#fossil bark impression

[uk-fossils]

Lepidodendron Fossil Stem – Carboniferous Plant Fossil – Coal Measures – Radstock, Somerset, UK

Genuine Lepidodendron Stem Fossil – Carboniferous Period – Radstock, Somerset, UK

This is a fine example of a Lepidodendron stem fossil – a relic of an ancient lycopsid tree that once towered over Carboniferous swamplands. This piece was recovered from the classic Coal Measures of Radstock, Somerset, a region famous for its rich palaeobotanical heritage.

Fossil and Geological Information:

Species: Lepidodendron (exact species undetermined)

Family: Lepidodendraceae

Order: Lepidodendrales

Class: Lycopodiopsida

Geological Stage: Pennsylvanian Subsystem, Late Carboniferous (~310 million years ago)

Formation: British Upper Coal Measures

Location: Radstock, Somerset, UK

Depositional Environment: Equatorial deltaic swamps, ideal for forming peat-rich layers later turned into coal

Notable Morphological Features:

Distinctive diamond-shaped leaf scars arranged in spiral rows, left by fallen microphylls

Ribbed or bark-like surface textures indicative of its large, arborescent form

Rare preservation showing clear stem features of a major component of Carboniferous forests

Palaeontological Context:

Lepidodendron was a dominant genus in the Carboniferous forests and contributed significantly to coal formation. Known as a “scale tree,” it could grow over 30 meters high. This stem fossil captures the unique and unmistakable leaf scar patterns that define the genus.

Specimen Details:

Discovered by: UKGE team members Alister and Alison

Discovery Date: 06 March 2025

Prepared by: Alison

Scale Information: Scale cube shown = 1cm – see photo for precise dimensions

Photographic Guarantee: The item pictured is the exact specimen you will receive

Authenticity: Includes a signed Certificate of Authenticity. We guarantee all our fossils are 100% genuine and responsibly collected.

Why This Fossil is Important:

Lepidodendron was a cornerstone of prehistoric forest ecosystems during the Carboniferous period, influencing the development of today’s ecosystems and even contributing to modern fossil fuel deposits. This well-preserved specimen is not only ideal for collectors but also serves as an excellent educational piece demonstrating the structure and texture of ancient lycopsid trees.

An iconic and timeless addition to any fossil collection.

[makairodonx]

Coming right around the Chinese New Year, top to bottom, are two highly scientifically-important dinosaurs hailing from the Aptian-aged (125-118 mya) Jiufotang Formation of China’s Liaoning Province:

Microraptor zhaoianus ranks alongside the late Jurassic Archaeopteryx and the closely-related Sinornithosaurus as one of the first theropod dinosaurs ever to have discovered with full feather and wing impressions. It measured about 80 cm (2.6ft) in length, had a wingspan of 99 cm (3.25 ft) and weighed about 1.25-1.88 kg, sported a uniquely black but iridescent plumage, and is the namesake of the Microraptoridae, a family of raven-sized dromaeosaurs that dominated the Jehol Biota of the Jiufotang and Yixian Formations and are particularly famous for sporting long flight feathers on both their legs and limbs. This “four-winged” configuration, which surprisingly resembles the hypothetical “Tetrapteryx” stage of bird evolution proposed by naturalist William Beebe in 1915, enabled Microraptor and its kin to glide from tree to tree in pursuit of small birds, lizards and mammals as well as achieving some sort of powered flight over short distances.

Psittacosaurus is a basal ceratopsian that is closer in phylogeny to creatures like Styracosaurus and Triceratops than to the more primitive Yinlong from the late Jurassic, and is one of the most well-preserved and best-studied genera of all non-avian dinosaurs. It reached the size of a pig or a retriever dog and lived throughout much of continental Eastern Asia 125-105 million years ago, and is known for having the most species described of any non-avian dinosaur, with 12 different species ranging from as far north as Siberia to as far south as Thailand. Two of these species were both found in the Jiufotang Formation - P.melieyingensis and P.mongoliensis, the type species which measured up to 2 meters (6.2 ft) long and weighed about 80 kg (44 lb). Psittacosaurus had highly-developed senses of smell and vision, a pair of protruding jugal (cheek) bones that were possibly used for display, and was active for short periods at day or night. Psittacosaurus also possessed self-sharpening teeth that were used for cropping and slicing tough plants, and unlike future ceratopsians, it lacked teeth for chewing and grinding food and thus used gastroliths (which would have been stored in a gizzard similar to those of modern birds) to wear down the leaves and bark that it ate as it passed through the digestive system. Psittacosaurus is also unique among ceratopsians for having a large, well-proportioned brain. This indicates that the dinosaur was capable of doing a wide range of complex social behaviors such as bird-like sleeping, nest-building and parental care. This is perhaps true with possible instances of overburdened Psittacosaurus parents brining in a nanny or another guardian to take care of large nests of more than a dozen hatchlings, as evidenced of fossils of adolescent females preserved with several hatchlings together. The Psittacosaurus of the Jiufotang Formation shared their temperate forest habitat with the basal ankylosaur Chuanqilong, several genera and species of paravians and pterosaurs, a large titanosaur, and the 10-meter-long Yutyrannus relative Sinotyrannus, and Psittacosaur hatchlings and occasionally adults were also preyed upon by the large, badger-like mammal Repenomamus. One fossil Psittacosaurus specimen that is on display at a German museum (SMF R 4970) preserves the scales, colors and integument that the living animal would have had, and they indicate that the particular Psittacosaurus had a counter-shaded reddish brown and beige pattern that was blurrier and less-defined compared to the striking orange-and-white colors of Sinosauropteryx (which was suited for a lifestyle of foraging in open areas) and was therefore useful for camouflaging the Psittacosaurus in the woods. The specimen also possessed a strange crest of yellow, keratinized, bristle-like structures protruding from the base of its tail that were quite similar to the thin, filamentous structures found on the heterodontosaurid Tianyulong, which also possibly indicates that feather-like structures or proto-feathers may have appeared early in the evolutionary history of the dinosaurs and were soon lost in the evolution of some dinosaur groups or retained in some form in the evolution of others.

[eikooowie]

You want to detail Ephemeral Echo's default garment and her Insight II garment in Reverse: 1999 style! This is a great way to show character progression and deeper connection to their Arcanum.

Let's break down the concepts:

Reverse: 1999 OC: Ephemeral Echo - Garments

Afflatus: Plant

Attribute: Spirit

Core Concept: Ephemeral Echo's garments should always reflect her deep connection to the wild, the cycle of life and death, and her increasingly symbiotic relationship with the "Reckoning Zombies Deer Critters" and the tormented spirits of the forest. The progression from Default to Insight II should show a deeper integration of these elements, hinting at her growing power and perhaps a more defined, almost sacred, role as a guardian.

Default Garment: "Forest's First Whisper"

This is Echo in her initial, raw state, deeply connected to the forest but perhaps still relatively sheltered from the full horrors of the Storm's influence.

* Overall Aesthetic: Ethereal, wild, slightly unkempt, blending seamlessly with a natural environment. Think of a nature spirit lightly touched by early human influence.

* Main Materials: Appears to be woven from natural fibers like undyed linen or hemp, with visible textures. Draped and flowing, not tailored.

* Color Palette: Dominated by soft, muted earth tones – mossy greens, bark browns, muted greys, and pale, almost translucent whites. Small accents of faded wildflowers (pale blues, soft yellows).

* Key Details:

* Hair: Tangled, wild, forest-green hair, perhaps with small, barely blooming wildflowers woven into it.

* Body: A simple, loose-fitting tunic or dress that appears to be made from broad leaves or interwoven vines, draped over a base layer of rough cloth. It might be asymmetrical, with one shoulder bare or covered by a cascade of vines.

* Limbs: Arms and legs are largely bare, but with subtle patterns of moss or faint, vine-like markings that seem to grow on her skin, especially around her wrists and ankles.

* Antlers: Delicate, small deer antlers, almost like twigs, sprouting gently from her temples. They might have a few fresh leaves or dewdrops clinging to them.

* Feet: Appears barefoot, with the subtle suggestion of cloven hooves, blending into the ground.

* Accessories: Minimal. Perhaps a single necklace made of polished river stones or dried seed pods.

* Overall Impression: A shy, elusive forest spirit, pure and untouched by the human world, yet showing the first subtle signs of her unique Arcanum. The "whisper" aspect comes from her quiet nature and the faint, rustling sounds her garments might make.

Insight II Garment: "Reckoning's Embrace"

At Insight II, Echo has embraced her role as a guardian, and her connection to the "Reckoning Zombies Deer Critters" is more profound. Her appearance reflects a deeper understanding of life, death, and the twisted nature the Storm has brought to the wild. She is no longer just a forest spirit, but a force reckoning with the unnatural.

* Overall Aesthetic: Still ethereal and wild, but with a noticeable shift towards something more solemn, protective, and subtly grim. The influence of decay and the tormented "critters" becomes more evident, yet she retains her fundamental beauty.

* Main Materials: Appears to be woven from tougher, perhaps partially fossilized or petrified vines, mixed with darker, more aged fabrics. There might be elements that look like hardened bark or even bone.

* Color Palette: Shifts to deeper, more somber tones. Rich forest greens, dark browns, charcoal greys, and touches of deep, almost black, crimson (like dried blood or deep forest berries). Occasional faint, ghostly glows of pale green or blue.

* Key Details:

* Hair: Still forest-green, but perhaps longer, wilder, and partially interwoven with elements that look like dried roots or thorny brambles. Faint, decaying flowers might be nestled within, or even glowing, fungal growths.

* Body: Her main garment is now more structured, almost like an ancient, organic armor. It could be a long, flowing coat or cloak made of interwoven, dark, hardened bark-like material, draped over a tighter, darker under-tunic. The drapes might mimic torn flesh or decaying leaves, but remain elegant.

* Shoulder/Back: A prominent feature could be a cloak or shawl that appears to be formed from large, leathery leaves or even the skeletal remains of smaller, twisted branches, subtly resembling decaying wings or the splayed antlers of a fallen deer.

* Limbs: Her forearms and shins might be adorned with more pronounced, almost armor-like growths of bark, moss, and glowing fungi. Her skin might show subtle, veined patterns that seem to flow with green light.

* Antlers: Larger, more robust, and distinctly branching antlers, possibly with thorns or small, sharp points. They might appear partially petrified or imbued with a faint, sorrowful green luminescence.

* Feet: The cloven hoof suggestion is more defined, appearing like natural, hardened extensions of her legs, blending seamlessly with the darker, rooted patterns.

* Accessories: More prominent. Perhaps a necklace made of polished, dark wood beads or small, animal skulls (not gruesome, but symbolic of the cycle). A small, intricate charm that resembles a deer's tear.

* Overall Impression: A solemn, powerful guardian who has faced the Storm's desecration head-on. She has integrated the sorrow and decay, turning it into a protective, unyielding force. The "embrace" comes from her acceptance of the dark echoes and her role in guiding them. Her presence is now more commanding, less elusive.

These two garment designs for Ephemeral Echo should beautifully illustrate her journey and the deepening of her Arcanum in Reverse: 1999!

[sn0paw]

Colors of Night Chapter 1

Morriston florida. North from the humid lower lands and bog. Lush orchards gave a bleak feeling of isolation as spots of amenities were few and far between. When you were standing in any one spot all you saw was a deep void of lush green vegetation that choked your cries, and held you in a living grip separate from the rest of the world. In October the air was crisp and managed to mask the pungent scent of carrion rotting in its soil. Or maybe it was the natural gas alone, leaking from sodden fissures seemingly invisible in the earth. Morriston however was more known for its fertile land rather than fossil fuels. Nestled like spots of diamonds in black stone, which were the surrounding messy rows of low trees; were large houses. Not made from modern cement or drywall, these houses were plated with large wooden planks, colored in pristine vintage greens or blues. They hadn't been touched in a long time. Although refurbished every few years, they still maintained an aura of an old world.

It was easy to find yourself alone at night. Something that was hard to cope with already, but made even worse when help was probably the last thing you'd find out here.

Over the landscape there was miles of lush greenery, surrounding small properties and farm houses. A neighbor was as close as the sun on the horizon.

Sometimes it was hard to tell orchard from wild land. The trees did not spire like great pines, but had more of a woodland attitude. Florida was known to be swamp, and bog. Up north is where you'd find any forest, branches shoulder to shoulder, and the ground at least solid. The sodden bark from these impressive bushes, were dark from the nutrient rich soil.

At night, it was almost pitch black, and every now and then a fog would roll in from the humid lower lands. The stars remained mostly untapped when the sky wasn't cloudy. The amount of flora vastly outweighed most air pollution. From its own county, at least. The moon however, always seemed blinding and bright if you could find it. When you were out in the open roads it was easy. But when you stuck to the cover of the land, it was a little harder.

This particular county seemed other worldly. Haunted, almost. Trapped in a forgotten timeline, while the rest of the world carried on. When things became a little more old fashioned, you really became aware of your place in this world. Of your place in society.

Among the vast oarchards, off to the north of the small town, at the base of the rolling hills, houses pale in the moonlight glowed like stars in an ocean. However, deep into the groves, in about the third range of land which disappeared behind the horizon, the sea of leaves was disturbed. A patch, so barely noticeable it seemed as if you hallucinated it at first. That your eyes just marred, and a blur merely tricked you into thinking it was just your head. In the rows of grapefruit trees that occupied this land, was a spot. A smudge. A disturbance that only disappeared again as the shrubbery circled around it.

It was a small clearing, overgrown with grass and moss. Bushes which at some point might've been part of the landscaping, were nestled against the trees, and occupying every cranny along the gravel driveway. In the middle, a wooden shack. Perhaps a farmhouse used to shelter laborers in the past. The rickety bungalow was made with splintered and greying planks, the fact there was insulation at all, barely apparent. The window panes were sun bleached, dusty and yellow, their panels divided by wooden sills. A deck up front was littered with old planters, jugs of gasoline, and a steel basin which was dry. A partially broken lawn chair was resting near the door. In the driveway, a grey Volvo 240 was parked, slanted onto its side with its tires deflated. It's windows and windshield were shattered, cobwebs and dust caking the once fabric seats, leather accents peeling.

Shoddy and abandoned, the house still stood nonetheless. After all... the traces left inside held stories buried by time to the world. The house still stood, as if knowing the lonely soul it once sheltered was direly dependent on its shelter. For what it was, the house still stood. The man might've been gone, but his memory was far from faded.

In the dead of the night, in the silence where not even a breeze shook the leaves and sent a hush through the mangroves, a shadow blacker than oblivion suddenly overtook the edge of the clearing. There was the sound of igniting flames, oh so quiet amongst the solitude.

A tall figure seemed to melt from the shadows, spawned from a plume of ash that sent glowing embers spiraling aimlessly up his long leather coat. It was faded and tattered at the ends which met his ankles, protected by the sleeves of black combat boots. They were laced up tightly, and tucked in the ends of his flexible cargo pants, also black. Strapped to his right thigh, which was mostly covered by his coat, was a knife sheath that carried a seven inch blade. Wrapped tightly around his waist were two nylon cinch straps, that held closed either side of his coat. Two more twin straps ran across either side of his chest, from underneath his leather cowl, which had a buckle at his left shoulder. The thick hood that covered his head and the top of his white mask, had three more sporty leather stripes that ran to the center between his padded shoulders. His mask was the classic sorrowful scream design. When he originally grabbed it, it had just been for simple anonymity. However, since he had disappeared from the face of the earth for what seemed like years ago, its makeup had changed. It was no longer the usual stock plastic or rubber. It had new weight. New volume. It was slightly yellowed, bearing small scratches here and there, with a grain similar to bone...

Upon apparating out of thin air, the figure suddenly collapsed with a ragged gasp. Falling to a knee, he breathed heavily. There were leather straps, attached under the ends to the mans shoulder pads, and one on the back of the cowl. The other however was missing. Instead, the battered tether was tied around his right arm. Once released from the fog, they dropped in altitude, not from the gust of wind that accompanied the ash, but from their user struggling under their wake. In a mortal world, in a tangible world, remained the presence of a much darker manifestation in this man. The straps did not fall limply to the earth, as physics demanded. Instead, they floated. They floated idly, drooping slightly but still floating, snaking and arching like strands of smoke around the man who was regaining his composure.

On his knees he shook slightly, deep breaths hissing from the slit in the mask which barely allowed much ventilation. Clambering forward, the pebble driveway clattered from under his boots, rocks skipping from underneath him as he desperately began to inch toward the house. The floating straps whipped the air with his disoriented swinging, arms waving in front fog him and grabbing whatever he could to help him forward, while his legs kept pushing frantically like a deer on ice. His body did little to support him, but by now he wasn’t going to wait. Perhaps it was instinct alone... Seeing this house many times before in the past, the wood planks peering through the trees after the long hike home. Nervous, glancing over his shoulders, hurrying inside to avoid witnesses.

His hands slammed against the hood of the broken down car, heaving his body up and finally gaining some level above crawling. The world was blackening, not from the night, or the mask, but from the feeling of exhaustion as he stared up at the silvery planks being softly illuminated by the moonlight. The brief picture gave the ghost mixed feelings, before he had to push along once more. Stumbling off of the stone drive, he threw himself forward to grab the railing to the porch steps next. His breaths wheezed and caused sweat to run down his face, though that was far from his mind, briefly taking note of the pile of decrepit papers at the door, before shouldering it open.

The house was dark. Oh so wonderfully dark, outlines barely distinguished by the moon across the living room and kitchen. It’s was dusty, and he swore he heard the scratching of mice as they ran across the floor, but no matter. Firmly pulling the door shut from behind him, the effects of that... transfer, were starting to wear off. But that didn’t stop him from striding unsteadily, as fast as possible, to the bedroom he knew was his, engrained by memories oh so long ago...

From the side of the kitchen, at the corner of the house was a small hallway. Three doors, only one ajar. Eyes so keen In the dark, he effortlessly found the glistening bronze handle, and threw the door open. White and grey sheets greeted him, ghostly in the bluish silver light, from the night outside, pouring from the window that was wide open. Didn’t he have curtains for that?

It was the last thought he had, before collapsing face first into the bed. Not bothering to take off his shoes at all, he did pull off his mask, throwing it aside and burying is face into the dingy pillow.

Sleep... ...

Oh did it feel so good...

Rest...

Warm, relaxed... embracing this darkness which he almost feared as a stranger. Sinking deeper until laying in its depth.

This void was different than that of the entity... the restlessness that came with an ambient sense of time. Of a disembodied conscious struggling to claw its way somewhere. No thoughts or memories passing by.

It was pure, deep, sleep.

And for a split second he could've sworn he caught himself revealing, in how material everything was here. Of how tangible. Even in sleep he could still feel for a minute the pressure of his body.

In the realm of the entity he really had felt like a ghost. Nothing but fog and embers inside. weightlessness in his mind, and in shallow breaths.

Even in the infinite forest, when he would climb a tree to avoid wandering survivors, or grumpy hunters, for a god given moment of rest. When the branches around him grew and became gnarled into long black claws, pulsing with a warm fire and closing around his body. Even then, when for once he felt the entity's protectiveness, he never slept easy, if at all. There was fear deep inside of him. Paranoia that had always been a part of him. Of what if's? Or just downright inability. His mind could never sleep, even if it was empty, and his body remained coiled. No matter how tired he became, he could never fall into this void, this peaceful one at least, for his consciousness to become blank.

Despite the fact that it felt so good... finally to be unconscious, safe, and warm, he had to open his eyes eventually.

From the emptiness he returned, slowly. He felt the slight dampness of his sheets. Felt light on his face. Heard for the first time since he could remember, twittering, of little songbirds. Blinding bright light leaked into his eyes, as the weight of his own body hit him full force. When was the last time he'd seen or felt sunlight?...

Despite its magical and overwhelming happiness, Danny groaned quietly as he heaved his shoulders upwards, and turned over in bed. Now it was a little better... the light wasn't shining in his face.

There was a sharp burning pain in his stomach as he rolled onto it, and stared at the greying wood being warmed by late afternoon light. He took a deep breath of fresh air... so many smells, he opened his mouth too, halfway through the breath. Of luscious green leaves... of orange blossoms, and cold weather from the mountains. For a moment he blanked entirely, absorbing with sound and smell the life of the surrounding area. Like he had just come back to earth, after years on Mars. Bees buzzing... the breeze rustling broad leaves, and birds swooping in their gutters. A beetle or two scuttling across the cool wet soil. Of life.... of earth... of sun.

You could never appreciate the night the same without the day...

The ghost face opened his eyes again, after embracing the morning. Or... afternoon. His alarm clock didn't look like it worked anymore... Perhaps a storm had come and shorted its circuits. That would explain why his bed was wet...

