#i really loved evil morty here. they did him so good they got him down so well

[mortysmith]

scrolling thru the tag for the new ep. paused everything. "what did sorrelpaws think about it though."

ALRIGHT i rewatched it AND I LIKE ITTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

[villains4hire]

Character Update

//Anyway, thanks for all the good wishes. Things are dying down on my end, thanks for it, I do appreciate it and honestly didn't expect that many.

In other news: an update for my characters below.

I've been trying to prepare for something or someone.

1- //For Princess Bubblegum, I forgot just exactly how messed up PB really was, I will be portraying her mostly to canon with a mix of the series throughout it other than the weird stuff with Finn. I will just have her assume mom mode and have it put down. I'll have several verses etc. I've got WAY too many notes on this since I've been using my freetime to rewatch the series while things are calm. I've got a lot to work with it seems.

2- //Science, the Candy Rat will communicate with a little collar they press a series of buttons on with a generic ai fem voice and talk like 'Hello. Who. Are. You?' Kind of like how dogs are trained or whatever. She'll basically be a step below PB's intelligence but a biological computer that serves as her calculator for science/on the fly and can be taught things etc. I don't want Science becoming TOO crazy but up to Space/Rick and Morty/Final Space levels is fine. She'll be my PB's companion and other peoples' PB's if they desire Science as an NPC I control or otherwise. I am open to Science being a companion to someone else.

3- //Ice Queen, I'll be honest I miss my Ice King, but I never really wanted to ADVANCE him as Simon, I kind of wanted some semblance of him staying IK but gaining more coherency- but it did feel odd keeping him as that when the series ended even if I went canon divergence. I liked the ending enough to keep it. While I will be having my IQ be more cruel, competent and intelligent but still 'magic crazy'? I will be incorporating IK's feats onto her own ability, some personality traits, backstory. This'll allow me more freedom with the character and YEAH I mean big powerful evil lady I like but also for a reason. Any relations I had with IK previously can be transferred over to IQ with basically the same backstory but diff changes. She'll be much more dangerous than Ice King with her increased competency, as the crown is capable of quite a lot but, eh, even Ice King fought Party God and won? So it's kind of like... eh, AT is more narrative driven than power-scaling other than for your biggest of bads like the Lich and Golb, yet even they can be beaten by people like Finn who have no real powers but being scrappy and superhuman in being just some guy. So I'll do my best to be flexible with her as I was with Marceline- I'll probably just have the crown revive her or something after reaching a certain stage so her dying isn't as big of a deal if it's needed for her to lose/plot. Which on that note, other than some Simons/IKs I interact with? My IQ will be my Marceline's Second Mom basically.

Marceline will of course be off the table for shipping with IQ, while I am open to people like Princess Bubblegum? I won't do some kind of polycule between the three, but not put down Marceline's development with PB? I'll just leave things vague and not make it weird since a PB friend does want to ship with me etc. The characters are all vaguely the same age so I think it's fine.

4- //Izzy the Goblin Necromancer and Pyromancer: I think I've talked about her quite a lot so I'll just say I've pretty much got her figured out. I'll just link the post. ->Click here<-

5. In summary: I am probably not gonna add Brock Samson from Venture Bros.

Here's a longer answer: I've toyed with the idea of Brock Samson, but Venture Bros while I love the series, I think I'll just stick to rping with it. I think there's some serious potential but it's one of those things where, I don't think I want to change, add or explore anything other than what other people create? But not myself? It tends to happen with my favorite shows, movies, games other than mcstealing certain characters. But who knows, I tend to flip-flop when it comes to characters in mulling over them. I know if I added Brock, I'd add Molotov as well.

[evilmortys]

okay,  so,  here  are  my  thoughts  on  the  finale,

i’m  gonna  start  with  the  things  i  didn’t  like,  just  because  of  who  i  am  as  a  person!  my  feelings  are  mixed,  but...  looks  lovingly  at  evil  morty.  he  truly  was  the  only  exception  as  usual  ♥

i’m  not  going  to  lie,  this  whole  thing  felt.  rushed.  although  some  of  rick’s  meta  commentary  about  not  touching  citadel  shit  because  it  was  canon  and  he  and  morty  were  supposed  to  be  going  back  to  lighthearted  one  off  adventures,  and  “the  second  he  reveals  that  he’s  evil,  we’re  out”  made  me  laugh,  it  also  felt  very  disingenuous  and  ham-fisted.  having  him  do  all  these  fourth  wall  breaks  honestly  took  away  from  the  impact  of  what  this  episode  could  have  been,  but  whatever.  

i  just  got  the  vibe  that  they  wanted  everyone  to  stfu  about  the  citadel  and  evil  morty,  so  they  quickly  stuck  together  this  episode  that  dealt  with  fans’  demand  in  one  fell  swoop  so  they  could  move  on  from  the  existence  of  both  plotlines.  i  honestly  thought  it  was  a  bit  wasteful  since  tales  from  the  citadel  resonated  with  a  lot  of  fans  and  it  was  an  interesting  bit  of  worldbuilding  with  compelling  narratives  going  on.

you  already  all  likely  know  how  irritated  i  am  with  morty’s  character  degrading  so  much  once  again.  this  entire  season  has  been  building  him  up  to  becoming  so  much  more  capable,  only  to  wrench  it  away  from  him  again  by  instead  having  his  co-dependency  with  rick  ramped  up  to  the  point  it  was  literally  out  of  character.  this  has  come  out  of  nowhere.  at  no  point  in  the  show’s  entire  run  has  morty  ever  been  this  needy  with  rick.  

again,  i  feel  like  this  may  have  been  written  around  what  eventually  ended  up  happening  at  the  citadel,  with  the  revelation  that  mortys  are  ‘bred  for  forgiveness.’  it  would  have  been  far  more  compelling  for  our  morty  to  have  continued  to  go  down  the  path  of  being  decidedly  unforgiving  of  rick’s  bullshit,  thereby  making  him  deviate  from  the  norm  in  a  similar  way  to  evil  morty  himself  and  implicating  that  the  cycle  of  a  morty  going  to  these  extremes  is  going  to  be  repeated  once  again.

rick  did  not  deserve  or  earn  voicing  the  recognition  that  his  dynamic  with  morty  was  toxic,  and  abusive.  are  you  fucking  kidding  me?  the  smartest  man  in  the  universe  only  JUST  clocked  onto  that?  bullshit!  he’s  known  all  along,  and  he’s  been  using  it  for  his  own  gain!  he  doesn’t  get  to  just  say  it  with  that  regretful  voice  as  if  he’s  been  clueless  /  oblivious  to  it  this  entire  time.  they  just  wanted  the  audience  to  feel  sympathetic  for  him  by  throwing  in  this  tidbit  and  a  tragic  backstory,  as  if  that  even  sort  of  makes  up  for  everything  he’s  put  his  family  through.  

abandoning  the  people  you’ve  hurt  is  ALSO  abusive  and  toxic  behaviour!  he’s  done  it  time  and  time  again!  how  is  acknowledging  the  fact  that  you  hurt  people,  that  you  hurt  your  family,  the  people  that  love  you  despite  the  fact  you  objectively  don’t  deserve  it,  then  ditching  them  once  again  instead  of  staying  with  them  and  improving  as  a  person  and  helping  everyone  heal  from  what  you’ve  put  them  through,  ANY  BETTER??  he  never  changes!!

i  also  couldn’t  really  process  the  fact  that  rick  just  handed  morty  his  portal  gun  like  it  was  nothing--  i  feel  like  him  topping  it  off  and  using  it  behind  rick’s  back  should  have  been  a  bigger  deal  than  what  it  was.  also,  morty  would  not  break  a  guy  out  of  a  mental  asylum  without  a  second  thought.  he  simply  wouldn’t  do  that.

we’ve  fallen  right  back  into  the  status  quo  of  morty  being  stupid  and  rick  being  the  smartest  one  in  the  room  who  always  knows  what’s  going  on,  even  when  he  actually  shouldn’t  for  the  sake  of  a  few  meta  jokes.  which  is  more  annoying  than  i  can  put  into  words  tbqh

obviously  i  hated  all  the  parallels  they  were  attempting  to  make  between  rick  and  morty  having  a  romantic  relationship  and  “breaking  up.”  never  has  morty  behaved  so  uncharacteristically  in  any  other  episode  of  the  show.  it  honestly  felt  disrespectful  to  all  the  growth  he’s  had  as  a  character  to  reduce  him  to  something  so  pathetic.

i  guess  this  is  less  of  a  thing  i  disliked,  and  more  of  a  commentary  on  rick’s  character?  but  once  again,  his  hypocrisy  really  leapt  out  at  me  once  it  was  revealed  that  he  always  has  a  hand  in  bringing  together  beths  and  jerrys  in  order  to  ensure  that  more  mortys  will  end  up  in  the  multiverse.  i  find  it  unbelievably  sad  that  he’ll  willingly  ensnare  the  two  of  them  in  the  throes  of  a  relationship  that  he  knows  is  likely  to  become  toxic  and  cause  the  both  of  them  to  be  miserable  throughout  their  time  together;  they’re  rarely  happy  /  compatible  together  and  always  end  up  sticking  it  out  for  the  kids.  it  also  makes  his  constant  shitting  on  jerry  even  more  egregious  and  almost  serves  to  call  his  love  for  his  daughter  into  question  for  me.  he’s  using  her  as  a  means  to  his  own  ends  by  manipulating  situations  so  she’ll  meet  jerry  and  they’ll  likely  end  up  together.  

don’t  get  me  wrong,  i  actually  really  loved  the  fact  he  had  a  hand  in  founding  the  citadel  he  now  loathes  so  much,  and  i  think  the  constant  creation  of  mortys  as  grandsons  ‘bred  to  forgive’  ricks  is  so  fucked  up  and  awful  in  the  most  intriguing  way.  it’s  akin  to  him  fiddling  with  the  concept  of  keeping  mortys  in  constant  pain  to  cloak  his  comings  and  goings  around  the  multiverse  (on  paper,  morty,  on  paper!),  except  this  time  he  did  it  in  reality.

evil  morty.  oh  my  god,  evil  morty.  my  saving  grace.  my  ray  of  light.  i’m  so,  so,  so  pleased  with  the  way  he  was  handled.  while  i  admit  i  was  looking  forward  to  more  of  a  slow - burn  thing,  getting  a  bit  of  insight  into  his  presidency  and  possibly  exploring  a  dynamic  with  him  and  c-137  (we’ll  get  to  that)...  i  honestly  still  really  loved  what  ended  up  happening  with  him,  even  though  i  still  believe  on  some  level  that  they  just  wanted  to  tie  up  his  narrative  thread  so  fans  wouldn’t  remain  fixated  on  him.

of  course  he  did.  of  course  that  motherfucker  rick  created  a  boundary  within  the  infinite  multiverse  that  ensured  he’d  always  be  the  smartest  man  within  it  as  far  as  mortys  and  other  people  in  his  life  were  concerned.  i’ve  always  found  it  odd  that  such  universes  were  never  brought  up  even  in  passing;  the  nature  of  infinite  possibilities  always  dictated  that  someone  smarter  than  him  must  exist  out  there,  and  that  worlds  existed  where  he  was  nobody  special.

him  being  morally  gray.  i  could  cry.  i  was  clinging  on  to  the  hope  that  it  would  be  shown  he  hates  ricks  more  than  he  looks  down  on  mortys,  and  it  absolutely  was.  while  he  was  okay  with  killing  and  hurting  mortys  to  achieve  his  own  “selfish”  ends,  it’s  clear  that  he’s  unhappy  with  the  cycle  of  abuse  from  their  infinite  grandfathers  that  pushes  him  to  these  extremes,  loathes  the  concept  that  mortys  are  not  supposed  to  defy  their  ricks.  “if  you’ve  ever  been  sick  of  him,  you’ve  been  evil  morty  too.”  he  hates  ricks  FAR  more  than  he  does  mortys,  and  you  can  pry  that  from  my  cold,  dead  hands.  he  believes  mortys  are  beyond  help  because  of  the  way  they  stick  by  rick--  the  fact  they’re  literally  created  with  being  yes-men  for  rick  in  mind.

he  didn’t  seek  to  make  changes  for  the  greater  good  of  other  mortys  within  the  citadel.  i  think  he  understood  on  some  level,  it  was  impossible.  i  think  he  has  this  belief  that  other  mortys  are  part  of  the  problem,  because  they  perpetuate  the  cyclic  dynamic  of  toxicity  and  harm--  they  don’t  move  to  break  free  from  it  the  way  he  does,  and  so  he  feels  no  guilt  leaving  them  behind  while  he  breaks  into  the  aspect  of  the  multiverse  where  rick  has  no  power.  it’s  honestly  heartbreaking  that  he’s  come  to  have  a  mindset  like  that.  

i  think  seeing  c-137  reach  out  to  help  rick  up  once  again  instead  of  accepting  what  i  hope  and  pray  was  a  semi - genuine  offer  to  join  him  as  he  departed  was  just  yet  another  instance  of  him  witnessing  a  morty  doing  the  most  to  save  the  man  who  makes  their  lives  a  living  hell.  if  he  was  truly  unsympathetic,  he’d  have  made  no  such  offer.  if  he  thinks  a  morty  is  capable  of  pulling  away  from  the  hold  ricks  have  on  them,  he  wants  them  out  of  this  shit  just  as  much  as  he  himself  wants  to  break  free  from  it.  i  think  he  has  the  mindset  that  i  know  they  tried  to  play  it  off  with  “haha  the  other  seat’s  a  toilet,”  but  i  don’t  think  that  was  the  case  and  they  were  once  again  just  undermining  the  moment  for  no  good  reason.  SCREAMS!!  don’t  get  me  wrong  what  he  did  WAS  selfish  and  evil.  but  in  a  way  you  can  understand  where  it  derives  from

again,  it  REALLY  irritates  me  they’ve  undone  so  much  of  morty’s  character  just  to  ensure  he  wouldn’t  end  up  taking  evil  morty  up  on  his  proposition.  if  morty  had  retained  even  a  tenth  of  the  character  growth  he’s  been  having  from  late  season  four  until  towards  the  end  of  season  five,  wherein  it  began  to  unravel,  he’d  have  left  rick.  undeniably.

the  yellow  portal.  oh  my  god............

it  made  me  so  fucking  emotional  to  see  that.  he’s  won.  he’s  free.  

[silentfcknhill]

FAVORITE SHOWS IN POSTERS

Well, we’re back for another installment of this tagged meme, this time for TV shows! I also stole this from/was indirectly tagged by @jcmorrigan. My taste in shows also differs a bit from my taste in movies, as I tend to like a lot of comedy shows with not as many horror ones. I’m not into shows as much as movies overall, but there are some that I am very passionate about so I picked twenty again. So, here we go for part 2, in order:

1. Avatar: The Last Airbender/The Legend Of Korra (2005-2014)

I'm including these as one show since they take place in the same universe and tell a continuation of the same overall plot. Altogether this is probably the best piece of media to ever exist, including movies. It has so many great characters and villains especially and some of the most epic sequences, charming humor and heartwarming moments ever. I've never met a person who didn't like these shows, even people who normally don't like cartoons. My dad, who is biased against animation? He loved it. My mother? She loved it, watched it with her multiple times. My grandmother? Loved it. My ex-boyfriend? Loved it. My best friend? Loved it. I dare anyone not to, and I'm so glad it's making a resurgence since it's on Netflix for a new generation to enjoy.

2. Black Butler (2008-2014)

I never was big into anime growing up and only really started watching anime when I was like 16 and above, but this is one of the exceptions because holy shit is it ever dark and epic. I'm not sure I'd really recommend it for kids, it's more of a teens and young adults kind of anime and that's probably why it's so good, because it isn't afraid to explore dark and mature topics and do it with all of the intensity and gravitas required to do said topics justice. It has lots of great characters, and the story of demons who make deals with children who have a dark side is fun to watch play out.

3. Seinfeld (1989-1998)

My dad was a huge fan of this show so I watched it growing up since I was a toddler and it became a classic for me. I've watched thw hole show through at least 8 times, and I'll never stop because it never gets old or boring. It's also my only comfort show when I'm having a panic attack because of one time a few years ago when I was having a drug-induced psychosis episode and watching it calmed me down, so now it's like the opposite of a trigger and whenever I'm having an episode or something I watch it to bring me back to reality. For that reason it's more than a show to me, it's a medical treatment and I'm forever grateful to it.

4. The Good Place (2016-2020)

The big four shows made my Michael Schur all made it on this post (The Good Place, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Office and Parks And Recreation), either in the main list of the honorable mentions, but this is my personal favorite of the four. It's so funny, quirky, relatable and basically tailor-made to suit my interests. Not only is it an entertaining and wholesome show, but I think watching it helped me come to terms with a lot of things like mortality, ethics, philosophy, religion and my relationships with other people. It gets  alot of different viewpoints across and if you're a very analytical and philosophical person like me you'll probably enjoy seeing it all play out. Not to mention, every single character is 'favorite character' material. It's rare you find a show with no filler characters in the main cast, but I genuinely can't choose who is best.

5. Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013-?)

Another of Michael Schur's shows, this one is just barely under The Good Place and to be honest it was tough to pick my favorite between the two because they're both equally funny. I know it's kind of controversial right now because of the whole law enforcement thing, but I actually think they do a good job of handling social issues in the show and remaining respectful of real-life systemic problems. As for the characters, this is another one of those shows where every single character is gold and I think that tends to be a trend among Schur's shows in general. He produces damn good comedy, and damn good characters. I can't wait to see what they bring next.

6. Rick And Morty (2013-?)

This is unfortunately one of those cases of 'great show, horrible fandom' and for that reason I don't get involved in the fandom even though I love the show. It's a shame because it really is a great show, so funny and, again, such good characters. I think it's a lot more accessible than the fandom likes to claim, so I'm hoping more people will give it a chance and not get put off by the intellectual elitism of the fandom because it does have some of the most entertaining and batshit crazy episodes ever, poking fun of some of the staples of science fiction in media while also poking fun of itself the whole time. Unlike the fandom, the show doesn't take itself seriously and that's enjoyable nowadays.

7. Orange Is The New Black (2013-2019)

While this show is a comedy, it is also a lot of other things and it's probably made me ugly-cry just as many times as it's made me laugh. Well, maybe not as often, but those few scenes (if you've watched the show then you know the ones I'm talking about) made me hysterically sob hard enough to be worth like fifty minor sads. But I didn't even mind because the show is just that good, and it makes you /feel/ something in a real way. Probably because of just how real it gets in terms of telling stories that happen all the time in the real world, sometimes with inevitably tragic endings. But these things do happen every day, and it's important to shine a light on that. It's not just representation for LGBTQ+ but also for POC, the neurodiverse, the poor, and many more. Give it a watch to broaden your perspective!

8. Big Mouth (2017-?)

This is probably the grossest show I've ever seen but by god is it ever funny. Maybe it's because I have an immature sense of humor or something, but I love this show. It definitely won't be everyone's cup of tea and I don't recommend you watch this show with anyone else around because it will get awkward. I think part of its appeal to me is that everyone I talk to who likes it considers it so relatable to their lives growing up but for someone like me who grew up on the autism and asexual spectrum and who was physically an early-bloomer by years, nothing about this show is relatable to me in any way so it makes it all the more crazy and bizarre watching how the people around me must have experienced things. Did y'all really have these experiences with puberty in middle school???

9. Dexter (2006-2013)

I recently heard that this show is coming back for a reboot soon and I'm so excited because this is my absolute favorite drama/thriller show, as evidenced by the fact that it's the highest one on the list so far that isn't a comedy. I love the idea of having a protagonist who is sort of a villain (or at least morally dubious), and the idea of a serial killer who only kills bad people is particularly satisfying for some reason. Maybe because he's the vigilante we all deserve and want in this unjust and evil world of modern times? Idk but the very premise of this show set it up for big things and aside from the ending I think it delivered consistently.

10. Once Upon A Time (2011-2018)

This show took us on some journeys, and you can't deny that. Sure, maybe it didn't always finish what it started and didn't always end in the most satisfying way, but part of its charm is that you didn't care because the experience was just so much fun. They took characters and stories that have been told to death and somehow managed to put a unique and unexpected twist on them, and that alone is admirable. Good twists, good villains, and pretty much every cliffhanger known to man will keep you hooked on binge-watching every episode.

11. RuPaul's Drag Race (2009-?)

A bit different than the other entries on my list in that it's not fiction but a reality competition show, but I couldn't leave Drag Race out because it's just so fucking iconic and perfect. Even when you disagree with the judges or can't stand a certain contestant you'll still be having a good time. It's got the personalities you love to love, the ones you love to hate, and the comedy that's completely meme-able. I mean just how much has this show contributed to pop culture and the internet? More than most of us, henny. I've watched every single season, even the international ones and all of the spinoffs. This show will probably be on for another thirty years when Ru is throwing shade from a hospital bed and I'll still be watching.

12. House (2004-2012)

Some people hate on this show, and I don't get it. I love House. Yes, he's an ass. That's the point. He's supposed to be unlikeable, and that's why I like him. Maybe because I always love the rude, sarcastic, misanthropic jerkass-genius characters for some reason. And I also love procedural shows, so it's a win-win. I also work in the healthcare field so it appeals to me for that reason too, because obviously the whole premise is outlandish which is what makes it funny. Of course it's not realistic for a hospital, so just enjoy the absurdity and don't get too hung up on the details of medical accuracy and professional ethics and you'll be fine.

13. The Office (2005-2013)

The third of Michael Schur's show and the last one that made the main list (sorry Parks And Rec, I love you too but there was just so many good shows to choose from and I saw you last so the nostalgia isn't as strong!) I don't think I need to hype this show up any, it's already a classic and you can't even turn around online without getting hit in the face by a dozen Office memes. You'll have to pry this show and it's relatable characters (especially Michael Scott) from my cold, dead hands.

14. All Hail King Julien/The Penguins Of Madagascar (2008-2017)

Like Avatar/Korra, I also consider this as one show for the sake of this list because it also takes place in the same universe (Madagascar, specifically) and I just couldn't choose one over the other because they're both so perfect. They're funny and I love all the characters (it cut out the weaker links of the Madagascar film series and just focuses on expanding the standout side-characters like King Julien and the penguins). It also delved into some lore, particularly the first show, and even though I didn't also agree with the directions it took (you may have seen me get salty about the ending because I cared too much), I can't deny how much I love it.

15. Bones (2005-2017)

One of the other scarce non-comedy shows on this list, it still has it's funny moments. It's also, like House, another procedural show that involves some medical stuff, but this time on a more scientific and forensic level which is even more interesting. It's nice to see a lead female with Asperger's, too. There's a lot of cop/law enforcement shows where they try to solve crimes, but this one is the best, and I'm saying that as a fan of CSI as well. Don't fight me on this, I'm right. Oh yes, it's corny, it's campy, it's cheesy, but I love every minute of it. Don't watch if you have a weak stomach though.

16. The Simpsons (1989-?)

We all grew up with this show, don't lie. It's been around longer than most people on tumblr have even been alive. Should it have ended seasons ago? Hell yes. But that doesn't take away what the first like 20 or so seasons gave us (there's a lot of argument about when the show jumped the shark, for me it wasn't until much later than the popular consensus). The characters are amazing, but the secret to the show's longevity is that they always return to status quo and there's comfort and nostalgia in that. Bart will still be in 4th grade when you're out there pushing 90. This show is persistent. This show is eternal. This show will outlive us all.

17. Ash Vs. Evil Dead (2015-2018)

Sorely underrated. This show is hilarious, gruesome and campy as hell and I love it. I don't think you necessarily have to watch the Evil Dead movies beforehand in order to get the plot of the show, although it would probably help. In my opinion this show ended way too soon and I'm hoping someday we'll get a comeback because Ash is the reluctant, self-absorbed hero we all need and it's 2020 so at this point there really might actually be a demon-zombie apocalypse and who's gonna save us then if not for the impulsive womanizer with a chainsaw for a hand?

18. Malcolm In The Middle (2000-2006)

Another show I grew up with, I don't think it gets as much credit as it deserves. It has some damn funny episodes and great characters, and it did a lot of the popular sitcom tropes before they were 'cool'. Some other great sitcoms, The Middle in particular, took a lot of influence from this show and it helped pave the way for the future of sitcoms at a time when they were about to make a comeback. If you want a good show about the real experiences of growing up, this is a much more accurate representation of the highs and lows of being an awkward tween from a dysfunctional home.

