Tooth! It's good to hear from you again!

(Is it alright to call you Tooth, in lieu of an actual handle? I don't feel anon quite fits the bill here anymore, haha!)

Yeah, you kinda hit the nail on the head there, for sure! The sheer amount of new things to analyze and dissect, combined with the fact that there's only around six weeks to go until the new chapters drop, definitely made me want to step back, and part of getting back to this point was really looking inward and figuring out why I felt that way. Because it's as you say, it's sad to feel like you have to retreat from something you love, and I wanted to understand why. Perhaps there wasn't all that much to understand, but you can bet I really sat with that feeling for a while, haha!

Argh, yeah, it really does feel like that a lot of the time, and feeling myself succumb to that "silo" mentality with my thoughts and headcanons was kind of frightening, actually! I really want to try and embrace the wide diversity of opinions and thoughts that exist, regardless of whether they align with my feelings on the subject or not - that's how new and interesting perspectives come about, after all! Plus which, I feel like most theories and character interpretations have something to them that makes them really enjoyable to consider. Everyone has something to gain from stepping outside their comfort zone from time to time :)

And that can make brushing up against the more entrenched, militant aspects of fandom quite jarring to experience - like a snail being poked in its eyestalks, it sometimes makes you want to retreat into your own shell... but I firmly believe that nobody wins when that happens, and I try to resist the impulse where I can. You're right in that engaging more with the source material can be useful - in my case, I actually started watching Princess Tutu, which has many really interesting parallels to Deltarune, and am even writing a fic for it. It's been really enjoyable to hone in on something different-but-similar for a while, and in my case it definitely helped to remind me what I love so much about the game. And it IS just a game, at the end ofit all. As you say, it's nothing to get too worked up over, however passionate we might be in our devotion to it!

Thank you for your message, Tooth. I'm really touched that you took the time to tell me that. It's always a pleasure to hear from you. I hope that you're doing well out there, despite everything that's been happening. You're always welcome to talk or ramble if you want to, about anything you like. Take care <3

[the-feral-one]

"Wait, Peseta... ...what do you mean by 'Rayquaza'??"

Peseta looked on at the surprised Gholdengo, then at their phone.

"Here. It's best if you see for yourself."

Chester held Peseta's phone and pressed 'play' on the video that had been brought up.

The video showed how Clavell and the rest of the academy students and staff were forced to stay inside as a giant mutated Rayquaza dashed across the sky.

"Oh."

Chester handed the phone back to Peseta.

"Yes." Peseta said as they put thier phone away. "The Rayquaza keeps circling the sky above Mesagoza and attacks anyone who goes outside of the city gates. Unfortunately, this also means that Paldea Postal can't operate properly."

Chester looked down a little.

"An' Wo had somefing nice 'e wanted to do too." He looked at Peseta. "'oo's gonna tell 'im?"

"I am." Peseta said, pointing to themselves.

Chester put his hands up. "Awright, mate. I shall leave you t' do that while I.."

He looked back at the table his seat was at. "..make sure no-one's eatin' me cake!"

Peseta looked at him as he let out a "Hey!" and ran off.

--

Back at the party, Wo was being helped to calm down from the amount of emotions that he felt after the speeches.

"Thank you, Oki~" He landed a peck on Oki's nose. "It's likely going to take a little bit more than this before I am fully calmed down, but it's a very nice start~"

Oki returned the peck, putting his hand through Wo's mossy fuzz.

"I'll be with you all the way, Wo~"

Wo let out a few giggles and nuzzled Oki, making the latter do the same.

Thier actions would be halted by the arrival of Peseta.

"I need to talk to you, Wo. Do you mind..?" They thumb-pointed to where they had been standing during their talk with Chester.

Wo nuzzled Oki one more time. "I shall be back soon~"

Oki nodded and waved playfully to him as he left.

--

"That is...quite a big problem.." Wo said as he rewound the video to get a better look at Rayquaza. He squinted as he brought the phone closer to his eyestalk.

"...why does it look like that...?"

"It has been dubbed 'the Area Zero testing facility's greatest creation', at least according to Miraidon." Peseta began to explain. "A way of bringing into this region a form the Pokemon can take in other regions."

They took their phone back and put it away.

"But, now that it is circling the skies above Mesagoza, threatening everyone that exits the city, it unfortunately means that Paldea Postal can't operate properly."

They motioned towards Wo as they continued.

"Chester said that you have something nice in store for the guests of this party, but... ...I just want to know what you want to do next."

Wo had a thought, putting a vine to where his chin would be.

"The only thing that I can do is hope that Rayquaza can be dealt with safely, and that Paldea Postal can get everything here in time before everyone leaves the event."

Peseta nodded.

"Mhm." They looked up at Wo. "Until that gets done, let's continue to enjoy this event."

"That option sounds very nice, Peseta~"

Both of them returned to the party. Wo asked if Oki wanted to nuzzle him again, which the latter very happily accepted.

--

Chester continued to eat his cake, or what was left of it.

"Paldea Postal's gonna take a while to get stuff 'ere. Dunno what Wo wanted, but I'm sure it's good!"

He looked up at Wo, who was still being nuzzled by Oki, and looked relieved.

"'s good to see that Wo's not bovvered by it, at least..!"

[the-bar-sinister]

Deicide: Red Shift (72069 words) by VickytheSnake, thesavagesabretooth Chapters: 16/?

Summary: A mysterious signal is drawing ships across the Grand Line to a place called Elegia for the first ever concert by the rising star singer, Uta. Following the signal are Cross Guild and fallen emperor Shanks, the Charlotte family, the Donquixote Pirates and the shattered remnants of Law's crew, and Kid's crew, and Cavendish and Bartolomeo.

And the Straw Hats and their captain Luffy, who hasn't seen Uta since they were both little children at their idol Shanks' knee.