His stomach growled again, more violently this time, and after a moment, Danny took another deep breath as he finally sat up in the sheets. His shoulders were in pain too... sore, and maybe still cut up from the sacrifices. He cricked his neck both ways, then twisted his chest as far as it would go, before turning the other way; to loosen out his stiffness after a nap, that felt like it had lasted a century. His joints popped loudly, and after he was finished, he shook himself out and yawned again. Boy was he hungry...

'You're always hungry!' He almost heard Evan bark at him, from times he had visited his shack, where others sometimes gathered.

Part of him almost missed it... and Danny could almost feel the entity's caress, at the thought that nothing in the world could satisfy him as much as being with the others. Whether he could afford to play, or had to put in his max effort. Whether he had been the top dog, or kept his head bowed. Whether he was In a good mood, and idly twirling his knife, or in a bad one. Hungry, tired, cold, beaten, bleeding... It was better than having to live among domestic humans for a lifetime. Any physical pain was miles better than being mentally boxed in. Most of earths population was slow and stupid... worried about all the wrong things. What a waste of life...

He was getting himself in a bad mood just thinking about it. Seemed like he really did need some food, or else someone would be victim to an unlucky break.

Continuing with his stretches, he arched backwards, twisting his arms from behind him. Several of his bones cracked as he did so, and he groaned slightly, trying to get the rest of his spine could loosen out. Sitting on his coat made movement a little difficult, but nothing that hindered the satisfaction of finally being able to relax after so long. He knew he had to go back to the entities realm... sooner rather than later. But at least he wasn't under the threat of immediate oblivion. He didn't know why... despite the fact the entity still had possession of every atom in his body, he felt as if he was safer now...

Well... for the moment he had a list of things to do, before he actually got down to business. He did Not want to cook after that trip, and for the past week or so, he'd been craving the buttery cinnamon cakes of french toast. First thing was first, he was going into town for some breakfast. He wondered if that blonde haired girl still worked there... She had always been so kind to him, even when he was having a bad morning.. He almost felt guilty for disappearing without a word. 

Second, itd do him good to do some grocery shopping. Basic supplies to get him through a day or two, while he looked into a road trip he'd most likely have to take to find his target.Third... maybe he could get away with some pampering after nightfall. His shoulders were killing him... And a trip to the bar would definitely put him in the right spot. New faces, tipsy people; either it'd be a strong reminder of why he didn't necessarily like being back, or a chance to spread his wings before going off the grid. The alcohol and blur of noise gave him a world of his own to think in, and contemplate. When reality seemed to melt into watercolour, and he could stare at the dark wood of the counter, planning his movements step by step.

His growling stomach prevented him from diving into that trance just yet. A plan felt more solid when he didn't have anything else to do for the day. Gingerly swinging his legs off the bed, Danny stood up slowly, shaking himself out and starting to undo the clasp of his mantle. His clothes had taken a lot of the brunt, but he didn't exactly have the time to bathe before. Already when he caught his reflection in the small TV at the corner of the desk, he was covered with dirt and old blood. Among other things he didn't even know what... When the strange flowers had spawned once again in the realm, and their putrid nectar had soaked the ground. The sacrifices had named it an infection. Although their new comrade Talbolt had found a better use for the goo. In simple terms, he looked like roadkill. And perhaps people wouldn't take so kindly to a stranger who looked so bedraggled. First impressions were everything around new faces.

Sighing, he threw the cowl onto the bed, before undoing the two straps that crossed the front of his waist. His torn coat came loose as they too were tossed aside, and soon, he shrugged the coat off as well. The tethers that were tied around the sleeves, and to the back of his mantle, were no longer floating. A fact Danny wasn't surprised about, but still had only just noticed now. This world was physical. It had age, and physics. Laws of nature. Or at least... the nature that applied to planet earth. Sitting down again, he began to unlace his boots, and was so tempted just to lay back down and sleep some more. Hunger and the rewarding thought of french toast kept him from doing so.

Pulling out the cargo pants which had been tucked into the ankles, he roughly twisted off his heavy black boots, which actually had started showing some wear. He'd gotten these quite some time ago... a lighter pair would be nice in making his steps faster, and quieter. An investment he'd make for a later date. Date... What was the date anyways? The ghost face was a little suspicious, that after every classic sci-fi movie, being in the realm of the entity would make time feel longer, or shorter. How long had he been gone? The last year he had remembered was 1993 it was a little after his 21st birthday, which had been celebrated with the flawlessly executed Pennsylvania slaughter.

He didn't feel any older... and judging by his reflection, he didn't look any older either. I mean... Bill just couldn't seem to stay dead; and apparently hes been a rather difficult sacrifice since even Evan could remember. Ohh... ohhohoh.. and then there was Nea... stealthy and spry. He loved to play their little cat and mouse games..

But she was nearly the same age as him, and hadn't ever changed a bit. She'd been a sacrifice just as long as Phillip. And Phillip had come soon after Evan. Evan had changed plenty from his days on earth of course, but his reflexes suggested enough he hadn't really aged... And now, Danny wasn't so sure he even wanted to know the date... Staying updated with the times had been direly important for his little 'late night escapades'. Admittedly, it made him just the slightest bit uneasy about being back at all...

Staring at himself with new solemness in the mirror, he pulled his journals, cameras, and papers from against his body, tossing them on the bed before he unbuckled his duty belt. Time... The one ghost that haunted him. An everlasting and adept sense of time, that made him nothing but anxious. A face of time was staring him down with cold unwelcoming eyes, as he took in the momento wall behind the mirror.

It was a set of new wallpaper, on the wall opposite from the window. A rather... unorthodox one. They were articles from newspapers, pinned and taped all across the wall. It had completely covered the space from corner to corner, and were layered with even more cutouts that fluttered slightly from the faint breeze. Black and white pictures of bodies, bold words of murder and blood on the faded paper. There were photos right next to some of the article's headlines. A common occurrence of white and colour. Of blood spattered across his ghost mask, and soaking into the leather of his cloaked arms. His selfies. Posing merrily next to the dead bodies of his victims. The photos supplied in the newspaper were eerily similar. He’d taken them at the same time after all, supplying the newspaper with just the victims, while keeping his own cameos for himself.

He would’ve grinned, being filled with excitement and amusement at the fond memories. Leaving all those hints, dangling the truth in front of their faces and no one had a clue... But Danny found himself staring at this wall with... grief...

The Polaroids were blotched, dissolved to the point they were barely recognizable. The news cutouts were brittle and browning, the words washed away. Only years of weathering could’ve done that... and an open window. Had that blown open, or did someone break in? The feeling of loss was fleeting, his mind becoming blank once more as he turned from the room.

The living room was an even more dismal sight... He remembered this house when it was clean... ish. The paint tastefully faded, the furniture clean. But staring down at the floorboards, there was a thin layer of dirt, as if the ground was swallowing the place over time. Weeds grew through the cracks, and the windows he had boarded himself, were falling apart. Gaps of sunlight streamed into the abandon home, made visible in the stagnant dust that hung in the air. The floral wallpaper had long since peeled, the wood showing scars from the times he was bored or in a fit, and got to work with his knives. Webs hung in corners, wether cob or actual spiders he couldn’t tell.

The oven and the fridge in the kitchen were rusted, and with the state of everything else in the room, he didn’t dare try opening them. On the island, just a small ways in front of the gas stove, we’re tokens that struck his memory with notes of relief.

His coffee cup, whet stones, tabloids that connected him with the rest of the world, while keeping a comfortable distance. These items were less mangled by the wether. In fact he remembered the very page he’d left off on, about talcum powder causing cancer or something.

Danny took a deep breath in the polluted air, as if trying to ensure he was awake, but only succeeding in entering a coughing fit. The fog of the entity’s realm didn’t cause his lungs to sting like this... Even when he found himself before a pile of carrion. Fleshy leftovers perhaps discarded by the entity. The sour smell of death, old blood, and other unsightly organs he tended to shy away from when carving up his game.

Aside from that, the air was sickly. Depended where you were really. Not having a niche in the realm, or any place he had rightful ground of, he wandered. Snuck in buildings, or climbed up trees. Someplace where he didn’t have to fight off a giant Russian lady, or an alien, whenever he hunted down fresh food.

The swamp, sour. The steel mills, sharp. The pine forests, spicy. Ormond, bleak. Haddo- oh?

He had mail...

During his minds wandering, the ghosts drifting eyes caught the familiar yellow and white on envelopes at the foot of the door. Must’ve been pushed through the flap. There was about five right off the bat. Way too much for someone who was supposed to be invisible and lived in the middle of nowhere... I mean, he had a mailbox! Really must’ve been a while if he had mail of this magnitude.

Walking over to the small pile, Danny carefully picked them up, aligning the stack and skimming the addresses.

Water bill, someone from Montana... the owners of the house...

‘To Danny Johnson, From Jena and Bo’

Seeing their names, albeit faded, scrawled in a beautiful and professional cursive with pen... He’d taken to the land owners in a way closer than he’d like to accept...

They were an elderly couple, with four kids all flown from the nest. They owned this orchard of grapefruit, supplying much bigger produce companies. With the money they had, it was no wonder they let him get away with missing the rent... Although he could’ve sworn they had other properties, surprisingly enough he never had any agents or collectors knocking at the door. They always visited him in person... perhaps took pity on him, being fresh out of college with no home and so young... And they’d greet him warmly, and ask how his work was going, or his health. And he’d charm his way out of a charge by leaning against the rail and lilting his voice. But mostly he made up for it in labor. Primarily helping the couple around the house.

The only useful thing his dad ever really taught him...

Jena and Bo were at that age they couldn’t bend their knees, and their laughs had a ghastly wheeze. But they were happy... and from what he dug up, from the first time he snuck in, to sorting their mail, they were good people. A little rough back in the day, but it was survival then... They found eachother, climbed the ladder, and would live the rest of their days in comfort. Most of the times when he couldn’t make the rent, he’d clean the house. The crevices they couldn’t reach, or things they couldn’t lift. Installing random things, from their breathing pumps, to a new computer. Fixing what was broken. Whatever they needed, they came to him. And despite most of the work being boring, or sometimes leaving him sore, he never exactly hated it. Or them... they’d stick around to keep him company, tell him stories while he worked. Actually that was probably why it took so long... But the house was warm. Yes it had air conditioning, something he didn’t, but the house felt warm... whole. Complete.

Danny remembered other times, when he snuck into a home and could feel a broken family. A ghoul, who couldn’t find love. A woman facing her own tragedy. Photos, letters, sometimes diaries... Learning about the prey he chose to reap. How more often than not, humans suffered anyways, and it would’ve been their own fault. Or in some cases, a genuine martyr. Those rare instances, about three to be precise, when he stared into their fading eyes and saw relief...

And allot of the times he found as he lectured himself on keeping his distance, that the only reason he didn’t kill Jena and Bo was because they were the land owners. And you don’t bite the hand that feeds you.

But he never hated them... never disliked them. Sure he got a little antsy during some of their aimless stories or commentary. But he still enjoyed seeing them.

After his work, or just on a whim, they sometimes invited him to stay the night, or at least for dinner. And they’d have fun in the kitchen.. helping them cook, and playing with the ingredients. Like drawing pictures on a cutting board coated with flour. He got to know their family, when they came over for the holidays. Annoying people but... he tolerated it for the sake of them.

Danny knew they liked him so much, because they valued him as a son they never had... and that was the worst part... The guilt in him.. shame.. insecurity, that they were parents he never had... and that small part of him which still wanted to believe in love, thrived off of that. And it was disgusting... How he became so complacent, if not needy for their attention. How that small taste of love could make him forget who he really was..

And he was happy with who he was. He was independent, self sufficient, strong, nimble, had many talents and trades, smart as a devil, pretty good looking, and not afraid to break the walls of morality, if it meant he could die happy... He could do things most other people couldn’t. He survived through what most people couldn’t, and had turned out pretty okay. Physical and mental strength he prided himself on, lost at the sense of a family, or a home...

And that’s why every night when he walked back to his true home, his true reality of solitude and restlessness, he had to reprimand himself for getting too comfortable. Promise himself he’d detach and only put up an act as what was normal. He never really followed through with that promise.

‘Dear Danny... We hope you’re okay. We kept trying to reach you at the house, but every time we knocked, there was nobody home. At first we suspected you were off on your ghost writing trips. Eventually however, we could no longer visit ourselves. Whenever Camrey or Caleb were in town, we sent them to check if you had ever come back. We were worried about your sudden disappearance. But we understand you are an ambitious individual, and maybe you had struck that moment, where your career finally opened up for you. Whatever may be the case, know that we consider you as a part of the Rhodinhoer family; and if things don’t work out, you are always welcome home. We hope, in such an event, your weary heart may find this letter and rest easy upon stepping through the door. We wish you the best of luck, and pray that the world will benefit from your talents.

Sincerely and with much love, Bo and Jena Rhodinhoer. 10/3/2001’

The last letter was from a funeral service...

3/7/2008

[catch-me-hello]

Hot Blood, Episode 5: Speed-dating the Trainees

We are back in the beach house. A soldier barks out names and tells those people to step forward. DaeHun. JoKwon. Swee Chi.

The soldier says these three have scored the lowest in the training and missions. The fact that JoKwon makes it into 2am is the only reason I know they’re not about to be taken out back and shot. I put nothing past this show.

But no. Their punishment is … they get to leave! Granted, they’re being eliminated, but if it were me, I’d already be sprinting for the dock, yelling over my shoulder that I’d send for my things.

Everyone looks bummed. I find it hard to empathize because I know JoKwon is coming back, and the other two didn’t seem to take any of this very seriously. Plus, this show is making the same mistake Wild Idol did in the beginning. We don’t really know any of these people. I’ve researched some of the ones who I know will win, but if you were watching this show when it first aired, you’d find it hard to be invested in any of these guys, other than the ones you thought were cute.

Now I feel bad, because the three eliminated trainees are crying. But again, Swee Chi was laughing when he ranked last in breakdancing. Up to this point, I didn’t know if any of them were taking it seriously. Jay Park didn’t cry when the doctor at the hospital told him his foot injury was too serious for him to stay on the show.

The other trainees are also crying. They ask if these three can be given another chance. Now I’m wondering if anyone told them this was a survival reality show. The only things we’ve heard said to them is that JYP was sick of their lazy attitudes and was sending them here to whip them into shape. As a gift.

Now we learn that the viewers also voted for these three to be eliminated. I had completely forgotten about the voting part, and it hasn’t been mentioned again until now. Come to think of it, now that I’m looking through my notes, JoKwon came in third in the folk-singing mission. How is he being eliminated?

The teammates are at the bargaining stage. They ask if everyone can stay together until the end of the show and then do eliminations. The soldier reminds them if they don’t do eliminations now, they’re the ones who might get cut in the future. The decision stands. These three need to start packing.

We get a long scene of everyone crying and hugging these three goodbye. Then we get a title card that reads, “Hot Blood’s Hidden Story.” It sounds like we’re finally going to get some background on something. Anything.

We flash back to Episode 1, when the trainees were first introducing themselves to the Mnet crew. We’re told that Mnet was impressed by Wooyoung (now in 2pm). Now we flash back to see how Wooyoung stood out in the talent show and the breakdancing mission.

We see clips of Seulong (now in 2am), who also stood out. He’s the one who sang “This Masquerade” at the introductions. We’re told that Daehun (who just got eliminated) is like an older brother, a team pillar who is confident in singing. (Why is he being eliminated, then?)

Chansung (2pm) has acting experience, which gives him confidence. He’s also cute and very helpful with chores around the house.

We’re just racing through these Mnet notes. I feel like we should have been told all this gradually over the past few episodes. Jinwoon (2pm) is a shy kid with a great smile. He gets along well with the others. Apparently, he’s the maknae. He also has a strong singing voice.

Junsu (now known as Jun K in 2pm) was the one who did impressions. We also now learn that he plays the keyboard. Jay Park (2pm) is strong and self-disciplined.

JoKwon (2am) is petite and “pale looking,” and he’s been a trainee for a very long time. Ah. Another fossil. He nags at the others to keep the house clean.

Now for DooJun. He loves hip hop. I don’t think he makes it into the final groups. He’s manly and enthusiastic. He ranked high in singing. (He did? Okay, according to my notes, the subtitles in that episode spelled his name DuJoon. I’ve noticed that the spellings of the names are inconsistent throughout these episodes.)

Taecyeon (2pm) loves to eat and get beaten up in the boxing ring. No, wait – he got beaten up against his will. The show is racing through the Mnet notes so fast, it’s hard to keep up.

Now for Khun. The Mnet notes say he cannot speak fluent Korean, but he’s very cute and can melt people’s hearts. We also watch him play keyboards. Here, for the first time, he’s called “Prince Khun.” He’s the handsome prince I wrote about in the introduction. He has passion and a fighting spirit. At this time, we don’t go into further detail about why he’s called a prince, so let’s put a pin in that for now.

On to Swee Chi, one of the eliminated trainees. He’s cute as a puppy. He’s great at acrobatics. And … that’s it. Moving on.

Next up is Junho, our 2pm dreamboat. He looks a lot like Rain, a very very VERY famous K-pop singer/songwriter whose name I’ve heard mentioned often in these survival reality shows. Rain is K-pop royalty. He’s the Bruce Springsteen of K-pop. Junho, we’ll learn later in this episode, is trying to overcome the constant comparisons to Rain and make people see him for who he is.

Finally, that seems to be it. I need to stop and rest my notetaking hand. Why are we getting all of this shoved at us in Episode 5, after we’ve just cut three people?

Mnet goes on to tell us that they’re not sure how the remaining trainees will endure the rest of their training. Well, now that we know more about them and see them as people instead of lab mice in an experiment, we’re also wondering about that. And wait, is Seulong officially back? What about his foot? I am so confused.

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

Back to the present. It’s 11am, and the remaining trainees have just finished cleaning the house. Now we get the ominous music again and are told, “There’s a man who is coming to look for the Hot Bloods.” The way it’s filmed makes it look like one of the eliminated trainees is back for revenge.

We finally see who it is when the trainees gather on the beach to meet him. It’s their new rapping coach. His name is Mr. Typhoon. Turns out there are several rappers and bands with that name from several different countries, so I couldn’t really dig up anything on him. You’d think one of them would have trademarked the name.

Mr. Typhoon is here not only to coach them on rapping but on writing their own rap lyrics. We’re told none of them have written their own rap lyrics before. They start by studying one of Mr. Typhoon’s songs to get familiar with rhythm and flow. They start rapping it together, and Junho and Junsu stand out for their style and skills.

They get an assignment: write a 16-line rap on the topic “life on the island.” They have one hour. You know what? I’ve never written rap lyrics either. I’d like to try this assignment. Give me one hour on the kitchen timer.

Okay, now let’s see if our trainees can beat that. First up is Jay Park. And now I see that the translators who posted these videos didn’t subtitle the Korean lyrics. Well, that’s frustrating. I do get some insight from Mr. Typhoon, who says he knows Jay Park lived in the US for a long time, but now he needs to learn to rap in a Korean accent.

We go through the rap performances one by one, all sounding great, but in Korean, so I don’t know what they’re saying. Mr. Typhoon says JoKwon’s rhythm needs work. Seulong lacks confidence. The ones who don’t pass get sent back to do rewrites.

When it’s Khun’s turn, he raps in English. He’s going really fast, and it’s hard to hear him over the music, but I got this snippet:

And in the past four days since I’ve been away, Find myself in this damn place, I don’t know what to say (something about being a trainee)

Not bad, Khun, but I like mine better.

More raps, more critiques, and one of them does melodic rapping, which I’ve already made my feelings clear about in the Wild Idol recaps. Let’s move on before I start grinding my teeth again.

The rappers who were sent back return to try again. Some pass, but others keep getting sent back. I see Mr. Typhoon follows the Lia Kim method of coaching. Khun struggles in his second round, losing track of the lyrics and having to start over. The hours go by. The sun starts to set. The rappers who don’t pass try again and again. This beat is going to be stuck in my head for the rest of the year.

Finally, everyone passes. Mr. Typhoon is impressed with everyone’s first attempts at writing lyrics. Thank you, sir. I’m rather proud of it myself.

Join me next episode, when I won’t be attempting any other missions. I have retired as a rap artist.