19. A Series Of Unfortunate Events (2017-2019)

Unlike most people I actually liked the movie version from the early 2000's, and I read the books growing up so I was excited when I saw there was a live action television adaptation of it on Netflix because I felt like they cancelled the movie franchise too soon. I was interested to see how new actors would handle the roles, and I was not disappointed. I wouldn't say I liked either portrayal of the characters better or worse, they both added their own twist to it and this show is a great and loyal adaptation to the books, probably because the author was so heavily involved. He knew just when to stick to the books and when to improve upon what he had done with the benefit of hindsight. This show is basically the books, but remastered.

20. Winx Club (2004-?)

Sort of an odd one out on this list, but I really love this show even as an adult and it may surprise you to learn it is still going on and the most recent season came out last year. They take big breaks sometimes in between seasons, but it's still going strong and in multiple countries. The only thing I don't like about watching this show is all the different and inconsistent dubs since the original show is Italian and each dub only goes for a couple seasons so by the time you get used to one set of voices/names for the characters oyu have to abruptly switch to another, but it's still worth it for the beautiful animation and cool characters (especially the villains!)

Honorable Mentions: 

13 Reasons Why, America's Next Top Model, American Horror Story, Arrested Development, Bates Motel, Battlestar Galactica, Black Mirror, Care Bears, Chernobyl, Courage The Cowardly Dog, Criminal, CSI, Duck Dodgers, Goosebumps, Kenny Vs. Spenny, Kim Possible, Kingdom Hospital, Lazytown, Lost, Making A Murderer, Mayday, Mindhunter, Modern Family, Monster High, Obsession: Dark Desires, Parks And Recreation, Prison Break, Project Runway, Queer As Folk, Queer Eye, Salem, Schitt's Creek, SCTV, Spongebob Squarepants, The Emperor's New School, The Good Doctor, The Haunting Of Hill House/Bly Manor, The Middle, The Pretender, The Walking Dead, The X-Files, Through The Wormhole, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Unsolved Mysteries, Yugioh

Tagging: @bullet-farmer​ and anyone else who wants to!

[smhalltheurlsaretaken]

First I gotta say that I love you and your work, it's incredible and I enjoy every post✨

My brother said that Qui-Gon and Luke are grey jedi and that Luke has a red lightsaber as backup or something like that. And I'm looking at him with mad side eye and just wanted to ask your opinion on it?

❤️❤️❤️ Aaaaaw, so sweet!!!!

... Wait, Luke has a red lightsaber? *furious typing* Ah, yes. It’s in like three Legends books, and therefore worthless. 

Just kidding - but here lies the first problem. What continuity is your brother even working with? Because you cannot - and I will die on this hill even though it’s just basic common sense, cannot - attempt to reconcile the Legends EU and Lucas’ vision for Star Wars into one cohesive universe. The characters don’t work, the themes don’t work, the timelines don’t work, the ideas don’t work. 

Here is a bit of an explanation on why I believe that to be the case, and the quotes backing it up, but basically, Lucas, Filoni and LucasFilms all confirmed that the extended universe was not to be considered on par with the movies and TCW in any way. I’m not saying this to criticize the EU itself, or to say people don’t have a right to find it immensely entertaining/meaningful. I’m saying this to explain why you cannot take pieces of the EU (yes, even the old EU) to try and contextualize the movies - unless Lucas/somebody on the creative team of a piece of ‘higher’ canon expressly admitted to having taken something directly out of Legends.

Now, is there such a thing as a “Grey Jedi” in the movies, or TCW? No, there isn’t, but we’ll come back to that. 

The second problem is the very definition of Grey Jedi. Depending on who you ask, what decades-old Legends book you go on from, Grey Jedi are either individuals capable of using both the Dark and the Light, or simply rogue Jedi. 

Breaking it down case by case: I - Are Luke or Qui-Gon rogue Jedi? II - Do Luke or Qui-Gon use both the Light and the Dark?

I (A) - Qui-Gon is characterized as a bit of maverick, but he is by no means a complete outlier to the Jedi. I’ll just drop these two very interesting posts here and here that are a bit off-topic but make some great points about Qui-Gon loving the Order and definitely identifying as part of it.  We get many, many instances of the Council itself approving of him. They overrule Yoda’s vote to not have Anakin trained, they still assign Qui-Gon very important missions like the one to Naboo, and they don’t pull him out of said missions when Qui-Gon shows up with a random kid he claims to be the incarnation of the Force itself. That is indicative of a high degree of trust, to say the least - so you can say that he is ‘rogue’ in the sense that he used to eff off to wherever to do his own stuff, but he never claimed to be anything other than a Jedi, he never left the Jedi, and he never criticized the Order in the movies or TCW (yes, you can check - he never once directly says anything about them being wrong for not doing things his way; just that he will do what he feels he must.)

"Tu-Anh was something of a maverick. Much like my own master, Qui-Gon Jinn. She would disappear for long periods, conducting rogue investigations. Her activities often unknown to even the Council." ―Obi-Wan Kenobi, to Jen June on Tu-Ahn[src]   

So yeah, rogue somewhat, but still a Jedi Master, trusted to the point that they would have had him on the Council had he chilled a bit. 

He also never does anything in the movies that sets him apart as oh-so-different from his fellow Jedi. Arguing with the Council? Everybody does that. Anakin does, Obi-Wan does, Yoda does, Ahsoka does, the younglings do - they argue with Obi-Wan in the Ilum arc. Being compassionate/nice to people? Check out the Disappeared, two entire episodes that have Mace befriending Jar Jar Binks. Here’s a list of instances of the Council being incredibly nice. Here, here and here is Mace being kind and compassionate. Qui-Gon liking Anakin? Here’s the Council and Anakin bantering. Here’s Yoda caring about Anakin. 

Again, Qui-Gon wanted Anakin trained as a Jedi, and trusted his straight(er)-laced Jedi Padawan with it in the end. There is nothing in the movies or the show saying Qui-Gon was completely separate from the Order, or in radical opposition to them.

I (B) - Luke is the Order reborn, so he cannot be rogue, as the only thing he can measure himself against is himself. There is no longer a standard to be rogue in comparison to. Considering the state of the galaxy when he becomes a Jedi, Luke simply cannot function in the same way the Jedi who came before him did, but that doesn’t say anything about a rejection of the values of the PT Order. What it means to be a Jedi - being kind and compassionate, being in control of yourself, seeking peace before violence - is embodied by Luke. Furthermore, Luke loves Yoda and Obi-Wan - the quintessential Jedi characters - deeply, and finds much of his identity in being a Jedi. 

“I am a Jedi, like my father before me” would be a really weird line if Luke actually meant “but like, not a Jedi like those Jedi. I’m a me-Jedi. A not-like-them-Jedi.”

I can’t make this into a Luke meta, because it’d be too long, but I don’t get the idea that Luke could represent a rogue Jedi when, at the time of his creation, he was the one and only embodiment of an active Jedi Knight we got to see. Like, what were we supposed to compare him to to determine he was rogue/doing things ‘better’? 

Luke’s story is about becoming a Jedi and getting his father to become a Jedi again as well. That story makes little narrative sense if he’s supposed to be defined in opposition to the rest of the Jedi (that, at this point in time, we didn’t know) as instead of being defined as one. 

And again, the Jedi of old display just as much compassion and kindness as Qui-Gon or Luke.

-

II - No, Luke and Qui-Gon don’t use both the Dark Side and the Light, because that’s literally not how the Force works - and don’t take my word for it: here’s Lucas explaining it in details. You don’t get to do both. The Dark is selfishness. You can’t be selfish and selfless and the same time. You can’t crave power and holding innocent people’s lives as more important than even your own.

The words “light side” were never uttered in the movies and only really appear in the Mortis arc, and I dare anyone to claim they truly understand everything about it beyond “it’s a microcosm of the Galaxy/the whole Star Wars saga.” The Jedi never claim adherence to a “light side,” they say they seek balance. The idea that balance is 50% evil and 50% good is baffling to me and I blame the SWTOR video games and their in-game mechanics. (Look, if I pour 50% poison into my sugar when I’m making a cake, everybody is still dead in the end. And if I slaughter only half of the people I’ve got it for and forgive the other half, I’m still creating that many circles of hatred and revenge.)

-

Finally - if Luke or Qui-Gon were meant to be “Grey Jedi” Lucas would have called them that. It’s not the case. It’s not anywhere in the movies or TCW, hence, it’s not what he intended. They can be interpreted this way, but it’s still not what the movies where trying to say. 

[discoscoob]

"What Loki got wrong – and Doctor Who got right Redeeming a villainous character isn’t easy but the Disney Plus series could pick up a few tips from the BBC’s flagship series.

We all love Loki – the God of Mischief, Lord of Chaos, a wannabe tyrant and murderer with a twinkle in his eye and a spring in his step. So where on Earth (or rather, in the multiverse) did he go during his eponymous Disney Plus series? When Loki was first proposed, I was intrigued to see a Marvel spin-off that focused on an amoral, self-serving character. But over the course of its six episodes, we saw Tom Hiddleston abruptly deliver a reverse heel-turn, transforming a character that had always skirted in grey areas of villainy into a fairly bland, heroic type who just wanted to save the universe.In the final episode, Loki was offered the chance at universal war and chaos, a throne or a quiet home life in the background. The mind boggles that someone who tried to rule the planet just a few weeks before and apparently revelled in disorder would so quickly plump for the third option, no matter how nice his new friends were. .Maybe Loki needs more ‘good’ characters to bounce off for him to play the fun bad boy, as he had in the Thor movies. Maybe creating a Marvel series with a morally ambiguous lead, à la Rick and Morty, was never on the cards. But there was a way that Loki could have redeemed its central character without completely compromising what made him interesting in the first place. In fact, it’s been done before in a different series.A few times over the course of Loki, viewers had compared it to Doctor Who, mainly because of its general time-travel premise (what are the officious TVA except Time Lords with a dental plan?) and especially after episode three saw Loki and Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) trapped on a dying world. In fact, many commented that Loki did ‘Doctor Who’ better than Doctor Who itself, thanks to a higher budget and bigger stars. (Though did Loki have a sonic screwdriver? I think not. Case closed.)And I actually think Loki could learn something from Doctor Who, more specifically, from a storyline that saw an iconic villain try to change their ways with Cast your mind back to 2017 and Peter Capaldi’s final series as the Twelfth Doctor. A major throughline of those episodes was the Doctor’s attempt to redeem his old nemesis The Master, then played by Michelle Gomez as Missy. Initially reluctant (and not before a few final backstabs), Missy did end up playing the hero, only to be cut down by an alternate version of herself (AKA her predecessor in the regenerating role, John Simm) before she could reveal to the Doctor that she’d finally come over to his side.Crucially, during this process Missy was often as unpleasant, irascible and darkly funny as she’d ever been at her most villainous, regularly still insulting and belittling the Doctor and his friends even as she did gain more empathy and something of a moral code. She didn’t just completely gain a new personality, in other words, and the story was more moving and believable as a result.Of course, Loki is changed by what happens to him over the course of his series – the “journey” he goes on, as Jonathan Majors’ He Who Remains puts it, is needed to put him in the position where he’s willing to take over the TVA himself. But what we see him go through on screen doesn’t feel like enough to justify such a change in the character – or why the show would choose to make him so much less entertaining.If Loki had always been how he appeared in the finale, he wouldn’t have lasted as long as he has in the MCU, let alone get his own spin-off. Make Loki fun again! It probably doesn’t help that we’ve seen an onscreen version of Loki’s journey already which did a better job, with the ‘older’/original Loki’s arc in 2017 Marvel movie Thor: Ragnarok making a much better case for his gradual turn from self-interest to semi-heroism, though still with a trademark blend of arrogance and style (including bellowing “Your saviour is here!” as he rescued the people of Asgard).Maybe it helps that, in that film, he plays second fiddle to Chris Hemsworth’s Thor. Maybe Missy’s story only worked in Doctor Who because she wasn’t the main character, and similarly had the good

Doctor to bounce off (though if someone does want to make a Missy TV show, I’m in).Whatever the reasoning, something still feels a little off about this newly heroic Loki variant. Time for, if not a pruning, then at least a bit of a redirection if season two is going to find its glorious purpose"

reading this article rolling my eyes first off Missy went by a different name, also was not really a redemption of the master but that version of the master e.g missy which still don't know where this version is suppose to happen cause imo missy was the master but unlike the master had more redemptive qualities, wanting to be the doctors friend again/wanting to change but never getting the chance/past version didn't want to change, while this version feels like always on a path of redemption to the be killed off and the master comes back still evil, most likely missy version of the master will never be mentioned again/ never see this version again. also have they watched the Loki show, he literally learns he dies in the future, his stuck in a unfamiliar place by a very powerful organisation, also his self serving persona has always been a façade mostly, people can suddenly want to change which imo Loki hasn't really wanted to as Thor as pointed out about him going round in circles and him never seem to want to change in Ragnarok he was still not really change even though he shown he can be a better person, he also betrayed thor show still self serving. but Loki in the series makes sense his perception would change, his lost him home, his free will, Thor, learns he died/dies, and can't back to his timeline, but find it unbelieveable that Loki whole attitude would change... i think people need to pay more attention/don't really understand Loki, also he is still fun 3 episodes in just because his not acting like a clown and shown to be vulnerable and shown be more genuine and wanting be a hero doesn't mean they completely stripped his personality, hopefully we see his fun personality back next series. the reason he lasted in MCU so long is not just because his fun etc but because his a complex character, if i remember correct his fun personality didn't really come out until the dark world and then ragonorak in Thor he was angry and bitter and avengers was angry and bitter and wanting to rule earth. also we saw his fun personality up until episode 3 as slowly began to stop clowning around and become more genuine through Sylvie, also good friends didn't just change Loki, it was already in there it was a journey he always destined to go down as saw in the films which now some what reset in the series for another journey but thing is Mobius and Sylvie not just better Loki but his also bettered Mobius and Sylvie, also makes sense he change his self serving behaviour as learns even gets the throne or what he thought was his glory purpose he still not be truly happy, just like Sylvie and just like Mobius at The TVA. i feel some just don't really go into who Loki character is or just like his boring now if his not there being smug or clown or him finally actually being genuine = bad telling of redemption ok *rolls eyes*

I 100% agree! Reading that made me roll my eyes too, until I got to your part of the anon, that was a relief to read.

[iamnmbr3]

And here's the thing about TVA... even if/when they are gonna be revealed as bad guys (in Phase 4 Multiverse of Madness is happening, the timecops have to go down for that), the first impression I've got is that the show presents totalitarian organization in 'funny', zany, catroonized way. I know very little about Rick and Morty, but I've heard their style of jokes can be twisted and weird. And I just think that something working for animation medium is not always good for live action. Add to that Loki's humiliation and declawing made through stupid gags... I'm starting to think Marvel made a mistake hiring those creators just for name recognition...

Yeah! Exactly! We're not supposed to find them scary or take their evil that seriously. Look at all the things they do in Avengers to villain code Loki and to present what he is doing as evil and sinister. And en even better example. Avengers 2011. The bit where Sif & the W3 come and confront Loki once he's on the throne. Loki actually hasn't done anything wrong there but the camera angles and music and character reactions etc. all cue that audience that we're supposed to view this moment as sinister. Same for lots of other villain moments in various MCU films. Even the Grandmaster, who is presented as a more fun and funny villain, is still clearly framed as being evil and in the wrong. We don't get that with the TVA.

They copied the melt stick scene from TR but whereas in TR the joke is that the GM seemed silly but he's actually dangerous, the joke in the Loki Series appears to be that Loki is scared and is making a silly face. We're not really supposed to engage with the TVA being evil because it's all part of the joke. The humor derives from what they are doing to Loki. And we're not supposed to feel bad for him or mad at the TVA. We're just suppose to laugh. Despite the fact that the TVA are the most evil villains ever in the MCU - they commit mass genocide, enslave people, torture people, surveil them without leave, commit acts of police brutality, and WANT TO ELIMINATE FREE WILL. That's very evil. But it's presented as a complete joke. That might be fine in a cartoon parody. But it feels weird here. It also robs the story of any tension.

Now that doesn't mean that the show won't engage at all with the TVA being evil. I sure hope they do! But I don't think it will be handled in the right way. We know the multiverse has to get opened up, so I suspect something along these lines might go down. I think it'll turn out that *gasp* the extremely antisemitic tropes space lizards are evil and Loki will rebel against them and decide to change his own fate because he doesn't want to be a villain anymore and instead wants to try to be better (thus retconning his complex character history and motivations and turning him into a simple villain who now wants a redemption arc) and he will probably team up with Mobius to free the timeline. He may kill his alternate self along the way or possibly they will team up (I hope!).

I don't think Mobius will be characterized as evil for what he did to Loki in this episode. It will be portrayed as tough love. I also don't think the other TVA characters we've met will be portrayed as evil even tho they and Mobius work for an incredibly evil organization. I mean we know the Renslayer actress said this is an origin story for her character so I doubt she's getting killed off, and the head writer seems to love Mobius and think he is a good guy so I doubt he'll die. Instead I think it'll be framed as them and Loki both learning from each other and becoming better. And then Loki probably leaves or maybe heads off with Mobius to deal with some new threat next season.

I don't think Mobius will be characterized as evil for what he did to Loki in this episode. It will be portrayed as tough love. I also don't think the other TVA characters we've met will be portrayed as evil even tho they and Mobius work for an incredibly evil organization. I mean we know the Renslayer actress said this is an origin story for her character so I doubt she's getting killed off, and the head writer seems to love Mobius and think he is a good guy so I doubt he'll die. Instead I think it'll be framed as them and Loki both learning from each other and becoming better. Then Loki will probably leave or maybe head off to confront some new threat with Mobius at his side so they can set up for another season.

They will probably validate the idea that Loki's experience with the TVA was positive and taught him to be a better person. The fact that Mobius's treatment of him was utterly inexcusable will be ignored. The fact that the TVA characters were part of an organization committing acts of genocide and torture and enslavement will be ignored. The framing will be that Loki was a villain up until the TVA experience "taught" him to be better and made him want to rebel against his villainous role. His motivations will be retconned to him just being a bully who feels weak and pathetic and takes it out on others to feel stronger.

I would love to be wrong.

[arcadianstuff]

“School rivals” p.t 4

So I said this would be the last part but it’s taken a turn and there might be two more parts not sure yet. This one has more twists than a bloomin maze but I hope you enjoy !!!

“Wake up mortal ! I said awaken !” An angry, thunderous voice rung through your ears. Before you could even react to the voice a mind numbing sensation of pain started to spread through your right side. Bellroc had grown impatient with your sleeping stages and decided to jolt you awake - quite literally.

The fiery magic burnt your side, the pain setting your nerves alight figuratively and literally. You struggled onto your knees, coughing as you tried to stand up.

Blood had dried on your soccer jersey and around the wound on your head. Youd probably been locked away for two days, but you weren’t to sure. There was no way to tell trapped in the darkness of your prison. But what you did know was that the longer you left your wounds the worse they’re get. If they became infected from lack of treatment there’d be no saving you.

“I’m up you ugly bitch.” You spat at her, a little bit of blood mixed in with you saliva.

To be fair, spitting and swearing at an ancient magical deity probably wasn’t the smartest idea, but you certainly didn’t care anymore. The pain of your wounds, and distress about the entire situation, was causing you to lose a little bit of your sanity.

Magic was real; These creatures were as old as time; Your brother was the troll hunter, which you didn’t rally understand but it meant he was tangled up in this; There were trolls and two of them had been in your house; and Douxie was a wizard. This was about as much as you’d gathered over the last couple of days.

“How dare you ! You’ll regret that girl.” The creature that was the keeper of the flame, better known as Bellroc, cast another magic spell sending a wave of fire straight at you. You screamed this time, the fire burning everywhere. They’d said they were going to keep you alive but you weren’t so sure anymore.

“Bellroc stop. We need her alive.” Skrael interrupted her fun, watching as the troll hunter’s sister writhed in pain.

“Maybe but I have another plan for her.” Bellroc cackled, malice filling her voice.

For the first time ever, Skrael appeared worried at what the other member of the Arcane Order had planned. They needed you alive to ransom with the troll hunter but it appeared Bellroc had another idea. After al this time and so many failures, Skrael could tell she was slipping into insanity and becoming more and more dangerous. She was wild and unpredictable now.

“Mortal you will be my weapon ! This will be the final battle and you will be my champion !” The evil bitch approached you, hands grasping the metal bars that confined you in your prison. She cackled manically in a way that almost scared you. She was crazy.

“Over my dead body.” You spat before quickly pushing yourself off the floor and rushing to the bars, swinging your fist back and punching the ancient deity straight in the face.

Taken by surprise, Bellroc actually faltered a little, stumbling backwards as her mask cracked. You’d actually managed to hurt her. A mortal at that. Instead of reacting with anger and violence like you expected, she started to laugh in a way that chilled you to the bone.

“Yes ! You will be perfect my champion.” Bellroc cackled again, before swinging around and grabbing your face in one of her clawed hands, magic emitting form her hand.

Your entire body started to glow with a bright orange light, her magic starting to fight its way into your body. The pain was like nothing you’d felt before, it boiled your blood and singed your nerves, like you were being electrocuted. In that moment you wished for death, anything to make it stop.

“Bellroc..” Skrael watched on in horror at what he was seeing. She’s made this mistake so many years again with Morgana and Arthur and now she was doing it to you and the Trollhubter.

Your screams filled the cave, so loud that above you the group of your friends, who’d come to save you, could hear.

“What’s that ?” Toby asked hearing faint wails. The pain and fear that filled them chilled him to the core.

The others exchanged looks of horror, Douxie clutching his wizard staff tightly in fury.

“It’s (y/n). We must hurry !” Blinky said his calm voice wavering with worry as he heard master Jim’s sister scream in pain from below them.

They stood in the middle of a dense forest outside of Arcadia. Darkness swarmed the forests, sunlight unable to pass through the thick grove of trees. Not a single animal could be seen, not even the smallest bug. Nothing would enter this place and it wasn’t too surprising. It reeked of death. A giant chasm loomed below them. How deep it went they couldn’t tell but Blinky was sure you were being held down there.

“What is this place ?” Claire asked, her magic was behaving strangely. Even her shadow magic seemed insigincant in this place.

“This place is Mortis Forest fair Claire, this is a place of unspeakable danger. Terrible things happened here.” Blinky answered shivering as he thought of the monstrosities that occurred in this place.

The only reason why he knew was because of his wide reading. Most would never be allowed to know of this place’s existence. It had been erased from history and for good reason.

“The Magic here allows you to do unspeakable things.” Blinky continued, watching as Jim took hold of Daylight, swinging the sword in front of him.

“Even more reason to go now and find my sister.” Jim’s tone was dark, determination and something else that almost seemed like bloodlust filled his eyes.

Before anyone could respond, he jumped down into the chasm before them, the darkness swallowing him.

“Jim !” Claire screamed watching as her boyfriend disappeared below.

The others yelled after him, before eyeing the gaping chasm. Douxie rushed down after him, leaping into the chasm. He couldn’t wait any longer, you needed to be saved now. God knows what they’re were doing to you and it was his fault. He’s brought the arcane order here and he’d be dammed if he let them hurt you. In the back of his mind Douxie prayed those screams hadn’t been yours.

“Guys we should really think about this.” Toby mumbled. Of course he wanted to save you, he just hated heights.

“No time wingman.” With one swing of his arm, Arrgh picked Toby up and placed him on his back before jumping down after Douxie and him, Toby screaming at the sudden feeling of weightlessness.

“Come on Blinky.” Grabbing the trolls hand, Claire conjured a portal using her shadow staff and dragged the troll through before he could say anything.

Luckily for them the chasm wasn’t to deep and the whole group had managed to land safely on the chasm floor. It was pitch black in the murky depths of the cavern but a faint red glow could be seen coming from one end of the cavern.

All thinking the same thing they rushed towards the source of the red light, entering the cae system.

“Creepy.” Arrgh mumbled looking up at the skulls that lined the cave walls.