Perhaps this meeting was ordained by fate. Perhaps, in the end, there was only ever one tragic outcome possible.

But Luffy has other plans.

catch up here

-

Hancock Boa wasn't exactly the sort of woman known for her patience. She was known for her beauty, her power, her commanding presence—but not for abiding inconveniences that came her way. No—those she crushed under her heel until things started going her way again.

But it was a little difficult to grind such an intangible problem under her boot. She scowled at the transponder snail, who looked back at her with its wobbly eyestalks without a care in the world.

She hadn't been able to get a hold of Crocodile OR Doflamingo for some time now. All communication with their channels had seemingly gone completely dead, and all she could pick up was static on the airwaves.

"How absolutely wretched," She sniffed with a toss of her hair over her shoulder. "For the both of them to vanish after heading to the same place is absurd." 

"Could something be blocking the communication?" 

The person who asked, standing by her side looking out at the sea with her, wasn't one of her kuja warriors. The blonde with the burn scarred face was dressed in what Hancock had decided to refer to as 'the dress', an emergency reserve outfit kept on the Nine Snakes in the rare occasion that the Kuja found one of the creatures known as 'man' and didn't immediately decide to pitch him back into the sea.

A loose and draping Kuja cloak over a body-obscuring dress patterned in lily flowers buttoned up to the neck with shapewear carrying the appearance of small breasts. A measure of propriety to keep all but those in the direct know from having to find out a man was on board.

Most Kuja still feared the men of the world. Hancock couldn't blame them—the world was a cruel place. And she—well. If it wasn't for her darling Luffy, and the sometimes irksome men of Cross Guild, she wouldn't have resorted to the use of 'the dress' for their visitor. It was only the pleading of his partners and the claimed connections that spared him at first, as it was.

"It could be. But it's not quite—" It was simply as if nobody was picking up at all. "it's reaching them, but they won't answer." 

"That's… troubling. I don't like it. You said Luffy would be on that island?"

Hancock nodded, her lips drawing tight as she gently flicked her earring back and forth with her fingertip. 

"It was reported to me that Luffy's ship, the Sunny, was headed towards Elegia for this 'Uta Concert'. Which means he's very much there and I should very much like to make sure he's okay. I've heard tell of it over and I'm not altogether sure I trust it."

She paused. "---and I suppose I'd like to check on the others as well." 

He nodded. Sabo. Luffy's brother. Hancock could imagine why he was so worried about a communication issue given how desperate things were when she picked up him, and his handful of crew.

-

The only thing on Hancock's mind had been Amazon Lily. Cross Guild could wait until it was safe. Her home, her people, they were all in danger from the heavy hand of the World Government who hated them for their connection to piracy.

The Marines were dispatched to subjugate the Kuja—to enslave them and ransack their home for anything the Celestial Dragons deemed worthy of their attention. She'd set out at once with her loyal sisters and her crew to intercept and destroy them for daring to lay a hand on Amazon Lily now that they considered her and the Kuja 'fair game' with the Warlord's dissolution.

It was only when the sky lit up with a nauseating and blinding light like a second sun that her attention was finally overtaken from her silent and brooding fury. As the light waned, burning her eyes, the Mother Ocean became angry.

Her fury burned like Hancock's, tossing the Nine Snakes around its waves as she barked every order she could to keep them from going under in the sudden hostile waves. 

There was supposed to be an island nearby, but she didn't see it on the horizon. 

Instead she saw a single ship, tacking into the wind for all it was worth, taking on water as smoke rose from the air.

Hancock's eyes widened, and she wheeled with a point of her imperious hand and an order to divert to the sinking ship and to pull what could be saved from the wreckage. The instinctive fear that had welled inside her at the flash of light clawed at her ribs as she took a sharp breath and directed her Kuja to cut through the ocean's fury. 

There were five survivors. Well four and… something else. He wore the face of the man she had once known as a fellow Warlord of the Sea, but there was something wrong with him.

"It was part rescue mission," the blond man with the burn scar explained to her when she boarded their sinking ship. "He was being held in Mary Geoise, but something terrible's been done to him."

Mary Geoise. That had been one factor that had saved the lives of the men among them. They were Revolutionary Army— the parties responsible for the incursion into the sacred land that had only barely been reported in the paper.

The second— they had recognized her.

"You're Hancock, aren't you? My brother told me about you."

Hancock was happy to be torn from the warped visage of her former comrade—Kuma the Tyrant—turning instead to pour the full force of her stoney glare upon the young man. 

"Your brother is familiar with me?"

That in and of itself was noteworthy. Even as one of the most worldly Kuja, Hancock didn't make it a habit to get to know any men she didn't have to. The Warlords were her first exception, and Luffy the second, leading to a sudden rise in male encounters since she'd met him.

Encounters like— the young man's face suddenly flashed through her memory. It was distinctive, certainly distinctive, and she'd seen it before. 

"You're that young man who was helping out with that whole mess with Bullet and the Pirate Festival, aren't you? The one who was close with my husband!" 

"Yes, Luffy! That's my brother!" the young man explained to her, earnestly. "He said he spent two years with you on your island, and that you're engaged to be married. Thank you for keeping him safe during that time... when I couldn't."

Hancock's hand covered her mouth to hide the wide smile on her face. He didn't need to say anything more. He knew of her engagement. He knew of Luffy's time with her as she protected him and helped him heal—the evidence spoke volumes.

She believed him. "But of course. It was my honor as the Pirate Empress to care for and love him as much as I was able."

Her eyes fell to the two women talking quietly a little further behind the young man—a pair of redheads, one with a striking and well-toned figure and a hardened look to her face, a bandage only barely covering a smattering of burn scars against her cheek, the other slight of frame but clearly strong—looking up at her with wide and expressive eyes.

Isuka and Koala, she'd been introduced.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you. Luffy spoke of you on Amazon Lily." 