[calochortus]

It's complicated by Millie Cruz (On and Off) Via Flickr: Looking up at the top of this old tree is difficult. Between the texture of the bark and the intricate branches of the tree, your vision becomes lost the more you try to focus towards the top. "An impressive tree by any standard, the Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboidesis) relatively carefree and fast-growing. Its fine, feathery leaves are certainly a standout feature, and even though this tree is deciduous, it produces rounded cones. The dawn redwood was long thought to be extinct — with evidence of its existence found among dinosaur fossils — until it was discovered alive and well in a rural, mountainous area of China. It is now grown worldwide." -Arbor Day Foundation ▪▪Thank you very much for your visit and for taking the time to comment! Much appreciated!▪▪

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Round Three: Ambopteryx vs Caihong

Ambopteryx longibrachium

Artwork by Gabriel Ugueto, written by @i-draws-dinosaurs

Name meaning: Both wings with long arms

Time: 163 million years ago (Callovian stage of the Middle Jurassic)

Location: Haifanggou Formation, China

Look, evolution has done a lot of weird stuff to dinosaurs. It put penguins underwater, and did whatever the hall mamenchisaurid necks are, and game lambeosaurs a built-in face trumpet. But I would argue there is one group that represents dinosaur evolution at its most unhinged, and that is scansoropterygidae.

Scansoriopterygids were generally considered “weird little tree dinosaurs” in the 2000s, with long fingers to pick grubs out of bark or something. Then Yi qi swept along in 2015 and revealed that those long fingers were actually supporting membranous bat wings. With an extra bony rod (the “styliform element”) sticking out of the wrist to help support it, because well if you’re a dinosaur evolving bat wings why bother being normal about it after that? Although really, the dinosaurs did it first so bats actually have dinosaur wings.

Yi was sensational, but it was also extremely weird and completely unique. Even other scansoriopterygids didn’t have wing membranes, so the whole bat thing was a bit up in the air. Or not up in the air, as the case may be. But then along comes Ambopteryx, published in 2019, packing another set of skin wings, and the vindication of Yi is complete! 

Ambopteryx preserves a styliform element and wing membrane, as well as a thick coat of feathers, and honestly out of a whole selection of dinosaurs I think these might be some of the most huggable in the lot. Obviously this whole wing membrane thing didn’t end up working out for them long term, but Ambopteryx is part of an incredible lineage that challenged what we thought was possible for dinosaurs!

Caihong juji

Artwork by @i-draws-dinosaurs, written by @i-draws-dinosaurs

Name meaning: Rainbow with big crest

Time: 161 million years old (Oxfordian stage of the Late Jurassic)

Location: Tiaojishan Formation, China

It’s always a special treat to hear the announcement of a dinosaur with known colours, because it gives the most direct impression of how truly stunning these animals would have been to witness in real life. And Caihong might just be the most spectacular of them all so far, described in 2018 from an immaculate full-body fossil that preserves detailed feathers! Caihong’s feathers are longer than some other floofy dinosaurs, and would have had the appearance of a luxurious mane along its neck. Not only that, the fossil preserves feather microstructures that in life would have made this dinosaur gloriously iridescent!

Now iridescent dinosaurs aren’t new, Microraptor has been decked out in fabulous starling-esque plumage for a while now, but Caihong absolutely takes it to the next level. Its whole body was covered in iridescent black, including the enormous tail, but the real star of the show are the platelet-like melanosomes found on the head, neck, and the base of the tail. Different from the usual iridescent melanosomes, the structure of these tiny organelles reflects brilliantly iridescent colours, like those on the heads of hummingbirds and particularly the bright purple feathers on the necks of the trumpeter family. Caihong would have put on an absolutely dazzling jewel-toned display in the treetops or on the forest floor of prehistoric China!

[sylph-feather]

Title: Ectoplasmic Fossils

Summary: "Actually, Dad?  I wanted to be a paleontologist."

Prompt: Prompt is the same as the summary. Prompter is gaunttwister, team halfa. 

Wordcount:  2453

Notes: Can you tell I was a dinosaur kid.....

For a Danny in familiar world, his first positive thought after becoming a ghost and learning ghosts existed (after, of course, a litany of terror), was as follows: imagine the new world I could explore. He considered this while staring into the swirling portal that lead to places unknown, and in his mind he compared it to the vast and beautiful unknown of space.

This Danny, in this less familiar universe, was less impressed by the portal itself; of course, he was in awe of it from a technical perspective, but nothing that deeply riveting, that personal spark of exploration— not from its wrought metal or whirling green center, that is. No, this was his thought, in replacement of the other spark: if ghosts exist, what things have been made ghosts over the years? What old life could be discovered? 

Danny, you see, did not desire to explore space in this universe. No. He was fascinated by paleontology. Star books were replaced by compendiums of dinosaur species, models of rockets and stations replaced by scientifically accurate models and bones, diagrams of ships replaced by diagrams of feathery, toothsome things. You get the picture. 

Where these obsessions came from… who was to say? Why one fixation over the other? Did this Danny latch onto his parent’s obsession with the dead and translate it into this, rather than translating it into the more vague idea of exploring the unknown? Or was it as simple as an exposure to different things; a cartoon with scientifically inaccurate dinosaurs rather than a ridiculous sci fi premise, or perhaps watching Jurassic Park too young rather than Star Wars…? The child’s mind is prone to flights of fancy that stick— that’s the  the final conclusion, no matter the exact cause of specifics. 

Regardless, his parents engaged in it; provided him with aforementioned objects— models, posters, etcetera— and generally encouraged his interests. The most annoying was when they tried to sell him on ghosts by using dinosaurs as a sort of bribery; they talked of the possibilities of discovering undocumented species and anatomy with the ghost forms of creatures from long ago, a sort of tempting what if, to lure Danny to their side. 

Up until today, when a portal had electrocuted half the life out of him, Danny didn’t believe it. 

Sam, Tucker, and Danny were all reclined in Danny’s bedroom— all fully human, though Danny still felt a bit… simultaneously charred and charged, which he supposed made sense given he’d just been fried by a nasty shock (to put it lightly). 

His two friends were sending him worried looks— also sensible, given not half an hour ago Danny was significantly ghostier, and significantly panic-ier. Now, though, while Sam and Tucker sent each other concerned glances to communicate wordlessly, Danny was simply considering the possibilities. Gooey species of jellyfish and slug-like creatures that hadn’t been preserved! Confirmation of the placement or use of bones, especially controversial ones like the hollowed crest of the Parasaurolophus or the gastralia of many beasts! Behavior that could only be guessed at via anatomical features! The degree to which feathers coated their body! Colors! 

...And so on and so forth. It was all enough to bring a wide grin to Danny’s face— which was a bit creepy given he’d just died. 

“Dude,” Tucker grimaced, snapping Danny out of his reverie, “are you, like, coping well—“ 

“We have to go into the Ghost Zone,” Danny cut him off with excited urgency. 

Sam blinked at him owlishly. “Now? Why?” 

“Not now, I guess, necessarily,” Danny brushed off, filled with excited energy. His eyes were shining when he turned them to his new friends— “imagine what ancient things we could find as ghosts.” 

Tucker facepalmed and groaned. “Of course the first thing you’re thinking of is dinosaurs.” 

Sam eased a bit, brushing off her initial assumption that Danny had some weird, ghostly pull to the green portal. “Well, at least you’re seeing the bright side,” she huffed sarcastically. 

Danny crossed his arms in a pout. “I’m not just thinking of dinosaurs.” No, he was thinking of other eras of ancient things too, of course. 

Tucker shot him a look, but broke it with a laugh and didn’t prod further. 

  xXx

  It was, of course, a disappointment when the first ghosts that came through were too formless to tell what they had been, if they were anything but raw emotion. It was an even bigger disappointment when the first fully-formed ghosts were largely human-shaped. With the exception of dragons— which Danny definitely did not count— there was nothing that bore any resemblance to extinct creatures. 

On top of this, Danny had sort of let go of the go find dinos in the Ghost Zone NOW mentality, because… well, despite insatiable curiosity, he didn’t know his way around the place at all. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, or if he was even expecting it to be easy to begin with, but going into a directionless green abyss where orientation did not exist… well, needless to say that Danny knew he could not find his way to whatever ancient beast ghosts were there, if they did even exist in the first place. And he certainly didn’t want to risk his life knocking on doors of who-knows-what, or drifting around ghostly islands in the middle of who-knows-where. And that’s not even touching that technically Walker wants his arrest for a reason Danny only sort of remembers because it was so dumb. 

And so, for the first handful of months of his existence as a halfa, Danny contents himself with theorization. It’s hard to think too much about dinosaurs anyways, because it’s hard to think too much about anything— despite being a teen and thus being prone to sleep deprivation, the ghost fighting combined with high school has lead Danny to a new level of exhaustion, one that he is still adjusting to. His grades hurt for it, as do his passions. 

Slowly, though, he does adjust— enough to be confident to go in the Zone, and enough to have actually smart thoughts without his brain fizzling out. 

In the moment where Phantom and the Red Huntress found themselves in Skulker’s lair, Danny was largely scared and exasperated at alternating points. It wasn’t until that situation was… resolved (and thank goodness both hunters didn’t pulverize him) that Danny was slapped with a marvelous idea of tangential connections.

Skulker is a hunter. The Zone’s greatest hunter, he claimed, though Danny didn’t know if he believed that much. Still. The point still stood that it was a reasonable bet that Skulker was into rare and dangerous prey, if his arsenal and his fleet of pelts were anything to go by.

All this to say that Danny thought that maybe, just maybe, Skulker would know about dinosaur ghosts. That miniscule spark of hope was enough; Danny felt he deserved to see what he’d always so desperately wanted to see after the thought of dinosaur ghosts entered his mind as a believable thing. 

Danny had to ask— even if there was a high chance Skulker didn’t know or did know but wouldn’t tell, and the fact that asking Skulker was at great risk of being at best, involved in their typical scuffling, and at worst, captured. Danny only had dinos on the brain, though, and maybe he wasn’t awake enough to consider the full consequences of the impulsive thought. 

So he enacted his plan as a teen enacted anything: rashly, suddenly, and without much forethought. Even calling it a plan alone was generous; all the half-ghost did was float into the Zone in the general direction of Skulker’s island, foolishly calling out to Skulker as he floated through. Naturally, he came prepared— not with weapons, or maps, but with a bag containing his phone, a journal, and his comprehensive dinosaur book… just in case he did end up seeing any. 

The mechanical suit showed his flaming mug quite close to his island. Bright, solid green eyes blinked, and Skulker— who had not had the time to pull up hs egotistical Ghost Zone’s greatest hunter speech in his shock— said in a surprised tone, “don’t you have other things to do?” 

Danny did. He did this in favor of an important English essay on 1984 that he had— Danny had tried wrapping his mind around thought crime and contradictions, and once he put the book down he immediately decided I can think on all that and, I’d much rather find dinosaurs. So here he was. 

Skulker shook himself out of that surprise, and levelled a laser that popped out of his arm at Danny. “No matter! Prey is prey, and you are good prey!” 

“Wait!” Danny barked, confident enough (and strange and out of place enough) to give the other ghost pause, making Skulker lower the laser just slightly, a modicum of movement to say go on, or at least indicate curiosity. “I want to see dinosaurs,” Danny said authoritatively, simply. 

Skulker stared, weapon still whining slightly. His slightly slack jaw and slumped arm just screamed huh? 

And thus began a ramble— “I’ve always wanted to see dinosaurs, and once I realized ghosts existed, I figured ghost dinosaurs had to exist, right?” Not waiting for an answer, Danny ploughed ahead. “And I thought of all the ghosts I’ve met, you seem like you maybe, hopefully know where any ghost dinos are, with the whole hunting schtick—“ 

Skulker cut off Danny’s rambling with honesty: “I’m not sure if I should be amused, flattered, or honored, ghost child.”

“As long as you’re not violent?” Danny said slowly, tipping his head, still assessing Skulker as though to try to suss out whether he was a threat still or no 

Skulker himself was still trying to figure out the answer to that question— did he want to be a threat, want to hunt Phantom? Or did he want to pause and take a moment to indulge the bright, sparkling curiosity in his eyes…? 

Skulker gave an awkward cough, a sort of choked harumph sound. He started slowly, unsurely, “I suppose.” He added hurriedly— “to reward you for being such good prey.” 

Danny huffed. “Way to make it weird,” the halfa grumbled— but he wasn’t able to keep up a petulant persona for long, because the excitement shone through too brightly to conceal. Because dinosaurs. “That means you know where to find them?” Danny’s voice was approaching something that could only be described as a squeal. 

Skulker once again paused for contemplation, because those islands were one of his prized hunting spots… the dinosaurs regenerated (as most strong, full ghosts did), but they still were a great joy to hunt. Among the dinosaur-ridden chunks of land, there were also significantly less interesting hunts— the cambrian period areas, for example, didn’t have much that provided a very thrilling chase… they just sort of scooted around. Then again, it was clear the ghost child cared not for the hunt, so Skulker supposed he could share. 

Skulker made a gruff noise, internally considering that of course he would hunt down the halfa anyways, and Danny didn’t regenerate like full ghosts— so it wasn’t like he had to share for long. Granted, it wasn’t like a hunter to lead prey into anything but a trap, but Skulker didn’t have much to argue against that thought, so he just… didn’t think about it, justifying it with a vague “honor” tangent in his mind.

To answer the question after much internal debate on sharing, his own softness, etcetera, Skulker simply said, “yes, I know where to find them. Follow me.” 

The halfa was lost in excitement, doing flips in the air and going on a ramble that the mechanized ghost utterly drowned out as they jetsetted through the Zone at rapid speed. 

I could skewer him right now, Skulker thought over the whine of his jetpack. The thought had no heat to it, though, especially when Skulker took a pause to look at the exuberant teenager. 

It wasn’t long to consider thoughts of said skewering, anyways. The Ghost Zone was a strange place; once someone had been somewhere and knew the way, the green abyss would fold out of its own way to get them there again when they wanted it. Skulker had long stopped questioning it, if he ever questioned it in the first place, but Phantom was quite in awe of the quick travel, and the way their scenery had subtly compressed then stretched into a new horizon around them as they flew— only now was he realizing the complete change in surroundings. 

Skulker just hovered and watched as those luminous green eyes darted from unfamiliar door to unfamiliar door until they settled on the main attraction: a vast set of islands, incomprehensibly expansive and swirling around each other in a compressed way special to the Ghost Zone’s laws of space.

Danny’s eyes widened, and he let out a sound of pure, concentrated excitement. “This is it,” he said, and it was partially a question but mostly seemed to function as a statement to convince himself. 

Danny shot immediately to the nearest island, a chunk of land covered in a swampy rainforest and thick ferns. From the brush, a large thing burst forth, chittering and cawing. 

Danny took in the huge, feathered raptor— feathers of blue and green, as with all ghosts, but otherwise so… different. It was so different, seeing it in the… well, not flesh, ectoplasm, but the point still stood. Danny hovered above that island, frozen with awe, and the creature stared back at him with eyes that were not slit and were observant, and it clicked its lizard-like mouth around its sharp teeth and flared its feathers with some degree of fright… and Danny could think of nothing better than that moment of pure, extreme joy and awe and sheer wonder. 

Skulker saw all that on the teen’s face and thought again, this time with heat: I could skewer him right now. Their little agreement was over, the debt of providing a good chase repaid, and now it was time for the halfa to become prey once again. A laser charged up—

Beep, beep, beep. The laser cut off with the notification, and Skulker gave a surprised grunt. 

Danny made a noise. “You scared it off,” he groaned, but even that couldn’t get him down, because he went plummeting off towards the fern forest with a joyous laugh. 

Gorilla feeding time, Skulker’s suit informed him in the meanwhile. 

“No,” he barked uselessly, already jetting away, “I thought I’d gotten rid of this—!” 

The last thing the mechanical ghost saw was Phantom, plunging into the underbrush, crowing with laughter, dinosaur dreams fulfilled.

[airdropababy]

A Guide To The Wayward Guide Podcast: Chapter 3

Previous Chapter Guides: Prologue | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2

Chapter length: ~18 minutes

Release Dates:

Podcast: October 30th, 2020

YouTube: January 1st, 2021

Who Do We Hear From?

Established Characters: Henry, Cliff, Rocky, Jewel, Silas, Ags, and The Mayor

Guest Voices:

Emily Darvill as the news announcer

Jaime Lyn Beatty as Jacobsen (newscaster that breaks the story of Silas being hired at Miner Mole)

Jeff Blim as the host of Stock Jock Radio.

Episode Transcript Link: Chapter 3

Placement in Continuity: This episode opens after the final events of Episode 3 then goes back to cover when they visited Miner Mole Inc earlier that same day and spoke with the Irons family as well as Silas.

Chapter Breakdown:

Intro: Artemis alone talks about how even though she and Paul are very different for twins, they have “twintuition” for sensing what’s going on with each other, noting it’s usually mundane little things but sometimes it’s something bigger- like when Paul was involved in an accident on their third day in Connor Creek.

Artemis intercuts her monologue with phone audio from a drunken burping Dr. Henry Edwards about “an accident.”

Artemis could sense it was related to Paul when she got the call about two hours after they had separated.

The argument they had before separating, according to Artemis, was due to not agreeing on what leads to follow on their third day in Connor Creek.

Artemis notes it was the evening when she got the call and she was reviewing the tape from earlier in the day when she got it.

After the Theme Song: Paul is still alive. The Irons Family are very pro-Miner Mole as the mining industry in town is dying. Artemis and Paul share their research on Miner Mole Inc and Silas, the recently-demoted trust fund bro regional manager that is passionate about climbing back up the corporate ladder. Artemis and Paul muse about the mysterious large payment he made to TFCC. Silas threatened Artemis and Paul before Artemis left his office that day.

Paul introduces himself as: “ Your una-paul-agetic co-host." and goes on to spoil that he clearly survived his attack as he has been doing half of the post-production narration all along.

The Irons family members are interviewed as pro-Miner Mole citizens:

Cliff and Rocky blame the previous town council for limiting mining to only souvenirs when tourism was dropping.

Jewel has been pulled out of school to work in the mine with them as money is tight and she’s not very bright.

Jewel had previously worked at the marionette theater but was creeped out by the puppets.

Cliff got the council (as a council member himself) to lift the child labor laws so Jewel could work full-time in the mine.

The Irons felt things turn around when Miner Mole started airing an ad before, during, and after Barney’s daily radio show. 350 times in one summer.

The ad, voiced by Silas himself, about a job fair at the upcoming council meeting. It impressed the Irons family.

Artemis and Paul did look into Miner Mole and Silas before going over to Silas’s office:

Miner Mole’s parent company is Chimera World Wide, originally a silicon processing company that was essential to ushering in the use of computers in central Europe.

Chimera expanded to many different field over 60+ years but their fossil fuel division was on the verge of bankruptcy in nearly a fifth of their portfolio due to the clean energy push.

They play news coverage of Silas being named president of domestic sales for Miner Mole and how it surged Chimera’s stock.

It’s also revealed that Silas is the son of an oil tycoon.

Previously he had used his inheritance to create a pilates franchise brand and a bolo tie subscription service.

Artemis and Paul go on to explain Silas’s “All American, All Mine” plan which targeted rural communities with midsize aging mining infrastructure and exploited the low income communities by monopolizing their primary resource.

Audio from Stock Jock Radio is played saying to not buy Chimera’s stock due to how Silas spent over 300K in a single quarter on personal expenses as president of Miner Mole and was demoted to regional manager of the Connor Creek mining location.

Then they play additional audio from when Artemis interviewed Silas:

Silas points out he’s not the only enemy Ryan made on his crusade against mining.

Silas goes on to defend that he’s trying to save the town with mining so that he can get re-promoted out of Connor Creek once it succeeds.

Artemis mentions the note about the $122,123 payment to TFCC and she and Paul consider what TFCC could be

They also wonder who the “we” Silas was referring to when talking about how they were going to do big things.

It ends with audio of Silas threatening Artemis and Paul for Artemis continuing to record after he said the conversation was over.

Next Time: Ags re-introduces herself to Artemis

shares that she’s the minute keeper for the town council

She responds to the Mayor barking for her

What Do We Learn About Connor Creek?

Henry notes Sheriff Madison told him about Artemis and Paul’s arrival as he had been to the Dead Canary earlier that day and “lost track of time” (aka, doesn't remember meeting them)

Jewel calls Paul’s digital recorder a “walkman” despite having been born in the 21st century.

Jewel worked at the same marionette theater that Madison and Ryan’s father did his Pirates of Penzance production at.

Cliff had to sell family heirloom tools and Rocky tried tutoring to make extra money and mining became less lucrative as tourism fell locally.

Cliff and Rocky both had miners for parents as well.

Barney’s daily radio show was called “Local Yokel, No Joke-yl”

Ag’s introduces herself not only as a travel agent but also a broach enthusiast and minute keeper for the council.

It took Ags four viewings of Starlight Express to realize the characters were trains.

What Do We Learn About Artemis and Paul?

This is the first time the podcast has mentioned that they’re twins in addition to siblings

Paul is the older twin by an hour and forty-six minutes.

They consider the time between births as the basis in their differences that remain outside their twintuition.

Artemis mentions their parents also felt this way.

Artemis did the research on Miner Mole Inc and Paul peer reviewed.

