#it seems like things were better on the admin team when he was around

[shikai-the-storyteller]

I disagree with some things Amzet is talking about, but it's interesting hearing his perspective.

[magics-neptunes-things]

Harassment

Hi everyone!

So this is the shittiest thing I ever wrote and it took me forever. Please let me know what you think anyway. It's for a request from here.

Also I haven't corrected spelling or syntax, it was the one thing too many.

Enjoy ♥

TW : Past relationship abused, kidnapping, violence, angst.

______________________________________________________________

Since her comeback to Barcelona, Ona is your little ray of sunshine. It’s not at that moment that you met her, you know her since she started to play in Manchester United. Yourself playing for Manchester United too, you met there. You only played together one year, before you went to play to Lyon for a loan for one year. And after that, you find yourself to FC Barcelona, where you met Ona again.

You always had a crush on her, I mean how could you not? But nothing ever happened between the both of you, you were maybe to shy for that. Before Barcelona, you never said anything to her about your feelings for her. You even tried to forget her when you were at Lyon, with some French man you met around football stadium.

Things were great with him at first, but it soon started to get strange. And, at last, violent. He was a manipulative, jealous and violent man. But you didn’t know a lot of people in France, and you didn’t want to talk to your teammates about what he was doing to you. You are clumsy by nature, so you just said your bruises were from falling or hitting you on basically every surface in your flag.

When your loan was finish, he asked you to stop football. Well, he required. But your agent didn’t let you and you’re forever thankful for him about that. He makes you move to Barcelona, and you broke up with your boyfriend at the same time. He wasn’t happy with you, clearly not. But you threatened to press charges if he didn’t leave you alone. Since then, you’ve never heard from him again. And this is a great relief.

No one in your current team knows about your story with him. Along those year you were still talking to Ona though, even if it wasn’t regularly. But you were more than happy to be in the same team again. Ona seems too and since day one you literally weren’t apart.

You helped Ona to choose the missing furniture for her flat and you both have a key from the other flat. You like cuddling watching TV with her, you like when she sleeps on your shoulder during travels to another city for a game, you like listening to her talking about her family. You like her laugh, you like her smile, you like her smell, you like her freckles, her hair, her eyes, her arms, everything about her. You like her. You love her.

You weren’t really discreet about it though, because some of your friends of the team started to tease you about it. Cata is one of your best friends in the team and she’s maybe your number one teaser. She’s kind enough to not doing it in front of Ona, but she received more than a slap behind her head because of it. You couldn’t help to stare at Ona when she’s away from you, your eyes attracted to her like magnets.

Ona can ask what she wants, you will always say yes. You didn’t say a word about your attraction to her anyway, you’re way to scared to lose her for that. You don’t know what you would do if Ona flew away from your life. She’s your everything and you better have her as a friend in your life than don’t have her.

********

You’re at the end of a game in the Johan Cruyiff stadium, enjoying some laugh with Cata and Lucy about Cata’s awkwardness in the video the admin post on Instagram where she thanks the Culers about their support.

You don’t have to turn around to know who owns the hand that gently rests in the hollow of your kidneys, its softness and its warmth recognizable between a thousand. Ona smile back at you and you pass your arm around her shoulders.

“Great game Señorita” you congrats her.

“Thanks. You were good too.”

She sends you a wink and you smile, turning to the stadium to go sign some jersey and take pictures. Ona didn’t let you go and you didn’t too, enjoying her closeness more than anything. Fans are speculating about a relationship between you two, but you never talked about it to Ona before. She didn’t, so you just follow her lead. You have to release her when you’re near the fans though and you start talking with the people waiting for you.

Minutes passed and you are coming slowly to the entrance of the tunnel giving access to the locker rooms. That’s when you saw him.

Your ex-boyfriend.

His evil smile on his face, he’s looking at you dead in your eyes. You froze, your hands suddenly shaking. It’s like all around you isn’t here anymore. What is he doing here? What does he want?

You almost jump out your skin when you fell a hand on your back, turning yourself to be faced to Ona and Alexia.

“Is everything alright?” the brunette asks while Alexia looks at you attentively.

“Yeah” you mumble “I’m just tired.”

You look again where your ex is standing and he’s still looking at you. You let Ona drives you to the changing room, where you get ride of your kit quietly, deep in your thoughts. You block his number when you left France and all his social media. You even didn’t really think about him those past weeks, being more focused on your job in the team. And, you have to admit, your relationship with Ona.

You take a long, hot shower, hopping he left when you will get out of the stadium too. When you get out of the shower, almost all of your teammates left too. There is still Ona, Alexia, Marta and Caro. The last three were talking too fast in Catalan for you to understand, but Ona seems to be waiting for you. She gives you a smile, far from suspecting where your mind is spiraling.

“Are you ready to get home?”

You almost say you prefer to go home alone, scared that the man is somewhere waiting for you. But when you realize that the other three women are leaving too, you nod. At least you will be with more force if he tries to talk to you. Or worst.

You’re on edge during your walk to the parking, not listening to what the others are saying, looking around you discreetly. Well, you think you are, but Alexia and Ona exchange an questioning look behind you. You manage to go in Ona’s car without seeing him, after saying goodbye to your friends.

“Do you want to come at my home or are you too tired for it cariño?”

You look at Ona for some seconds, before answering. You are scared to go home to find him on your doorstep, but if he’s following you, you don’t want to put Ona in danger. You know what he’s capable of. In other hand, he doesn’t know what Ona’s car looks like.

“I can come, if it’s ok with you”

“Of course”

Ona smiles at you, taping your hand with hers before turning on her car. It’s dark outside and you don’t see a lot, but you don’t see him waiting outside with some fans. Ona didn’t stop to say hi, only waving at them and you’re secretly really relieved about it. You slept at Ona’s tonight, feeling a little more in security while you cuddle against her in her bed.

********

The next time you see him, is when you’re running late for training. You had a shooting to promote the new adidas boots who take longer than you thought. You wrote to Ona to tell her you will be late and she answered to take your time and drive safely. You did, but when you stop your car, you jump outside your car, throw your bag on your shoulder and start almost running in the entrance.

“Hey, Y/N!”

Without other thought, you turn in the voice’s direction, thinking it’s a fan or something. But it’s not. It’s him, once again. He’s alone, you’re alone and you can’t make a single move to get away from here. Even when he’s walking in your direction.

“I see things are great for you know. Great car, great teammates… Great friends”

Your heart beats too fast and you swallow nervously before answering him. He’s now standing only one meter from you.

“What do you want?”

“I want my girlfriend, you, back. You left me without any choice and a threat, but I decided I’m better with you.”

“The threat is still on.”

Your voice is weak, and you feel pathetic. He seems to think the same, his laughs making you shivers. But before he can say anything else, you hear someone calling your name behind you.

You breath a little better when you realize that is Alexia and she’s walking where you are.

“You’re not coming? We are late.”

You nod, following her lead silently.

“See you soon Y/N” your ex says behind you.

You flinch but answer nothing to him. You don’t look back either, focused on your feet while you’re still walking with Alexia.

“Do you know him?”

You gulp, not really knowing what to answer to that. Yes, you know him, but it’s not really something you want Alexia to know. But she continues, still talking.

“You didn’t look really comfortable. You know, if someone disturbed you, you just have to say something and the security will take him away, right?”

“Yes, I know” you smile “Thank you Ale.”

Alexia smiles at you and pass an arm around your shoulders, taking you in the changing room. You don’t really know why you don’t explain what happened with him. You’re ashamed, but you know she wont judge you. Like Ona wouldn’t, Cata and all your friends and teammates. It’s just something you hate talking about. You never did, to anyone.

Since that day, you are always with someone to go to training or even the games. It’s usually Ona, sometimes Cata too. You are more at Ona’s flat than yours, scared to find yourself face to him. Ona’s flat is secured, you need to have an electronic card to access to the building and the parking lot. Yours isn’t.

Ona seems to realize that something is wrong with you. She hasn’t talk about it for now, but sometimes when she looks at you, you can find concern in her eyes. You are closer than ever though, and you must fight everyday your will to kiss her. It’s even harder when you’re cuddling against her like today in front of her tv.

You smile when you feel her lips kissing your hair, raising your eyes to hear. She smiles back, but she has the same concern look in her eyes. With her hand, she puts back some of your hair behind your ear.

“You know you can count on me cariño, si? No matter what?”

“Of course, Ona. Why are you saying that?”

Did Alexia talked to her about the time she saw you with your ex? You’re nervous suddenly, something you usually aren’t when Ona is around.

“I just feel like something is happening to you. You’re not like yourself, you’re always thinking, like something is constantly confusing you. I miss hearing you laugh.”

“I’m sorry” you mumble, sitting up. “Do you want me to leave?”

“What? No, I’ve never said that!”

Ona groans in frustration, rubbing her forehead. You don’t really understand what she wants from you. If you’re annoying, you would better go home and face whatever repercussions you will have to. Ona takes your hand, slightly stroking your fingers with her thumb.

“I don’t really know how to say that, and maybe the timing is wrong. But I really care for you, like maybe not in a friendly way. Well, it’s not maybe, I do care about you. Because I like you, a lot.”

You haven’t look away for a second, but you still have trouble understanding what she really is saying. She likes you a lot? Like, like like? Your confusion must be writing on your face, because Ona smiles and comes to sit closer to you.

“I like you. I want to take you on a date, have you for myself everyday and try to make you happy. Is it something you want to too?”

“I’m waiting for it since day one, Ona” you admit, blushing.

“Perfect” Ona grins. “And now, I really want to kiss you.”

You didn’t let her kiss you; you kiss her first. Leaning in her direction, you put your lips on hers, testing their softness for the first time. They are soft and sweet, as if they were made for yours. Ona kisses you back, her hand finding her way to your hair, holding your face against hers as she deepens the kiss. Soon her tongue is on your bottom lip, asking the entrance of your mouth and you lost it.

No one ever kissed you with so much passion. And no one ever makes you feel this way.

********

It feels weird to go to the training the day after your first kiss with Ona. You spend the night to her flat, enjoying her presence next to you. She drives you to training and you met Cata and Mariona on the parking lot. They are used to see you both coming together so they didn’t say anything, even if Cata wiggle her brows when Ona isn’t looking. You roll your eyes, discreetly pinching her ribs, making her yelp.

There is no way that you talk to her about last night right now. You want to enjoy the memories a little more before being teased even more.

Ona seems amused by your little fight, and she gives you a knowing look, who makes you smile. You confess some things yesterday, and the fact that Cata knows about your crush for her was in.

The training went great, your teammates regaining your lost bubbly personality. You make your drill with Ona, simply unable to stay away from her. Things got bad again though, while you were changing in the locker room after your shower.

You’re joking with Cata while Ona is talking with Mariona and Alexia when Fridolina come back to the changing room, Mapi and Ingrid following her.

“Hey Y/N” Frido says, making your gaze go to her “You never said anything about your boyfriend!”

“What?” you frown.

Next to you, Ona froze, her head turning quickly in your direction. You share a look with her before turning to Frido again.

“What are you talking about?”

“Your boyfriend” she repeats, smirking.

“I don’t have a boyfriend.”

Mapi rolls her eyes before looking at her phone in the pocket of her jeans. You are always lost when she opens it, scrolling for some seconds before putting it in front of your face.

You suddenly turned pale.

It is in fact a picture of you with your ex, looking happy and in love. It was in the first days of your relationship though. You never took pictures after he started his abuse.

“He shows us the pictures because the security won’t let him passed” Mapi explain.

You don’t know what to say. Your heart is pounding. But you soon realize that he’s here, some meters from you.

“Where is he?” you ask in a small voice.

“Wait, you do know him?”

Ona’s voice is a mix of surprise, incomprehension and disbelief. She doesn’t look at Mapi when she snorts and show her her phone again, only looking at you. You can’t lie to her.

“I do, but it’s not what you think Oni, I swear.”

“Don’t Oni me.”

The others seem lost about your interaction with Ona, only Cata seems to understand what’s happening. You never saw Ona looking at you the way she is, with so much cold and almost hate.

“Ona let her explain, maybe you…” Cata tries.

But Ona brutally stands up, taking her bag and leaving the room. You try to get up to follow her, but Mapi stops you right after. You know she loves Ona and probably only want to protect her, but she makes you lose time.

“What have you done?” she asks coldly.

“Not now Mapi, please. I will explain, but now I have to catch her.”

You don’t let her answer anything, standing up to try to find Ona. But you’re not able to and when you reach the parking lot, she has already left. You came with her this morning, so you don’t have your car to go to her flat. You thought about picking a bike or something, until a car stops right next to you.

You don’t have to see the face of the person inside it, you know already.

“Get in the car, or I’ll follow her. Now.”

What could you do? There’s no way that you let him go after Ona, he seems to knows what link you have with her. You don’t hesitate one second, but that’s doesn’t mean it’s easy to do. Your hands are shaking once again when you open the passenger door.