“You can say that again.” Toby whispered from on top of Arrgh, cowering a little at the sight of what he hoped wasn’t dried blood on the floor.

Jim and Douxie led the group, both furious that you’d been taken. To Jim this was a family matter, he’d failed to protect you and it could cost you your life. He could remember all the times you’d protected him. When your dad had left, you’d hugged him for hours telling him it would be okay and that it wasn’t your guys fault. When your mum worked late at the hospital you made sure he got to bed on time and had done his homework. At school if he was being bullied by Steve you’d put him in his place or get Señor Uhl off his back.

So many times you’d been there for him and yet this time when it’d really mattered he’d failed you. And all because of his own selfishness. He thought he was protecting you, but now he knew he was enjoying the fact that he had this thing that you didn’t. You were perfect, the perfect student, the soccer captain, spring fling queen. How could he compete ?

Much like Jim, Douxie felt like a failure. He’d failed at protecting you and felt like he was the reason the Arcane order had reappeared in Arcadia. Sure you riled him up, your stupid quips and sarcastic remarks made his blood boil and your immunity to his flirting also bothered him, but he cared about you. He didn’t want you to get hurt. He loved you. He’d said it in front of everyone and yet you didn’t even know. He couldnt lose you now without telling you.

They finally approached the source of the forboding red light, and found themselves at the entrance to a wide cavern. Two figures could be made out round the corner: Bellroc and Skrael.

“Okay so we need to follow the plan. Now mast-“ Blinky began to recall the plan they’d come up with until Jim, without wanting, rushed into the cavern, sword drawn and yelling furiously.

“So much for that.” Douxie mumbled before following after the troll hunter.

Jim rounded the corner, sword swinging at Bellroc who was taken by surprise. Daylight made contact against the top of her skull mask, cracking it in two.

“Ah troll hunter ! So nice to see you again.” Sliding back Bellroc smirked maliciously at the now panting troll hunter, who pointed his sword at her.

“Give me my sister back now ! And I might let you live !” He roared charging again to go in for another attack, sword pointed to drive through Bellroc’s heart.

Behind him, Douxie had begun to engage in a fight with Skrael with the assistance of Claire.

“Where is she ?” Douxie roared, sending a magical blast straight at him, which Skrael just dodged but unfortunately was truck by Claire’s shadow staff, who’d appeared behind him.

“Give us (y/n) !” Claire yelled, swinging her staff down, aiming for Skrael’s head.

Struggling between dodging Douxie’s spells and Claire’s staff, Skrael started to feel threatened. The two sorcerers had grown much stronger since their last battle. He could feel himself becoming desperate.

Bellroc wasn’t doing much better as she faced off against Jim, Toby and Arrgh who combined were beginning to overpower her. Their anger over (y/n) being taken also helped fuel them and at this rate the pair would be defeated.

“Bellroc now !” Skrael yelled before Douxie landed a hit straight on him, sending the god of the north wind straight back into the wall. Claire high fived her teacher, who looked satisfied at seeing one of your captors knocked out for the count.

Seeing Skrael hit the wall and knocked out, Bellroc could see their window of opportunity closing. Rasing one hand into the air, the warm glow of red coloured magic left her hand. The cave began to tremble, the floor starting to shake as if an earthquake was happening.

Startled the others struggled to stay upright, looking around each other in shock and fear.

“Rise my champion !” Bellroc screeched cackling manically as a figure began to emerged from the darkness of the end of the cavern.

A woman sauntered into the cavern, clad in a suit of ruby red amour, a domino mask covering her face, highlighting the malice in her (e/c) eyes. In one hand she held a bow, a quiver slung over the other shoulder.

For a second the group stood their stunned, until a small gasp left Jim’s lips.

“(Y/n)...” his words caused the others to also let out gasps, Douxie dropping his staff in shock as he realised that it was you under the mask.

‘What have they done to you ?..’ he thought in anguish at the sight of his rival and love in strange armour, armed with a weapon.

“Champion kill them all !” With the group frozen in shock, Bellroc saw an opportunity to strike and finish the deed: Kill the troll hunter and all the other pests there, whilst also gaining a new champion. It was brilliant.

“As you wish.” Words mixed with bloodlust, you strung an arrow through your bow, aiming right at your brother’s head before pulling the bowstring back and releasing the arrow. With a worried glance Claire realised Jim was frozen still.

“Jim !” She screamed trying to get his attention. Sadly it didn’t work and seeing this Arrgh quickly dove forwards, taking the hit. The arrow pierced his back as he protected Jim who’d finally come to his senses.

“Master Jim !” Arrgh let out a pained yell, the arrow wound radiating with some strange magic.

“That’s no ordinary arrow.” You smirked as you started to float up into the air, a red glow surrounding you.

“By Merlín.” Douxie whispered in shock as he watched you perform magic.

Arrgh let out a cry of pain before collapsing, knocked out from the sleep spell you’d cast on your arrow tips.

“No Arghh !!” Toby yelled out in distress as he ran to his wingman, reaching the dormant troll’s side.

“Arghh !” Blinky ran to his friends side, watching in horror as the troll wouldn’t respond.

Toby glanced up at your looming form, the red aura surrounding you as you hovered above them adding to your menacing appearance. This person in front of Toby didn’t look like the girl who’d bandaged his knees when he fell over or played on his game console with him when nobody else would. Whoeve this was in front of them it wasn’t the real you.

“Oh I’m sorry. I was aiming for you brother, he shouldn’t have gotten in the way.” You cackled evilly, flying towards them.

“You aren’t my sister. (Y/n) would never do this ! Give her back to us !” Jim roared, swinging his sword at the flying sorceress.

“Oh but younger brother I am (y/n). I’m right here. And look at all of this power I have now.” As if to show off you conjured up a magical balls of red energy before sending it straight at Claire, who wasn’t paying attention, and as a result was sent flying into one of the cave walls.

Her small body collapsed as if she was a rag doll. A scream of anguish tore from Jim’s lips as he stared in horror, before turning onto his newly transformed sister.

“You need to stop this (y/n) ! You’re hurting your friends ! Your family ! The people closest to you.” Trying not to cry Jim yelled at you, terrified that his sister was gone now, and also terrified for his friends lives.

This was unlike any situation he’d ever encountered. For the first time ever the enemy wasn’t some troll or goblin or an evil sorcerer, it was his sister. What would he do ? If he fought you, you might be seriously hurt or even worse killed, yet if he didn’t fight you then he risked the lives of his friends. He didn’t know what to do.

“Friends and family you say. Well where were my friends and family when I was being tortured to death down here ? Donyou know what they did to me ?” You removed the domino mask, letting it fall to the floor.

A large scar covered the left side of your face, the markings like the one Agnor Rok had once placed on Jim. Yet they looked a lot tougher as if they’d been cut into your face. The breath left Jim’s chest as he stared at you properly now.

He could see dried blood in your hair and cuts littering the palms of your hands. He was sure there were more wounds covering your body that they were just unable to see because of the armour.

Before he could respond, Douxie let out a roar of anger next to him and charged at Bellroc, chanting an incantation as he sent a bolt of blue magic straight at her. Just as it was about to hit her, you soared down and blocked it was a red glowing shield of magic.

“Nice try but you’re just an amateur compared to me punk rock boy.” You jeered, summoning two balls of glowing red energy in your hands.

“Blinky, Toby get everyone out of here now !” Douxie yelled, his eyes wide with fear as he started to realise show powerful you were. Whatever magical spell Bellroc had placed you under it wasn’t working alone.

Douxie guesses it was some type of mind control and magic enhancement. But it would only work if you were already a magical being. Yet he’d never sensed anything magical about you. It must’ve been buried deep within you. Bellroc had managed to unleash it and without any training, and the influence of dark magic, you were uncontrollable. You might be powerful, but without the proper training you’ were at risk of letting yourself be consumed by it.

“No we won’t leave you !” Toby yelled back, only for Jim to turn on him, his face more serious than his best friend had ever seen it.

“Go now tobes !” Jim’s order was enough for Blinky and Toby to struggle pulling Arrgh through one of Claire’s shadow portals. Blinky gave Jim one nod, a sad smile on his lips as he watched the young boy he cared for so much about to fight his toughest battle.

“Goodbye master Jim.” Blinky whispered as they disappeared into the darkness.

“Retreating I see ? Cowardly even for you Casperan.” You cackled, combining both of the magical orbs of energy in your palms together, sending the magical blast straight at the wizard.

In retaliation, Douxie sent his own bolt of blue magical energy from his wizards staff. The two collided with each other, becoming a purple crackling mass of magical energy. Bloodlust filled your eyes as you pushed further, trying to overpower Douxie who wasn’t going to back down.

Out of the corner of his eye, Douxie noticed that Bellroc was trying to make an escape, backing away from them. And it looked like she was actually injured as her right arms was bleeding. Realisation dawned on Douxie. Bellroc was vulnerable right now, she must’ve used lots of magical energy to turn you into this monstrous killer.

“Jim ! Bellroc ! She’s vulnerable !” Douxie yelled to the trollhubter, who was standing still next to him, completely lost in what he imagined were some very conflicting thoughts.

Douxie’s yelling, though, brought him back to real life and the trollhunter lunged after the goddess, managing to land a second strike on her.

“Aww Casperan wont you pay attention to me ?You love to flirt with girls so why don’t you try it with me !” You screamed cackling with glee, as Douxie faltered and was sent spiralling back against one of the cave walls.

Like predator to prey, you advanced on him hands crackling with two fiery red orbs of energy.

With one hand you cupped his chin, bringing his face close to yours. The wizard was blinking lazily, head foggy with the hard impact of the stone wall. He could just about register your sinister smile and empty (e/c) eyes. You were like a complete stranger.

“You know Casperan if you weren’t such an awful flirt I might’ve considered dating you. You have such a nice face. It’s a shame I’m going to have to ruin it.” You swung a hand down, claw like nails ready to tear him to pieces when Douxie’s hand shot out and grabbed your wrist, blocking your attack.

Before you could react, he swung his other hand back and punched you right in the face. Under normal circumstances Douxie would never hit a girl, certainly not one he liked, but these were abnormal circumstances. With the force of the impact you stumbled back, giving him enough time to reach for his wizards staff and lunge at you, pushing you straight down to the floor.

Full body weight and staff pressed down against you, you were unable to move growling in frustration at your predicament.

“(Y/n), love, you need to snap out of this. This isn’t you.” Douxie said, voice full of despair on as he stared into your eyes looking for a glimpse of the girl he used to know.

For a second your eyes softened, face morphing into something recognisable as you, but it shattered just as quickly. A malicious smirk crossed your features as you looked up at the wizard enjoying how miserable he looked.

“And how would you know me Casperan ? We aren’t friends. I mean we don’t even like each other. I hate you.” You spat, bloodlust clouding your eyes as you wriggled below him.

Hurt flooded Douxie at that, but he knew he had to push it aside if he had any hope of pulling back the real you.

“We might not have been friends love but I know you. You have the dorkiest victory dance that you do after you win a soccer match. You don’t want anyone to know but you secretly want to move as far away from here as possible, that you don’t like Arcadia as much as you make out to because your afraid of hurting peoples feelings. “ he said, and with each word you began to falter more and more. Those once hard and sinister eyes, softened and he could see the old (y/n) peeking through, like he was scratching away at layers.

Inside your mind a mental war was being waged. One part of you, the new evil magical side that had been borne of pain and misery wanted destruction and hurt, whilst the other side, the one that had always been you wanted to help your friend and family. Both were warriors but with agendas.

“And love you got something completely wrong there. I don’t hate you. It’s quite the opposite actually.” Douxie held your gaze for a moment watching as the old (Y/n) began to return. You stared up at him, anticipating what was to come next.

“I love you (Y/n).”

A gasp left your lips as his words settled in your mind, Douxie watching you anxiously for a reaction. On one level he’d just told his arch nemesis that he loved her, and then on another it could determine life and death.

His words were enough to tip the scales in your favor and the dark side of you cried out as you overpowered it, combining into a brand new version of yourself. This time you weren’t under the influence of Bellroc and your darkest side. This time your magic was yours, the pain would heal and turn to scars with time. You were you again.

And you knew what you had to do. With a big shove you pushed Douxie off of you, the wizard falling on his back in surprise. He could tell something had changed. From the way you smirked, to the way you held yourself he could see it was you again.

“It’s good to be back Casperan. I know I should say thank you but it’s kinda your fault I’m in this mess.” You chuckled teasingly, cracking your knuckles as you stared angrily at Bellroc who had your brother pinned to the ground.

“(Y/n)...” Douxie gasped watching as you summoned your bow and arrow to your side, taking aim at the goddess.

“Watch and learn.” You said a little arrogantly as the arrow hit the monster dead on, who in turn let out a high pitches shriek.

“‘My champion ! You’ll pay for that !” She screamed, pulling the arrow out of her chest and snapping it in half in rage.

A laugh left your lips as you advanced on her, hovering just above the floor.

“I’m not your champion ! And the only one who will pay here is you !” You screamed, magic radiating from you.

Bringing your hands together, you manifested a large amount of red energy and sent it straight at her. Having lost the element of surprise, Bellroc easily deflected it.

“That’s child’s play. You’ve barely had your powers for an hour. I’ll kill you slow and painfully.” She cried cackling manically as she lunges for you.

The two of you engaged in a battle, flying around each other, deflecting and sending attacks. Even though your powers were new, you were managing to hold your own so well that you were at a stalemate. Bellroc was still weak from the magic that it took to turn you into that magical killer, and you knew this might be your only chance to kill her.

‘I need an edge. We’re at a stalemate.’ You mumbled to yourself, peering round the cave as you dodged one of her attacks.

Douxie and Jim were injured and barely able to fight so you knew they couldn’t give sufficient aid to win this. An epiphany struck you, as you glanced up at the ceiling of the cave, and saw multiple sharp stalactites hanging there.

You knew your plan was risky, and there was a good chance you would di, but if it killed Bellroc and Skrael once and for all then it was worth it. You didn’t quite know what sort of astrocities they’d committed but not only had they tortured you, turned you against your friends, but they’d also hurt the people you cared about most.

“Jim ! Douxie ! Get out of here now !” You screamed at them, launching another arrow at Bellroc who was starting to regain her strength.

The pair exchanged worried glances, neither of them wanting to leave you. Jim couldn’t stand to lose his big sister, his dad was already gone he couldn’t lose another family member. And Douxie has just told you he loved you, you hadn’t even begun to start that journey together.....but then he’d once before been in the situation you’d been in. He knew what to do.

Regretting it already and full of remorse Douxie grabbed Jim, roughly pulling him towards the exit of the cavern. Screaming and struggling, Jim tried to pull away from Douxie, but the wizard was biologically a few years older and so a bit stronger plus he wasn’t as badly injured as Jim.

“(Y/n) ! No ! Please I can’t lose you to !” Jim cried, tears starting to stream down his face as he watched you turn to face him with a remorseful smile.

“I’m sorry Jim. Tell mum I love her okay. And know you’ll never be alone. I’ll always be here for you.” You cried out to your brother, a few of your own tears streaming down your face.

Safe outside of the cavern, Douxie watched as you launched three beams of magic up at the ceiling, the stalacites cominf lose and collapsing on top of you, Skrael and Bellroc. Just as the three of you were about to be engulfed by the masses of rock he saw your lips move.

“I love you too.”

And with that a thunderous rumble filled the cave as the stalactites smashed to bits on the ground.

Ringing filled Douxies ears as he stared, frozen as he tried to comprehend what had just happened.

“No ! (Y/n) ! Please !” Jim cried, rushing forwards and trying to pull pieces of the smashed rocks out from the car, trying to tunnel his way in. Sobs could be heard coming from him, as he made futile attempts at rescuing you.

“Jim, she’s gone. I’m sorry.” Douxie placed a comforting had on Jim’s shoulder, gently pulling him away from the cave entrance.

“No !” Jim yelled before collapsing to his knees, smashing his fists against the ground.

‘I’m sorry I couldn’t save you love....’ Douxie knelt next to Jim and brought the devastated troll hunter into a hug, the pair of them crying quietly as they mourned the loss of a person they loved.

————————

“What do we have here ? Sorceress (y/n) Lake, sister of my troll hunter Jim Lake and apparently my Douxie’s girlfriend.” A voice rang out, awakening you with a start.

A cry left your lips as you shot upright from your lying position, a heavy breath leaving your lips.

“Where am I ? I thought I was dead...” you mumbled, hands fumbling over your body as you tried to feel for an injury. Even the once dried blood that had stained your hair and clothes was gone.

“You aren’t dead. Yet. I am Merlín child, the greatest sorcerer to ever live. And I need your help.”

[the-tiktok-rogue]

Army Of Darkness 2: Middle Earth

prolouge:

My name is Ash...and I'm a survivor, I don't know where I am or how I got

here,but I do remember how this all started, me and four other friends

went down to a cabin in the woods,in the basement of that cabin we found

the necronomicon ex mortis, book of the dead, bound in human flesh and

inked in human blood, it was never meant for the world of the living, the

pages were recited, the evil awoken, each of my friends, one by one became

possessed, cheryl, shelly,scott, Linda...it took Linda, and then it came

for me, it got into my hand and it went bad, so I lopped it off at the

wrist,but then it came back...big time, after I had defeated henrietta,

and Annie summoned a portal to the past I was sent out to retrieve the

book, I messed up the words, summoned an army of the dead, beat them and

got back to my own time...and now it seems I'm here, last thing I remember

is falling through another portal,but how that happened I don't know.

Chapter one: The Shire I looked up and as far as I could tell I was in some kind of wooden

building, I got up off of my knees and quickly hit my head off of the

cieling, this place was tiny!, I quickly turned around to see outside the

windows it was daylight,a small imp looking fellow was walking towards

this house, he was approaching very quickly, I panicked and picked up my

boomstick slowly heading for the door, the door abruptly opened.

"Who are you and why are you in my house!" the imp shouted "I'm the one asking the questions here bucko!, where am I, and who the

fuck are you" I said back, interrogating him, as I walked forward gripping

my trigger "I am Bilbo Baggins, and this is my Hobbit hole, didn't you read the sign,

no admittance!" Bilbo huffed angrily.

Before I could respond Bilbo, kicked me in the groin and was dragging me

into a room with lots of plates, and food, he quickly ran to the door and

scowled at me before exclaiming once more "now you stay in here till I've figured out what to do with you!" great. Just great, I was once again stuck in the middle of nowhere with no

one to help me but myself, but now I was locked in a room with no way of

getting out, still I tried, I struggled opening the door with my metal

hand, but that didn't do much good, then I reached for my chainsaw but it

was missing, the little shit must have stolen it when I was dragged to

this room, so I looked for my boomstick, but that was missing as well, I

thought back to what had happened, I had my boomstick in my hand but I

must have dropped it in shock when he kicked me "Fuck!" I yelled cathartically, I felt so powerless for a supposed hero

from the sky...all I could do was wait.

I jumped as I quickly heard shouting from the...what did he call this

place a Hobbit hole?, so he was a Hobbit?, anyways! he was shouting to

someone at the front door!

"no thank you!, we don't want anymore visiters, well wishers, distant

relations, or men with pointy sticks!" Bilbo yelled indignantly.

Then I heard another voice chuckle,it sounded older, more gruff

"And what about very old friends?" the voice responded in a fond tone, I heard the door creak open "Gandalf?" Bilbo asked, so Gandalf was his name, I barely remember most peoples names I didn't

think I'd remember anyone else, I yelled more, this old guy might have

been my only chance at escape "LET ME OUT, HE'S GOT ME TRAPPED HERE" I screamed "what was that noise?" Gandalf questioned "oh n-nothing, probably just Frodo setting up for the party tonight uh

keep it down Frodo! eheh" Bilbo blundered, to my surprise the old guy bought it!, either that or he was just

intentionally ignoring me "Bilbo Baggins" Gandalf spoke sentimentally "oh dear Gandalf!" Bilbo cried with Joy "good to see you" Gandalf responded "one hundred and eleven years old who would believe it?...you haven't aged

a day" Gandalf noticed, that little gremlin was 110 years old? but he looked tiny, I thought he

was just some ugly toddler,how did that work?, I heard them chuckle and their voices got closer, I kept shouting but

neither of them seemed to notice or care,that old fella really was

ignoring me huh, I heard the old man hit his head and laughed, served him

right,asshole.

"So you mean to go through with your plan then?" Gandalf inquired "yes yes, its all in hand, all the arrangements are made" Bilbo spoke

excitedly "Frodo,suspects something" Gandalf said plainly "'course he does...he's a baggins, not some blockheaded grey scurdle from

hard bottle" Bilbo joked "you will tell him, won't you?" Gandalf asked again "yes yes" Bilbo spoke "he's very fond of you" Gandalf spoke fondly a small pause "I know...he'd probably come with me if I asked him I think in his heart

Frodo is still in love with the shire, the woods, the fields, the

rivers...I'm old Gandalf, I know I don't look it, but I'm beginning to

feel it in my heart, I feel thin,sort of stretched, like butter scraped

over too much bread, I need a holiday, a very long holiday, and I don't

expect I should return...in fact I mean not too.." Bilbo monologued.

As I continued to listen I felt weary, the fall from the portal as well as

being kicked and using all my energy to open this wooden pantry door had

left me exhausted...I couldn't help myself, I slumped and sat down only

meaning to rest my eyes...as I did so I slowly drifted off...

[supercalime]

Ghosts of the Shadow Market Commentary pt. 10

Forever Fallen:

- last one folks! Let’s see what this story brings

- Oh! Remember that episode of shadowhunters with that same quote? The one Magnus and Alec break up the first time? Me neither

- Kit! Jem already loves you! Let him be your dad!

- Jem’s gaydar is on point. Good for him

- Oh no! Is that Thule!Jace ? Turn around! No one wants you here! Get out! The power of Christ compels you!

- Janus? JANUS? You know what that rhymes with, right? Cassie, you just created a meme

- Wait a second. How did he get here?

- I already don’t like Jace. Do I really have to endure two of him?

- What the hell. Janus is a fucking creep. Leave clary’s illusion alone

- Mina is the luckiest baby in the world!

- It’s cute that Mina looks like Tessa, but if I see a single fanart that she looks white, someone will die by my sword

- Jem and Tessa are the only straight couple with rights

- If he hurts Lily...

- Lily, my queen! She’s so smart!

- Raphael is amazing in any dimension, huh

- Oh no. Don’t mess up with dimensions. It doesn’t end well. It will become a Rick and morty episode and everything will go to shit

- Kit being cute with his baby sister? Can he be any more precious?

- Putting a hand inside your beloved’s pocket is something that can be so personal

- These cherry blossom festivals are so cool! I miss going outside!

- Alec was like: have you met my husband Magnus? Magnus. My husband. We are married. I married Magnus. Husband? Magnus

- Don’t mess up with these nothing characters! I could have liked them

- What the fuck? He murdered them? Like that? Fuck you Anus!

- Yeah, let’s go back to the Carstairs-Gray being domestic. I need some time

- Oh yeah. I forgot Tessa is a psychopath. Who doesn’t like chocolate?

- I need more Kit and Tessa interactions! These two are gold!

- Kit just “okay boomered” Jem and Tessa! 😂

- Stop reminding me of Malec in Thule! It was traumatizing enough the first time!

- Max? Stranger danger? Did your wonderful dads not teach you that?

- Oh thank god!

- Yep. Jem and Tessa are the only ones with rights. Kit is so loved! It’s good to know he’s gonna be okay

- I feel so best for the real Sebastian Verlac. His name still got associated with the worst person. I hope he at least got a proper Shadowhunter funeral

- I have a feeling real Clace will adopt Ash in the future. He’s not evil yet. He can get a kilo ren redemption and just not die

- Simon!

- No non no no. No no non no! Clary! Leave! Run! It’s not the real Jace!

- Alexa! Play “Creep” by Radiohead!

- Clary! C’mon! You’re dating the guy! You should be able to notice his bullshit!

- Rant time: this is one of the things that bother me about Clary. Everybody SAYS how great, intelligent, strong she is, but when it’s time to SHOW it, her character is dumbed down to the “not like other girls” trope or she’s just plain stupid

- Ew. Did he really kiss the floor?

- Rosemary’s baby! They are funny!

