#instead i ran in and got stuck in a battle where my guys kept eternally dying over and over

[ruairy]

.

[focsle]

Vendryth Bio

HELLO here I am with one of my Gigantic Character Bios.

Basics

Name: Vendryth

Nickname: Ven to friends. He also has a number of tacky nicknames in the various small localities he helped out over the years: The Golden Traveler, The Dragon, Trollslayer, Midwinter Hero, ET CETERA ET CETERA. To Neris he is ‘Grandpa’.

Age: Died at age 326. Born 1E 2594, died in 1E 2920. Is Neris’s resident ghost as of 2E 582.

Gender: Man

Race: Dunmer

Class: Battlemage and restoration master

Physical Traits

Height: 6ft

Weight: 210 lbs

Hair: Auburn, pulled back in a long braid.

Eyes: Red

Skin: Dark blueish grey

Distinctive features: Full Van Dyke-style beard. A lot of assorted scars from 300+ years of Fighting Things. Really big gaudy dragon tattoo on his chest.

Mannerisms: He has a confident ease moving and existing in the world, and he definitely takes up space in a lounging sort of way. He also tends to relate to people physically—SHOULDER SLAPPER sort of guy.

Voice: Friendly and booming. Bit gravelly but refined.

Fashion: He likes ornate armors and likes to keep ‘em shiny. In the day to day however, he dresses very simply...keeps his shirt collar as open as possible...

Emotional Traits

Personality: He’s very personable and very willing to help people, to the degree that he is prone to butting into situations that initially don’t involve him. He almost never turns down requests for help and can quickly shift to adapt to situations that call for his attention. He tries to behave honorably, though he hasn’t always done so in his interpersonal relationships in the past and is awkward in coming to terms with that.

Likes a good time. Is boisterous and rollicking and sometimes has an air about him that he doesn’t take things seriously, even though as said above, he can rapidly switch gears to handle grave situations. He’s chummy with everyone. A bit flirtatious & slutty. A pro at entertaining swaths of children. Good at calming horses.

He’s very vain, though not arrogant. He’s surprised if someone isn’t impressed by him, but not upset or offended. He does Heroics partly because he has the ability to and thinks it's the right thing to do, but also because he likes the attention. Likes being fawned over. Doesn’t wanna wear a helmet to cover his pretty face.

Religion / Belief system: He more-or-less adheres to the Tribunal (much to the chagrin of Grandson Neris). He doesn’t believe them to be Actual Gods and thus doesn’t ‘worship’ them, but does recognize and respect them as powerful leaders and has no problem serving their will when it comes to the defense of Morrowind. He later became one of Vivec's Buoyant Armigers, and was quite reverent to both Vivec and Almalexia.

He’s wary of all Daedra. Just expects them to be troublesome and either doesn’t involve himself or actively works against them. He’s pretty straight-laced about all that.

Lifestyle

Background: He was born into a minor family in House Telvanni. Despite his lack of Notable Lineage, he proved to be very magically adept, especially in matters of restoration magic. In his early 20s he married a woman named Tendreni Ilyiil. Their marriage was a strategic one centered more on solidifying future power than anything else—his skills, and her more powerful family connections. It didn’t work out, particularly as Vendryth’s interests turned more towards being a healer rather than the acquisition of knowledge or power. He wasn’t good at communicating that it wasn’t working out however. He decided instead to simply abandon Tendreni and their infant child and forgo any connections to his house. While he would come to regret that action as he got older, he never made amends, feeling too much time had passed for it to mean anything.

Over the decades he worked with both the Mages and Fighters guild, intensely studying Restoration but also battle techniques and becoming quite powerful through the ranks as a result. Initially he took contracts through the Fighter’s Guild to assist people. Then he became a bit of a Freelance Hero around Tamriel, chasing the high of Minor Glories in numerous regions. His mastery of Restoration magic enabled him to slow his aging considerably.

His work took on a more concentrated effort when he was a little over 100 years old, in defense efforts against the first Akaviri invasion that earned him recognition among his peers. He would continue to serve in Morrowind's military for a time, and then more specifically for Vivec as a Buoyant Armiger. Through this work he had the flexibility to continue his Pro Bono Heroics around Tamriel, but would respond to calls back home when needed.

By 2840 he was back to his military engagements, operating as a high-ranking healer during the Four Score War. While certainly not always on the front, he was involved for the entire 80 engagement and managed to live through it as a decorated veteran. Unfortunately when Mournhold was sacked shortly after, Vendryth lost his head to one of Mehrunes Dagon’s army while trying to heal someone.

He had an honorable burial in Necrom, though not in the Ilyiil tomb. However, simmering generational anger over his initial abandonment of his first family led to his ghost being tracked down by Ilyiil ancestor spirits who then bound him to protect the family tomb. He was there for 600 years, and lost considerable parts of his memory and identity as the notion of being stuck there for eternity became intolerable and his emotional and mental state deteriorated. He was forgotten by everyone, beyond a few obscure scholars of specific military history, as the people who remembered him died. He became a very angry and violent spirit until he ran into Neris who was reconciling with his own feelings about his family and sense of abandonment. Neris ended up helping to free Vendryth and established a shrine for him in his own house. Kindred spirits in many ways, Neris’s companionship helped Vendryth get a lot of himself back, and Vendryth also helps Neris take his final steps away from House Telvanni.

Place of residence: In life he lived in a fancy Hall just outside Mournhold. As a ghost he hangs out in a dedicated corner of Neris’s library in Middle Of Nowhere Vvardenfell.

Occupation: Local Hero™, Buoyant Armiger, battlefield healer

Habits: He’s very particular about his appearance...a Preener. Will absolutely fuss over his reflection in a breastplate he’s shining. Winds down with smoking assorted combos of psychoactive herbs in the evenings. Tends to touch people’s arms or has a hand on their shoulder or something when he’s talking to them.

Hobbies: Adventuring (and long walks through impressive landscapes), gathering up all the local rumors, fishing, musical inclinations, reading a small always-rotating collection of books he finds in his travels and then leaves at the last inn he stayed at once he finishes them.

Likes: Campfire stories or collective songs i.e. activities that include a lot of people, theater, retelling his adventures, being recognized, quaint little towns with warm rooms.

Dislikes: Having to be sneaky or anonymous in any way (he’ll DO subtlety and anonymity if it is required of him but UGHHHH!), having to constantly confront the mortality/death of people around him, feeling ‘kept’ by anyone, losing sleep for any reason, having to skip meals.

Goals: His interests move from ‘I want people to know who I am and I want stories to be told about me’ notions of fame, and as he gets older it turns more into ‘I want to do what I feel is right and will help people’. He always appreciates public admiration and relishes in it, but ends up feeling a greater responsibility over where he stands in life and how he can contribute.