"The pleasure's all ours," Sabo said, giving a bow. "I know it's hardly usual, but we'd be deeply grateful for any kind of assistance in this predicament. For the sake of my brother and because– there are people who need to know what happened here."

Hancock smothered her smile enough to lower her hand with a quirk of her lips. 

"But of course. It's not a matter I divulge lightly, but I know well the horrors of the Celestial Dragons and the temple to cruelty they call 'Mary Geoise'. The word must get out—and I will help you, but I want you to understand something men."

It was enough to send the young man who was trying to quietly shrink as small as possible behind Sabo into a twitch, leaving him stumbling to his feet with a hiss of breath. "Yes ma'am! I'm listening, ma'am!" 

Sabo nodded, putting his arm around the other man after he helped him to his feet. "We're at your mercy, ma'am."

Hancock chuckled under her breath. 

"I won't throw you men to the sea on virtue of your connection with my fiance, and on the strength of your character." She pointed. "But know that men who cross me are turned to stone along with their wicked hearts. If you sail with me—you understand that well."

Isuka chuckled in the back. "Sounds like even Luffy's brother is on thin ice," she murmured. "That's the pirate empress for ya."

Hancock smiled thinly. "So firstly—you gentlemen will have to wear the 'dress' of Amazon LIly to avoid making my crew uncomfortable. Some among them aren't used to the company of men yet, even with our dealings with Cross Guild. So you'll wear what I order you both to wear." 

Sabo doffed his hat. "A small price to pay, empress."

-

Sabo had told her that they'd been returning to the island that was the Revolutionary Army's secret home. And that what looked like a stormcloud had gathered in the sky.

There was a great light. And the island was gone.

An entire island—wiped from the face of the earth by some great storm that was far from a force of nature. The Revolutionary Army turned to a sinking crater in the sea.

It turned Hancock's stomach but time was short. A second tragedy was still looming.

So she'd directed the ship to Amazon Lily once more with the incident sitting like a pit in her stomach, and the cloying fear of just what sort of atrocity had been committed. The whys, the hows—they were all a horrible mystery that plagued her all the way through the brutal liberation of her land. 

The brutal annihilation of the Revolutionary Army. The marine assault on Amazon Lily.

Yes. She could see why losing communication made Sabo worried.

It was the same reason concern clenched her heart tight in her chest. 

"We'll have to divert ourselves to check on them. I wasn't planning on going back to headquarters until I'd seen Luffy anyway." 

"It'll be good to see him again." Sabo nodded. His voice stayed light but she watched his fingers clench around the ship's rail.

It would be good to see him again, it'd be good. Her lips tightened into an approximation of a smile. It'd be fine. They'd be simply enjoying the unsettling little music concert. And may mother ocean and all the gods protect the Grand Line from her wrath if they weren't.

-

When Crocodile finally had managed to track down the Donquixotes he had not been thrilled to discover that their surveillance expert Violet was seriously out of commission. That was no fucking good. That pointed to their trouble with communications being a real fucking problem and not something with an easy fix.

He was, however, absolutely thrilled to get to Jinbei– calm, sensible Jinbei, alone without Straw Hat there– to start explaining Cross Guild to him, and why they hopefully didn't have to be at each others' throats. And without Buggy there to whine about the One Piece, too! What a huge stroke of luck.

It was on Jinbei's advice that they'd taken the conversation outside. Just in case Straw Hat got impulsively violent when he saw them. With Straw Hat Luffy, who fucking knew? The first time Crocodile met the kid he'd been throwing punches before Crocodile even knew what was happening.

Apparently he'd already made peace with Doflamingo, but with the Straw Hat kid who fucking knew?

Who fucking knew what to expect. Not him. Not Doffy's family. Not even Jinbei, who was on the kid's crew.

So they were outside, and when Straw Hat rolled up Crocodile felt like a deer in the headlights. He was sweating, though no one saw it, given how instantly he reabsorbed it into his skin.

Straw Hat stopped. And he stared at him with those big, dark eyes, as wide and unknowable as the sea itself.

And everybody went quiet and still while they all waited to see what he was gonna do.

And then Straw Hat grinned, that big, stupid, disarming grin of his, and waved at them all excitedly.

"Hey!! Croco! Hawk Guy! Smokey!! Are you here for my sister's concert, too? I guess she's pretty famous!"

Crocodile felt a little faint. The gamble had paid off.

He raised his hand– not his hook– and waved back.

-

Luffy thought of himself as someone who was pretty flexible. Someone who was pretty good at rolling with the punches. What with being stretchy and everything it was practically a talent. So when he saw Croco, Hawk guy and Smokey standing around with Jinbei and Yamato and the Donquixote guys… especially after the day he had just had… it was just kind of whatever. Almost normal.

Honestly he was mostly wondering at this point who wasn't friends with Crocodile. Cause like, Vivi was for sure, and Robin probably even if they had a complicated history, and Mingo who was now sort of his friend through the transitive property of Traffy was apparently Croco's friend. 

And Croco had saved his life at Marineford for sure.

So like. He was cool with Croco. That was fine. And Zoro seemed to adore Hawk guy as much as he wanted to beat him. They spent two years together and Luffy was a little jealous of that. So Hawk guy was fine.

Smokey was a little less of a known element but he didn't seem to be trying to arrest anybody, and there were definitely people to arrest if he was going to. So Luffy quickly decided Smokey must be okay, too.

Anyway, aside from Hawk guy he'd already beaten everybody there up. He could do it again if he had to.

But hopefully there wouldn't be any reason for that, and they could just have a good time.

Everybody seemed to be waiting for his reaction. The Straw Hats had frozen, so had the conversation around the door as everybody turned to look at them.

He had to get this right, as captain. He put on his biggest grin, and waved to them.

"Hey!! Croco! Hawk Guy! Smokey!! Are you here for my sister's concert, too? I guess she's pretty famous!"