- I love the read the book/saw the movie bit!

- Abandonment issues: the musical

- I know Janus is an alternate version of Jace, but can he like, die a very painful death? Thanks

- That entire scene with kit wanting to be in a movie montage! What a relatable boy

- Someone hug Kit! Please!

- Jem being poetic part 274663829151

- Jem hugged him! I’m so happy

- Will...

- Jem! Call kit your son challenge!

- Ooooooh! Shpookey.

That’s it folks! I hope you enjoyed this ten part journey! See you on the next book!

[headoverhiddles]

I Fiori Del Male - John Brannox (The New Pope) x Reader [Smut]

Synopsis: Scandal is trivial when it comes to Catholic factions, as long as it’s well hidden. You, a nude model, and the High Priest of England are forced to put that to the test during one last night of passion, when Papacy looms. 

Notes: Once again my love of old men is my downfall. I watched the show for Manson, and ended up really liking John Malkovich’s character as well. He’s just so sweet and charming! So here’s a sporadic one shot I really enjoyed writing.

Gif belongs to lousolversons!

Your robe trails behind you along the marble floors of the manor. It’s the middle of the night, and you knew he’d be waiting for you when you arrived on the grounds.  

“You’re early,” John says, smiling. You shut the door quietly, walking over to the bed and discarding your robe. The older man is sitting, contented, by his fireplace, harp resting comfortably in his lap.

“I got here just when I intended to,” you reply, and he pauses his playing of the harp to admire your body. He turns back to face the far wall.

“You’ve heard the news, I take it.”

You take a breath. You hadn’t expected him to bring that up before joining you in bed… it took a toll on the expected activities of the night. “Yes. I’ve heard.” He plucks a couple of the strings on the harp, and you realize you’ve closed the conversation too early. “When do you leave?”

“Tomorrow.” That, you weren’t expecting. John glances over, eyebrows raising a little at your reaction. “You’re upset.”

“I’m surprised,” you correct, though you can’t ignore the tugging feeling you have in your stomach. John stands, abandoning his instrument, and walks leisurely over to the bed in his purple velvet dressing gown. A small smile appears on his lips.

“You’re upset.” Before you can search your brain for any excuse or assurance that you were, in fact, unaffected, he puts his hands on your shoulders. “I’m upset as well.”

“You agreed,” you whisper.

“After difficult deliberation.”

“It mustn’t have been all too difficult. Will you take all your books and antiques? Music, cultured possessions, what you need to teach Rome?”

“I’ll take what I can.”

“What about what you can’t?”

“The Papacy is an honor.”

“You’re a high priest.”

“Pope is a tad higher, my dear. An honor which should have been bestowed upon my brother. Or according to my dear parents, that is.”

“So, what?” you ask, blinking demurely up at him through your eyelashes, “You want to prove you can be a better Pope than Adam could have been?” Any other man with John’s history would have lashed out at that. But your lover was a gentle, kind man—commanded loyalty and obedience, no doubt, but he did so with benevolence.

“I do not know what sort of Pope Adam would have been, since Adam is dead. A living Pope is superior to a dead one, so right from the start, I… have a slight advantage.” His tone is contemplative, empty of any implied sarcasm. You sit up on your knees, and place your right hand on top of his, where it’s still resting on your shoulder. You then begin to kiss up his arm, until you can no longer bunch his dressing gown sleeve any higher.

“Take this off?” you ask, eyes hooded.

“Already there, are we?��� he murmurs, taking your hand and squeezing it. “I thought there’d be more of an argument.”

“Passion, good or bad, shows its colors in the throes of pleasure,” you respond, and move your hands in, feeling his chest and shrugging the robe off for him. He removes his underclothes with precision, eyes never leaving your naked body.

“You’re like a sculpture, my dear (y/n),” he says, leaning in to brush his lips across your cheek.

“You can’t touch sculptures,” you breathe, crawling backward on the bed. He joins you, eyes descending to your spreading legs.

“I can do as I please. I’ll be the Pope this time next week.”

You grin, and he kisses you properly, lips always the perfect feeling against yours. The pleasant familiarity of his beard scratching your chin almost helps you forget that it may be the last time you’d feel it.

“A work of art,” he continues, “I stare at the painting of you we’ve got in our west wing drawing room. If I wasn’t leaving so abruptly, I’d have half a mind to have it moved to my study.”

“Why don’t you move it to your chapel?”

“What an intriguing idea.”

“People would certainly talk.”

“People do talk. It doesn’t mean we have to listen.”

You giggle, wrapping your legs around him and dragging your foot up his back. “You’re no Pope, John Brannox.”

“On the contrary. I believe I can restore sanity to the Vatican, if nothing else.” You hum, and he feels a hand down your chest, cupping your breast as he makes sure you’re wet and ready for him.

“I remember the day I was painted on that couch,” you say. “I do so many, it’s hard to recall most, but that one I remember. It had been commissioned by your estate. It was to go to the High Priest of England, Sir John Brannox, the painter told me.”

“And did that affect your position, my dear?” he smirks, touching your clit. You gasp, rolling your hips up to his hand.

“Yes. I posed as I do in my others, but my eyes… they bore the seduction. I imagined what you would do with the art. Perhaps, your reaction to it.”

“My reaction to it was most underwhelming, I must disappoint you,” he smiles, “I couldn’t very well show how taken with it I was.”

“But did you think of me that night?” you moan.

“Every night since,” he replies. “I was enchanted. I still am.”

“And I am enamored with you,” you tell him, pressing your lips to his again. “When you arranged that meeting with me, I believed you would be the same as every important man in this country.”

“I am not?” he asks.

“You know you’re not. You’re not arrogant. You flaunt, but you do so tastefully. That, I can forgive.”

“If your goal was to flatter me into proper form, it’s done the trick,” he laughs fondly, and you look down to see him hard. You place his hands on your breasts again.

“Soon, that painting will be your only reminder of me. Touch me while you can. Commit my body to memory for lonely nights, and I will do the same.”

He does as you say, burying himself inside you with a laboured intake of breath. You hold onto him as he builds up a perfect pace, each thrust deep and satisfying. He listens to your body, knows without a word from you when he needs to try something new.

“Will you find another lover as versatile as I am?” he teases, new vigor restored to his expression as he takes his younger companion. You roll your eyes. No man is immune to praise, especially that of the sexual nature and during the act.

“Your talents will remain unmatched, I’m sure,” you huff, and he thrusts in hard, grunting softly.

“Are you certain you won’t find some… younger man, who will bring you to your climax faster?”

“I will never fuck a man who does not appreciate the art of slowly taking a woman apart like you do,” you tell him.

“That’s reassuring,” he says, “These new romantics these days have studied up on their poetry, I’m sure, and I’m glad for it.”

You breath his name as his thrusts get faster, then recall a line of poetry out of Rome that you’ve always meant to write down somewhere. “Che mistero è questo, che posso sentire le mie labbra sulla punta delle dita.” (What mystery is this, that I can feel my lips in your fingertips.)

He gasps, hips moving quickly as he responds in broken Italian. “E quando mi ha guardato, avevo dimenticato quale fosse la sofferenza, ma sono morto mille morti.” (And when she looked at me, I had forgotten what suffering was, but died a thousand deaths.)

“I want you to take me harder than you’ve taken anyone,” you whisper in his ear, lips falling further open and legs spreading even wider for him, “I won’t break.”

He takes this seriously, reaching every part of your body and going harder than you’ve seen him ever before. It’s magnificent, but he’s starting to get tired, you can tell by the way his forearms are beginning to quiver.

“I’m very close,” the older man whispers in your ear, stroking your hair back, “Are you?” You arch your back, your fevered moans reaching their desperate crescendo in an answer to his question.

“Come when you need to,” you tell him softly, “I don’t mind.” But he’s not about to leave you. A few more thrusts, and you both finish together.

John breathes heavily beside you, lowering himself down and pulling out of you. You watch him as he gets up, and walks over to his mirror, sitting down in front of it to wipe at some of the dark eyeliner he had forgotten to remove before nighttime. You stretch out across his four poster bed, golden sheets satin against your skin.

"Do you love me, John?"

There was a steady pause, more silence following still.

"Yes."

The answer sounded careless, but you knew him to be a careful man. You meet his eyes in the mirror. "Then take me with you."

He merely looks back at you, a sort of softness in his eyes. It's nothing like condescension, the knowing male gaze that tells you that you simply wouldn't understand. His eyes carry the weight of knowing that you know, and knowing what that means for him.

A night spent together with an unmarried young woman carries more gravity when it is done wearing the Cloth. As a High Priest, it can be explained away to God as a simple sin, a carnal desire passed off and forgotten in a confessional, but under Papacy? Such a thing is not so easily forgiven.

“Everything evil in this world is hysteria of love,” he says. “Distortions of our ability to love. It’s a beautiful thing, but it’s just beyond my grasp. And my hopes are, you can share it with another. Please, for both of our sakes, my dear… mistake my love, one last time, for tenderness. For that is what I can offer you, and all that I can offer you.”

From that moment, you knew. He was the New Pope.

[emo-hydra]

Chapter 2

Dante, Age 15, A New World

Dante de Bellis was walking through the front doors of his 200-year-old mansion, except it was no longer the original mansion. His original mansion was so out of date that wallpaper used to be peeling off in the living room. There used to be a mix of gothic and antique furniture bought from various auctions and high-end flea markets littering every room. Almost everything used to have a layer of dust settled over it as if nobody ever used it, which they didn’t. 

     Dante was confused when he woke up on the lawn in front of his house, but he remembered something. The strange characters that showed up in his room just a few minutes ago —Morty and Gus, those were the names— had they pushed him out the window? No, he probably would’ve at least broken a limb. His memory flooded back to him. He remembered looking out the window, about to jump, feeling the cool air wash over his face. This is ridiculous. I’m not doing this! 

     “On second thought,” he told the strange characters, “maybe I’ll just settle with trying to wake up from this weird dream.” 

     “Told you he’d bail out,” Morty had said. “It’s alright though. At least I got to scare the horse poop outta him, unlike that other Half-Bake.”

     “Mo, I told you. We’re here to extract them, nothing else.”

     “Alright, Killjoy. Spray him before he runs.”

     “Excuse me? What are you—” Dante never got to finish the thought before he blacked out. He woke up to a new world. The grass was green and luscious, instead of dead and gray and the cement around the house was new and uncracked. When he walked into the house, gone were the old, musty furniture and peeling wallpaper, and in place were white walls and tiled floors. It was like somebody took out the entire interior of his house and replaced it with a hospital except there wasn’t any health related technology that Dante could see. 

     “The hospital ward is down the hall if that’s what you’re thinking. Although they do sometimes bring the bodies in here. This is the Communications Room.” Gus had been standing next to the radar that showed bodies of heat around the area. “Any sightings, Monty?”

     “Nothing out of the ordinary so far,” the tall looking man with the angular structure and the black hair replied. “They’ll come. It’s only a matter of time.”

     “Alright Mo and I will get the other Half-Bake. Keep him company will you?” Gus gestured towards Dante. “He’s a bit shy.”

     “Sorry I don’t encounter sarcastic beings that turn invisible often. Or people with purple teeth like your friend over there,” Dante complained. Gus just shrugged and left him with the man Dante assumed was Monty.

     “So you’re new here. Welcome to the Ghost House, where the owner’s creepy relatives decide to show up and mess with our machines and scare us when we’re trying to take a dump.” Monty’s words were dripping with disdain. “You’ll love it here.”

     “I do actually love it here, thanks. And my relatives only like to bother the trespassers so might I ask what are you people doing here in my house?” Dante was furious at the workers here but at his grandmother too. He lived with her and had to take care of her but despite being ill for most of the week, it doesn’t stop her from hosting a daily evocation. She always muttered about how the spirits would cleanse the house of evil.

     Another worker poked his head through a doorway and addressed Monty. “Nice. Insult the new kid. Assert your dominance.” 

     Monty looked momentarily stricken when he realized but quickly recovered. “Sorry. You must be Dante then. Excuse my rudeness. I’ve been working since lunch yesterday. Damn Council didn’t give anybody breaks,” he said with a scorned smile, though he was still pale. 

     Dante couldn’t figure out why the sarcastic worker was so scared. It seemed he was scared of him but that didn’t seem like a possibility to Dante. Everybody avoided him yes, but only because he was weird and made people uncomfortable. Never did he scare them. 

     “It’s fine. This Council is in charge of the place?” When Monty nodded Dante said, “Not doing a very good job of running it. Seems like you hate them.”

     Monty’s face seemed to calm down as he looked at him with interest. “Of course not. My life’s work is here. Not like there’s any other job I can do. The Council can be… inattentive at times.” 

     “You're telling me. I don’t even work here. So why have I been taken to whatever dimension this is?” 

     “To be honest Kid, I’m not sure why they brought you specifically. I thought you would be the last person they’d bring.” 

     Dante was about to reply when he heard Morty’s voice from the hallway. He was walking with Gus and a pretty girl he’s never seen before. He noticed how striking she looked with her black ensemble of clothes against tan skin. She was wearing a fitted black crop top with black jean jean shorts and a black, unbuttoned dress shirt. Her face was all made up with eyeliner and lipgloss and was framed by pin-straight black hair that stopped at her chin. Dante could see flashes of blonde hair underneath the natural hair color. 

     “I just don’t understand how you could take an hour to get ready. And you were already ready to go! Why’d you even shower and change?” Morty exclaimed. 

     “Some guy spilled their drink on me. Plus I was in party clothes. Not jump-out-the-window clothes.” The girl’s voice was smooth, like she could hypnotize somebody. 

     “And the makeup?” Gus questioned. 

     “It’s part of the look. How else am I supposed to intimidate people?” She said with a wink and a smile.

     They got closer and closer to Dante. “Anyways, what are we— and who’s this?” Her eyes were now fixed on Dante. “I’m Bella. Nice eyes. Didn’t know there were eyes so blue.”

     “Thanks,” Dante replied. “Nice um…”

     Bella laughed. “It’s okay. Don’t hurt yourself.”

     Dante stayed quiet. He didn’t trust himself to speak because he would probably say something stupid. 

     “So what are we here for? Or is Blue Eyes one of you guys. He doesn’t seem to be.”

     “Dante,” he blurted out. “Dante de Bellis.” 

     Bella turned to him. “Hello Dante de Bellis. Very nice to meet you.” 

     He nodded before Morty interrupted their moment of awkward silence. “Ready for the Council? Or are you not done staring at each other? Jeez. Teenagers.” 

     “What are they going to talk to us about?” Bella asked. She didn’t seem worried at all to Dante. You would think being thrown out a window into some different dimension would get somebody a little concerned. 

     Gus replied this time. And with his words, Bella’s face finally showed distressed as did Dante’s face. “Why, you both are going to save the world of course.” 

Second chapter!!! I’m not really sure about it but anyways, enjoy if you’re actually reading it :) I also might posting chapters every other week instead.

[joyofcrime-elinorhigh]

 Hello everybody, my name is JoyofCrimeArt, and legacy can be an fascinating thing in regard to animation. Since cartoons are made with the intent of being seen years or even decades after they're created, it can be interesting to see how the general consensus people have about a series can change over time. One day you can be on top of the world, and your series is loved by critics and audiences alike. But then, something happens. Sometimes it's a specific episode. Other times a season. Maybe it's a controversy within the fandom. But whatever it is, something happens that causes peoples opinions to turn. And suddenly your show has gone from being universally praised to becoming much more divisive. And when something like that happens, it can be hard to recover. It happened to Steven Universe.  It happened to Rick and Morty. And it happened to Star vs. the Forces of Evil.

 Created by Daron Nefcy,  Star vs. The Forces of Evil  premiered on the Disney Channel and Disney XD in 2015,  and quickly became one of the hot cartoons that everybody was talking about. It makes sense, as it came outright around the time where more continuity based fantasy series were really starting to take off, so it's natural that it became a hit. While the series was generally well regarded upon its debut, as time went on the series became much more of a "love it or hate it" type of show. And while that's not too uncommon for any show that amounts a large flowing, what makes Star vs. so interesting is that it seems like nobody can seemingly agree when the show got bad, if it did at all. Some people say the quality dipped after the first season. Others say the third. Some say the fourth. Others say that the show was good until the finale. And some say that the show was solid throughout. This divide among fans is why I feel confident calling Star vs. The Forces of Evil one of the most divisive shows of the 2010's, even if the debate around it isn't nearly volatile as other series. But now that the series has ran its course I have to ask, does it hold up? Did the show really go down hill, or is the hate undeserved? That's what I'm here to find out.

 I feel like I'm in an interesting place to talk about this series because, while I tend to try to keep up with all the big name animated show coming out, I actually didn't watch most of Star as it was running. I watched the first season until my family cut cable right before the finale of season one (You know, around the time people started to care about the show.) And only caught up with the show in the last year or so while doing research for my "Top 30 Cartoons of the Decade" list. So I went into the series mostly blind with the exception of a few spoilers. I just felt like this was important to point out as I feel it may have an effect on my view of the show.

 Also, while I usually try to go spoiler free when I do a general overview of a series, for this review I may have to go into some spoiler territory. Since this series features an ever changing status quo, as well as a lot of major characters who aren't introduced until late in the series' run, doing this review completely spoiler free would be difficult. So I'm going to be doing this review under the assumption that anybody reading this has already seen the show, and are just curious to hear my take on it, or don't care about being spoiled.  So if you wanna go in blind I suggest you sign out now.

 But to everyone else, let's dive in and talk about Star vs. the Forces of Evil.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hJ5ecrpp8k

 Star vs. The Forces of Evil stars (He, get it. I'm funny.) Star Butterfly. A princess from the dimension of Mewni who, upon her fourteenth birthday is given a wand of unbelievable magical power. However, after causing nothing but trouble with her new found powers in her world her parents decide to ship her off to Earth, where she can be somebody else's problem. There she befriends a human boy named Marco Diaz and the series mainly follow these two as they go on all sorts of magical adventures as they battle all sorts of evil monsters and ne'er-do-well who want to take the wand and use its power for themselves. Or at least that's how the series goes at first. As the series goes on it begins to focus more on the world building, as Star and Marco discover that the kingdom of Mewni isn't as great as they first believed, and are forced to battle political corruption, conspiracy within the royal family, and the generation spanning systemic racism against monster kind.  

 The best place to start when talking about the show are the characters. Lets start with the main leads.

 We got Star, your typical fun-loving, ditzy, hyperactive action girl. Which seems to be a common trend in Disney Channel cartoons now that I think about it. But she does enough to stand on her own. She's a fun character, and an overall good lead for the series. I admit that her bratty nature and general stupidity could turn some people off, and there are times  where it can get a little annoying, but I never minded it all that much. I think that's kinda suppose to be the point of her character. She's a royal, and spent her whole life with a silver spoon in her mouth. So it makes sense she would be a bit selfish and be unaware of the world around her. And she does improve over the course of the series, as she begins to take her job as a princess more seriously and spends much of the series actively fighting against monster prejudice. Though I'd be lying if some of these less desirable elements of her character don't continue to pop up every now and again, even later in the series and especially in the last couple of episodes. Also she's kinda a sociopath. Like especially early on in the show there are like...a lot of casualties to Star's antics. I'm kinda surprised Disney let them get away with that.

 Also, can I just say that I am sick and tired of people asking "When is Disney going to include their first LGBTQ+ princess, completely ignoring the fact that Star is bisexual as fu*k. Like, come on now!

 Marco is also a good lead. He's a neurotic, responsible, karate student who often acts as the straight man to Star's antics. However, I like the fact that he's not a total stick in the mud. Sure he's more cautious than Star is but he's still capable of getting in on the adventures as well. He comes across as a realistic teen with his own set of flaws. Namely his insecure nature and general social awkwardness. I also like that due to his expertise with karate he's able to hold his own in a fight even without magic. He always feels like Star's equal and never like a sidekick. He and Star have a great dynamic in general, and the two play off each other well. They contrast with each other and It feels like the two really cover each other's flaws. And it's kinda refreshing seeing two characters who are so different manage to genuinely get along with each other.  

 But of course, we also have the forces of evil that the shows title so clearly mentioned. Each season focuses on a different villain, and something that I really like is how all four major villains are introduced relatively early on. So the show doesn't suffer from that "Dragon Ball Z" type thing where it's like "Haha! I know you just defeated the villain, but now's there's an even BIGGER villain who we just haven't happened to mention until now!" They've always around in the world, and many of them even start out as joke villains only to become more serious later down the line. And they manage to do that in a way that feels very believable.

 The best example of this is the shows first villain, Ludo. Who upon introduction is portrayed as a completely comedic villain who Star could easily take in a fight. But things change when a new more serious villain, Toffee, usurps him as the season one antagonist. Stealing his castle and army in the process. Come season two and Ludo is left alone, having lost everything, and is forced to toughen up in order to get back what he once had. He builds a new army, stronger than his first. He finds a new castle to form his base in, and becomes a genuine threat to our cast. Scrappy underdogs villains who lost everything might be one of my favorite tropes in fiction. Other examples of this trope used effectively would be Peridot in Steven Universe and Jamack in Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeast. However, while those shows use this trope as an opportunity to have these villains go through a redemption arc, Star goes the other way and uses it as an opportunity to make a character become more of a threat. That said, he never loses the comedic charm that made his fun to watch in the first place. Part of me honestly kinda wish that Ludo stayed the main villain of season two, instead of being usurped Toffee yet again. That said, the episode "Princess Quasar Caterpillar and the Magic Bell" does a good job giving his arc a satisfying conclusion.

 Speaking of antagonist, let's talk about Tom Lucitor. Star's demon ex-boyfriend. While not a season spanning villain like Ludo or Toffee, he has several appearances early on as a recurring antagonist only to go down the more traditional "redemption arc" route later on. And I just want to say upfront, Tom is one of my favorite characters. Not in the show, but in fiction in general. It would of been so easy to make Tom your generic "toxic boyfriend" arch-type but even early on it's made clear that even though he's an antagonist, he isn't pure evil. His love for Star is genuine, but the problem is that he hasn't earned it. He tries to improve himself and become a better person but his own anger issues and jealousy keeps getting in the way. Specifically jealousy of Marco because he seems him as a romantic threat. But as time goes on, he does become better. He learns that he and Marco have a lot in common and eventually accepts that he can't make Star love him, and lets her have her space. And that, ironically, causes Star to becoming willing to open up to him again. They become friends and eventually get back together. But what I like is that while he has gone through efforts to improve and work through his problems, they still persist throughout the series. He's still very insecure and is looking for constant approval from Star. He still is jealous of how close Star and Marco are even though he has become friends with both of them. And it's shown several time that Tom tends to put his own problems above the problems of others. It shows that even though he wants to change and is willing to change, that doesn't mean that change come easy. It takes time and can be a long process. These are realistic character flaws that make Tom such a more complex and relatable character in my eyes. I relate a lot to Tom with his desire and constant struggle to improve as a person, and I feel like it's a struggle that's easy for a lot of people to relate to. Also...he's just such an edgy dork. He's...he is good boi.

 Another fantastic character is Eclipsa. Introduced about halfway into the series, Eclipsa was a former Queen of Mewni who was imprisoned in crystal due to dabbling in dark magic and for running away from her arranged marriage and marring the King of the Monster, Globgor. The show builds up mentions of Eclipsa early on, with characters talking about how evil and dangerous she was. Eventually she becomes free from her prison (cause lets be real, whenever there's a villain sealed away somewhere you KNOW they're going to get out.) But surprisingly, when we see her she actually doesn't seem that evil. She's polite, kind, and is even willing to go through the proper legal channels to prove that she isn't as bad as people say she is. She is an excellent example of a morally ambiguous character cause for the first several episodes we the audience don't really know if she is actually a good person who's just been judged too harshly by society or if she is actually evil and this is all an act. As even as the show goes on and it becomes clear that Eclipsa is a good person at heart they still manage to keep the audience guessing. Much like Star, Eclipsa can be kinda selfish and impulsive, making her a bit of a loose cannon.  Despite the shows title "Star vs. The Forces of Evil" Eclipsa goes to emulate one of the shows major themes. That life isn't that black and white.

