#lucy later will be surrounded by men meanwhile

[thegoatsongs]

Jonathan expressed comfort at the thought of being in a space in which women of old lived their "sweet lives" whose hearts beat lovesick in their "gentle" chests, and he desired to rest in there, as a sanctuary from the presence of the Master of the castle (only to be ''wakened'' in a monstrous version of that safe space).

Now in Budapest, he is healing in a space inhabited also by women, and surrounded by them. Ones who commend his "sweetness" and "gentleness".

[nicsnort]

Gravita Anima (part 70)

Nightcrawler/Fem!OC/Quicksilver Long-form romance and drama fic. All chapters have been posted on Ao3.

Intro (with link to Ao3 story) First Previous

It was almost easy to believe they were all ending a great day, like it was a school field trip after all and not doubling as a mission to bring the devious man down. The kids had a blast and were enjoying the uncommon cuisine. No one had to clean or cook. They could order whatever they wanted off the menu, and, as boys were ought to do, there was an ongoing challenge in the table close to the window about who could eat the hottest sauce -- a challenge they’d regret later.

The X-men did their best not to study or even glance at Elle and the man as they walked in. They were all engrossed in menu selections, conversation, and the like. The ex-Brotherhood members had to turn their heads away or look distinctly into the menus to hide -- the last thing they needed was Manuel to recognize them. Pietro glanced over his menu once the pair sat down, studying Manuel from the back. “Don’t remember seeing him with Frost.” He commented.

Wanda took a chip and dipped it into the salsa. “It was probably one of her ‘late-night calls.’” She ate the chip and sighed. They hadn’t exactly been well-involved in the X-men’s plans. Perhaps that was for the best. If things went sideways between the two of them, they could offer a solid amount of distraction. 

Kurt, who caught Elle's gaze, had to drink water to keep his expression neutral. The same went for his emotions. She could handle this. She would handle this. And only when they were needed would the X-men act. He laughed at something Storm had said, pretending that they were all friends just having a meal together. 

Lucy, who was still adjusting to Hank looking ‘normal,’ would reach over and stroke his arm just to reassure her that his fur was still there. With Manuel seated, she looked him over and had to admit that she saw similarities between father and daughter. But that was where they ended. 

Everyone had stilled and looked over when Elle had thrown the beans at the man. Lucy internally groaned. That wasn’t exactly the signal they were waiting for, but no one moved just yet. They wanted to see what would happen and how they could intervene with minimal chaos. But instead, it looked like Manuel was getting the upper hand in the situation, something that wasn’t going to go over well.

Quicksilver had had enough. Scowling, he threw his napkin on the table and took off. He easily picked Elle up and ran -- he didn’t have a destination in mind, just somewhere, anywhere far away. Meanwhile, Wanda stood and raised her hand, lifting the plates and utensils around Manuel. That was as good a cue as they’d get. Jean and Xavier managed to ‘convince’ the patrons to look away, to walk away. Lucy’s eyes turned black, and shadows shot out, wrapping around the man to keep him pinned to the chair.

Manuel and Elle had been getting up from the table. For the first time, Manuel looked at the people at the tables around him. Slowly it dawned on him that he had seen these people before. How naughty of his daughter. He told her to come alone. Surrounded by X-men. But with his daughter’s powerful abilities, he had the upper hand. Manuel commanded his daughter as some dishes rose into the air across the room. “Mija, show me what you can do. Shut them down.”

When there was no movement or sound besides him, Manuel blinked. Looking over, he saw Eleanor’s space empty. Manuel scowled. “Fine, I’ll do it myself,” he muttered. “This is family business, X-men. Return my daughter to me and back off.”

He reached out with his powers, trying to shut down the room. The adults were the ones he had to focus on. But he was coming against some mental block preventing the usually quick takeover of his powers.

“Jokes on you,” Lucy called out, “The X-men didn’t take Elle away.” Not technically. She smiled and stood. Quicksilver was more of...an independent contractor. 

“You will not harm any of us again,” Jean called out, her words confident and strong even while she managed the humans that remained in the restaurant, pushing them away and keeping them away. 

“Let’s see if this works,” Lucy murmured as she let the black goo travel up the man’s neck and wrap around his head. He was, in essence, encapsulated in the goo, coupled with a chair. It should, in theory, work as a blindfold, keeping him ignorant and unaware of those around him.

Manuel’s sudden blindness and inability to move caused the slimy smile on his face to vanish. His powers did not rely on sight. He felt emotions, fear, tied to this goo. Fool. With a snarl, he started using the fear of this goo to fuel his powers. He exuded fear, slowly pressing past the mental barriers the X-men had in their minds.

A thick sense of paranoia and unease started to overcome the X-men. To Xavier, he feared his students were about to be attacked and captured. To Jean, she was going to lose Cyclops and the same for the man. For Hank, he was losing everything- his family, love, intelligence- to become a ‘dumb beast.’ Wolverine that he was losing his freedom. For Kurt, that he would be abandoned by all, by Elle and the X-men, and left to the cruel circus to be pointed at, gawked at, and laughed at. The fear that Manuel was palpable, but something about the goo that Lucy had him wrapped him seemed to target specifics, bits of their nightmares. Even Lucy was feeling the effects of the goo slowly sliding off Manuel.

