#it didn’t work one time though and Akari fainted before I could get to her :(

[waywardstation]

PMD au has a "reverse IWLYB moment" where Ingo‘s the one taking a injured Akari out of a dungeon and it’s obviously not a life or death situation and it’s not triggering a return home ticket but it does make their friendship even stronger. (Since we briefly discussed the possibility that Akari evolves into Sylveon to help him in a dangerous situation)

Just throwing out this as a suggestion.

Yes yes yes!!!

I imagine this moment would happen in the post-apocalyptic world that Volo (taking dusknoir’s place in the narrative) dragged them into with Primal Giratina’s help. It’s probably after Ingo and Akari have both been on the run from Volo and his minions for a while (they won’t be sabeleye in this AU but I haven’t decided what pokemon yet — maybe Hisuian Zoroark), and are exhausted

It’s probably when they’re caught in a pretty bad place by the Spiritomb in the game.

Spiritomb would have super-effective attacks against Ingo, having the chance to do heavy damage to him when he’s already worn out. Akari can’t let that happen!!

Spiritomb slams Akari with several heavy hits. Run Away activates and she turns to flee like she always does. Spiritomb has a clean shot to hit her with a ranged attack, but Ingo purposely gets in the way to shield her and take the hits because he cannot do anything else. Akari sees how much damage Ingo is taking when he’s already so worn out (only holding on with the move Endure), so she breaks free from the fear, rushes at Spiritomb, and uses her only dark-type attack, Bite, to finish it off and save Ingo.

She is horrifically hurt though, but Ingo takes her and drags her to a sheltered place to hide where they can recover safely. If not right after landing that shot, later while they’re recovering and taking in the event and why she did that, she probably evolves.

(And I know grovyle is in this segment in the game, — who Emmet takes the place of, by the way — but I’m unsure if that would be the same in this AU, because unlike the game where grovyle is going on without hero and partner, Emmet would not leave Ingo and Akari behind and go on without them. Still deciding on what Emmet does in this part of the AU)

[sexysilverstrider]

Slumber | VLKR

   Sunlight poured soothingly through the windowpane. Faint sounds of people walking about and louder sounds of Pokémon prancing around the house shook the woman awake. Low grumbles tickled her lips. Twitching at the ray of sun kissing her eyelids, Akari rubbed one eye before slowly sitting up.

   Arms stretched upwards, she let out a yawn. Sleeves of her jinbei slid downwards. Black strands hair cascaded forward as she tilted her head forward.

   Ah, I’m so lazy, the thought crossed her mind. In truth, she would rather take a few more hours of sleep. However, she knew her work would not accept her in doing so. As much as she was the hero of the village, she wasn’t excused from working in order to survive. Besides, Akari knew better than to bear Commander Kamado’s ruthless scoldings or incite Cyllene’s quiet fury.

   Black eyes peeked at the man beside her.

   He peacefully snoozed, face snuggled inside the hadakake futon. Though blonde strands covered most of his eyes, Akari could see such a serene expression. The man lay on his left side, facing her. She wondered if he ever moved in his sleep considering that the only movement from him was that he had scooted an inch backwards after snuggling with her last night.

   Ah, her cheeks burned at the memory.

   A smile tugged her mouth.

   At times like these, her heart truly fluttered for him.

   “Alright then…” mumbling to herself, Akari carefully lifted her side of the quilt and slid out—

   Or at least, she tried to, if not for her right wrist being firmly gripped.

   Her smile popped to a gape. Akari turned to the right. “Volo?!” Shock roused her awake. Widened eyes blinked at her held wrist, then at the man whose face was still hidden beneath the quilt.

   He muttered not a word, but grumbled a low grumble.

   After years of being together, she knew what it meant completely.

   “Volo…” a sigh escaped through pink lips. “I need to get ready. I need to go to Veilstone Cape today and I can’t afford to be late.” Lightly, she tugged her left hand.

   Firmly, he held her right wrist still.

   Surprise bubbled into annoyance. “Volo.” Again, she called his name. “Come on. If I’m late, I’m gonna get scolded. Do you want me to get scolded?” Mean as she was to try and guilt trip him, Akari found her actions justified as she saw him not easing up on his hold.

   He still didn’t say a peep. He still had his face hidden.

   What she once thought was cute a minute ago now started to irritate her. “Volo—!”

   “Stay…”

   The very spark of her anger dissolved in an instant once she heard his low voice.

   His hand lowered from her wrist to the back of her hand. Fingers gingerly brushed the back of it. Mumbling incoherent noises, Volo positioned his hand so that he could hold hers properly. Fingers squeezed around the sides of her fingers. Gently. Softly.

   Finally, Volo lowered the quilt.

   Grey eyes glazed in a mix of slumber and affection. Volo peeked upwards at the stunned women. “Please stay…” he pleaded, voice deep and husky. Though left eye hidden behind blonde locks, Volo quietly begged with a glance of his right eye. Blush kissed his cheeks too, shading adorably under his eyes. Whether or not his actions were done subconsciously, he gently pulled her right hand and pressed a meek kiss at the back of her fingers.

   The sight and sound alone were robbing her of air.

   As if an arrow had shot straight to the screaming heart, Akari tightly pursed her mouth before letting out a heavy sigh. Heat now burning to the tips of her ears, she stifled a low, low, moan that vibrated in her throat.

   Damn him. Damn him, damn him!

   “F-Fine…” Knowing she was fighting a losing battle, Akari slid back into the futon. She could worry about the consequences later.

   Hell, she didn’t need to worry about anything at all once she felt her body being pulled to a warm hug.

   “Mmm…” Mouth tickled to a brief smile. Volo pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Akari…” Her name slurred in a deep murmur, he then nuzzled the top of her head. Right arm draped around her waist, pulling her to a possessive embrace that showed no signs of letting go anytime soon. Within seconds, he fell back into deep sleep, breathing tickling the tip of her still burning ear.

   Ah, I’m so screwed, the thought crossed her mind. Still, she couldn’t be angry as Akari scooted closer into his warm chest. His heart seemed to race still, actually lulling her back to a world of dreams.

  A shaky smile accompanied her hot face as Akari felt her eyelids droop.

END

[hisuian-history-makers]

Progress Log of Sky-Faller Mackenzie, as compiled by Survey Corps Captain Cyllene.

Notes from Professor Laventon, Corps Member Akari, and Corps Member Rei’s interactions with Mackenzie have been included.

—-—-—

Arrival Summary: The Space-Time Rift showed an increase in activity on the morning of Friday, January 28th. Some witnesses saw an object fall from it bathed in golden light albeit briefly due to the momentum of said object. Professor Laventon was the first near Prelude Beach in pursuit of his three Pokémon. A young girl of estimated age fifteen was found on the shore uninjured without an impact creator. Mackenzie regained consciousness and quickly helped the Professor capture the three runaway Pokemon.

A short-sleeved shirt, shorts, and an object that fell near her were all her belongings. (See “Arc-Phone” Photo-1) The slender brick-like device only works for Mackenzie shutting off when anyone else holds it even briefly. Has made occasional complaints over the casing being changed to its current shape implying it was modified without her consent before arrival.

—

Interview of Professor Laventon—Night of January 28th: “It was incredible, Cyllene! She didn’t seem fearful in the slightest when catching them. Walked right up to Rowlet and gently threw a Pokéball, said it was the one most likely to get away. Oshawott sprayed her a few times before being captured. Mackenzie was a tad bit cautious with Cyndaquil granted it broke out of the first ball. I did ask her how she was so capable of catching Pokemon when she had just arrived... She mentioned that Pokeballs were familiar enough to her although she was never a “Trainer” before.”

•Sky-faller Mackenzie was issued a different trial than usual Survey Corps recruits due to her previously displayed skill. Instead of catching a single Pokémon and recording observations from a different species, she was required to catch three Fieldland Pokémon species. The only complication was accidentally knocking out the first wild Shinx.