 The show deals a lot with shades of gray when it comes to its characters, as all characters have there own motives and backstories and relations with each other that can make them either allies or enemies depending on the circumstances. An example of this is the Magical High Commission, a group that monitors magic across all the dimensions. throughout the series it is shown that they stand on the side of Mewni. So in season two when Mewni is being conquered by  Ludo and Toffee they're good guys. But just like most most people in Mewni they hate monsters and believe that Eclipsa is evil. Making them antagonist in seasons three and four. Their motives stay the same, but their role in the series changes.

 However despite my praise not all the characters are  great. In fact the show can be kinda hit or miss with their cast. The characters that are great are really great, but then you get characters like...

(Art by JelloApocolypse)

 You know what, I have to be honest. I kinda like Pony Head. I know a lot of people say she's annoying and selfish and contributes next to nothing to the plot...and they're right. But I also just kinda like her. I think what makes her more bearable to me is that she's kinda disliked in-universe. Even Star, who is Pony Head's best friend, often times get sick of her crap. Real talk though, can we all agree that Pony Head is basically just a discount Lumpy Space Princess from Adventure Time?  Like, they're nearly the exact same character.  

 A character who I don't like as much though is Glossaryck, the magical spirit guide that lives in Star's spell book. I never really got his deal. Sometimes it seems like he likes Star and genuinely wants to help her become a better magic user, while other times it doesn't seem like he really cares. He dies in the beginning of season three only to come back a few episodes later acting like a wild animal and yelling "Globgor" over and over again without any explanation as to how or why. Than at the end of season three it's revealed that it was all an act and he was fine the whole time. Like...why? We later learn that is a highly recognized historical figure in Mewni. Why is he yelling his name? And why does nobody question why he's doing this? I can buy that Star and Marco might not know who Globgor is but most everybody else seems to. I keep expecting that moment for his motivations to click. Where it's revealed how everything he's done was all an elaborate ploy to help Star or something, but it never really happens. Though my opinion of him does slightly increase in season four, but that's just because Keith David took over the role of voice actor. And adding Keith David can make anything better.

 Some characters can even change in quality between seasons. Janna is this edgy punk girl who joins the main cast in season two as a new friend to Star and Marco. I liked her well enough in season two even if some of her more abrasive elements could be somewhat obnoxious. She's more or less absent for most of season three. Then come season four she returns and I found her more annoying. I don't know if her character got worse or if it was just the fact that her character didn't work as well in later episodes after the show had become more dramatic. But near the end of the season, they give her some long overdue character growth. Not a lot, but some. And I found myself liking her more.  

 There are other characters in the series as well, and they tend to vary. Star's mom, Moon is a BAMF and I like Buff Frog a lot. Jacki and Kelly are fine characters, though I admit there's not that much to them outside of being love interests for Marco, though they still have there own personalities. King River's kinda annoying but I've seen worse examples of the "dumb dad" trope and Alan Tudyk gives a great performance.

 And since I don't have time to go over my thoughts on EVER character in this series, I'll do what ever online review does when they don't have time for nuance. Create a tier list!

 If It's not apparent by now, the characters in this show run the gambit. With the best ones being some of my favorite characters of all time, and the worse one's just being generally annoying. However, if there's one thing that this show excels at is not painting things as black and white. No character is evil without a reason and all the heroic characters have un-heroic flaws to their characters with unique motivations that make sense for their characters. (For the most part anyway.)

 The shows animation is also really good. Featuring thick outlines and a lot of nice coloring on the characters. (Even if some of the background colors can be a bit drab at times.) Most of the first season is done in flash, but it's good flash, which does well to accentuate the character expressions and the fluid action scenes. Part way through season one though the show's animation changes to more traditional animation. I think there is a bit of a divide on which style people consider to be better, but I personally prefer the look of the later seasons. The bouncy look of the early season one episodes look good, but I don't know how well that would of worked in the more dramatic and somber moments that happen later on.

 I also appreciate the world building. The first two seasons are set mostly on Earth in the town of Echo Creek, but the last two seasons changes things up and focus much more on Mewni, allowing us to explore both settings. I know some people don't like the change as it resulted in several of the characters introduced earlier being written out of the show but I never really minded that. I think Mewni and the cast of characters who inhabit it are on the whole more interesting than the people of Echo Creek. (I mean does anybody really miss Sensei Brantley?) Plus the change in setting allows us to get a bit of a role reversal with Marco being the fish out of water, and Star having to show him how her world operates. And even if you do prefer the Earth setting we still cut back to it on occasion. And when you add it all up the total series runtime between the two setting is fairly evenly.

 I like how characters can kinda come and go in this series, as it shows that the world doesn't revolve around Star and Marco. And it allows the writers to see which characters people gravitate to and focus on them while keeping less interesting characters out of the way. It also allows for character arcs to actually have conclusions, without the need for them to be drawn out just for the sake of keeping characters around longer.

 Let's talk about themes for a moment. Specifically the main theme of prejudice and  systemic racism in the show. It's handled...okay. It's kinda standard stuff and it doesn't go super complex on the issue, but for what it is it works though. That being said the show can be a bit confusing in terms of what counts as "monsters" and what are just regular races in this world. Which can make the metaphor a little muddled. I get that the idea is that there is no difference, and that monsters are only deemed as bad as an excuse for mewmans to justify their mistreatment of them, but it can still be confusing as to who's oppressed and who isn't and to what extent. I feel it would be even more confusing for a younger children watching who might not understand all the nuances of this stuff. However, the way the show tackles this isn't bad either. And the fact that the show tackles this element at all is admirable.

 But who cares about systemic racism! That's not the real reason people are watching this show! We all know that everybody is really here for the shipping!

 Yeah, as the series went on the shipping seems to become a much more major element within the series. So much so that to many the increased focus on the shipping is often cited as one of the main elements that caused the show to go down hill. However I never really minded it. I mean Star vs. has always been a bit of a love letter to the shojo/magical girl genre and romance is a very important element to those types of shows. So it makes sense that it would be used here. And I think it's used pretty well here overall. These are just kids struggling through these types of feelings for the first time, So it makes a lot of the stupid decisions that they make feel a lot more believable. But if this kind of thing isn't your cup of tea, it might end up bothering you. Because they do devote a good amount of time on it.

 But you're probably wondering, who do I ship? Am I team Starco or team TomStar? And honestly, while shipping has never been something I've ever gotten too invested in, if I had to pick I would probably have to say team Starco. Which may be surprising as I previously went on and on about how Tom was one of my favorite characters of all time. But this is the way I see it. Tom's whole arc is about learning how to get over his jealousy and controlling nature regarding his relationship with Star. And it's shown that even after he's dating Star, and has everything he thought he wanted, he still couldn't fully get over his hangups. Even though he loves Star and Star loves him, it's clear that the relationship still isn't exactly the most healthy. And it's clear that they are going in different directions in their lives. Tom knows what he wants. To be with Star. But Star doesn't know what she wants. Not all relationships have to end because one person does something wrong or because one of the parties involved is a bad person. Sometimes two people just aren't compatible in that kind of way. And seeing Tom be the one to break up with Star shows just how far he's come as a character. Plus, like I said earlier, Star and Marco have great chemistry. And I do genuinely see them working as a romantic couple, beyond the fact that there the two main leads.

 Besides, StarTom is technically incest so....

 *record scratch!*

 Oh wait, you didn't know about that.? Yeah, according to the official "Star vs. the Forces of Evil Magic Book of Spells" Star's Great Great Great Grandmother Rhina Butterfly was in a relationship with John Roachley, a second cousin to the Lucitor's. Now granted that would mean that Star and Tom aren't THAT related. But still. Incest none the less. Not that it even matters anyway since all of the Mewmans are descended from like five random people!  

Seriously, this is some Ishigami Village levels of incest we got going on here.

 But despite how heated the flames wars can be, I think we can all agree that Tomco is the best ship anyway. Like come on now.

 So yeah, even the shipping elements didn't bother me. To be completely honest, while the show did have some problems here or there, I found myself enjoying the show well into the fourth season. But I knew it was coming. Since I was watching the show months after the series had concluded, I had heard things about the finale. A finale that figuratively "cleaved" the fan base. But in order to talk about the finale we have to go a few episodes back and talk about the episodes leading up to it. Obviously spoilers ahead.

 To briefly recap, at this point in the series Eclipsa had become Queen of Mewni along with her husband Globgor after Star relinquished the crown to her. And many of the Mewmans are upset by Eclipsa's new "pro-monster" policies had left to live with the former Queen Moon. Meanwhile Mina Loveberry, a legendary monster fighter from generations far gone, had begun building up an army to invade Eclipsa's castle and take Mewni back from the monsters. A lot of people I hear don't like Mina as a final villain, but honestly I was surprised by how threatening they were able to make her despite how goofy she is. And her backstory about basically being a magically altered super solider driven to the point of insanity really helped to make her sympathetic. (Like I said, in this show everyone is painted with shades of gray. Even genocidal lunatics.) She invades with a Solarian Knight, a giant magic powered mech and it takes all of our heroes working together to barely defeat it. Until it is revealed that it was only one of many. It's an amazing twist that really leaves you wondering "How are or heroes going to get out of this one." Up to this point I was digging this final arc. But that's when I finally got to it.

 To me, the moment where Star vs. the Forces of Evil got bad was the moment it was revealed that Moon was working with Mina to reclaim the thrown from Eclipsa.

 It just doesn't fit Moons's character to do this. While it is shown throughout the season that Moon does not agree with Eclipsa more extreme policies, It was still shown that while Moon may be against Star's decision to give the crown to Eclipsa, she acknowledges that since Star was queen at the time and was within her right as queen to decide what was best for the kingdom. And in previous episodes she seemed generally happy not having the responsibility that comes with being queen anymore. But now she suddenly wants her kingdom back? If she wanted it back, all she had to do was say so from the start. At the start of the season most Mewmans still hate Eclipsa. It would not be that hard to stage a coup if she really wanted, especially since the magic high commission and all of Mewni would be on her side. Why would she work with Mina, who Moon knows is insane and racist even by Moons standard? Sure Moon and Eclipsa definitely don't see eye to eye on a lot of things but Moon still wouldn't want her dead, and Moon knows that Mina wants to kill her. I know she thought she could control Mina's army but that's still a big risk. It seems uncharacteristically reckless for a character as intelligent as Moon to make these choices.

 So then, after it turns out that Moon can't control Mina's army, our heroes are basically screwed and are forced to hide out in a special tavern located at the edge of the universe to wait things out while Mina begins rounding up all the monsters in Mewni. They are all trying to figure out a plan on how to possibly defeat Mina's army when Star suddenly goes on a rant about how magic is bad. And this idea had been brought up a few times in the series, but overall had never really been portrayed as a major aspect. But suddenly the show treats this as if it's all the magics fault, and that everything would be better if it was gone. And that's when Star comes up with the genius plan to use go to the magic dimension to destroy all the magic. Thus making Mina's forces useless. And while I admit that yes, they are very much been pushed to a wall here, this has to be one of the most overkill ideas they could of possibly think of!

 Now, I've seen a lot of people online saying that by doing this, Star would be committing mass murder on a multiverse scale, potentially destroying many universes. And I think that is a bit of a reach. From what we see in the series, it seems to me at least that magic is kinda a rare thing in the universe. That's why so many villains are trying to steal the magic wand away from Star. And I see very little implying that there are whole universes that are reliant on magic outside of Mewni. THAT SAID THOUGH, this would result in the deaths of a lot of innocent people. But Star really only seems concerned with the fact that once magic is destroyed, all people who come from parallel universes will return to their home universe, meaning she won't be able to stay with Marco. Which makes Star seem beyond selfish and generally pretty horrible.

 Hekapoo, one of the high commission members, despite being made of magic and knowing that she will die from this, is totally on board for this plan because plot. And our heroes travel to the magic dimension to destroy all the magic. Which they do. Defeating Mina's forces and leaving her powerless. She still manages to escape however because nobody decides to actually, you know, try to arrest the person who just committed a political coup and nearly whipped out an entire race. They just let her walk off, because she's powerless now. I mean what's the worse she could possibly do, right?

 So yeah, Mina is defeated, but everybody is sent back to their home dimensions. But somehow, through the power of love I guess, the universes of Earth and Mewni begin to merge. Thus allowing Star and Marco to be together. Happy ending, I guess? I don't know.  Like Star and Marco being together is treated as a good thing. But we also see humans screaming as there world have now been overrun by monsters. Is this suppose to be a joke? A bittersweet ending? I'm not really sure.

 In concept the idea of a universe merge is actually a pretty interesting idea. As it feels like a natural progression of the shows themes of racial tolerance and mutual understanding. Now that we've gotten semi-tolerance between monsters and mewmans we could now have an arc about trying to bridge the cultural gaps between the humans and the mewmans. Plus it would be a good way to appease both the people who enjoyed the earlier seasons focus on Echo Creek, and fans of the later seasons who preferred the stories set on Mewni. It's not a bad idea, but it needed to A.) be set up better and B.) needed more time to be fleshed out. I get that it's designed to be a sequel hook, but it's not like this is something that the series had been building up to to the point where we the audience can put together what happens next. As is, it's just weird.

 So yeah, the last couple of episodes of Star vs. where a total mess. It's fitting that the finale to Star happened to come out the same day as the finale of Game of Thrones. While I'm not going to act like there weren't some parts I liked or some good ideas sprinkled throughout, this finale was pretty bad. How do you have a show that preaches acceptance and equality and end it with a genocide?! But hey, genocidal problems call for genocidal solutions am I right?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ufmrn7BCuA

My God, It's Dragon Ball Super all over again.

 And the worse part is that the series didn't have to end this way. Cause the show actually had a pretty good episode about half way through the season, "Cornonation" which would of acted as a great series finale! With the series ending with Eclipsa as Queen and ruling with Globgor by her side, with the mewmans finally accepting monster kind. You'd have to change a few things, like rap up Mina's plot and put Star and Marco together, but other than that it could of really worked. Admirably it may end up feeling more like a finale for Mewne as oppose to a finale for Star but it would thematically fit with the message of the series. Or if you really wanna keep this finale more in tack just don't have Star destroy the magic. Just have Star, Moon, and Eclipsa go off and do the one thing the three of them had never tried doing. Working together. And have them defeat Mina the old fashion way. They even allude to this idea in the tavern episode before Star goes on her whole "We gotta destroy the magic" kick.

 It is a bit ironic to think that a show that's whole message is about unity could end up being so divisive with it audience. I genuinely believe that had the show ended on a better note, people would look back on the show more fondly. Despite the flaws. To the people who don't like Star vs. The Forces of Evil, I can understand where you are coming from. Even if you ignore the finale there are things to not like. A lot of things aren't very well explained and the show has its fair bit of plot holes. The series can be repetitive with its frequent shipping and "racism is bad" episodes. And some of the characters can be a bit annoying, including our main lead at times.

 That being said though, I have to say, I can't bring myself to hate this show.

 I don't know what it is, but I just found myself getting really invested into this series. Maybe it was due to me hearing so much bad things about the later seasons that I had low expectations, and while that may be part of it I don't think that's the whole reason. When you watch as many cartoons as I have, and for as long as I have, it becomes harder for things to impress you. Sometimes it can feel like your just checking shows off of a box, which is something that I've been trying to improve upon. But watching this show, it brought me back to the way I felt back in the early 2010's when I first started getting into these types of series.  For all of Star's flaws, and trust me there are many flaws, it felt like it was doing something unique. Like it was in it's own little world that wasn't quiet Adventure Time and not quiet Steven Universe. And the series stuck with me after I finished watching it, which is surprisingly kinda rare. It's why I became interested in doing this review in the first place.

 Star vs. the Forces of Evil is a flawed show. Very flawed. But I'd rather have a flawed show that's unique than a perfect show that's something I've seen a million times. And while I may not be a fan of how it ended, I don't think that should completely take away from all the good that this show has to offer. This show isn't going to be for everybody, and If you somehow made it this far into the review without seeing the show than I hope I've said enough to help you figure out if this show is right for you. But for me, despite everything, the series still has it's magic.

 What did you think of Star vs. the Forces of Evil? I really genuinely want to know on this one.  Did it go downhill and if so than when? Leave those thoughts in the comments down bellow. Please fav, follow, and comment if you liked the review. And have a great day.

[burritodetodo]

Burrito’s Guide To Survive Coronavirus Quarantine

We got to keep social distance (1 or 2 meters each other) or stay home during coronavirus outbreak so I thought I can share with y’all some things I’m gonna watch or do doing quarantine (this is a very long post, REBLOGS ARE VERY MUCH APPRECIATED!).

BUT FIRST SOME RULES:

Wash your hands: do it for 20 seconds or a while, but ALWAYS do it. It prevents the virus from spreading. If you don’t have sanitizer, water and soap! The cheapest and best ally against the disease.

Buy everything you need: if you can, try to buy stuff so you can stay some days at home. If the place is crowded, go back home and come later when it’s more empty. Same as medicine.

You can go for a walk: stay at home all day can be overwhelming for your mental health, but unless the goverment puts a curfew or gets strict about it you can go walk outside for a while always respecting the 1 or 2 meters from other people and without making contact (chatting) with other people. This ain’t my rule, a CDC professional says. DON’T go visit your friends or to crowded places such as bars, restaurants, shoppings, etc. If you want to buy something, ask for delivery or take away.

If you have coronavirus sympthoms (high fever, diarrhea, cough, feeling tired, breath difficulties) DON’T GO TO THE HOSPITAL YET, CALL TO YOUR PUBLIC HEALTH ORGANISATION OR WHATEVER YOU GOT AND THEY’LL TREAT YOU.

(credits to whoever made this meme)

SO YOUR LIFE IS ON QUARANTINE

Let’s say your boss or your school told you can stay at home. Okay then, you gotta prepare for some days inside *Isolation by John Lennon plays in the distance*. The first thing you think is you have to prepare a batch of series and movies to watch in order to kill some time. I’m gonna recommend you some you can find on VOD or cable, if you don’t have it don’t worry because I got you covered!

Infinity Train: a yet two seasons saga about people who got to face their problems aboard an endless train. The protagonists are joined by creatures who have different nature and help them, or not, to acknowledge their issues and leave the train. It’s on CN, it will continue on HBO Max.

The Owl House: a teen girl who daydream a lot was going to be sent to a down-to-earth camp but then she crosses a portal to the Boiling Isles, a magical world where she is taken care by a powerful Owl witch/saleswoman and her adorable demon. Lots of fantasy, some action scenes and many many puns. It’s on Disney Channel, it’ll be on Disney+ in some weeks.

Primal: Genndy Tartakovsky delighted us with the alliance of a caveman and a dinosaur, two rivals in a wild world who ally after facing a devastating event. It IS brutal and beatiful, has no dialogue and keeps you watching closely. Five final episodes are set to premiere this year. It’s on Adult Swim, maybe on HBO Max.

Tuca and Bertie: for the critics, one of 2019 best shows. For Netflix, a show that had to be cut off because the studio unionized. Two friends in their late 20s face changes in their lives: from living with a boyfriend and plan a life to look a way to stay sober and get a job. Deals with trauma, ptsd, anxiety and more harsh moments very well. In fact, the creator is a vital part of Bojack Horseman! It’s on Netflix.

Aggretsuko: red pandas are cute eh? But what about a antopomorphic red panda who releases her anger and frustrations by singing at a karaoke? This awesome comedy by Sanrio & Netflix is one of anime’s big hits lately. Like T&B, has a good handle of adult problems but not going too deep just to not break the comedy. You can watch it on Netflix.

Regular Show: yeah-uuuuhhhh! Eight seasons, a movie, five Halloween specials and some others. The adventures of a racoon and a blue jay with their co-workers/friends that relies on psychadellia and 80s and 90s nostalgia. It begins good, gets better, then lowers the quality (they were producing the movie at the same time tho, give some credit) and with and after the movie ends awesome. It’s on CN web, dunno if on Hulu (US only) and proably on HBO Max.

Evangelion: it’s a classic at this point, but addictive to me because I end rewatching the series or the final movie many times. A post apocalyptic future where the world has to deal with strange creatures known as the Angels and a boy with lots of traumas has to get on a mecha to save the humankind. All the characters have traumas and issues, the interaction between them or the action makes it worth. The End of Evangelion is a movie that ends the unfinished series. Warning: at some point it becomes very twisted and there are scenes which are too much violent. Viewer disclosure etc. It’s on Netflix worldwide.

Steven Universe & SU Future: this is the tale of the gem boy who ends a galactical tyranny and brings democracy to the universe. A acclaimed show that broke through many topics like gender, identity, ptsd, relationships and many more. Besides it’s got the best scores of the Milky Way and beyond thanks to the talent of Rebecca Sugar, Aivi Tran and Surasshu. And the actors and acrtresses! I don’t forget the movie, a musical that is an introduction to the epilogue: Shippuden Future. The show is available on CN and will be on HBO Max. Worldwide? No news.

Adventure Time: something that began as an innocent boy and a magical dog having adventures in a post apocalyptic world turns into the journey of Finn Metens from childhood to almost adulthood. There is a lot of fantasy and comedy you enjoy, but there are dark moments and serious ones through S6 that find a balance with early seasons form S7 to the finale. It also has great music, memorable moments and colaborations. And guess what? There is going to be a special set to premiere on HBO Max in some weeks! You got plenty of time to catch up or rewatch before that on CN or only (!!) S5 on Netflix.

Final Space: a dude tries to save the universe with their friends, where we can find his love interest, a cat-man and his kitten son, a intersexual alien, an AI then robot that is the best of them, two particular siblings and an annoying bot that prevents insanity that makes you insane. Crazy adventures in space, lots of situations, sadness, an evil smol bean who is a space emperor, a dude who looks for revenge, space deities that can destroy the universe. Is this a lot or info? It is not, because there is more and you can watch it on TBS, Adult Swim and Netflix (the world except US).

Rick and Morty: the most powerful, smartest human in the universe has adventures with his grandson. It’s awesome, but has a very toxic fanbase. Anyway, you can enjoy it on Adult Swim or Netflix (which is up to date!) and the rest of S4 is set someday.

Bojack Horseman: a Hollywood satire about human relationships, fame, traumas with a pour of comedy. Alongside the previous series, the best adult animation of the decade. Sadly cut by Netflix because the studio unionized (see T&B), said by both the creator and Aaron Paul. You can watch the six amazing seasons on that platform.

I’m not an animated movies guy, but here are three I really like and you can watch:

Porco Rosso: a handsome Italian combat aviator turned magically to a pig has a face off with an American pilot hired by pirates to get rid of him before WWII in Fascist Italy. It’s entertaining and, like every Ghibli movie, nice to watch. It’s on Netflix and will be on HBO Max for US.

Lego Batman Movie: Batman is depressed and has to get over it. It’s wacky and has lots of comedy. Plus Will Arnett is top 3 Batman. On Netflix (Latinamerica).

Spiderverse: Oscar winner movie about your friendly neighbour Peter Parker Miles Morales. Miles sees Spiderman die and feels bad after being transfered to a private school. Then a radioactive spider from a Fisk compound bites Miles and he’s Spiderman... among other dimensions’ Spiderpeople: Gwen, Peni, Peter Parker, Noir and Peter Porker. It’s visually amazing. On US it’s on Netflix (I guess), on Latinamerica on HBO.

Some interesting live actions I watched lately

Atlanta: Donald Glover is Earn, a dude who struggles to find a job for her baby girld and sees an opportunity when his cousin, Paper Boi, has a hit and uses him to make his cos famous. Sometimes a comedy, sometimes a social satire with touches of drama. And all protagonists are now big shots, like Zazie Beetz, Brian Tyree Henry or Lakeith Stanfield. There are two seasons and two seasons set for 2021 (2022 possible beacuse of coronavirus). It’s on FX, Hulu (US) and Netflix (world)

Avenue 5: this is brand new. On 2060 space cruises are a thing, and one cruise (the Avenue 5) has an accident that leaves the crew and passangers stranded for years. The captain (Hugh Laurie) has to solve this shit with a bunch of incompetent crew, bosses like Judd (Josh Gad), except one female engeneer who is very smart. Lots of crazy things happen in this series from the creator behind Veep. It’s on HBO (it’s free in the US!).