Manuel smirked at the fear around him as the goo released him. It was starting to create an empowering feedback loop. He fed off their fear and deflected it back at him. “Ah, much better,” Manuel said, “time to find my daughter.”

~~~

Miles away, Elle was suddenly in a suburban park looking up at Pietro. Inside her mind, she could feel the distance reducing Manuel’s control over her. Her conscious mind was fighting to get back out, tearing down the wall around her. But outside of her mind, her body was reacting. “Daddy?! Bring me back! Why’d you take me away?!”

Once they were far enough away, Quicksilver stopped. He did not, however, put her down. He kept her to him like cradling a bride. How badly could that have gone if he hadn’t been there? Nightcrawler would have teleported her away, he knew...why must it always be Nightcrawler? And yet, would the mere seconds between them have made a difference? He looked down at Elle and felt a bit of panic. What if the powers didn’t wear off?

“The only reason I’m bringing you back is to kick that slimy asshole back to where he came from. Snap out of it, Elle!”

In Pietro’s arm, Elle gave a dramatic pout. “Don’t say that about Daddy!”

The childish emotional pallet that Manuel had given her made the inner Elle sick. As her exterior body struggled to get out of Pietro’s arms, her inner mind struggled to break down the cage Manuel had locked her in. Pietro. The man that caused her so much inner conflict. Pure raw emotional contradicts. Hate and care, guilt and justification, anger and affection. The mixture of these emotions cracked the weakened walls of Manuel’s control.

Her expression of childish, stunted anger started to grow into one of true rage. The innocent pouting look on her face changed as she grit her teeth. Elle’s hand went to her head. She dug her fingernails into her skull, the pain helping her to focus. Her breathing changed, becoming ragged as her inner self fought Manuel’s control. 

Quicksilver watched Elle engage in battle against herself. His heart pounded. What if she couldn’t break it? He would have to go get Nightcrawler and hope for the best. Even Xavier. But he didn’t want to. He wanted this to be just them. He wanted to be the reason why she returned to herself. He wanted to save her. 

Pietro set her down on her feet but still held her to him. His hand went to her face making her look him in the eyes. “Please, Elle, come back to me.”

Whether it was the words or his touch, Elle didn’t know. Suddenly she broke free. The change was instant in her eyes and body language. She stopped struggling; her eyes hardened and narrowed. “Bring me back, Pietro,” the anger in her voice was barely contained.

When she seemed to return to herself, furious, he smiled. “Give him hell, Elle.” He squeezed her slightly in encouragement. Then they were suddenly back at the restaurant after a quick blur of scenery. He froze, looking at the standstill and horror-struck X-men. “Shit.” 

He put Elle down and, seeing Wanda half-lowered with her hands on her head, darted forward. He grabbed Manuel by the throat and threw him against the wall, pinning him there with a scowl. The last thing they needed was for Wanda to be engulfed in whatever he was trying to do. If he had to pick, he would pick the emotional manipulator to focus on him.

“Magneto!” Manuel cried out with surprise and fear before realizing it was not him. Too young. The disappointing son. The one that Eleanor had an affair with. A speedster...he took his daughter. Well, a lackey with speed would be useful.

Manuel surged his power forward to take control of this man but felt a force stopping his powers. From behind, Quicksilver Elle stepped out. The moment they appeared, Elle was nearly overcome by the amount of fear in the room. But her anger at Manuel was stronger. Elle reached out with her own powers. Not fear, hope. She slowly stalked to where Manuel was pinned against the wall by Pietro. Elle could feel Manuel trying to break Pietro, take him over as he did to Kurt and herself. No. Just like she did for Kurt before, Elle maintained Pietro’s emotional palette.

“You,” she said, her voice trembling with anger. “You tried to control me, and now you do this to my friends? No. I will not allow it. Manuel, you gave up your leverage when you revealed that singular emotions give you strength. Because now I know your weakness. Conflicting emotions, real emotions broke me from your hold...now let’s overwhelm you with emotion.”

Reaching out, she recalled what she had done to Kitty just a few days ago. Elle reached into Manuel’s mind, pressing through his mental barriers. Her will was stronger than his now. He had taken her off guard, but she was not about to let anyone control her. The moment she was inside, Elle rapidly flipped through emotions. Back and forth. Joy, sadness, anger, fear, happiness, hate, sorrow. Every emotion she could think of was jumbling through Manuel’s mind. But unlike Kitty, Elle did not pull back, and with Pietro holding him in place, Manuel could not run.

Manuel screamed from mental pain, from his powers being overwhelmed. Then silence. He went limp in Pietro’s grasp. Unconscious…

Pietro shifted his grasp when the man went limp and let him fall to the floor. He smirked and nudged him with his shoe. No, he was out. Whatever had happened, it was greater than what it looked like -- something that always stood out to him with powers of telepathy, and he liked. “Good job, Elle.” He remarked in earnest, looking back at her.

Pietro’s compliment about her powers did not sicken Elle for the first time. He was truthful, as he always had been, but instead of the dark unlying intent of the words that had been there before, there was wholeheartedness that wasn’t there before. Perhaps, there was a change in him that she felt. Elle had been focused on Manuel, but there was a streak of humility in Pietro...no...pride was still there, but it was different. A heroic pride, not egotistical as it was before.

Kurt teleported next to Elle and took her hand, his shoulders distinctively softer and lowered now that the worry and stress seemed to have vanished. “Are you alright?”

Elle immediately drew him into a hug. “I’m fine,” she told him. “Are you? You looked so scared.”

Kurt embraced Elle tightly, exhaling as if releasing that worry and stress. “It was horrible,” he agreed, “but not as horrible as not being able to help you. You were amazing, Elle, I knew you could do it.” He found the smile returning to his lips, a more comfortable look.

Pietro’s expression flickered into a grimace when Elle turned her attention to the blue elf. He turned away, catching Wanda’s eye, and then looked away at the humans and students. He sighed quietly and went to his sister. “You hold up, okay? Could have been bad.”

“No worse than the usual nightmares,” Wanda admitted, understanding that Pietro needed that distraction. They’d talk later, whether he liked it or not.

“Got a bubble to keep him in, Chuck?” Logan called out as he walked over, studying the puddle of a man. 

Xavier was looking over the restaurant. The humans he had kept ignorant of the situation had been caught up in Manuel’s powers. He was erasing their minds. There was no need for them to remember this incident. “A bubble is tempting, Logan, but perhaps he would be better as a message. Erik needs to know that Miss Hughes is not to be trifled with.”

“I can wrap him up in ribbons,” Wolverine growled, his fist clenching as if itching to stretch his claws out and make the man of fine elegance into shredded silk. “What do ya say, Hughes?” He looked up, seeing how Kurt’s tail was wrapped around Elle. The boy had it bad.

Elle looked to Logan after a moment and chuckled. “Let’s keep him alive. He’s just a pitiful man desperate for control…though that shirt is stained, it would be a shame to send him to Magneto dressed like that.”

“I can get that stain out.” If there was just a bit of vindictiveness in Logan’s stubborn tone, he could hardly be blamed for it. Anyone who made him feel powerless and captured again deserved the brunt of his temper. With a sharp shink, his claws were out and he oh-so-carefully cut out the stain from the cup of beans from Manuel’s shirt -- and a few other specs of dust he saw. Such an expensive-looking shirt at that. “Oops. Guess I don’t know my own strength.” His claws went back in, and he stood, smirking.

“Oh no, what a shame,” Elle said with a small smile. She looked to Pietro, who was still checking to make sure Wanda was alright. During her time with the Brotherhood, Elle came to learn that Wanda had horrible nightmares at times which would cause her powers to go haywire. It seemed that disaster had been avoided. She called out to him, “Pietro. Thank you for getting me away from him and for risking yourself to give me time to help the others...think you are ready to make a trip to send a message to Magneto?”

Pietro looked over at Elle and nodded. He didn’t move at first, seeing that the blue furball hadn’t either. “Glad it worked -- you almost had me thinking it wouldn’t.” It was, as he recalled, an unsettling moment when she had acted so… not-Elle-like. She had been vulnerable, and though he suspected Nightcrawler could have done similar, he had beaten him to the punch. Something about that pleased him.

His eyes flickered to the mess of a man, shreds of an Armani shirt around him. “Yeah,” he agreed, “think I can drop off a package.” He walked over and looked at Elle, Manuel at his feet. “Any last...anything?” Not that the man could really hear a great deal of what was said, he assumed, but if it meant Elle had something off her chest...  “Think there’s a few strawberry margaritas you could add to his look.” Quicksilver’s lips twitched.

“I would never waste good alcohol like that,” she replied before bending down and taking out Manuel’s wallet. Looking inside it, she saw it was all cash. Taking out what must have been 200 dollars, she returned the wallet to his pocket. “At least he can tip the waitress well.”

With that, she gave Pietro a nod. The man picked up the unconscious Spaniard and disappeared. In the minute or so that they had, until he returned, Elle looked at Kurt. “I know you would have gotten me away if you had the chance. He was a bit faster, but I think he acted heroically, especially when we returned. So that you know…” She pressed a kiss to his lips. “Go back to your seat, my hero.”

Elle picked up the chair and rearranged the table to its proper position. Sitting back down, she made eye contact with Kurt and smiled. Pietro returned to his table with Wanda. A moment of rest passed then the humans began to move. The level of noise instantly returned as the students began talking once more. After a minute, Elle waved the waitress over and paid for her table. Giving the woman all two hundred she had taken from Manuel’s wallet. Finishing her drink, she left the restaurant, knowing Kurt wouldn’t be far behind her.

Once Elle left, Kurt excused himself after paying as well. He didn’t have to look back to know Pietro was watching him. After making sure the coast was clear when he got outside, he teleported next to Elle as she walked. “A regular Robin Hood.” He half-joked as they walked. He looped his hand through hers comfortably. “You really did do great, Elle. It could have gone anyway...but I’m beginning to think you’re unstoppable.” He smiled and glanced at her, mindful of the people they passed on the sidewalk.

Elle was at the end of the street, waiting to cross while also waiting for Kurt. She was halfway through the intersection when he appeared beside her. Without missing a beat, they joined hands. “Thanks,” she told him with a genuinely happy smile. “I don’t know about being unstoppable, but I do feel empowered. I took on a much more skilled empath and came out on top...he was able to control me, but I broke out within half a minute and knocked him unconscious….let’s go get some German from our restaurant and go tell mom the good news!”

Close calls weren’t unfamiliar to the X-men. Kurt had his own few stories involving close calls. To hear Elle retell it, though so swiftly, he had to admit that he was grateful that Quicksilver had been there. He didn’t like the man, but he helped...he did well. The suggestion of German food and beer made Kurt perk up. He clicked the button on his image inducer, appearing back to his blue self. “A party it is!” He teleported them away.