—

Report from Rei: Mackenzie took several apricorns and tumble stones to make one functional Pokéball. She doesn’t seem used to working with her hands. But her battling skills are decent, she takes to Professor Laventon’s typing system pretty well. Volo battled her before we set off for the entry trial. Her new Oshawott listened to her commands tackling Togepi until it fainted. She re-used her Rollout strategy against my Pikachu and won despite the speed difference between the two.

Though she seems adamant about calling her Pokemon by nicknames. I can understand Cloud for Starly, but why Sokka for Oshawott?

—

Records for Most Pokémon Caught in a Single Day; *Posted by Pasture Manager Marie*

Mackenzie–Eleven Bidoof, Eight Wurmple, Seven Starly, Three Shinx, Two Buizel, Ponyta, Burmy, Pichu, Zubat, Drifloon.

Cyllene-Twenty Abra, Two Snover, Munchlax.

Zisu–Thirteen Aipom, Five Murkrow, Four Ponyta.

Rei–Five Bidoof, Four Wurmple, Three Burmy, Two Geodude, Starly, Eevee.

—

Survey Corps Mackenzie has contributed enough information for the Pokédex Project to be promoted to First Star Rank, January 30th.

—𝒞𝒶𝓅𝓉𝒶𝒾𝓃 𝒞𝓎𝓁𝓁𝑒𝓃𝑒 𝒜𝓀𝒶𝑔𝒾

—

Security Corps vs Survey Corps Mackenzie using Alpha Kricketune (Alto). Impromptu Alpha training session.

Fifteen victories, two ties, one loss.—Mackenzie

One Victory, two ties, fifteen losses.—Security Corps.

Notes from Captain Zisu: This’ll teach the recruits to be wary of all Alphas, even the unassuming ones like Bidoof. Mackenzie had the Alpha Bug playing grating music to distract a decent portion of my corps members. Seems tame enough following her commands and there was no red glowing eyes at any point.

—

Incident Report; Survey Corps Akari had to pull Mackenzie out of the area with the Alpha Beautifly. It paralyzed her and her entire team before the senior Corps member could get to her. Currently sleeping off the stun powder in the infirmary, should be healthy in two days.

—

How To Evolve Pichu Into Pikachu by Survey Corps Member Mackenzie.

Compared to finding a Thunderstone to obtain a Raichu, the process is fairly simple. Pichu require a strong bond to push them to their next evolution stage. Feeding them, grooming (once it’s comfortable being touched), and even just walking around foster your bond. A main reason to help them evolve is that Pichu cannot handle discharging electricity without hurting themselves in the process. The electric sacs, their cheeks, are underdeveloped compared to Pikachu and Raichu. You could even call them the baby Pokemon of the evolution line.

Pichu are social in general so having more than one partner Pokemon might speed up the evolution. Lowered ears tend to be a general sign of feeling tired or nervousness. The fact they tend to cry when upset is why I liken them to babies. Pichu are small so housing one shouldn’t be too much of an issue. Be mindful that they might accidentally shock if excited.

—

(Just some random moments with a Self-Insert I thought up. We probably cause a lot of confusion working for the Survey Corps.)

[sailor-cresselia]

Zi-O 14: Raw viewing

Hm. Hmmm. HMMM.

omoshiroi.

Here’s the liveblog for Zi-O 14, pre-subs.

These are apparently taking me several hours to watch now, since I’m taking notes live, and with checking the wiki to get names right and backing up frequently to check images and figure out what I can actually hear. Whoops.

(WOW that phrase comes in handy.)

Woz, where’d you go – oh, so the clock’s not just some sort of Aesthetic Background. It’s actually there.

Okay, I can’t tell if he’s pissed because Sougo’s kinda dead, or because he’s not the reason Sougo’s kinda dead, but Geiz is pissed.

Aw. I think he might actually care.

“Can’t you just tell them that I’m right here?”

“They wouldn’t believe me.”

Urgh, I can’t actually get what they’re saying. I THINK it’s along the lines of:

Takeru: “So, I’m the only one who can see you, and it ‘might’ be because of this.” He pulls out the Ghost watch.

Sougo: “Ohhhh. So Geiz is headed to see the past you.”

Takeru: “Wait, what? The past?!” (oh god no not time travel again!)

(Re: the opening)

HEY WAIT.

Apparently, episode 11 was the last time that the final shot of the Opening had that uncomfortable ‘burning page reversing itself while grainy footage of Zi-o on his bike’ sequence. Episode 12 turned it to being a straight shot of Zi-o Riding his bike straight at the camera between two jets of flame. I only noticed watching 14, just now, but huh. I thought the only changes that had happened so far were the shots of the Time Jackers updating.

I’ll have to check on that later.

Ohh… Another Ghost immediately went after the crane operator… that’s really heartbreaking.

(Geiz, bud, what’s with the terrible green-screen? Your transformation’s usually better done than that.)

Hora: Come on, we need to kick Geiz’s butt in the past.

Tsukasa: Pft. Plebe. I can travel on my own, thanks. (proceeds to open a dimensional portal of his own)

Thank you for not summoning the hoodies this time, Geiz.

Enter Ryuki!Decade… who promptly changes to Ghost!Decade… oh, this could be good. (I paused mid transformation to write, mind you.)

The rules of time travel say that only one version of a rider’s powers can exist at a time. Somehow, the Another Riders count as this, but the Ride Watches don’t, which bugs me. But now… We have Another Ghost present, Geiz is using the Ghost Watch, and Decade is about to use the Ghost Card.

How will this play out… (spoiler alert to 2:00 am samantha from 3:30 am samantha: it made absolutely no difference. drat.)

SURE, you’ll let TSUKASA be spooky, but what about Takeru, huh? HUH?!?

Okay, so Geiz just summoned Musashi and Edison. Another Ghost has Robin Hood and Newton. Tsukasa got Billy the Kid and… um. I think that’s Beethoven? Yup. Beethoven.

OUCH. Geiz’s losing streak continues, with a distressing looking slash from the Gan Gun Saber, followed by a pair of Rider Kicks from Ghost!Decade and Another Ghost.

That red-and-black aesthetic of Another Ghost’s Emblem behind his kick though… Mm. Yes. This is still such a good Another Rider look. … and actually, this is the first time since Another Build and Another Ex-aid that we’ve seen this much of an Another Rider using their bases powers, isn’t it? Build was making bottles and using them, and Ex-aid was summoning bugster mooks. Okay, that’s admittedly actually a Bugster thing, but he was also generating game areas, so it still counts.

Hm. No sequence breaking for us, it would seem. Decade just wiped the Ghost Watch, turning it blank… and tossed Geiz the Decade Watch before taking off.

Interesting.

Or we could have some compeletely different sequence breaking, seeing as how Takeru had to pilot the time mazine for Sougo. Yanno, due to incorporeality. THEY landed just before Mika’s brother dies, as opposed to Geiz landing just after.

I hate to say this, but Nani The F*ck? So clearly, inherently magical Takeru can also force shove objects, because he just deflected the beams before they could hit either Mika or her brother. So now he can’t become Another Ghost, which sends Sougo back to his body… in 2018. While 21-year-old!Takeru is now in 2015. Where spooky!18-year-old!Takeru is supposed to also be.

Oh deary. So Heure pulls out the blank watch he was going to use to make Another Ghost, and summons a bunch of Ganma mooks with it. Fine, good, he’s ticked, makes sense. They attack 21!Takeru. Fine, fine.

Makoto shows up, asking why Takeru isn’t transforming.

He’s asking 21!Takeru – who, being from an altered timeline, does not remember being Ghost (allegedly).

“Oh, right, I’m a Kamen Rider. Makoto, let’s go!”

Mind you, Makoto is played by the same actor as always, and clearly neither of these men have aged a much more than a day since 2015, since they still look pretty much identical. This is for the best, because otherwise we’d have to wonder why Makoto doesn’t catch that suddenly Takeru (who should not be aging in 2015) looks bit older than he ought to.