Meanwhile, in the changing room, Alexia had observed the interaction without saying a word. She was analyzing everything. When you left, she asks Mapi to see the pictures she showed you and Ona and she recognize him almost directly.

“She was talking to him last week, in the parking lot when we both arrived late” Alexia frowns.

“So she knows him! He’s her boyfriend!” Frido says with exasperation.

“I’m not sure… She didn’t look at ease, he was talking but she wasn’t. She looked almost scared.”

Ingrid’s frowning too, like Alexia she was quiet during the little scene before. She doesn’t want to believe that you will cheat to someone, whatever if this person is Ona or someone else. Something was disturbing her since the beginning.

“He said he will wait for her outside” she remembers her friends and her girlfriend.

“What?!” almost shout Cata

The Majorcan woman doesn’t hesitate. Like Ona and you did, she runs in the floor, Alexia following soon after. But they arrived to late, only able to see you getting in your ex’s car.

********

You don’t say anything during the journey. You don’t know where he’s taking you, you don’t recognize the streets anymore. Ona is still a big part of your thoughts; you have your phone in the inside pocket of your jacket, but you prefer not to use it for now. Maybe you will need it after. You’re scared too, but it’s not something new when you’re with him.

“Where are we going?” you ask some minutes later.

He looks briefly at you, but only answer with a grimace full of disdain. You took the opposite direction from your apartment or Ona’s, so you’re relieved to see that he didn’t decide to go after the girl you love. You don’t know what he planned for you, but you regret not being able to tell Ona that you love her before everything shattered. At the same time, how could you have imagined the turn of events?

You really start to worry when he leaves the busy roads for small roads, where houses are becoming fewer and fewer. When it stops at the roadside, just before the start of a forest road, you turn in its direction.

"Get off" he does simply by picking up his phone and car keys.

You put your attention around you. There are only trees and a rocky path that starts a few meters from where the car is stopped.

"I said, get off!"

You jump, but you obey what he orders you, opening the car door. The air is a little cooler than in the city of Barcelona, here in the shade of the trees. You swallow before delicately closing the car door. He shows you the way to follow with a nod, making you pass in front of him. He must fear an attempt to flee from you if you walk behind, which may indeed happen.

"Where are we going?" you ask again.

But he doesn’t answer you, pushing you in the back to make you move forward. What you end up doing, eyes screwed to the floor so you don’t twist an ankle with all these stones.

“You never learn” he says some minutes after

“What?”

You frown, turning slightly in his direction. With the time passing, it looks like you lost the ability to understand him. Reading in his mind.

“I told you to stop football. You didn’t and then you left me? Who do you think you are?”

You bite your lip. He seems angry and that’s never been a good thing. You try to slow down a bit, scared to arrive to his destination.

“People online are saying that you’re shagging this Spanish girl. Is that true?”

You’re just denying it by shaking your head negatively. Technically, you’re not lying to him. You and Ona never took that step.

“Do you realize what people think of me? My girlfriend leaving me to play football in Spain and flirting like a slut with other people?"

“I’m not your girlfriend anymore” you mumble.

You know you’re going to make him angry, but you don’t care. You have a hard time with the way he talks about Ona, not to mention the gratuitous insult you just took.

As you expected, he reacts brutally, grabbing your arm and turning you around, stopping you in your walk and drawing you towards him.

"That’s what you believe. You’re mine and if I can’t have you, no one else will."

Before you have time to fully realize what it involves, a pebble rolling sound behind you causing him to release you and turn in the opposite direction. But there is no one and even if you managed to run away without him realizing it, you don’t know what exit you can find to save yourself.

When two paths present themselves to you, you choose the one that continues to descend. Unfortunately, he sees you doing, unlike what happens in suspense movies. A few meters further, it finally happens what it was supposed to happen on this stony path. You twist your ankle and fall heavily. You don’t have time to get up that he’s already next to you, looking furious.

You try to get up anyway, especially when you see him picking up a big stone at your feet.

Then several things happen in the fractions of seconds that follow this movement. With an instinctive gesture, you protect your face with your arm, what you imagine your last thoughts turned towards Ona.

But you hear other steps, loud voices and a cry of pain that is not yours. When you stand up, your ex is lying on the ground, Cata’s shaking her right hand in pain and Alexia seems to hold your ex on the ground with a foot on his chest cage. Behind them, Mariona is on the phone.

"What are you doing here?" you stutter, getting up as best you can.

"We followed you" Cata simply replies.

You accept her valid hand to get up, limping slightly because of your ankle. You watch as your ex-boyfriend insults Alexia deeply in French, before you turn your attention to your captain.

“I don’t speak French” the blonde smirk.

“Help is on his way” Mariona says soon after.

She comes for you and take you in her arms, a hug that you give her back happily.

“How’s your hand?” you ask to Cata over Mariona’s shoulder.

“Hé I've had worse”

You smirk too before releasing Mariona, you pat your cheek slightly. You wait for only a few minutes for the rescue team, leaning on Cata to relieve your painful ankle. They take your ex in one car and take him to the nearest police station. They inform you that someone will come to ask you some questions at the hospital, where your taken with Cata to check your injuries.

********

You told everything to Cata, Mariona and Alexia as the take you to the hospital. They listened, never judging you. You felt stupid to hide all this without talking to anyone, but they never said anything about that too.

You are sitting in your hospital bed, talking with Cata when the door of your room is suddenly open. Turning your head, you recognize Ona’s silhouette in a second. She doesn’t seem sure of herself though, waddling from one foot to the other on the doorstep.

“You can come in, Oni”

“I’m going to call my mum” Cata says, jumping from the chair she was sitting until now.

She smiles at you and pats Ona shoulder before get it out and closing the door behind her.

Ona’s looking at you and you’re looking at you. She took a few steps inside the room but is still far away from you.

“Ona I…”

“Look I know…”

Of course, you have to talk at the same time. This makes you smile and Ona smiles too, making your heart fluttered a little. Her smile has always been something magical for you.

“Go on” you say simply.

“I’m sorry for running away without taking the time to listen to you. Don’t be mad at her but when Alexia called me to ask me to come here, she told me what happened. And why.”

You swallow with difficulty, not really sure of what Ona thinks about that. You’re still not very at ease about this part of your past, but if someone must know, it’s Ona. Unless she isn’t interested in you anymore.

“So you know” you whispers.

“I know that it’s your ex-boyfriend and not your current boyfriend and that he was kind of following you around here. Alexia said there is more, but that it’s better if you talk about it yourself.”

You are thankful for Alexia’s care, but in other hand you wouldn’t have been against the idea of not putting words about it. You pat the bed next to you to invite Ona to sit down, taking a deep breath before talking.

“You don’t have to share anything if you don’t want to, Cariño.”

“I know. I just don’t know where to start” you sigh.

Ona doesn’t say anything, only grabs your hand to interlink your fingers together. You let her, of course. Her presence is everything to you right now, so you have to make an effort for her and talk. Ona waits patiently, playing with your fingers.

“Ok, so I’m going to be very straightforward” you begin, waiting for Ona to nod before talking again. “When I met him, I was desperate to forget the feelings I hade for someone back in Manchester. I was to shy to talk to her and I don’t know. He was very kind and caring at first.”

You bite your lips, you saw that Ona almost interrupt you to ask who this person was, but you prefer not to tell her now. You are almost sure that she will feel guilty about all this and you don’t want that.

“But after some weeks, he began to become jealous, possessive and controlling the messages I sent, the people I talked to. To avoid arguments, I ghosted a lot of people. I went to training, to games and then I went home right after. I haven’t made many friends in Lyon. But he was never satisfied. When my contract in Lyon was finish, I wanted me to quit football. I refused and left for Barcelona when he was out with friends. I told him not to talk to me again if he if he didn’t want me to press charges. I did it until two weeks ago.”

Ona doesn’t say anything, but the expressions on her face are talking for her. You can see in her eyes the anger caused by everything you said. A silence pass and it’s now you who play with her fingers.

“Did he hit you? Don’t lie to me.”

Ona’s eyes are intense, and you struggle to keep eye contact with her.

“I never lied to you, Oni” you mumble before answering the real question. “Yeah, I did. No one saw it, you know how clumsy I am. The all believed that I fall in the stairs or something like that.”

Ona is fuming, but you can see how much she’s trying to control herself and not just exploded right now.

“The person you were in love with, before him, doesn’t know about all this?”

“She didn’t know about my feelings at all. Why?”

Ona shrugs once again before answering you.

“I was wondering if you were in a middle of a breakup or something. You didn’t say you were with someone when we were at Manchester.”

“I wasn’t” you simply say. “I would have told you if I was with someone.”

You don’t want her to ask you who it was, but you know the question is coming as soon as Ona opens her mouth.

“Who were you in love with?”

You look at her for some seconds before saying “no” with your head. But Ona is stubborn and she looks at you with her best puppy eyes.

“You just said that you will never lie to me.”

“Ona…”

She knows that you can’t resist her when she looks at you like that. She can ask you anything and you would just give her, no matter what it is.

“Ok so let me guess. Was it Leah?”

“Galton? No” you laugh lightly.

“Alessia?”

“Nope. I mean she’s cute, but I prefer brunette.”

“Maya?”

“Guess again sweetheart.”

You’re smiling now, really amused by Ona’s guesses. The fact that she doesn’t say her name is pretty funny, but at least you don’t have to lie to her. After the fifth name, she starts to have trouble to find another brunette in your former team. And then you saw the understanding in her eyes. She stayed silence for some seconds, and you let her. There is no way you would say it first.

“It was me.”

It’s not even a question. Your throat is too tight for you to talk, so you just nod. And you see Ona’s face fall.

“I- I didn’t know.”

“I know, Oni. I worked hard to not show you anything. No one knew.”

“I should have guess though; you wouldn’t have to live the hell he makes you live.”

Your hand always in hers, you take her a little more against you. She looks sad and you don’t want to see this on her. Ona deserves only happiness. Nothing else.

“We don’t know where we’d be now if I told you about it back then. What I’ve been through is not easy, but you’re part of my life now and that’s all that matters to me."

Ona is looking everywhere else than you and that gives your stomach a strange sensation. You release Ona’s hand slowly, your stomach wriggling a little.

“You don’t want me anymore.”

Like Ona before, it’s not a question. It’s an affirmation and this time Ona gaze is on you almost immediately. The sadness in your voice almost break her heart and she put her hand on your jawline to make you look at her.

“Of course I do. I’m in love with you too Y/N. I think I always had. I’m so sorry…”

“Don’t. I beg you. Don’t excuse yourself.”

Your face are only a few centimeters from hers when you talk, and she just closes the last gap between you to kiss you. You melt at the contact, passing your arms around her to feel her everywhere. What you had to go through wasn’t easy, as you said. But you know that in Ona’s arms, you will be ok. She will make everything better, like she always did.

[poppadom0912]

Together (Epilogue)

Warnings: Mentions of hospitals, injuries, kidnappings and death

Summary: Life moves on whether or not you want it to.

A/N: This is it my lovelies! It's lowkey been two months since I first released my baby into the world and you've received her with nothing but love. Thank you so much for all the support you've shown, it truly makes me want to write more and better.

I hope you enjoy the final part of this series. This has been so much fun and quite a wild ride. Lots of emotions, I won't lie, some parts really got deep but when you read this, it'll all be worth it. 🤍🙃

Did I lie about the fluff? ... I'm so sorry, I just couldn't resist😭

Previous Chapter / Series Masterlist

Black was not your favourite colour.

Some said it nicely complimented your red hair and you kind've looked badass but you couldn't see it. Besides the fact that it was slimming when you wore it, you tried to avoid the colour as much as possible. You much preferred the dark navy and greys instead.

That's why you hated wearing your dress uniform, even if it was for a joyous occasion.

Fixing the black suit, you sighed. According to your lawyer, showing up in uniform created more empathy and so not only were you wearing your uniform, but Jay too.

And Will… Well that was another conversation.

It had been two months since the kidnapping and things were, things were definitely different.

Due to circumstances, the trial had been pushed back a little. Well, their sentencing had, the trial went off without a hitch and all of Intelligence could attest to that but today was the day everyone found how for how long exactly they were going to be jailed.

Everyone had been bitter and rightly so.

Stepping back from the car door, you finished fixing your hair in the car window, happy that no baby hairs were sticking out and the gel was doing its job. You were asked for professional and so a bun seemed fitting.

Going around the car, Kelly joined you by your side but dressed casually. He wasn’t directly involved and your lawyer didn’t make a specific request. According to her, things could go sideways and things needed to look good on your side.

You envied the lack of black your boyfriend was wearing. And what annoyed you even more was the Jay’s uniform was more of a dark blue.

Jay fully healed over the past two months, no injuries for the naked eye to see but the scar was still there on his thigh, the trauma burned into his mind forever after. Similar could be said for you but while Jay was back on duty, you were still taking it slow and doing admin work at the firehouse after being a bored mess at home alone.