Relationships

Orientation: Straight, ish. He’s attracted to women, but he’d be flattered and wouldn’t necessarily say no if propositioned by another gender. But the actual attraction wouldn’t be there.

Relationship status: Had a long string of romances and families across the continent, as well as one dedicated long-term partnership with a General in the Four Score War that was his last relationship. As a ghost…..he’s a ghost…

Notable Relationships:

He fathered 37 children (that he knows of) over his first couple centuries. While he was never completely absent, he definitely wasn’t involved in parenting. He’d write everyone, he’d make sure everyone was materially supported, he’d show up and stay for a few weeks at a time with gifts and stories, but wasn’t much of an Active Partner. He very much considered everyone family and had no personal sense of relationship decay over time; this was met with varying degrees of agreement, acceptance, indifference, sorrow, anger, and resentment across all the different parties.

He grew to be a more somber man once he realized he was outliving them all. Not just partners, but a number of his children too.

Tendreni Ilyiil: His first wife. Their relationship was one of circumstance, duty, and politics. They were quite formal with each other, and had differing senses of ambition. When Vendryth left Tendreni was furious about it, largely because of the principle of the thing rather than because she experienced much hardship without him (though raising an infant more on her own was something she was very angry about, though there was family help for her there). She didn’t feel a loss with him gone. She thought he was a childish coward and wrote him off almost immediately for it. She moved on, but her parents harbored a more significant grudge, as did her child to an even greater degree, especially as Vendryth’s name became more widely known and celebrated. These ancestor spirits, rather than Tendreni, were the ones who ended up binding his ghost to the tomb.

Neris Ilyiil: His great great great great grandson, of Tendreni’s line, who ended up saving him from his spectral imprisonment. Vendryth is very fond of Neris and sees quite a bit of himself in the boy. He loves exchanging adventure stories with him, even though Neris’s tend to be a bit different. He’s grateful for Neris’s help and is also more than willing to provide a sense of encouragement, family, and guidance to him. 600 years in a tomb means he lost the threads of all the rest of his family members and doesn’t know where any other descendants are. As a result he’s really close to Neris because Neris is the only thing that makes him feel like he still...Existed at one time.

Lady General whom we are still working on a name for: A General who Vendryth served under in the Four Score War. She initially thought he was underwhelming which he found…completely baffling and intriguing and his conclusion was ‘she is underwhelmed by me not because I’m NOT great, but because clearly she has done something greater and now I need to find out about it’. Was deeply curious about her from the beginning. Rather than his earlier relationships that were built on initial physical attraction and his usual ‘I am going to charm her with my Gallant Hero Energy’, he grew close to her out of circumstance first and then utter respect and admiration for her as they worked together. She was his sense of grounding through the whole war and was the first person he was actually In Love with. He hoped the relationship would continue beyond the war—that he kept thinking would end the next year, and then the next year, etc. It was unrelenting and he likely wouldn’t have stayed if not for this partnership. He felt it was worth all the enduring hardship. She saw to his burial after the destruction of Mournhold.

[jojosbizarrefanfics]

Hmm, maybe a Beauty and the beast AU with fem! reader as Belle and Part 3 Jotaro as the Beast? This has been on my mind for a while and thought it'd really fit, I hope you like this idea too!♡♡♡

Ooh this could be interesting!! And could definitely see this with Jotaro!

Even though the Disney version didn’t come out until shortly after the events of SDC, I’m still using some references n quotes bc I loved it as a kid

When Jotaro and Kakyoin returned from their supply run, you could tell something was up by the way Jotaro was suddenly wearing gloves and hiding his face with his hat.

“What’s going on?” Joseph asked.

“We ran into an enemy Stand user,” Kakyoin explained. “An old lady asked Jotaro for help, he ignored her, so she transformed him into a beast.”

“What?” You asked. “Where is she?”

“She disappeared,” Jotaro said. He sounded the same, at least. “And she gave me this stupid rose.” He pulled the rose out of one of the bags, showing it to you. “She said if I don’t break my curse by the time the last petal falls, I’ll be stuck like this forever. And killing her won’t change the curse.”

“Like Beauty and the Beast,” Polanreff said. “I used to read that to Sherry all the time when she was a young girl!”

“The fairytale? やれ やれ だぜ...”

“Avdol, does this sound like any of the Stands that are connected to tarot?” You asked. Avdol shook his head. “Polnareff, you may be right.”

“So how do you break the curse?” Joseph asked.

“She said he needed to learn to love and be loved in return,” Kakyoin said.

Jotaro groaned. “There has to be another way,” he said.

“Come on up to my room,” you offered. “Let’s see if my Stand can reverse it.”

The other men looked to each other wearily, but said nothing as you brought Jotaro up to your hotel room. Jotaro was even more silent than usual, and once the door closed, you thought he might take off his hat or gloves.

“Can I see your face?” You asked.

Jotaro lifted his hat, but stayed in a darker corner of the room. You sighed as you pulled one of the chairs into a sunnier spot of the room. The sun was starting to set and it casted beautiful shades of pink and orange into the room, but long shadows with it.

“Jotaro, please step into the light.”

He finally did, revealing that he was covered in wavy black fur that matched his hair. His face had been distorted to look more like an animal’s, and he kept the gloves on.

“I’m warning you that I have no idea if this will work,” you said. “Don’t be mad at me if it doesn’t.”

You summoned your Stand, Knight of Cups. Your Stand was humanoid like Jotaro’s was, taking the form of a woman in full knight’s armor. She carried a golden goblet of water instead of a sword.

“I’m supposed to drink it, right?” Jotaro asked. “That’s how your Stand works?”

“Yeah,” you said. “Drink from the goblet and your true feelings will be revealed for the next 24 hours. It tastes different for everyone, so I can’t promise if it’ll be good or bad.”

Jotaro took a swift swig of the goblet. He scowled at the smoky and bitter flavor of the water, like old tea that had steeped too long in water that was too hot and thus was forgotten about in the kitchen.

“What’s it taste like for you?” Jotaro asked.

“Strawberries and cream,” you answered.

“Nothing’s changing,” Jotaro said.

“If the solution is to learn to love and be loved in return, like Kakyoin said, then you need to get more in touch with your emotions,” you said. “My Stand won’t magically turn you back into a human, but it’ll at least help you do that.”

“There’s no time,” Jotaro said. “We could just go after the user.”

“You said she disappeared. Maybe being honest with yourself and actually allowing yourself to feel will do you good and speed this process up.”

“Don’t tell me how to feel!” Jotaro barked. It was suddenly loud. You knew your Stand’s power was working if he was getting angry. Usually, it worked through one emotion at a time, starting with the ones on the surface and working their way to the ones buried deep in the drinker’s heart.

“I’m not telling you how to feel,” you retorted. “I’m just begging you to feel something. You said you don’t feel my Stand working, but I can tell you right now, it is. What are you angry about?”