Croco, grumpy old man that he was, waved back at him. "Straw Hat! About time you joined us."

"Give me a break, it's been a busy day! I didn't expect to see you here– though Vivi's probably pretty happy to see you, huh?" He turned to grin in Vivi's direction. She did look pretty excited, she had a big smile crossing her face and was practically vibrating with the ironclad restraint to not tackle hug him from across the room. 

"You didn't tell him I was gonna be here, Doffy?" Crocodile grumbled. 

Mingo laughed that crazy little giggle he always had. "Like the kid said! It's been a busy day!"

Did everybody call him Doffy these days? Should Luffy switch? Mingo suited him more though.

-

Robin watched idly as Smoker sized her captain up from Crocodile's side. His eyes were scrunched in that particular way that she recognized from Alabasta—not anger, exactly, but a tension.

Maybe he was simply unsure of how to react to seeing his longtime on-again off-again rival, his quarry, when clearly so much had changed for him. It'd have to have, otherwise why would Smoker, the marine, be standing side by side with his old enemy? The man he locked away in Alabasta?

She was about to open her mouth when Vivi clearly couldn't take it anymore—she launched herself bodily in a sparkle of starlight to tackle hug Crocodile with a grin. "Croc!! It's so great to see you! I've missed you! And hey too, Smoker!"

"...." Smoker huffed out a breath of smoke. "Vivi. I see you didn't wind up getting dragged back to Alabasta. Good."

Robin decided to keep quiet for the moment, and observe how this played out. 

Crocodile chuckled, and slung his arm around Vivi as she tackled him. "Hey, Viv. Missed you too. Happy to get such a warm welcome, honestly."

Jinbei, meanwhile, regarded Luffy. "Captain, how did things go with Uta? Do you have any information?"

Luffy shook his head. "Uta said she thinks it might be somebody's devil fruit doing something weird, I guess."

"That makes a fair bit of sense," Robin mused. "devil fruits are notoriously tricky. It could be simple as one canceling another out."

An arm sprouted to rub her chin as she smiled over at Vivi and Crocodile with a little wave of her free hand.

Mihawk made a low 'hm' sound as he shifted to cross his arms over his bare chest. "I'd agree with that if it weren't for our own discovery."

With a squeeze of Crocodile's arm, Vivi chewed her lip. "O-oh?" 

"Could still be a devil fruit admittedly, but I gotta wonder," Crocodile grumbled. "We can't get anything on transponder that isn't Uta."

Luffy looked at Robin. "What's that mean?"

Robin tilted her head to the side as her finger brushed along the curve of her chin. "....it means that all signals are being jammed on this island. The only thing that exists per the transponder— is Uta. It means it's a rather large signal blockage, captain." 

It still could be a devil fruit. That was the easy, sensible answer, but the question then became 'how' and 'why', and 'how purposeful'. Often the key questions to ask in these sorts of situations, and often innocuous in their answers.

But something didn't feel right. There was something that felt off in the air, and it gave her the sense that the answer wouldn't be one she liked to hear.

At least there was quite the group here, it was nice to see Crocodile again after their little reunion after Dressrosa.

"I knew this concert was fishy," Smoker murmured. "Losing all transponder signals ain't great. Especially with the Navy enroute to turn this concert into a bloodbath." 

"Yeah, wait, hey, Smokey, aren't you with the navy?" Luffy demanded, hands on his hips.

"Oops," Smoker said dryly, "I got on the wrong ship." 

"Huh?" Luffy stared vacantly at him, lengthening his neck to stare more closely.

Crocodile snorted. "He's fucking with you, Straw Hat. Smoker's on our side now."

That was a surprise. Smoker and that second of his, Tashigi, had long been stalwart opponents. They'd stood strong as the force of justice that seemed intent on chasing them all about the Grand LIne.

And now they were apparently pirates?

Smoker laughed roughly before he nodded. "That's right, Straw Hat. I've gone Pirate—I hit my fucking limit on what I could excuse as 'justice', and the lot of us cut ourselves free of the marines." 

"Oh?" Luffy blinked and then he grinned. His long arm snapped out and he grabbed Smoker's hand to give it a shake. "Congratulations then, that's great!"

A dry, snide voice cut into the festivities from the doorway.Caesar Clown. "I hate to interrupt, but I thought you'd want to know that Violet's awake."

Smoker's half smile faded at the mention of Violet's awakening, but he shook Luffy's hand with a low laugh. "....we'll have a drink to celebrate it, Straw Hat."

Robin turned her attention to the door with a nod. "Thank you. Can we speak with her?" 

Caesar nodded. "Well obviously but please only like, I don't know, five or six of you at a time, it's a small room."

Robin chuckled low under her breath as the image of the entire group—the gaggle of them, looming Donquixotes and Crocodile, and Smoker—and the Straw Hats, all jammed in the small kitchen jostling for space.

She couldn't help the small smile that spread across her lips, and the soft, barely audible chuckle as the figments of her imagination jostled for space. 

-

When they'd entered the room, Violet was sitting up with her arms curled around her knees and her forehead pressed against them. She was breathing—shaky, soft breaths as her brow furrowed in quiet confusion. 

Luffy, arms crossed, promptly demanded the answer to the question he was sure was on everybody's minds. "So what the heck happened, huh?"

Mihawk huffed a soft sound—maybe it was approval? Maybe he thought it was funny. It was kind of hard to tell.

Violet looked up with a thin smile. She looked tired. "Getting right to the point per usual, Luffy. It's nice to see you again." 

"Nice to see you again too," he huffed. He watched as Mingo knelt down beside her and brushed his fingers over her face. It was hard to read his expression behind his glasses, but it reminded him that maybe he should clarify his position anyway. "Mingo and I worked things out while you were asleep."

"I'd hoped you might, if you had half a moment to talk," She mused before she nuzzled her face against Mingo's hand. "I'm alright, Doffy. I promise. I've got some—unpleasant news, though."