Therapy wasn’t much help. Your psychologist wasn’t the problem, in fact she was a darling, but not all things could be fixed. You eventually came to terms with the fact that this would never leave you. As a team, you’d have to turn a new page and keep on going, with the hopes that it became a distant memory no one had to recollect.

“Y/N.”

You could never get tired of hearing his voice, the tranquillity it brought you needed to be studied. His loving face sent you a soft smile, his eyes scrunching up in attempt to keep you calm and collected.

“Jay messaged me, they’re waiting inside.”

With a sigh, you interlocked hands and let Kelly lead the way inside the courthouse. Anxiety weighed down on you heavily, making it feel like you were walking through a sentient sludge that kept trying to pull you down.

A smile graced your lips but at the sight of your older brother in his dress blues, his entire crew by his side, your smile faltered. As soon as it began wobbling, your eyes burned as everything started to go blurry.

Your chest hurt too much, it suddenly felt like you were having a heart attack in the middle of the courthouse.

“Oh Y/N.” Jay sighed, enveloping you in his arms not a moment later. “Please don’t cry.”

“I’m sorry.” You croaked out, huffing into the crook of his neck, being mindful not to mess up his uniform. “Gosh, I don’t even know why I’m crying.”

“Stop that, don’t apologise.” Jay chided, tutting alike to how Will would whenever you two got into trouble. Whenever Will did that, you knew his annoyance wouldn’t last long, he loved you and Jay too much to hold a grudge.

Shit, now your tears were rolling down your flushed cheeks and making small marks on Jay’s shoulder.

“Do you think he’s okay?”

Jay didn’t say anything for a long time. You were almost scared he wouldn’t answer you like last time. The more time past, the more you knew he wasn’t going to say anything and the same exact scene from two months ago flashed before your eyes, almost sending you into a fit of gut-wrenching tears. But Jay proved you wrong.

“I don’t know what to think anymore Y/N.”

*****

Maggie sighed, shoulders deflating as she sat on the hospital bed. It had been a long day.

Whenever she wanted a break from the ED, she usually found one of the rooms in the ICU where the patient was usually either unconscious or in a coma. The peace and quiet provided her the time and space to get back into tune with her thoughts before going back to being the charge nurse of the bustling emergency department.

Looking at this patient, she didn’t need to look at the chart to know what happened, she’d been in this particular room every single day since their arrival. This patient had a certain pull that made her want to know everything about their condition.

“Thought I’d find you here.” Sharon said, her voice calming as she entered the room, closing the door behind her. “Everyone was waiting downstairs, you missed it.”

“I know.” Maggie replied solemnly, her hands readjusting the blanket around the coma patient. “But they did it, right?”

“They did it.” Sharon confirmed as she moved to stand on the other side of the bed. It was great news, news that should’ve resulted in tears of joy but the charge nurse barely moved an inch.

“Life without parole.” There was a pause, beeping and the whooshing of machines filling the silence. “They weren’t going to settle for anything less.”

“Good.” Maggie replied, her lips pulled tightly together.

Neither of them said anything afterwards. There was still so much that needed to be discussed but the right people weren’t in the room currently. The one big question loomed heavily over them like a stormy cloud just waiting for the right moment to start raining.

“Take a break Maggie. Eat a little something before you join the rest of them.”

Without waiting for a reply, Sharon turned and left the room, mumbling she had a meeting in a few minutes when in reality, she hated being in this room as much as the next person.

Maggie stewed in her thoughts, too many flying all around the place for her to properly take a break.

“Still no change?”

Maggie’s silence was more than enough of an answer. She truly hated her job sometimes, especially when she had to break the news to waiting family members.

“No movement since you left last night.”

Jay’s eyes still filled with tears every time he was given news.

“Are we- Do you think we’re doing the right thing Maggie?” Jay tumbled over his words from where he stood in the doorway, too scared to enter the room. The sadness laced in his words made him sound so innocent and childlike, Maggie just wanted to hide and protect all three Halstead’s from the horrors of the world.

But looking at the coma patient on the bed, Maggie knew her words were biased.

*****

One week later

You were going crazy. You didn’t know how much longer you could handle this. You hated playing the waiting game.

It was in the middle of shift when you got the call. You were finally back to full time firefighting, Crocket deeming you fit and healthy two days ago to work again. The happiness that followed his news only lasted so long.

Your emotions were haywire. When you entered the ED for what felt like the billionth time, you felt your heart physically stop at the sight of a red eyed Maggie. From beside you, Jay was scarily silent, not breathing for a good minute.

But then she smiled, dimples and all.

Connor was supposed to tell you but he was rushed into an emergency surgery and entrusted the charge nurse to tell the two most important people in Will’s life the news.

“Will’s going to make a full recovery. There’s going to be quite a bit of rehab and physical therapy but he’s going to be just fine.”

And for the first time since their initial reunion in the warehouse just over two months ago, all three Halstead siblings would be together again.

It was going to be a long and difficult path to recovery. You and Jay had your own struggles and having Will in a coma only made it harder. But now, Will had the love and support of his baby brother and baby sister, the two people he did all of this for.

And yes, maybe Jay would reem his for being a stupid bastard, protecting them from literal criminals with his life. Obviously, you would chime in when necessary but the big goofy smile on your face did nothing.

All was well now. The future was looking bright for the most of it, guaranteed it be a bit rocky in the next coming weeks that would consist of a gruelling recovery process but at the end of the tunnel, you were all coming out stronger than ever.

Series Masterlist:

@mads-weasley @sowrongitslottie @elite4cekalyma @senjoritanana @hufflepuff-blackwidow @mrspeacem1nusone @kmc1989 @goth-cowgirl-03 @daggersquadphantom @photographerkaiya0306 @jamie0515 @samanthavitale @iamasimpingh0e @lanea-1 @swidkid @jamie0515

[shovelbug]

I see your requests are open !!

Could you do an Amethio x Admin! Reader ,?

Like the reader is also part of the Explorers and is another admin, (I'm sure yk what I ment, but just wanted to clarify that,)

a/n: here you go! gonna combine these two reqs.

-

You've been an admin under Gibeon alongside Amethio for a while now.

While you know the morality of your job is… questionable, at best, you really felt that you had no other choice.

Your family had a habit of not being communicative. They weren't bad people, but they had a very hands-off approach.

Realizing this at a young age, you kinda… vanished without a trace.

Which you know is also bad and hypocritical! But, knowing how your family operates, it was the only way you could think to protect your little sister.

You still kept an eye on her from a distance where you could, wanting her to find her own independence while staying safe.

You knew that the pendant your grandmother had entrusted her with held some greater secret, and secrets like that tended to attract the wrong type of attention.

You hoped that in joining the Explorers, you could take over the pendant mission yourself, to preserve your baby sister's safety.

At least she had that Nyahoja of hers. It was a fickle little thing, but it cared about her, which eased your mind a little.

And for a while, it did seem like you were going to get the mission. You worked hard and were a strong trainer, and you being the one to approach her would make her much more likely to trust her and give it to you.

That's how you presented it to Gibeon, anyways.

It hurt your heart to do this to your sibling who you adored, especially after up and leaving seemingly out of nowhere. But it was better than the alternative.

And then Amethio got the mission.

Internally, you were freaking out. You had half the mind to bust into wherever in the world Gibeon was and give him a piece of your mind.

That would undo all your hard work up to this point, though, so you refrain.

Luckily enough for you though, your relationship with Amethio is much more amicable than that of the other Admins.

You were similar in age, and you never took unnecessary shots at him when the other Explorers were dog piling on him, even defending him at some points.

You were no saint, but you weren't a monster.

You had trained with him too, and that time together translated into you being a strong and efficient team, so you got assigned on missions together often. That strengthened your bond further.

Eventually, you pretty bluntly asked him out once you realized your feelings, never one to beat around the bush.

He accepted, which surprised both of you a little.

Your relationship is very much so on the down-low, though. You have no doubt that if word got out in the explorers it would be used against you.

Except for Zir and Conia. They both know, but only because you trust them to keep a secret.

It's an unconventional relationship, and you two take it slow and steady. You both are happy, though, so that's what matters.

You're more level-headed and tend to get straight to the point, so when Amethio tries to bottle things up or gets caught up in his mistakes you shut that down fast.

In turn, he'll often lend a listening ear to your troubles and go out of his way to do things for you (missions you don't like, grabbing some snack you mentioned craving, etc.)

Sometimes he's not the best with words or being affectionate, so he shows his care through actions most of all.

Back to the point, you're understandably distraught when Amethio gets the pendant mission instead of you. You're pacing around your quarters after the meeting when Amethio stops by.

He holds you close as you cling onto him, unsure what to say. He wishes he could fix this for you.

You can't be upset at him, not really. He's just as stuck in this position as you are.

Eventually, you pull away from him, rubbing at your face.

“Don't hurt her. Please.“

“I will make sure she is unharmed, I promise. You have my word.”

You nod, satisfied. You trust Amethio. He and his grunts seem to be the only other half decent people here.

Neither of you can begin to expect how things will unfold, but Liko does put up more of a fight than either of you expect, and Amethio returns to HQ empty-handed.

A part of you can't help feel a little (a lot) proud of how much your little sister has grown.

You review the footage of Liko's Nyahoja and her (frankly scarily) powerful Leafage.

Turning to your partner Pokemon, you hum, amused.

“This will be interesting, don't you think, Meowscarada?”

Your Magician Pokemon purrs in agreement.

[imagine-knb]

idk of this has been asked before, but imagine a ‘ore monogatari!!’ situation with okamura. like this adorable small girl having the biggest fattest crush on that absolute mountain of a guy. everyone can see it except him.

I loved watching 'My Love Story!!', it was such a cute and cozy anime! (ᅌᴗᅌ✿) Admin Neon

Practice was going to start in a few minutes, but Fukui found that he could not tear his eyes away from the scene happening at the entrance to the gymnasium. He stood next to the bleachers, one arm holding a basketball tucked between his elbow and side as he leaned his weight onto one foot. His brows were quirked in disbelief.

Across the gymnasium, holding up the double doors, Okamura was deep in animated conversation. It was an odd sight, seeing the hulking man of a captain standing there, red-cheeked and a grin practically splitting his face in half. What made it even more comical was his companion, a female student who didn’t even come halfway up the Yosen captain’s height. She had her own wide smile on her face, eyes crinkled at the corners as she craned her neck up at Okamura.

“What is thou looking at?” Liu’s voice came from behind Fukui, making the vice-captain jump a bit. When he turned to glare back at the small forward player, Fukui was met by Liu's usual expressionless stare.

Fukui nodded his head in the direction of the double doors. “Look who’s chatting with our favorite muscle gorilla. I wonder who the girl is.”

With Liu now joining Fukui, both boys continued to watch as Okamura continued his conversation. They began to notice small things – like how the girl seemed to restart the conversation every time it seemed to lull for a moment too long; or how she seemed to laugh at a lot of Okamura’s jokes, despite the fact they knew he wasn’t funny; or how she simply stepped to the side as Himuro and Murasakibara entered the gym.

“Holy shit,” Fukui breathed out in a low whisper. Himuro quirked a brow in question as he approached his senpai. “That girl just ignored you.”

Himuro glanced back toward the open gymnasium doors, finding said girl still standing there and talking with Okamura. He looked back at Fukui, brows furrowed. “Is that a bad thing?”

“Girls never ignore you, pretty boy,” Fukui deadpanned as he clapped a heavy hand onto Himuro’s shoulder. His curiosity was starting to get the better of him – he needed answers from Okamura. Lifting the same hand, Fukui cupped it around his mouth and began yelling, “Hey, captain, practice is gunna start! Get your ass over here!”

Fukui’s hollering had cut Okamura off mid-sentence. The vice-captain couldn’t help but think Okamura looked pretty dumb standing there with his mouth still hanging open, no sound coming out. Then in the next second, Okamura was calling back, “Be there in a second!”

The rest of the team watched as their captain turned back to the tiny female student, a large hand on the back of his neck as he bowed his head slightly downward. They didn’t have to read his lips to know he was giving her an awkward goodbye. Then, as she turned to leave with that sweet smile still on her face, Fukui saw it.

She touched Okamura’s arm before leaving!

 The glare that Fukui fixed onto Okamura when the captain finally crept by was venomous. “No way in hell you managed to get her as a girlfriend.”

The accusation had a sudden rush of embarrassing color on Okamura’s face. He spluttered a bit, having to double take at Fukui in order to ensure he had heard right. “We’re not dating. ____-san and I have a group project together. We were discussing our topic.”

“Thou was flirting.” At Liu’s accusation, Fukui nodded vigorously. “Badly, if I might add.”

The embarrassment Okamura felt quickly devolved into shame. He placed a large hand over his face, trying to hide away the burning color on his cheeks. He could hear his team snickering at his expense and it made him want to hide away for a moment.

“Though she must not mind your shitty flirting since she was doing it back.”

This caught Okamura’s attention. He peeked at his teammates from between his fingers. “She was flirting with me?” Fukui looked at Okamura incredulously – how did the guy not realize that? The vice-captain’s expression was enough for Okamura to finally put the pieces together. “I have to ask her out.”