Peaky Blinders: it has some years but damn it’s epic. A gang from Birmingham makes their way to the top during the late 1910s after the Great War and extends through the 1920s. S5 is right in the ascension of fascism in Britain. ALL THE CAST acts spectacular, names like Cillian Murphy, Tom Hardy, Anna Taylor-Joy and a long etc. But my fave is Paul Anderson, that ultra violent junkie Arthur Shelby is splendid, then is Tommy and aunt Pol, the baddest badass woman in Britain. Blinders is going to have seven seasons, there are two left. You can watch it on BBC or Netflix.

Sex Education: speaking of Britain, excellent teen comedy. Horny, doubtful teenagers going through those hard years. Stories of sex (duh!), abuse situations, abortion, there are gay relationships either, Gillian Anderson! It’s on Netflix, go go go!

Watchmen: despite not having Alan Moore on board, Damien Lindeloff did a tremendous job with the comic. Way better and less misleading than Zack Snyder’s 2009 film, Watchmen is again at the gates of the world’s end (like today) and handles the problem of racism and white supremacy quite well. Just 9 episodes, but worth to watch. On HBO.

CAOS: Sabrina the Teenage Witch is over. Warner and Netflix made a revival of the Archie Comics character and brought her to XXI Century. But gorier, hornier, dark and magical than the nice 90s sitcom. Sabrina Spellman goes from a doubtful teen who has to decide if she has to be a witch or a powerless woman to rule Hell. How she does it? Find out on Netflix! Note: S1 and 2 take some episodes to start properly. Don’t get bored too easy.

There are A LOT MORE to recommend and I make a list: Harley Quinn (DC Universe), OK KO (Hulu -US only-), House MD, Young Justice (DC Universe/Netflix), Ken Burns’ documentaries (Netflix), Titans (DCU), Over The Garden Wall (CN), Seis Manos (Netflix), Thundercats Roar (CN), Easy (Netflix), GLOW (Netflix), Star Trek Discovery (CBS, Netflix) and Picard (CBS, Amazon Prime), etc.

- You named cool shows, but I’m not from the United States or I don’t have a subscription to (insert VOD here) because I can’t afford it

- Glad you asked, I have the answer here

Introducing Stremio. It’s an open source platform where you can watch shows, movies or even live TV on Windows, Linux, Apple or Android. You create an account, install some addons and start looking for what you want to watch.

Stremio is based on torrents, you should install addons from many known torrent sites. So maybe you find an old show, but there aren’t many seeds to watch. And it could be frustraiting, so make sure there are people sharing so you can watch it.

You can download Stremio here and check the FAQs which is very clear.

NOTE: Stremio is note quite “clean” way to watch, but if you do please support the shows you watch by posting, commenting about them, making memes, thanking the creators and crew for their work, buying merchandise if you can. They put a lot to make the shows we love, let’s give ‘em back that love and effort.

You’re tired of the same music, the same movies or need to leave something to make company? There is Vaughn Live, a streaming page where are lots of channels with movies and series on strem (not VOD). For example, there is a channel that streams Adventure Time, other Regular Show, other Sci-Fi shows, another with DBZ and so on. Take in count that if the channel has +70 viewers, the free access is cut and if you want to watch it you have to pay.

En Vaughn también hay canales en español, como Simpsonmanía, Dragon Ball, Futurama, dibujos viejos y muchísimo más. Anyway, go to https://vaughn.live/ and enjoy yourselves!

Y hablando de canales en español, pueden ir a SeriesLan donde está el mayor reservorio conocido de series animadas de entre 1960 a 2010 en español latino. Pueden encontrar tesoros desde Don Gato, los Halcones Galácticos o Street Sharks a Flapjack y Mechas XLR. Otra alternativa para que pasen el rato.

Some interesting facts:

Epic Games releases a free game per week in their store. This week will be two games. You can check in https://www.epicgames.com

Steam has good prices on games and some free ones. There even is the latest Football Manager for free until March 25th. Check on https://store.steampowered.com/

If you’re interested,

I got this playlist I made on Spotify

with songs I liked in more than one year. More than 1200 songs.

And that’s pretty much it! You got resources for a lot of days, 14 initially since that’s the quarantine time in my country. Remember: obey the indications of the Health authorities, this is no time to play the “fuck the goverment” game. We will overcome this pandemy together, helping and caring for each other. That’s why I did this guide, to keep your minds busy in these tough times! Wash your hands, keep social distance, stay at home, go outside if necessary and have some patience please. This has been a PSA.

Stay strong!

Burrito

[ramheavenandhell]

The Lines Between Ricks And Mortys – Chapter 6: "Never more than five Mortys, huh?" / "I hate you!!"

AN: This is it now people. The last chapter. It's the one that I'm actually most excited about and I hope that you'll like it :) Also sorry for posting slightly late, but stuff came up yesterday. Warnings: more Morty battles, so violence

The Lines Between Ricks And Mortys – Chapter 6: "Never more than five Mortys, huh?" / "I hate you!!" "So, why are we doing this again?" Rick C-133 asked his Morty, as they stood hidden behind the Morty Day Care. "We're trying to follow that corrupt Guard Rick to find out where the brothel is located at." The boy replied irritated. "Yeah, I got that part. But tell me again why WE are the ones doing that? Shouldn't K-4872 be the one to do this espionage bit since he was the one that wanted to find the culprit behind those illegal activities?" "Well, he's busy investigating something or someone else right now and asked us if we could do this." "You do realize that we're also busy trying to find a certain culprit. Do I really have to remind you of that?!" "No, but maybe we find our Morty there, too. What better hiding place would there be for him?" Rick didn't have a comeback to that. It was probably true that their mysterious Morty would be able to blend in best in a place that was full of Mortys, but still had limited access. Yet, he wanted to argue back that it might be too much of a coincidence to find the one they're looking for like that. Not that their current search all over the Citadel had yielded much better results so far. Just as he was about to open his mouth to make another comment, Rick was shushed by his Morty. The boy was peeking around the corner and saw the Rick that they had been waiting for standing at the otherwise empty counter. He really was dressed in civil now – better said, he was sporting the standard lab coat and blue sweater that most dimensions' Ricks seemed to prefer. It was really a surprise that he still continued to do this after he had seen and overheard how they had cornered Storage Rick today. Maybe Storage Rick was really good at convincing him that everything was still good and he really didn't rat anyone out. Whatever it was, Morty tried to keep an eye on the Rick's actions while trying to not be noticed, staying hidden behind the corner and having to be careful if they wanted to follow him stealthily to wherever he was going to deliver the five Mortys that he was getting handed…

Rick C-137 and his group of Mortys meanwhile were on their way to the building where the "Council of Dicks" resided in. He finally had enough badges together to fight them. It was actually ridiculous how many you needed just to be allowed to kick all of their asses. However, he finally had collected enough and was also pretty confident in his team of Mortys that he had gathered. Not that he really needed to worry about that anyways, since he knew the council enough to know that those Ricks were all talk, but had no bite behind it. The only thing that they could do was to abuse their position to enforce stupid stuff on other Ricks, but if you were to strip them of that power, they would be absolutely nothing. "Well, c'mon, Morty. This finally starts to feel like we're getting somewhere in this story. If we win this, we're finally going to get my portal gun back. And hey, you even managed to clear up your little side-quest-thing there—that big thing that you were playing detective for and now all of those Mortys will be saved and everyone's gonna get a happy end. Well, as long as you don't lose against the Mortys from the Council Dicks that we're going to face now." Rick drawled to his original grandson on their way there. "It's not solved yet, but you're right. C-133 should be able to find the location now and then they can report it to the Citadel police so that they can arrest everyone involved…" Morty didn't sound as enthusiastic as he should. His Rick was right. Things were finally starting to look up. They would be clearing up the whole Morty-trafficking affair and when they defeated the Council they would get their portal gun back so that his grandpa could concentrate on hunting Mysterious Rick down. And he should have no doubt that his Rick would find him – he'd probably made some sort of tracking gadget again to find the other. The only one that they couldn't help with resolving their problem now was the C-133 duo (and Rick P-78 and his Morty who were only here to help those two). It was certainly worrisome to know that there was a Morty out there who was willing to kill other Mortys and try to turn Ricks into mindless puppets. In a way it reminded him a little of that event with Evil Rick who also kidnapped Mortys and tried to download the contents of his Rick's brain. He wondered why that Morty was doing that – what could be his endgame? However, there was no time to worry about that for him now. The entrance of the government building came already in sight and the only thing he would have to worry about now was winning their next battles. Actually, he felt a little pumped up about this and more motivated than in the beginning. Maybe he was just getting used to fighting? Whatever it was, he felt ready for it. As they ventured up the small flight of steps, it struck Morty as odd that the Guard Ricks that were usually positioned next to the doors weren't there, but he didn't dwell too much on it. However, he probably should have thought about that because once they walked inside, he saw what had happened to them: The Guard Ricks (who were unconscious) as well as all of the Council members had been beaten and tied up. And the Rick who was responsible for it stood right in the middle of it all… "That's it. You Council of Idiots have fucked up so much that I will take matters into my own hands now. I will take all of the Mortys on the Citadel with me!" Mysterious Rick declared with an insane glint in his eyes. "What? That's Rickdiculous!" Riq VI said. "Wait! Could that mean that Mysterious Rick is the one behind the Morty kidnappings?! And the t-thing with the illegal brothels?!" Morty C-137 blurted out and directed the attention of everyone inside the room to them now. The new voice made Mysterious Rick also spin around in surprise. He grinned lecherously as his eyes landed on Morty C-137 and he seemed to instantly recognize him. "Oh, it's you, my lovely. I'm really glad to see you." He said. Morty felt chills running down his spine and he was surprised, but also relieved as his Rick stepped in front of him and shielded him with his body. As Mysterious Rick's eyes fell on Rick C-137, his grin dropped and was replaced with a scowl that matched the other's face. "Not too happy about seeing you again though." He seethed. "The feeling is mutual, but we still have some unfinished business left to discuss." "Well, unfortunately you picked a really bad timing. It's still a little too early for our confrontation." Mysterious Rick smiled evilly and threw an object at him. Rick's eyes widened and he yelled at his Mortys "Duck!" before also getting down and covering his face as the bomb landed on the ground. However, instead of exploding, it only released smoke. As Rick looked up again, he could see the tail end a familiar red cape fluttering right past him. "Quick! He's trying to escape!" Rick shouted and he and his Mortys gave chase. "H-Hey! What about us?" yelled the still tied up council members after the retreating team. Mysterious Rick ran. That C-137 had really picked a bad timing there. This wasn't how he had planned it, dammit!

The C-133 duo meanwhile had been able to follow Rick T-42 without getting detected. "Aw fuck! You gotta be shitting me!!" The Rick groaned out loudly. It made the pair wonder what was up since they were not able to see what he was seeing right now. "Don't worry about that, T-42." A voice suddenly rang out through the small alley. It came from a person that stood on the roof. The C-133 duo flinched, not sure if the mysterious person had seen them from where he stood. "Just bring them to the other one in sector 3 for now." The boy who could only be a Morty continued to instruct. "Got ya." The Rick replied and ventured off to the opposite direction with all five Mortys still trailing obediently behind him. Morty C-133 wondered if they should continue to follow T-42 or concentrate on the ominous Morty on the roof who seemed to have a much higher rank in this trafficking organization. Besides, if they walked after the Rick, he would surely see them. That is if he hadn't already… "I haven't really expected you two to show up here so fast." The Morty directed at them now. Okay, so he had already seen them. "Holy crap! Morty, that's him! That's the zany Morty that we're looking for!" Rick suddenly blurted out. It took a few moments to recognize the other since he wore such a weird outfit: a black uniform with a red 'M' on its front, matching hat and mask and a red cape. However, there was no mistaking that this was the weird Morty that had hired those Mercenary Ricks to kidnap his Morty and tried to manipulate him! He could just tell from that voice and attitude.

Said Morty didn't seem to be bothered that he was found out since he only grinned at Rick C-133's outburst. Then he suddenly began to bolt. "Quick, Morty! Don't lose him!" Rick bellowed and instantly ran after the culprit. As they dashed out of the alleyway, Morty vaguely noticed that the building that T-42 had led them to was surrounded by police vehicles and Guard Ricks were swarming the place. Looks like the police forces and/or militia of the Citadel had already found one of the brothels and was busting the place. So at least that was a problem that was getting resolved already. Good for K-4872. Now if they would only be able to catch this Morty, they would have also accomplished their own mission.

"Damn, did we lose him?" Rick C-137 turned in every direction, trying to figure out which way Mysterious Rick had run. He and his troupe of Mortys were panting heavily, having chased the weirdo Rick up until this point, but apparently lost sight of him as they came to this cross-section. Rick was pissed, not believing that the other just got away like that when he was so goddamn close to catching him. He was almost ready to give up when he suddenly caught sight of a red cape that just vanished around a corner. "There he is! C'mon, Mortys!" The group continued to chase after their suspect, however, after a while of following this guy, they noticed that something was off. "Wait a second, Rick. This guy isn't Mysterious Rick. Doesn't he look like a Morty?" Morty C-137 began to ask midrun. Indeed, the figure that they were chasing after now looked too short to be a Rick, so it could obviously only be a Morty. Of course, his grandfather had already noticed that, too. "Yeah, Morty, but see that outfit that he wears? It's the same as that weirdo has and I doubt that it's coincidence. Chances are high that this Morty is his acquaintance or at least somehow connected to him and this time we won't lose him." What Morty hadn't noticed was that the scientist had pulled out his handy Mortytector. With the help of the device they would be able find him again even if he would manage to outrun team C-137. Rick had already read his dimension number and would be able to track him anywhere now.

"Goddamnit!" Rick C-133 cursed as he looked around the cross-section. They had just lost the Morty that they had been chasing after. And he still hadn't bothered to build a Mortypad with which he would have been able to trace him. Just his luck. "Oh man. What do we do now, Rick?" Morty wondered, looking at the surrounding streets in confusion as he tried to figure out where his evil counterpart went. "We lost him, Morty. So there's nothing we can do now. I have no way to track the little shit…" They could only admit defeat now as much as Rick hated to do it. Back to square one, though not entirely stuck as before since they at least knew now that the little psycho seemed to have to do something with that illegal brothel ring… "Hey, Rick! There!" Morty pointed to a figure that just disappeared around a corner. Immediately the duo chased after them, but Morty quickly realized his mistake. "Oh, that's not that Morty. It's actually a Rick." The boy was about to stop, but his Rick kept running, so he started to jog after his grandfather again. "Maybe. But this Rick wears the same weird uniform as our Morty, so he might lead us to the little shit." "Wha-what are you doing?" Morty asked as he saw that the scientist pulled his mobile phone from his lab coat. "I'm calling P-78, so he can cut off the guy's escape route. Otherwise it's stupid just trying to chase and risk losing him again." The other replied while he quick-dialed the aforementioned Rick's number. There was no way that Rick C-133 would make the same mistake twice…