Paul guesses TFCC stood for “Torsen Fracking Compressor Corporation”

Artemis guesses TFCC stood for “Travel Funds Credit Card”

What Do We Learn About the Universe the Show Takes Place In?

Chimera World Wide, the massive parent company of Miner Mole, is a reference to Spies Are Forever.

Their slogan “Chimera: a little bit of everything” is a specific reference to a line of dialogue in Act 2 Part 5 of the musical.

In the past 60 years, Chimera has expanded from their original silicon business to be involved in many fields- including fossil fuels hence Miner Mole.

Chimera technology is likely in all personal electronics used.

Extra info on Silas:

He has won twitter fights with TMZ over “fake news tricks”

Silas is the son of an oil tycoon and grew up in the rich suburbs of Nashville.

Silas’s previous business: pilates franchise (Torsen’s Torso) and bolo necktie subscription service (Stylas)

He spent over $300,000 in Q1 on personal expenses as President of Finance, including:

$85K for “Western Footwear”

$150,000 for Lil Nas X to perform at his birthday party. (which would mean 1) He got demoted VERY RECENTLY 2)He was absolutely in on the ground floor of Lil Nas X’s rise in fame. Like… before demos of “Old Town Road” were even recorded.

[hailbop1701]

ReaperXFemaleReader

Doom: To Hell And Back

Chapter 3: Lucy in the sky...

Hi guys! Chapter 3 all nice and long and done and edited. Thanks @thottiewithashotgun I freaking love you. <3 again if you would like to be tagged let me know!

“Open the door.” 

At Sarge’s order, Portman and Goat moved through the large doorway. They were quiet for a moment before giving the all-clear. “Pinky, give us a schematic,” Sarge ordered into his comm.  

“Uploading to you now,” Pinky said and a map popped up onto a screen on the wall beside you. “Carmack’s lab is isolated from the rest of the facility. The airlock is the only way in or out.” 

 

“Goat, Portman: Genetics. Kid, Destroyer: Carmack’s office, where he sent the mayday from. Reaper, Crow, keep Dr. Grimm here safe on her salvage op. Duke and I’ll take the weapons lab, make sure all the hardware’s secure.” Sarge barked and nodded his head toward the door. “Portman, Goat, on you.” 

Portman cleared the left, while Goat cleared the right. Portman snorted as we all passed the doorway and it shut with a hiss behind us. “Five bucks says this shit ain’t nothing but a disgruntled employee with a gun,” he said with a short laugh. You rolled your eyes but kept your mouth shut. “Fluorescent markings as rooms are cleared. Go.” Sarge ordered glaring at Portman’s back. 

Reaper took point and you took the rear, with Dr. Grimm in the middle. Your eyes darted around, looking at everything. The hall was dark, the power was obviously on auxiliary. The lights that weren’t broken already, flickered causing a creepy ambiance. Coming up to a door, Reaper nodded to you and you moved forward, keeping Dr. Grimm outside as Reaper cleared the room. “All clear,” he called out. 

You and the good Doctor entered the room and she went straight for a computer terminal. “How much time you gonna need?” Reaper asked his eyes on her. She looked up, “Thirty minutes, tops,” she said looking back down at her work. You wandered the room looking at all of its contents. It looked like anything you’d find in the back of a museum. A couple of books lay open on a table and you read them with interest. 

Reaper glanced over at you as you read through the book that sat on the table in front of you. “Take a picture, it’ll last longer,” you said dryly without looking up. Reaper sighed and shifted looking away. You looked up at this and cocked your head to the side, “Reaper, say what’s on your mind before you brood harder.” you said, leaning against the tabletop. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Dr. Grimm smirk. Reaper gave you a half-hearted glare, “Sarge said you were a quarantine expert.” he said, turning to face you fully. 

You nodded, a frown coloring your features. “My unit had been on point with a few quarantines. Me being the medic, my job was to help clear infected areas. Clear and examine the remains. One of the reasons they call me Crow. Crows tend to circle when death is near.” you said with a shrug, looking away from Reaper toward the books again. The silence was tense before Reaper broke it. 

“You had to separate families, put them down when needed,” he said and you flinched at his words. “John!” Dr. Grimm scolded. You gave a sad smile and shook your head “No, it’s okay. He’s right; when we cleared houses sometimes they contained people infected who were still alive but too far gone to save. I would make them comfortable and sit with them until they’ve passed.” you said giving Reaper a small smile. 

Reaper sighed, “It was the kindest thing you could do for them.” he said shifting looking uncomfortable. “ So ‘Reaper’? As in ‘Grimm’?” Dr. Grimm asked mildly amused. Reaper rolled his eyes, “ They’re Marines, Sam, not poets.” he drawled. You snorted and wandered over to some skeletal remains. It appeared to be female; she was stuck shielding her child; pain etched on her face. You furrowed your brow at the site; ‘what was she protecting her child from?’ 

“Holy shit!” Reaper called out from behind you. You glanced over your shoulder to see Reaper looking at the remains surprised. “Oh yeah, meet Lucy. Lucy, this is my brother, John, another creature from the long lost past.” 

You chuckled, “You found human remains?” Reaper asked incredulously. “Humanoid.” both you and Dr. Grimm corrected. “I bet that was a happy surprise, Dr. Grimm,” you say with a smile. “Sam, please.” 

You nodded and she continued almost excitedly, “ Lucy and her child were our first major find. We’re bringing out more every day.”

“You re-opened the dig?” Reaper asked, sounding pissed. ‘Well there’s something going on here that I don’t know about.’ you thought and watched the two siblings argue like it was a tennis match. 

“I know I should have told you. I didn’t figure it was the sort of thing I could jot down on a yearly birthday card. It’s been stabilized.” Sam said.

“Bullshit.” 

Sam stood up looking as angry as her brother now, “You wanna talk about safe? Like you took a desk job? I’m a forensic archeologist, John. I’ll go where the work is.” she said evenly.

‘Point, set, match. Sam one, Reaper zero.’ you thought more amused at the argument than you should be.

“Is that the reason you’re up here?” Reaper asked coldly. “You wanna know why I’m up here? I’ll show you. Come here.” Sam said, walking back over to the terminal. She plugged a hard drive in and tapped at the keys. Reaper walked over and you with him; the curiosity was just too much sometimes. 

“This Lucy’s chromosome profile. Notice anything?” Sam asked smugly. You gasped and leaned in closer. “No fucking way,” you mutter astounded at what was on the screen. “My molecular genetics is a little rusty.” Reaper said dryly. “What’s the first thing Dad taught us to look for?” Sam asked patiently. Reaper squinted at the screen and frowned; you couldn’t help but smile. ‘He got it.’ you thought impressed. 

“She’s got 24 pairs of chromosomes. Humans only have 23. - But what does the extra pair do?” he asked almost awed. Sam shrugged, “Makes her superhuman. The extra pair makes her super strong, super fit, super intelligent. Her cells divide 50 times faster, meaning she heals almost instantly. The fossil record indicates these people had conquered disease. We found no genetic disorders, no viruses, no cancers.” 

“So what, they were just naturally superior?” Reaper asked, crossing his arms. Sam shook her head, “No. Not naturally. See, the earliest remains we found only had 23. We suspect this extra chromosome may be synthetic.” she said you sigh frowning. ‘Well the remains make sense now, sort of.’ you thought with a wince. 

“Bioengineered?” Reaper asked disapprovingly. Sam looked amused now, “That’s a long word for a Marine.” she said with a smirk. Reaper scoffed and turned away looking at Lucy again. Sam bit her lip, “ Does it ever bother you, you could’ve spent your life looking in a microscope instead of a sniper scope?” 

Reaper ignored the question with one of his own, “ If they were so smart, how come they’re so dead?” Sam shrugged again, “ We don’t know. Maybe they just went with time.” she said a bit sadly. Reaper looked at his sister shaking his head, “You don't shield a baby from time.” he said, pointing out what she wanted to ignore. 

“Crow, what do you think?” Sam asked genuinely wanting your opinion. You winced slightly at the name, “Call me (Y/N). I uh, have to agree with Reaper on this one.” you said, walking closer to them. You bent over a little to get a closer look at the set of remains. “ I don’t care where you’re from or if you think it could cure everything. Becoming something better before you’re ready can cause a lot of problems. Creating a super serum; it’s never had the best track record. And by the look on Lucy’s face...well I guess they paid the price for it. I just hope we won’t have to make the same mistakes.” you whispered and glanced up at the two siblings. Sam thinned her lips and furrowed her brow. Reaper was about to add something else when your comms. blew up with noise. Gunfire and the words “Contact!” You and Reaper looked at each other for just a moment before sprinting towards the door. “ Moving east through Carmack’s office! Fast!” Sarge’s voice boomed through your earpiece. “Confirmed contact. Moving fast, over south corridor.” 

You and Reaper skidded to a halt, aiming your weapons at a lone figure standing in the corner. The man growled at you all, clutching onto a severed arm; you locked eyes with Sarge for a second silently asking to move in and check on him. He hesitated for the briefest of moments before nodding his approval. You swung your rifle onto your back and slowly moved forward, your hands up. “It’s okay, I won’t hurt you.” you whispered sweetly. The deranged man growled but not as forcefully.  

You edged even closer, making sure your hands are in his sight at all times. He dropped the arm and crouched, pulling his arms against his chest. “Lemme just take a quick look at you. It’s okay.” you soothed. Someone behind you cocked their gun and the mad Doctor hissed. You froze for a moment and continued when his eyes locked back onto you. The sound of rushing footsteps didn’t stop you from crouching in front of the man. You look him over and began to catalogue his injuries. 

“Sam, I told you to stay-” Reaper hissed quietly. “But he knows me, John. Dr. Carmack, it’s me. Samantha. That person next to you is (Y/N).  Where are the others? Where are they? Steve, Hillary. I’m not gonna hurt you.” Sam said inching closer. You held up a hand to stop Sam and she slowed, but it was too late. Too many people were crowding around him. Dr. Carmack flung his hand to his ear; with a twist and a strong pull it came off. He threw it to the floor and Sam gave a startled scream of “Jesus Christ!”

“Fuck.” you muttered and quickly pulled out a packet of gauze from the bag on your left thigh. You tore it open and gently pressed it onto Carmack’s left ear. The man looked at you but didn’t protest; you gave him a sweet smile and slowly stood up with him in tow. 

Portman laughed saying, “Nice!” and the Kid looked grossed out, ready to blow chunks then and there. The rest of the unit only looked mildly disturbed. You sighed not batting an eye, “Now, who wants to be a gentleman and help me get him to the infirmary?” 

Duke immediately held up a hand. “Lady’s got a pair.” Destroyer said impressed. “Oh sweetie, you’ve seen nothing yet.” you teased, gently easing your head out of Cormack’s reach.

He seemed to like your hair. 

@thottiewithashotgun

@dw-writes

@lauraaan182

@marvelouslytrekking

[doyouever-daydream]

Earth Day Surprises

A/N So here I am bringing another Luna oneshot inspired by Earth Day and Kirsten’s Pie Chart and well, I usually get ideas for fics on dates like this and never write them but today I had the time so yeah. 

This could work as part two of Birthday wishes BUT could also be read as one installment. Uhm, btw, I might also have an idea for how Luna’s birth went down so that’s why there’s a nod to that story at the end, would you like to read it?

Pairing: Penelope Garcia x Luke Alvez

Warnings: None, I think.

Word count: 2647 (Oof I usually write like 900w)

Masterlist

It was a Wednesday morning and the smell of pancakes invaded the Alvez home, it was a rare occasion where they could be together during the morning on a weekday but then again these were rare times, Penelope shook her head trying not to think about what was going on and calling her daughter who was getting dressed in her bedroom.

“Baby, breakfast is ready” Penelope called for her while pouring herself a cup of coffee and sitting on the stool waiting for her.

It took five year old Luna a good ten minutes till she appeared in the kitchen wearing denim overalls, a hat and gardening boots, she had asked her mom to braid her hair first thing in the morning before she even brushed her teeth and Penelope happily agreed to do so, she looked adorable in the outfit and carrying Sergio in her arms.

“It’s Earth Day, mommy! I put a sticker on my calendar so I wouldn’t forget!” She announced with a big smile on her face and the cat jumped to go and eat from his bowl.

“It is indeed, I’m happy you’re excited” Penelope mirrored the smile on her daughter’s face, ever since she knew she was going to be a mom she wished to raise her to be earth-friendly, Luke had jumped on board with the idea and they had done a good job so far.

“I want to see if my seeds are finally good to pot them” She exclaimed happy while she climbed on the stool beside her mom “And I want to water all my plants and I want to play in the garden, I also want to pick flowers and see if any more lemons have grown and see if the butterfly has left the cocoon, OH, I WANT TO PLAY FOSSILS” Luna was overly excited about the day ahead.

“Ok, my little explorer, but to do all those things you need energy, now eat your pancakes” She pushed the plate that was Luna’s towards her and she immediately dug in, it took a moment for Roxy to stood on the counter hoping they’d share their food, which made Luna realize someone was missing.

As she looked around she confirmed Luke was nowhere in sight and with a furrowed brow she asked “Where’s daddy?” 

“He had to go to work but only for a few hours” Luna eyes shot up “He’s not going anywhere, I promise”

“He’s not supposed to leave the house” She informed her mom while she took a sip of her orange juice.

“Your aunt Emily really needed him to go besides he’s going to pick up food, we cannot starve and you need lots of veggies and fruits so you grow super strong”

“We should grow them in our yard!” Penelope had a knowing smile but remained silent “I need all the vitamins to be super strong so I can rescue animals, mommy” Recently Luna was determined to be a veterinarian and it made both of her parent’s happy to see her discovering what she wanted to be, maybe she would change her mind or maybe not but either way seeing her being so passionate about animals was endearing.

“Ah, yes, you will need vitamins but also you’ll need to go to college and for that you need to do today’s schoolwork” As the words left Penelope’s mouth, Luna’s face showed no interest.

“I did it yesterday! Today’s Earth Day” She now had a pout and stopped eating.

“Sorry to inform you, sweetheart but even today we do schoolwork, you’re learning to do sums, isn’t that exciting?” Penelope finished her pancakes and went to put her plate on the sink.

“It is not, I already know how to do that, two plus two equals four” Penelope smiled at her “Seven plus two equals nine” She tried to impress her mom.

“Good! You are doing great, baby, but you have to keep on practicing so you can do bigger sums”

“I know how to do that, I even know how to multiply, 13 times 379 equals 4927” Luna said with determination and a huge grin on her face seeing her mom was finally impressed,  Penelope feigning surprise, she came closer to her daughter while she put on a surprised face.

“You, my little precious girl” She tapped Luna’s nose with her finger “Memorized that from Matilda, you and your daddy watch it all the time” Luna’s face fell as she made complaint noises “You have an amazing memory, I’ll give you that” 

“Thirteen plus eight equals…” She quickly counted with her fingers “Twentyone”

“That’s  right, I tell you, you keep practicing and you’ll get even better” The little girl sighed “Today your teacher wants to do a video call with you and your friends, that’s exciting” Luna’s face lit up and she finished  her pancakes ready to start her day.

A few hours later, Luna had done her schoolwork with her mom working beside from her laptop, so whenever she needed help she could easily ask.

The five year old had a Zoom meeting with the rest of her classmates and teacher, it was a sweet sight for Penelope, she knew Luna missed going to school and seeing her friends, after all she took after her when it came to being social, she wasn’t that shy and reserved as her dad, Luna was always trying to be friends with other kids and told anyone who would listen stories about her life, whether it was about that time they visited her daddy’s family in New York or the new bird’s nest that was in her backyard, she had a way getting into conversations with anyone about anything.

A little before lunch, they all heard Luke’s truck pulling up on the driveway, Roxy immediately started barking and Luna ran to the window followed by Sergio who watched curiously outside.

“Daddy’s here” Luna wanted to open the door but her parents always told her she shouldn’t do that so she waited anxiously for her dad to come through the door but after a few minutes there was no sight of him.

“Come on, Lu, let’s go out back” She extended her hand and Luna happily took it as she jumped up and down wondering what was happening. 

On the sideway of their house, his dad truck was parked with two small trees on the back, Luke stood there waiting to see his girl’s reaction.

“Are we going to plant trees?” She asked with wide eyes to both of her parents.

“We are, we needed more additions to our tree family, what do you think?” Luke informed her and Luna started to jump up and down “Alright, I’m gonna go wash my hands and change my clothes and then I’ll come to take this to the garden, now go and choose with your mom a good place for them”

“YES!” Her parents laughed as she ran to the back of the garden, Roxy and Sergio following her to see what the fuss was all about

“Who would’ve thought our daughter loved Earth Day as much as she loves Christmas?” Penelope joked and Luke looked incredulously at her.

“With you as her mom, are you even surprised?” She raised her eyebrows “It’s not a bad thing, I actually love her being like this” Penelope watched as Luna grabbed her gloves and tried to put them up.

“Let me go and help her before she starts to dig in with her bare hands” She turned to Luke “Go and change, we have a long day ahead”

When Luke returned to the backyard his entire family was there, Luna and Penelope were already holding shovels and digging while Roxy was in a totally different spot digging a hole and Sergio watched all of them, unbothered as always.

“Daddy, we want them here” She looked up and beneath her hat, he could see her eyes shine with joy and some dirt on her cheeks.

“Wherever you want them, princess, now let me go and bring them” Luke proceeded to carry the small trees and the soil bags he had also bought.

They dug the holes and Luna was over the moon, seeing the new members of their garden, they had a picnic on their garden and then returned to work, once they planted the trees, she insisted on hugging them carefully so they would feel welcome in their new home.

“Ok, sweetheart, so this will be your tree” Penelope signaled the tree on the right “And many, many years from now we’ll come out here and we’ll see how much your tree has grown” She nodded excitedly unable to take the eyes off of it.

“And whose tree is this?” Luke wondered as he walked behind her wrapping his arms around her waist, she leaned back on his chest and sighed.

“Ours” He kissed her head and they continued the celebration.

“We have one more surprise for you, princess” At this statement Luna finally turned to pay attention to her parents.

“Daddy picked up some seeds so we can plant them and take care of them” Luna smiled big for a moment and then she looked sad “What’s wrong, Lu?” Penelope worried.

“Roxy chew my gardening tools the other week” As if Roxy knew exactly what she meant her ears bent down and whimpered.

“Ah, you see, we remembered that, and that’s why we got you a new set of gardening tools” Luna looked as if she was about to cry of happiness, something she had done before, just like her mom.

“And they’re yellow, my favorite color” She exclaimed as she took them from mom.

Luke bent down and whispered in Penelope’s ear “Wasn’t her favorite color, purple?”

“Oh, newbie, that was last week” She teased him and he laughed at the nickname he could never live down, not even as husband and wife, she would forget it “Now, let’s get to it”

They explained to her that the seeds were for different vegetables, and that if they took good care of them, they would be eat the vegetables from their produce. Luna had a journal, she made drawings but had her mommy writing in it which vegetables they were trying to grow and what date it was so they wouldn’t forget.

“How come you never ask me to write in it, Lu?” Luke asked as he crossed his arms and Luna told her mom exactly what to write.

“Your handwriting isn’t that good, daddy, but it’s ok, we can practice together so we have nice handwriting like mommy’s” Penelope laughed soundly and kept writing careful not to mess it up so Luna would still trust her with the task “Thank you for making this a great day, I love Earth Day, I want all Earth Days to be like this”

“Oh, you just ask, baby, I will fill this with trees if that’s what you want” Luke confessed to which his little girl just laughed and reached her arms up to him.

Luke picked her up, he wished Luna would always want him to hold her “I love you, daddy” She kissed her cheek and yawned.

“También te amo, corazón” He kissed her hair and put her down so she could go with Penelope.

“I love you, mommy” She hugged Penelope and Penelope, felt tears coming to her eyes, not once she took for granted how lucky she was to be Luna’s mom.

“I love you too, baby, with all my heart and soul, now, it’s time for a bath”

After they had dinner, bathed Luna and put her to bed, they also took a shower and had some leftover cake they all had baked the other day, a little after Luke found himself leaning on the doorframe, looking at the backyard, he remembered how when they got the house it was empty, it was just a bunch of dirt but Penelope had been so excited to turn it into somewhere nice so they could have people over, a few years later and they envisioned their own family being there and now actually enjoying it with their daughter was incredible.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Penelope stood beside him with a cup of tea.

“Just admiring the garden” He placed an arm on her shoulders and brought her closer to  him.

“It looks good, isn’t it? I always knew watching Yard Crashers would pay off” She joked and remembered how she would force Luke to watch it with her until he admitted he liked it too.

“The trees will look great once they grow a little bit more” He could picture both of them providing more shade.