“Fukui-dono can help you with that. He was gracious enough to help me last time.”

[leggerefiore]

The line in your catman Nanu fic about the "Ispod mix neighbor " had me perking up because I love me some weird bug monsters and I love me some Guzma so if you ever need a sign that someone would like to read something about dating this, now literal bug man? *gestures at post* me. I'm the sign.

all the guzma thirst and I've never even properly written for him haha

read about ispod behaviours to help aid in this. interesting little crustaceans.

cw: mentions of abuse, a monster bf

💀Golisopod Hybrid Guzma🕶

□ His bad posture is now a feature rather than a bug, Guzma is a frightening Golisopod that's often spotted going between Po Town and the waters on Route 15 to rehydrate. His body is covered in grey scales as seen on a Golisopod, while some extra limbs are out from his arms on his torso. His eyes are entirely black with a star pupil, just as the crustacean has. Long, black claws are on the ends of his hands.

□ As mentioned before, he needs to hydrate often, or he faces a risk of dying. It’s amazing what a graceful swimmer he is when he takes to the water, but it's rare to actually catch him in it. He prefers to hide under the water as to not deal with unwanted attention. It's there, he finds himself with Wimpods. Nothing seems to dare approach the isopods, while Guzma watches over them. A few even come home with him and are kept around his room.

□ He created Team Skull to give unwanted hybrids a place to call home and get away from whatever abuses they may face back at their places of living. Guzma came from a home like that, a Crabominable father and a human mother. Well, his mother actually had a distant ancestor who was a Golisopod hybrid. Of course, his father didn't believe that when he was born and resented his very existence from that day. It was crushing to have his father ignore him, no matter how hard he tried to catch his attention and be mocked whenever his natural instinct to flee kicked in. Guzma wants to help people get out of the situation he grew up in.

□ You were a traveller to Alola, sightseeing around on an extended holiday, when some punk Rattata hybrid stole your wallet. You rushed after him to some creepy abandoned town. Under any other circumstances, you would have turned away, but your wallet had your ID and papers in it to leave the region after your holiday ended. The Persian hybrid cop you passed on your way there didn't seem very reliable, either. You barged inside. Immediately challenged to battles, you brawl yourself through until you found their boss.

□ You stared at him while he sat on some “throne” he looked at his laptop. Various bottles of alcohol sat on a nearby shelf, while graffiti was all over the room. A Golisopod hybrid. “Wow, you're actually kind of hot?” You say without much thought. He grins at that. Thanks to your unfiltered thought escaping you, you're able to sweet talk him into getting your wallet back with most of your cash left in there. Of course, you still hang around the house for a moment to get to know the 'big bad boss' better.

□ You go back to the dilapidated place often. Guzma is interesting company to say the least, his entertainment factor is unbelievable. You sit on his bed and watch him order around grunts, but it's never serious, scary orders. It's always things like “go make sure so-and-so is alright” or “we need some cash, so see if you can 'find' some”. You notice that all the members of Team Skull are hybrids pretty quickly. Lots of Rattata, Zubat, Grimer, Ekans, and Spinarak hybrids. The admin, Plumeria, was a Salazzle hybrid. You felt a bit out of place as the only human around, but Guzma assured you that you were fine and 'not one of those bad humans'.

□ It isn't long until you start a casual relationship with the hybrid. Guzma's easy enough to get along with and seems keen on keeping you around. It's a chill relationship characterised mostly by just hanging out in Po Town or walks around different places in Ula'Ula Island. You also join him for his water trips and laugh when you see him up to his shoulders in water. It's funny until he sprays you with water. Then you're playfully fighting him. He wins, but you get a free tour of the ocean with his help. He even shows you some of the Wimpods. One lets you pet them and you about gasp. Guzma doesn't tell you he told the little guy to let you, but his smug smirk sure gives it away.

□ You find yourself enamoured with his shell, and you often have a hand touching it and enjoying its coolness. Guzma groans and says it feels like you're touching teeth. He doesn't stop you, however. Now, when you touch his stomach or anywhere sensitive, you catch him trying to curl up into a ball and giggle. This results in him trying to get you back by tickling you. His extra limbs get involved, and you hate him for those moments. He's pompous afterwards, arms crossed and staring at your flustered expression with an unsavoury look.

□ Team Skull leaves you alone for the most part, respecting your relationship with their boss, but that doesn't mean other people do. You were relaxing on the beach while he rehydrated in the water when a guy approached. He kept pestering you about a date and for your phone number. Your polite declines failed, and he only became more persistent. As you tried to move away from him, he grabbed at your arm. Just as he was about to speak again, he let you go. You were pulled into a soaking wet body, six sets of limbs coming around you, and heard growling. Guzma glared down at the man from behind you. Upon seeing the giant, angry Golisopod, he rushed away. Guzma kept you at his side for the remainder of that day, holding you to him in his bed.

□ When it's time for you to finally return home from your holiday, you've basically started living in Po Town. Your flight is missed as you lay comfortably cuddled into your isopod hybrid boyfriend's chest. His clawed hands play with your hair as he hums slightly. “I surprised you ain't scared of me still,” he admits, “No idea how ya find me hot.” You laugh and press a kiss to his lips. It remains for a moment too long before you pull away. “A big, bad man with built-in armour, who could resist, Guz?” You joke, “You only pretend like you're some bad guy. Right now, you're acting like a teddy bear.” You squeeze him tighter to punctuate your words. He chuckles and pulls you closer. “You say that now, but how will you feel when my cycle starts?”

You freeze.

His what?

[giggly-squiggily]

I would like to request the other fic I was gonna commission to you for November, of Maxie’s Crobat and Camerupt trying to cheer him up ❤️ if that’s alright. I wanted to request before all of the Pokemon requests were taken 🤣 -@Magma-queen

*runs in with fic in hand, panting and sweating as I slam it down on the table* At...long...last! I've made it! My apologies for the delay friend! This was so much fun to make! :D I love Maxie so much, and any chance to write for Hardenshipping is a good day! I hope you like it!

Today was turning out to be quite the day for Team Magma’s leader. 

Starting this morning, he woke up to find his alarm clock on the floor, broken beyond repair. Combined with the reality he was a solid two hours late for the day- he spedran his morning routine and just barely made it to a meeting he had with his admins.

Only to realize he forgot his work bag at home. Lovely.

Adding on to the misfortune, he was attacked by a raid of Wingulls- their target being a Magnemite Croquette he got from the Mauville Food Court. Without his work bag- which in turn had his Pokemon- he was forced to give them his lunch, shaking his head in disgust as they devoured the thing in seconds.

The rest of his afternoon was just little stuff like that. Stepped in a puddle on the way back to get another Croquette? Check. Finding out said Croquette he bought was the last one sold that day? Check. Getting ambushed by a youngster and being called a “Crotchety old man” after he denied him a Pokemon fight? Check.

It was just one thing after another today!

The worst to come was when he returned home, desperate for the embrace of his husband. That was when he saw it- a note on the fridge.

“Max. Went out to help that  May kid catch an Octillery. Why an Octillery, I don’t know. Something about a contest or whatever. Hopefully will be back tonight. Love yee! -Archie.”

Tears pricked at the back of his eyes as he read the note, resisting the urge to rip it to pieces as he pressed his face into it, letting out a muffled string of curses. This wasn’t uncommon for Archie- helping out the local trainers was his way of repenting for all the mess Team Aqua made; plus it made the sailor happy.

If Maxie wasn’t in such a depressed state, he’d probably find the idea of Archie wrestling up the hard-headed octopus rather charming.

Maybe in time he would.

Opening the fridge, he finally let the tears fall. There sat a wrapped up plate of dinner, another one of Archie’s handwritten notes with a tiny Octillery blowing a kiss resting on top of the plate.

 “Don’t forget to eat. Love yee- Archie.” It read.

Even when he wasn’t here, his husband found a way to make him feel better.

~~~

“Well guys, it looks like it’s just us tonight.” Maxie sighed as he sat back, Camperupt tucked into his side while his Crobat flapped overhead, coming to sit along the top of the couch. While dinner was nice, it didn’t completely make up for the heinous day the redhead had. He still wished Archie was here- what he’d give to lie in his arms while the bigger man stroked his hair, venting all his woes to him as Archie whispered words of comfort.

Camerupt grumbled beside him, eyes big with concern for it’s trainer. It snuggled closer to him, resting it’s massive snout on his thigh while Maxie stroked its tuft of fur. Above them, Crobat shuffled closer, nuzzling his neck and ears.

“Thank you two…I appreciate it.” Maxie leaned back, closing his eyes with a low breath.

Camerupt and Crobat shared a weighted look, not at all pleased with how sad Maxie seemed. There must have been something they could do to fix it.

Seconds passed before Crobat clicked, an idea settling into it’s grin. With stealthy moves, it stretched out a wing, running it along Maxie’s neck.

“Eeh, whahat?” Maxie jumped and shivered, scrunching up at the sudden tickle.

“Crooo!” Crobat cried out in glee, hopping onto Maxie’s shoulder and nuzzling once more, it’s wings coming around to brush and scribble behind his ears. Camerupt. not to be outdone, began to nuzzle it’s own snout against Maxie’s hip, rubbing up and down and sending waves of sensitivity through him.

“Ah! Ahehahhehehehehe! Wahhahait, whahhahahit hold iihihihit one sehehehehecond!” Maxie yelped and squirmed, unable to decide between scrunching up or arching away. “Crohohohohobat! Crahahhahameruhhuhhpt! Stahahhahap iihihihiht!”

If Pokemon could talk, he was sure they’d tell him “No way!” as they carried on their playful game- Camerupt getting closer as it pressed its face into Maxie’s belly. Crobat was dancing from shoulder to shoulder, fluffing his neck and ears while gently nibbling. Maxie could only squeal and cackle, gently nudging at his companions in hopes they’d let him be. “No nohohohoohho cuhuhuhut that ohohohout! Dohohohohn’t tihihiihickle me!”

Again- his Pokemom ignored him. By now Camerupt was more or less sitting on his lap now, huffing ticklish puffs into his skin while Crobat wriggled behind him, clawing gently at his back. Maxie let out a squeal of laughter as he fell to his side, effectively pinned to the couch cushions while the pair drew out the embarrassing sounds.

“Ooohohohohokay! Ohoohoohohkay you wihihihihiin!” He wheezed, cheeks bright red and eyes misty with mirth. Upon hearing his command, the Pokemon stopped. They sat close to him now, Crobat spread out along his shoulders like a shawl, cooing with joy as Camerupt squeezed up to his chest.

“Yohohohu two…you're too much.” Maxie laughed, running a hand over his Pokemon’s forms kindly. “You’ve done that to make me feel better, huh? Thank you.” He sighed, closing his eyes. Camerupt was warm, and Crobat’s cooing sounded like a lullaby to him. “Thank you…I appreciate it.”

~~~

“I’m home! Remind me next time to never use bait again- that Octillery clung like glue! I think I have suction cups on my-” Archie paused his complaints when he saw Maxie on the couch, eyes soft as he took in his sleeping husband. Surrounded by Pokemon- he looked just like he did when they first met.

“Ay, I’ll tell you about it in the morning.” He smiled, going to get a blanket.

Settled in on the floor below, Archie reached up and took Maxie’s hanging hand, squeezing it as he fell asleep.

I hope this was good!

[ask-the-royal-absol]

*Destino looked around the room, seeing their bags being transported. Good. This was how it was supposed to be. Others following their orders. Thought it seemed a few more Pokémon wanted to say something to them. Why couldn’t they just get on without questioning every aspect of their command? This is why they appreciated Roy and Hershel. They didn’t question Destino’s orders.*

@inaris-pokemon-world

*Now Destino was conflicted with this one. They were a fairy type, that was clear. They hated fairy types. This one should be no where near their precious belongings. But, this one was different. Helping to find the door. Even rushing to their aid when Mistress Mirage had given Destino her powers.

Hmm…

Perhaps this one was alright? They couldn’t be, right? It was just confusing. Urgh, why were things not straight forward? Destino approached the Sylveon, looking down upon them. *

Destino: I guess I’ll allow you to carry that. But if you break or even chip the contents inside the case or the case itself, I will end you, fairy type. Understand?

@thepersonaking56

Destino: Finally, some heavy lifters! That’s what I like to see! Don’t question why I have all of my belongings, just get to shifting them.

*What was up with all these Pokémon questioning why they had all their stuff? Could they not understand that this was all essential items to them? Well, maybe the absol took a lot of stuff partially to mess with everyone. But nobody needed to know that.*

@minish-mews-and-twos

Destino: Prime Destino. What’s up with you Pokémon not using my title? Come on. You’re lucky I’m not my parents. You would be rotting in the dungeon if you were to not use their titles. Whatever, just go carry my stuff. I’m sure you can figure out what to do.