_____

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[theladyofdeath]

In the Bleak Midwinter {5}

A Throne of Glass Period AU: 1920s.

Summary: 2 years after Arobynn Hammel is killed by Rowan Whitethorn, Maeve has returned from Eyllwe with a vengeance. Meanwhile, Rowan is getting married, Lorcan is a father, and Lysandra is finally ready to give her heart away. There’s been peace in The Cadre’s Orynth for 2 years, but peace never lasts.

A/N: Some chapters only have room for one viewpoint. You know...emotionally.

All characters belong to SJM. I am no more than a fan with a plot.

**Warning: mature content - language, alcohol use, drug use, sex, murders and shit.

Links & masterlists:

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Ask me

The Cadre - 1920s AU {TOG}

In the Bleak Midwinter {The Cadre, Part 2}

Lorcan and Elide walked into the grand hall, where tables were spread about covered in golden tablecloths, candles, and expensive dinnerware. Wine glasses were at the head of every plate, and Lorcan found himself wondering what they would be drinking as Elide waved to Aelin across the room. He wasn’t a fan of wine, anything sweet made him angry just thinking about attempting to digest the shit.

Good thing he had a flask in his pocket.

It was good to always be prepared.

Rowan and Aelin managed to break away from the elderly couple they had been chatting with to meet Lorcan and Elide in the middle of the room. Aelin complimented Elide’s gown while Elide brushed her fingers lovingly over the pricey boa around Aelin’s neck – which, Lorcan took as a hint for his next gift.

“Who was that?” Lorcan muttered.

“Some rich couple planning to donate an ass-ton of money to something or another,” Rowan mumbled back.

Aelin rolled her eyes. “He works under close proximity with the Prime Minister, I’d be kissing his ass if I were you.”

Rowan snorted and whispered something into his wife’s ear that made her blush.

Elide gagged. “We’re in public, don’t be whispering naughty nothings into her ear.”

“Naughty nothings?” Lorcan repeated.

Elide elbowed him in the ribs before turning her attention to the stage as the big band began to play.

“I hate this music,” Lorcan mumbled. “It’s ridiculous. It’s loud.”

“Try not to sound like a grumpy old man for one night,” Elide crooned, a big grin plastered on her lips.

“Impossible, it comes naturally,” Lorcan protested, but he pulled her closer to his side, kissing her cheek.

Elide turned to him and he was already uneasy at the glint in her eye. She was about to ask something that he would want to say no to but would not, because she was the one asking it.

“Do you wanna dance?”

Lorcan sighed, and she laughed at his hesitation, but was already pulling him into the space in the middle of all the tables that had been cleared for those to dance. Without another protest, Lorcan was pulling Elide into his arms and spinning her around.

Yes, he hated the music.

Yes, he hated dancing.

But gods, he loved Elide Lochan Salvaterre.

And nothing compared to her smile, to the light in her eyes, to the utter joy she got from dancing with her husband.

He spun her around and caught her a second later, his hand resuming its position on her waist as his lips caught hers.

“Careful,” she warned, when he pulled back. “People around here will start thinking you’re soft and you have a reputation to uphold.”

“As long as they know I’m only soft for you,” he replied, his hand tightening around hers.

Elide’s eyes softened as the song ended and they began their walk to their table, where Gavriel, Fenrys, and Connall were already sitting. On the way to the table, they passed a waiter carrying a tray and Lorcan grabbed Elide a glass of champagne, which she humbly accepted.

“Lorcan!”

His name rang out, but he couldn’t tell the direction it came from. He looked to his left, where Rowan was pulling a gun out of his jacket, and Lorcan’s heart stopped as a shot rang out, into the grand hall.

Rowan’s shot rang out a second later, and Lorcan’s eyes followed that bullet as it met the chest of a man in a black fedora that stood in the doorway, his gun pointed at Lorcan.

The man fell down.

Another shot rang out.

His accomplice fell to the ground, as well.

Lorcan’s arm around Elide suddenly felt heavier, and time seemed to go slower as he looked to his wife, as the champagne glass fell from her white-gloved hand and shattered against the tile.

Chaos began, those who were attending the gala suddenly in a panic as they grabbed their loved ones and ran, their screams echoing in the large room. The band had abruptly stopped, those who had been on the stage gone, disappeared into the fleeing crowd.

But Lorcan didn’t pay mind to any of them, because his wife had gone still. Her eyes were wide, staring at him as his eyes fell down to where her other hand laid against her ribs, her white glove coated in crimson.

Lorcan wasn’t processing it.

Couldn’t process it.

Didn’t understand what was happening, not in the slightest. He heard nothing, everything had faded, all of it becoming background noise to the ringing in his ears. He was unsure why Elide was looking at him with pure panic, didn’t know why she was falling against him, didn’t know why her glove was ruined, covered in blood.

Her blood.

It was Elide’s blood.

She was bleeding.

Lorcan’s name was being screamed again, Elide’s name was being screamed, but Lorcan was falling to the floor, Elide in his arms, Elide gripping his sleeve, Elide whispering his name, her voice breaking.

Then it hit him.

It all hit him.

His heart began to race.

His palms grew sweaty, his forehead clammy, his cheeks wet as silent tears flowed down his cheeks.

She had gotten shot.

The man that had entered the room, those men, they were Maeve’s men, the one had pointed his gun at Lorcan…

And had hit Elide.

In the ribs.

Elide had been shot in the ribs.

He met her gaze, a soft sob shaking his body as he held her in his arms, sitting on the cold tile, his boots beneath him.

“No,” he breathed, and palmed her cheek, turning her face to meet his gaze, fully. “No, no, no, no, no, no.”

He was panicking.

He was having a panic attack.

Chaos surrounded him, two men were murdered, by Rowan, in the doorway, two of Maeve’s men, two men who had come to kill them, two men who had Elide’s blood on their hands.

Elide.

He whispered her name, and she opened her mouth but nothing came out. A single tear fell from her dark eyes, she found his hand and wrapped her fingers around his, both coated in blood. Lorcan didn’t even remember touching the wound, didn’t even remember any of it.

Time stood still.

Time was blurry.

Time was meaningless.

Everything was meaningless if Elide wasn’t there.

She was fading.

He could see it in her eyes, could see the sorrow, could see the beauty, the light, fading away.

“Elide,” he sobbed, and he wasn’t sure if he whispered it or screamed it, wasn’t sure who was at his back with a hand on his shoulder, wasn’t sure who was crying behind Elide, wasn’t sure of anything, anything at all.

“Gods no, gods no, gods, fuck.” He heard his voice, heard the endless string of words, knew that it was his voice, but it sounded so far away, sounded so desperate.  

Elide took a deep, shuttering breath, then her lips formed one word. 

Lucy. 

Lucy, their baby, Lucy, their child, Lucy, whose mother was lying, bleeding out, on tile of white marble.

“Lucy,” Lorcan repeated, and his tears were flowing from his cheeks onto her skin.

Elide nodded, subtly, slowly. “Lorcan.” His name, hardly audible from her pale lips.

He nodded, gripping her hand so tightly that he feared he would leave a bruise on her delicate, pale skin.

Elide’s eyes closed as she whispered, “I love you both.”

“No!” Lorcan screamed, and this time he knew he screamed, this time he felt the word tear into his body, into his soul. That one word, that single fucking word, ripped him apart and sent him into an endless void of panic and fear. “Open your eyes, El, open your fucking eyes!”

She did, she met his gaze, once more, eyes full of sadness and regret, then the sadness faded and complete adoration had her tearing up.

“Lor,” she breathed, those eyes going hazy, distant.

Lorcan’s voice broke when he answered, as calmly as he could muster, “I’m here.”

She was looking up at the ceiling, those beautiful eyes unfocused, as a small, serene smile captured her lips.

The land in Lorcan’s went limp.

And Elide Lochan Salvaterre went still.

But Lorcan continued to hold her, close to his body as his loud, piercing wail flooded the room. He held his wife’s head to his chest and hoped through some rare kind of miracle that the heart beating wildly, rioting, inside of his chest would somehow pour into hers and ignite it once more.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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[petri808]

Something in Common

Based on an idea I got from this post that I just felt like writing after chatting with @bmarvels about it lol. It was written directly on Tumblr so please ignore any grammar mistakes 😅

Nalu/Shicca one shot crossover

🔸🔹🔸🔹🔸🔹🔸🔹🔸🔹🔸🔹🔸🔹🔸🔹

“You’re not gonna leave, huh?” The annoyed blonde sighs. “Try not to make a mess while I take a bath please.”

Natsu rolls his eyes, of course, he wasn’t planning to. “I’m just gonna watch some lacrimavision. How much trouble can I get in doing that?”

“Shall I remind you what happened with my last lacrimavision set?”

“No,” he slumps his shoulders. It was an accident, but she still held it against him. “I’ll behave.”

“Good.” Lucy walks away having won that round.

She’d been dying to try out a bath bomb set Cana had given her at the Holiday party. It would have been more relaxing if she was home alone, but those times were few and far between with a certain slayer practically living with her.

Once safely behind her locked bathroom door, Lucy opens up the packaging that held four colorful balls. She grabs a pinkish colored one and places the rest on the counter, then holds it close to her nose to take a whiff.

It smelled divine! Rose, Sakura, and Vanilla all mixed together in a perfect floral blend. Not overpowering like some parfums can be. It was natural, herbal in a way, and reminded her of the natural hot springs they found on True Island. Relaxing with all the girls had been so much fun. ‘I hope we’ll all see each other again...’

Lucy turns on the faucet and waits for the tub to fill with water. While she waits, she strips off her clothes and winds her hair up into a messy bun. She tests the waters periodically to make sure it’s not too hot.

As soon as the tub is half full she drops the bomb in and immediately it begins to foam. It was so pretty! And cool to watch, for the bubbling action was full of churning shades of reds, then purples, and yellows. ‘How curious,’ she wonders. The outside was only reds and white but perhaps inside were other colors.

No matter, as the scent remains the same. It’s beautiful notes filling the room, clinging to the vapors and sticking to her hair. Such a neat little bath bomb, she’ll have to ask Cana where she got them from. Lucy shuts off the water as it nears the 3/4 mark on the tub. It was time to soak and send her aches and pains to another realm.

She places one foot into the steaming waters. How interesting, it tingles, like the tickling feeling you get on your nose when you’re drinking a carbonated drink. She steps all the way inside ready to submerge herself into the aromatic cocktail.

When in a flash, the waters begin to churn on their own! Swirling into a small whirlpool. Lucy tries to get out but it’s sucking her in. “Natsu!!” She cries out once before darkness swallows her whole.

The slayer looks up from the couch towards the bedroom. “Lucy?” He’d heard the scream loud and clear, but only the one. Had she seen a bug again? He walks into the room and knocks on the bathroom door, checking the knob but finding it locked.

“Lucy are you okay in there?” Seconds tick by and with each passing his level of concern heightens. “Lucy?!” He bangs louder on the door. “Answer me!!”

But there was nothing except a deadly silence coming from within. Screw it, if she got mad about the door, he’ll fix it later. Natsu smashes it off it’s hinges and rushes inside. “Lucy?” The room was empty! Just a haze of steam to greet him and a tub full of purplish pink water as still as a grave. Even the small window in the room was closed. How did the woman disappear?! Had she drowned?!