“When I was little, my parents planted a tree and told me it was mine to take care of and to watch it grow and so I did” She swallowed “At one point all I had left of them was that tree, I tried to take it with me when I had to move out of the house but I obviously couldn’t but the new owners asked me about it and I told them the story so they kept it, and they told me that I could always go and visit it and it may sound silly but I did, I visited there, it was easier than going to the cemetery and I felt…” She trailed off as the tears came down “I don’t know, a connection to them, to my childhood, so that’s why I needed them to have their own tree”

Luke remained silent assimilating the story, she had never told him that before and he just took her in her arms and allowed her to cry, after a few minutes something clicked in his brain.

“Them?” He asked as he looked for her eyes, she was calmer.

“I’ve been having suspicions for a week and the other day I went to buy Tylenol for Lu, I bought a bunch of tests, they were all positive” The tears of sadness were now replaced by tears of happiness and relief, they’ve been trying ever since Luna had asked them for a baby brother, it had been almost ten months since, they went to doctors, they did tests and treatments.

“How far long do you think you are?” Luke was in shock and overwhelmed.

“I’m not sure, a month? Two? Maybe Santa Claus will make Luna’s wish come true instead of the birthday fairy” She cried and laughed at the same time, Luke locked his lips with hers, they’ve been looking forward to extending their family and the road hadn’t been an easy one but finally it was becoming a reality.

She melted in the kiss, feeling extremely happy to finally share the news with him, she wanted to tell him ever since she took the test a little before he arrived from Quantico, they were beginning another adventure and both were sure it was going to be absolutely amazing.

As they pulled apart their foreheads remained together “That’s why I asked for two trees, one for Lu and one for this little peanut” Penelope confessed and Luke grinned.

“Think about how excited Luna was for today, wait till we tell her she’s going to be a big sister” Luke couldn’t wait but he knew he had to wait for at least a few weeks.

“I know! She’ll have us counting down the days till the baby is here” She thought about her reaction and laughed.

Luke couldn’t keep his eyes off of her, after seeing her struggle so much with the treatments it was finally happening and he wanted to be there for her every second of it. His mind went back to the story of Luna’s birth and although now it was somehow funny, when it happened he was scared he might miss it but he wouldn’t let that happen again.

[meaningofmotorsport]

What does Audi and BMW’s departure mean for Formula E?

When Formula E was founded back in 2011, it was seen as a publicity stunt, and not taken very seriously by most in the industry, however once things started to come together and when the inaugural season began, big manufacturers began to realise that they needed to be in on this. So, from 2016 until now we have seen a reduction in private teams, as more big names come into the sport, all knowing that motorsport is the best way to learn and gain an advantage in what is being used in the road cars they make, thus with the growth of electric cars in the last 10 years, Formula E was the place to be.

It is easy to forget how young the sport is, but when you bear that in mind, the scale and popularity it has is impressive, although having said that it is nowhere near F1 yet. Whilst purists, may not enjoy all the gimmicks in place, it is the best way to give good racing and attract new fans in, and I do enjoy watching the racing despite this. With so many big manufacturers taking part, including the big 4 German one’s last year, tied with a growing fanbase, the expectation was that the sport would snowball, and could put other series under threat. No one expected that any teams would want to leave, given how important the evolution of electric power seemed to be, but sure enough late in 2020 came two surprise announcements, that two of the big 4 OEM’s would pull out of the sport. The question is why would two global companies decide to leave?

If we look at BMW first, the press release does seem to be rather damning for Formula E, as they say that they have ‘exhausted the opportunities’ in Formula E, basically saying that there is no point in doing it. This is weird, as normally racing is the best way to improve on technology, however it may more be, that they don’t like the way that the rules structure within Formula E is taking them, and that they don’t see those particular rules helping them. Whilst this doesn’t sound as bad, it does call into question how the series is being run, if it is putting off manufacturers.

What may help soften the blow, is that BMW does seem to be pulling back from most of its motorsport commitments, at least the major ones, having left WEC and DTM already, and running a reduced programme in IMSA, so this may just be some cost saving measures going forward to help the company, especially with everything that is going on currently. So, it is not out of the question that they could return, although I would see this as being very unlikely.

Audi in some ways agreed with what BMW said, suggesting that the company wanted to go in different ways to the series, which once again makes you wonder if Formula E is barking up the wrong tree in their development path. Another factor could be that the VW Group had two teams in the sport now that Porsche had joined, and as much as they said this wasn’t a factor, I am sure it was looked at in depth.

The one difference between Audi and BMW, is that Audi is moving into both the Dakar Rally, and the new LMDH programme in endurance racing. The Dakar bid will be electric, which shows the teams commitment to this form of energy, yet does spite Formula E, as they are effectively saying that the series is doing it wrong, so we will go and do it somewhere else, which does seem to be the theme of the article. The LMDH programme is an interesting one, this will be using a hybrid power unit at least for the time being, which is no different to when they pulled out of WEC in 2017, however now, using the LMDH format, it is much cheaper for them to do so, and can allow them to return to Le Mans and be back at the centre of the motorsport world once again.

Even with all of the points that have been made, for why both these powerhouses are leaving, it still just doesn’t add up, given how much of a positive view everyone has of Formula E, it is racing which everyone thinks is saving the planet. And there lies the key to it all, is electric power going to save the world, or are people beginning to see that the heat that motors and batteries give off, plus the dangerous chemicals needed in batteries, and the energy sapping extraction process to get the rare metals they require, mean that we could be no better off than we were before! I don’t know what the answer is to that, I am just putting it out there that this could be what is happening.

Then I have just two words for you, biofuels and hydrogen, if we can make true carbon neutral biofuels or even ones that take away Carbon Dioxide, and can make hydrogen safe for use and powerful enough. Then what could come of electric cars? As I said I don’t know the answer to this, and we may find that Formula E has a long and prosperous future, but it is also possible that series like F1 and WEC begin to use carbon neutral fuels, whilst Formula E continues to use electricity obtained from burning fossil fuels, on top of the damaging process to build the power unit.

It is an exciting time in our history in terms of how we fuel the world, and could decide how long we keep our planet alive for!

-M

[ameftowriter]

5738 A.D. 4,1 (Dr. Stone fanfic)

The first Dr. Stone fanfic I’ve written so far. I gotta say I wrote this so quickly and so fast last night while still giving out candy to kids XD. 

Spoiler warning on the cellphone arc though.

Also this is exactly, 3719 words. Cookies to the one who gets it XD

Anyway, I hope you all like it and enjoy!

Gen was still having a hard time taking everything in. Was it really the year 5739? The mentalist just couldn’t wrap his head around it. On top of it all, those statues. So many statues. They were people, turned to stone.

He had realized that something terrible has happened and it affected every human being on earth. 

He was affected too, considering the position he woke up from. He remembered that he had just finished his act. Hearing the cheers and applause from a delighted audience, that’s when everything went dark.

And the next thing he knew was a bright light, facing an open ocean.

He wondered if this was a prank, he’s seen a lot of celebrity prank shows, to be a victim of that disgusted him. He was a mentalist, being subjected to a prank like this defies his very image. 

That is until he heard a deep commanding voice from the background.

“Welcome to the year 5739 AD”

He felt cold sweat drip off his currently naked body. He turned to recognize the man who broke him out of the dark stone prison. It was Shishio Tsukasa… the strongest primate high schooler.

He was then given some clothes to wear, made by their resident tailor named Yuzuriha. He didn’t know who she was, but was grateful for her.

It was… clothes he supposes. It was a tunic of sorts that reached up to his knees. Made of animal skin. He wanted to ask for a T-Shirt and Jeans. Then again… if it really was year 5739, and everyone was petrified…

He nearly stumbled on a statue lying around. He gained back his footing and turned to see what tripped him. His eyes widened to see that it was his manager. 

Memories of the man flooded his head. When he first started, he would try to use him, booking his shows back to back, expecting him to nearly give up his own education and even family life for his acts.  He tried to milk so much money from his acts, Gen was sure it was borderline illegal. But eventually he found a weakness to the man and he became an easy target for Gen’s manipulation. Sometimes he used him as a guinea pig for any new acts he had thought of. He nearly had him prance around the streets naked once as a form of revenge.

But if it wasn’t for him, he wouldn’t have become this popular and famous…

He wouldn’t have had the money to…

Tsukasa shattered the manager’s head beneath his feet.

Gen nearly jumped back at the sudden destruction in front of him.

“I apologize for startling you.” Tsukasa spoke up, “I remember this man once, he was your manager yes?”

Gen could only nod.

“He tried to charm me to having you and I do more shows together, he treated us as if were freaks in a carnival. I cannot stand adults like that…”

It didn’t take a mentalist, to know how every word he spoke dripped of hatred and loathing. Gen looked at the remains of the destroyed statue, and felt his stomach churn.

He hated his manager yes, but…

For someone to just mercilessly destroy that…

They had arrived at the Empire of Might as Tsukasa had called it. Gen could only look at it with awe as he saw various forms of treehouses and caves made out of gigantic tree trunks. But most of all, he saw that almost every man and even women around him were muscular and looked like they would be able to carry him like he was a feather.

Then Gen met the said tailor, Yuzuriha, and the big oaf that he was pretty sure that he was her boyfriend, Taiju. 

Gen thanked her for the clothes. But wonders if he could ask her for something more… sophisticated. Something that suits his style.

Tsukasa agreed, he saw Gen as a valuable member of the Empire, but he also needed him for a mission. 

Yuzuriha agreed to do it without any questions asked.

Gen missed paper and pencil or any kind of writing instruments. But it seemed that the girl understood his directions. 

While they waited for his new outfit, Tsukasa began explaining to him about a certain “miracle fluid” that had broken him out of the petrified state.

That peaked his interest, not that he would show it.

As Tsukasa brought him to a cave and along a few other muscular men with him, Gen brushed his fingers against a tree without realizing it.

Thats where he felt it.

He knew tree bark was rough and could hurt depending on the tree, but  it felt weird to him. To him it was like… like… Something was engraved into the tree.

He moved his hand away and saw a carving into the tree he held on.

A.D.

5738 

4, 1

“Fifty-seven, thirty-eight… Four, One…” Gen read the engraving. “5738, 4, 1…”

It was like everything he had known right now had changed.

He wondered how… how would Tsukasa be able to determine the current year. Was it even really year 5739?

But this engraving shows it. 5738… It’s been a year since the engraving was written in the tree. April 1st… How did the writer knew of the exact date even…

“5738… April 1st…” Gen repeated himself, “H-How…. How did… How could someone…?”

“No…” Gen gathered his thoughts, “Someone… someone must have carved this after breaking out… They had to. But… How would… would they know the exact date…”

“Is it even possible…?!”

He read again the crude kanji and the numbers written on the tree. It was clearly there. It wasn’t some sort of hallucination… It was actually written there…

“This… this is…” Gen shuddered in excitement at the realization of someone like that existed, and broke out first, “This is too antastic-fay! Whoever did this… Must be…”

Then his thoughts were interrupted by Tsukasa calling him to the cave.

Gen quickly dashed inside. To see Tsukasa standing in front of a pile of… bat guano. Gen’s nose scrunched up at the awful smell and saw yellow liquid dripping down from the cave’s ceiling, to a clay bowl.

He quickly deduced it as a so called “miracle fluid” that Tsukasa had mentioned. But when he read Tsukasa’s expression, he felt there was more… than just that fluid…

That night, he couldn’t stop thinking about that engraving.

5738 A.D. April 1.

He wondered who could even do that. In that darkness. For almost 4000 years, calculated the year, month and date. The exact date?!

He thought of possibilities. He knew you can tell how old a tree is by cutting it and counting the number of rings… But that would have been a gigantic tree. He considered the number of natural disasters that could have destroyed it way before the next millenia… So he scratched out that idea. He thought maybe some sort of machine that could tell the time survived, but he hasn’t seen a sign of any kind of civilization, let alone a machine that could tell the time. His thoughts wandered of any kind of sci-fi theory he’s seen. But just like before, he saw nothing…

Nothing from the year 2019.

Gen curled up onto his sheets. It has hit him again, the realization that there was nothing left from the year he knew. No buildings, no cars… no cola even…

He felt the sudden urge for a bottle.

As he realized he couldn’t sleep he stepped outside of his living quarters and saw the stars in the sky. It was numerous, more than he could ever count.

Count…

That’s when he thought of something… a completely etched-fay possibility…

Yes, there was no machine or anything that could tell the time, but the fact remained that time still moved forward, no matter what…

It was something insane. Something that no human being should be able to do, but it was possible…

He had heard rumours of a kid who counted the exact seconds within a month, and he had counted it exactly.

“To count the passing seconds…” Gen thought to himself, “To do that during all that time in the darkness…”

Many feelings he suddenly felt for this mystery counter. Excitement, pity, delight, fear… In order to do that, he would have had to remain conscious all that time… Gen eventually felt nothing and his mind went completely blank after a while. When Tsukasa revived him, he thought everything before was just a dream… a long 3720 year dream…

He had to find them… he had to find the person who could have done this feat… He had to know. He had to know this person. He had to pick him apart and understand his own way of thinking. He had to analyze everything about him. He had to know how and why would he do such a ridiculous yet logical thing.

He hadn’t felt this eager in knowing a person he hasn’t even met.

The rest of that night spent thinking about this person. He smiled at the thought of someone else being this unique.

It was like… to him it was like getting excited over a book he had heard only good reviews about.

Yes he was skeptical, but the thought of someone like this.

It got him excited.

Yuzuriha finished his new outfit the next day, he was very grateful for her. Especially after hearing the fact that she spent all night with it. Gen felt a bit bad for her, until he heard her voice crack just a little…

Gen did not have supersonic hearing, but as a mentalist, he taught himself to pay attention to people’s subtle noises. He wonders if Yuzuriha is lying to him.

He tried the new outfit on, and it fits him just right. He was definitely impressed with her.

Tsukasa called for him after he had finished his new outfit.

He was given a mission…

“Those dusty old fossils who used to be in power…” Tsukasa began as he led Gen to a path in the forest, “Are even less necessary in this natural world of stone…”

Gen didn’t hear a hint of hesitation from those words. In fact to him Tsukasa spoke of his ideals in such great confidence and conviction, that the mentalist felt a bit swayed by those. Especially when he said…

“But I see a massive amount of potential in you… Gen.”

Gen felt himself snap out of that trance. He knew Tsukasa had a lot of natural charisma, but even he as a master of minds, felt like he was grabbed instantly and quickly, as if he got there by himself. He cursed himself mentally, as he remembered how Tsukasa crushed the statue of his manager. And all of the other pieces of statues he has seen scattered everywhere.

“There’s something I need you for…” Gen’s attention was grabbed again as Tsukasa cleared some branches to reveal a treehouse, made by… concrete? He wondered. “And your skills as a mentalist will be invaluable…”

Gen saw on the side a few empty jars, crude makeshift spears… he was surprised that even the ladder that leads up to the treehouse was still sturdy. To him it looked like it was all abandoned. 

But that wasn’t where they went, rather, Tsukasa led him to a hut near the tree house. It had a worn out sign that said, “Laboratory”.

Tsukasa led him inside and the mentalist saw broken clay pots everywhere. He watched his step, as he moved in closer to see more and more broken pieces scattered everywhere. To him it was an obvious sign that whoever lived here scrambled to take everything and left. To the untrained eye that is.

Gen saw this was too intentional. It was too much of a mess for him. He thought maybe a scuffle, but that would have caused those shelves to fall apart. To him, it is as if the previous occupants just intentionally took those jars and smashed them.

“Follow them for me.” Tsukasa gave him his mission, Gen’s deductions were right, “And get inside of their minds… Perhaps I’m being overly cautious, but I want you to track down this man Senku and tell me if he’s dead or hiding out somewhere…

Senku…

And there it is the name of the person he was looking for.

‘Senku…’ Gen thought to himself. He tried to think of anyone he knew by that name, none came to mind.

So he asked, “Who is Senku?”

“He, was the first of us to revive…” Tsukasa replied.

‘First? Don’t tell me…’

“He used his knowledge of science to create a formula to undo the petrification.” he continued as Gen took in this invaluable information, “That’s how he revived me…”

Gen couldn’t hide his surprise anymore.

‘This Senku person… revived Tsukasa? He created a formula to undo the petrification?’ 

“This man…” Tsukasa continued as Gen felt the man’s voice grew bitter, “His only desire is to revive everyone, no matter who they were…”

‘What? He… what?’

“He’ll bring back the same people who ruined our world…. And they’ll make weapons…” Gen felt every word laced with pure hatred.

“He was the most intelligent man alive, and that’s why I killed him myself…”

He saw Tsukasa’s eyes narrowed as he finished his sentence. Gen held back even his own expressions, but to hear that from Tsukasa’s mouth, he finally understood.

He finally understood what he had to do.

Gen enjoyed it. He enjoyed experimenting and toying with the human mind and the limitless possibilities of the human psyche. He mostly used it for his own benefit and gain, but that’s what the world, the previous world, taught him. To him adults were easy picking, even more so than teenagers and children. He knew as one grows older, the ideals and beliefs, and biases a person has learned will stick longer and thus harder to change or remove. Gen knew of this and exploited it to his heart’s content.

He asked Tsukasa if he could stay a bit more to inspect the area. The man let him, and asked if he knew the way back.

Gen knew the way back.

When he realized that he was finally alone, he quickly observed the area. He looked at the pieces of the broken jars, the stains on the floor and at the walls, he saw the various broken tools nearby. He then rushed into the tree house and saw the same mess as the lab. Gen saw this as a laughable way to make it look like they got scared and escaped. 

He saw Tsukasa’s expressions, the hatred in his words… Tsukasa was scared. Very scared. He only knew of Tsukasa as a fearless man who would stare down other fighters bigger and stronger than he was, and took them down easily. For someone to induce such paranoia and fear in him…

He has to know. He has to know who this Senku person is.

He just has to!

After gathering what he can from the area, he went back to the Empire. He gave Tsukasa what he could deduce in the area, and said that he probably dashed at around southeast to where the Empire was.

Tsukasa in turn gave him more information that was more valuable than even he thought.

Gen was right it was southeast to where they were, Hakone (or it would have used to be considering the lack of any buildings). He was also told of a blond haired, blue eyed girl that seemed to have no knowledge of science and had a very primitive way of thinking,.He was shocked to hear that there is a possibility of a village of primitives in that area, and that Senku might have made contact with them if that was the case. So now he had a destination in mind.

Hakone. Around a two day walk from where they were now. Gen didn’t particularly like the idea of walking so far and so long, but his desire to meet this Senku was what pushed him further.

Before he left, he asked Yuzuriha for some extra materials and a cutting tool.

His journey was long and painful, especially since he didn’t wear any shoes. Along the way he picked up many nightshade flowers and stored them into various hidden sacks underneath his clothes. He even found many berries and even some small animals he could use to make fake blood bags for his own protection, just in case everything went downhill for him. He knew when to expect the worst. After all, he made a living from expecting the worst in people and exploiting it.

His journey took way longer than two days. He was exhausted, yes, but every step further was one step closer to meeting this Senku. He thought it was worth it. 

From what he knew about the positions of his shadows, he had deduced it was around noon. He walked further and further through the forest, and that’s when he heard something, music. He heard music playing nearby, he walked closer to the source, and saw it, clear as day. A village, built on two small peninsulas connected by a bridge, and in front of it was…

Well to his surprise. It was a ramen stand.

Gen approached the stand closer then was quickly given a bowl of said ramen by a child wearing a melon mask over her head. He thought it was kind of cute.

He felt a pang of hunger as he took a whiff of the bowl on his hands. It was a crude version of ramen that he knew, but well, he supposed it was still ramen. So he took a bite.

Gen nearly gagged from the taste.

He remained very quiet despite the complete awfulness the dish had. He couldn’t even call this ramen. He heard this was foxtail millet ramen.

Once again he nearly gagged at the thought of foxtail. Foxtail, was what the noodles were made out of. He could feel the grainy texture and the bitter aftertaste of the ramen. 

It was ositive-pay awful!

But he heard nothing but praises for this dish. Gen peered to see other people wearing similar clothes like the one the melon girl wore. It looked like they were almost inhaling the ramen. It was a complete consensus that it was the best thing they’ve ever had.

That’s one other thing that hits Gen.

He sighs and misses something way more than ramen right now.

One of them quickly asked for seconds and Gen sighed and realized with the stereotypical glutton man. He supposed that in any kind of era there’s always a glutton.

Then his attention quickly changed when he saw the man at the stand itself, putting the ramen together.

His hair stood out the most, literally. Even at the year 2019, he would have easily stood out. He wondered if it’s dyed or if he used any hair products. Almost every bit of his hair stood upwards defying gravity. To Gen he looked like a walking giant leek or bok choy. Then when he turned sideways, that’s when Gen finally saw his face. He looked sweaty and tired, but his face is full of eagerness and pride, that admittingly seemed contagious. The most noticeable features were the two jagged scars that lined and bent up from his forehead down to this eye line and just below the eyelid. The Mentalist instinctively touched his own scar.