Jotaro looked at you like you had three heads. “You know what I’m angry about.”

“Come on! You can’t control your temper if you don’t talk about it. What’s making you angry?”

Jotaro was normally not one to talk, but he found himself confiding everything in you — this must have been your Stand working it’s way through his system. He didn’t realize how tense his body was until suddenly, you were behind him and gently massaging his shoulders. He looked down and realized his hands were balled into fists.

He shrugged you off and said, “You don’t have to do that if you don’t want. I mean, look at me.”

“Before I met you guys, I didn’t really have anyone. People thought I was odd,” you confessed. “So I know how it feels to be different and how lonely that can be.”

Jotaro seemed to relax at that and continued sharing his troubles while you worked out the kinks in his neck and shoulders. You never shuddered at his fur, he noticed.

His anger passed in a few hours. The sun had long since set, and he was now pacing the room. This was Jotaro like you had never seen.

“Are you anxious?” You asked him. He was usually so straight-faced and collected that it was hard to read him. His eternal-poker face was what allowed for him to have the upper hand in so many battles, but you could tell from how strongly he was responding to your Stand that it was taking a toll on his mental health.

Jotaro nodded. “My mother.”

You patted the space next to you on the bed. “Come on. Do you wanna talk about it?”

He accepted your invitation to join you on the bed, but not to talk about it. He shook his head and sighed as he processed internally. After a few moments in silence, Jotaro reached for your hand and was glad when you didn’t retreat.

He fell asleep on your bed and was disappointed to wake up still a beast. The rose lost a few petals and was starting to look pretty sad. He looked around and remembered he was in your hotel room, not his own, and you were nowhere to be found. There was simply a message on the bedside table you scribbled into the notepad that most hotel rooms included. You were with Kakyoin in case he saw and could identify the Stand user from yesterday out in the market, but would be back shortly.

Jotaro felt another emotion he didn’t normally feel when he read Kakyoin’s name — jealousy. He was interrupted, however, by a knocking on the door. It was Avdol, Polnareff, and his grandfather.

“Oh, Jotaro. Still stuck like this?” Joseph asked. “Any luck?”

“(YN) had me drink from her Stand,” he explained. “It’s been... interesting.”

“Do you feel love?” Avdol asked. “That was the trick, right?”

Jotaro was silent for a moment and he found his eyes traveling back to the notepad. His thoughts remained on you.

“Jotaro?” Joseph piped in.

“How do I tell her that I love her?” Jotaro asked.

“(YN)?” Avdol confirmed.

Jotaro nodded. “She probably wouldn’t believe me.”

“Ah, my friend!” Polnareff said excitedly. “There’s the usual things: flowers, chocolates, promises you don’t intend to keep—”

Jotaro cut him off. “やれ やれ だぜ... I’m serious.” He turned to his grandfather. “How did you tell Grandma Suzi?”

“Oh, well, she was helping me recover when I nearly died,” Joseph said. Their conversation was cut short, however, when you returned with Kakyoin.

“Jotaro!” You exclaimed. “How are you feeling?”

“We’ll leave you two,” Polnareff said, urgently ushering everybody out.

“What’s their deal?” You asked.

“There aren’t many petals left,” Jotaro said. You looked to the rose and saw he was right. It was halfway wilted now.

“Do you need more water from Knight of Cups?” You offered.

Jotaro got an idea. “Yeah,” he said. “I think so.”

You brought the Knight of Cups out, and right before Jotaro could drink from the goblet, Star Platinum grabbed it and offered it to you.

“Jotaro?”

“Please,” he said. “Entertain me.”

You shook your head. “No. Jotaro, I don’t need it to know how I feel about you,” you said. His eyes widened. “That’s why you want me to drink it, right? Listen, you may come across as cold and stubborn to some, but I understand where it comes from. And I’ve enjoyed you opening up to me, if we’re being completely honest.”

“I love you,” he blurted. “This isn’t like me.”

You smiled. “Knight of Cups will do that to even the best of them,” you said. You grabbed his hand. “I love you too, Jotaro. I always have.”

At your words, the fur began to transform back into his skin. His face started to shift and he grimaced - it must have been a painful transformation - as he returned back to normal. You could feel the shape of his hand return back to his usual self in your own, and after a few minutes, he was his normal self. His black hair was now just a mess of waves on the top of his head.

“I told you so,” you said with a victiorious smirk.

“やれ やれnだぜ. Come here.” At that, Jotaro pulled his gloves off, brought your bodies together and kissed you. You were sure that by sunset he’d be back to his usual stoic self, but you’d be lying if you said you weren’t going to enjoy every minute until then in the meantime.

[unoutan]

“Don’t run away on the first try“ Bakudeku Oneshot (2.6k)

@twinstarsweek Day 5: Festival / Tender / Recovery / Spice / First

💥Arrrg, I’m super late with the last one because, I forgot to queue it. x_x But yay (damn my past self for saving to tumblr drafts by accident!) Enjoy the Baku family feels, and Katsuki’s emotional constipation with his Deku! -Unoutan💥

Mini-summary: “I stuck my TONGUE down Deku’s THROAT AND RAN OFF, DAD!!” Jumping up to sit on the couch instead, Katsuki threw his hands in the air and screamed, “WHY WOULD I LIE AFTER SAYING THAT SHIT!?”

The beach is secluded this early morning and a trembling, but determined voice demanded with a single stomp to the sand. “Stop running from me, please…”

“I’m not running from you.” Angry denial.

“You are! You just did, and still are! Why did you kiss me and run?”

“I don’t deserve you.” Words facing the unknown future and back to the present, the hero continued denying any happiness he deserves. “After everything I did to you, everything I failed for you, I don’t, I don’t-…just forget I did anything.”

The hero’s ally and ex childhood lover stood only an arms reach away, but the distance between them felt like an eternity. Tears threatened to fall from the woman’s eyes as she stared at her man’s back. Fingers lingered on her lips, the bottom lip trembling slightly from the kiss that happened a moment ago.

Katsuki’s thumb hovered over the ‘next channel’ button for over five minutes now.

The beach where the troubled characters, both worn by their personal and hero duties, stood on the beach Deku cleaned before they went into UA. All Might accidentally let slip of that fact their second year when their second field trip involved the Dagobah Municipal Beach Park, and a week long beach-themed hero training. That’s the only reason, Katsuki stopped to watch the show.

The right side of Katsuki’s mouth twitched when the heroine character standing behind the hero reached out and touched his shoulder. Her bright red nails slid over his shoulder, down his arm, to loosely hold the man’s hand as she said, “I…don’t think you should be the only one to decide what becomes of us. We’ve known each other, bleed for each other, fought and agreed, so why are you trying to shoulder this by yourself?”