Mysterious Rick was getting pretty annoyed that he couldn't shake off his pursuer. For a moment, he had actually thought that he managed to lose them, but suddenly they were right behind him again. Of course, in his haste he didn't notice that the duo that was following him now were not Rick and Morty C-137, but C-133 even though it was probably weird that the other Mortys weren't there anymore, but for all he knew they had decided to split up in search for him. Since he was too busy to come up with an idea how he could get away – using his portal gun was out of the question since they were close enough to follow him through it and he didn't want his precious Legendary Morty end up getting stranded in a dangerous place – and too focused on the Rick and Morty behind him, he didn't pay attention to where exactly he ran. So, he only noticed too late when he ran into someone else. As he looked at the person that he had crashed into, he was confused because it was a Morty who had copied his get-up. Considering that escape was of higher priority to him, he got up again and tried to continue running. However, that didn't work out very well because his escape route was suddenly blocked off by another Rick and Morty pair – P-78 and A22ß6. He also quickly noticed that escaping to his right was not possible since Team C-137 which had been chasing after the weird Morty had also caught up now. That left him with only one way, but that was surprisingly quickly blocked off as well as Rick and Morty K-4872 showed up – wherever those two had suddenly come from. Mysterious Rick groaned, seeing as he wouldn't be able to simply get out of this now. With narrowed eyes, he looked at the mysterious Morty who he was going to blame for his failed escape now. His eyes widened for a moment, as he seemed to recognize the boy. "Oh, great. Not you of all people." He murmured sarcastically. The Morty only humphed in recognition. "Wow, guys! What are you doing here?" Morty C-137 asked while trying to catch his breath. "Yeah, I also wanted to ask you that." Morty C-133 retorted. "We were following Rick T-42 as agreed and then we ran into this Morty, who is the same Morty that we have been looking for, but then we lost him and saw this Rick and then we followed him." "We went to the Council and Mysterious Rick was there and we've been chasing him, lost him and then we found this Morty who wears the same clothes as him, so we followed him instead." C-137 also explained. "A-an-and we're ju-just here be-because C-133 called u-us." Morty A22ß6 said. His Rick added, "Yeah, because we were supposed to cut this Rick's escape route off." All eyes turned to the K-4872 duo. "And we're here because we were tracking Mysterious Rick. I know that this is the Rick that C-137 was looking for now, but that isn't the only reason why we were after him." "It's because he has to do with the Morty kidnappings, right?" Morty C-137 threw in now. "He said something like wanting to take all the Mortys of the Citadel when he was in the Council building." "Not quite." Morty K-4872 corrected him. "Mysterious Rick or better said Rick C-777 is actually the owner and CEO of Morty Inc. which is handling all Pocket Mortys related facilities like the Day Care and the Morty Games Coliseum. But that doesn't mean that he's all innocent since he's known for having an obsession with collecting Mortys and it's pretty obvious that these facilities were just used as a means to broaden his collection." The mysterious Morty scoffed as he listened to that. Mysterious Rick threw in evil glare in the boy's direction. Morty K-4872 continued with what he had found out during his investigation, "What is even more interesting to note is that he is actually the one who had hired us to assassinate Rick S-121 because the Morty brothel ring is hindering his Morty collecting obsession." "Oh, I should have known that you were behind that!" The evil Morty spoke up again and looked angrily at Mysterious Rick. "What did you think you were doing, you asshole?!" "Oh, I know what you were doing, trying to steal these Mortys away and making my search for the Legendary Morty unnecessarily harder!" The culprit Rick retorted. "Wait? So does that mean that the Morty that C-133 was looking for is behind that Morty brothel ring now?" Morty C-137 threw in, getting more confused by the minute. "Yes, it seems that way." Morty K-4872 confirmed. "This Morty has been manipulating Ricks and Mortys alike to build up his whole crime organization. And he had been stealing from Rick C-777's facilities the entire time." The revelation brought Mysterious Rick to sprout another tirade at the Morty who had no scruple using Ricks and Mortys to get what he wanted. "You, little fuck! You stole from me! All those precious Mortys! And if that wasn't bad enough you had to dirty them! You've ruined everything, absolutely everything that I spent so much time on to build up!!" Rick C-777 seethed. "Dirtying them? And what do you think it is that you were doing or trying to do to those Mortys?" Morty C-777 shot back, apparently feeling not even an ounce of regret for the things that he had done. "I'm not like those Ricks. I'm different and I was only trying to find the perfect Morty." Saying that, Mysterious Rick looked straight at Morty C-137, who couldn't stop himself from shuddering. Gulping soundly, he stepped up and with a lightly unstable voice, he forced out, "Y-you're both horrible people! And even if you—" he pointed at Mysterious Rick at that. "—have been fighting against that brothel ring, it was only so that you could go and rape all the Mortys instead, which is in no way better than what he had been doing!!" Completely ignoring what the other Morty had just said, the evil brunet asked his fittingly-dressed counterpart, "So, did you finally get the Morty that you had wanted?" "Well, I've caught a few Mortys, but none of them were good enough for me yet, just like my original Morty." He stressed those last two words as he looked sharply at the boy. "However, despite your worst efforts, I was finally able to find the Legendary Morty and I only want him – Morty C-137 – because he is the purest Morty of them all. Unlike the little shit that I had been cursed with!!" "Wait! Does that mean that this Morty is actually your original Morty?" For Morty C-137 the pieces of the puzzle finally started to fall into place – somewhat at least. "Yep, it is." His grandfather confirmed, looking at his Mortytector. "Dimension C-777. That's his." "That one is no Morty of mine. He is so impure – the most impure Morty there is. I don't want him or want anything to do with him." Rick C-777 shouted and looked clearly disgusted at even being brought in connection with the boy who still stood next to him. "I'm just interested in pure and innocent Mortys. And I'm going to make them all mine." Before anyone could even say something else, Morty C-137 stepped forward. "That's it! I've had enough of this! Let me at him, Rick. I'm gonna beat that bastard for good now." Rick C-137 wore a proud grin on his face. "Sure, Morty. If that's what you want, be my guest." If the boy was finally getting into it, then by all means… Mysterious Rick blinked in confusion, but saw that there was obviously no other way out of this situation than to battle it out. So he grabbed his portal gun and opened a portal, so he could summon his own Mortys to fight for him. "Come, my Mortys." He called and not soon after a few Mortys departed from the open vortex. "What? Where is the rest of you guys?" "Do you know how late it is, Rick? Most of us have already gone to bed." One sleepy Morty answered and rubbed one of his eyes. "Then go back and wake them up! I need all of you for this battle." "Okay." The Morty trotted back into the portal, which closed again. He would just have to do in the meantime with the Mortys that he had here. The first wave consisted of eight Mortys in total – of course, the cheater had to summon more than was allowed according to the official rules. "Never more than five Mortys, huh?" Morty C-137 complained about that. "I guess there are just some Ricks who don't like to play by the rules, Morty." His grandpa replied to that. Unfortunate as it was, his team really only consisted of five Mortys in total, which was going to place them at a disadvantage now. Or at least that was what Rick C-137 had thought, completely forgetting that they weren't entirely alone right now. "C'mon, Morty. Get in there and help them." Rick K-4872 suddenly spoke up. "What?! Why?!" His Morty instantly protested. "What? Y-you think that they can—they can do it alone? Just look at how many Mortys he has." "He's right, Morty." Rick C-133 said now. "You go in there and help them out, too." While Morty C-133 sounded anything but pleased at the prospect, he obediently walked over towards the other Mortys, who were getting ready for the battle. He couldn't deny that C-137's Mortys alone wouldn't be able to do it. Rick P-78 looked at his own Morty, but instead of ordering to also get into the fight, as the other Ricks had, he asked, "You wanna join in, too?" He certainly wasn't going to "force" his Morty into this if he didn't want to. Morty A-22β6 looked at him for a moment as if to contemplate, but then resolution showed on his face as he nodded. "Y-y-yeah because—" and then he turned to Mysterious Rick and yelled clear and without stuttering "—because Ricks like you give nice Ricks like Q-89 a bad reputation!" A disappointed groan could be heard and Rick P-78 slapped a hand on his face and dragged it down in annoyance. "Really, Morty? Really? That's your reasoning here?" he asked and looked at his Morty, his face showing that he was questioning him, but not angry. "What's wrong, P-78? Getting jealous?" Rick C-133 couldn't help, but mock him. "As if! Why should I be jealous?!" Rick P-78 fired back. He really wasn't. Even if his Morty was attracted to Rick Q-89, he had already told him that he wanted to stay with him and be his Morty. Only his. The thought made him almost blush, but Ricks don't blush, so he was able to fight the face coloration down before anyone could take notice of it. The Mortys were now facing off against each other, as each seemed to pick their opponent. Morty C-137 was standing opposite to the Rick Morty that they had met in the dungeon who was still clad in the self-made wig and the stolen shirt and lab coat from his original Rick as well as holding said Rick's well preserved brain firmly in his small hands as it was still leaking fluid onto the ground. His opponent's bloodshot eyes were staring directly into his own. However, Morty didn't shudder or react otherwise to it. While he still thought that the other Morty was creepy, he wasn't scared of this battle. He had been more than ready to fight when they were on their way to the Council and his confidence and will to brawl hadn't lessened one bit over the entire chase. Morty C-133 meanwhile was faced with the Super Rick Fan Morty. However, he instantly noticed that his opponent was barely paying attention to him. No, instead the fan seemed much more interested in Rick C-133. And it was pissing Morty off. This was already the second time that a Morty was awfully interested in his Rick. What was the deal with that? Morty wasn't willing to share – he had already had a hard time accepted Summer to join in on their "Rick and Morty adventures" – and least of all was he willing to hand his Rick over to anyone else. That was his grandpa! Morty A-22β6 looked at his opponent who was none other than a Mermaid Morty, who looked a little out of his element, balancing with his tail on the concrete. The shy brunet swallowed heavily while mentally telling himself that he shouldn't be scared now. After all, he had been able to defeat the nightmarish version of his original Rick and he had the support of his new Rick as well as Rick Q-89 (even if he wasn't present right now) and that was all that he truly needed to face off in this battle. Morty K-4872 was facing Crazy Cat Morty and couldn't help but instantly feel really bad as he stared into the innocent eyes of the other. Unlike Team C-137 he wasn't seasoned in Morty battles, so he acted as he always had to on his missions - pointing his laser gun at the enemy. Of course, it only made him feel more miserable because he knew that he shouldn't really shoot the other Morty. It wasn't the boy's fault. He was just being controlled and the one who was actually at fault here was obviously Rick C-777. It was always a Rick. And it's also always a Rick that he shoots down in the end, so he began to think that it's just the best if they take the short route and aimed with his pistol at Mysterious Rick now. What he didn't notice in time was that at that exact moment the Cat Morty's eyes changed and he hissed as he noticed that his Rick was in danger. The crazy Morty instantly leapt to attack K-4872, biting and scratching at him like a wild animal and managing to topple him over, so that he accidentally dropped his gun in the process. Judge Morty meanwhile looked in confusion at the one that would be his opponent. It was a Colossal Head Morty who looked equally confused back at the former. The judge was pretty sure that he had never seen anything crazy like this before in his life. Ironically, the Morty that consistent of nothing more than a giant head, thought the exact same thing as he looked at the judiciary executioner. Shadow Morty was the one who looked the most unsure with his enemy, yet there was no doubt that he picked the most fitting one for himself – he was staring at the Phantom Morty. The other ghost-like Morty looked at him with sorrowful eyes and it was hard to tell who he was pitying more – himself or the specter. Morticia couldn't help but cringed at the enemy that she was stuck with. The strong stench of urine could be smelled from all the way where she stood and she was totally grossed out from seeing how dirty that Hobo Morty was. While she usually wasn't as squeamish as most girls, she thought that she found her master for sure this time… Super Morty Fan Morty looked downright delighted at the opponent that he got. But also confused. "Are you actually a Morty in there?" he asked as he stared at Mascot Morty. His enemy sighed, looking anything but pleased at having to battle now. As if a silent signal fell, the Mortys started to jump at each other – minus Morty K-4872 and the Crazy Cat Morty who were already wrestling with each other on the ground. Morty C-137 tackled the Rick Morty to the ground who in turn let his Rick's brain drop. In slight shock he stared at the pinkish mass that laid on the ground and C-137 also look towards it, but rather with badly hidden disgust. The next moment, he was suddenly pushed off, as Rick Morty seemed to have snapped. The cosplaying Morty attacked him relentlessly, clearly in a rage for what had just happened. Morticia meanwhile was still trying to keep an even distance from her enemy. She just couldn't shake off the disgust that she felt from even having to look at the hygiene-lacking Morty. Ironically, her enemy didn't try anything on her, just standing there and looking at her. "Do you like dogs?" he suddenly asked. Morticia stopped where she stood and questioningly looked back at him. "Uh…actually, not really. I'm more of a cat person." Hobo Morty looked displeased at the answer. K-4872 was naturally still busy wrestling with the crazy Morty with the fake cat ears. It was a real struggle for him since the other fought literally back with nails and teeth, scratching and biting him. "Ow! What the heck is wrong with you?" K-4872 yelled. "Quit acting like you're a feral animal! Is your Rick seriously making you act like this?!" Even if the other boy was remote controlled via the manipulator chip, it didn't really make sense to him. Maybe it wasn't entirely Mysterious Rick's doing, but this Morty seriously believed himself to be a cat and was therefore acting like this. A-22β6 gulped heavily as he looked at his opponent, who still hadn't done anything yet. The mermaid just tilted his head and looked curiously at him. "Are you a new friend?" he asked eventually. "U-uh… no. We-we're enemies. We're sup-supposed to f-fight a-against each other." The Shy Morty replied, a little confused that the mermaid even had to ask. "Oh." His opponent only replied and looked disappointed. A-22β6 was clearly confused and didn't know what to do now. Was he supposed to attack first or something? 'Here goes nothing.' He thought as he readied himself and advanced on his opponent. Super Morty Fan Morty meanwhile was already in the middle of his attack – though he didn't view it as such. He hung around the neck of the Mascot Morty and still tried to figure out what – or better said, who – was really underneath that mask. "C'mon! Are you a Morty wearing a Morty costume or are you someone else? I need to know!!" "Cut that out! Let go of me!!" Mascot Morty was clearly getting frustrated with the clingy Morty and tried to shake him off of himself again. Unfortunately, for him, to no avail… The showdown between the two ghostly Mortys looked anything but spectacular at the moment. They were just staring at each other with sad and lonely eyes. If you were close enough to them, you would actually be able to hear them communicate with each other, using pitiful wails and moans. Looks like this was a battle that wouldn't take off very soon… Judge Morty meanwhile was still looking in irritation at the Colossal Head Morty. The bodiless Morty meanwhile floated around, looking like he was searching for an opening to attack the other Morty, but also looking as if he was scared getting to close to him. Still the Morty in the black robes didn't leave his enemy out of his eyes and his stare was intense enough that it might as well be an attack on its own – and it was clearly causing damage to his opponent. C-133 on his end was currently still being ignored by his opponent. "You're Rick C-133, aren't you? C-dimension Ricks are so incredible." The fanboy fawned. Rick C-133 looked anything but pleased by the attention that he received and tried to inch further away. "Uh, Morty? How about you start attacking this little lunatic? Any time now?" "I would if he would finally start looking at me!" Morty replied, getting more and more frustrated by the minute as he just kept being ignored. His Rick looked at him as if asking if he was really serious. Being fed up with it, Morty decided that he just would make the other look at him. Even while this whole fight was like another battle royal again, Mysterious Rick was very focused on it and with his longstanding experience as a Morty trainer – how long had Pocket Mortys been a thing anyway? – he was able to evenly order his Mortys to attack. At his Rick's command, Super Rick Fan Morty forced himself to turn away from Rick C-133 and eagerly went to attack Morty C-133. The boy in the yellow shirt was actually hit by surprise since he had been convinced that he needed to land the first hit to get the attention. So, the fanboy's attack came out of nowhere for him since he had just suddenly turned around and clogged him straight in the face. The force of the punch was enough to knock C-133 on the ground and he looked up in shock as the other didn't even give him time to recover from it and just pounced on him to continue with what he had started now. "Don't be scared now and just attack him!" was the order that Colossal Head Morty received from his Rick. It was as if that simple sentence drained all the fear from him and before Judge Morty could react, the floating head came charging right at him. The bodiless Morty rammed with his full weight into the public officer who was swept off his feet by the force. Judge Morty coughed and rolled on the ground in order to get up again, clearly struggling with this usually easy task. The hit really took it out of him. Phantom Morty finally also went into action and stopped fraternizing with the enemy as he heard his Rick's voice. The glowing ghost Morty floated towards the specter and grabbed his neck, attempting to strangle the other. While it would have been normally impossible for that to work since Shadow Morty had no physical form the ectoplasmic creature was in the same state as him and therefore something akin to physical contact between them was possible. Feeling the other Morty was so surprising for the shade that he had no idea what to do. His shadowy hands just wrapped around the ghostly ones of his opponent and tried to pry them off again. "I've had it with you!" Mascot Morty finally snapped and managed to throw the attached fanboy to the ground. Not wasting any precious time, he used the moment of surprise to pummel his enemy who still needed to recover from falling on the ground. Super Fan Morty squeaked as his enemy really began to lay into him. A-22β6 made the mistake that he was inching slowly towards his opponent instead of just lunging at him. Because if he had done that he might have been able to land the first hit. As it was though, the Mermaid Morty was the one, who beat him to it now. At Mysterious Rick's command, he quickly slipped over the ground like a sea snake through water and whacked the shy boy with his tail. The fishy Morty kept attacking with his fin unrelenting even if his opponent squealed and whimpered in pain from the onslaught. K-4872 still tried to wrestle his opponent to the ground, who didn't let up in his ferociousness – quite the opposite actually. As soon as Mysterious Rick told him to keep going, the animal-like Morty only continued to bite harder. K-4872 was getting convinced that this wasn't entirely Rick C-777's doing. There really was something wrong with this whacky Morty and it didn't just had to do with the chip. The Morty in the green vest growled as he fought back harder than ever now. As if he would get defeated by a lunatic! The Hobo Morty may have only looked angry at the female Mortys response, but he seemed to have gotten really enraged as soon as his Rick gave him the order to quit stalling and finally attack. Morticia squeaked and tried her best to evade as her opponent finally got in gear and tried to attack her. Normally she would have already countered, but her stinking counterpart was still grossing her out too much. However, it was probably also a good think because it kept her motivated to dodge all of his oncoming attacks. C-137's predicament meanwhile hadn't gotten any better. The initial rage of the insane Morty had turned into some obligation to follow whatever his genius grandfather ordered him to do. And if he was ordered to destroy his opponent then that was what he would do. Of course, he had no idea that Mysterious Rick didn't want C-137 getting hurt too much – really just enough so that he could take him with him without a fight after this whole battle was over – and so he was ready to kill his counterpart. Morty C-137 could feel that intention in every one of his enemy's blows – and that was really scary! "See that?" Mysterious Rick asked as he pushed with his elbow in his original Morty's side. "My Mortys are great! Nothing like you." Morty C-777 snorted. "How would you know? It's not like you have ever used me in a Morty battle. You have no frame of reference how good I really am!" Now it was his Rick's turn to snort. "What-what is that? A straight invitation to your bedroom, you little whore?" The way that Mysterious Rick had phrased it made the Morty look clearly upset again. "That bullshit might work on other Ricks, but not on me, you slut!" This was setting off a huge argument and before long, the two were bickering like an old married couple. Of course, this in turn took Mysterious Rick's attention from the ongoing battles, which probably wasn't his wisest decision. Especially since team C-137 had already proven after their battle against Shibuya Rick that they were pretty good at managing on their own and without their Ricks' orders. Morty C-137 had no intention to die at the hands of a crazy, scary Morty – well, he didn't have the intention to die by the hands of anyone, as long as he still had a say in the matter – so, he mobilized all the strength that he found in his body and pushed his opponent off again. Apparently, it was quite a lot of strength, he noticed, since the force had sent his enemy practically flying. He looked down at his own hands and wondered if the Morty battles that he went through in the past days had really been such a good training for him to become this strong. Deciding that now wasn't really the time to ponder on that – and it doesn't really matter anyways – he focused back on his opponent, who finally got up again. He charged at Rick Morty again and exchanged blows with him. While it looked like the damage that they dealt was evenly at first, it soon showed that the weird Morty was the one whose energy was quickly depleting. He looked helplessly up at Mysterious Rick who unfortunately didn't have any eyes for him since he was still arguing with his original Morty. With his Rick being blind to his plight, it didn't take much longer until he was drained and collapsed. Morticia was still busy whining and evading Hobo Morty as if he was a spider, not having made much progress in her own battle. It was only when he finally managed to grab her wrist that she completely snapped and lashed out at him. She repeatedly kept bashing on his head with her free hand until he let go while screaming loudly all the while. However, even after he released her, she didn't calm down again. Morticia was getting on the offensive and repeatedly punched him till he stumbled on the ground. Then she continued to kick him all the while yelling about how gross he is and to never touch her again. By the time that she had calmed down again, the Hobo Morty was already passed out. She flushed in embarrassment as she realized what kind of scene she must have made. Well, she won the fight. That was all that mattered, wasn't it? Morty K-4872 was still struggling against his opponent. However, fueled by his determination he finally managed to get slowly the upper hand. After pushing the other far enough off that he could use his legs, he kicked Crazy Cat Morty off of himself and got on his feet. He winced and held his wounded arm, convinced that the cat-eared brunet had actually teared a chunk of his flesh out. The feline-like Morty was even quicker up on his feet now and looked truly horrifying with all the blood around his mouth. He leapt at K-4872 again, but this time he saw the attack coming and managed to evade it. Morty K-4872 used this short time frame to scramble for his dropped gun again. After picking it up, he didn't aim at his enemy though. Instead, he decided to use the handle of his weapon to whack him in the head – every ounce of mercy was gone from him after the stunts that his counterpart had pulled on him. Crazy Cat Morty began to stagger from the injury to his head. However, K-4872 didn't give him a break to recover and hit him again. It only took three more well-placed hits until his opponent was down. K-4872 only huffed, being fed up with these Morty battles already and feeling suddenly much less sympathy for his brethren. It was just impossible for him to blame this completely on Mysterious Rick and somehow this only infatuated him more now… A-22β6 was still under attack from the merboy. The fishy tail kept whacking him repeatedly and trying to shield himself with his arms from the onslaught didn't work out very well as the hits were still very painful. For a moment, he contemplated to forfeit the fight just to end this torture. His eyes fell on his Rick's face who looked worriedly back at him, looking like he just might intervene and jump in any moment now. If Morty wasn't going to give up on his own P-78 would stop the fight, meaning that it would be a loss for them either way. His eyes then fell on his fellow Mortys who all fought against their own opponents still. He took notice that they had also been injured, but nonetheless none of them looked like they were even considering giving up. No, they kept on going with the determination to win. Inspired by that, A-22β6 found heart again. He didn't want to be a weakling and the only one who gave up in this battle! Heck, he'd been probably through so much worse stuff than all of his counterparts combined, so it would be more than just shameful if he gave up now just because of some tail-wags. At the mental image of his original grandfather, he felt anger boiling up inside of him instead of the fear that he had always felt before. He had been through that and he had defeated his nightmares. He would also be able to defeat this Morty who was practically disabled on the dry ground that he currently was on! Unwrapping his arms, instead of trying to shield himself against the oncoming attacks, he grabbed the tail and stopped the other mid-whack from continuing. Mermaid blinked at him in irritation. "Hey! Let go of my tail!" he complained. Letting go of his enemy was the last thing on A-22β6's mind. Instead, he began to twist and pull on the fishy appendage. Despite the flexibility of the fin, he managed to manipulate it in such a way that it was getting painful for his opponent. "Ouch! Ouch! Stop that!!" But he didn't stop, only twisted harder. Mermaid Morty emitted a long drawn out wail, as he was sure that something was starting to break. It was only short before the merboy passed out that A-22β6 stopped again. However, the opponent's relief was very short-lived as Morty lifted him up by his tail and finished him off by slamming him into the ground. A-22β6 panted heavily and looked quite worn out, but after looking over to his Rick and seeing that he was clearly impressed, he knew that it had been worth it. Mascot Morty was still laying into the fanboy who had gotten into a fetal position on the ground to shield himself from greater damage. This continued on until the Morty in the costume stopped again, panting and in need for a break. "Are you done now?" Super Morty Fan asked from the ground, looking like the beating hadn't fazed him at all and surprising his opponent. "You're really strong!" In his fanboyish nature, the fan sprang up and fawned over his enemy again, glomp-hugging him. The force and surprise coupled with Mascot Morty's fatigue lead to him falling backwards. Now both were laying on the ground, Super Fan Morty on top and nuzzling against his opponent, not even thinking of releasing him from his hug. "You're so strong and so cool! And since you're a Morty and wearing a Morty costume it's like you're two Mortys in one!!" His arms wound tighter and tighter around the other in his excitement. "You-you-you're like the ultimate Morty!!" Mascot Morty could only choke as the other literally squeezed all the air out of him. And frighteningly his grip only kept tightening. Caught in a literal choke-hold and with no way to free his arms or himself in any way, it was just a matter of a few short minutes until the costume-wearing Morty lost consciousness. Unfortunately, for him – even though he wasn't really awake to notice – the fanboy still didn't release him even after that. Shadow Morty still felt the tightening sensation of Phantom Morty's hand squeezing his short neck. While it was almost ridiculous since he already was dead, he still feared for his life. Even if he couldn't clearly remember his last living moments, he was sure that he didn't want to die again. He choked out a screech like the ones that he usually let lose before he went into a full-scale attack on his opponent and as always the white of his eyes turned red. It certainly confused Phantom Morty since this behavior wasn't like his own. He never had felt such a deep rage as his counterpart, only sadness after his death. However, he still refused to let go of his opponent. That soon proved to be a mistake however, since this close range just made the battle end all much quicker. Shadowy tendrils erupted from the shade's body and twined around the ghost. In shock, the phantom let go now, but it was already too late. He was slowly being encased by something like a dark cloud and unable to see anything beyond the pitch-blackness. Next, the only thing that he knew was pain. Even before the dark cloud that had surrounded both Mortys had cleared up, the bluish ghost dropped to the ground and ceased moving. Before the Colossal Head Morty had another chance to ram into him again, Judge Morty whacked him with his trusty gavel the next time that he charged straight at him. The impact made the bodiless Morty wobble through the air, who looked clearly disoriented now. Judge Morty finally got up from the ground and kept attacking his opponent. However, he wasn't using his gavel again, but attacked him verbally, listing off how many laws he had just broken by attacking an enforcer of the law and what kind of penalties he would get for that. The verbal assault combined with the strong hit to his enormous head, caused the enemy a major headache that got worse enough to the point that he eventually fainted and collapsed on the ground. C-133 was also still under the attack from the lunatic fanboy. Now that he finally got his attention, he wished that he hadn't been so eager for it. Instead of aiming to shield his face, he tried to catch his opponent's wrists to keep him from attacking further. After a few tries, he actually managed to get a hold on both of them. Locked in a stalemate now, the two Mortys looked at each other, both panting and wondering where to go from here on. The Rick fan was the first to lose his patience and struggled in the hopes that the other would let go of him again. However, C-133 was unyielding and held on tight. "Let go already!!" The fan whined. "I don't wanna be touchy with you! If I'm gonna be touchy with anyone then it's gonna be with your Rick." "What the hell are you saying?!" C-133 sounded clearly frustrated but still refused to relent on his grip. Super Rick Fan's attitude switched from annoyed to mischievous in a second. "Oh, you know exactly what I mean." He leaned over the other, his face getting so close that their noses almost touched and he wore a smug grin on his face while his eyes were half-lidded. "…and I'm sure that I'm a much better lay for your Rick than you are." He whispered in a sinister tone. C-133 was flooded by a wave of emotions at that moment. He felt disgusted by this crazy Morty who was so eager to get into those sort of activities with Ricks. Appalled by the mere suggestion that his Rick would also be into that sort of thing. Anger at the sort of Ricks who were in fact into that. And also the humiliation of having been at the hands of such Ricks and having been used in such a way. A small part of him also still felt jealous that this Morty was vying for his grandfather's rarely given attention. With a swift movement of his legs, he threw the Rick fan off of himself, who tumbled disoriented over the ground. The disorientation didn't last for long though and both Mortys were quickly on their feet again and facing each other. However, C-133 was seeing red right now, still fueled by that whirlwind of emotions and he quickly lunged at the other. The fanboy squeaked as he was the one that was thrown on the ground and pummeled now. He tried to defend himself, even tried to fight back and stop his opponent in the same way that C-133 had done to him before, but he was being completely overpowered. Super Rick Fan stood no chance at Morty's rage and was eventually beaten into submission and unconsciousness. "Looks like your precious Mortys aren't so great now, are they?" Mysterious Morty mocked as he noticed that they were getting knocked out one after the other. Mysterious Rick made a frustrated growl and opened up another portal to summon more Mortys. Another wave of eight Mortys emerged, the sleepy Morty from before informing him that these were the only ones that he could motivate to get up at this hour. Rick C-777 growled again. "Are you kidding me?! Just you wait till I get home!" "Not very loyal, your precious little darlings, huh?" Mysterious Morty was immediately at it again. And again Mysterious Rick's entire attention went to the argument. Needless to say that his backup Mortys didn't fare much better and were defeated even quicker than the other Mortys before them. Being confused by the lack of orders and not able to defend themselves against the rapid attacks of team C-137 and the others, they really stood no chance. "Looks like you're actually losing this battle." Morty C-777 said smugly. Mysterious Rick finally noticed it, too. His eyes widened as he looked at the battlefield and saw that all of his Mortys were knocked out while his opponent's Mortys stood strong and fixed him with a hardened look that equaled the look on their Ricks' faces. "No! My Mortys! Do you see what you have done?" He turned back to his original Morty again. "This is all your fault!! You fucking ruined everything again! The least you can do now is to go out there and fight them for me!" "Oh, now that you are losing, you suddenly want something from me!" The Morty instantly argued back. "You're the one who wants to be my Morty and belong to me so badly, so start becoming useful and get into the battle!" The Rick argued back. "Forget it! You made your own bed, so you have to lay in it now!" Mysterious Rick could see the other Ricks advancing on him now and since his Morty still refused to budge, he knew that this was the end of the line for him. Trying to escape was practically impossible for him even if he would try to use his portal gun. How could everything just have gone so wrong? After all of his planning. "Not such a big shot now that you can't hide behind your Mortys anymore, huh?" Rick C-137 commented as he came to a stop right in front of his villainous counterpart. Then he proceeded to beat the ever-loving crap out of Mysterious Rick. Kidnapping and raping his Morty. Stealing his portal gun and then handing it over to the Council so they would be stuck in this stupid game. Rick was sure that he was letting him feel all of the hate that he had stored up in every single blow. Morty C-777 just stood there and watched his Rick getting beaten to a pulp – not even thinking of helping his grandfather. Of course, he had completely forgotten that there was also someone present, who had a grudge against him, but he remembered as soon as Rick C-133 and P-78 were towering over him. "Well, you little shit. I hope this was all worth it." In similar fashion to C-137, C-133 began to punch and kick the Morty. No one felt even an ounce of mercy for the boy – neither the Ricks nor the Mortys who watched. The scene was suddenly interrupted by a loud shout: "Everyone freeze and hands in the air!" Three Guard Ricks and one Guard Morty quickly advanced with their weapons drawn. "Great. Now of all times the Council's puppets have to show up." C-137 muttered as he reluctantly followed the order. His Rick comrades looked likewise enthusiastic about this, but also obeyed. "This Rick and his Morty started it! They are the bad guys! We were just defending ourselves!" Morty C-137 tried to explain, not wanting them all to get into trouble for this. Sure, he understood what they did was self-justice and they should have called the police or something as soon as they had cornered the mysterious duo, but even he had to admit that what they did felt right. "We know." The Guard Morty replied, much to Morty C-137's surprise. The guard – Morty F-396 – and his Rick went over to the Mysterious Morty and handcuffed him. Likewise, the two other Ricks began to handcuff Mysterious Rick. "You are under arrest for illegal activities that fall under article 3 paragraph 4b of the Citadel Law Code as well as for kidnapping Mortys, which is article 9." The Morty began to list the crimes that the captured boy had committed against several Ricks and Mortys and also told him his rights. "Hey! Why are you arresting me?! I have nothing to do with the bullshit that this little psycho had done! If anything, I tried to stop him!" Mysterious Rick protested. "Most of the Mortys that he had kidnapped where stolen from me! I'm the victim here!!" "Oh, you've got your own bunch of crimes that you are getting arrested for now, buddy. We have just gotten a call and a direct order from the Council to catch you after what you had just tried to pull with them." Rick M-28 Δ5, who stood to his right said. As Morty F-396 looked around at the surrounding Ricks and Mortys, his eyes fell on A-22β6 and he immediately recognized him as the shy Morty back from Morty Academy. Morty A-22β6 noticed that he was staring at him and looked back at him with confusion, probably wondering if they knew each other. Of course, he couldn't recognize F-396 because of his uniform and the fact that they had met at the academy when he had been working undercover. The Guard Morty's eyes fell on P-78 now, who was standing right next to the Shy Morty. The man put his hand on his Morty's shoulder, who then looked up at his Rick and smiled and Morty F-396 had to smile, too. Even if this Rick looked kind of scary, he seemed to be nice enough to Morty A-22β6, which he was really glad for. The boy had really deserved a Rick, who would actually care for him. Rick F-396 spoke up now. "We will have to get testimonies from all of you who are currently present. So please follow us back. And don't worry, you are not in trouble or anything. As soon as we are done with the questioning you are free to go again." Morty K-4872 stood up at that. "I have done a lot of research on both of these two and gathered a lot of evidence and other material. I'm happy to share all of that with you to ensure that they will receive the proper punishment that they'll deserve." His Rick groaned at that. It was so stupid of his grandson to put this much work into all of his research without getting anything out of it. The least he could have done was to offer to sell the information that he had to them. If the Council was desperate enough – and with how much shit had went down, they must be pretty desperate right now – they would have even paid a nice sum for it. His Morty still needed to learn a lot… "Your help is very much appreciated and we would like to hear and see all of that during the hearing." Rick F-396 replied. The guards then began to lead the two culprits off. And of course, the duo had to start bickering again. "See what you got us into now, you dumb little shit?!" Mysterious Rick seethed. "Just because of the shit that you pulled, I'm going to get dragged down, too." His Morty scoffed at that. "Don't act like you're an innocent." Morty C-137 had to budge into the conversation again, still feeling pissed off from this Rick's attitude after everything that he had done to him – and most likely done to other Mortys, too. "How can you still think that what you have done was okay? In which fucked up dimension is it okay to rape someone? And not just someone, but your own grandson?!" "He's right! You old sick bastard, you do nothing but sleeping around with all of these other Mortys! What about me? You never even asked me." Mysterious Morty quickly jumped on that. "I've got no interest in you. Mortys are cute and pure, but you are impure and not cute at all. Just take a look at yourself, you little psycho!" "So, what? You don't even want me in your creepy little collection?!" "No, thank you." "I hate you!!" Everyone else practically ignored those two at this point. They were clearly both not in their right mind. "Hey! Wait a second now! I still have a few more questions before we start rolling the credits on this one." Rick C-137 dashed up to walk on the same height as the guards. "I need to know if I'm getting my portal gun back now. I mean, I have defeated this asshole who got me stuck in this stupid Pocket Morty craze. And since he defeated the Council before I got my chance, this must count, too, right?" "We'll put in a good word for you." Rick F-396 replied, not being in the position to make any promises. Of course, C-137 didn't like that answer, but was forced to follow along anyways. Which didn't mean that he couldn't harass the guards on the entire way, insisting that he really should get his portal gun back.