((Takeru: Oh, man, I’m out of practice, last time I did this was December, one year ago for me, two years from now… I might be stuck here… ~oh well~ ~not like I haven’t gone off script like thirty different ways before~))

I don’t know what just happened in the hospital (2018) but I do not like it. That was very uncomfortable to watch. I can get that the whole Sougo-going-back-to-his-body thing just was undone, since Another Ghost exists again, but. What was Woz explaining? And he didn’t move when he said ‘waga maou.’ That was… that wasn’t a thought sound effect for that, the ‘stylization’ for thoughts and narrative are about the same, and they aren’t as faint as that. That felt like… idk, a telepathy thing?

~It’s not Ghost without sister issues~

Takeru: (oh no oh no I think we pulled it off? Maybe? Oh no Makoto’s looking at you say something)

Takeru: Uh, okay, uh, hey, Makoto, give the other Takeru my regards.

Makoto: ???

(exit: stage future)

Geiz is worried. That is a worried Geiz. And a stressed Sougo. And an uncle who is definitely faking his usual, already awkward laughter.

Sougo’s uncle has too many dishes ready to not have known there were extra people coming.

(Hee, Narita’s got Akari’s Shiranui cannon! And they mentioned her by name! Eee!)

TEAM WORK. THIS IS THE BEST THEMATIC TEAMWORK YESSSSS.

Sougo using the Ex-Aid watch with his mech is cool enough – it gets the same hammers that he does.

And then Geiz comes in with Genm. AND THE PURPLE WARP PIPES YESSSSS!

Is that. That’s the Cross-z watch.

MECHA BUILD AND CROSS-Z UGH YES.

Bottle boyfriend mecha RIDER KICK!

Hm. More mook summoning, by Another Ghost this time, ala Ex-Aid and OOO.

Pft-ahahaha.

I love Tsukasa’s reaction to Woz’s speech.

Tsukasa: What. What are you doing.

And Woz just growls.

NEAT. I knew that the Decade Armor let Zi-o get the Mid-forms of the Legend Riders, but I didn’t think of how that screen variant of the helmet could come into play with it. It shows the Zi-o-with-Decade color scheme before he changes, and when he puts in the Build watch… it’s shuffling, kind of like a character select screen – or cards being dealt. You can see Ex-Aid most clearly going by, but I can tell there were others.

Welcome back, RabbitTank Sparkling!

And Tsukasa just tells Woz to shut up and grabs his book. Was he always like this? Because I’m liking the snark.

I don’t know what this sword is called but I really really like it. Not only are the Ex-aid sound effects back in English, but it let him summon Max Flare, Funky Spike, and Midnight Shadow’s tires! (fangirl squeal)

Welcome back, Grateful!

“Why did I give him my watch? Eh. Thought it’d be interesting.”

(I think that’s about what he was saying? Ish? Approximately?)

Hang on, that screen? The mask for Decade is a Zi-o variant, but RabbitTank Sparkling and Grateful are their usual appearances.

And now Geiz has someone he wants to punch even more than he does Sougo or Woz.

So, overall...

Interesting indeed, Tsukasa. Interesting indeed.

[gatarishipsvocaloids]

Waking Up

I wrote something silly. Vocal Android verse, of course.

The sun was rising.

 Piko stared out of the kitchen window, mug of tea in hand, eyes half-lidded as they stared ahead into the painted red-orange landscape. It was a beautiful morning, all things considered  - the fog was thin and lightly dusted along the Sapporo skyscrapers, making the golden light reflect back into the sky. The window was closed, so the bustle of the morning traffic was low, but he could hear Akari's faint snoring on her beaten brown couch - a product of a night full of soda and video games.

 It was a much nicer sound than the traffic anyway.

 Piko brought the mug to his lips for a sip. He didn't really need to sleep, not since he was fully charged before he came here, so he was content amusing himself with cups of hot drinks and mindless newscasts until it was time for Akari to wake up, and for him to see her smiling face again. Not that her sleeping one wasn't fine, too, but he wasn't that creepy.

 He looked back at her again. She was sprawled over the sofa in a shirt and yoga shorts, her head nearly falling off the side from her incessant rolling around. There was still crumbs of old chips sticking to her face, and he inwardly smirks at the memory of her sharing them with him the night before.

 ...Then he looks away, because he must really be out of his mind to think of her doing any of those things as being endearing.

 Still, seeing her sleep so peacefully, he figures that maybe the next thing he could get up to is cooking breakfast, if not for her but for himself. (It was still so strange to think that - before meeting Akari, the concept of eating breakfast every day was alien to him). So, his mind set, he placed his mug on the windowsill and made his way to the fridge.

 He actually hadn't been to her apartment for breakfast before, since he usually met her for lunch. Still, finding a jar of marmalade in the fridge, he decided toast and eggs would be an effective option. Taking out the eggs, the bread and the frying pan, he set to work.

 The sky got lighter outside as he cooked, though he was focused enough that he didn't really notice it; nor did he notice the white-haired girl shuffling out of the living room and into the kitchen, hands outstretched to wrap around his waist.

 He jolted a bit at first, caught off-guard, but he instantly relaxed as he recognized her touch. “Ah, you're up,” he said as tonelessly as usual.

 “You stayed the night,” she said in a soft, tired voice, her cheek resting on his shoulder.

 Piko shrugged. “I didn't feel like going back to Galaco's,” he said as he swirled the eggs in the pan. “Are you surprised?”

 “No,” she drawled. She was obviously half-asleep. Piko restrained himself from breaking into a smile. “I'm just really happy to have you here,” she said, a finished thought.

 Piko didn't even bother to ignore the fireworks storming through him at her statement.

[volcanofireflame150]