Turning around, the hero yelled, “After the shit I pulled, you’re just going to-”

“You’ve apologized to me more than once for your mistakes! And I’ve forgiven you long ago! Stop punishing yourself-”

Focused on her work, Bakugou Mitsuki didn’t notice the sound of the television fade. The voices of the action romantic drama tv show gradually lowered to a barely audible hum when the deuteragonist hero character cried and fell to his knees in front of the protagonist heroine. Sitting in the living room, Katsuki faced the television with one arm slung over the backrest, body tense when he closed his eyes and let out the longest sigh.

Wherever the scene was going in the tv show, it’s unimportant now.

Tossing the remote to the coffee table, Katsuki called out to his parents, “Hey?”

It was a surprise when the door to their home burst open suddenly. The familiar sound of Katsuki kicking off his shoes and school bag dropped to the floor was like music to their ears. The sight of keys thrown to the kitchen counter, made Mitsuki greet him happily, but paused when her son’s spiky hair bounced away to the tv. Mitsuki and Masaru’s son is home, but..something is wrong.

The Bakugou parents kept giving each other secrets looks before Katsuki finally spoke to them, but they knew they needed to give their son time to open up first. It’s been an hour since he got back, so they respectfully gave him a bit of distance, but now it’s time for that distance to disappear.

After erasing the line she over burnished into the paper of her sketchbook, thank goodness it’s just a messy sketchbook and not the final, Mitsuki answered in faux distraction. “Hmm? Yes, Katsuki? Need anything?”

“Yeah, but I need both of you nerds.” Scratching his hair wildly for a second, Katsuki hissed at his own words, before saying, “I mean, I need you both.”

Masaru locked eyes with his wife for a split second before looking back at Katsuki. Eyes wide, glasses sliding down halfway down his nose, Masaru stared at his son. Where he stood by the refrigerator, he put down his glass of water after sipping it once, and said, “Okay, kid, you can-”

He paused mid-sentence. His mind continued on saying ‘you can tell us anything, Katsuki” but that sounded too strong. Katsuki might close into himself and shell up in his room to sleep early again.

Picking up where her husband left off, Mitsuki gave a secret smile to Masaru when she spoke next. They always have each other’s back. She kept it casual, her tone even and inviting. “Lay it on us, Katsuki!”

“How did you guys…” Katsuki began quietly, too quietly. The Bakugou parents waited and Katsuki dug his nails into the couch fabric, clawing at the armrest, but not hard enough to damage. Taking a deep breath to say this as quickly as he could, Katsuki asked his parents his question, each word punching the air as he yelled, “How did you find out that you were ‘the one’ for each other?! Or whatever?! And I don’t mean the cheesy soulmatey lovey dovey crap you say all the time too! I mean serious stuff!”

The rare, hesitant words from Katsuki caught Mitsuki and Masaru’s attentions like the first little sparks and tendrils of smoke from their son’s once tiny hands.

Putting down her 2H pencil, preliminary sketch forgotten on the kitchen counter where she sat, Mitsuki stared at the back of her son’s head. “What brought this on, Katsuki?”

Their son remained silent.The back of Katsuki’s head slowly slid down to rest on the couch armrest in a drawn out groan. The groan sounded like annoyance, but Masaru knew better and walked towards the living room to almost rest his charcoal hands on the back of the couch. He caught himself before staining the couch and decided to sit on the other armrest, hand shaking Katsuki’s ankle. “Katsuki? What happened?”

Turning away from his dad, Katsuki let his head slide off the armrest to bury his face in a pillow instead. His reply was too muffled by the pillow.

This is a walking on eggshells moment that must be handled well – delicately and with an open mind. Whatever their son says, they’ll see it through and talk. Their son needs to talk more, talk to them, talk to… the boy they all know is constantly on Katsuki’s mind during good and bad times: Inko’s kid, Midoriya Izuku.

Joining her husband and son in the living room, the forgotten tv show still playing on mute with the Heroine and Hero romantically kissing each other as the sunrise rose over the ocean horizon, Mitsuki sat on the other arm rest now. A teasing smile crept onto her face when she said, “Sorry, Katsuki. Can’t hear you through that pillow.”

Face red in anger and frustration, Katsuki spun around on the couch, his UA blazer crumpling even further when he crossed his arms over his chest. He looked just like his little five year old self that used to sulk when things didn’t go the way he wanted or when he was in trouble for staying out too late with Izuku in the woods.

That’s when their son finally came out and told them in a stream of quickened words, voice dull and bored sounding, but face contradictingly scrunched like he was in pain:

“I kissed Deku today and I don’t know why. I ran here without notifying UA and almost forgot to text everyone I’m home and not dead. Now, Aizawa gave me my second detention at UA ever since first year, but I couldn’t be in the dorms tonight after I, after I- not after that!”

“I think you’re lying about one thing though-”

“I stuck my TONGUE down Deku’s THROAT AND RAN OFF, DAD!!” Jumping up to sit on the couch instead, Katsuki threw his hands in the air and screamed, “WHY WOULD I LIE AFTER SAYING THAT SHIT!?”

“No! Not that!” Shaking his hands in front of him, Masaru felt his glasses skew when he leaned forward and corrected himself. “I meant to say that I think you’re lying about not knowing why you kissed little Izuku! You know and when you accept that, the better you’ll feel, no matter what happens with Izuku!”

“WOW!” Looking up at the ceiling, praying the heavens to fall and end him, Katsuki yelled again, making his mother sigh. “WOW!”

“A-ah! Oh, I’m sorry, son! I didn’t want to put you on the spot, but-”

“Katsuki, a discussion ago you said you hated it when we talked about bullshit instead of being blunt, so here we are doing exactly that. It’s like ripping off a bandaid, yes?” Grumbling his agreement, Katsuki slouched and glared at his mother stating the truth at him. Shaking her head, Mitsuki reached out and ran her fingers through his hair when she gently suggested the next step he could take with Izuku. “Now, have you thought of calling him? He’s probably worried about you, Katsuki.”

“If I didn’t stick around to analyze Deku’s face after kissing his mouth off, I don’t think I want to talk to him about it either!!”

Masaru and Mitsuki, in unison, both retorted with another serving of truth, “But you should!”

Katsuki closed his eyes and counted down to ten. He made it to five.

Avoidance solves nothing and Katsuki yelled a short battle cry because, yes, he knows this! He knows that he needs to talk to Izuku and not avoid him like what he just did after classes today, while heading towards the dorms. He should have held Izuku, kissed him and fucking stayedddd to at least let him say something.

Katsuki remembers Izuku’s eyes though- he always remembers those green eyes always watching him with worry, admiration, and all sorts of interest - but…

He should have allowed his nerd to say something!! He should have allowed himself to say what he wished to say to Izuku’s face. Kissing Midoriya Izuku happened and there is no running from it because, he chose to do it. This is the path he chose and even if Izuku would give him a rejection…

It would fucking hurt, but…wow, he’s a coward-

“You’re not a coward - the furthest from it.” Mitsuki kissed her son’s cheek when she moved to sit at his right side.