Without thinking, he jumps into the tub ready to scan the murky water. As soon as both legs make contact, it begins to churn. Natsu leaps up to get out, but the water grabs hold of his legs and pulls him back down. “What the fu...”

Darkness envelops him so suddenly, he has no idea what just happened. He tries to light up his hands to give him some light, but nothing happens. All he can feel is a sense of weightless falling. Did a wizard just cast a spell on them?!

When Lucy tries to open her eyes, the light surrounding her seemed so bright compared to the pitch black ink she’d been falling through a moment ago. She blinks a few times to clear the gaze and allow her vision to correct itself. Wherever she was, she could feel water surrounding her lower body again. Was it a dream and she just woke up back in her tub? Her eyes find purchase once more, but what she saw stunned her.

And just as she was about to open her mouth to address the situation, Natsu appears out of thin air sitting beside her. He was flailing or fighting against an unseen foe. She grabs his arms. “Natsu, calm down!”

The man stops immediately. “Lucy?!” He couldn’t fully see her because his vision was still messed up, but her scent was recognizable. “Lucy!” He throws his arms around her. “I was so worried!”

“M-Me too,” she squeaks out from his tight hold.

“Ahem.”

A throat clearing gets their attention. Lucy pushes Natsu off of her. By now his eye sight was fully back to normal and his face turns crimson. That’s when she remembers... she was naked. Lucy covers her chest. “Look away you pervert!”

“Excuse me?” The voice starts up again. “Where did you come from?!”

Now that he knew Lucy was safe and sound, Natsu turns to the voice. He recognizes the person immediately. “Rebecca?!” He looks excitedly to Lucy, “hey it’s our space friend!”

“I can see that,” she mumbles back. “Though I don’t understand how we got here.”

“Do you?” Natsu asks the stunned B-cuber who shakes her head no.

“You tell me,” Rebecca quips. “You’re the one who dropped in on my bath.”

“Wait, does that mean we’re on that ship you told us about?” Lucy questions the other woman.

“Yeah.”

Lucy looks at Natsu, “I-I think that bath bomb created a magical portal.”

“But why would it bring us here?”

The only answer Lucy could think of was her wish shortly before getting into the bath. “I was reminiscing about True Island and relaxing with just the girls... I guess I missed it.”

“Awww,” Rebecca squeals, “I think about that too!”

“Really?! With you and Elie, it was just nice cause we have a lot in common,” Lucy thumbs at the man sitting beside her, “the guys.”

Rebecca giggles, “so true.”

Natsu just narrows his eyes at the two giggling women. Tch figures they talk about them. “I hate to break up this reunion, but how are we supposed to get home?”

At that moment, a loud bang startles the three. They all turn to the door that’s been flung open, staring at the newcomer.

“Rebecca are you okay? I heard you scream!” Shiki pans over the room. “Wait a minute, how did...” a smile taking over his expression, “it’s the Fairy friends!” The excited man jumps into the bath, gaining another shriek from everyone when a wave of water hits them.

“Shiki?! Your clothes!”

“Huh?” He looks down, “should I take them off?” He asks already tugging at his shirt.

“N-No!” A blushing Rebecca grabs his arm and just pulls him into a sitting position. “Just sit!”

Lucy giggles, “see! Things in common. But Natsu’s right, we need to figure out a way home.”

“Awww! But you guys just got here!” Shiki whines.

“Hush, you,” Rebecca scolds him. “I’m sure they have things to do back home.” She smiles at their friends. “We can drop you off on your planet.”

“Well...” Lucy looks to Natsu. “I guess a short vacation wouldn’t be such a bad thing.”

Shiki leans forward excitedly, “you guys can hang with us till we finish this mission! It’ll be fun!”

“A mission?!” Natsu grins. “Do I get to kick some ass?!”

“Hell yeah!” Shiki grins too.

Rebecca chuckles. “Meanwhile, Lucy and I can hang out. Starting now.” She looks at Shiki and Natsu. “Get out of our bath!”

“Eep!” The two men stiffen at the sound of her shrill tone. No one needed to tell them twice. Both Shiki and Natsu jump up and rush out of the room leaving the two women alone again.

Rebecca winks at Lucy, “let the relaxation commence!”

[thorongil82]

Forgotten But Not Gone

Fandom: Pokémon

Chapter: 1/?

Chapter Word Count: 5,631

Can also be read on FFN and AO3

Summary: Ten years have passed since Ash disappeared from Pallet Town, with none of his companions and rivals knowing to where he vanished to. Now, the Pokémon Masters League, an event held every 20 years, is on once again, to find the strongest trainer in the world. Hosted in the Seishi region, who will be selected to compete in such a prestigious tournament? Will the event go ahead without a hitch, in a region still feeling the effects of the ravages of war? And will a certain young trainer resurface from the void to face what has happened?

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AN: So, here’s the story I mentioned in my update. 

Decided to try my hand at one of those 'Ash disappears for x amount of time and returns for a tournament' stories, with a bit of a twist to both that and the 'Ash betrayed' concepts. It's not my first Pokémon story, though technically all that's been uploaded of the other is a prologue (over on FFN), so … more or less a new endeavour.

Now, to give a quick little bit of info, the events of this story start 10 years after the end of Ash's journey in Kalos, which is where this'll deviate from canon. We are starting from that 10 years later point, and I'll be drawing back to the events in that 10 year gap throughout, whether just as an allusion or an explanation, or as a flashback. I'll explain what happens with his Alolan journeys in the story too.

I'll have a bit more to say afterwards, so, please enjoy!

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Chapter 1 - The Frontier Is Set

The Seishi region; a land that had been ravaged by constant battles and war several years ago. Yet now, they stood in a shaky time of peace. A peace where, though the battling had come to a standstill for a few years, the people are still left recovering from their ordeals. But now, a new set of battles seem poised to engulf the region …

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The brightly lit stadium at the base of Mt Daybreak illuminates the surrounding buildings and landscape, with multiple coloured beams of light shining up into the night sky. Inside, many people are excitedly chatting with one another as they shuffle their way throughout the areas, collecting tickets, food, merchandise, or simply talking about who they believe will win tonight's oncoming battle. 

Through this bustling crowd walks a group of five people. Leading at the front is a rather rotund man, clad in an aqua shirt with white Pokéballs and floral patterns typical of an Alolan design. Hanging from his neck is a pristine red Pokénav, folded down and compartmentalised, though not as shiny as his tinted sunglasses. A big grin is plastered on his face as he takes in the many people.

“Looks like we've arrived on fight night,” he grins, nodding in approval at all the spectators as a couple of kids dressed up in costumes – a girl in a small suit of flimsy fabric armour and a boy with wings on his back – dash in front of the group chasing after one another.

“Seems like it,” says one of the men behind him. Despite the slight wrinkles starting to grow on due to age, his yellow hair still stands wild, while he also wears a long sage green trenchcoat , a white turtleneck underneath and a pair of brown trousers. “Think there's any chance we can join in?”

“NO!” bellows the other man beside him, causing some people around the group to jump and glace at them. Meanwhile, the former just smirks unfazed as he grabs at his gloves and tightens them. “We are not here to battle with the locals, Palmer. We are here on business.”

“Aw, come on, Brandon,” Palmer says, looking towards the loud gentleman, adorned in a big buttoned cider green jacket and matching trousers, with thick brown hair with a few strands of grey threading through. “We're here as Frontier Brains. Surely if it's a tournament, we can just register and compete as well. We are supposed to be on the look out for strong trainers to challenge our branches wherever we go. Right, Scott?”

“Well, we shouldn't have too much trouble finding strong trainers here,” the round man leading the group chuckles. “Seishi's league has built up a reputation in its short lifespan for being strong. The gym leaders are known for being tough as nails, and the Elite Four even moreso. But, I don't think that tonight's battle is one you'll be able to join in on.”

“Come on, Scott,” Palmer groans. “It'll be fine if we take care of this business quickly, right? Then we've got all the time in the world to battle.”

“Those boys and their battles,” a woman sighs, trailing behind her companions as they continue bickering. The tallest in the group, she's donned in an outfit reminiscent of a Seviper, consisting of a purple halter neck crop top that shows off her slender figure, with long purple gloves on each hand, long black pants with a golden diamond pattern around her waist, and her long jet black hair cascading down her back, save for the red lowlights in the sides down her front.

She then turns back to the last member of their group. Another woman, her long shiny lilac hair is tied up at the base of her neck with a black ribbon before billowing out down her back to her waist. She wears a slim black blazer and matching tie, with a formal white shirt underneath, with skinny pants, shoes and gloves matching the rest of her jet black clothing. The woman is glancing around, her eyes quickly moving from one person to the next, as does those of the Espeon walking beside her, occasionally brushing her tail up against the woman's legs.

“Are you alright, Anabel?” the tall woman questions, dropping back slightly to walk beside her companion.

Anabel gives her a small nod in response, still keeping her eyes focused on the people around them.

“Epee?” calls up the Espeon at her feet, looking up at Anabel.

“I'm fine, really,” she reassures her Pokémon, all the while as a gloved hand slowly reaches into a pocket in her blazer. “Just a little anxious around this many people.”

Espeon lets out a purr and brushes herself against Anabel's legs, getting a small smile to cross her trainer's face, as her companion glances around, taking in the people who were getting more and more interested in their group. Though most of that was to do with the constant groans and insisting coming from Palmer, and the occasional bellowing denial from Brandon, the two women were also picking up some of the curious gazes due to them being part of the same group.

“Yeah, there's too many eyes on us,” she sighs, closing her eyes while clenching her hand into a fist. “If only Palmer could think of anything other than battling.”

She looks over to see Anabel give a short nod as she takes her hand out of her pocket and brings out three metallic balls, before holding the arm by her side and dropping the balls. They start to drop, only to hover in mid-air in a straight vertical line.

“Are you sure you're okay?”

“Yeah, Lucy,” she nods as the balls start slowly moving in small circular motions as her fingers individually curl and flex.

The group continue moving on until they reach a desk with a few people standing behind it, while a couple of others quickly move away. One, a man with slicked back ashen brown hair and buzzed sides, catches Scott's eye as the group approaches.

“Hi, can I help you?”

“Yes, my name is Scott, and these are Palmer, Brandon, Lucy and Anabel,” he replies, gesturing to each person as he says their names, them giving a polite nod as they are introduced, before reaching inside his shirt and pulling out a document. “We were invited here by the champion for a certain meetup.”

The attendant nods as he takes the papers and quickly looks over them, before looking back up at the group.