A Soul meets another Seoul

Ch1; Ch17

Chapter 16

"Did you just say Majestic Octopus?" asked Talon. I nodded, Leviathan tells me, "Have you lost your mind? She's the most terrifying Zanpakutō amongst us." "She doesn't sound scary to me," I told her, "I'm going to look for her blade." "Here's the thing," said Talon, "You don't find her, she finds you when you least expect it." "I just need her to put Suho in his place and maybe help him through," I said to him, "That's all I need her to do, the rest is up to her." I was like that with Shadow Phoenix, Majestic Octopus will do that because Suho needs to have that feeling of having a loving and caring mother. I went to Raven and asked, "Where can I go to Majestic Octopus favorite places to show up?" "Near water," she said, "She'll show up if you need her to do something that might be important." "Oh it is," I said, "Suho broke." That's all she needed to hear apparently, I hear her say, "Broke you say?" "Yeah, he never had parents who cared for him and his well being," I told her, "He's now a lost soul, I found out he's been spiritually trapped by them and forced to come back to life." "I see," she said, "Well, I'll be by his side no matter what he says because he better not talk back to me." "Can I?" I asked. She nodded, "You are the one who summoned me over so I have no choice but to obey your every word." "Not every word, just go easy on him," I said to him. I went back and noticed that her blade is a regular katana but with tentacle markings from the hilt. I went to Suho, he looks at me, I tell him, "This is your new Zanpakutō, Suho." He took Majestic Octopus, then I hear her say to me, "By the way, call me River, better tell him that." "This is Majestic Octopus but she prefers River," I told him, "She's going to be with you until you are sure that you want to be away from here for forever." "Actually I want to go there but also keep using her in future battles," Suho said. River tells him, "You may, but I'm only limited to what I am told to do by Akari here." "Stay with him," I said, "I mean it this time, he has no idea on how to handle things on his own." "I see," she said, "Well, you might need to get the other elemental Zanpakutō spirits from the other guys." "Elemental?" I asked. She nodded, Talon told me, "I'm an Earth Elemental, Leviathan is a Water Elemental, Raven is a Healing Elemental, Blizzard is an Ice Elemental, Grim Panther is a Dark Elemental, Masked Halo is of course a Light Elemental, Jaguar is a Balance Elemental, Serene Jewel is a Psychic Elemental, Hurricane is an Air Elemental, Curious Heart is a Storm Elemental, Winter is a Cosmic Elemental, and Tiger is a Steel Elemental." "Long story short, we are all siblings of Shadow Phoenix," said Leviathan. Shadow Phoenix nodded, I looked at River and I asked, "Do you have any relation to them?" "Oh child, you sure are curious," said River, "I have no relation to them, just a friend to them." After that, I couldn't believe on what I just heard, then Talon said, "To tell you the truth, Kyungsoo, the one who was previously my wielder, River told me that she would look over the EXO guys, apparently she was waiting for all 12 of them to be reunited by someone like you." "So, wait, are you guys saying that all of you elementals were supposed to be wielded by me?" I asked. Leviathan said, "Yes, though I'm all forward to be Natsume's Zanpakutō." "Though it wouldn't be right," said Talon, "She would be totally unbalanced." "Um I have Shadow Phoenix," I said to them. She came to us and said, "That may be true but in future battles, you might have no choice but to use not only me, but the others." "Alright, how about this, I can only fight with 3 weapons at a time," I said, "So, the others would be familiars attached one of you." "Are you choosing which 3 to chose?" asked Talon. I nodded, "Shadow Phoenix of course, Leviathan, and you Talon." "That's a great choice," said Leviathan. I know I made a very wise and great choice because I was actually seeing a happy face on mother's face, she no longer has the angry face. Good, now I can go back to doing what I was doing and that is doing my school work before I get behind on assignments. I went to Ichigo, I asked, "Did I miss anything?" "Yeah, you missed a lot which is understandable," he said. I asked, "Can I at least copy your notes?" "Sure, make sure to stop," he said. I went to work immediately, but I have a very bad feeling about something. But I shook it off like it was nothing. When I finished, I told Ichigo that I was going to take a walk, after hearing nothing from him, probably asleep I decided to go out for a walk, not knowing any danger might be lurking around the corner. Thankfully, I had Leviathan attached to me, her weapon happens to be a Trident combined with an Anchor and Battleaxe. She is very unique I'll you that, then I heard someone chuckling very manically I looked in the direction on where it is coming from. Grimmjow appeared again, I stepped back, he said, "Well, well, look who it is, the Pyro lady. I was waiting for you to show up." "What do you want from me?" I asked. He said, "I'm here to make you pay for burning me last time, prepare to be killed by me." Then I heard her say, "Quick, shout Ice Shield! Hurry!" So I did, she tells me, "Yes this is the same thing as Fire Shield, it also back fires like Fire Shield." When Grimmjow punched through the barrier, he got a bad case of freezing cold water just hit him back, while he was hissing in pain she tells me, "Hurry! Run to the nearest building you come across!" I went running the way I came so I could get Shadow Phoenix, then Leviathan said, "You can just summon her to you, just think loudly and mentally yell for her to come to your aid!" So, I did, she appeared and Fire Shield replaced Ice Shield, saying, "Nice job telling her, Levy." "I mean, it's going to become useful one of these days," said Leviathan, "By the way, yes, I do prefer Levy because I get tired after hearing Leviathan over and over again." "I get it," I said to her. It wasn't long until Grimmjow attacked me again, this time his entire arm got burned by fire, then he managed to actually take down the barrier and sent me flying, hitting a tree trunk, him saying, "You are going to pay for that! Now, you little shit, prepare to meet your maker!" Then I got up sending him flying this time using a Fire Burst, "Stay away from me, you mad man!" "Oh I'm a mad man?" I hear him faintly say. Then he raised his voice, "I'll show you on who's mad!!" All I could do right now is dodge his every move, I'm not in my Soul form, when a mysterious stone wall appeared it made my cue to go out of my Gigai body. I saw Levy take my body to somewhere that it won't get hurt or anything, the stone wall came down, now Grimmjow is seeing me in full attack mode, he said, "I forgot that you were in that body of yours, now let's fight for real!"

We begun to fight, he's a tough opponent I give him that, though I'm not giving up that easily, I managed to slice him 5 times, each slice has a burning sensation to them so that's why he yells in pain when I do that. My blade heats up when I'm close to my opponent, but what really sucked on my part when he basically tired me out to be fully out of fire powers so he could finish me off. He got me on the ground, stomach in the concrete, bleeding from my arm and face, feeling pain throughout my body, and out of power, Grimmjow smirked, "Well, looks like this little bird is out of power to finish me off. Well, time to say goodbye!" He almost finished me when he got blasted by a getsuga tensho from none other than my big brother, Ichigo Kurosaki, though all I could remember was blacking out. I opened my eyes to only find myself in a strange room, I looked around, looks like I'm back in the living room of his house. Ichigo said, "I see that you are awake finally." "I swear I didn't do it on purpose," I said, "He started it first, then if you didn't save me back there, he would've finished me off." "Yeah," he said, "Be careful next time." "He made me go out of power," I said, "Which I use to having infinite power, but now, I need to find the other weapons to have that power again, so far I only have the Scythe and Leviathan's weapon." "I see," he said, "Well, again be careful next time." I have a bad feeling that Grimmjow was meeting me for a reason and I was saved from it, I wonder what he was going to do if he didn't want to fight me. Ah, it's probably nothing. I ignored the thought and went to sleep. 5 straight minutes go by, I'm having the most difficult time falling asleep, all I could think of is being in Ichigo's presence because he makes me feel totally safe, I went to his door and having second thoughts whether or not to knock on the door, I don't want to wake him up but this is very bad on my part. Though I did it anyway, softly though, while I heard a faint noise inside I decided to sit beside the door waiting for someone to open, knowing Rukia is in his closet. As I was waiting, I heard Levy ask, "What seems to be on your mind, Akari?" "I had a very bad feeling that he was meeting me for a reason," I said, softly. She was a very good listener, she tells me, "Whatever it is, it can't be good on you because he's basically the bad guy that made you go out of only fire powers." "Wait so I could've switched elements?" I softly asked. Levy told me, "You are an Elemental wielder after all, Akari." "But here's the problem though, I only used Ice Shield because you told me to do so," I said, "I only mastered on my fire powers." "This is the beginning of training with me and Talon, we'll go easy on you," she said, I could not help but say, "You guys are something else, you are sure different from the other Zanpakutōs out there." "That's because before we actually became elemental spirits," I heard Talon say, "We were very much alive at one point." "How is that possible?" I asked, "I thought the spirit of the zanpakuto has to come from the wielder." "We are unique, Akari," said Levy, "We each favored weapons that we forged ourselves, well, minus Talon, your mother, Shadow Phoenix, made sure that her weapon is extremely unique so she went with the scythe." After my crazy talk with Levy and Talon, the door that led to the inside of Ichigo's room, he opened and he doesn't look very happy that I either woke him up or I didn't check my voice level. Though he doesn't see me, yet anyway, all I did was touch his pant leg and he instantly looked at me, still has that same scowling face, he met up to my level which by the way, that helps because I'm not that tall, I only reach up to his chest, anyways, when he knelt down to my level, I couldn't help but look away, scared that he might not want me to stay with him for the night. Then he asked, "What is it, Akari?" "Well, um, you see, I can't sleep for at least 5 minutes," I said, trying not to sound too frightened by him. Then he put his hand on my right cheek and made me look at him, then a soft smile appeared, "You could've just said so, I asked on what is it that you need because no one knocks that softly other than you, Akari." "Oh well I didn't want to disturb your rest," I said, "I would've understand that you don't want to be bothered." "Hey, c'mon now," said Ichigo, "You had a rough day and might be recovering that impact you received, don't worry you'll be fine in no time just make sure that if you need anything from anywhere or anyone, let me know and I'll make sure that you get it or make sure that you will be calm and relaxed." He's right, he did take me as his sister and he is not taking that role as an advantage, Toshiro on the other hand, Ichigo is WAY better, sorry Captain Hitsugaya. I went into his room, him following behind, saying, "By the way, Rukia is staying in the Soul Society for a while." "Oh, well, that's not what I expected," I said. He yawned, "She told me that she is helping people out on what ever is going." "How come that I wasn't informed?" I asked. I felt a mental slap from Levy, with her saying, "You are a part of his team, Akari." "Oh, well, you know, that was a very dumb question," I said, turning red in embarrassment. Ichigo was chuckling, "You are totally fine, by the way, you had your Soul Page taken away." "Oh that's right," I said, "Thank you for reminding me." With that, I hope Rukia does not mind me sleeping in her spot in the closet because I wonder what it is like in there, Ichigo notices the curious look on my face when I was looking at his closet, then he says, "Oh no, you are not going there." "Why not?" I asked. He groaned, "I don't want you in there because I know that you do not like tight spaces." Oh, shit, he's right, man, though I told him, "I want to conquer this fear because I want to become fearless one day." "Everyone has to be afraid of something, they can't be fearless all the time," said Ichigo, "Even people who are saying that they are fearless, they have one fear on their minds and that's losing every one of their dearest loved ones." "Oh, well, you see, I'm still learning," I said to him, "So, thank you for telling me this." After another 5 minutes go by, he set up a spare futon for me to sleep on, he said, "You can bunk with me until you get that feeling away from you doing on what you do best." "Yeah you have a point," I said, laying down on the futon. Ichigo warns me, "Also, please ignore this annoying plushie named Kon." "Who's Kon?" I asked, immediately regretting myself from saying that. Kon, the Lion plushie, just landed in front of me, started creeping me out by saying, "You are a gorgeous lady, let me readjust your shirt for ya!" He kept going and my rage spoke for me, I grabbed him by his squishy neck, threatened him by saying, "Stay away from me or I'll scorch you until you learned your lesson!" "Like you can cast real Fire," said Kon. I literally casted one in my hand, both Ichigo and Kon freaked out, Ichigo goes, "Are you crazy? Put that fire ball out!" "Please don't burn me, I'll be a good plushie!" Kon says, panicking. Then I threw him against the wall, putting out the flame, brung out duct tape then decided to tape Kon somewhere that I can no longer see him, so I chosen the shelf of Ichigo's computer desk, I chosen the darkest part and taped him good, also taped his mouth shut. Throughout the night, it was nice releasing that rage, I slept very good that night because morning arrived and was in a better mood this time, I got myself ready for school, I gave Ichigo some privacy so he could change as well. Once we met up with each other, Ichigo said, "Let's eat breakfast before heading out." "Yeah, um is it alright if I call Asteria over?" I asked, "She doesn't live very far." "Actually she does," said Ichigo, "She and her mother both run a fashion store and it's far from here." "I can still get her," I said, pouting. He's forgetting about my flash stepping, I gave him a look telling that, he asked, "Why are you giving me that look?" "I can flash step, you berry!" I shouted. He just looked at me, did I literally call him a berry? Well, it's only understandable that his name has 2 meanings, so I was only thinking of strawberry, oops, I instantly said, "Sorry about that." "It's alright," he said, shaking that off. I told him, "Hey, it's not my fault that your name has two meanings!" "What are you saying?" he asked. I told him, "Your whole name 'Ichigo' means strawberry as well." "Not you too," he said, groaning, "Been called strawberry multiple times by Asteria Evarose." "Well, it was her first word in the language so it's only understandable," I said to him, "But, don't worry I won't call you that, much." "I heard that!" he shouted.