“You’re the bravest hero we know, Katsuki, so don’t think anything of running here. You’re always welcome here. And there is always another day to face Izuku. Always. Just don’t take too long…okay?”

Katsuki would say he hates it when his parents are right, but that would be a lie.

“Yeah. I…fuck, I won’t take too long. And damn it, Deku won’t bite my head off…”

Maybe.

“He won’t, but…I’m curious,” Masaru gave his son a hesitant smile when he asked, “How did you kiss him? The way you described, with the tongue in mouth-”

“Don’t. Repeat. That.” Burying his face in his hands, Katsuki imagined the floor killing him if it turned into fire, just so he could escape the situation he put himself in. Where’s the IcyHot half n’half when you need him. Still, killing himself via floor fire is still avoidance and avoidance solves nothingggg and now he’s repeating. Stupid. “I asked him to explain his new flying kick technique near the cherry blossoms at the south side of the main building, and then he said something stupid about thanking me for my advice, then I kissed him. Ran here. That’s it.”

Taking off his glasses when he sat on Katsuki’s left side, incase they break during the struggle that is about to happen like usual, Masaru moved in first. He knows that his troubled son needed a hug right now. He caught his son’s elbow predictably aimed to his chest and leaned forward, going in close with his wife before they could get shoved away.

Grumbling and wiggling, Katsuki shows his normal level of hugging resistance. “Nope! No! You stupid old, annoying, mushy-”

“Oh just- just…here, let me - get in here, stop struggling, you Brat! Accept this!” Katsuki stopped smacking his parent’s arms when they both pulled him into smothering hug, tight and warm, but still annoying to the littlest Bakugou. “See! First steps are always the hardest!”

“Your kiss-Ow, my knee! Son, ow ow ow, Katsuki- Accept what you did! You kissed him and ran. But there’s still time! Breathe!” Hearing his father tell him to breathe, Katsuki took a big deep breath and then huffed, fight dying thanks to their tranquilizing hugs.

In a way, Katsuki knows he came home for shit like this too. Not that he’ll tell his parents that…

Eventually, Katsuki relaxed in his parent’s arms and let out a big sigh at being squished from both sides of the couch in a hug. The smell of his dad’s comforting cologne and his mother’s perfume, lulled him enough to let his burning red eyes close. His arms that were slumped to his sides soon moved to pat his parent’s shoulders. They stayed there a minute longer and then released the half-sulking boy. Subdued from his previous frustration Katsuki only rolled his eyes, cheeks burning in a blush, when his dad laughed.

“See, son? You accept our hugs, so you can openly accept your feelings for Izuku and tell him how you feel soon. You can! I believe in you. We both do.”

Flicking Katsuki’s nose, Mitsuki smiled and giggled, “We both know Izuku has a soft spot for you too, so I believe in the two of you to work this out. And your father and I will be here to support you when you do. And soon, right?”

“Don’t push it, old hag. I am this freakin’ close to sleeping in the backyard in my tent if you two continue drowning me in your sappy feelings-”

Then the doorbell rang, making the entire Bakugou family freeze and look to the door. Before Mitsuki even finished cheerfully saying, “Ohhh, I wonder who that could be,” Katsuki ran…again.

Masaru took pity on his son and made no move to stop him from running up to his room, when his wife opened the door to their home to greet Midoriya Izuku.

After thundering up the stairs, the prince reached his ivory tower and slammed the door to his chambers.

A hand held in a shy wave, Izuku’s pink face smiled up at them and respectfully greeted, “Hello, A-Auntie Mitsuki! Uncle Masaru! A-Aizawa-sensei sent me to check on Kacchan?”

The slight inclination of a question revealed uncertainty, and told Bakugou Mitsuki and Masaru that was a badly told lie. But they feigned ignorance and welcomed the young boy into their home. Masaru rubbed his hand on top of the boy’s fluffy green hair and offered him something to eat and drink. The overly polite boy denied and asked them what they expected - to see their son.

Gesturing with a thumb pointing at the stairs, Mitsuki leaned on the kitchen counter and smirked. “He’s up in his room, Izuku. Now, you two play nice, okay? I’m rooting for you.”

“Y-Yes of course, Auntie! Um, sorry. Excuse me!” Waving at them once and doing a quick, tiny bow, Izuku walked backwards, bumped his butt into the fridge while trying to escape the kitchen, and then turned to bolt up the stairs. Hand cupping his mouth, Izuku called for their son confidently..tripping only once, before standing outside his door. “Kacchan! Kacchan! I’m coming up the stai-AHH! Kacchan?”

So, Bakugou’s parents gave Midoriya Izuku their blessings and remained patient with them.

It took almost an hour, but seeing Katsuki hurriedly say something about seeing them next weekend and that they’re heading back to the dorms together, was the positive resolution they wanted. And the happy Bakugou Mitsuki and Masaru were kind enough not to draw attention to Katsuki holding his Izuku’s hand the entire time.

[musingsofthefox]

Game Content : Chapter 6

This is the most recent chapter in my Teen Titans fan fiction (in case anyone’s curious) :D

You can also read it here: 

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12249275/1/Game-Content

Starfire had decided to walk alongside her friends for a few miles. It didn’t seem healthy (even if it was her own power) to waste unnecessary mana points. Besides, she missed the conversation, and even though they were eternally grateful for the aerial view on her behalf, they missed her, too.

“Did you see when I blasted ten of em’ in a row?” Cyborg asked her, wondering if she’d gotten a good view of the fight.

She nodded. “Oh yes, I especially saw when one of their helmets went flying. Their faces are quite gruesome.” She shivered to think about it. “I wonder what must have happened to them? Or are they a strange alien from another planet? I have never heard of ‘Orc’ or ‘Goblin’ infested planets before. Although, I assure you that if I did, they would have been wiped out a very long time ago. Their primitive weaponry and weak constitution would have fallen to the Mithronians of Maldustia centuries ago. That’s what happened to the slug people of Beta 462.” She chatted on.

Robin smiled and nonchalantly took her hand for a moment as they walked. She gently grasped his back, careful not to break his littlest finger like the last time she squeezed it in joy. It did not take long to heal thanks to Raven’s powers, but caused him more pain than she’d ever thought she could inflict upon her love.

“I think there’s something up ahead.” Beast Boy commented, cutting through the war talk and the lovey-dovey hand holding. “It looks like a sign?”

In fact, it was a marker upon a dark mound of dirt. The mound was very small, and upon further inspection was actually a makeshift flower pot for a dangerous, thorny looking plant that wove its way around the marker. It bloomed black roses and, with its red thorns, gave the impression that it was not to be touched. In the clearing where the marker stood, there was no sound. All of their skin prickled. The marker was illegible, probably in some ancient tongue and written in runes.