“Of course. If you'll all follow me?” he says, getting up from his seat, quickly leaning in to whisper something to another attendant at the desk before walking off, leading the group over to a side door and through.

The group are lead up into a lift and then through a few winding corridors until they are brought before a large door.

“Please wait in here,” the attendant says as he opens the door for them. “Someone will be with you shortly.”

He gives them a short bow and walks away, leaving the group of five to walk in.

Inside is a large room that looks a little like a repurposed conference room, with a few couches spread around the sides of the room along with several chairs set up around the room. A few tables had been pushed together in the middle, with different bowls of snacks and glasses for drinks sitting atop. Positioned at the far corner of the right wall of the room from where they came in was another door, with a tinted window stretching out along the wall, while directly opposite was a third door that seemed to lead out to a viewing box for the stadium. Finally, hanging on the wall opposite the entering group of Frontier Brains is a muted TV broadcasting someone, with a round face, a flat cap on top, and four weird spiny growths growing from their cheeks, giving their analysis of the battle to come, with another couch sitting underneath.

Also, sitting around the room are seven people. The first, a woman sitting on her own with long blonde hair stretching down her back and covering her left eye, draped in a long black cloak with jet black furry cuffs and trims, a tear drop shaped ornament hanging from the base of the v-neck, a black shirt underneath, and black formal pants. She is sitting on a couch happily licking a double scoop ice cream cone and ignoring the constant flirtations of the second, a man with red and brown hair fanned out in a spiky mane, wearing a tanned poncho-style cloak with a large collared black shirt, white pants and a chain of Pokéballs hanging round his neck. The third and fourth, a man with spiked scarlet hair and dressed in a navy blue tunic with blood orange trims and black cuffs, with matching pants and a long charcoal black cape draped over his shoulders, sitting on a couch talking to an old man with a long white bushy beard and long frizzy hair, wearing a crimson vest with a light and dark blue stripe across the middle, and a pair of khaki shorts.

The fifth, a man with teal blue hair, adorned in a white beret and cape, a teal shirt with white sleeves, and purple pants, leans up against a wall with his eyes closed and arms crossed, softly humming to himself. The sixth, a woman with a light brown star-like hair design, wearing an all white outfit consisting of a long sleeved blazer with golden trims scattered throughout with two lacy wing-like bulges sticking out of the back, a pair of short shorts, and a choker from which dangles a golden swan-shaped necklace encompassing a dazzling stone, closes her violet shadowed eyes as the seventh, another woman with pine green hair and red rimmed glasses wearing a grey suit, a white shirt underneath tied off with a thin cherry ribbon tying it off, continues to talk as she gestures to the leather-bound book in her hands. All heads swivel round to the group of five as they enter, as Scott gives them all a small wave, before a few return to what they were doing beforehand, if they were doing something in particular in the first place. With a nod to the rest of his group, Scott walks over to the scarlet haired man and the bushy bearded old man, leaving the others to their devices.

“Ah, Palmer, I take it you've been training hard since our last match?” the blonde haired woman says, looking past the man with the spiky mane.

“Of course, Cynthia,” Palmer replies, walking over to the two. “I wouldn't hesitate to challenge you to another battle. Even here and now if it would take your fancy?”

Both Brandon and Lucy sigh at Palmer's challenge as The Tower Tycoon integrates himself into the conversation with Cynthia and the Unova Champion, Alder. Brandon then heads over to join in with Scott, the joint Kanto and Johto Champion Lance, and the head of the Pokémon League, Mr Goodshow. Anabel moves over to an empty chair and sits herself down, giving her Espeon a pat with her left hand as she jumps up into the Salon Maiden's lap, while using the right to keep the three metallic balls orbiting round through the air beside her. Finally, Lucy takes up a space nearby by an empty space on the wall, keeping an eye on the room and on Anabel.

After a few moments, the door by the tinted window opens up. First through is a giant hulk of a man, large in bulk and height. His arms are as thick as tree trunks, with winding braided and rune covered tattoos weaving along each arm, while wearing a sage green jumper with rolled up sleeves, thick brown gloves on each hand, and beige overalls sitting across his chest and legs. Sitting around his forehead is a thin golden band, while his golden hair with strands of grey is slicked back, along with his neatly brushed golden beard.

The second through is a young looking woman with tanned skin and shiny silver hair tied up into a ponytail. Wearing a thin white crop top and short jeans with an aqua blue sarong wrapped around her waist, she bounces in with a smile, looking around the room. Her eyes seem to light up even more as she spots Anabel, though, when she notices the lack of recognition from the Salon Maiden, it returns to the still energetic beam from before, as she leaps over the arm rest of the couch underneath the TV and lands at the same time as the giant before her.

The third and final through, as he shuts the door behind him, is a man with dark brown skin and braided chocolate brown hair, wearing a loose sky blue t-shirt over a skintight black undershirt and baggy black tracksuit pants. He takes his place between the two that came in before him, though he remains standing up.

“I'm sorry for the wait,” the man says with a short bow. “On behalf of the Seishi Pokémon League, I welcome all of you to our home. If I may begin the introductions, the man to my right is Sheamus, one of our Elite Four members.”

He gestures to the large burly man, who gives a nod and a grin as he raises his hand in greeting.

“To my left is Hikaru, another of our Elite Four members,” he replies, gesturing to the young woman on his other side who gives everyone a big wave and flashes a large shiny smile.”

“Hiya! How're you doing?!” she beams.

“And I'm Raphael, Leader of the Elite Four and Former Champion of Seishi,” he finishes with a bow. “Should we proceed with the other introductions, or are the rest of you acquainted?”

“Oh please, allow me,” Scott says as he stands up. “If you fine folk are not aware, I'm Scott, the head of the Battle Frontier. The people I came in with are the Tower Tycoon Palmer, from our Sinnoh branch, along with the Pike Queen Lucy, Salon Maiden Anabel, and Pyramid King Brandon, all from our Kanto branch.”

Each of the Frontier Brains gives a short nod and a wave as they are mentioned, before Scott continues on with his speech.

“I would have brought someone from our Johto branch as well if I could, but I'm afraid they were all busy with challengers,” Scott chuckles, rubbing the back of his neck. “As for the rest, beside me is the head of the Pokémon League, Mr Charles Goodshow, and the joint Kanto and Johto Champion, Lance.”

Both give a polite nod, letting Scott get on with the introductions.

“Over by our battling veteran Palmer is the Sinnoh Champion Cynthia, and the Champion of Unova, Alder.”

Alder gives a chuckle and a wave, while Cynthia gives a kind nod before returning to her ice cream.

“Continuing on, leaning against the wall over there is the recently recrowned Hoenn Champion and Top Coordinator, Wallace.”

“Guilty as charged,” Wallace says with a smile.

“And last, but certainly not least, the duo sitting over there is the Kalos Champion and superstar of the big screen, Diantha, along with, if what I've heard is correct, her manager, Kathi Lee.”

“Yes, that's correct,” Kathi Lee confirms as she snaps her book shut, while Diantha gives a simple smile to the rest of the room.

“Now, unless anyone has anyone else to say, I'll pass over to Mr Goodshow to explain why we're here.”

“If I may,” Alder interjects as Scott finishes, leaving the many powerful trainers in the room to look over at him, “I believe we were all summoned here by the word of Seishi's Champion. So, with all due respect, why is he not here to meet with us?”

“Ah, yes, well, that was initially the plan,” Raphael begins.

“However, the plans seem to have changed a bit thanks to tonight's battle,” Sheamus continues with a low, gruff voice.

“Is tonight's battle a title match?” Wallace questions, pushing himself off the wall and standing upright.

“No, it's a battle with our absent Elite Four member,” Hikaru explains. “It just so happens that he's giving her a hand with some last minute battle preparations.”

“Our hope was that he would still be ready to discuss terms with the rest of you, but it seems like they're taking longer than expected,” Raphael continues as he takes a seat between his fellow Elite Four members. “And besides, I tend to be the one who is more involved with any administrative work anyway, so it's not too big of a loss.”

“Alright then,” Wallace concedes. “Mr Goodshow?”

“Thank you,” Mr Goodshow says as he stands up, though is cut off as Lance holds up a hand to cut him off.

“I'm sorry, Mr Goodshow, but if you'll excuse me, I'm wondering why Scott decided to bring four Frontier Brains along with him for our talks,” the Dragon Master cuts in, looking towards the slightly rotund individual.

“Well, as I said I was hoping to have a member from each branch here, to make sure whatever concerns they had, if there were any, were taken care of,” Scott explains. “As it were, there was another reason for us to come.”

“Yes, I'd heard from our Champion that you were hoping to open a Battle Frontier branch here in Seishi,” Raphael responds. “I take it you were hoping to find strong candidates through this upcoming tournament to take the place of the Frontier Brains here?”

“Indeed I was,” Scott chuckles in good nature.

“Perhaps we should explain that the people here aren't that fond of outsiders,” Sheamus points out. “Particularly if they feel they cannot trust them.”

“I have been made aware of that, both by Brandon and others who have travelled here,” Scott responds. “That's why I was hoping to build it out of people local to the region, to keep the trust of the people. At the absolute most, your Champion and I were discussing the possibility of transferring one of our Kanto branch over to help set it up, and potentially be the final challenge.”

“You were?” Lucy pipes up, the three present Kanto Frontier Brains looking over to Scott in surprise.

“Indeed,” Scott confirms. “In truth, we were going to pick between one of the three I brought here, if it was needed. Though, admittedly, there were some complications with each of you.”

“Such as?”

“Well, Brandon still wants to continue on with his research into the many ruins around the world. It would be a bit difficult to set up a new branch around a man who may not be there for a decent amount of the time.”

“That is true,” Brandon concedes.

“As for you, I'm well aware that you aren't too comfortable around a lot of new people, despite how you like to hold yourself,” Scott continues, getting a slight blush from Lucy as she turns her head away. “I'm sure you'd come if I'd ask you to, but you'd probably prefer to stay at the Battle Pike right now.  Lucy doesn't give much of a response other than a short hum, keeping her head turned away to try and hide the slight blush dusting her cheeks.

“Now, Spencer was also an option, but he is starting to get on in his age, though you better not tell him I said that,” Scott finishes with a laugh. “I believe it'd be a bit rough asking him to move over if he's not wanting to, or able to, keep competing in a few years time.”

“So, that leaves Anabel,” Scott concludes, with the many eyes in the room turning towards the Salon Maiden. “Had it been quite a few years earlier, I don't think there would be any question about her capability in fronting a branch here. But, as some of you know, there are some … hurdles that still need dealing with.”