[danganronpashowtime-blog]

Mother: Biographical Movie || Chapter 2 Performance [Pt.1]

Day and night no longer feel like they used to. This place. Its atmosphere exceeds in tearing down one’s spirit. So much so, in fact, that even time itself was starting to feel wobbly, and discontinued. Had it really been weeks? Or is it closer to a month now? Several months, perhaps? You’re honestly not sure. The tiring routine of extensive training and psychological distress corrupts even the healthiest mind. You’re not sure how long it’s been: But you’re damn sure you’re not close to getting out. Sekai’s laughter creeps into your sleep, haunting you with the thought of never again leaving this place. Never seeing your loved ones again. Stuck with the same colors and shapes, and faces, and sounds, for all the remaining breaths within you. However long they may serve you.

Schedule and teamwork are the recipe for sanity, for a good chunk of you. This performance required extensive knowledge and technique of all, about all. It’s easy to get yourself lost in thought once you’ve learned something new. Even more so when your life depends on it. Piles and piles of books, hours of this hell-forsaken fortnight spent on perfecting something you previously knew close to nothing about. These “boosts”, whatever they may be, make a machine out of you. Technique, specifically: You can’t help but take in whatever knowledge you acquire. You’re like a computer, storing data, ready to use it and expand upon it, whenever you see fit. With each passing day, you feel a slight tint of coldness latch to your chest. A small, faint, breath-like void. It’s as if Oasis itself, and the buildings that contain it, are ripping the humanity out of you. Bit by bit.

You didn’t have time care about it, though. Performance day creeped in faster. Sooner rather than later, you heard Sekai’s announcement, claiming the “big day” to be no more than twenty-four hours away. However long that is in this place; And so, you gathered with your remaining classmates and you followed the director’s instruction the best you could. You watched ideas being tossed back and forth, during the filming and editing process. You did your part. You gave your best and expected the bare minimum in return. It’s a strangely familiar feeling, since last time. The expectancy. The volatile air in every room you were in. Disaster could ensue at any moment, you were made very aware. But alas, so came the time to call it. The director clapped once, only to call everyone’s attention, and claim, for certain, that “Mother” was officially done. But there was little celebration. With seven hours left until the screening, and the dawn slowly approaching: Most defaulted to a night’s sleep.

The presentation was scheduled to midday. The sun was just cresting over the skyline as you managed to close your eyes. And quickly it rose. Hours later, you’d say, you were woken, Sekai’s voice blasting through the speakers.

“Children of mine, how are you all this fine morning? This is a special day, after all. The audience is being directed towards the Movie Land Cinema as we speak! As well as a few hand-picked movie critics I happened to have the number of... And no, you cannot go there at this time. We wouldn’t want any of you scaring them away, would we now?”

She laughs to herself, fond of her diabolical scheme.

“In a few short minutes, after they all are comfortably sitting down in their chairs, then I request all of your beautiful faces to be at the Studio, no time to waste: I’ve setup a screening of our own! How nice of me. We’ll watch just as they do! Should be fun, no? So, once you hear the beep, your doors will unlock, and I’ll expect all of you to be at the Studio. Is that clear? Good. I’ll see you later, my children!”

You were numb to those words, almost. You got the memo. You tested your door: And indeed, it wouldn’t open. So, you waited. Ten, twenty, thirty minutes. Thirty-two, exactly, when the speakers boomed a loud, deafening, one-second beep. The doors promptly unlocked, and you began to make your way to the Studio, feet dragging through the pavement, as you began to coalesce into the small crowd of your classmates. Nearly all sharing the same displeased look as you. In fact, a couple try to sprint toward the Cinema, only to find the door sturdily locked. It was worth a try.

Once you’ve arrived, you were faced with twenty or so director’s chairs, each with a name assigned. Naomi’s being at the very center, and the closest to the oversized screen hanging from the ceiling, not a few feet away. Smaller than the movies, but bigger than any ordinary TV you’ve ever seen. Displayed on it, only static. It’s only when the last one of you sat down that the screen turned black. And a faint piano tune began to play.

Amidst the darkness on the screen, a hoarse, breathy female voice spoke up: And so ensued a narration, explaining Naomi’s early beginnings, which depended on little of her own volition. Even before her birth, her mother, Kamiko Ishii, an already world-renowned ballerina, badly injured her knee, tragically terminating her dancing career. Not long after, she promptly married a man whom she didn’t love, purely for this wealth and appearance. A man of no substance, a blank slate of personality. Together, over the course of a year, they made the voice narrating the very lines you were hearing. “Me”, the voice, now familiar to you spoke up, “Naomi”.