"Worried you might say that." He trailed his fingers through her hair for a moment before giving her some space. "Well, let's not keep Straw Hat waiting then. What kind of unpleasant news?"

Luffy could see the way her fingers lingered on his arm as he stepped away before they folded on her lap. "Elegia's cut off from the outside world."

She closed her eyes. "It's in a sort of—bubble. There's the concert venue and the surrounding island—and I cannot sense anything outside of it. Not only that, but I'm actually having a bit of trouble seeing here, in general, as well as seeing into the minds of others."

"Ah…bother," Mihawk murmured.

"A bubble?" Crocodile demanded gruffly. "Why the hell are we in a bubble?"

"Oh, that one's obvious!" Finally, a question that Luffy could answer. He smacked his palm with his fist.

All eyes were on him now, especially the piercing stares of MIhawk and VIolet, who's uncanny eyes stared him down in anticipation of an answer. 

Croco leveled his gaze at him too. "Well, Straw Hat? What's obvious?"

"If we're in a bubble, it must be one of Uta's songs! She used to be able to make people like, live in them, kinda, while she was singing! I guess she's gotten a lot better at it!" Luffy laughed, thinking of how much it had always annoyed Uta that people fell asleep when she sang, even if she was the one putting them in a trance.

Mingo laughed, too. "Well, that certainly explains it!"

"You didn't think you should mention this earlier, Straw Hat?" Croco demanded.

Luffy blinked at him. "No? Why would I?"

Violet blinked slowly, and then she started to laugh with MIngo. "We're living in a song…no wonder I can't see. No wonder people are a mystery to me now!"

Mihawk tilted his head. "That's a unique ability. Are we transported to some 'song' world, or is this some vivid illusion?" 

Luffy thought about it. Admittedly, he had no idea exactly how much her powers might have grown. If everybody at the concert was there, probably quite a bit!

"If it's like when we were kids, then we're all probably asleep!"

"What?" Croco didn't look happy about that. "We're asleep? So our real bodies are just, what, laying around on the island somewhere?"

"Yup!" Luffy laughed, remembering waking up after his face had made a print in the dirt. "You worried a bug's going to crawl into your mouth, old man?"

"I think he's more worried about the marines who are coming, Straw Hat," Mingo suggested.

Mihawk nodded. 

"Indeed. Luffy, Emperor Luffy—" he closed his eyes "if we're asleep here, it means we're all but defenseless when the marines encircle this island and burn it to cinders."

Violet hissed softly through her teeth, before she smiled. "Well. If we're all just asleep, that's a small matter to fix isn't it? She's a sensible girl, and your sister. If we just tell her the danger, she'll release us from her spell." 

Luffy frowned. As weird as it was to talk to all these guys, they were kinda right. It seemed like Uta just hadn't thought about the consequences of her dream concert. That was alright. It'd be easy to warn her.

"Yeah, we can just talk to her!" Luffy nodded. "Pretty silly of her not to realize that she was the one causing the problem with your vision, though."

-

Crocodile lingered by the door with Mihawk while Luffy was gathering up a little party to go talk to Uta again.

"I don't like it, Hawky."

Mihawk frowned sharply, leaning against his shoulder as he murmured in a low voice. "Neither do I, Crocodile. I don't believe she could have simply forgotten about the risk her powers pose. Not with the way she's deliberately goading the World Government." 

"Exactly." He pointed at Mihawk with his cigar. "And that's why we're gonna go along with Straw Hat instead of waiting around here to find out what the hell is up."

"You want to confront his sister?" Mihawk asked with a note of amusement. "That's my captain, alright." 

-

As the moon rose over Elegia island, Uta looked out over concert grounds— still, and quiet. They were in a state of respite, of divine rest under the glow of the moon and in the beauty of a still night filled with dreams of a better world.

A new genesis cast in silent, pale moonlight. It filled her with a thrum of warmth, a shot of excitement as she imagined it. It was almost as intoxicating as their cheers, and the smiles on their faces.

She spread her hands out towards the tents and the small clustered groups on their campgrounds, her smile inching wider on her face. This was the shape of salvation— a salvation she'd bring to the entire world as she wiped the Great Pirate Era from the face of it.

This was her song of liberation, after all. 

[miirshroom]

Speculation on Miquella before the Elden Ring DLC

Personally, I hope that Miquella is 1000 Leucochloridium paradoxum in a Miquella suit. Worm that walks. Demon's Souls' Leechmonger 2.0.

Put an end to the binary discourse about whether Miquella is a evil manipulator or a sweet cinnamon role. It's just in the nature of the green banded broodsac that it needs to grow in the amber-shelled snail and wiggle into the snail eye stalks and mind control its host to a place where it can be eaten by a bird and perpetuate its life cycle. Apparently this doesn't even need to be fatal for the snail - the worm can be pulled out and the snail grows a new eye stalk. And it's not terrible for the bird either because the worm lives in its cloaca and feeds on waste product. Nature is weird btw.

There are a few ways that I can see this handled with nuance in Elden Ring.

Mohg is the bird that plucked the worm from it's host. He grows bird wings. He was enchanted by Miquella. However: Mohg's dynasty is dead. It's found in the underworld and this indicates that the cycle of parasitism is over - there will be no future generations.

Instead of literal parasites, the parasitic metaphor is a concept of dreams perpetuated generationally. Miquella is very closely associated with dreams. The Golden Order Fundamentalism that Miquella grew up with is a representation of psychological alchemy - the never ending cycle of refinement and seeking a nebulous dream of perfection. Alchemy rebranded itself from pseudoscience to pseudopsychology, but we should kill it.

Picture the Lands Between as the amber shelled snail and the Shadowlands as the bird dream world where the next generation of parasite is meant to incubate and eventually return to the Lands Between. People like to have dreams. Dreams provide hope. Miquella's devotees fervently support his efforts to complete the next dream cycle and metamorphose to whatever form comes next. They are true believers of the cult of Miquella and it is simply in his nature to enchant the mind of the host to support the dream.