Despite the number of eyes on her, Anabel shows no sign that she heard anything that Scott had said about her, instead focusing purely giving her Espeon some scratches underneath her chin, getting a delighted purr from the Sun Pokémon while still absentmindedly spinning the three metallic balls above her gloved right hand.

“But, perhaps that conversation should be continued with the presence of the Champion,” Scott concedes, turning back to the others. “So, are there any other questions?”

No one else raises any objections, leaving Scott to turn towards Mr Goodshow.

“Well, then, Charles, if you would?”

“Thank you, Scott,” the elderly man says as he stands upright. “And thank you to the rest of you for turning up.”

“Now, as you all know, we are here to discuss terms for the Pokémon Masters League coming up in a few months. Seishi is intended to be the hosts, and for the most part the preparations will be organised between us in the Pokémon League and Seishi region authorities, along with the Wallace Cup that's to be held.”

“Yeah!” cheers Hikaru as she leaps up from her seat. “I'll be working alongside Wallace to take care of that, if that's okay with you?”

“Of course,” Wallace says with a simple nod of his head. “I'd be glad to work alongside a fellow Top Coordinator to bring this prestigious contest to life here.”

“Awesome! We're going to make this the greatest contest ever!”

“As for the rest of you, you are brought in to make sure that the conditions work with the expectations of your own League members,” Charles continues on. “Each region will take care of nominating the participants coming from their own regions. If there's someone else from another region that you believe should be a part of the competition, then that's up to you to negotiate with their corresponding region.”

“I'm guessing that, because no one from Galar is here, that you weren't able to come to terms with them?” Cynthia pipes up.

“No, I'm afraid not,” Mr Goodshow answers says with the shake of his head. “Unfortunately, Chairman Rose refused to budge on his insistence of having portable Power Spots built here in Seishi to accommodate the Dynamax phenomenon that's prevalent in Galar. As it was, the professors and scientists here opposed the decision, as they can't say what kind of effect the energy dispersed from such an energy source could have on the surrounding area.”

“Especially as they aren't too sure what the continuous effects are of the energy the land gives off anyway,” Raphael adds on. “One of our Gym Leaders is leading the research into the full effects, along with our own Pokémon Professor.”

“Wouldn't that make Seishi a dangerous place to hold the World Championships, then?” Wallace inquires.

“As far as we can tell, it doesn't seem to have any major affects on either people or Pokémon, beyond expanding the move limit a Pokémon has from four to eight,” Raphael explains.

“It also appears to make the local flora blossom at a quicker rate, and at greater levels than other regions,” Sheamus adds on. “Of course, that is purely speculation based off of my own experiences in the field.”

As the talks continue on, Anabel starts to tune the others out as she keeps her focus on her Espeon, continuing to scratch her under her chin while also floating the balls above her hand. She keeps this up for a few moments, the noise of the others' conversations fading away into the void of her mind, before a small spike seems to emanate from her mind.

'… Anabel …' a soft male voice reverberates through her head, causing her to grimace as she grabs at her temple with the hand that was rubbing Espeon. The floating balls falter in mid-air, the wider arcs tightening up as they begin to spiral back into a vertical line.

“Anabel?” a different soft voice comes from outside, as Lucy suddenly places a hand on Anabel's shoulder, also getting the attention of Brandon and Scott. “What's wrong?”

'… I'm sorry ...'

“I ...” Anabel gasps, before whimpering as her head is racked with a sudden severe pain, coursing through her brain like an intense thunderstorm constantly striking her over and over with lightning bolts.

The metallic balls floating above her hand seem to shake in the single line that they currently hold, before, with another sharp gasp of pain, they shoot off quickly in different directions, a few of the others in the room quickly diving to the ground as they hurtle away.

“Espee? Pee! Espee!” Espeon cries out, her front paws pressing up against her trainer's waist. Her cries fail to get through, though, with Anabel crouching over and placing her other hand on her temple, as the sharp jolting pain continues to surge through her brain.

“Anabel?!” Lucy calls out as she crouches next to her fellow Frontier Brain, gripping onto her shoulders with both her hands. Ripples of energy start to emanate out from the Salon Maiden, as the pulses shake and vibrate the air and ground. “Talk to me.”

“I-I … I … Ah!” Anabel manages to sputter out before another wave of pain crashes through her. In a flash of light from Anabel's belt, a Pokéball pops open with a shiny sparkle, revealing a Gardevoir of an abnormal colour; with aqua blue skin where there would normally be green and orange where there would be red.

“Gardevoir?!” Gardevoir cries out as it appears, before quickly taking its place beside Lucy, placing her hands upon her trainer's temple, the lithe limbs delicately sliding underneath the gloved hands of Anabel. “Gar? Gardevoir?!”

“It just started happening again,” Lucy explains desperately, while all she receives from the Salon Maiden is a shaky nod. Gardevoir then closes her eyes and starts to hum, as a circle of light pink energy radiates out from her.

“It's using Heal Pulse,” Diantha observes as the glowing energy created by the Embrace Pokémon starts to wash over Anabel. Her pained whimpers and gasps quickly fade away as the healing power takes hold, the pulsating pink light slowly fading away. With the last of the energy dispersing, Anabel straightens back up, a small smile on her face as a hand reaches up to cradle one of Gardevoir's.

“Thank you, my friend,” she whispers.

“Voir,” Gardevoir nods, standing upright before gliding behind her trainer. Anabel reaches down to scratch Espeon's ears as the shiny Gardevoir rests her head atop the Salon Maiden's and wraps her arms around her from behind, gaining a slight squeeze from Anabel.

“I'm alright now,” she says, albeit a little shakily, moreso to her Pokémon than to anyone else. However, as she finishes giving both Pokémon a gentle squeeze and scratch, her eyes drop down to meet Lucy's, who's still looking up at her with a worried expression.

“Are you sure?” she presses, ignoring the other eyes on them as she gets a nod from the trainer, along with an affirmative confirmation from both Espeon and Gardevoir. “Do you know what triggered it this time?”

Anabel takes in a deep breath and closes her eyes, before quickly opening them and sharply gazing over towards the tinted window.

“There's someone behind there,” she declares, causing the others to look over to the same place.

With a sigh, Raphael stands up and says, “If you'll excuse me for a moment,” before heading walking across and through the door by the window.

“Is there a problem?” Cynthia puts to the two remaining Elites as the door clicks shut behind Raphael.

“No, not at all,” Sheamus replies with a boisterous laugh. “If I had to guess, I'd say our Champion has finally arrived.”

“I guess Jeanne's preparations are done,” Hikaru muses, shuffling her body round so she is sitting with her back against the seat of the couch and her legs resting on the back.

“Was that the hurdle you were talking about?” Lance quietly asks Scott, leaning over as they keep an eye on Anabel.

“That's part of it,” Scott admits, shifting his legs back flat against the chair to get out of the way of Espeon, having jumped down off of Anabel's lap to collect up the balls that had been sent flying around the room.

“Part of it?” Lance repeats, hoping to press for more, only to be left without an answer as the door opens up again. All eyes in the room head over to the entrance as Raphael walks back in, followed closely behind by another individual.

The person accompanying Raphael has wild shoulder length hair that spikes out at random angles, with a large bang that covers the left side of his face. The right side is partially covered by a wide-brimmed hat tilted down over it, obscuring the eye while still showing off some of the scars, gashes and burns spread across his right cheek and jawline. Draped over his shoulders is a midnight black cloak with a small golden outline, closed up over his chest and stretching down to his knees. Peaking out underneath the cloak is a worn and slightly ripped pair of navy blue pants.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to present our Champion, Aaron,” Raphael introduces, who wordlessly greets the room with a tip of his hat with his right hand, revealing a seemingly sleeveless arm and a fingerless glove with a small round cerulean gem embedded into the back. Anabel almost swears she sees his head shift slightly in her direction while he had his hat tipped, only for it to return upright in the blink of an eye.

“Jeanne's all ready to go?” Sheamus asks, getting another silent response as the Champion nods.

“Well, it is nearly time for the battle to start,” Raphael muses aloud while glancing over to the TV screen, the camera image having switched to the battlefield as the noise of the crowd outside starts to pick up. “Seeing as we've pretty much taken care of everything we need to, why don't you all stick around and watch the battle? There's a private viewing box through that door that we Elites tend to use for challenges here.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Alder accepts, along with the Frontier Brains and Champions, save for Diantha who glances towards her manager. “I guess it can fit in our schedule,” Kathi Lee says after a short beat, having looked through her journal. “But we're leaving if it starts to take too long. You need to get back for a shoot in Lumiose City tomorrow.”

Diantha lets out a little giggle as she gets up, along with the others, and they start to make their way over to the door, with Sheamus opening the door for them. Both Alder and Palmer dart over to the tables to grab some food, both getting a bowl of different flavoured chips, while Lucy grabs a cup of tea for both her and Anabel. Diantha also skips back over to the table and cuts herself a big slice of the chocolate cake sitting there, much to the dismay of her manager, before being joined by Cynthia.

“You guys go ahead,” Scott says, mainly addressing his Frontier Brains as he and Mr Goodshow move over towards Aaron and Raphael instead.

“We've still got a few more details to go over with our host here,” Mr Goodshow explains.

The others all nod as they walk on through. Anabel lags behind at the door, as does Lucy who is keeping an eye on the Salon Maiden, as she pulls out a Pokéball, enlarges it, and starts to aim it at her Gardevoir, only to stop as Gardevoir shakes its head.

“You want to stay out?”

“Voir,” Gardevoir answers with a nod.

“Okay,” she concedes, before minimising the ball and placing it back on her waist.

“Espee,” Espeon pipes up as she comes over, eyes gleaming in a pale blue light as the three metallic balls that were scattered earlier float back up to Anabel, each outlined in the same blue light.

“Thank you, Espeon,” Anabel says with a small smile, taking the balls and pocketing them inside her blazer. As she does, she glances back over her shoulder, spotting Aaron expressionlessly looking in her direction along with Raphael and Scott, the latter giving her a smile and a nod, while Mr Goodshow seems to be caught up on the footage on screen.

'You were the one in my head, right?' Anabel contemplates as her eyes seem to catch with Aaron's, barely seeing his left through the thicket of hair obstructing it. There almost seems to be a slight shimmer flickering in that eye, as their gazes lock onto each other's.

'Why? What do you-?'

“Anabel?” Lucy speaks up, breaking the Salon Maiden out of her thoughts.