From this point onwards, the narration becomes scarcer and sprinkled throughout the film, instead of acting as its bulk. Naomi’s childhood starts being depicted: A friendless, inhospitable first couple of years. Here it starts to become clearer what the big picture is: Kamiko’s undying thrive to refine and perfect her daughter into what she was never able to be herself. The perfect version of herself, a perfect woman; and the mind, heart, and soul of ballet. Her daughter’s cries mattered not, as her passion for contemporary dancing, any and all signs of rebellion were not only silenced but severely punished. The varied abuses become commonplace, making Naomi frightened of her mother. Her calls for help to her father were promptly ignored, his blind eye was made of steel. Already absent in most moments of her life, even this crucial need of aid clearly wasn’t enough. Naomi was alone. And alone she endured this pain for many years to come.

Since a very young age, Naomi was enthralled in one of the most esteemed ballet academies in Japan, where, during years of intensive training and borderline militaristic routine, her talents truly flourished. This can mostly be attributed to a single person, a teacher in the academy by the name of Akari Handa, the one person Naomi claims to compete with her mother in terms of severity. Hand-picked, this teacher played a major in Naomi’s teachings. The movie included several scenes of their training sessions and minute improvements, from day-to-day. And even in her impressive displays of talent, even to the academy’s standards, there was always one face ready to steal the spotlight: Kiyoko Arakida, whose flair easily outshined that of Naomi.

The piling pressure to surpass Kiyoko easily got to her. She attempted to befriend her, but her mother would always disapprove, until eventually forbid the idea altogether. She was to be considered an enemy. When the situation seemed like it couldn’t get any direr, Kiyoko received the lead in the academy’s next big production play by Akari Handa herself, a role her mother specifically instructed her to acquire, no matter what. In a scene of heavy atmosphere, proceeded by the role assignments, Naomi is scolded by her mother in a back room. There, in the midst of her anger and blinded judgment, she implied it was up to her, and solely her, to figure out a way to get this role back. Whatever that takes. No matter the consequences.

In a fateful day within the academy, Naomi and Kiyoko met alone, and exchanged pleasantries, until ultimately, as Kiyoko turned to leave, beginning to head down a set of stairs, Naomi hesitantly, having her Kamiko’s works echoing within her mind, pushed her in the back. The girl tumbled forward in an especially well-crafted shot. Naomi’s reaction of terror and realization as the girl finally reaches the end step. The ballerina’s shadow cast on top of the unmoving body, now whimpering and bruised. She screamed for help, and the scene faded out. The next shot is her receiving the lead role from Handa. Sadness in the air caused by the tragic accident.

The remaining scenes are distant shots of her dancing, dubbed over by her narration. “This was all for you”, she said and paused, the applause echoing in the distance. “You, your name, your voice was the only thing in mind for the all my days and nights”, she said and paused, the applause echoed ever-so-slightly quieter, the still shot of the performance begins to fade. “Through your harshness and cruelty, through all the countless times I’ve wished for something better”, she said and paused, the applause now barely audible, the performance barely visible. “Through it all, I always thought of a way to tell you how much you’ve made me into who I am”, the applause ceases, the shot fades to black. “So, after all of this”, the background stillness continued, “This isn’t a record of my life. This wasn’t made with my story in mind. This is but a simple letter to you. And I do honestly hope you someday get to read it-”.

And so the film ends abruptly. Once the credits roll, the first thing to appear on screen is the movie’s title, in big, round calligraphy:

“Mother”.

The movie’s theme cues as the credits roll and lights inside the building turn on. Sekai’s voice immediately booming from nearby speakers.

“Wasn’t that wonderful? The audience seems pleased! We’ll have to wait a day or two for the critic review, but you shouldn’t feel too bad. I must admit… This was better than the last trash you did! If we keep going like this, maybe we’ll have something decent by the tenth performance or so. How exciting, wouldn’t you say, my children?” She laughs. “So, you’re free to go to your rooms. Rankings will be out tomorrow. As well as rewards for our esteemed Star and punishments for those who were too bothered to practice. That should be fun!”

The speakers turn off, the static echoing off of the room. The door unlocks. That sure was an experience.

[greengargouille]

A change of perspective, chapter 2 - Tearing

Read from the start here

Read this chapter on ao3

Rating : General audiences Characters : Kayano Kaede, Horibe Itona, Shiro. Pairing : None.

Kayano didn’t come in class the next day.

She didn’t answer the text her newly made friends left her. Not when Kurahashi asked her if she was okay, not when Hara asked her if she wanted her to come to her house, not when Kataoka informed her they would all be in self study for an indefinite time till a new teacher was appointed.

As far as Akari was concerned, Kayano already died. She had ditched the hair dye bottle and put the grey uniform far, far away in her closet. Kaede was only a fake identity to approach this monster ; with him dead, she had no more utility for such a name.

It took her hours for the new to truly impact her. Even if she assisted to how the octopus was reduced to a slimy mess, she had needed time to accept it. Dead. Killed by the one she wanted to use as her cover and a few idiots that she thought were barely worth her interest.

She had wished for the satisfaction of seeing that smiley face when she would have told him who she truly was. She had wished for the joy of his fear, when he understood the consequence of killing her big sis, the best sister in the whole world. She had wished for something to take on her anger, something to tear apart and endure the pain she shouldn’t have to suffer.

Instead she was left with only her bitterness, frustration and a pair of useless tentacles.

It hurt. Even after the retribution this murderer deserved, Aguri’s death still hurt. Even after her goal was achieved, the living weapons stuck to her neck still hurt.

The bloodlust of the tentacles was sucked out as soon as that monster died, and so their cry for vengeance had extinguished, leaving only their need for energy. The spikes of pain drilling into her brain were coming at longer intervals now. They felt less sharp, too. Without an iron resolution to keep steady, they felt like torture.

She didn’t need them anymore, but Akari didn’t know how to remove those tentacles, nor did she knew anyone who would.

...Maybe Yanagisawa. He was the head scientist of that project on which Aguri helped. If anyone had a clue, it was him.

She hated him, though. He took her sister away from her, and her father only cried from happiness, as if it wasn’t wrong for Aguri not to be with them and that they should all go live their own separate life. She also hated how his smug, confident face reminded her so much of older colleagues in her acting job, kind to her but full of contempt in her back. And then he always treated her as a child, as if with fourteen years of existence, a solid career and having to deal with her mother’s death at an early age didn’t made her mature enough as far as he was concerned.

She also hated how she felt he would see that hate as validation of her childishness.

Akari could - she would hold on without his or anyone’s help. She won’t let that kill her. It would be infantile to let herself die just not to see her... brother-in-law. So she absolutely couldn’t let those tentacles win.

She didn’t know how to contact Yanagisawa, anyways. She had removed his phone number and mail adress from her phone soon after her sister added them, and did not know where he might live. The last time she have seem him those last months were during Aguri’s funeral. Her sister didn’t have many friends ; her social life fell so low after she had to work through two jobs at the same time. It was easy, in this half-empty room, to see the man come mid-ceremony, his face ill and his left eye all patched up, and see him go before the end.

-He should have been in the front, seated next to her and her father, offering incense to Aguri’s memories, he was her fiance, didn’t he care about her-

Akari felt some relief that the decision of not meeting him was already taken for her, in a way. She wouldn’t have to constantly justify it to herself til her motivation grew thin.

...She still wondered where he could be, though.

Itona never have seen Shiro be in such an horrible mood. The white clothed man left such a solid impression of calmness that it was difficult to see him in that impostor-like figure, broking things and screaming in anger.

“He can’t have died - he was mine to kill !! He was mine !”

His underlings didn’t seems too fazed by this attitude, though, showing an air of resignation as if it was to be expected. They didn’t even seem that concerned about it either, the thrill of another new shadowing the worry.

“Did you hear ? That monster - -I can’t believe it ! And to think he killed so many- -You think he went mad from the outside world ? -Possible, he was confined during so much time after all- -Wait, so it was some kind of suicide ? -No no, it’s the children, they killed him-”

So much chatter. It hurts Itona’s head. He disliked how he was left in a corner without explanations. Today was supposed to be his day. He was supposed to get tentacles. It’s been days he’ve been trained for it, his body modified to handle the shock. Instead of what he’ve been thrown on the side, the attention of the whole team centered on that event.