“This feels...funky.” Cyborg commented, shifting the axe on his shoulder. Robin unsheathed his broadsword.

“You’re right. We should stay defensive and look for clues. This could be a quest. I don’t want to fail because we missed anything or got caught out by the enemy.”

They nodded and, following their leader’s command, split up into a four way search. From the marker they each decided they would scan the woods from a diagonal perspective, going to all four corners of the clearing. That way, they could cover some equal ground.

While they walked, Beast Boy called behind him, “Doesn’t this remind you guys of the Fantastic Four?”

“It would,” Robin commented. “If we weren’t the Fantastic Five.”

“Yeah,” Beast Boy agreed, a little sheepishly. “But, you know. Just for now, I mean-”

Starfire screamed.

Everyone turned at once, as if they were frozen in space while Starfire’s scream echoed off of the trees. While her scream had scared them out of their wits, that wasn’t the worst part. Starfire was gone.

“Starfire!” Robin yelled after her. “She was right here, where did she go!” His voice took on the protective tone that it usually did, and both Cyborg and Beast Boy’s hearts were pounding horribly in response.

Where, indeed had Starfire gone?

They, in a panic, scanned the skies, the treeline. Where was she? Where had she just dissappeared off to???

Suddenly, Cyborg stopped moving, he was staring down intently at his feet in horror.

“What? What!?” Robin asked him, demanding he share any information. Beast Boy rushed over to see what the fuss was about.

Instead of answering, Cyborg took both of their heads in his massive hands and forced them to look down at his feet. In unison, the three of them exclaimed: “WHAT???”

Starfire was below them. As if they were standing upon a glass floor, she stood about ten feet below them like she were in an aquarium, waving up at them from below. It was clear she was shouting something, but they couldn’t hear her.

Robin lay down on his stomach and pressed his face to the ground. Now that he thought about it, it had always been glass, but it had looked like regular earth beneath them from the transparency. He tried shouting something to her, things like “are you okay” or “how the hell did you get down there” but of course, she couldn’t hear him either.

“We have to figure out how she got down there and get her back.” He said, resolutely standing back up. “Go toward her corner of the clearing and try to fall in.”

“Fall IN?” Beast Boy questioned.

Robin nodded. “We’ll try to find the opening and go from there.”

“Okay…” Beast Boy agreed, running off in the direction toward where Starfire had fallen.

Beneath them, she ran in sync with their pursuit, trying her hardest to remember where exactly she fell through.

After her initial shock of falling, especially since she was trying not to waste mana on flying, she had allowed herself to gently float to a stop before hitting the ground. The place she was in was EXACTLY like the clearing she had been in, except above her it was as if her friends were all flying. A rare sight, and kind of ironic (if Starfire had had any concept of irony). There were still forests on either side of her, and another sign in the middle. The runes, this time she noticed, were upside down. When she’d realized what had happened she immediately ran toward her friends, only to find that no matter how hard she yelled, they wouldn’t look down. Not until Cyborg had.

Now, as she ran with them toward where she fell, she could finally hear them. Their shouts were getting louder, as if unmuting a video and turning the sound up slowly. She was just thinking that maybe she’d fallen through an actual hole in the glass ceiling, and they were getting very close to it, when Robin faltered and fell, coming right at her. She caught him mid-fall and kissed him joyously.

“Robin!” She cheered. He blinked and then smiled.

“Hey, Starfire.”

From above they heard Beast Boy shout, “Dudes! Run! Er...fly!” and also noticed him pointing behind them. From the trees, here in the ‘lower’ half of the clearing, dark mist was forming. Like black tendrils of smoke, something wicked their way came. It fizzled and smoked, hissing at them like a cloud of angry snakes, and yet no specific form was visible. However, from the mist glowed a thousand yellow eyes.

“Eeep!” Starfire blasted at it with her starbolt vision, but it did nothing except separate the mist in half. After that didn’t work, she held onto Robin and flew straight up where he fell. When they got very close to Beast Boy and Cyborg’s feet, they unfortunately slammed face first into the ceiling.

Robin rubbed his head in confusion.”What?” His hands felt the ceiling above them, yet there was no longer a hole. “Is this the right place?”

“Yeah dude!” Beast Boy stuck his arm down and grabbed Robin’s wrist. “It’s right here, now stop messing around and come on.” He attempted to pull them out himself, as if it were some sophisticated portal, but it turned out that the glass spell was smarter than that.

Instead of pulling them out, Beast Boy’s arm was stuck. It was odd for him to feel trapped and yet  see nothing holding onto him. He blinked and yipped. “What do I do???” Cyborg, scratching his head nervously as the slow, dark cloud came closer and closer. “I think it’s a one way ticket.”

Beast Boy, now really unhappy about “trying” to fall into the glass trap, looked up at Cyborg in fear. “Don’t you dare.”

“Sorry, bro.” Cyborg kicked the poor green Titan and he tumbled head over heels into the trap. “Cannonball!” Cyborg shouted, and he too allowed himself to fall.

Robin, now realizing that the only thing left to do was fight, had Starfire set him down and he unsheathed his sword. Although, I don’t know how much good it’ll do.

Beast Boy landed gracefully on the ground as a cheetah, ignoring the forced push and readied for battle, too.

Cyborg patted the cheetah’s head and laughed. “If we do this, we do it together.” Beast Boy responded with a slap of his tail, which honestly Cyborg found to be fluffy and didn’t mind.

“How do we defeat what is not there?” Starfire asked. When one of the pairs of eyes flew straight for Cyborg, and he swept his axe right through it, it kept going, it's two halves were circling overhead like erratic bats. “I think I just made more.” He commented.

Robin wondered why it had only sent out one scout, the mass was hovering just before them.

Silent.

Watchful.

It gave him the creeps.

“Wait…” Beast Boy reached into his pack. “What about...this!” With flourish, like a Yu-Gi-Oh dueling master, he summoned ‘Revealing Light’, a card which was supposed to illuminate foes that were hidden on the battlefield.

The cloud hissed again, fizzling and finally (and rather alarmingly) it split apart into a thousand small, dark wraiths. Each one screaming loudly and so high pitched that the team thought their ears were going to start bleeding.

“What did you do that for???” Cyborg loudly chided his small, green friend. Beast Boy sheepishly shrugged.

“I thought it would work!” He shouted over the noise.

Robin, although wishing that Beast Boy would have consulted them a little bit first, thought that maybe his friend had the right idea. Well, not THAT idea, but he was headed in the right direction. Clearly this monster couldn't be defeated with weapons, and therefore their only resource was cards. Now, other than the creature, the only thing else in this clearing was-

“The sign!” He shouted, the creatures getting louder and louder with every second. “Get to the middle!”