After the hearing was over and the Ricks and Mortys were free to go their separate ways again, the Mortys bid goodbye to each other, not sure if they would ever meet again after all of this was over now, but they still had each other's' numbers and would surely stay in contact. Rick C-137 could convince the Council to give his portal gun back and they could finally return home, too. Morty C-137 was really exhausted from their adventure and needed some time to think. He reminisced briefly over everything that had happened within the last few days as he laid in his bed. The sudden appearance of Mysterious Rick, right as he had walked out of his room. The kidnapping that followed and then the humiliation that even his own Rick hadn't been able to safe him from. Then being stuck in the dungeon since his grandpa had his portal gun stolen and then Mysterious Rick luring them on the Citadel where the Council confiscated their portal gun and forced them to participate in the Morty battles. The hunt for Mortys – first the stoic Morticia, then the weird Shadow Morty, the crazy fanboy Super Morty Fan Morty and lastly the cool and collected Judge Morty – and all of the battles against other Ricks and trainers. Well, against their Mortys, to be more precise. Also the whole investigation to find the culprit behind the illegal Morty brothels, which they also managed to solve. And lastly, the final battle against Mysterious Rick. So much had happened in such a short time and he wanted to think that he had also grown a lot over that time span. He had made new friends – even if they were other Mortys – and had become stronger and smarter and maybe a little less dependent on Rick in their adventures. But even through all of that, he was still left to deal with the aftermath of Mysterious Rick's actions. And these would appear in the form of nightmares as he would find out as soon as he fell asleep. It was kind of like King Jellybean all over again, just that it felt like it was worse this time. However, that was something that will have to be resolved at another time…

AN: And that's it! Another 10k chapter, but this is the finale, so it's only natural, right? …I have to admit though that I was really tempted to just skip over the whole battle at the end, but at this point, it feels like it's just a part of the story that shouldn't be missing. And sorry if switching between the single Morty fights back there was getting confusing or something, I just wanted to make it feel a little dynamic. So, I'm sure that you can already see that there will be more (couldn't have hinted it better at the end). So yeah, keep a look out for the aftermath story if you're interested and still want more. And yes, I am aware that there is a hole in the F-396 storyline, but I will cover the missing part in a future installment…probably… I'm nowhere near done with the "Entricked Fates" series and this was such a fun project for me. I hope that you liked it as well and found it as exciting as I did. Also my muse is still refusing to cooperate with me and my stories are a bit slow-going still (I'm just going through my folder of mostly finished stuff right now and see what I can post at the moment). By the way, I normally never ask this directly for critique, but to those of you who read the whole story without skipping over the fighting scenes: did you think that I improved on it over the course of the story a little? I mean, yes, I know that I'm still shit at writing action scenes and I will try to spare you from that in the future (…at least for a while), but I was just really curious if you got the impression that I slowly got better on it. I like to think that I improved at least a little bit, but it's probably easier for others to tell (and I know for sure that I'm not just imagining things). Many thanks in advance for letting me know what you thought of it :)

Part 11 of Entricked Fates

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Part 1 of Entricked Fates: Gotta Catch Me Some Morty

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Part 2 of Entricked Fates: Mortyfied and Rickfused

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Part 3 of Entricked Fates: Ricking the Routine

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Part 4 of Entricked Fates: Ricks will always be Ricks

oneshot

Part 5 of Entricked Fates: The Morty-Lover

oneshot

Part 6 of Entricked Fates: Second Chances AKA The Rick One For Me

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Part 7 of Entricked Fates: Rickvestigating the Morty Disappearances

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Part 8 of Entricked Fates: When the Morty’s away, the Rick will play

oneshot

Part 9 of Entricked Fates: It’s Not His Ricking Fault!

oneshot

Part 10 of Entricked Fates: I Ricking Hate My Life!

oneshot

Part 12 of Entricked Fates: The Mortys and their Stories

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

[court-of-pokemuses]

Every Eusine ship rated!

I’ve done this over on my main account @/pkmnsdarkqueen, and I think it’s kinda fun. It’s every ship on the muse from this page rated by my personal opinions. For this account I’ve been slowly working on it since January, and since this is a multimuse it took this long. I hope ya’ll enjoy!

Disclaimers directly below and the list under the cut!

strike through=my side commentary, trying to be funny, usually about ship names italicized=if asked I’d be down to rp it mostly just to see how/it it’d work * by name=I just think it’s a wildly random ship bold=ship name and who in it to help you find a certain ship highlights=they are grouped up, again in case you want to find that one ship

Took out category of Eusine and a protagonist/rival/or companion since they’re all children so it’s a hard no. A few other younger characters fit in the other categories though they’ve been judged no as well for the most part. Some shipped but ONLY in the context of the character being grown up.

Took out category of Eusine with pokemon because pokephelia. In multiship some of them have a pokemon and these have been dubbed as being one of the human’s part pokemon.

ships on ‘never ending romance’ website. Before asked yes mun has other ships she likes that aren’t listed, but Im only focusing on those listed.

Eusine w/ a Villain

Top rated ships: Diamondstud, & Uxorious shipping. 

Bottom rated ships: Fanatic, Fixation &  Hoax shipping.

*DiamondstudShipping - Colress & Eusine 5/10 I mean they’re both fabulous dudes who are focused on finding legendaries so I’d give it a fair shot of happening. Then again would Colress be able to put up with Eusine? 

FanaticShipping - Eusine & Saturn 0/10 Hehehe, they’d kill each other. (Saturn would kill Eusine)

FixationShipping - Eusine & Giovanni 0/10 Giovanni would kill him let’s be honest. 

HoaxShipping - Archer & Eusine 1/10 I.........hm.........yeah don’t really see it too much either as a long term thing. Maybe a hook up?

*UnfortunateShipping - Butch & Eusine 4/10 I mean it’s interesting you got 2 folks who like to show others up, and are fancy bois. Could kinda work I suppose. 

UxoriousShipping - Eusine & Hunter J 6/10 And in this corner we have the wild ship that kinda makes sense just make Eusine more crazed. I mean they’re both obsessed with finding legendaries??? So just watch em run around trying to find certain stuff. Not much love there tho

*WorthyShipping - Cyrus & Eusine 4/10 I’m sorry but I do not see Eusine as hitting the ‘worthy’ level on that I mean he’s strictly emotion based tbh. This would be wild though to see. 

Eusine w/ a champion

Top rated ships: Regent shipping

Bottom rated ships: Gnomon shipping

AeonShipping - Eusine & Cynthia 0/10 Oh gosh no, how the f is that gonna work? Like bruh I don’t think she’d put up with him. 

GnomonShipping - Eusine & Steven Stone 4/10 Gnomo means gnome, so this ship is about gnomes???? Anyway moving on from that def another one night stand scenario.

MantleShipping - Eusine & Lance 4/10 Here we have another one night stand! Seriously just very few people can handle Eusine long term.

*RegentShipping - Alder & Eusine 7/10 Eh Alder did casually shoot his shot at Cynthia so if he did with Eusine def would of at least gone a round. Tho hm long term???? Maybe? I mean Alder has more patience???

SplashShipping - Eusine & Wallace 4/10 Both fabulous, but can they handle each other’s extraneous is the real question.

Eusine w/ an elite 

Top rated ships: Ouroboros, and Harker shipping

Bottom rated ships: DarkMagic, MythHunter, and Elitist shipping

DarkMagicShipping - Eusine & Karen -50/10 Hehehehe, no. Yeah no even if Morty wasn’t involved in why Eusine hates her they would soon find a reason to be at each other’s throats.

ElitistShipping - Eusine & Will 1/10 Will would be sick of him pretty soon, or Eusine would be sick of him. If they didn’t chat much before hand maybe 1 night.

HarkerShipping - Eusine & Marshal 7/10 Cuter than some others I will say and I mean Marshal does seem to have more patience than some, and maybe it’d work.

MinaShipping - Eusine & Grimsley 5/10 Oh grims baby boi shipped around. Yeah I could kinda see it running better than some but again 2 dramatic bois, we’ll see how long they can take each other. 

*MythHunterShipping - Drake (Orange) & Eusine 1/10 I just want to see em exploring the world trying to find crazy legends and such. 

OuroborosShipping - Eusine & Flint (elite) 9/10 Kinda want to see this happen. I just imagine it being the refined boyfriend and messy other boy friend who were originally roommates. 

PilgrimageShipping - Bruno & Eusine 3/10 Ye Bruno would have the patience of a saint to handle him but would it be a good relationship?

WellReadShipping - Eusine & Lucian 5/10 Hm, nerd meets fabulous extrovert. Kinda sorta maybe?

(Surprised to see everyone in the Johto league and no Koga)

Eusine w/ a gym leader

Top rated ships: Sacred, Maelstrom, and RagingInferno shipping

Bottom rated ships: Camilla, Sacrosanct, and Broxa shipping

BroxaShipping - Eusine & Winona 0/10 Winona would not put up with this man. 

CamillaShipping - Eusine & Sabrina -10/10 Sabrina WOULD NOT put up with this man.

CeladonShipping - Eusine & Erika 3/10 I kinda want to see this in that Eusine can usually get away with his slightly flirty shiz and expects Erika to fall, but she just outright does not and boom he’s like,”but....hm I am intrigued.”

CorruptShipping - Bugsy & Eusine 0/10 No way in heck would Boy Scout and Eusine get along

DropletShipping - Eusine & Misty 2/10 Huh it’d be interesting but also they’d probably just fight alot.

HereticShipping - Eusine & Falkner 6/10 I think the name is funny, and brings up some interesting possibilities in au, but as the same time I kinda see it in the main timeline and wanna see it. 

IntertidalZoneShipping - Eusine & Jasmine 0/10 Ye they might ship, but would it be a healthy relationship?

JustinShipping - Eusine & Elesa 0/10 Who is Justin. They would be fashionable together but trying to romance would not work.

MaelstromShipping - Eusine & Volkner 8/10 Ok maybe. Tbh Volkner and Morty have somewhat of the same vibe to me, but Volkener has a bit more sad energy. 

MinakaneShipping - Eusine & Whitney 0/10 This is the first time I feel like Eusine would be annoyed and only becasue she’s just a happy ball but like all the time.

*RagingInfernoShipping - Chili & Eusine 7/10 Ok but watch em both get mad and scream like and then like cuddle afterward and both apologize. 

RueShipping - Eusine & Candice 0/10 Eusine is bent on finding legendaries and Candice is all protect them. no.

SacredShipping - Eusine & Morty 1000/10 Top for the boi cause they just have alot of character moments, and also they have the same salty chemistry and I love it.

SacrosanctShipping - Eusine & Clair 0/10 Clair would hurt him first before any sparks flew. 

SiWongShipping - Byron & Eusine 4/10 Eusine is your dad now Roark. So anyway I think it’s kinda interesting I like the contrast they have with each other but Idk how it’d work together. 

TesseractShipping - Brock & Eusine 1/10 Please explain the name to me, are you telling me they’re Avengers now??? So anyway I kinda feel like this wouldn’t happen. Like I mean Brock is a kind soul, and Eusine is kind of a goblin. 

WTFEverShipping - Brawly & Eusine 3/10 The name says it all. They’d have a one night stand, Brawly would think it was more and scream that at Eusine who’s confused why he’s mad. 

Eusine w/ Professor or assistant to

CrossRegionShipping - Bill & Eusine 3/10 Bill I suppose could work but I feel like things would fall apart when Bill realizes ‘oh you don’t just like suicune in a research sense you’re a bit fanatic.”

***ForelockShipping - Eusine & Professor Sycamore 5/10 .....Ok but if Sycamore was evil maybe? Idk why specifically this, but for some reason I feel like that would vibe??? In general tho naw.

*InvestShipping - Eusine & Professor Rowan 4/10 Naw don’t see this long term but I see it going longer than most.

*LifelongDreamShipping - Eusine & Fennel 9/10 There aren’t too many heterosexual ships I see with Eusine but oddly enough I can see this one. Especially after Eusine lost suicune and they get to talk about what they want from life. 

Eusine w/ a minor GAME npc

Top rated ships: Bowtie, and Value shipping

Bottom rated ships: Chaser, and Jinx shipping 

*BowtieShipping - Eusine & Juggler Irwin 6/10 You know what ye, let em both be showy but one has the cool ability to juggle.

ChaserShipping - Eusine & Satsuki 2/10 Satsuki is a kimono girl about protecting the legendaries idk if she’d be down with his goal unless you just want to focus on them enjoying the journey of looking. 

HarangueShipping - Eusine & Thorton 5/10 I can’t tell if Thorton is a child so that’s weird but for this we’re gonna head cannon he’s an adult. I mean kinda cute I guess with crazy pants McGee energy that Eusine has and in control Thorton. SO eh.

*JinxShipping - Eusine & Palmer 2/10 But Palmer making a hologram suicune? Eh Might be cute, but it’d need more depth than my little cute joke. 

MysticPoisonShipping - Eusine & Lucy 3/10 Funny to imagine same energy as Erika, but long term I don’t see it. 

PokeWifeShipping - AZ (XY) & Eusine 4/10 Someone please explain, please. I mean it’s a no from me dog, but like maybe in an alternate timeline???

*ValueShipping - Eusine & Riley 6/10 They just wanna go find legendaries. They both have the slight cool vibe and I like it.

Eusine w/ a minor ANIME/MOVIE npc

Top rated ships: Harrow, Thunder, Jones, and LegendQuestShipping/PursueShipping/RavingShipping

Bottom rated ships: 20Questions, FollowMyLeader, and Legato shipping

*20QuestionsShipping - Eusine & Flint (Kanto) 0/10 Ya’ll this is Brock’s dad. Like wut??? Brock I am your dad now. I guess the fandom just sees Eusine with dads/dad bods. what 20 questions are they asking?

*AncientPossessionShipping - King of Pokelantis & Eusine 5/10 ..........yeah if anyone was gonna end up possessed it’d be Eusine. They both want to find a legendary pokemon, but Eusine still has their heart focused on wanting to help the pokemon. Although hm idk but what if the king corrupted Eusine??? 

FollowMyLeaderShipping - Eusine & Molly Hale 0/10 So this is the child from the movie and I get we see her all grown but still I don’t like this. 

ForeignShipping - Eusine & Harrison 3/10 This guy has a houndoom as his main and has a tie with ho-oh, I’m shocked the fandom didn’t slam him together with Karen. Anyways he doesn’t have too much depth in the way most anime NPCs do but like mayhaps

GoldbergShipping - Eusine & Noland 5/10 Another dad bod type. Anyway I see this one tho since the cold calculations of Noland may mix with Eusine’s craziness. 

*HarrowShipping - Eusine & Harley 10/10 Yes def on this one. Harley is kinda intense, Eusine is intense. I think this makes sense. 

JonesShipping - Eusine & Ian 8/10 There isn’t much on this guy except that he takes care of pokemon. But he has that dad bod which apparently is Eosin’s thing so sure. 

LegatoShipping - Butler & Eusine 0/10 So Butler has a girlfriend for one. I honestly feel like they have the same energy but Eusine is gay. 

LegendQuestShipping/PursueShipping/RavingShipping - Eusine & Lawrence III 8/10 Again this is just crazy Eusine with someone enabling him. 

*MadShipping - Eusine & Tyson (Johto) 6/10 The Tyson they’re talking about it she one that forced the evolution to happen. I mean I guess but also again this would be the crazy Eusine one. 

ThunderShipping - Eusine & Kudou 8/10 One gets Suicune, and one gets Raikou I mean he’s one of those anime characters that doesn’t get much character so let it happen.

WitnessShipping - Eusine & Ritchie 0/10 This guy is a rival to Ash so ya know it’s a kid, and I don’t see anything they’d connect on.

Eusine w/ Orre or Ranger npcs

SuicuneShipping - Eusine & Venus 8/10 So they’re both conceited, and focused on folks liking them? 

Eusine w/ manga characters

UnworthyShipping - Eusine & Walker Guess what folks, it’s another dad-o, specifically Falkner’s. 

Eusine and multiple people: (All are gonna be a no romantically because I don’t see Karen being poly, but I’ll give plot ideas)

Top rated ships: ImaginaryFriend, and Oos shipping

Bottom rated ships: MissSaigon, Erratic and CrystalIntegrity shipping 

4KingsShipping - Eusine, Falkner, Morty & Lyra 3/10 I’m kinda lost on the name here, and I could see them all hanging out I guess. Maybe a couples date thing, Eusine & Morty w/ Lyra and Falkner. Where do the kings come from tho?

BromanceShipping - Eusine, Flint (Elite), Morty & Volkner 7/10 Bromance where nothing is platonic and clearly 2 couples, or heck maybe it is, anyways I like it though! CapeShipping - Eusine & Jackson (Vincent) / Eusine, Jackson (Vincent) & Lance 9/10 Ok but cape awareness club though where they all sit down and make up good reasons to have a cape, and they make PR for it cause they’re tired of getting teased. It’s a funny idea. CrystalBellShipping - Eusine, Morty & Suicune 5/10 Ok this is just Eusine completing his goal in life and morty also being there. I mean I feel like Morty would be the 1 person to support him having the pokemon but I mean it’d eventually just be his fav pokemon on his team.

CrystalIntegrityShipping - Eusine, Paul, Kris & Suicune 1/10 This is just eusine hanging out with children and a legendary pokemon what are they supposed to do?

CrystaltrioShipping - Eusine, Morty & Kris 4/10 Just a gay couple handing out with this child who defeated them both in pokemon combat. Look she just thinks they’re cool ok?

DashingFanboyShipping - Baron Alberto, Eusine & Lawrence III 9/10 3 bad bois all out wanting to catch their pokemon favorite. Please don’t leave them along longer than 5 minutes because bad things can and will happen. 

EastWindShipping - Crystal, Eusine & Suicune 4/10 This is just Eusine being mad that she caught the pokemon. It makes sense tbh, but I think she’d get annoyed with him trying to convince the legendary to be his pokemon.  ErraticShipping - Eusine & Morty + Eugene (Eusine) & Kudo 2/10 Ok so this is just Eusine shipped with one guy and another Eusine shipped with Morty cause Eugene and Eusine are the same person. I am confusion and I feel like Kudo and Morty would be too. 

ImaginaryFriendShipping - Eusine, Lawrence III, Morty, Ho-Oh, Lugia & Suicune 10/10 .........This is just people giving them a hard time about pokemon they will never get/see isn’t it. Heh I feel like you could put more people in this thing, and I think there should just be that as a support group.  IntelligenceShipping - Eusine, Lucian & Will 5/10 Bruh Lucian would lose his mind trying to deal with these two, It’d be funny to watch but poor Lucian.  KarmaShipping - Eusine, Falkner, Morty & Will 5/10 What did Falkner do to deserve bad karma? And yes I say bad cause Will, Morty, and Eusine alone would cause some shiz. This is the above but with one more person and falconer stuck with it.  LovelyangstyfanserviceShipping - Eusine, Falkner, Lawrence III & Morty 5/10 Ah so these are the angsty bois huh? You’re missing a few folks.  Marina'sFondestDreamShipping - Eusine, Jackson (Vincent) & Lance 3/10 I think this is just a 4 way someone wants to happen. Eusine would have a good time talking to Vincent about Raikou cause it could help him find Suicune. Lance is wondering how he got wrapped up in this convo. 

MisledShipping - King of Pokelantis, Ash & Eusine 4/10 So Ash got possessed by the king and Eusine would def fall into the same boat if there. Yeah the king would have 2 minions basically. 

MissSaigonShipping - Brawly, Eusine & Morty 1/10 So many Eusine and Morty with another person. Hm I can’t think of much they’d have in common immediately...

MovingOnShipping - Eusine, Lawrence III & Professor Carolina 5/10 Professor Carolina helps 2 dorks get over the fact that they can’t have the legendary pokemon they want. MysticQuestShipping - Eusine, Jimmy (Kenta) & Marina (Johto) 4/10 This is just them all looking for suicune and only one gets it, spoiler it’s not Eusine

MysticShipping - Eusine, Morty & Will 6/10 Ah yes the clairvoyant, the psychic, and a fanboy. One of the most powerful forces to ever exist. Real talk though I feel like they’d just all cause trouble together. 

MystifyShipping - Eusine, Morty & Whitney 3/10 Is it just me or is anyone that ships with Morty and Eusine feels like a 3rd wheel? I feel like they’d have an ok time together but idk if it’d go long term. OnMyHonorShipping - Eusine, Falkner, Morty & Clair 6/10 Ok yeah they all definitely have that ‘honor’ vibe about them but I fell like their honor systems have various levels of skew to them. It’d be interesting to get them all in a room to talk about it though. 

OosShipping - Brawly, Eusine, Morty & Will 10/10 Please catch them all in some school au where they are the trouble makers of the school. Brawly is the wanna-be intimidating jock, Will is the class clown, Eusine is the dramatic theater kid, and Morty is the introvert they adopted.  SacredDevotionShipping - Eusine, Morty, Ho-Oh & Suicune 9/10 They finally got the pokemon they have fan boy crushes over. Cute but I feel like they’d not realize how much for it takes to care for a legendary. That and be bad at trying to defend them, interesting thing to explore.

SacredFireShipping - Eusine, Morty & Ho-Oh 5/10 Now morty got his pokemon he wants. Kinda cool, maybe it’d show Eusine what he looks lie to other people. 

SacredHonorShipping - Eusine, Falkner & Morty 3/10 Again falconer feels like the third wheel here, and idk what they’d do long term. 

SuitUpShipping - Butler, Darach, Eusine, Lance & Steven Stone 6/10 All the dudes in suits huh (and Lance)? I feel like some are missing. I can see them all going shopping some time though and getting wild new styles. 

TrimurtiShipping - Eusine, Giovanni & Lance 4/10 Huh....ok I mean I just see it as Lance reluctantly keeping Eusine safe from Giovanni cause Eusine would def do something to make him mad trying to act tougher than he is.

Eusine w/ Eusine

RagingEgomaniacShipping - Eusine & Eusine 10/10 He’d band himself in a heart beat, and they’d be wildly annoying to everyone else.