@ask-the-steel-grey-admin

*Oh, this child again. Not strong enough? Ha. That’s hilarious. Another fairy type. Thank fuck this one didn’t offer to help. Destino was already conflicted about the Sylveon helping. Didn’t want to add another piece to that.*

Destino: Don’t help then. Simple as, fairy. I wouldn’t want you to touch my stuff anyway.

@askmythicalparty

Destino: Another psychic type with their damn mind magic. We get it, you can lift stuff with your mind. Urgh… again, why can’t dark types do this? Imagine if I had mind powers. Life would be so easy for me! I would barely have to touch anything at all! I wouldn’t need to lift a paw. Just follow the others.

@askeeveelets

*Destino looked down at Techno. These surface Pokémon. Oh my uncle can do things. Destino did not care in the slightest for this Pokémon’s family. What was he trying to do? Make Destino jealous? Hahaha. What a stupid Pokémon. Sarcasm was clearly evident in Destino’s voice as they spoke.

Destino: Wow, that is so cool. Truly, my life has been changed forever knowing your uncle was a dark and a psychic type. I don’t think I’ll ever be the same again. Mind blown. Listen, I don’t care about your family. That’s not important to me. What’s important, however, is moving all of this stuff. So less talking, more shifting.

*Destino moved away from the large stack of cases that contained their belongings. Before completely walking away, they turned back to everyone who was helping out.*

Destino: I’m gonna head down and deal with Hope. You all better be careful with my stuff. Anyone drops anything and I’ll have to show you my raw strength. Remember, team work makes Destino’s dreams work and all. Good luck~

*the last thing you all see is a shit-eating grin, followed by a spooky spectre.*

You can choose to carry on helping with the cases (or cause a little chaos) or follow Destino. What would you like to do?

[roseberryboo]

Team Enigma and the 3tp Situation: A Thread

I don’t like to get into drama and current events, especially since what’s been going on is outside of my region of upbringing, but there is something that’s been going on that I’d like to discuss.

Firstly, Team Enigma.

They like to market themselves as an ‘Exploration Team of Glitch City.’ To an uninformed outsider, this may as well be true: Glitch City is a secluded region by what I assume to be no fault of its own, given the nature of the land and the living beings within it. There are several things that, to a person living outside of Glitch City, are both terrifying and otherworldly- and I belong to both categories.

I will get back to that.

Within just minutes of scanning their blog, I have come across some major red flags, among them being ‘Hybridization’ and one other thing which I suspect relates to Glitch City.

Firstly, Hybridization. The Admin Grant describes this as, and I quote, ‘taking two existing Pokemon and merging their bodily forms and consciousness via a particular anomaly in the Pokemon Storage System.’

He reblogged the post later with the addition of ‘It is only their data that is merged. The pokemon suffer no bodily harm when hybridized and make no indication of having any adverse effects on the pokemon post procedure.’

He neglects to mention anything related to the quality of life- including that of molting, shedding, bone structure, organ placement- et cetera, et cetera. So, not only is this incredibly unethical, they are experimenting with a bug/glitch/anomaly in the system that they may or may not know the full capabilities or possibilities of.

Secondly- and this one is especially concerning- the second post on their timeline as of writing this post refers to somebody as ‘a person of interest’ and talk of ‘securing’ them- not only that, but their death. It seems they have deliberately taken action to kidnap someone, which either directly or indirectly resulted in their death.

Also in the post- the very last line, in fact- are the words ‘Know this changes nothing you wretched creature.’ The post is tagged with glitch pokemon- which very much DO relate to Glitch City- and this shall be my entryway into my next point- the very first post on their timeline.

Admin Grant is responding to an anonymous, who I assume has been signing over and over and over again, in a very uncharacteristically angry and vile manner to a comment about trainer tips, of all things. ‘Never leave town without a pokemon,’ they said, ‘Wild pokemon lurk in many places!’ Which, I have to say, is very sound advice.

He responds to this helpful comment with ‘Never before have I wished something be eradicated as deeply as I wish to see you SCRUBBED from this plane. I look forward to the day when anomalies like you no longer haunt this region.’

Again, the post is tagged with glitch pokemon.

You may ask me what I am trying to get at here, and to that I say: literal genocide. Admin Grant is wishing eradication upon Glitch City in its entirety: people, pokemon, culture, knowledge, ways of life- he’d called it all an anomaly.

To that I say, if it’s not manmade and it exists, then it’s Arceus’ wish for it to be, and to wish genocide upon an entire region goes against its wishes.

To all of you who may disagree with me, or try to paint me as a freak for advocating for its existence, then let me tell you something: you aren’t better than Team Enigma. In fact, if you are one of the people who kept sending ill will and death threats towards ?aver (apologies if I spelt that wrong) you are nothing more than a fascist freak. 

Yes, I may be afraid of Glitch City and what lies within it, but so were the people of Sinnoh, back when it was still known as Hisui and when they hadn’t known any better about the world around them. We don’t know their region as well as they do, and if the people of Glitch City are still thriving within it, happy as ever- who are we to step in and tell them they shouldn’t exist?

I want to add one more thing to this post: The 3tp Situation. 

To all of you unaware, a Glitch Pokemon was left in the middle of Kanto, and its trainer ID was traced back to ?aver of Glitch City.

I have reason to suspect this was their pokemon Lullaby, a pokemon that I do not have the knowledge nor capability to pronounce let alone type. Lullaby is listed in their pinned post as ‘missing.’

This was an elaborate attack on not only ?aver but on Glitch City as a whole, an event meant to bring hate and prejudice towards the region in its entirety. 

To everyone that sent threats to ?aver after the fact, ESPECIALLY if you have read their pinned post: shame on you. I hope you get to explain to your loved ones one day why you think it was acceptable to tell a grieving man that you hoped he never gets his pokemon back, that they never existed, et cetera. I hope you look them in the eyes and tell them the exact words you sent to his inbox.

That is all.

[dez-wade]

https://www.tumblr.com/dez-wade/733361994079617024/two-green-team-members-arent-dropping-out-though

The fact that you refuse to have an actual conversation about it because you’ve already made up your mind about blaming everything on one group of people tells me everything I need to know too.

Etoiles is also not dropping out because he spent time yesterday with Foolish and Tina playing valo and they talked about everything and how he was feeling. He said that he went out for dinner and had some chill time as well as enjoyed playing with foolish and Tina after to decompress. I know that’s wild because you seem to think that the only innocent parties in this whole thing is the members of any team that’s not the red team because from your previous posts you seem to be holding a lot of the “blame” for the ccs themselves on the red team and how they’ve been playing the event. Foolish is one of the closest people to Etoiles on the server, he literally said that hanging out with him yesterday was like a breath of fresh air. I’m sure the green team members helped him and supported him a lot and he deserves that I’m very glad they did that but to act like the only reason he’d ever even consider coming back is because green team spoke to him is ridiculous.

“It's truly amazing how a bunch of CCs are getting hate but you're more worried about defending the Red Team's fan honor.” Is a crazy sentence when all I’ve seen (RIGHTFULLY SO) after the ccs spoke out is rallying of love and support yet I’ve seen an overwhelming amount of posts here and on Twitter being awful about people just trying to tweet or blog about red team and have fun who have NOTHING to do with the hate being sent but they’re not famous ccs who you support and idolise so you’re right everyone should shut their mouths about people being hated on unless their famous and your a fan of them, my bad!

Complaining about one team having higher viewership is crazy as if that’s in the hands of fans and not the admins who, if it was such an issue, shouldn’t have put the most watched creators on one team? And complaining about lack of fanart is ridiculous. Artists are allowed to draw whatever and who ever they enjoy, unless they’re being commissioned they don’t OWE any fans or any ccs art. If that’s such a big issue for you produce some fanart of the team you like or commission some.

I haven’t seen any Red CC complain about hate because Phil deleted Twitter, Foolish very rarely uses it and the rest may not see it and but there’s been PLENTY of tweets especially in the past 24 hours of people hating on red team and therefor the ccs. NO CC SHOULD BE RECEIVING HATE AT ALL. It’s odd to me that I said “hey maybe people shouldn’t be being hateful towards normal fans trying to enjoy something” and your response was “YEAH BUT ARE THEIR CCS BEING HATED ON” do you want them to be? Would that make you feel better? Would that make this entire situation better in general? Such an odd argument to make.

All I was trying to say was that people can love and rally behind a ccs who speaks about the hate they’re receiving without then turning around and being awful to people who are doing nothing wrong and just enjoying the event. I’m glad Bagi and the others have spoken out and I hope they receive all of the love and support however I also think that you can’t stand on some moral high ground when fans then turn around and shit on other fans and ccs as if that’s not exactly what you’ve been complaining about happening to other people.

Forever, Fit, and Quackity just were talking about Etoiles's receiving hate. Fit trying to explain to Forever, dancing around words saying "Uhh, certain communities, from certain people that got killed". They're all very aware of who it is.

They're not sure if he's coming back. Quackity said they talked to him and hope he does. Forever got extremely disappointed that he went through this. Bagi is going through the same.

Who is saying "Red team fans are annoying for sending massive hate to streamers who are almost quitting an event" the same level of what they're going through at all??

I'm not blaming the Red CCs, I'm blaming their communities. They are to blame to the point they complained so much on the first day, that the viewers complained the same and didn't stop despite the Red CCs clearing been having fun and not giving a fuck they were being killed. Quackity was just talking about how the team, the team of developers that created this whole event, were feeling discouraged because they got so much negative feedback in the first hours. Especially because they've been working for months.

Stop shifting the blame. If you're so worked up over this, maybe you're guilty of something?

The reason why I talked about the Red CCs not receiving hate is not that I want that to happen, it's that your argument is that they're "equally" being hated on white they're literally just chilling. If someone is hating them, because sure there is with this situation, it is an worthless percentage unlike the Green Team went through.

Honestly you should be grateful that I'm answering so politely, because it's really tiresome how you keep strawnmanning about the situation when it's shown very clearly what the problem is, and who is receiving hate.

[youllallriseintheink]

The Infiltrator, chapter 4: A Legendary Rivalry

N woke up in the orb pool and sat up. It occurred to him that he wasn’t sure what to ask it for. If nothing else, now could be a good time to see if he could give it more complicated demands.

“I want to see what he thinks the plan is. And if you can show me anything about the other admins, that would be great, too.”

Several orbs lifted from the pool and arranged themselves in a line. The line of orbs slithered towards N’s forehead like a snake, and the first one made contact with his forehead, transporting him into the memories.

---

Maxie seethed anger. To be rescued from his dried-out husk of a universe, only to be wrapped up in an evil scheme he wasn’t even allowed to know about, planted in an room to slow down challengers like a mere grunt, and then whipped by random child had not put him in a good mood. He was just on his way down the Aether Foundation’s halls to fetch some revives and hyper potions when he saw someone emerged from one of the doors to make his day even worse.

“Archie?!”

The pirate caught notice of him. “Maxie?!”

“What are you doing here? How are you even here? Are you here to ruin my plans again, you imbecile!?”

“Yer plans? Giovanni made a deal with me! He said that I’m the most successful Archie in the multiverse! And that every version of me was more successful than you’ve ever been!

Maxie crossed his arms and smiled condescendingly in the way that he knew infuriated Archie so much. “Hmph! Well, he was lying to you. You see, he said the exact same thing to me, and I happen to be able to tell when people are being dishonest.”

Archie ground his teeth. “Arg, you pretentious little dolt! Come here and I’ll show ye who the better man is!”

Maxie wasn’t about to take that sitting down. He came towards Archie with fists raised. Predictably, Archie had him pinned down quick with his caveman strength, but Maxie managed to get his teeth around Archie’s wrist and bit until he drew blood. Bellowing in pain, Archie tore his arms away for long enough for Maxie to get to his feet. They exchanged blows for a few seconds before a group of Rainbow Rocket grunts took notice of the brawl and held the two back from each other.

“This isn’t over, Archie!” Maxie spat, struggling against the grips of three grunts.

“Aye. Seems it ain’t ever over, Maxie,” Archie replied.

The scene changed. Maxie was sitting in Giovanni’s office, Archie in a chair beside him and Giovanni pacing before them.

“Alright. So, you had a physical fight. In front of the invading children. While you were headed to revive your Pokémon. You do realize that the time and manpower those grunts wasted splitting you up could have been used to stop them, right?”

Archie and Maxie stayed silent.

“So, truth be told, I was hoping to keep the two of you on separate sides of the Aether Paradise building long enough to raise the Ultra Beast army and move on into the next stage of the plan, at which point it wouldn’t matter if you two could be left in the same room or not. But the fact is, the takeover wasn’t a smash success or a complete failure. Everyone escaped to the back-up compound, and we at least stole the information to raise Ultra Beasts. But that means that I still have use for you two, and so you’re going to have to tolerate each other or I will be putting you both back into your respective universes. Capisce?”

“Yes, Giovanni,” the two said in unison. Maxie thought better of asking what would have been done with them had the plan been more successful.