With a shake of her head, she lets out a breath before walking out into the spectator box, accepting Lucy's offered cup of tea with a short thanks as they pass through together, with Hikaru the last to leave, sliding the door shut behind her. With that door shut, the door by the window opens back up, with a Pikachu swinging in by the handle. Dropping down, the yellow Mouse Pokémon darts across the floor before climbing up Aaron's back, sitting up on his right shoulder.

“Pika pi,” Pikachu sadly says, his ears drooping down as he glances to the Champion. “Pikachu?”

“Yeah, I'm fine,” Aaron softly answers, giving his partner a nod and a short pat between his ears.

“Pika …”

“Couldn't help yourself, eh Champ?” Raphael sighs.

“She hasn't …?” Aaron inquires, directing it towards Scott.

“No,” he replies with a shake of his head. “Anabel still hasn't regained her memories.”

--------------

AN: Well, I wonder who that could be …

So, yeah, part of why I was wanting to write this story was to play around a bit with the concept of Anabel having amnesia, which was brought in in S&M. With some differences, of course. 

Now, the next chapter was going to be people - particularly Ash's former companions - finding out if they've been invited to compete in the tournament. That'll still be a chapter, but maybe not the next depending on what you guys want. I'm giving you all the option as to if you want the planned next chapter to be next, or if you'd rather read the battle between the challenger and the other Elite Four member, Jeanne. The challenger was initially going to be between 3 people, but now down to 2. Alder was one of my options, but I decided against it. Otherwise, there would have been a different champion representing Unova. 1 guess as to who that is. So, by all means let me know if you've got a preference. 

Also, please feel free to let me know what you think so far. Thoughts, feedback, analysis, predictions, suggestions, all are welcome. I'm happy for people to suggest OCs for contenders in the tournament - I can't promise that they'll last - or even if there's a particular ship you want to see. I make no promises it'll be there, and I'm not budging on 2 ships that will be happening in the story. Beyond that, anything could happen.

I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as I can. Obviously that'll depend on what's coming next, so, until then, adios!

[politicalprof]

2019 in books:

David McCullough, 1776: A highly accessible, if somewhat naive, depiction of the year that defined the prospects for American independence. I wouldn’t go there for deep, critical analysis. But for a story of a year, it is well done.

Michael Palin, Erebus: HMS Erebus was a British naval vessel that spent much of its career in Arctic and Antarctic exploration. If you are interested in Victorian era explorations of hard places, a fascinating read.

Emilio Corsetti III, 35 Miles from Shore: The story of an airline crash in the early 1970s in the Caribbean. What happened, why, how, who survived and what we learned. Interesting if not brilliant.

Raymond Thorp, Crow Killer: Old-fashioned tale of the inspiration behind the Robert Redford movie Jeremiah Johnson. As much fantasy as history. But it offers a flavor of a time and a subgroup few Americans would know.

James Corey, Caliban’s War: The second book of “The Expanse” series. The protomolecule is working its mojo, and Earth, Mars and the Belters are none too happy with one another. A fun read of a massive space opera.

Walter Kempowski, All for Nothing: Set in the context of the collapsing Eastern Front during WWII, this story proceeds from the fractured point of view of the Germans who are about to be turned into refugees fleeing oncoming Soviet forces. The book, notably, does not make these Germans sources of sympathy: the mood is dissonant and disordered. A real piece of literature.

Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall: Because who doesn’t want a point-of-view account of a key counselor to Henry VIII, one who rose to extraordinary wealth and power despite his humble birth and then managed the, how shall we say, removal of Kathrine as Queen? Replaced by Anne Boleyn? Who wouldn’t want to read it? It’s excellent, by the way.

James Corey, Abaddon’s Gate: Book three of The Expanse, and the protomolecule has remade humanity’s relationship to the universe. But we’ll probably screw that up, too. Another good story, filled with actual thought about the problems of space travel and space living.

MIchael Krondl, The Taste of Conquest: The Rise and Fall of the Three Great Cities of Spice: Venice, Lisbon and Amsterdam each in their turn dominated the global spice trade -- a trade that was one of the main stimuli for early colonialism and imperial conquest, and which strongly influenced the rise of the modern corporation as a linch-pin of global capitalism. The book is not as good as it should be, but the story is one that few people know, but should.

Hilary Mantel, Bring Up the Bodies: Hey, it’s time to get rid of Anne Boleyn everyone! Or, at least, to separate her head from her body. And let’s manage the English Reformation, too ... all just a few years before losing our own head. Welcome to the early/middle 1500s in England everyone!

Leigh Perry, A Skeleton in the Family: Who doesn’t have a skeleton living in their house who helps solve mysteries. I mean, who doesn’t?

JK Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone: So my son has started reading Harry Potter. So I have started reading Harry Potter. I liked this book: it’s tight, it’s focused, it’s a fun read. I see the appeal.

Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, Good Omens: The answer to the questions: “What if the angels and demons charged with over-seeing Earth as humans go from the Garden of Eden to Armageddon decide that they like Earth and don’t want Armageddon to happen (even if their allies do)? And what if the Anti-Christ were raised in a perfectly mundane family in a perfectly mundane English village? How might it all turn out?” To delightful and funny effect.

JK Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: Meh. Okay. Not as good as book one. But still a good story.

Gilbert King, Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America: A broad pastiche of events surrounding one of the many civil rights cases of the 1940s and 50s: the abuses and murders of several African American men accused of raping a white woman in Lakeland, FL, in 1949. With a whole lot of associated discussions of other cases, the NAACP, corrupt and criminal law enforcement, race riots, and the like. A good read. And how can it be that the bastard George HW Bush, put Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court to fill a seat once held by the staggering legal figure that was Thurgood Marshall. Shameful is the only word.

JK Rowling, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: Certainly better than the Chamber of Secrets. A darker turn. But beginning to get padded as readers demanded “more” if not “better.”

James Corey, Cibola Burn: Book 4 of The Expanse ... and I didn’t like it. It seemed like filler, a book written to a contract deadline. Maybe it will pay off in the end. But another one like that and I’m not going to care.

Tom Phillips, Humans: A Brief History of How We Fucked It All Up: Did you know our oldest known ancestor, Lucy, probably died by falling out of a tree? If stories about how people have messed things up, have suffered both intentional and unintentional consequences, turn you on, do I ever have the book for you. Schadenfreude much?

JK Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: Dear lord is this book long. Why? No doubt because the fans wanted it to be. But it is as gratuitously padded as any book I have ever read. It’s okay. But I wasn’t particularly impressed. Perhaps another six Quidditch matches would have helped ....

Adam Higginbotham, Midnight in Chernobyl: Thought the HBO miniseries was scary? It was tame. I mean: the Soviets, with their level of “technical prowess” and their industrial “quality control checks” ran the facility. Heck, Chernobyl wasn’t even their first disaster. Let’s just put it this way: the actual fuel piles in each of the FOUR Chernobyl reactors were so big that: 1) different sections had different characteristics, and didn’t all operate at the same rates or temperatures; and 2) the monitoring equipment couldn’t record how all of the pile was operating at any time. Happy now? Russia still has 10 Chernobyl-style reactors in operation. Enjoy your good night’s sleep everyone!

JK Rowling, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Yes, yes: I know. This isn’t Order of the Phoenix. Well, I read Order of the Phoenix many years ago, and thought it was deeply annoying. A pile of words with little point. A way to keep the audience happy with long passages about very little.

Meanwhile, I, like my son, roared through Half-Blood Prince. A ripping good tale. Much tighter than the last several of the series.

JK Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: A fine read. A bit slow getting going: let’s go here! Let’s go there! Let’s recap the plot! But after the first 1/3 or so, the story got moving and I enjoyed it. Didn’t expect great literature; didn’t get great literature. But then again, I deeply appreciate how much pleasure my son got from this, and how excited my daughter is to engage with it. If it hadn’t been conceived and written, it seems like there’d be a Harry Potter sized hole in the universe.

Neil Gaiman, American Gods: In all honesty, I didn’t really like the first 2/3 of this book: too many tangents; too many sub-stories for the sake of sub-stories. And I’m still not sure I think it was a great book. But I really enjoyed the last third of it, and there were moments, vignettes, and sentences that truly blew me away. So I am glad I stayed with it.

Kameron Hurley, The Light Brigade: A sci fi story of soldiers apparently engaged in a war with Mars who are transported to the battlefield as beams of light. One gets unhinged from time. I am not sure it was worth the work, and I came to understand it was based on a short story and so, at times, it seemed a bit one-trick pony-ish. But it had its share of moments.

Daniel James Brown, The Boys in the Boat: A bit slow going at first, but it grows more compelling as it moved forward. This is the story of the 1936 crew (rowing) team at the University of Washington that went to Berlin and won the gold medal as Adolf Hitler watched. An interesting story about crew as a sport (about which I knew basically nothing), and life in Depression-era Washington state -- with a little, somewhat gratuitous, commentary about life in Nazi Germany layered in. One takeaway? The actor Hugh Laurie’s father was the lead oarsman on the British crew at Berlin in 1936. Hugh Laurie rowed crew at Cambridge as well.

James Corey, Nemesis Games: The next in the Expanse series. Much more enjoyable than the last one, but still a bit strained. One heck of a plot “twist.” A perfectly lovely way to relax; didn’t change my life. Some interesting character twists. But also a lot of “here are some giant developments (a lot of giant stuff) that give us lots of things to write about going forward!”

Alan Stern and David Grinspoon, Chasing New Horizons: the story of the New Horizons mission to Pluto. Interesting behind the scenes look at how the mission got funded, planned and implemented. Accessible in terms of the explanations; thick with bureaucratic story-telling and summary. It turns out this stuff is really, really hard. Interesting, but it didn’t blow me away.

And to end the year, I am reading: Christopher Moore, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal: What if 13 year old Jesus had a buddy who, 2000 years later, wrote a gospel that filled in those missing years of Joshua’s (as Biff calls Jesus) life? Well, here’s your answer.

[maswartz]

Power Rangers Pirate Legends

(Logo by @masterpikachu6)