If the old dreams of gold are perpetuating cycles of violence and detachment from reality (fixation on stupid conspiracy theories and esoteric solutions to modern problems) then find new and better wonders to dream about. The natural world is amazing. Space is amazing. Age of Stars, please.

So, why specifically would Miquella abandon his fate of perpetuating the dream? I have guesses. Mostly I think it's something about psychological alchemy and transition. If a person were to believe in that sort of thing, then a masculine person with a "female anima" might hypothetically believe that they must transition to a feminine person with a "male animus". Which - in practical terms - is nonsense because people should be free to just be themselves inside and out. But Elden Ring operates on moon logic, so, y'know.

Either way, I hope that Miquella abandoning his golden flesh is some kind of way of saying that he abandoned the psychological alchemy framework. That is, assuming that it was his fate to become the "animus" to Trina, as hinted with in Gowry's manipulations of Millicent in her questline. I really don't want to explain how animus/anima supposedly work - just know that it's a poisonous way to think about gender roles.

My thoughts on the Miquella situation (and honestly also the role of Melina as a "dream girl") are summed up by this Neil Gaiman quote shortly summarizing the story of the Sandman: "The Lord of Dreams learns that one must change or die, and makes his decision."

Also, in game sources for the green banded broodsac: 1) Wormfaces are one of the most enigmatic entities in the base game with no written lore pointing to them. The slugs found near them have worms for eyestalks. 2) Hewg once knew someone with green eyes the same hue as Roderika's. As noted, the "green banded" broodsac is green and lives in eyes. In her dialogue it is mentioned that Roderika had loyal followers once - perhaps analogous to the followers of Miquella...(though Roderika's name more closely alludes to Marika) 3) The horns of the omens from the recent promo image resemble segmented worms in texture and colour. 4) Crucible Wings are to be found in the DLC as per the first gameplay trailer which telegraphs that birds are important thematically.

[blackfingercoat]

I've had a nightmare for the first time in a decade.

This is a form of animal sanctuary, keeping a small variety of creatures on a farm-like property. Despite this, I am a snail. Waking up, something feels wrong. The body feels off. I have been resurrected and things feel incomplete. There are many, larger creatures who have received this and are in various states of decay from life and who have different forms of payment struck from them. For this new life, a man takes my eyestalk.

No longer a snail, I am myself as a separate entity. I too live as a person, with the same caretaking responsibilities in real life. The place is quaint and small, but always messy. The rain falls often, leaving everything muddy both inside and out. There is no main building, just many smaller shacks that house a variety of animals. More in pens outside. This is not an animal sanctuary. Handling a few of the pipes on the property, I hear the man, my brother whose name is Raphael, bring a group of rambunctious teenagers through. They walk their bikes through the mud in a line past me, chattering excitedly about what they're going to do to the animals. The problem children, here to release urges and delight in a sick sadism. They are led to the sheep pens.

There is to be an inspection, or some kind of visit from an animal services offer. Raphael is cleaning house. His cleaning and my cleaning are very different. He seeks to purge and I lay worrying over the dirt and the loss. I tell my father and continue to clean, staying well away from the undead massacre. How the man handles the disposal, I don't care to know.

The foxes that I'm feeding have kits; it's life, distinctly untouched by the cycle here. Cute but so terribly tragic that they are here. Grey and orange parents, with a group of orange and grey kits. I'm particularly fond of a iron-blue colored one, different and smaller than its litter-mates. They are doomed. Returning to my paralyzed father, I find him perched like a gargoyle at the edge of his bed facing me. How he could get into that position himself is beyond me. He says something must be done about Raphael. I don't know what can be done, but I can get a gun. I should not have one, I am just as much of a danger to myself as other people with one. But, it's necessary.-

I am gathering the foxes, no just the kits as parents are sick and won't fit in the hard-shelled case I've brought along to smuggle them. They do not want to leave the adults, crying for the soft inconvenience to the future they'd have here. Four creatures is so few among the many that were here. Keeping them in the case is difficult as I'm walking it through the property, they are muffled enough to be silent but somehow this locking case isn't staying closed. Little paws yearn to be free.

Nerves strike like a hammer on hot steel, passing the earlier teens after their 'fun'. I can see the blood, splashed on their fronts and wet up the cuff of their pants. They are cleaning the sin from themselves with a garden hose as I pass, the case kept out of their line of sight by my too thin body. Their eyes can be felt boring into my back. Raphael makes monsters out of his tragedies.

Now with my father, I release the kits into the room. It feels so very claustrophobic in here, but Raphael does not enter this room. He's comfortably immobile again in bed, I do not bring up our earlier meeting. The foxes need homes, I need a gun. In a brief contact with someone I know they will be safe with, I have a place to take them. It isn't long before three are gathered, leaving the smallest one. I was ever so fond of him, and he stayed in my father's arms. Besides, Raphael never came in here.

The ride is bittersweet; I've gotten away, but the sheer weight of all these years and coming situation I'm putting myself in is crushing. Thankfully, it is easy and I don't have to explain much. Saving life and buying the volatile end of one just after. A pistol, this dark 1911.

I return to the hunched, gangly form of Raphael standing over the head of my father's bed. Time catches in my throat; he should not be here. The steel-grey kit lies motionless of the floor, and I fear that my dad lays the same. This monster turns around, ready to speak, but I'm faster and resolve strikes in the hot flash of a metal fragment.

He's dead, but I know that my troubles have only started. Walking closer, the barrel of the gun is pressed to Raphael's chest and I fire two more shots. It will be easier to convince the police that this was self defense if we both had gunpowder on us. Very little alive is left on the property, of course we fail the inspection. I am alone.

[charseraph]

The River Jordan and Sweetpea are electric engines on the first railway on Mars.