Only half-hearing him, they followed his lead anyway toward the middle of the clearing. Starfire shot a few more of the little devils with her Starbolts out of principle. Now that they had all multiplied as much as possible, she was making a little progress at cutting them down or burning them away, but there were (what seemed like) millions! She’d never win, not before their screams drove them all to madness.

After reconvening at the middle of the clearing, they had to resort to putting their hands over their ears. Beast Boy, the most sensitive to sound, looked like his eyes were about to start tearing up. “Whatever you’re going to do??? HURRY!”

Robin plunged his hand into his knapsack, rummaging for the deck of cards. Finally he had them, but unlike his friends he couldn’t save his ears in the process. As he combed through the deck for the one he wanted, his hearing went out.

It was a shocking moment, to say the very least. No ringing, no popping noise. Just nothing. At first he thought the monsters had stopped on their own and had snapped his eyes up from the deck. He was almost relieved when he realized that his friends were still covering their ears. His heart thud rapidly in his chest.

Gone? His hearing was just...gone?

His knees shook, and for the first time in a long time, he was genuinely afraid. He almost cried out, needing to tell his friends what had happened, but he decided that helping his team was more important right now. With a lump in his throat, and heartbreaking thoughts about the word ‘deaf’, he told himself he’d deal with it later.

Finally, he found it. ‘Hermit’s Dictionary’. It was a translation card, one that he’d used in previous games to get Raven to reveal her complicated spell cards. In this case, he used it on the sign, the one wrapped in black rose vines. The runes shifted, slowly revealing that they were NOT runes. Instead, they were lines. Each line moved, repositioning, reshaping and bending itself until it spelled out:

Reading is All You’ll Ever Do

Once we Get inside Your Head

You’ll hate our song, we don’t Sing well

You’ll Wish that you were Dead

Roses are Quite Beautiful

They are my Raven Song

She’s just out of reach, Poor Fools

Your Defeat will not be long

If you’re smart enough to break,

Our Little hidden Room

You need to think, Dear Fools

The Key is in the Bloom

Ignoring the jabs at their intelligence, Robin frantically went to the rose that grew delicately out of the vine on the marker. It was beautiful. Black, but when the light hit it, it was a dark plum color. Malchior is really going for those Raven references. He thought bitterly. He gently took the flower, attempting to see what kind of key the poem was talking about. He turned it this way and that, but there was nothing. In frustration, and fury, he ripped the flower from its vine.

Beast Boy shouted something at him, but he couldn't hear it. Instead he saw Beast Boy grab the vine.

Meaning he took his hands from his ears. Robin saw the moment where Beast Boy’s hearing went out, because his head snapped around, and fell on Robin’s face. Beast Boy opened his mouth to say something, but shook his head and took the vine in both hands now.

He pulled hard, and unwove it from the sign. It was buried deeply in the ground, and his hands started to bleed, but now that he knew what was at stake, for both Cyborg and Starfire... losing their hearing? He kept pulling.

Finally, he broke it free, and the four of them could see that it was in fact a weapon. At the end of the vine was the sharpest, blackest stone. It formed in a diamond at the end with wicked hooks littered all over it.

Beast Boy turned from his friends and, with an animal scream he could no longer hear for himself, swung the weapon in a huge circle at all the screaming wraiths. When they were hit with this particular weapon, they fell like black water to the earth. Raining upon them, the mist turned solid and each wraith, in no time, was nothing but black droplets on the grass and sand.

Beast Boy panted and dropped the vicious vine. His hands hurt like Hell, red blood adding to the black painting, but he had done it. Starfire and Cyborg would be fine. Even if he and Robin weren’t.

“Nice going, BB.” Cyborg said beside him, patting his shoulder. “How did you know you could do that?”

Beast Boy’s head snapped up, and so did Robin’s. They both gave each other a look, breaking out into the widest smiles. They could hear again!

Beast Boy cheered. “Whoo! YEAH!!!”

“What?” Cyborg asked. “What did I miss?”

“Nothing, dude.” Beast Boy laughed, coming down from his euphoria. No need to worry the other two with what had almost happened to them.

Robin came up next to him and nodded his approval. “How did you figure that out? The message said that the rose was the key.”

Beast Boy pointed at the message. “Well, first of all Malchior hates us. Duh. Of course he’d try to mess with us. He writes that the rose is Raven, and he never wants us to get her back. Obviously, the rose was a lie at the end. Also, he writes we need to “think”, and calls us fools. Dick.” He pointed at the vine now. “So I thought about it, and if it wasn’t the rose, it had to be the vine.”

Robin crossed his arms and smiled with approval while Starfire hugged Beast Boy and cracked his back. Cyborg laughed. “Nice, little dude.”

“Now…” Robin cut back into the conversation. “How do we get out of here?”

“You think it’s opened up now?”

Starfire pointed at the sign. It was crumbling, like sand it started to fall and disappear. Above them the glass ceiling made a cracking sound.

“Oh Shi--” The shattering of glass drowned out Cyborg’s comment and they all shielded their heads with their arms.

When it was over, Robin narrowed his eyes at his teammate. “Language.”

[nuzblog]

November 29th, 2017

MORN

At 4:30 in the morning, I healed my team using the fight against Bugsy and headed West to Ilex Forest, to be confronted by my rival, Luster, with IndieCindy switched for Rainwater.

Rainwater's Mud Slap took out Gastly with no issue. Rock Star's Rock Throw does similar for Zubat.

And then... well, I already knew thanks to the fishermen on route 32 that I've been having issues with water types, and unfortunately, the answer to that problem is on the other side of this battle.

Luster's Croconaw one-shots Rainwater. As they say in the business... "oh fuck." I switch to DrinkyBird, trying to get SOMETHING going, but she gets critically low on health, and Rock Star is 4x weak. I get stuck just using potions over and over, but I'm either gonna run out or he's gonna crit and I'll be done for, so I make a snap judgement and switch to Rock Star. As expected, he does down, but it gives me that extra turn of healing, and it lets me reset his Leers.

At this point I notice that he's using Leer and Scratch instead of the STAB Water Gun he's got, because he knows that my Special Defense is my highest stat. I Growl him down and try to survive as best as I can until he changes gears and starts using Water Gun instead, healing when I can. I use a found X Attack, and keep attacking and healing, trying desperately to hold on, at one point being dropped all the way down to 1 hp but managing to survive... and after an awful slog of a battle, losing two dear friends, I beat him. This was very nearly a run-ender.

Ilex Forest is my next stop, for a Pokemon capture and Farfetch'd herding. Now, my initial plan here was to enter at night, where I would essentially either capture an Oddish or a Paras, both of which would cure my Water problem, and then also get Headbutt and be able to potentially catch an Exeggcute, which would do similar but would also be a Pokemon I haven't used before.

Of course, I entered in the morning, so I got a Weedle. Which, is fine, it just means I can DEFINITELY get an Exeggcute from Azalea Town. I name it "KnifeFight" and, with a lack of anything else I particularly want to teach Cut in the party, I start backtracking to collect berries and grinding it to level 10.