He remembered the explanation Tsukasa gave him. That these scars are just a side effect of the depetrification process.

Gen remembered the day when he saw his reflection at the river and saw the scar running underneath his left eyelid, where it turned to shape his mouth then went straight down his chain and his neck. To him this was a reminder that he was petrified and awakened. Which meant, this man was…

“Are you the man who made this incredible food?” He heard a young girl approach the man with such eagerness and obvious intent of flirting, “the one called, Senku?”

Senku…

This green haired, prideful, obviously exhausted guy…

Is Senku?

Gen tried hard to cover his laughter. This was the man that Tsukasa, the strongest primate high school, was scared about? He looked physically weak. Everything about him was so lanky and skinny. It completed the giant walking vegetable set. Big green leaves and a nimble easily breakable stem.

He was….

‘This was the man who wrote that date on the tree isn’t it?’

He saw a familiar equation written on Senku’s outfit.

E=mc2

'Yeah… definitely the science nerd around here.’ Gen chuckled internally, 'Who the hell writes that on their own clothes?!’

When the girl asked Senku what kind of girls he liked Senku simply answered this:

“A kind that would pump a ton of oxygen into my furnace”

Gen groaned internally at that answer

'And he’s uninterested at romance. Like he’s some sort of a Shonen protagonist…’

The blond villager girl whom Gen deduced as quite strong, and possibly the girl that Tsukasa ran into before, even expressed her displeasure at that answer. He wonders if she had some feelings for this Senku person.

The Mentalist admits that Senku is quite handsome. It was a shame to him that he isn’t interested in romance. He would have loved to have gotten closer to him. But he supposed that he still has a job to do. 

Well to everyone in the Empire of Might it was his job.

To Gen….

It was some assurance.

If this Senku is what he thought he was, that this Senku is the man that striked fear into Tsukasa’s heart.

This handsome, nerdy, passionate man…

Might be the counter he was looking for.

Better strike while the iron’s hot….

“Ah… this ramen is making me wickedly thirsty…” Gen admitted to himself, out loud for everyone else to hear. “A cola, would be great…”

And with that, Gen had Senku’s undivided attention. 

The Mentalist then went to work, fully analyzing this Senku to his heart’s content. 

Little that he knew what would happen later that within the past 3700+ years of his life, would change for the better.

'This is worth it…’

[ancientbooshartifacts]

Howard's Cure

Author: JoeyTheRipper1

Year: 2009

Rating: PG

Characters: Howard, Vince, Naboo, Bob Fossil, Dixon Bainbridge

Howard hung his head as he moved from shadow to shadow making his way to Naboo’s Kiosk, looking around he cursed softy; he had to walk in the moonlight to get the rest of the way.

He took a deep breath and ran as fast as he could.

Howard knocked on the door to Naboo’s shop, the door opened ‘Naboo…’

‘What do you want, Howard?’ Naboo asked, not trying to hide his annoyance that Howard Moon the Freak of Nature was at his door at half twelve in the morning.

‘Naboo, I need help!’

‘That’s obvious’ Naboo said with a nod. ‘You’re creeping around the Zoo at night, that’s very weird.’

‘No it’s not that, and for the record I’m sneaking around the zoo at night because that’s the only time I’m not recognizable!’

‘No one is as freakish as you, Howard. You stick out like an orange in a garden salad.’

‘Naboo that’s why I’m here; I need-' Howard looked around, ‘you to fix me,’ he said in a whisper.

‘Fix you?’ Naboo repeated raising an eyebrow.

‘Fix this!’ Howard gestured to his chest and Naboo’s eyes went wide.

‘I can’t-‘

‘Naboo, you’re a Shaman! Haven’t you got something that will fix me?’ Howard asked, dropping to his knees and looking up into the Tiny Shaman’s eyes as pleadingly as he could.

‘Oh alright, Howard… Just stand up’ Naboo sighed.

Howard stood up, ‘thank you, Naboo.’

‘Ballbag.’ Naboo muttered as he turned and went inside, Howard stepped in and shut the door.

=======================

Fossil sipped his coffee out of his pocket cup and picked up the phone on his desk ‘Hello, put me through to Dixon Bainbridge... thank you.'

There was a dial tone then a very sleepy and very plummy voice barked "Bainbridge."

Fossil smiled giddily. 'Hello my-Bainbridge!'

"Fossil do you have any idea how late it is?"

'Well you told me to tell you if something is going on.'

"What could be going on at half twelve in the morning?"

======================

‘Right First things first… We’re going to have to assess the damage,’ Naboo said, turning to Howard.

‘D-d-damage?’ Howard stuttered, terror seizing control of his insides. ‘What do you mean, Naboo?’

‘Easy Howard…’ Naboo said holding up a hand ‘I meant you’re… uh…’ Naboo cleared his throat awkwardly and Howard flushed as he realized that Naboo was looking at his chest.

‘Oh,’ Howard said as he reached for the top button on his collar and tried not to notice Naboo crinkle his face in disgust as the buttons came undone and he took his shirt off exposing the horrific sight underneath.

Naboo took a deep breath, apparently steadying himself. 'Right... I guess we're going to have to call in the big guns.'

'What do you mean?' Howard asked, knowing that the words “big guns” was the prelude to something painful.

'You'll see Howard.' Naboo said with a mystical tone in his voice.

'Follow me.'

=====================

It was cold when Vince woke up, the keepers hut still alarmingly quiet; Howard’s bed had gone missing a few days ago and he still couldn't adjust to its absence, Howard had fled into isolation somewhere in the zoo around the same time and all anyone knew was that his jobs were always done before any of them got up.

This was strange because half of the jobs had to be done in the middle of the day.

Shaking his head Vince got out from under his sheets and blinked, he had been only sleeping in his sleeping bag, he couldn't remember covering himself in sheets.

'Howard,' he smiled.

The room was freezing as Vince tried to untangle himself from the mound of sheets twisted in his sleeping bag. Howard must have bundled him up during the night because he knew he’d only gone to sleep with the sleeping bag. Shivering in the chill, he picked one up and threw it over his shoulders to keep himself warm. He noticed that it had a very Howard scent to it. Head swirling from the comfortingly masculine scent, he wondered over to the light-switch and clicked it on. He blinked; the place had been a mess when he'd gone to sleep and he pulled the blanket tighter around him shrouding himself in the scent of his missing friend.

'Howard,' he said again, knowing Howard was still looking after him although his daily presence was missing.

It was strange how much Vince was missing Howard now he wasn't around lurking in the corners. He'd never really had the time to notice before, but the past few days had seen him realising just how much Howard filled his day and made him Vince; with Howard missing, Vince was missing a piece of himself.

Vince Noir realised at that very moment, standing bundled up in his best friends blanket, that he could never find anything be it clothing, or accessory or even a girl - or indeed a guy - to replace Howard; Howard couldn't be replaced and Vince made his resolve that he'd find Howard and bring him back to his rightful place at his side... after he had a cup of tea and a packet of crisps.

===================

‘Right, Bollo; make sure you’ve got it plugged in right.’

‘Why exactly is Bollo here?’ Howard asked.

‘Because I can’t do this alone.’ Naboo said, ‘it takes quite a lot of muscle to lug that thing around.’ Naboo said.

‘Isn’t this a bit overkill, Naboo?’ Howard asked as Bollo the two ton Gorilla adjusted the tightness of the straps that were keeping Howard’s arms over his head, tied to the table by his hands and feet Howard had a clear view of the massive machine pointing directly at his chest.

‘I could only get it in one size.’ Naboo said as he adjusted the dials powering the machine.

‘Do not worry, Howard, Naboo knows what he doing.’ Bollo said patting Howard’s arm comfortingly.

The gorilla lumbered over to Naboo’s side and Howard heard Naboo say ‘do you know what this button does, Bollo?’ Bollo shook his head.

‘Neither do I.’

This did little to calm Howard and he found himself missing Vince more now than he had in the past few weeks.

‘Ready Howard?’ Naboo asked.

Howard craned his neck over to look at him ‘Of course I’m not, just do it.’

I’m doing this for Vince, he needs me and I need to be normal, he reminded himself.

‘Alright then,’ Naboo said he put a pair of sunglasses on and nodded to Bollo who nodded, adjusting the dials and pressing a button.

‘Not that one you berk!’ Naboo snapped, but all too late because the machine hummed into life and then there was a fire of electricity flowing through Howard’s body and he let out a howl of pain; it continued on moments after and then Howard felt something move against his chest as the electricity shot down the length of his limbs; he felt the impression of three tiny needle fine points and then another jolt of electricity sent Howard TJ Moon into a world of unconsciousness.

=========================

'What is it?' Bollo asked; staring as the creature removed the skin that had kept it safe for its entire life; standing for the first time ever it looked around and clicked its claws the moment it saw the shaman; he's responsible for this machine.

'Quick! Catch it Bollo!' Naboo shouted.

Bollo lunged at it with a glass jar and moving as fast as it could it dropped down off of the table and snapped at the Gorillas feet, this is all Vince's fault!

Anger rippled through its entire body making its tail curve, I’m going to get him for this! It fumed as it scurried off, intent on getting even with "that electro freak". Just the mere thought of electro making it quiver. It had been the most painful experience of its life, though that wasn't that hard to achieve since Howard TJ Moon kept himself out of harms way... lost in thoughts it was quite startled when a shoe came down right in front of it; clicking in alarm it instinctively used the stinger nature had provided for it and brought it straight through the leather of the shoe, there was a yell of pain from above and then the foot slid backwards moments before the ground beneath it shook with the impact of the zookeepers body on the concrete, it climbed up the side of the corpse and set to work on feeding before the flesh was too cold.

=============================

Coming to with a startled gasp Howard sat up, ‘What happened?' he asked.

‘You alright Howard?’ Naboo asked.

‘Yes, why wouldn’t I be?’

‘Ah,’ Naboo looked to Bollo and they shared an uneasy moment ‘no reason.’ Naboo said looking back to him.

‘Am I normal?’

‘Yeah, you are Howard.’

Joy coursed through Howard’s body, but the grim look on the shamans face made Howard know something was up. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘Well Howard…’ Naboo said ‘we managed to get it off of you but you see the machine seems to have woken it up-‘

‘What’s it?’ Howard asked genuinely confused.

‘Something very nasty,’ Naboo murmured, ‘but the moment it detached from you it ran off, after something.

‘After what?’

‘That’s just it; we don’t know… it was attached to you, what were you thinking about?’

‘Well I was thinking about getting rid of it…’

‘And?’ Naboo coached.

‘Oh my god, Vince!’ Howard jumped up and ran out of the room.

Bollo looked to Naboo ‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this,’ he said and Naboo nodded agreeing with him.

=========================

There was a knock on the door and Vince jumped, startled from his fitful doze, he stood up at the second knock.

‘Who is it?’

There was no answer but there was another knock and this was just as good to him; Vince opened the door and jumped back in horror, tripping over and banging his head on the floor shattering reality into star filled dreams, unaware of something grabbing his ankle and dragging him out of the hut.

=========================

Running as fast as he could the moment Howard reached the hut he saw that the door was wide open and not a sign of Vince to be seen. Pacing around the hut his thoughts slipped out on his tongue, muttering as he walked. ‘If I was this thing where would I have taken Vince?’ All it took was a few more paces and Howard had a revelation.

‘Wait a minute, this thing was a part of me, so it’s going to be thinking like me...’ Howard stopped pacing for a moment. ‘Right’ Howard said ‘Think like me.’ he commanded himself.

But like anyone who has ever tried this Howard found it impossible it is to force his brain to think like he usually did. Howard sighed as his mind remained blank of all thoughts and he searched around for something that would help, he spied half a packet of crisps and a cup of tea sitting on the table, and he started piecing together what had happened.

‘Vince must’ve been sitting here when the thing came to the hut… and he must’ve opened the door to it thinking it was something else.’ Howard nodded, that seemed about right given the evidence. ‘And these marks must be where it dragged Vince out…’

Howard stepped out of the door and startled at the path drawn in the scattered leaves. ‘It can’t be that far ahead if it’s dragging Vince.’

Howard started after the tracks on the ground.

=============================

Naboo and Bollo stood in Fossils office; Dixon Bainbridge sat in Fossils chair cleaning his rifle looking at Naboo 'so this thing detached itself from Howard and ran off to who knows where?' Bainbridge asked summarising what Naboo had just told him.

'Yes.' Naboo sighed in annoyance 'for the one millionth time.' he muttered Bollo grunted.

'Look Naboo-' Fossil started but Bainbridge held up his hand and cut across him.

'Fossil, why don't you be useful for a change and make a pot of coffee?'

'Sure thing, sugar dumpling.' Fossil said all too eager to oblige and headed out of the room.

Bainbridge pretended not to notice what Fossil had called him and looked back to Naboo.

'What does this thing look like?'

'That!' Bollo yelled pointing to one of the monitors and taking a big step back Bainbridge and Naboo looked to where Bollo was pointing; Bainbridge wrinkled his nose but was otherwise nonplussed by the sight of a scorpion devouring one of the zookeepers.

'That’s at least the second person it's eaten in the past two hours.'

'Thing eats quickly,' Bainbridge scorned, 'it's quite large, are you sure that came from Moon?'

'It’s grown considerably larger,' Naboo said, ‘That's the only one in existence anyway, so it has to be.'

'Only one in existence?' Bainbridge muttered to himself watching as it finished eating the zookeeper and scurry off 'where's it going?' he asked.

'Dunno, but if anyone knows where it would go, it’s Howard.'

'Moon?'

'Well it was a part of him.'

Bainbridge stood and left the room nearly knocking Fossil over as he passed him Fossil watched after him and looked to the pot of coffee in his hand he shrugged and poured some into his pocket cup.

===============================

‘Moon what the hell is going on!’ Howard looked around at Bainbridge.

‘What do you mean?’ I haven’t got time for this, Vince is in trouble!

‘You're roaming around the zoo at night and now this thing running rampant.’

‘Thing?’ Howard asked, if he’s seen it then maybe he knows where it’s gone.

‘Yes, the hideous thing that dragged Noir off.’

‘Where’d it drag him to?’

‘Who knows? That thing moves so damn quickly it could be halfway across Shoreditch by now.’

‘No it’s still here,’ Howard said he looked around then looked back to Bainbridge.

‘How’d you find me?’

‘Look there, Moon,’ Bainbridge sneered pointing to a security camera. ‘Fossils been watching you all night.’

‘He has?’ Howard asked.

‘Yes he has, he rang me up at half twelve telling me all about your “activities”.’

‘I’ve got to get to Fossil!’ Howard said running off; Bainbridge following after him.

==============================

Fossil, Naboo and Bollo watched the two grown men running full pelt from camera to camera getting closer and closer.

‘Coffee?’ Fossil asked holding up a pot of coffee, Naboo and Bollo shook their heads.

‘Oh well,’ he said as he poured some more coffee into his pocket cup and looked back to the screen.

‘Holy Shit Sauce!’ he yelled lurching back so suddenly that he poured coffee over himself and instinctively the rest of the pot was flung everywhere else.

‘OW!’ he howled attempting to stop the coffee boiling through his clothing by brushing it off; which succeeded in making the coffee spread through the material much more quickly.

Naboo and Bollo wiped the coffee that had splashed on them off as Fossil sat back down and looked to the monitor

‘What the hump was that?’ he said leaning in to look at the monitor closer unaware of the zoom button on the remote control.

‘That the thing that took Vince!’ Bollo informed Fossil.

‘Why’d it take him Moon?’ Bainbridge’s voice barked, all three in the office jumped and looked to the door as it flung open and Howard stepped in followed closely by Bainbridge.

‘I don’t know!’ Howard snapped for what seemed to be the one millionth time. ‘Where is it?’ He snapped looking to Fossil.

Fossil instinctively looked to the monitor.

‘In the jungle room.’ Howard went around the side of the desk and came up beside him and Bainbridge appeared on the other side, both staring intently at the monitor.

‘It’s certainly grown a lot.' Howard looked to Fossil finally noticing that he was drenched in coffee ‘Why’re you covered in coffee?’

‘Why aren’t you wearing a shirt?’ Fossil replied in a childish sneer.

This was news to Howard and he looked down at his bare chest and cleared his throat. ‘So where’d it drag Vince?’

‘Into the jungle room,’ Fossil replied.

‘Seems the ideal place for a bug,’ Naboo said.

‘Plenty of places to hide.’ Howard said knowing that he liked the idea of it too.

‘Isn’t that where you’ve been sleeping, Moon?’ Bainbridge said.

‘... Yes?’ Howard replied, the word hitching in his throat. 'It seems obvious now that that’s where it would take him.’

‘Why?’ Fossil asked.

‘No time to explain, I’ve got to go and rescue Vince!’

Howard made to walk past Bainbridge but the other man straightened and stepped in his way so they were only a few millimetres apart with Bainbridge’s musky breath meeting Howard's own minty-fresh one in the tiny space between them.

‘Get out of the way, Bainbridge!’ he stuttered.

‘Not until you tell us what the hell is going on, Moon!’ Bainbridge barked back, the two glared at each other; paying no mind to Fossil who was craning his neck around to see what was going on behind his chair and not noticing the screen panning around to the sight of Vince lying on a camp bed.

‘Listen Bainbridge we haven’t got time for this, Vince is in trouble!’

‘He’s your wife, Moon; not mine! This is my zoo, however, and I demand to know what is going on!’

Howard didn’t know what to argue about first, Vince being his wife, the zoo belonging to Bainbridge, or telling Bainbridge what was actually going on, he just stood lost for words breathing in the other mans musky breath; his small eyes darted to the screen and saw Vince his heart leapt into his throat and he straightened, gathering all of his strength together for what he had to do.

‘I’ll tell you later; meanwhile’ Howard punched Bainbridge hard under the jaw sending the other man sprawling to the ground in a mixture of shock and pain.

‘I’ve got to save Vince!’ Howard took off out of the office heading to the jungle room.

===============================

Vince groaned and put a hand to his head.

‘What happened?’

‘Don’t speak.’ Whispered a clicking voice that made the hair on the back of Vince’s neck stand up.

‘Howard?’ he asked.

‘Not quite.’ The voice said.

‘What do you mean not quite?’ Vince asked ‘you either are Howard or your not.’

‘I was a part of him, but now we are separate… do you know why, Vince?’

‘No.’

‘Because of you!’ the accusing tone in the voice made Vince shiver ‘he demanded our separation, because of you! We were happy before you, Vince!’

‘Look I have no idea what you’re talking about.’ Vince sat up and looked around.

‘Look at me Vince, remember me?’ a giant scorpion like creature the colour of skin crawled around the trunk of one of the trees and scurried right up to Vince, who stared in horror.

‘What are you?’

‘Do you remember calling Howard a freak?’

‘Yeah I do, but that was because of that hideous thing on his chest-'

‘That was me!’ the scorpion snapped and Vince opened his mouth in horror. ‘He separated us because of you!’

‘Look mate.’ Vince said, trying to keep calm. ‘I had no idea Howard would do that… he never struck me as the kind of guy who’d have a surgery-'

‘He had the shaman separate us… and all because of you, he may deny it; but he only separated us because you had a problem with me; you're the reason why I’m alone! I’m going to kill you!’

‘What, no!'

The scorpion scurried forwards but before it could reach him a shout from the door made the scorpion pause.

‘Leave him!’ Vince looked to Howard and letting out a quiet sigh of relief he couldn’t help but notice how much more attractive Howard was without the horrible bulge in the middle of his chest.

‘Howard- ’ The way the scorpion said the word; the name... and the way it turned to Howard said to Vince that it was needed Howard the same way he needed him, to fill that space that was empty without him.

The scorpion relaxed lowering its stinger; watching it Vince wondered how no one had noticed it before, the whole boxing incident, he wondered how long it had been attached to him; Vince found himself trying to figure it all out, despite how dangerous the situation was, how could Howard have gotten this creature inside of him? He looked to Howard as the tall northerner started one of his speeches with his dark chocolate voice calm and empowering.

'If you should want to kill anyone; it’s me... I was the one who went to Naboo, I was the one who decided to get you removed. A better man would have accepted the way he was, a better man would have payed no mind to what anyone said, but I’m not a better man, and for that reason alone; I’m the one you should kill.’

‘Oh cut the crap Howard! I’ve been you all your life, I know how you think, and you can’t change my mind! I am going to kill Vince!’

‘No!’ both men cried out as the scorpion turned back to Vince and readied its stinger.

There was a loud gunshot and the ground below the scorpion seemed to explode and it scurried out of the clearing.

'Out of the way, Moon!' Bainbridge barked and pushed Howard aside with such force that he toppled over 'Where'd that parasite go?' Howard and Vince pointed in the direction it had run off in.