River Jordan was the first one built, being the product of a collaboration between the nations who established the colony.

Sweetpea was donated by a coronal aerospace guild and assembled onsite. Her parts were imported and her blueprints were crownmade, so her visage is coronal.

Visage and the nature of living transport

Engines take the image of their creators. Their faces are not organic, and are more like a vessel for helpful senses and communication tools.

They come alive soon after they are built, once out of eyeshot for any moment. Attempts to stare at a new engine to see it stir are foiled somehow (blinks, saccades, CCTV malfunction, momentary lapse in attention). Not all engines come alive, as their animacy is often (but not always) decided by the intent of the builder.

Living engines can assess their circumstances and make judgements based on them. They are useful in volatile situations as an expert second opinion on conduct and design, and are capable of sensing external and internal problems quickly.

In calmer periods, they may not get adequate stimulation, and their personalities may interfere with their efficiency. For this reason, railways have their preferences when they build and purchase engines.

The facial material ends at the surface of the machine and is inscrutable in composition—the material appears to be made of itself, and is unusable for any other purpose besides as an engine’s interface with the world. If damaged, the material heals. If removed, it disappears. The conceptual self-referentiality of engines’ faces, souls, and senses deter scrutiny.

Living machines exist as a fact of the universe. Their animacy is cloaked in an analysis-averting antimeme.

Human Engines

Engines designed and built by humans possess dual-pinhole pupils that dilate into an elliptical shape, granting them a broad field of view and tolerance of rapid changes in light levels (such as in going in and out of tunnels). Deep set zygomata allow them to look directly to their sides, and with the dual-pinhole setup, they maintain some depth perception in monocular sight. Their pupil shapes are hidden by their black irises, which absorb glare. They can see clearly to their front and sides, but can’t see up or down very well. A tapetum lucidum retroreflects incoming light back through their retinas, granting them vision in darkness. The nictitating membranes and long eyelashes protect the eyes from dust.

The chemicals engines are capable of detecting are relevant to their purpose, e.g. distinguishing coal, gasoline, diesel, and wood fires from their smoke but not being able to distinguish or detect food smells. Similar to how cats, obligate carnivores, have lost their ability to taste sugar due to its absence in their diet, but can taste ATP for its presence in meat—engines can parse environmental and industrial scents, but will have wildly varied responses to food and fragrant compounds, often being unable to notice them.

To investigate an aroma, they slightly lower their bottom lip to take air into their vomeronasal organ located behind the upper incisors.

Engines do not require oxygen, but if debris enters the nasal passage, human engines will sneeze to:

Ensure their voice resonates properly,

Keep their olfactory facilities clean, and

Indicate to engineers that particle buildup may have occurred in other places, such as the boiler tubes for steam engines.

Crown Engines

Just as the tongue is the only colored object on a human engine’s face for distinguishability, so are the teeth on coronal engines. The positions of the upper and lower jaw indicate tone, functioning in communication similarly to eyebrows.

Coronal engine eyes consist of an armored cornea surrounded by a cuticle and muscular eyelid. The cornea moves with the help of the embedded eyestalk supporting it. The cuticle is lubricated with an oil-based film and is less susceptible to irritation than the aqueous solution on human engine eyes. The undersides of the eyelids and surface of the cornea are covered in setae, preventing chafing and reducing airflow on the cornea. The hairs catch debris and are combed out by the lids with a puckering motion.

To make up for unenhanced vision by human engine standards, coronal engine hearing is advanced, allowing the listener to pinpoint sound sources through triangulation of the four inner ears. Coronal engines, too, channel sound through their incisors and into their internal ears via the acoustic windows at the hinge of each jaw.

Coronal engines achieve their sense of industrial smell through the gustatory papillae that line their choana and pharynx. They supplement their olfaction by introducing cool air behind the heat pits inside their nares.

Coronal engines’ thermoception is more efficient than living crowns, as coronal engines’ faces do not produce heat nearly proportional to their mass.

Conversely, the tines heat up significantly hotter than the crown average for unambiguity in temperature tones. The origin of the tine thermal energy appears to be redirected from excess produced by the machinery, or from the face’s temperature directly.

Extramodal senses

Engines are capable of listening from within their cabs with greater acuity than mere conduction of sound through the body would suggest. Other unsubstantiated sensory abilities include:

Discernment of water/fuel quality within the framework of taste though intake alone

Somatosensory awareness in the entire body, not just the face

[apalestar]

He knew it. He bloody damn well knew it! Something was dreadfully and terribly wrong down here. And it didn't have to do with something simple either! If it wasn't the mindflayers of course it would be a Spectator. Another horror told to frighten would be novices from the underground. They could only count some fortune that this wasn't a Beholder. No just a lesser form of it's offspring. This did not bode well.

Try as Colette might this creature had more intelligence than even some of the sentient beings they had come across. She could distract it, but it also had four elongated eyestalks and a long tongue in which to use. The slimy appendage coiled around her as it screeched flinging her off. One of those eyes turned to the stone figures, freeing it. A Drow wizard now under it's thrall.

Their little motley crew of miscreants stood not a hope of escape. And who would abandon their erstwhile leader to certain death? A few managed better vantage points, but the others weren't so lucky. Catching the ire of the creature paralyzing and frightening them into place.

Astarion escaped the first round of fire. Found himself crouched on higher ground with his bow in hand. Lae'zel had run off somewhere to engage in that wizard before he became too much of a problem, but Karlach had been frightened into place before she could rage.

Shit.

He did the only thing available to him at the moment and fired his bow. The arrow striking near the thing's giant eye. All in an effort to give Colette time to get to her feet after being flung. "Get up damn you!"

"I mean, I did memorize the teleportation circle just back in the city ruins. I could get us back there in a jiffy, but-" Gale looked over to the others and pursed his lips a moment. "It could get tricky, but with all of us huddled together, I could get us back."