He have been trying to understand what everyone was talking about. What was that monster ? It couldn’t be the creature he was supposed to kill. It was stronger than any human or weapon ; it couldn’t have died. The one they talked about must have been very weak. Why were they still going on that instead of prioritizing the strong ?

That must be because Itona was weak. Even if his body could now easily crush the students that have bullied him, he was so weak compared to what he could be.

He felt the bitter taste of the time his father’s factory went bankrupt. Everyone going left and right and speaking over each other of things he couldn’t grasp, not paying any attention to the child seeking something to hold on to on those stressful times.

During those times he regretted not going into his father’s office to support him when he needed it. Itona should have shown him stability ; maybe he wouldn’t have left then.

The boy slowly made his way to the room everyone seemed to distance themselves from. “It’s best to leave him alone in those cases”. Screw it. What did they understood ? They were weak. That’s why they weren’t the head of the project.

Itona didn’t dislike Shiro. He didn’t have strong feelings of attachment to him, but he met him when he needed someone to look over him and be concerned about his situation.

That day that happened after weeks of his uncle travelling across the country for work. “I’m young and single, it’s normal they give me those missions, if they knew I had to take care of a child it would bring me lot of trouble, you know ? Will you be strong enough to stay alone for a few days more ?” Itona wasn’t strong then, but he hadn’t been able to say it. Even if he couldn’t go to school because the other students were starting to be painful. Even if he felt nauseous from only eating convenience-store food. Even if he was scared because the moon had exploded two weeks ago and he didn’t understand how it was possible and what might happen then.

That day when he avoided coming back to an empty, messy house, by dragging himself in the streets way after night. It was when he was picked up by that man, that saw him and promised a strength he pretended to have and needed so much.

That rainy day by the end of March. His 14th birthday.

That’s why, even if they weren’t close, Itona wanted to see if he could help Shiro. He would ask him for his tentacles and become the strongest person on Earth, and then he would be able to destroy any obstacle standing their way, and maybe his father would hear about it and he would come back, too.

The door of the office made an awful noise as it pushed through bit of glass and pile of papers.

The faint noise Itona heard before Shiro suppressed it almost sounded like a sob. The man was sitting at his desk, slouched in his chair instead of his usual upright position, his mask still on his face. Of course. Itona likely wouldn’t want to show his expression either if he had cried, whether from sadness or anger. That was weakness. That’s why he tried so hard to keep an inexpressive face.

“Itona.” A voice devoid of choke. Yet, there was a certain heaviness to it. “I was supposed to obtain my tentacles today. -...That was the original plan, yes. But there’s no need anymore. -...Why ? -My... The creature is dead.” Shiro paused an instant, as if admitting this took him a considerable effort. “Everything is useless now. You’re no longer needed.”

Itona took that last sentence as a punch to the guts. He however did his best so it didn’t show how it affected him.

“You promised me I would get tentacles. -Wrong. I promised to make you strong. We have hardly finished the modifications on your body, but as far as normal humans are concerned, your physical abilities are way better than average. -I still want the tentacles. -No you don’t.” The answer was unexpectedly sharp and fast. “You won’t be able to sustain them. The only reason the project was viable was because we had the means to produce large quantities of energy in a short time, regularly, and there’s no reason for us to do that now that we don’t need such an unstable weapon. What you’re asking for is merely a long and painful death. -But...” Without tentacles, Itona wouldn’t stay strong very long. His body would soon return to that of a small fourteen years old boy. Useless. “Ask someone to drive you back at your home. We will send someone later to give some false explanation to your uncle. Ah, and when you leave, close the door and tell everyone to let me alone, I... need some time to think by myself.”

Your home. Was there even such a thing anymore ? His father, that was his home. It disappeared soon after him, the house taken and sold.

“Goodbye, Itona.”

Shiro insisted as he saw that the boy didn’t move.

This place felt suddenly suffocating. Too big. Too heavy. No longer needed. You’re a loser who ain’t got nothing. Why did he thought that would change ?! From the start, he always... he always needed someone to be strong !

He wanted to protest and scream, he wanted to destroy everything. But there was nothing left that wasn’t already broken.

He didn’t close the door when he left.

Itona hoped nobody noticed how he was close to tears.

[idornasequel]

Chapter Forty-Two: Natasha and Akari

Natasha wrapped her jacket a little tighter around her body, glad she’d thought to bring it before apparating to New York. After talking with Enzo, she knew she had to make sure Akari was on board, hence why she was now in the States. Her initial plan had just been to send a Patronus to the Auror, but if she required any kind of convincing of their plan, Natasha would rather do it face to face, even if it was hard to look anyone else in the eye still.

The German walked down the street, thankfully remembering where Akari lived. She reached the familiar building and climbed up the stairs, knocking on the front door. Hopefully Akari was home, otherwise the trip would have been pointless. Although she could always try the Oasis as well, if the other woman wasn’t there.

Akari was on her couch when she heard the knocking from her front door. She had been mindlessly watching some cooking show while both Evangelos and Juno’s photos were laid on the table in front of her. She hadn’t heard back from anyone since they last met, and she decided that she would have to deal with it herself if no news came in the coming days.

She removed her wand from where it was trapped between her teeth, adding new indents to it, before standing up, keeping it behind her back as she moved to her front door. She didn’t know who to expect, but when she peered through the eye-hole, a curious grin played at her lips, along with a shrouded feeling of worry.

Nevertheless, she swung the door open, looking into the familiar dark-blue eyes of Natasha.

“Long time, no see,” she said, leaning against the doorframe, feeling the cold draft whisk in. “Oh, shit. Come in,” she quickly blurted, moving aside so the younger woman could step into the warmth of her apartment.

“Thank you,” Natasha said with a faint smile. She stepped inside, relieved that Akari was home. It would be easier to speak to the woman here than at the Oasis, particularly since she assumed they had more guaranteed privacy here.

“Enzo and I are going back to the club tonight,” she told Akari once the door was shut. She didn’t feel like wasting any time, particularly not when just looking at the shorter woman had her remembering vivid details. “Just the two of us, and you, if you want to come. We need to figure out what’s going on.”

Akari smiled, nodding her head as she moved into her kitchen, starting a pot of tea as Natasha continued. She turned back around, leaning against the counter, trying to shoo away any thoughts of Natasha’s naked body that tried to force their way into her mind. She clicked her tongue loudly from the roof of her mouth once before she spoke again.

“Any master plan? Or are we just winging it?”

Natasha shook her head, sighing softly. “There isn’t a lot to plan. We just have to be more careful than last time, and try to figure out what kind of magic they have in there.” And of course, avoid the drinks, but she assumed she didn’t need to say that.

“Can do,” Akari said, pouring herself a cup of tea. “You want one? It’s cold out.”

Natasha knew she should go; in fact, part of her wanted to leave very badly, not wanting to have to be around Akari any longer than she needed to be. But something kept her in place, a curiosity about the other woman.

“Sure. Thank you,” she said with a faint smile. “Have you made any progress?” she asked, remembering how insistent Akari was on solving this case herself.

Akari waved her free hand towards a second mug, filling it with the tea and sending it towards Natasha while taking a sip from her own. Although she was uncomfortable - to say the least - around any of the five students, she was glad to have company. She took a few days off work after the Veil to regain her normal state once more. However, she had to admit that it was lonely. She hadn’t even been back to the Oasis yet.

“Not much, really,” Akari replied, motioning towards her couch, flopping down on the far side, socked feet curled up underneath her. “They’re careful, Evangelos and Juno. They are hardly seen outside their little fantasy. Smart, too. Juno would be slammed by paps if she did. Big Quidditch star who retired without warning? Raises eyebrows. What about your little team?”  