“Good. Honestly, you two were such a good team back before you decided terrorism should be done to help your fellow beings. Just focus on the dollar bill and you won’t argue about your petty little differences in values anymore. Now scram. I’m late for my persian’s dance recital.”

Archie and Maxie got up and went back to the admins’ common area, which was surprisingly empty for it being around break time. The two gravitated to separate sides of the room, taking the occasional glance at each other.

Don’t do it, Maxie. Just play on your phone for a few minutes and then someone else will come in and it’ll be easier to resist the urge to strangle him.

“So, you won in your universe, too.” Damn it, Maxie. Self-control!

“Aye.”

“Was it worth it?”

“Without a single doubt.  Pokémon can thrive now that people aren’t ruinin’ things for em’.”

“I’m sure all the children you drowned will be thrilled to hear that. How many people are left in your world? How are they living now that you ruined the planet?”

“A few hundred people escaped the flood on boats before the waters receded, and now they’re doin’ just fine. Adapting as humans do. And how goes the mass extinction over in your universe? How are you all doin’ without water?”

“I’m not an idiot, Archie. I know we need water. We still have lakes and rivers. The ecosystem is adapting, as ecosystems do. Humanity will never want for space or resources again now that the oceans are drained. And don’t lecture me on mass extinctions. You must have wiped out just about every land-dwelling species on the planet.”

Archie rolled his eyes and started going through a stack of magazines left on the coffee table. Maxie turned his attention to his phone for a few minutes before looking back to Archie.

“Look. This sucks for both of us, and we might as well not make it suck worse. I’m sorry for starting an argument. Let’s agree to not do that again, and to not engage the other if either of us does. We don’t have to be friends. We just have to stay out of each other’s way. Okay?”

Archie nodded. “Okay.” Was there something sad in his voice, or was Maxie just imagining it?

The scene changed. The Maxie was sitting in a line with the five other admins, Giovanni standing before a white board with a roughly-drawn map of Melemele island with three photos, one of each of the Alola starters on it. He and Archie kept giving each other sharp glances despite there being two people in between them.

“Alright, gentlemen,” Giovanni started, standing in front of the map, “one month from now, school will let off for the summer, meaning that a number of young people will be starting their Pokémon journeys. And we all know that the greatest threat to any criminal empire is that posed by children on Pokémon journeys. So, here’s what we’re going to do about it: We’ll intercept the shipments of starter Pokémon so that the children of Alola will have to wait until next year to have their journeys. Lysandre and I will be taking the shipment of rowlets being bred near Verdant Cavern. Archie, the littens are already en-route, so you’re going to have to steal their ship. Can you handle that?”

“Of course,” Archie answered, passing a smug side glance at Maxie.

He’ll have something for me. He’ll have something better for me, Maxie assured himself.

“Alright. And someone needs to go after the popplio being bred at the seashore, so... Archie, choose a partner, and whoever’s left, go get the popplio.”

Archie immediately grabbed Ghetsis’ hand. Of course he chose the one with military experience- he wanted to make himself look like some big hero with this stupid mission. Well, Maxie would show him!

Cyrus was the only one left for Maxie to pair with. He could work with that. Maxie took him into the hallway.

“So... Cyrus. You must have explosives in your lab, right?”

Cyrus looked at Maxie with dead eyes, as though Maxie were the stupidest and most annoying person alive. “How is that relevant?”

“I wanted to put some flair into this mission, and I was thinking...”

“We’re stealing Pokémon. What good is ‘flair’ when, in the best case scenario, we won’t even be seen?”

“Well, I- Archie gets to do something incredible, so-”

“I have no interest in the meaningless strife between you and Archie. But, if that’s what this about, it would be easier to give in than to risk you trying to come up with some heroics on the fly.”

Maxie smiled. “I knew you’d be on on board with this.” Maybe, Maxie thought, while Archie was stuck with Ghetsis, Maxie could get a second victory on Archie by befriending one of the most unpersonable admins.

A few hours later, the two men were watching as dozens of popplio and brionne clumsily rolled and flopped over each other as they exited their crates and made their way down the steep rock cliff and into the waters of a secluded, rocky beach. The adorable seals looked none too bothered. The distant crackling of a fire and wail of a fire siren pierced the air as the two got into their getaway vehicle.

“Well, that was a near-perfect success, now wasn’t it?” Maxie said.

“It was,” Cyrus replied, starting the car’s engine and pulling onto the road.

“Not only will the kids not be getting their popplio this year, we burnt down their breeding facility and released their breeding brionne. They’ll be lucky if there’s popplio next year, either.”

“Yes.”

“It’s so good to have another academic to talk to. So, how are you adjusting to Team Rainbow Rocket, Cyrus?”

“I’m not interested in your friendship. I don’t intend on spending more time in Rainbow Rocket than necessary. This is a waste of your time.”

“No, it isn’t. We’re in a vehicle. It’ll go just as fast whether I fill the awkward silence or not.”

Cyrus sighed. “I suppose. What do you want to talk about?”

“Well... where do you come from? Do you miss home?”

“Sinnoh. And no.”

“Oh. Because you like this place better?”

“I care nothing for the old world. That’s why I was willing to destroy it to create something better.”

Maxie nodded. “We both have reasons for regret.”

“My only regret is that I wasn’t able to finish my work.”

“Oh. Well, I’d ask for elaboration on why you don’t regret destroying the world and everyone in it, but I want to be able to sleep tonight, so, um.” Maxie cleared his throat. “You’re into space, right? Hoenn was a real nice place for meteor showers and I even got to do some geology work on some asteroids. Interesting stuff, right?”

Hey, this had to be better than Archie was doing with Ghetsis, so he was still winning, right?

The scene changed. Maxie was lying in his bed, wide awake. He turned over to look at his digital clock, which read 4:46. A few hours ago, he’d woken up from a dream about Hoenn. Nothing special had happened in it, just regular nonsensical dream things, but anything that made him think of the home he might never return to was bound to keep him up at night.

It was useless to lay in bed. Maxie got up, put on his daytime clothes, and left his room. He approached Archie’s door and raised a fist to knock on it, but he just couldn’t. Archie was adapting so well to this place, and to show weakness like this... Archie would never let him forget it. Maxie turned and took to his office instead.

Maxie focused himself on balancing Rainbow Rocket’s books. It was fairly easy work considering their generous budget, but also a reminder that the other admins were as intractable as cats. He scanned over a list of bills and invoices.

An invoice from Stage 3- a pure gold necklace, gifted to the princess of Paldea. Of course Lysandre had found another person he wanted to bribe into joining his little task force. It was more surprising that this was the first one this month.

The monthly energy bill- surely enough to power a small village thanks to Cyrus’ lab.

An invoice from Stage 2- a Judas Cradle. Inexpensive, and Maxie knew better than to question what that was. He’d made that mistake before by searching up “breaking wheels” on his pokétch and was forced to conclude that either Ghetsis’ invasion plans involved a lot of psychological warfare or... well, it was better not to wonder.

About an hour into his work, Maxie heard a knock at the door.

Maxie groaned. Who could it possibly be at this hour?

To Maxie’s surprise, it was Archie. “Maxie, could ya come with me a second?” he asked, a sheepish look on his face.

Maxie looked up at Archie. “Sure.”

Archie led Maxie down to a beach. The sunrise was turning both the water and the sand a brilliant orange, and the air was beginning to warm up. Archie looked out at the water, a solemn look on his face.

“If yer world is so great, then why do ya follow Giovanni? The threat he be usin’ on us is to put us back in our universes, after all.”

Maxie sighed. “I was hoping you’d ask that, actually. My universe didn’t turn out. Groudon was uncontrollable. He dried out all the surface water in the world. Pockets of humanity are surviving by using ground water for crops and personal use, but I’m not sure they’ll be able to last long enough for the water to return.” Maxie brushed tears from his eyes. “You tried to stop me. I know you’re not the version of him who did, but I’m sorry that I didn’t listen. I’m so, so sorry.”

Archie turned to look at him, bewildered. “There’s a universe where I was the rational one?”

“Yes!”

“In my universe, you tried to stop me.”

“I’m sorry-”

“No! I should’ve listened. Kyogre flooded the world. He capsized every one of our ships and I couldn’t stop it! I’m not sure humanity’s going to make it.”

There was a moment of silence between them.

“I’m glad there’s someone who knows how I feel. Do you miss Hoenn, Archie?”

“Aye. Every day. I miss  Slateport City. And I miss knowin’ what the hell I was workin’ towards.”

Maxie nodded. “Remember back when we were just Team Rocket grunts and you took me to the hot springs in  Lavaridge? Or did that happen in your universe?”

Archie smiled. “It did. Yer numel ran off with yer glasses-”

“-And I had to run after him with just a towel on. I remember. In that universe, were we... you know...”

“Datin’? No. I never had the courage to ask.”

“Well, actually, I asked you.”

Archie’s face scrunched up in offence. “You got the courage up before me?!”

“Yes,” Maxie said, his voice slipping back into that condescending tone, but he stopped himself. “If it makes you feel better, you could do the honours now.”

“Well, alright. Maxie, this position we’re in is shitty and the other admins are monsters, but let’s give this place a silver lining. Come here.” Archie spread his arms out, and Maxie came in to kiss him. It had been years since he’d felt the stubble on Archie’s face and tasted his sea salt-flavoured lips, and he loved it.

The two separated. “You know, I’ve been wondering: what did Giovanni tell you about the plan? Maybe we can figure out a little more of what he’s planning.”

“He told me that there would be more wild areas for Pokémon. I didn’t ask him to elaborate because I didn’t believe him to begin with.

“Hm. He promised me more space for people. Assuming he isn’t just lying entirely, maybe he’s going to create a new country for himself. It would make sense, as that would give him a good place to start the invasion he’s planning. But again, he could have just been lying to both of us.”

“Well, regardless, let’s keep our eyes peeled for a way out of here, or more information on what the bloody hell he’s doing.”

“Yes. Once there’s a chance, we’ll leave here together. Let’s make that a promise.”

Archie put a hand on Maxie’s shoulder as they looked out at the sunrise. “I promise.”

[druid-delaluna]

What happened in that official discord

I will not be listing anyone's names. Use your context clues or whatever I don't care, just don't send hate to anyone involved. This is just me trying to sort out my feelings on the situation and get some closure.

Okay, for context, I've been in the eddsworld official server since it opened in February 2019. I was a very active member and if you remember druid/laly that was me. In 2021 I was given the chance to become a curator thanks to an old admin(Also there were barely any adults and mods had to be adults to sign their NDA)

Another fast forward to July 2022, the mod team was told a few days prior that the server would be Patreon only. We made our case for being against the change but after a meeting with Bing, he change a few mod's minds (I still held onto it being a bad idea but it wasn't really like I could change the situation). The day happened, the announcement was made, and all hell broke loose. You can imagine what happen when you tell over 11,000 fans that their server is going to Patreon only when it has been free for the past three years.

So why am I speaking about my experience? Well, I wanted to put it to rest, I wanted to go into the new year not feeling like I held my tongue on a shitty situation. What happen is this artist during the situation made a comment about how happy they were about the change. Now I'm all for opinions, speak your mind you know. But in that situation where the mods are scrambling to handle a SHIT TON of angry and upset kids, it wasn't the time nor place for that. Also, I knew that this artist would get hate, so I reach out and told them pretty much to not fucking do that. It was taken wrong, maybe my tone or message wasn't clear of my intent? But this artist is an adult, they should have known better. And I honestly was just saying it, to help them out. They later come on to say they got death threats and I'm just thinking, what did you think I was trying to do by telling you to knock it off?? I knew that shit would happen and wanted to prevented it.(now I DO NOT condone death threats, earlier I told the mods to close their dms because I knew it would happen and it did) .It's the evening and this artist seem to have gotten their friends involved?? And I notice this tone and reaction to anything I do or say and I'm not one to beat around the bush, I ask what's up, get shit in return, okay whatever. It was when troll accounts were brought in to mock only me. Mind you there are other mods doing the same thing I'm doing, but I was the only one targeted by these trolls and members. Now I would think nothing of these trolls, we get them all the time. It's the fact this artist, their friends, and then crew members join in reacting to the trolls messages mocking me, with smiley emojis or something (I have screenshots of all these situations due to the server channels all getting deleted in the Patreon change). Mind you I am trying to help in the situation, I'm trying to calm people down, and do my job and this is how I'm getting treated, like horseshit. And I wish I could say this was one time, but no, myself and other mods have been treated like absolute crap by certain crew and server members. And nobody higher up did anything and it finally click they weren't ever gonna do anything.

That's what kinda started the downward spiral of my position there. I was heading out of state on a trip so I stepped back and focus on that and the trip itself and when I came back it was the end of the world party. I made that eddbot art, which pretty much sums up my feelings. I didn't take part in the party really. The change happen, 11k drops to 150ish. Now, mods DID NOT have to pay for Patreon. That was our gift from Bing/Matt (along with a store discount, which I never got). We were allowed to stay in the server with the paying members. The new main channel was the old Patreon one, so still emotional about that troll event, I looked up my name. Yeah....Not very good messages but I didn't want to cause trouble. So I just took it on the chin..again and kept my head up. I thought you know what, maybe it just was me and with time everything will calm down.