"I still think it might be in our best interest to travel this path." Halsin spoke with a soft shrug of his shoulders. "I will follow you either which way you so choose." A soft sigh is given as he puts his hands on his hips and looks around, reminiscing on his past, it seems.

"Well...I have no qualms either way, fearless leader." Wyll teased with a smirk before turning to sit on some rocks. Well, this wasn't going in either direction, was it. With a long sound of annoyance, the half-elf stood and brushed her hands and legs off of any dirt and moss before looking down the path more curiously. They were more likely to travel deeper and deeper into the Underdark if they went this way. There was absolutely no guarantee the path to Moonrise was still intact.

"Alright, alright. We'll go back up. Although I'm biased to traveling this way and getting hopelessly lost and finding creepy shit, I'll concede. We can wait for Gale to meticulously draw the teleportation circle." The rogue sighed and spun around on her heels to move back towards the temple. But, as she did turn, did she see the look of horror upon the others who had taken notice. Her brow furrowed and turned on her heel once again, eyes moving to find the spectator as it rose above her, all it's eyes opening at once, maw hanging open.

"Oh shit. Not a cockatrice..." She spoke quickly, her knives twisted in her palms as she braced for impact. A bolt of necrotic energy lashed out and struck her, a sound of pain breaking from her lungs as she crumples in on herself for a moment, processing the agony as quickly as she can before raising her blades again. "GO! RUN!" Colette shouted out before she leapt up, her daggers digging into the flesh of the creature as she tried to turn it's attention on her so that way they could get the chance to get to high ground and get advantage over it.

[charcadett]

just compiling the little quest blurbs you get for the titans, star bosses, and gym leaders at the beginning of the game. i wish they didn’t disappear when you completed them

GYMS

Cortondo Gym Leader: Katy

(AKA: the Sugarbug)

This Bug-type user is a recommended first stop for anyone considering taking on the Pokemon League. Though sweet as a treat, this baker of bug-themed pastries shows a bold streak in battle.

Artazon Gym Leader: Brassius

(AKA the Verdant Virtuoso)

This Grass-type user and artist is a first stop for many fledgling Trainers. His sculptures of Grass-type Pokemon are as famous as the way he chooses to appear before challengers to his Gym.

Levincia Gym Leader: Iono

(AKA the Supercharged Streamer)

This Electric-type user and hit streamer is adored by the young. Her viewers’ reactions are more important to her than victory in battle, and her Gym Test is one-of-a-kind. Be ready for anything!

Cascarrafa’s Gym Leader: Kofu

(AKA the Surging Chef)

This Water-type user is a good fit for those with battle experience. He is the chef and owner of the Kofu Lounge, and his zeal for helping trainers grow has led him to craft a taxing Gym Test.

Medali Gym Leader: Larry

(AKA the Exceptional Everyman)

This Normal-type user is the middle of the pack when it comes to Gym Leaders. He has a day job helping run the Pokemon League, where he is not the best rated worker. He loves to eat.

Montenerva Gym Leader: Ryme

(AKA the MC of RIP)

This Ghost-type user is among the very greatest. She is a legendary rapper who has performed around the world, and her thrilling live shows rattle the bones with devilish beats and Double Battles.

Alfornada Gym Leader: Tulip

(AKA the Bewitching Beautician)

This Psychic-type user is a real force, even among Gym Leaders. She runs a cosmetics brand, which she also models for, and she aims to be the very best in everything she does- including battle.

Glaseado Gym Leader: Grusha

(AKA the Sub-zero Shredder)

This Ice-type user, once a renowned snowboarder, was forced to retire from the sport due to a grievous injury. His formerly fiery passion now remains locked away behind a thick, icy shell.

TEAM STAR

Giacomo of the Segin Squad

(Boss of Team Star’s Dark crew)

Since he only recently began training Dark-type Pokemon, he’s not too much challenge in battle. He used to be a straitlaced star student, but certain events set him on a very different path.

Mela of the Schedar Squad

(Boss of Team Star’s Fire crew)

Mela believes in solving every problem with force, and she is scarier to face than her Pokemon. But she has charisma and always keeps her word, which has earned her the trust of her allies.

Atticus of the Navi Squad

(Boss of Team Star’s Poison crew)

Atticus is of middling strength among the Team Star bosses. A descendant of ninjas - or so he believes - he likes to dress the part and use fancy speech and poison skills to toy with foes.

Ortega of the Ruchbach Squad

(Boss of Team Star’s Fairy crew)

Said to be the second strongest of Team Star’s bosses. His family owns an apparel brand famed even in Paldea. He constantly looks down on others, perhaps due to his cushy up bringing.

Eri of the Caph Squad

(Boss of Team Star’s Fightung crew)

An extremely dangerous opponent, even among the Team Star bosses. She entered the academy on a sports scholarship. Her towering height helps her unleash powerful wrestling moves.

TITANS

The Stony Cliff Titan

Witnesses claim they’ve seen a giant stone moving on its own in Area Three of the South Providence. And the stone has big swiveling eyestalks?!? Perhaps it’s a Titan camouflaging itself to catch prey.

The Open Sky Titan

Boulders are tumbling down from a mountain in the West Providence’s Area One. Perhaps a Titan wanting to keep the sky all to itself? The climb may be more challenging than the battle.

The Lurking Steel Titan

Miners working in Area Three of the East Providence say something huge burrowing under the ground is the cause of frequent landslides. Whispers abound whether it could be a Titan.

The Quaking Earth Titan

Mysterious quakes keep shaking the Asado Desert. Porto Marinada locals claim they’ve caught glimpses of an unknown creature raging about through the obscuring clouds of sand and dust.

The False Dragon Titan

A highly dangerous Pokemon said to lurk in Casseroya Lake, luring other creatures close and then feeding on them. Appearance unknown, but mouth likely large. Use extreme caution.