“Hardly a team at the moment,” Natasha sighed, walking into the living room after Akari and taking a seat on the other side of the couch. “We’re barely talking to each other, which makes it hard to get any work done. Besides, I think at least a couple people might be on the verge of giving up on this.” She hoped that that wasn’t the case, since they all worked best as a group, but if it was, they would figure out how to do it without them.

Akari nodded, taking another drink to avoid speaking for a moment while she collected her thoughts. “I get that it’s not safe to bring everyone back to the Veil, but… keep your friends close, Natasha.” She kept her eyes trained on hers. “People like us - Idorna students and graduates - we have a hard time out in the real world after keeping a seven-year secret. You won’t feel it until you really get out there for yourself. But keeping others like you around softens the blow. It’s why I started the Nouveau.”

Akari thought back to a little over two years ago. She was on a job in Washington where a wizard dropped dead in a cafe for seemingly no reason. No one had an explanation, but Akari knew it well. When they examined the body, there were signs of an Unbreakable Vow along with a tattoo between his shoulder blades: Icelandic script that read ‘Exceed the Unexpected’. The worst part of it all was leaving the man’s file in the ‘unexplained’ section of her portfolio when she knew damn well what had happened.  

Not all of us are so lucky.

Natasha took a sip of her tea as she listened to Akari, knowing the other woman had a point. Before, during summers, she would barely talk to people, so it was easy to keep anything about Idorna to herself, but she couldn’t imagine not having anyone else to talk about it with for the rest of her life. And they had been through a lot together; they needed each other, even if they couldn’t look each other in the eyes at the moment.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” she nodded. “Right now, though, I’m more concerned about dealing with the people that took away our control over ourselves.”

“And we will, kid,” Akari said, feeling a sense of determination she had lost over the past couple of days. “We just need to be careful.”

When her mug was ¾ empty, she flicked her wrist, levitating it towards the sink to wash.

“Kid?” Natasha asked, raising an eyebrow. She knew she was considerably younger than Akari, but it wasn’t that much. “And we will be. It will be easier to keep our heads down with just the three of us, and we know what to avoid this time.”

Akari couldn’t help but laugh at Natasha’s defense. “Don’t feel special. I call everyone that.”

She looked at the clock across the room, watching it read 12pm. She tilted her head back, groaning dramatically before running her hands down her face and standing up. “So, listen. I gotta be at work in an hour. You and Enzo meet me outside Veil around midnight. Sound good?”

Natasha nodded, setting her empty mug on the coffee table in front of her before standing up. “Yes. Thank you for the tea,” she said, smiling faintly before walking to the door. “See you at midnight.” With that, she left, heading back to Samoa to find Enzo and tell him their plan.

[waywardstation]

Bubbly

Ingo gets the hiccups. Akari knows how to get rid of them, even if her methods are a bit unorthodox.

I wrote this after getting two requests to write Akari helping Ingo cure a case of the hiccups. One was from a LONG time ago, but I got another request for it recently, (maybe same anon haha) so I wrote a drabble for it! Also used some requests to do something with the snacktime AU.

OR read here on AO3!

Enjoy!

————

Akari sat still on the dojo’s bench, her hand held in a snack bag, mid-grab for a handful of chips as she stared at Ingo. Waiting with amused anticipation.

The warden was stationed next to her on the bench, his shoulders braced and his posture stiff. He gripped the half-empty soda bottle in his hand tightly. Waiting with dread.

Hic!

“There it is again!” Grinning mouth full of chips, Akari pointed at him, accusatory.

Ingo groaned as she laughed, before another spasm in his diaphragm interrupted it with a third loud hiccup - quite the funny sound, coming from him.

Of course this would happen right before he'd have to resume working again. Akari needed to stop bringing him all this junky stuff at the tail end of his lunch breaks at the dojo. However, it was perhaps his fault he had accepted the soda from her - the fact it had bubbled when he first screwed the cap open should have been warning enough.

To be fair though, he hadn’t quite remembered his disposition on the carbonated drink at first. The design of the plastic bottle had only given him some faint ripples of remembrance (as most of these things did - the biggest reason as to why Akari brought him all these things to share with him in the first place).

The first swig had almost been spit out at the unappealing bubbly sensation overwhelming the sweet flavoring, and Ingo choked it down - he did not like that at all.

“Do you not like it?” Akari had asked when she had popped a bag open, surprised at his reaction - the junk sometimes brought rather random memories back. “Or did you just remember something?”

“Both tracks - what carbonation is, and that I don’t hold much appreciation for it.” Ingo had wiped at his mouth with the back of his hand, feeling some of the fizz in his nose.

Even more unpleasant was how the bothersome bubbling didn’t entirely settle under his ribcage. Instead, it had kept irritating him, until the first loud-

Hic!

Another jolt in his diaphragm. Another strange sound out of him, and another round of laughter out of Akari.

“Apologies,” Ingo squeezed out right before yet another hiccup could interrupt. Such an improper sound-

“You aren’t supposed to drink soda fast like that!” The situation was clearly amusing to Akari, who had completely forgotten about the chip bag in her hand.

“It was not int- hic! -intentional.” A hand pressed below his sternum as he leaned forward.

“Ok, ok, wait-“ Akari worked herself down from her laughter, dusting the chip crumbs off herself as she stood up. “My friends and I did this at home and it always worked. First, you do a handstand. Then, you-“

“I ah, really only need some- hic! -some water,” Ingo leaned forward to look around Akari - in the middle of attempting a handstand against the side of the dojo - and see if by any small chance, she had a plain water bottle in the junk stash next to her. He was not going to do a handstand. “Before Miss Zisu returns b- hic! -back.”

Oh, if Zisu heard him making sounds like this-

“No water, but…” Akari grounded herself back on her feet to root through the stash, pulling out a green bottle with a leppa berry on it. She held it out to him. “Is juice fine?”

“It’s effect- hic! -tive,” Ingo sucked in a breath as he took the bottle and unscrewed the cap. He quickly gulped the contents down, before setting the empty bottle to the side to wait.

It took all of about two seconds for another hic! to bounce in his chest. Not effective at all.

“Sometimes I’d drink something while doing a handstand,” Akari immediately offered her alternative again as Ingo finally stood up with her, taking another deep breath around the bubble in his diaphragm.

Ingo suspected she just wanted to see him do a handstand. “That does not sound like it follows safety regulations - hic!”

An incredibly loud hiccup pushed him to reconsider. His hand pressed back into his diaphragm.

“All it takes is like fifteen seconds upside down,” Akari tried to persuade him. “Or, you could try holding your breath over the next hour in between battles, until it goes away on its own.”

Holding his breath was his next idea, but the thought of trying to get through a battle with a case of aggressive hiccups was enough to make Ingo cave… almost.

“Surely, th- hic! -there are other methods that are less ex- hic! -extreme.”

“Hmm…” Akari thought for a moment, looking at him with a contemplative look on her face until a glint of an idea overshadowed it. “Well, there is another one, and it always works… you just have to close your eyes, and name every bug-type Pokémon you can think of.”

“That’s it?” The disbelief was palpable in Ingo’s voice. Surely not… “Miss Akari, I’m not sure I see the solution in th- hic! -this method.”

“It works! Trust me!” Akari “It’s either this, or the handstand!”

Ingo got halfway through a sigh before another spasm choked it. “…if you’re positive.”

Anything was better than a handstand.

————

Zisu was on her way back from the Wallflower, approaching the dojo. A group of the village kids were scheduled for a battle with herself and Ingo right at the end of their lunch break, so she hoped Ingo was already back and prepared.

However, passing through the gates, she could see Ingo standing by the bench with his eyes closed, reciting… Pokemon?

“Cascoon… Dustox… Beau- hic! -Beautifly… Paras… ”

…and Akari was behind him, holding up one of her wurmple from the pasture like she was about to drop it down the back of his coat. Upon seeing Zisu, she silently but vigorously shook her head no and put a finger to her mouth for silence, discouraging Zisu from saying anything to disrupt.