Then the Patreon leak happen. Once again, I never had access to Patreon, because I did not have to pay to be in that server. I saw the leak on Twitter and Tumblr, and I rb to my tumblr to keep an eye on it because wow that was fast. Went to bed, next day it was the talk of the server, a member earlier was caught sending leaks to other servers and was scolded but not kicked. It was brought up again and I told them, its on tumblr as well, thinking it be helpful for them to understand the situation. Then that one artist friend chimes in with a screenshot of my tumblr with the leak, pretty much saying this you?? So of course, I can't lie, I'm honest, my bad. Then two crew members come in and I kinda realize yeah this might be it. Due to one of them disliking me due to things that happen in the past between us. (whole another story). I delete the rb and apologize. I go to another server to chat and then see, I've been kicked from the server. I admit, did not take it well. My mod friends are all confused because none of them did it, and it comes out that the crew member who dislike me, kicked me even tho they arent suppose to act as mods. (it a whole mess man). The reason I was kicked was due to they thought I was the leaker?? Once again, did not have access to the Patreon, so wasn't me.

After my moment, I realized that I would be constantly dealing with shitty people and my socials being stalked to find something to charge(??) me with.... this was the push I needed to leave that situation behind. Most of the mods left after that in support of me. Bing reached out to me a few days later apologizing on that crew member's behalf, that I wasn't in the wrong and that I was more than welcome to come back. I declined and promptly removed bing from my friend list to cut contact with him.

And that's where it ends, I've blocked eddsworld, all the crew, and those artists' socials and been doing grad school and my own thing. I believe it was just a very emotionally charged situation and that nobody was thinking clearly. After the server change, it was the majority of adults but that meant absolutely nothing in common sense or correct ways to react to situations. From what I've heard thru the grapevine the server has spiraled into very toxic environment if you arent buddy-buddy with that artist who had an issue with me and their friends so take that as you will. I just want to get my voice out there so I don't feel inside that I let myself get hurt and did nothing to defend myself?? Look I get that I'm difficult to understand or I've rash and impulsive but I honestly never acted out in malice, I did a lot of things, in defense of others or just the greater good. I've stood up to the crew a lot due to shitty situations and still, I stayed because I thought well I can make someone's day, make it a good time in the server. I didn't stay for fame or to be featured in their spotlight just to make the day-to-day good. But it was a very hard lesson to learn that I can't save it all, that server crashed and burn and I felt I wasted time of my life on something that would eventually stab me in the back in a way...But there still good memories and I made wonderful friendships. Everything gone now, but I hope the good memories are alive in others spaces. So yeah, that what happened and if you have any questions feel free to ask.

[worksinprogress1]

N woke up in the orb pool and sat up. It occurred to him that he wasn’t sure what to ask it for. If nothing else, now could be a good time to see if he could give it more complicated demands.

“I want to see what he thinks the plan is. And if you can show me anything about the other admins, that would be great, too.”

Several orbs lifted from the pool and arranged themselves in a line. The line of orbs slithered towards N’s forehead like a snake, and the first one made contact with his forehead.

---

Maxie seethed anger. To be rescued from his dried-out husk of a universe, only to be wrapped up in an evil scheme he wasn’t even allowed to know about, planted in an room to slow down challengers like a mere grunt, and then whipped by random child had not put him in a good mood. He was just on his way down the Aether Foundation’s halls to fetch some revives and hyper potions when he saw someone emerged from one of the doors to make his day even worse.

“Archie?!”

The pirate caught notice of him. “Maxie?!”

“What are you doing here? How are you even here? Are you here to ruin my plans again, you imbecile!?”

“Yer plans? Giovanni made a deal with me! He said that I’m the most successful Archie in the multiverse! And that every version of me was more successful than you’ve ever been!

Maxie crossed his arms and smiled condescendingly in the way that he knew infuriated Archie so much. “Hmph! Well, he was lying to you. You see, he said the exact same thing to me, and I happen to be able to tell when people are being dishonest.”

Archie ground his teeth. “Arg, you pretentious little dolt! Come here and I’ll show ye who the better man is!”

Maxie wasn’t about to take that sitting down. He came towards Archie with fists raised. Predictably, Archie had him pinned down quick with his caveman strength, but Maxie managed to get his teeth around Archie’s wrist and bit until he drew blood. Bellowing in pain, Archie tore his arms away for long enough for Maxie to get to his feet. They exchanged blows for a few seconds before a group of Rainbow Rocket grunts took notice of the brawl and held the two back from each other.

“This isn’t over, Archie!” Maxie spat, struggling against the grips of three grunts.

“Aye. Seems it ain’t ever over, Maxie,” Archie replied.

The scene changed. Maxie was sitting in Giovanni’s office, Archie in a chair beside him and Giovanni pacing before them.

“Alright. So, you had a physical fight. In front of the invading children. While you were headed to revive your Pokémon. You do realize that the time and manpower those grunts wasted splitting you up could have been used to stop them, right?”

Archie and Maxie stayed silent.

“So, truth be told, I was hoping to keep the two of you on separate sides of the Aether Paradise building long enough to raise the Ultra Beast army and move on into the next stage of the plan, at which point it wouldn’t matter if you two could be left in the same room or not. But the fact is, the takeover wasn’t a smash success or a complete failure. Everyone escaped to the back-up compound, and we at least stole the information to raise Ultra Beasts. But that means that I still have use for you two, and so you’re going to have to tolerate each other or I will be putting you both back into your respective universes. Capisce?”

“Yes, Giovanni,” the two said in unison. Maxie thought better of asking what would have been done with them had the plan been more successful.

“Good. Honestly, you two were such a good team back before you decided terrorism should be done to help your fellow beings. Just focus on the dollar bill and you won’t argue about your petty little differences in values anymore. Now scram. I’m late for my persian’s dance recital.”

Archie and Maxie got up and went back to the admins’ common area, which was surprisingly empty for it being around break time. The two gravitated to separate sides of the room, taking the occasional glance at each other.

Don’t do it, Maxie. Just play on your phone for a few minutes and then someone else will come in and it’ll be easier to resist the urge to strangle him.

“So, you won in your universe, too.” Damn it, Maxie. Self-control!

“Aye.”

“Was it worth it?”

“Without a single doubt. Pokémon can thrive now that people aren’t ruinin’ things for em’.”

“I’m sure all the children you drowned will be thrilled to hear that. How many people are left in your world? How are they living now that you ruined the planet?”

“A few hundred people escaped the flood on boats before the waters receded, and now they’re doin’ just fine. Adapting as humans do. And how goes the mass extinction over in your universe? How are you all doin’ without water?”

“I’m not an idiot, Archie. I know we need water. We still have lakes and rivers. The ecosystem is adapting, as ecosystems do. Humanity will never want for space or resources again now that the oceans are drained. And don’t lecture me on mass extinctions. You must have wiped out just about every land-dwelling species on the planet.”

Archie rolled his eyes and started going through a stack of magazines left on the coffee table. Maxie turned his attention to his phone for a few minutes before looking back to Archie.

“Look. This sucks for both of us, and we might as well not make it suck worse. I’m sorry for starting an argument. Let’s agree to not do that again, and to not engage the other if either of us does. We don’t have to be friends. We just have to stay out of each other’s way. Okay?”

Archie nodded. “Okay.” Was there something sad in his voice, or was Maxie just imagining it?”

The scene changed. The Maxie was sitting in a line with the five other admins, Giovanni standing before a white board with a roughly-drawn map of Melemele island with three photos, one of each of the Alola starters on it. He and Archie kept giving each other sharp glances despite there being two people in between them.

“Alright, gentlemen,” Giovanni started, standing in front of the map, “one month from now, school will let off for the summer, meaning that a number of young people will be starting their Pokémon journeys. And we all know that the greatest threat to any criminal empire is that posed by children on Pokémon journeys. So, here’s what we’re going to do about it: We’ll intercept the shipments of starter Pokémon so that the children of Alola will have to wait until next year to have their journeys. Lysandre and I will be taking the shipment of rowlets being bred near Verdant Cavern. Archie, the littens are already en-route, so you’re going to have to steal their ship. Can you handle that?”

“Of course,” Archie answered, passing a smug side glance at Maxie.

He’ll have something for me. He’ll have something better for me, Maxie assured himself.

“Alright. And someone needs to go after the popplios being bred at the seashore, so... Archie, choose a partner, and whoever’s left, go get the popplio.”

Archie immediately grabbed Ghetsis’ hand. Of course he chose the one with military experience- he wanted to make himself look like some big hero with this stupid mission. Well, Maxie would show him!

Cyrus was the only one left for Maxie to pair with. He could work with that. Maxie took him into the hallway.

“So... Cyrus. You must have explosives in your lab, right?”

Cyrus looked at Maxie dead eyes, as though Maxie were the stupidest and most annoying person alive. “How is that relevant?”

“I wanted to put some flair into this mission, and I was thinking...”

“We’re stealing Pokémon. What good is ‘flair’ when, in the best case scenario, we won’t even be seen?”

“Well, I- Archie gets to do something incredible, so-”

“I have no interest in the meaningless strife between you and Archie. But, if that’s what this about, it would be easier to give in than risk you trying to come up with some heroics on the fly.”

Maxie smiled. “I knew you’d be on on board with this.” Maybe, Maxie thought, while Archie was stuck with Ghetsis, Maxie could get a second victory on Archie by befriending one of the most unpersonable admins.

A few hours later, the two men were watching as dozens of popplio and brionne clumsily rolled and flopped over each other as they exited their crates and made their way down the steep rock cliff and into the waters of a secluded, rocky beach. The adorable seals looked none too bothered. The distant crackling of a fire and wail of a fire siren were pierced the air as the two got into their getaway vehicle.

“Well, that was a near-perfect success, now wasn’t it?” Maxie said.

“It was,” Cyrus replied, starting the car’s engine and pulling onto the road.

“Not only will the kids not be getting their popplio this year, we burnt down their breeding facility and released their breeding brionne. They’ll be lucky if there’s popplio next year, either.”

“Yes.”

“It’s so good to have another academic to talk to. So, how are you adjusting to Team Rainbow Rocket, Cyrus?”

“I’m not interested in your friendship. I don’t intend on spending more time in Rainbow Rocket than necessary. This is a waste of your time.”

“No it isn’t. We’re in a vehicle. It’ll go just as fast whether I fill the awkward silence or not.”

Cyrus sighed. “I suppose. What do you want to talk about?”

“Well... where do you come from? Do you miss home?”

“Sinnoh. And no.”

“Oh. Because you like this place better?”

“I care nothing for the old world. That’s why I was willing to destroy it to create something better.”

Maxie nodded. “We both have reasons for regret.”

“My only regret is that I wasn’t able to finish my work.”

“Oh. Um. Well, I’d ask for elaboration on why you don’t regret destroying the world and everyone in it, but I want to be able to sleep tonight, so, um.” Maxie cleared his throat. “You’re into space, right? Hoenn was a real nice place for meteor showers and I even got to do some geology work on some asteroids. Interesting stuff, right?”

Hey, this had to be better than Archie was doing with Ghetsis, so he was still winning, right?

The scene changed. Maxie was lying in his bed, wide awake. He turned over to look at his digital clock, which read 4:46. A few hours ago, he’d woken up from a dream about Hoenn. Nothing special had happened in it, just regular nonsensical dream things, but anything that made him think of the home he might never return to was bound to keep him up at night.

It was useless to lay in bed. Maxie got up, put on his daytime clothes, and left his room. He approached Archie’s door and raised a fist to knock on it, but he just couldn’t. Archie was adapting so well to this place, and to show weakness like this... Archie would never let him forget it. Maxie turned and took to his office instead.

Maxie focused himself on balancing Rainbow Rocket’s books. It was fairly easy work considering their generous budget, but also a reminder that the other admins were as intractable as cats. He scanned over a list of bills and invoices.

An invoice from Stage 3- a pure gold necklace, gifted to the princess of Paldea. Of course Lysandre had found another person he wanted to bribe into joining his little task force. It was more surprising that this was the first one this month.

The monthly energy bill- surely enough to power a small village thanks to Cyrus’ lab.

An invoice from Stage 2- a Judas Cradle. Inexpensive, and Maxie knew better than to question what that was. He’d made that mistake before by searching up “breaking wheels” on his pokétch and was forced to conclude that either Ghetsis’ invasion plans involved a lot of psychological warfare or... well, it was better not to wonder.

About an hour into his work, Maxie heard a knock at the door.

Maxie groaned. Who could it possibly be at this hour?

To Maxie’s surprise, it was Archie. “Maxie, could ya come with me a second?” he asked, a sheepish look on his face.

Maxie looked up at Archie. “Sure.”