Speaking of grinding, the level curve in this game is already bothering me. Why is the highest level Pokemon encountered in Ilex Forest at Level 6? We are two gyms into the game, have fought Level 16 Pokemon with trainers behind them, and yet, the wild Pokemon aren't even level 10. They're 2-3 levels higher than the ones found on the first route of the game. This is dumb! Why is it this way???

Anyway grinding takes six eternities but whatever, eventually I have a Beedrill and I can teach it cut and actually progress through the game. I also get to knock out some of those cut trees from earlier in the game, which mostly just makes the walk easier.

Back in the forest, but not for long, I grab Headbutt and re-exit to Azalea Town, find a nice tree and start butting it.

After 6 Weedles, followed by a Beedrill, followed by 11 more Weedles and a Kakuna, FINALLY, some eggs fall out of the tree. I mean, an Exeggcute. NOW I can progress through the game! Its name is "Deliver", and...

Hm. I hadn't actually checked its movepool until now. It might not be as useful as anticipated. The TMs for Psychic and Giga Drain are both in Kanto, and while it'll get Confusion in just 9 levels, the first and only STAB Grass move it gets by level up will be... SolarBeam at Level 43.

My only other option is Mega Drain... which is an egg move. Well, fortunately, I am about to be at the Pokemon Daycare... so, I guess that's what I'm doing - catching a Sunkern at the National Park during the day, hoping that's my first encounter, and hoping it's male so I can breed it with my thankfully female Exeggcute. That's a lot of hopes. And, to muddy the issue, I then stopped playing for the day, and the next day was Thursday, which means the Bug Catching Contest is on, which if my understanding is correct, would have prevented me from catching a Sunkern.

November 30th, 2017

MORN

I drop Deliver off at the daycare, and head for Goldenrod, where the Name Rater lives, allowing me to change the name of my Hoothoot from DrinkyBird to T.I.M.E.

Speaking of time, just do be extra safe, I decide to play around with it a bit. I set it exactly 36 hours forwards, putting me in the daytime of Friday, and safely outside of the reach of the Bug Catching Contest. I do this by holding Down, B and Select at the title screen and inputting a password that is generated from my character's name, ID Number and current money total. Thanks, PsyPokes.com!

I head to the National Park ASAP, and... yes!! The Sunkern I need is exactly what I get! I name it Sundial, shove it right into the daycare, and go attend to some business in Goldenrod. I grab the Bicycle, I fight some guys without meaning to... actually, can I say some stuff about the dialogue in this game? One guy said he gave his Pokemon a haircut, which would make sense cause the haircut place is right there by him... but then he sent out a LICKITUNG. Which, if it has hair... I super duper don't want to know where. Also, one trainer said "Behold my graceful BALL dexterity." Like, capitalized like that, because of this game's weird thing with capitalization. (Seriously, how did it take until Gen 5 for them to fix the antiquated adventure game CAPITALIZATION of KEYWORDS?) Which is just hilarous.

Anyway, while waiting for my eggs and seeds to breed, I run to some freshly available routes and catch some new boys for my team.

On Route 34, I find a Drowzee, who I name Nightmare. Again, this is a Pokemon I used recently, so... boxed.

On Route 35, I found a Male Nidoran! I name it Showdown, and since it has Double Kick, I'm definitely at least gonna use it for Whitney! Speaking of, that's a whole dangerous thing. She's well known as being a difficult fight. As I collect andrun around to grind and hatch the egg, I think about my strategy. I also backtrack for berries while trying to hatch it, and rematch Hiker Anthrony while I'm at it.

Eventually, the egg hatches into more eggs, which I name Fine, and I'm grinding it from Level 5 to something usable! And yes, it has Mega Drain! I use both my heals in the process of grinding, the one in Goldenrod and the one from the Luster fight at the beginning of this post. Also, wow, they are REALLY pushing the Game Boy Printer in this game, huh? Like, wow.

NITE

I slept, and kept playing when I woke up! I fought the gym trainers, and backtracked ALL THE WAY to New Bark to heal, and then went back to Goldenrod, and... sigh, bluh, FINE. I go ahead and fight Whitney.

The really dangerous thing here is that since she only has two Pokemon, well... so do I. Showdown and IndieCindy accompany me, while the full-health T.I.M.E. and Fine (and the essentially obsolete KnifeFight for that matter) are boxed, and I head for the leader herself.

As with most gym leaders, their non-ace Pokemon are basically meaningless. Clefairy goes down quick and easy. Miltank, though... hff. I lead against it with IndieCindy and get off two Smokescreens before his health got too low to keep going. I switched, healed, used Double Kick, and was disappointed by how much damage it did. Showdown (who had evolved in the process of grinding) was infatuated, so I switched back to the restored Cindy and got off some more smokescreens, and so it goes. Friggin' Milk Drink... such garbage.

Showdown got killed by a critical Stomp, which leaves me one Pokemon away from the end of the run, yet again. Ember burned Miltank, but I was infatuated back. It could be a simple war of attrition thanks to the burn, if not for Milk Drink making it last way longer.... but I did, EVENTUALLY, manage to do it!!

I lay Showdown to rest. He wasn't with me for long, but he served his purpose very well. I pull TIME and Fine from the PC, and head off towards Route 36, to fight that Sudowoodo!!!

Rock Throw takes down a solid half of Fine's health. That's less than ideal. I manage to put it to sleep and heal, and drain its health, catching it handily! I name it Wiggles. Since I'm close enough, I run back to Cherrygrove, and heal there, finally.

On Route 37, after 3 Hoothoots, I run into a Stantler! But... I ran out of balls trying to catch it.

While exploring Ecruteak, Luster appears, catching me off guard. Fortunately I match his team size (4 to 4) but I'm unprepared for the battle.

I mostly get through it alright. T.I.M.E. evolved into Noctowl. And Fine... well. Fine died. Which sucks, and means I wasted a lot of time, but also... I have an infinite supply of fresh Mega Drain Exeggcutes. I run back to the daycare after talking to Bill in the Center, retrieving another egg egg, and in Goldenrod I visited Bill's house, and he gave me an Eevee, which I named Furries! Which also means I can't get a Pokemon from the Goldenrod Game Corner. :P

You may notice that “Furries” doesn’t lead to a link to the song in question there. That’s because the official video from Neil’s own Youtube channel featuring that song has been wrongfully taken down based on a false copyright claim, despite it being Neil’s original mashup work. If you want to listen to it, it’s track 3 on the freely available album Mouth Silence.

I catch Pokemon in the Burned Tower (a Koffing, named Fuzzy) and on Route 38 (Meowth, named Cat Hacks) and box them both before going to work... and then I put off writing this for nearly a week! But I did that, so I'll be playing again soon.