'What are you doing Bainbridge?' Vince asked as Bainbridge made to go after it.

'That specimen is one of a kind; you won’t understand, Noir, but that has the potential to make me a lot of money.' and then Bainbridge was gone.

For a few long minutes Vince and Howard remained still, staring after Bainbridge, both listening to the man's shouts and the sound of his rifle getting fainter and fainter. By the time they couldn’t hear a thing they slowly looked to each other.

‘Lets-' Vince's voice dissolved in his throat and he remained staring into the small eyes of his long since absent friend.

'Get out of here?' Howard offered.

'Yeah,' Vince said with a nod.

‘Good idea, Little Man.'

Little man. Vince inwardly sighed, content that he had Howard back.

=====================================

‘What a crazy night, eh?’ Howard said as both he and Vince shut the door to the jungle room.

Vince smiled, good old Howard. ‘Do you think they’ll get out of there?’

‘Nah.’ Howard said dragging the bench in front of the door and locking it ‘If the wolves can’t get out then they can’t either.’

Vince nodded. ‘Thanks for coming to save me, Howard.’

‘It’s no problem Little Man,’ Howard said, puffing his chest. ‘It’s what I do – I’m a Maverick, a master of the jungle. You know you’re not the first I’ve saved, Vince. No sir!’

‘Yeah,’ Vince said with a small laugh ‘though technically it was Bainbridge who saved me, not you, Howard.’

‘I was mere seconds away from saving you.’ Howard replied, affronted.

‘Sure you were,’ Vince said with a sarcastic nod, ‘Let’s get back to the hut; my head hurts.’

Howard’s eyes narrowed, searching Vince's head for a sign of damage, Vince noticed and felt a small swell of happiness. ‘I hit my head,” he said with a shrug.

‘The thing is Vince… how did it get you into the jungle room so easily without a single scratch?’

‘Dunno.’ Vince said ‘I guess it was really delicate.’

‘It dragged you through the zoo; you should be all cuts and scratches.’

‘It’s one of life’s mysteries, Howard. We’ll never know,’ Vince grinned, the pair bickering their way towards the keepers hut and a few more hours sleep before their night shift officially ended.

[tyrantisterror]

I have to disagree with your post regarding the "bad girl" characters. An anti-social, rough and rude woman with hidden soft side seem actually incredibly common to me? Maybe I just watch too many superhero movies, but at least half of those have them as leads, even when they weren't that way at all in the original, always being the snarky straight men to the wacky male leads.

Ah!  I can see the confusion.  Superhero movies star The Badass Woman, not a Bad Girl.  They’re tropes that are very similar on the surface, but it’s all about the flavor of the execution and presentation.

Black Widow is sort of the triumphant example of The Badass Woman, so I’m gonna focus on her.

Black Widow isn’t rude - she’s actually pretty polite, albeit occasionally sarcastic in a safe Hollywood snarky way.  She’s occasionally blunt, but she’s never outright abusive to the people around her - teasing Captain America by calling him a “fossil” is just that, teasing, not an outright insult.

Black Widow is tough, but also elegant.  Look at her fighting style in the movies - she practically dances around her opponents, fighting in a gymnastic display that is perfectly coordinated and as graceful as it is deadly.

Black Widow is anti-social, yes, but a very specific variety of anti-social - she’s withdrawn, cold.  Her social barriers are those of stoicism.  And even then, that’s kind of light - she cracks jokes, she smiles, she teases.

Black Widow’s masculine qualities are all ones you’d find in a heroic character.  They’re not that different from the usual movie action hero - your Bruce Willises, your Arnolds, etc.  Black Widow is actually just the most recent in a long line of Badass Women who are, essentially, just the Hollywood Action Hero formula rejiggered for a supporting character - you have predecessors for her in Van Helsing, the Pirates of the Carribean sequels, Tauriel from the Herbit movies, and plenty of others.  It was even parodied in The Lego Movie!

But it’s not the Bad Girl.  The Bad Girl isn’t a collection of heroic traits.  She is, as the name implies, a collection of what are primarily flaws, much like the more common trope she’s a copy of - the Bad Boy.  And since that’s important, let’s focus on the Bad Boy for a second in how he contrasts with the Badass Hero.

The Badass Hero is terse - he doesn’t talk much, and when he does it tends to be in short, to-the-point sentences.  He’s often polite but blunt.  The Bad Boy, by contrast, is rude.  He’s often loud and talkative - he has to quickly establish that he’s a bit of a punk, after all, and it’s hard to do that without a little posturing.  He may do some brooding later on in the story, but that’s the difference - the Badass Hero is brooding to begin with, because we have to know early on that he’s deep but also mysterious.  But the Bad Boy’s depth has to be discovered in spite of our preconception of him - he has to appear shallow at first, and reveal his layers later.

We are supposed to wonder why the Badass Hero is how they are from the start - we are supposed to be surprised the Bad Boy has depth when it is revealed.  Similar, yes, but the presentation is different.

The Badass Hero’s fighting style will generally be impressive - he might be brutal (much more than the Badass Heroine is allowed to be, I should note), but his skill will still be present.  The Bad Boy, by contrast, is sloppy and chaotic - they’re a punk, a thug, a wild animal, not a honed artist of violence.  The Badass Hero saves you from a bar brawl  - the Bad Boy probably starts it, and he fights dirty.

(sometimes the Badass Hero will have a little of the Bad Boy’s dirty-ness bleed into him, but this is generally reserved for Badass Heroes that are meant to be subversive - your Badass Anti-Heroes if you will).

The Badass Hero is distant because life, man, it’s so hard, his wife is probably dead or something, you don’t know.  The Bad Boy isn’t distant - he’s not hidden behind a wall.  He’s aggressive.  He’s the dog that barks and snarls when you approach, his fur standing on end because he’s secretly terrified.  The Bad Boy doesn’t sullenly say “I want to be alone” - he tells you to get the fuck away from him.  There’s a level of aggression to his defenses that the Badass Hero won’t have - sometimes it’s TOO aggressive and the relationship that forms ends up having abusive undertones, which is the big issue of the Bad Boy trope.

Our intended reaction to the Badass Hero is that WOW, he’s fucking awesome!  All of his personality is intended to be taken as noble and inspiring - even his social issues are meant to be a sign that he’s super heroic, sacrificing intimacy and his attachments to others to fight for the greater good.

Our intended reaction to the Bad Boy is that he’s a fuckup, but a fuckup who could sort his shit out - a fuckup who has a good heart and just needs to be redeemed with a little, well, ok, a lot of compassion.

You can find plenty of heroines in the Badass Hero mold.  There are lots of Black Widows out there.  But women in the Bad Boy role - proper Bad Girls?  They are a rarity.

Or in short: Black Widow isn’t a Bad Girl.  Jessie from Pokemon is.

[warlordess]

An Alternate Journey (Pokeshipping; part four)

Authors - @warlordess​ and @miyatoriaka​

Notes - So here it is, the major motion-fanfic of the century! For those who don’t know, famed Pokeshipping artist Miyatoriaka drew a twelve or thirteen page comic for Pokeshipping Week 2018 based on the “role reversal” theme. After seeing a few pages, and then obsessively rereading all the pages over and over, I felt inspired to write for the first time in months, to really sit down and dedicate hours to a specific project. When I mentioned casually that I was interested in writing a fanfic version of her comic, she was immediately supportive! Since then, we’ve discussed the project over a few conversations and figured a lot of little details and kinks out and I was able to draft a few chapters while working which I finally had time to start typing up…

You can find the prologue here.

You can find chapter one here.

You can find chapter two here.

OoO

Title - “An Alternate Journey”

Summary - Eleven year old novice trainer Misty starts her Pokemon adventure, best friends Gary and Ash by her side. But will she withstand every test her travels throw at her and become the greatest master trainer of all time? Fic co-crafted with famous fan-artist, Miyatoriaka!

Ages - Misty and Leaf are eleven years old, Ash and Gary are thirteen, and the adults are adult-aged so who cares about ‘em? Lol.

Chapter Three - Brock

OoOoO

“Misty, get back here!” Ash huffed in exasperation, gasping for air to ease his burning lungs as he and Gary continued to chase after their mutual friend. “Why would she follow Leaf like that? This is too dangerous! I mean,” he paused to catch his breath again, offering the other boy a furtive glance before refocusing on the semi-dark path before them, “you know who that guy was with, right?”

“Yeah, trust me, I noticed the logo same as you,” Gary replied, gritting his teeth, face darkening in thinly veiled fury. “Team Rocket… But Misty doesn’t know anything about them since she only just left home…” Then he raised his voice loud enough for the redhead to hear despite the distance between them. “I just wish she’d wait for us to catch up!” he finished, lengthening certain syllables to better get across his point.

“Can’t!” the aforementioned female shouted, barely bothering to turn her head as she and her loyal Eevee speedily skipped and leapt over multiple fallen brambles, thick tree roots, and otherwise uneven footing. “If Leaf thinks she can do something here then I can too! Ah! I hear something up ahead!”

[read more]

The night had almost completely taken over and Misty had to strain her eyes momentarily while they adjusted to viewing her surroundings exclusively via moonlight. She crashed through a thorny patch of foliage and entered into a clearing, where she found the man in black and what seemed to be a cohort of his, who was now in possession of the entombed Pokemon fossil. Both of them were actively battling against Leaf while the three security guards from the museum were on the ground behind her, each nursing a fainted Pokemon of their own.

“Leaf!” Misty yelled, leaping into action with Eevee in tow, however she was blown back by a gust of wind that seemed intent on driving both a physical and metaphorical wedge between the two girls.

It was Hypno against Hypno and Misty, blinded by curiosity, couldn’t ignore the sudden feeling of inadequacy she felt as she watched her rival up in arms and doing serious battle with someone else, let alone a criminal.

A Hypno? Since when did she have one of those?

Ash and Gary appeared behind the redhead after clearing the obstacle course themselves but she was too enthralled by the amazing show of power before her to notice them.

“Use psychic and, when they’re down, finish this up with headbutt!” Leaf commanded, throwing out an arm to point out their target before having the gall to glance at Misty over her shoulder as if just noticing her presence. “Well, if it isn’t my precious little late bloomer. Actually you’re just in time for once. You’ll get to see my Ditty crush these two losers,” she concluded proudly with an almost affectionate wink.

“Ditty…?”

“Like we’ll let you ruin our weeks of planning with one little Pokemon! Hypno, barrier!” the same grunt Misty had seen earlier in town growled.

It was a quick draw. Leaf’s Ditty (odd sounding nickname but sure) released a blast of unnatural energy so powerful that even the surrounding atmosphere was thick with it. This energy grew, condensed into a barely visible beam that shot in the opposing psychic type’s direction, shattering the mirror of light that had been erected in front of them. Then Ditty dug their stubby claws into the ground and propelled toward their somewhat dazed and injured opponent, smashing into them and knocking them backwards into a nearby tree.

Hypno fell limply to the forest floor, clearly unconscious, the man in black clicking his tongue in frustration before returning the Pokemon to their Pokeball.

“You assured the boss that this would work!” his female partner wailed angrily, shoving him in the shoulder to soothe her own ire. “Like you said, weeks of planning, right? And then we’d definitely get away with a priceless fossil that the boss would undoubtedly promote us for!”

“Look, I promised we’d escape the museum security and the cops if we followed through with my plan! I never said nothin’ ‘bout some snot-nosed trainer and her friends!”

“Well, either way, I did my part sneaking up on the guards’ Pokemon and using mine to knock ‘em out! I’m not gettin’ pinched again this soon after the last time!” And thus, she haphazardly threw the artifact she’d been holding into his arms. “Here! You take it and figure out our backup plan!”

“We don’t have one to figure out! And I’m not risking prison just yet either!”

Scowling, he faced the group of children who’d spectacularly fowled up his last month of impressive scheming, taking in the sight of a smirking Leaf to a courageous Misty, to a stone-faced Ash and downright furious-looking Gary.

Finally deciding that the odds were stacked too high against him, the dastardly villain tossed the fossil into the bushes nearby, grabbed his partner’s hand, turned and dragged her away deeper into the woods while she screeched indignantly in protest.

“Ah! Get back here!” Misty shouted too, lunging forward as if to initiate another chase, but she was stopped just as swiftly by Ash snatching a hold of her hand and shaking his head at her. “Ash, what’re you…?”

Perhaps thankfully, she was distracted from finishing her accusatory inquiry by the sight of Hypno glowing white. It seemed blinding in the darkness, their form shifting and morphing, molding and shrinking. The light faded into an odd violet blob with a humorously minorly animated expression on its face.

“Wait, that wasn’t a…? What is that?” Misty asked, shaking Ash off of her and pulling her Pokedex from her pocket, flipping it open and pressing the analysis button.

“Ditto, the transforming Pokemon. Due to its unique organic makeup, it can rearrange its cell structure to transform itself into any other shape upon sight. It has a fault memory, however, and relying on it can cause it to inaccurately mimic its target. This Pokemon is one of a few species that has no gender.”

“Wow…” she exclaimed in awe, unable to conceal her envy. A Pokemon that could turn into anything, huh…?

“Thanks, Ditty, you were perfect as always,” Leaf told her Pokemon affectionately, bravely leaning down and further expressing her adoration with a kiss to the side of Ditto’s face before recalling it to its Pokeball. Then she turned and winked at her audience, fossil now tucked neatly under her arm, “Well, Misty dear, boys, I hope you enjoyed our show. Though I’m afraid if you’re looking for an encore worthy of me it might take a little while.

“Feel free to watch me as I walk away, okay?” Another wink and a suggestive puckering of her lips and she traipsed by, leaving the rest of them to follow after her.

By the time they’d made it back to Pewter’s Museum of Science and Natural History, Sergeant Jenny had arrived and was alternating between barking orders at her subordinates and double-checking details from the witness statements previously relayed to her, including the three security guards who’d retreated after their Pokemon had been knocked out in order to explain the situation to their superiors and the police. At the sight of Leaf leading the group of other trainers, however, ancient and priceless artifact in her grasp, everyone and everything came to a halt.

“Oh, oh my, I can’t believe it!” Penelope was the first to regain her nerve, hand over her mouth and looking downright tearful at the truly victorious outcome. “You found our project! You got it back f - from them? Oh, thank you!”

Leaf was almost instantaneously surrounded by officer and employee alike, all showering her with praise and applause, shaking her hand and calling her a hero, telling her that she would of course have unlimited free access to the Pewter museum, lifetime guarantee. And Leaf was lapping it up while Misty and her friends stood in the background.

“Yeah, I still don’t like her much…” Ash muttered, but his begrudging tone belied the newfound respect he couldn’t contain.

“She sure does make a lasting impression though,” Gary replied softly, his tone much more accepting of how impressed he was, and he purposefully avoided eye contact with his old friend, who was suddenly sporting a half-knowing, half-disbelieving expression.

Finally deciding that she’d seen enough, Misty beckoned to Eevee and her friends, turning and heading back to the PokeCenter.

While a large part of her couldn’t help but envy Leaf for becoming so unattainably strong and knowledgeable, another much smaller part of her couldn’t help her pride.

At least one of them had made large strides towards their dream…

And, while nobody else could see it, the redhead smirked to herself, the next thought running through her head both courageous and frank.

She would catch up to her old friend soon enough…

OoO

Misty spent the next two days training her Pokemon, challenging or being challenged by any local or passing trainer, especially those who’d also decided to go watch Brock battle at the gym. She still wasn’t sure of the strategy she should use to face the gym leader but she was at least able to gauge the Pokemon he had in possession and what moves they knew, how strong they were.

“My Metapod evolved into a Butterfree, so I could use sleep powder to put them out… But does putting a Pokemon to sleep actually win the round?” she mused aloud the next day after lunch. Their group was currently back at the gym for another recon mission, sitting halfway up the bleachers and watching Brock beat another young trainer.

“I think regulations say the Pokemon has to be unconscious for one full minute or else must withstand three impacts from enemy Pokemon techniques before being declared unable to battle,” Ash told her, brow creased as he did his best to remember the rules.

“Really? They want me to hit an unconscious Pokemon?” Misty yelped.

“Well, Pokemon are generally able to handle a lot, otherwise being a trainer and the existence of the league and all that wouldn’t be possible. But also, unnaturally induced methods of status effects - sleep, poison, freezing - are usually minor and only have very short-term effects unless there’s a drastic strength difference between the one inflicting and the one inflicted, which means the latter wouldn’t stand much chance against the former anyway.” Noticing this more in-depth explanation didn’t ease the redhead’s discomfort, Gary added, “But yeah, most people just wait the minute out and have the other side forcibly forfeit the round.”

“Mm hmm… I guess that makes sense.”

“So what are ya thinkin’? Is today the day? Honestly, I’m kinda impressed you’ve been able to keep yourself from running straight up to Brock and challenging him these past couple days. I dunno if I coulda withstood that kinda wait if I was in your shoes,” Ash told her with a snarky grin.

“Well, I guess that just means I have more patience than you!” Misty joked back, shuffling to her feet and sighing to calm her nerves. “But I guess I’m not gonna get much stronger or smarter than I am now, am I? So…” the redhead replied with an affirmative nod, maybe more to encourage herself as she rose to her feet rather than to further impress her decision on her friends.

Then, before anyone could continue or conclude the conversation, she was bounding over the bleachers in front of her, taking care not to knock into any of the other spectators in her excitement as she hopped from row to row in pursuit of the gym floor.

“Brock!” she shouted in between shallow grunts as she weaved and leaped her way closer, Eevee in tow. Her fists formed, shoulders tight, eyes ablaze, before pointing out the shirtless gym leader who was practically gaping at her from his earthy arena below. “I’ve come to beat you and get my first gym badge!”

“Uh…” the teenage gym trainer blinked, flustered by her manic enthusiasm.

“Well, that’s not embarrassing for anyone,” Gary commented with a hollow laugh, but Ash already had his mortified and flushed face in his hands, shaking his head halfheartedly in exasperation.

Misty vaulted over the wall dividing the seating sections and the arena floor, gasping for breath all the while. Eevee joined her moments after, looking mighty ferocious for such a small creature.

“Ah, so you’re next, huh? And what’s your name if I might ask?” the suddenly quite imposing teenager asked, teeth sparkling as he smiled at her and skin glistening with sweat after his previous workout.

“My name is Misty and this is Eevee, and we’re gonna take on the whole Pokemon League together because it’s our dream to be the best trainer in the world! You’re our first step so you better be ready to lose!”

“That’s some good energy I feel comin’ from you two! I like it when my challengers are filled with the kind of passion you have for your dream. It makes for a good match,” the teenage boy replied with what appeared to be a charming smile.

Ash, having barely recovered from his bout of secondhand embarrassment after Misty’s most recent spectacle, felt an agitated tingling flare up in the back of his mind, his eyes narrowing subconsciously at the display before him.

There was no way Brock was… was there?

“Now if we’re talking about dreams, I have one of those myself. You see, though my family maintains the Pewter City Gym, I don’t wanna stay here running it forever. No, in fact, what I really want more than anything is…” There was a drum-roll playing inside everyone’s heads as they braced themselves for his answer. After all, who’d heard of a gym leader who didn’t really want to be a gym leader before?

“What I really want is a girlfriend!”

Misty and Gary immediately facefaulted at such a proud (and wildly random) declaration but Ash’s reaction was the exact opposite.

“What are you doing?” Gary muttered in objection, looking up as the raven-haired trainer leaped to his feet with the appearance of a man whose brain had just imploded.

And internally even it felt that way to him, his nerves snapping and muscles going rigid. He had thought for sure that, despite whatever slight paranoid concern that had crossed his mind at first, he was just reading entirely wrong into the situation, but now he couldn’t help thinking it to be true…

“Well,” the lean and (still) shirtless gym trainer went on contemplatively, “I want a girlfriend, but also I wanna go on a sabbatical and learn the ins and outs of Pokemon breeding. I guess that means I have two dreams, and twice as much to accomplish once I leave this place to my family…

“So let’s start this battle, okay, Misty? And we can see if your passion for your dream is strong enough to take me down!”

“This is a Pokemon battle between gym leader Brock and challenger Misty for the Boulder Badge! The official rules of this gym state that the challenger may use any and all Pokemon on hand in order to defeat all Pokemon in Brock’s possession. There is no time limit!” Brock’s assistant explained from the sidelines, holding up both arms as he did so, then drawing them both down as if they were slicing through the air. “You may start!”

“I call Geodude!”

“Come on out, Butterfree!”

The two Pokemon appeared in a symmetrical flash of red light from across the field from each other, the bug-type floating up on their sparkling wings while the rock-type levitated in place, flexing its gravelly biceps.

“Ah, rookie mistake! Bugs have a distinctive weakness against rock-types!” Brock warned her tauntingly. “Geodude, tackle!”