Archie led Maxie down to a beach. The sunrise was turning both the water and the sand a brilliant orange, and the air was beginning to warm up. Archie looked out at the water, a solemn look on his face.

“If yer world is so great, then why do ya follow Giovanni? The threat he be usin’ on us is to put us back in our universes, after all.”

Maxie sighed. “I was hoping you’d ask that, actually. My universe didn’t turn out. Groudon was uncontrollable. He dried out all the surface water in the world. Pockets of humanity are surviving by using ground water for crops and personal use, but I’m not sure they’ll be able to last long enough for the water to return.” Maxie brushed tears from his eyes. “You tried to stop me. I know you’re not the version of him who did, but I’m sorry that I didn’t listen. I’m so, so sorry.”

Archie turned to look at him, bewildered. “There’s a universe where I was the rational one?”

“Yes!”

“In my universe, you tried to stop me.”

“I’m sorry-”

“No! I should’ve listened. Kyogre flooded the world. He capsized every one of our ships and I couldn’t stop it! I’m not sure humanity’s going to make it.”

There was a moment of silence between them.

“I’m glad there’s someone who knows how I feel. Do you miss Hoenn, Archie?”

“Aye. Every day. I miss Slateport City. And I miss knowin’ what the hell I was workin’ towards.”

Maxie nodded. “Remember back when we were just Team Rocket grunts and you took me to the hot springs in Lavaridge? Or did that happen in your universe?”

Archie smiled. “It did. Yer numel ran off with yer glasses-”

“-And I had to run after him with just a towel on. I remember. In that universe, were we... you know...”

“Datin’? No. I never had the courage to ask.”

“Well, actually, I asked you.”

Archie’s face scrunched up in offence. “You got the courage up before me?!”

“Yes,” Maxie said, his voice slipping back into that condescending tone, but he stopped himself. “If it makes you feel better, you could do the honours now.”

“Well, alright. Maxie, this position we’re in is shitty and the other admins are beyond crazy, but let’s give this place a silver lining. Come here.” Archie spread his arms out, and Maxie came in to kiss him. It had been years since he’d felt the stubble on Archie’s face and tasted his sea salt-flavoured lips, and he loved it.

The two separated. “You know, I’ve been wondering: what did Giovanni tell you about the plan? Maybe we can figure out a little more of what he’s planning.”

“He told me that there would be more wild areas for Pokémon. I didn’t ask him to elaborate because I didn’t believe him to begin with.

“Hm. He promised me more space for people. Assuming he isn’t just lying entirely, maybe he’s going to create a new country for himself. It would make sense, as that would be a good place to start the invasion he’s planning. But again, he could have just been lying to both of us.”

“Well, regardless, let’s keep our eyes peeled for a way out of here, or more information on what the bloody hell he’s doing.”

“Yes. Once there’s a chance, we’ll leave here together. Let’s make that a promise.”

Archie put a hand on Maxie’s shoulder as they looked out at the sunrise. “Aye. I promise.”

[imagine-knb]

Halloween ask of Nigou staring at nothing and absolutely scaring the shit out of Seirin please 🙏

Glad to have you back!

Question to my readers, have you ever experienced something supernatural or otherworldly that you couldn't explain? I have. Let's talk about that! (ʘ‿ʘ✿) Admin Neon

It had been raining all day, the sky overcast with dark clouds that looked heavy with precipitation. Riko had been forced to turn on all the gymnasium lights, the sky outside providing no natural light due to the less than desired weather. It made for a gloomy atmosphere that had the entire team on edge from the beginning of practice all the way until the final whistle. Even now, as they cleaned up after themselves and tidied up the gymnasium, there was a tension in the air that couldn't seem to dissipate.

"Come on, first years!" Hyuuga called out, a hand cupped around his mouth so his voice would carry. "Get a move on with putting that equipment away so we can all get out of here."

Across the gymnasium, Fukuda, Kawahara, and Furihata were rolling along a cart full of basketballs, their destination the supply closet. With quiet grumbles and dragging feet, they hauled the cart over to the single door that held all their supplies.

Or, at least, they would have if not for Kagami standing in their path, blocking their way.

"Hey man, you're kinda in the way," Fukuda deadpanned, nudging Kagami with the other end of the cart.

When the taller male still refused to move, his back facing toward his peers, Furihata leaned forward to get a better look at the team's ace. He looked pale, as if he had seen a ghost, and a single shaking finger was pointed in the direction of the door. When Furihata's eyes followed Kagami's direction, he saw Nigou sitting at the entrance of the supply closet, his nose up and his eyes locked on something inside.

"Aw, it's just Nigou," Furihata commented with a short laugh, patting Kagami's back. "You're seriously still scared of him?"

The sound of a keening whine coming from the small dog caught all their attentions and the boys moved their gazes back onto the small animal. He was fidgeting, paws lifting from the ground only to press back down, and his ears were flat against his head. His tail, normally on a never ending cycle of wagging, was flat against the ground. They were sure that if the dog were standing, his tail would be between his legs.

"What's the hold up, guys? You know how Hyuuga gets when you guys take too long." Izuki was shaking his head as he came up behind the group of first years. When he noticed them all hesitating, he glanced around to look at the supply closet door. "What's Nigou doing?"

"I don't know," Kawahara responded. He had moved to stand behind Kagami, using the taller male as a shield. "Looks like he's staring at something."

"Or someone," Fukuda added ominously.

"Don't say stuff like that!" Furihata cried, shivering at the thought of Nigou looking at something unseen.

The boys hadn't noticed Kiyoshi walking up as they stared at the small dog. Having heard the tail end of the conversation, the Iron Heart could only chuckle as he added in his two cents. "You know, my grandparents used to say that animals were sensitive to other worldly things." He looked down at Nigou, crouching slightly as he talked to the dog. "How 'bout it, Nigou? You seeing something we don't?"

When Kiyoshi's only response was a low, warning growl coming from Nigou, the dog's eyes still fixated on the open supply room, all the boys felt a sudden chill run down their spines. The air was filled with silence as they wrenched their eyes toward the open door, the room inside pitch black. Above them, the slow pitter patter of rain began to bounce of the gymnasium roof.

"Nope, fuck this, I watch movies. I know what happens next." Kagami dropped the broom he'd been carrying onto the floor with a clatter, turning on his heel and speed walking away from the area.

"Kagami, you need to put that away," Hyuuga scolded from across the gym.

"You do it!"

It devolved into an argument from there with Kagami trying to push his way through his upperclassmen to get to the gymnasium exit. Meanwhile, Hyuuga tried to keep him inside, warning that there would be punishment if the first year didn't finish with his cleanup. While that commotion happened, the remaining boys in front of the supply closet tried to rationalize what was happening.

"It's probably just a rat or something," Furihata tried to reason. With a strained smile, he knelt next to Nigou and held out his hands. "Come on boy, let's go look for Kuroko so we can all go home, yeah?"

Crash!

The lightning that had struck overhead was loud and nearby, blinding them with the sudden flash. The lights above flickered once. Twice. Three times before settling on off, casting the entire gymnasium in darkness. Everyone felt their hearts stop for a second while their eyes worked double time to adjust to the sudden inky black. It was silent.

Until it wasn't.

"Nigou..." A ghastly voice called out from inside the supply closet, the syllables dragging like they were slurred. The dog whined before yipping once.

A sudden flicker of light from within the supply closet caught the entire team's attention. The only light source was easy to spot, but what was even easier to notice was the pale figure standing over the illumination. The boys screamed.

And then Furihata got a better look. "K-Kuroko?! What are you doing?!"

"Putting away the supplies," the blue haired shadow replied, tone flat as he held up the mop he'd been using earlier with one hand and his cellphone with the other. He set it against a shelf before stepping out of the small space, using the flashlight on his phone to guide the way. Nigou immediately hopped up into his arms, comforted by his presence.

Fukuda let out a heavy sigh. "See guys, it was just Kuroko that Nigou was staring at," he muttered, though the slight quiver in his voice betrayed the fear he'd actually felt.

As Kuroko left the supply closet, Fukuda went back to pushing the cart inside. Behind him, Kawahara picked up the broom Kagami had abandoned and set it next to the mop. Despite convincing himself that they'd all imagined the spooky aura radiating from the supply closet, Kawahara still felt an uncomfortable tingle against his neck as he turned to leave.

"Nice timing waiting for the power to cut to scare us," Kawahara commented as he fell into step beside Kuroko. "That totally didn't sound like you at first when you called out for Nigou. How'd you do that?"

Kuroko furrowed his brows, fixing Kawahara with a concerned stare. "I didn't call for Nigou..."

[anthonysstupiddailyblog]

Anthony’s Stupid Daily Blog (85): Mon 6th Jun 2022

I got an email from my manager this morning saying she had just heard that I was leaving and wishing me the best in the new job. I bet she’s secretly glad that I’m fucking off because now her teams stats might come down a bit and she won't have to listen to me whining about my anxiety all the god damn time. She seems like a nice person but she needs to get her team to hit targets so that she doesn't get it in the neck from her boss and so when she's blunt with me about one mistake I made in a shift where you did 50 things correctly it makes it hard for me to like her. I don’t know how those other guys manage to keep their hold times,  talk time and admin times down while at the same time not making any mistakes. I know it sounds like I'm saying that there's a conspiracy to hold me down even though I'm doing everything right but I'm really not. I fully acknowledge that there is a right way to do the job but I simply don't have the intelligence, the people skills or the memory necessary to do it the right way but the other guys clearly do. They obviously are able to zone out and not take it personally whenever the customers start getting belligerent but I'm afraid I do. Hopefully now that I'm out of that job I can, with the help of my therapist, get a better grip on how to communicate with people. . Since I'm leaving in less than a week and as I've found out that I don't need references for this new job I spent the entire day either hanging up on rude customers or transferring ones with cases that were too complicated for me to figure out. I got one caller through and checked his notes and saw that he recently threatened suicide when he was told that he wouldn't be getting a refund for some gambling transactions because our investigations team discovered it was him making the payments. As soon as I saw this I transferred the guy to someone else. I can't be dealing this shit on my last day. I can't be trying to tell some fuckwit that things aren't all that bad while at the same time trying to trick him into telling me where he is so I can arrange for a police car to be sent to the silly bastard. I still don't understand why it's not illegal to deliberately make a false fraud report. All that happens if someone reports fraud on their account and it turns out it was actually them is that they get their account deactivated but this should be a criminal fucking offense. If these morons knew that getting caught meant a criminal record then it would reduse the amount of people making fraud claims almost instantly. Also whenever a case needs to be sent off to the investigations team to determine if it was the customer who did the fraud, the investigations team is supposed to get in touch with the customer to let them know why they're not getting the refund but they often don't and we're forced to break the news to them and have them shout at us instead. There's so much blame shifting in this fucking place that I simply can't get my head around how people stay here for sometimes years at a time. Well, I don't have to understand because I'm leaving in three days.

[mxstball]

Lauren was starting to feel better. The massage and the ointment were enough to make her a little mobile again. Not only that, but the Super Potion that Jasmine used and the Oran Berry that she ate hit just the right spot.

Still, what bothered her most at this point wasn’t her own pain, but she couldn’t stop thinking about her sister. Just when things seemed like it was perking up with her rekindling friendship with Chrona, everything else around her seems to be falling apart. Her brother was murdered by her Arceus, and now her sister sacrificed her freedom to save her... and she’s expecting to just... go back to work and live like this?

Oh! Right! Work! She should call her Team!

--

Courtney got a call. It was... Lauren? She swiftly picked it up. “Hello?”

“Courtney!��

“!!!! LAUREN!”

“COURTNEYYYYYY!” Oh, how she missed hearing Courney’s voice. She couldn’t control herself. Suddenly, she started crying.

“...please tell me, are you safe?”

“I--I missed you so much. I’m so sorry for ignoring your advice and thinking that I could be the hero. Everything’s all my fault--”

“...There is no need to apologize, Lauren. Now, where are you? Are you safe?”

“I’m-- i’m in Olivine right now with Jasmine. I’m-- I’m safe yeah, but--”

“Shhh. Shhh. Please, breath. I... know that you have been in a precarious position right now, but it is over now. Now, I can request the approval from Leader Maxie so that he, Tabitha, and I can pick you up. Is that your preference, or would you rather wait for Zinnia?”

“...I--” Lauren wiped her tears and slowed her breathing. “Can... can you pick me up please? I’m scared and my sister is gone.”

“Alright. I will-- hold on. What do you mean that your sister is gone?”

“Lacey! She’s-- She became a Shadow Pokémon!”

“...what? I... presume that Zinnia is handling that?”

“Yeah, but I miss her--”

“I understand. Please, stay put and we will pick you up. We put you on paid leave when you were kidnapped, and I’ll work to extend it until you feel ready to return to work.”

“A--alright. Thank you.”

“Mmm. Do not hesitate to call me if there’s anything else that you need, okay?”

“Th--thank you. See you when you get here.”

“We will see you soon, Admin-in-training.”