“Dodge it, Butterfree! And counter with your gust!”

The rock-type Pokemon propelled itself up at its foe, who was light enough to twist himself sideways in mid-air, escaping a direct hit. Geodude was still able to clip the bug-type in one of his wings however, causing a momentary lack of control. Butterfree struggled to stay up in the sky, fluttering backwards to what seemed to be a safe distance before starting to flap his wings, the wind picking up and swirling around in response. With one final brutal thrust, Butterfree was able to push the wind tunnel at his opponent, who automatically crossed its muscular arms in front of its combined face and torso, blocking the impact from doing any significant damage.

“Butterfree, let’s try your supersonic!”

“Rollout, Geodude!”

The felled bug-type shook off his recent failure and unleashed a high-pitched yet somehow hollow wail that Misty could barely make out. Geodude, however, was already on the move, tucking itself into a mostly perfect sphere and spinning in place before shooting itself at his opponent.

The supersonic appeared to miss its mark due to the increase in the rock-type’s speed and, what’s more, Geodude continued to swing his entire mass back and forth across the battlefield, picking up momentum and coming closer to direct impact with the bug-type with every attempt.

Butterfree dodged to and fro even without Misty’s directive but he was losing ground - er, air - as Geodude continued to pick up speed, climbing drastically higher towards the ceiling until finally…

“Freeee!” the bug-type screeched out loud, falling haphazardly toward the ground after being slammed into by his opponent.

“Ah, oh no, Butterfree, quick! Use your gust to keep yourself from hitting the ground!” Misty yelped, internally admonishing herself for not thinking up a better strategy more quickly.

This battle was already reminding her of her recent discouraging loss against Leaf…

Nevertheless it worked, and the adamant wind bursting back at him helped him glide high into the sky despite his latest injuries. Unfortunately, he wasn’t out of the woods quite yet because first contact did nothing but ignite further Geodude’s thirst for victory.

“Keep it going!” Brock shouted triumphantly, throwing forward a fist to urge his Pokemon onward.

“String shot, Butterfree!”

White, sticky thread shot out from between the small fangs in Butterfree’s mouth, the bug-type going so far as to spray it in all directions.

It didn’t take long for Geodude to get caught up in the webbing, though it didn’t bring him to a complete stop.

“Gust again, Butterfree!”

“Geodude, defense curl!”

The dusty wind cycle hand next to no effect on the rock-type Pokemon, something Misty was getting both used to and frustrated by. Not to mention that Geodude adding to his already stellar defense was going to make him downright infallible. And there was still that ongoing rollout technique too…

There really was nothing else for it. She would have to use her special not-so-secret strategy after all.

“Butterfree, use your sleep powder!” Misty commanded, and her Pokemon followed suit quite dutifully.

“Nice try but you can’t stop Geodude that easily, especially not now!”

And it appeared that Brock’s latest taunt was true, for even when slowed down by Butterfree’s string shot, the previous momentum and combination of reckless power and speed it’d gained from rollout were enough to evade any targeted area of status ailing dust as it floated towards the ground from Butterfree’s wings. The rock-type was out of reach way before the sleep powder drifted toward his original position on the field.

But watching her recent maneuver fail gave Misty another idea.

“Butterfree, one last time, use your gust!”

The bug-type screeched, holding himself high above the stream of sleep powder, flapping his paperlight wings rapidly, causing the aforementioned powder to dispense suddenly over a much wider range. It sparkled in the artificial light from the rafters as it landed all over the battlefield, including…

“Ah, Geodude!” Brock gaped before a mildly impressed grin spread across his face. He crossed his arms over his chest and nodded affirmatively, his Pokemon faltering mid-roll on the ground, trying to blink away the onslaught of excessive exhaustion setting in.

Misty waited the mandatory sixty seconds, not having the heart to attack a defenseless, unconscious Pokemon (no matter what mineral composite their body was made out of), before the makeshift referee raised the hand that was closest to her side of the arena.

“Geodude is unable to battle! Misty is the winner of round one!”

“Not bad at all…” the Pewter City gym trainer lamented, returning his Pokemon and repocketing the Pokeball he’d used, at the same time removing another one and holding it up.

“This next one won’t be so simple for you to beat though! Truth is, I only have two Pokemon on hand that adequately produce a challenge as rock-types but this other one is my strongest and it’s usually all I need to teach new trainers a lesson or two…”

Misty knew what was coming before the next words had even left Brock’s mouth.

“Go, Onix!”

He launched his second Pokeball into the air where it snapped open of its own accord, scarlet light shooting out of it and forming a large scale semi-opaque mass that took up a significant portion of the gym leader’s side of the field. The Pokeball flew back to Brock’s hand, a ricochet effect after the release of the Pokemon held within.

“The challenger now has an opportunity to exchange their Pokemon before the new round starts. You have thirty seconds!” the referee shouted in clarification.

Misty paused momentarily where she stood, weighing her options, looking her airborne Pokemon over and assessing his damage. True, he’d been knocked around a little by Geodude’s rollout but he’d been quick enough to dodge most everything else and tough enough to outlast the hurts he had received.

“Butterfree, are you up for another battle?” the redhead chose to finally ask, the bug-type twisting around and bobbing up and down in response, which seemed to indicate a ‘yes’. “Alright then, let’s go!”

“You got this, Misty!” Ash cheered from the bleachers, and Misty offered him a thumbs up from where she stood, only now just realizing that he and Gary had moved down to the first row of seats for a closer view.

“Round two, start!”

“Butterfree, string shot and then combine your sleep powder and gust like last time!” she ordered of her Pokemon. Why fix what wasn’t broken after all?

“I told you I wouldn’t make this one so easy for you to win! Mud sport, Onix!”

The giant rock snake gave a mighty roar and thrashed around, disrupting his opponent before the second phase of attack could be commenced, kicking up much that lay throughout the entirety of the arena with his tail. He flung it around, submerging the sticky threading meant to slow him down and negating its effects.

“Rock throw!”

“You gotta dodge it, Butterfree!”

Onix smashed his tail into the ground, unearthing a few boulders, curling his tail halfway around them one at a time and launching them in the bug-type’s direction. Butterfree weaved left and right, barely missing multiple direct hits until, finally, he couldn’t maneuver fast enough.

He careened backwards flat against the wall behind him and fell to the ground, the damage too great for him to catch himself as he went.

Misty panicked internally, running around the marked edges of the gym’s battlefield boundary to get a closer look at her hurt Pokemon but was unable to get any closer, prepared for the round to be officially called in Onix’s favor.

And perhaps she’d counted her Exeggcute before they’d evolved because, despite all odds as well as Butterfree’s major weakness to rock-type damage, he began to cautiously and feebly flap his wings again, winnying his name as he slowly rose back into the air once more.

“Great job, you got this, okay?” Misty encouraged, Eevee apparently coaching her ally with similar words of comfort from beside her trainer. “Now try using your confusion!”

“Onix, rage!”

The rock-type roared again, his eyes appearing to glow somewhat from his suddenly unbridled fury just as a wave of psychic energy blasted against him, knocking him back a foot or two. Grime and dirt that had settled in the crevices between each of his nodes instantaneously unsettled and wafted into the air. Even more enraged after this latest attack, the earthy serpent let loose a torrent of wails and slams, beating and crumbling everything in his wake. Butterfree barely rose high enough to avoid this terrifyingly aggressive outbreak, though both he and his trainer were caught off-guard by what happened next.

“Wrap him up in your bind!”

Onix lifted himself up to his full height, encircling the bug-type with his whole body and coiling tightly around and around, crushing Butterfree from without.

There was a screech as Misty’s Pokemon vanished completely from view. Seconds later, Onix unwrapped himself and dropped the nearly fainted bug to the ground.

As Butterfree landed, he automatically unleashed a toxic cloud of dust and then went completely limp.

“Oh no, Butterfree…” Misty moaned in concern, removing the aforementioned Pokemon’s ball from her belt just as the referee began to make his announcement.

“Butterfree is unable to battle. Brock is the winner of round two! The challenger may have thirty seconds to choose their next Pokemon!”

“You did really well; thanks so much for everything,” Misty whispered to the Pokeball in her hand after recalling her Pokemon to it. “I promise I’ll get you some treatment after this.”

She then took a few seconds to weigh her options. Onix’s defensive stat was so high that most of her Pokemon were going to have trouble doing any damage. It was the very same problem she’d acknowledged since the beginning but it was even more evident now as she experienced the situation firsthand. She had originally hoped that the ingenuity of her sleep powder strategy would be enough to carry her team straight through to complete victory but she knew that chances of that were rather slim…

“Fifteen seconds, challenger!” the referee warned her.

“Eevee vee eev eevee!” her starter Pokemon yelped from her wide, nudging her in the ankle to get her attention.

“It’s nice that you wanna help but I don’t know how much you’ll be able to do… And I don’t want you… getting hurt too, like Butterfree did… or like what happened to you before when you fought Squirtle, you know?” Misty reminded the fox-like Pokemon with a sigh. She was quite surprised when Eevee not only stood her ground but ended up leaping into the fray without her trainer’s say-so.

“Wah, Eevee! But…” the novice trainer called out but her Pokemon twisted her head around, offered one last confident bark of her own name in her direction before marching on. “Well then… heh, I guess I choose Eevee!”

“Round three; start!”

“Tackle, Onix!”

“Eevee, use your growl!”

Despite his size, the rock-type Pokemon seemed rather put off by the smaller one’s throaty howl. He still pursued a direct hit with his physical techniques but Eevee bounded sideways, sliding in the dirt, and the tackle missed.

“Sand attack!”

It took much effort on Eevee’s part as she rocked back and forth on all fours, kicking up at the earth with her paws until a decent dusty smog hit the air, bellowing up into Onix’s face, causing him to roar and blink his eyes rapidly in discomfort, wrenching sideways while he waited for his vision to clear.

“Now’s your chance, Eevee! Tail whip and then quick attack!”

The normal-type Pokemon hopscotched around on all fours, wagging aforementioned tail back and forth, before grinding her paws into the ground. Then, using that friction as a base, she dashed off at high speed, leaping up onto the closest boulder-fragmented portion of Onix’s body, shooting up and up until she was close enough to smash him in the face.

“Again! And again!”

Eevee bounded to and fro in less than a second per command, so instantly that Brock hadn’t even drawn his breath to utter a counter just yet.

Onix, made of rock though he was, did seem to be looking a little short of breath. Misty was just starting to think that she and Eevee would be able to win this without having to call on any other Pokemon when…

“Onix, rage!”

The rock snake’s eyes glinted red and he unleashed a full, deep cry, much the same as the first time he’d been ordered to use that technique. His sudden flailing maneuver forced Eevee to evacuate, and she dodged one last earthy jab by flipping backwards and landing on all fours without a scratch.

“Rock throw!”

Now on the defensive, Eevee dodged as one - two - three! - giant masses were thrown haphazardly her way. Soon the whole battlefield was covered in smog from the dusty ground, so thick that neither trainer could see their Pokemon.

“Eevee!” Misty shouted desperately.

“Onix!” Brock’s tone was quite similar.

“Eevee, if you can hear me, hit ‘em with your quick attack a few more times!”

“Not gonna be quick enough! Harden, Onix!”

They were finally able to make out two distinctive shadows as the dust around them really began to settle and it looked at first like Onix was starting to buckle under Eevee’s repeated full body barrages but the smaller Pokemon let out a high-pitched yelp as the rock-type noticeably upped his defenses, stature growing stiff in response to Brock’s order. The normal-type bounced off her opponent and fell backwards, rolling into the dirt.

“Rage again, Onix!”

It was over so quick, Misty felt winded by the results. Eevee fainted and she went to pick her Pokemon up, carrying her over to Ash and asking him to watch over her for the duration of the battle. Knowing that her starter had willingly made such a sacrifice for the sake of their dream unnerved her some but it mostly left her feeling resolved to not let such a thing go to waste.

Between the type advantage and the sheer massive physical and defensive power, Onix continued to successfully fell most of Misty’s other Pokemon, usually in two to three shots a piece. They did their best to each whittle away at his energy before they were knocked out until, finally, only one was left.

Her last hope…

“Go, Gastly!”

Round seven. If she didn’t win this one then she’d be defeated and have to try for her first badge again another day. After all the training she’d done, all her observations, all of her Pokemon’s efforts, after her loss to Leaf and subsequent first row seat to her rival demolishing Team Rocket’s theft at the Pewter Museum of Science and Natural History...

“Let’s start this off with your confuse ray!”

There was a flash of blinding light that left Brock’s Pokemon looking moderately dazed. Onix swayed from his massive height but didn’t buckle entirely. The gym leader, acknowledging that most of his Pokemon’s attacks would be rather useless, did what he could to strategize around it.

“Rock throw!”

Unfortunately his Pokemon didn’t seem to hear him properly, instead slithering forward before ramming himself straight into the far wall.

“Onix?! Snap out of it! I said you have to use your rock throw on Gastly!”

Knowing better than to wait for Brock’s voice to get through, Misty decided to take advantage of the situation.

“Use your lick attack!”

Gastly floated dutifully up towards his opponent’s face, a prime target for a nice sick lick, guffawing all the while. Onix seemed to stare through him as he approached, appearing both absent-minded as well as short of breath, and neither affect seemed to improve after the ghost-type made contact.

Onix, I said use your rock throw! C’mon, buddy!” Brock shouted from the ground.

Perhaps it was due to Brock’s soothing (yet uneasy) tone finally reaching him, or perhaps he was simply so grossed out by Gastly’s slimy organ streaking across his face, but his vision seemed to immediately clear and he shrieked throatily, going on the offensive and launching a few boulders at the ghost-type’s speedily retreating and gassy back as it trailed away.

Gastly evaded by altering his visibility, fading in and out of sight and appearing in multiple different areas of the gym, once or twice even sneaking up on Ash and Gary (causing the former to vacate not only his seat but that entire section of the bleachers in mere seconds).

If the ghost-type’s uproarious laughter was not indication enough, his level of distraction being so high that he couldn’t be bothered to listen to his trainer’s next directive, cost them their opportunity to maintain a purely offensive position.

“Darn it, I told you to use hypnosis, Gastly!” Misty cried out, stomping her foot into the ground. It took her three attempts just to be heard and Brock and Onix weren’t having it anymore.

“Just keep using your rock throw, okay? Gastly can’t dodge forever!”

And the gym leader was right. Despite his ability to turn invisible at will, Gastly still maintained a semi-corporeal body, and his attempts at escaping a direct his were eventually thwarted by his opponent digging up and utilizing the entire battlefield against him.

Gastly smashed into the wall behind him, pieces of it crumbling to the ground in retaliation. The ghost-type appeared to be downright winded - flattened - where he landed before popping back into full form and gravitating dazedly back towards the center of the arena.

He seemed to turn more serious after taking some decent damage, eyes glowing a smoky violet as he attempted to use his hypnosis after all, however Brock told Onix to avert his gaze, which caused it to fail.

“Don’t waste any time, Gastly; try your night shade instead!”

The gaseous smog floating around the ghost-type seemed to size and shudder, the lights all around the gym fluttering from up in the rafters. There was an eerie shift in the environment and the energy around them all before Onix seemed to be smacked by a mostly invisible wave of dark power, the impact sending him flipping backwards. Just as he was crawling back to his full height, another burst of unearthly energy careened into him, and he crashed back into the wall behind him.

“Onix, counter with your rock throw!”

The two Pokemon were both up in arms, using their natural element to try and take the other out over the next several seconds. Everytime Gastly let loose another round of night shade, it would shoot straight into the newest boulder Onix had dug up from the ground, shattering it to pieces but otherwise dissipating harmlessly. Likewise, the rock-type’s onslaught was useless in reaching the ghost-type Pokemon, though not lack of trying. Alas, any boulder that happened to successfully make it past wave upon wave of elemental power was dodged by Gastly anyway.

It was watching this transpire over the following few seconds that gave Misty an idea.

“Gastly, stop what you’re doing and just listen to my directions… Go left now!” the redhead shouted aloud, watching her Pokemon follow her latest orders to a tee. “Now go right! And… right again! Left now! Left! Right… Now use your sucker punch!”

With each specific instructive shout, her Pokemon phased forward on the battlefield a little at a time, perching in mid-air just long enough for one of Onix’s impending attacks to get within a few inches of impact before being told to move again, and each maneuver got him closer and closer to his target, hiding behind the hurled boulders to conceal his location and eventual trajectory.

The gaseous smog swirling around Gastly darkened and tightened up into what appeared to be a clenched and gnarled fist, smashing into Onix’s stony face and sending him careening to the ground. For the last time, dirt was loosened and lifted up due to the ferocity of the battle taking place before settling once more where it had come from.

Brock returned his family’s precious momento Pokemon to his ball, waving at the referee to call the final round and the victor’s name.

“Onix is unable to battle! The winner of the round, the battle, and the Boulder Badge, is the challenger Misty and her team!”

Gary rose, cheering and clapping, Ash let out a whooping holler, still carefully holding the now barely conscious and still wounded Eevee in his arms. Gastly was rolling around the arena, laughing outrageously to himself, and Misty continued to stand there in the middle of the challenger’s box, hardly daring to believe what seemed to have transpired.

“I… we… won?”

The question came out breathless, almost pained. Her last ditch strategy had somehow panned out and earned her the win? She’d gotten her first badge? She’d… finally proven herself as a professional trainer!

“We won! We won!” she screeched, hopping and dancing around, repeatedly pumping her fists into the air, Gastly swooping in and twirling joyously around her. We did it! Yay!” And she ran towards the area of the bleachers where her friends stood waiting for her, Ash squaring his shoulders and losing all functionality in his limbs as Gastly came near, relinquishing Misty’s Eevee to her so they could properly celebrate their victory together.

It was, in fact, after she’d called Gastly back to his Pokeball (causing Ash to loosen up) and while her starter Pokemon was affectionately and softly licking her cheek that Brock thought it was finally time to approach them all.

Misty nuzzled Eevee’s forehead before giving her to Gary, turning and waiting to receive her prize. But to her confusion, Brock took her by both hands and pulled her close. She felt a rippling shock course through her but it faded immediately when Brock opened his mouth to speak.

“Misty, I…” he began but was interrupted by a balking, apparently infuriated Ash.

“Excuse you!” the raven-haired trainer squawked, eyebrows twitching madly, skin and brain aflame with… with something as he quickly intervened between gym leader and challenger, pulling Misty backwards and freeing her from Brock’s dastardly grip.

“Um…” the redhead began in befuddlement.

“Ah,” the rock-type trainer responded knowledgeably, “so the headstrong, over-protective, jealous boyfriend comes to the rescue.”

The words flew from Ash’s mouth in a flighty rage before he could stifle them.

“I’m not her boyfriend!” And, to further prove such a fact, he willingly stepped away and let the two of them get on with their business.

Misty appeared to have a delayed response after the strange scenario that had just occurred between herself, the gym leader, and her old friend. Nevertheless, she shook it off after a few more moments of half-baked contemplation and resumed her conversation with Brock, clearly ignoring a still furious Ash, who was stomping around and muttering to himself in the background while Gary smirked at his odd behavior.

“You’ve got a good team with you, Misty. May you never forget that this badge,” he told her as he revealed the shimmering circular item, “was earned through the use of your combined power and not just your personal wit alone. It’s important to rely on teamwork and to honor everyone’s sacrifices. Your Eevee, your Butterfree; they knew how important this victory would be to you and fought despite their weaknesses.”

“Yeah, it was probably thanks to Butterfree that you beat Onix at all, ya know?” Gary mentioned from the background.

“Wha’d’ya mean?” she asked in confusion.

“You didn’t notice?” Ash replied, having recovered from his recent temper tantrum, or perhaps he just felt as though he needed to be included in the conversation. “When he fell to the ground and fainted, Butterfree released some of his poison powder. It drifted up and infected Onix. That’s why your Pokemon’s normal physical moves began doing more and more damage; because he was weakened by poison.”

“Wait, really?” And, to think, it had still taken the rest of her team to knock Onix out...

“Anyway, here ya go! You’ve definitely earned this,” Brock relented, handing the shimmering gray pin over to the redhead and watching her eyes slowly widen in awe, her lips starting from slack before curling upward into a relieved smile.

She accepted the token of her victory and couldn’t contain her whoop of glee, throwing up her hand holding the Boulder Badge into the air as if to show it off to the world. She then took a moment to show the badge to Eevee, who cheered her own name from the safe haven of Gary’s arms.

Her next step to becoming the world’s greatest Pokemon Master was complete. And so, her adventure would continue on.

OoOoO

Notes - And so, trainer Misty has earned her first Kanto League badge! What will be her next adventure? Will she have to battle Leaf again anytime soon? And will she learn anything about the evil Team Rocket organization that everyone else seems so wary of?