I just want to say that I came up with the majority of this while Gokaiger was still airing. Using his suit’s cloaking feature Zoltar turned his armor red to honor his original suit. Zoltar pretended to be a mere pirate in order to fool the Stellar Empire, it worked and he was allowed to search the universe for the orbs which formed into Ranger Keys. He soon got a crew together to help in his search. The first was a rogue named Dresk who Zoltar saw great power in. He had hoped to help Dresk use this power to help others. The second was a wanderer in Red looking for a purpose named Marvelous. Zoltar saw greatness in him too. Zoltar had become known as the Red Phantom by this point and he told his crew that the Ranger Keys were the key to the “greatest power” though he did not tell what the power was. Finally after months the trio managed to gather all the Ranger Keys together. Tragically Dresk betrayed the others to the Empire in order to gain the Greatest Power. Zoltar managed to buy Marvelous enough time to flee with the Keys however he suffered too much damage. His Eltarian spirit began to fade. He used his final bursts of power to teleport himself back to Eltar, back to Zordon’s lab where everything began so long ago. Surrounded by the spirits of his brother and his team Zoltar finally entered the light as his spirit washed over the ruins of Eltar. Meanwhile Marvelous swore a grim vow, that he would not die until Dresk laid dead before him. Now Captain Marvelous he continued to search for the Greatest Power. Weeks later while resupplying on a planet he came across a squadron of Empire troops attacking a swordsman in Blue. He came to the man’s aid and gained his second mate. Less than a month later the two found a bandit in Yellow trying to steal from them. They had the third member of the crew. After a trip through an asteroid belt the ship was damaged and they needed the help of a scientist in Green. Another member joined the crew. The fifth member joined after they came across an escape ship containing a princess in Pink. The crew was complete for the time being. It wasn’t until months after they arrive on Earth and meet an Earthling in Silver…

Red Pirate Ranger- Captain Marvelous- 28- When he was a small boy he and his father lived a quiet peaceful life on their home world of Akarn.  One day a cowardly crook broke into their home, the father and son caught him trying to steal a lock locket this was the only thing left of the boy’s mother. The father wouldn’t let this man take it from them. A struggle ensued and the father was shot.  The boy picked up the fallen weapon and shot the intruder. As his father was dying he told his son that one day “you’ll be marvelous” and from that day on the boy went by that name. As he grew older he stole what he needed to survive.  Marvelous is eccentric and will stop at nothing to find the Power. Before battle he will tell his team “Let’s make this a show!” and is known for leaping before looking.  Before the final battle he reveals his real name to the team “Markel” At three points (near the start, middle, and end) he reveals his growth. Each time involves him forgetting his change at a market. The first time he accuses the clerk of stealing from him. The second time he mutters his thanks and takes his change. The third time he smiles, thanks the clerk, and tells them to keep the change. Face Claim: Frank Dillane

Blue Pirate Ranger- John- 29- This young man hails from the planet Aosa. His parents urged him to join the Empire army and make them proud (on a planet controlled by the empire there was no greater honor) and looking for a challenge in his life he agreed. He soon regretted it. The training nearly killed him and if it were not for a man named Silias he would have perished. Both Silias and John realized that they wanted nothing to do with the empire and their wars and the two started to plan to desert. However on one mission John was ordered to do the unthinkable and slaughter a group of children found by the empire. He refused and struck back against his commanders. For this treason he was scheduled to be killed however Silias saved him and seemingly gave his own life to save John. Fleeing from planet to planet John met a strange captain named Marvelous. The man in red helped him fight off his pursuers and helped him destroy the tracking device they used to find him. In gratitude he swore his service to the man. In return Marvelous handed him a Pirate Morpher and a Blue Ranger Key and made him his first mate. John is the only one of the rangers able to physically stand up to the captain when the latter is acting irrationally. His skills with the sword are unmatched. Stoic and strong he will keep to his vow and help Marvelous find the greatest power. For his parents role in his experiences with the Empire he severed all ties with them. Face Claim: Stephan James

Yellow Pirate Ranger- Lucy- 27- A young street urchin who made a living stealing from the Empire on the planet Kirn. One day her young sister Lilian died while sneaking into a ruined building to gather supplies which then collapsed and the event left a mark on her. She would dream of getting enough money to help all the orphans made by the empire. One day she snuck onboard a strange craft and was soon discovered by two men. One in red and one in blue. The two men were impressed with her skills and offered her a place on their crew. Asking what was in it for her the man in red replied “the greatest power” with that Lucy accepted the Pirate Morpher and yellow Ranger Key.  As the ships lookout she trains her eyesight by spotting shooting stars every night. Refusing to let anyone tell her what to do she often is right next to Marvelous charging into battle without looking first. Face Claim: Tiffany Alvord

Green Pirate Ranger- “Doc” Doug- 26- At the Intergalactic Institute of Science Doug was among the top in his class. He was the favorite pupil of the head master Professor Midon. Midon had discovered a formula that would allow for endless power and instantly he thought of all the good this could do for the universe. However the Empire found out about the formula and wanted it to power their weapons. The attacked the IIoS and laid waste to it. Midon and Doug were trapped in his office when Midon revealed a weapon from his desk. He ordered his friend and student to flee to an escape pod but Doug didn’t want to leave him. Finally he forced Doug to flee. As Doug ran a single shot rang out. Midon took the formula to his grave. Making his way to a safe planet Doug set up a small repair shop where one day he was approached by three people. They said their ship had a problem and Doug offered to help. After he fixed the ship they gave him a Pirate Morpher and green Ranger Key (it would be handy to have him around in case the ship broke again). The rest of the crew usually call him Doc. In battle he uses unusual methods and is the most cautious of the rangers. Face Claim: Fady Elsayed

Pink Pirate Ranger- Princess Amanda of Momos- 21- Momos was a peaceful planet ruled by the Queen and King equally (the Queen was head justice and made the laws, the King was the head of the army and police) The royal family was known as the Sun (queen) Moon (king) and Star (Princess) of Momos.  When the Empire started their attacks on peaceful worlds Momos sent aid to them. Finally the empire came to Momos and demanded their loyalty. The royal family as well as the people refused. In response the Empire laid waste to the people and destroyed much of the planet. The Queen and King were victims of this attack but Princess Amanda managed to flee off world. However some scout ships from the empire started to attack her escape ship. As Amanda thought she was going to die a large red ship appeared and blasted the scouts out of the stars. After they brought her on board she recognized them as the pirates who gave the empire so much trouble. Wanting to be a light to her people she asked to join. With a shrug the captain gave her a Pirate Morpher and a pink ranger key. Amanda is the peacekeeper among the crew. Face Claim: Aleisha Allen

Silver Pirate Ranger- Lewis Karlson- 25- When Lewis was a little boy he and his parents were in the park when they were attacked by a monster. They were saved by the White Tiger Ranger (Tommy) and from then on Lewis loved anything and everything to do with the Power Rangers. The child of a firefighter and a doctor Lewis realized when he grew a little older that just because he didn’t have powers didn’t mean he couldn’t be a hero too. So he dedicated his time and effort to helping others (volunteered, helped out, gave a homeless man his jacket) One day he was going for a walk when he saw a child run into the street after a ball just as a truck was speeding down the street. Without hesitation Lewis ran and pushed the child out of the trucks path but was unable to get out of the way himself. After the truck sped away (the driver was never caught) Lewis was taken to the hospital in a coma. While in this coma he had a vision where he met an old man in flowing white robes. The kind man introduced himself “Hello Lewis.  My name is Zordon” This was the spirit of Zordon. He saw the goodness and potential in Lewis and created the Legacy Morpher and Silver ranger key for him to help the Pirate Rangers. Telling Lewis that the Pirate Rangers needed a reason to care about Earth and its people. They needed an Anchor, Lewis was to be that anchor. Waking up from his coma he ran home and told his parents everything. He then went to find the Pirate Rangers. And soon enough he was the sixth member of the team. Lewis discovers he has the ability to combine certain Ranger Keys. He uses this to combine the RPM Silver and Gold keys. As well as all the sixth rangers to create the Gold Anchor Key. After challenging Dresk Lewis manages to recover the Jungle Fury Spirit Ranger Keys and combines them into the TriSpirit Ranger Key. Face Claim: Daniel Radcliffe On Earth Doc met up with his close friend from the IIoS Zinda when the Megazord needed repairs. She had arrived on Earth following the attack on the IloS. She would go on to be invaluable to the Rangers.  N.A.V.I- Built by the Red Phantom to help in the quest for the keys and powers and the greatest treasure in the universe. Navigation and Vision Interface. His visions lead the rangers in their quest. When Lewis joins the hints become easier to understand. Ranger Keys are the condensed form of the Power contained by the suits. Regarding extra powers, the general rule is, if the original Ranger could use the ability while unmorphed the Ranger Key cannot use it. However if the ability can only be used while morphed then the Ranger Key can use it. (the OO abilities are an example of the former while the RPM abilities are an example of the latter)

The Pirate Rangers each have their own zord Red- Pirate Galleon Zord- A red pirate ship which doubles as the base for the crew Blue- Pirate Jet Zord Yellow- Pirate Truck Zord Green- Pirate Racer Zord Pink- Pirate Sub Zord Pirate Megazord R-Torso/Head/Weapons BG- Arms (the hat comes from B) YP- Legs Main attack is Pirate Cannon Burst When the team begin to collect Great Powers they sometimes gain a new zord to combine with. Pirate Mystic Megazord Formed from the Mystic Force Great Power- Mystic Dragon Pirate SPD Megazord Formed from the SPD Great Power- SPD Zord 1 Pirate Wild Megazord Formed from the Wild Force Great Power- Red Lion Pirate Bushido Megazord Formed from the Bushido Great Power- Red Lion Pirate Ninja Megazord Formed from the Ninja Storm Great Power- Minizord Pirate Rex Megazord Combination of Pirate Megazord and DrillRex Megazord- Formed from Dino Thunder Great Power Pirate RPM Megazord Formed from the RPM Great Power- Condor Speeder Pirate Ultrazord Formed from the Pirate Legends Great Power- Combines Pirate MZ, DrillRex, and CS DrillRex Megazord- Lewis’s personal zord- Has three modes- Drilljet, Dinosaur (nicknamed “Awesomesaurus” by Lewis), and Megazord- When inactive it is kept in the 30th century and maintained by Time Force- Is implied to have some form of sentience on occasion and once even moves its arm to catch Lewis after he is thrown from the cockpit during one of the final battles Stellar Empire- Controls over 90% of the universe. Emperor Zang- The ruthless ruler of the Empire. Prince Waru- The prince who constantly seeks his father’s approval Damaras- A battle hardened general who is in charge of the Prince’s safety Drorg- A robotic swordsman, in reality is Silias converted into a cyborg and reprogrammed to protect and serve the Prince. Inscine- The top science officer of the Empire Smasage- A hammer wielding guard of the Emperor

Zarms- Grey- The standard foot solider of the Empire Zargs- Blue- Larger brutes with blaster arms Zards- Red- The elite foot soldiers of the Emperor himself. Dresk- The former crew mate of Marvelous and the Red Phantom. Hides his true monstrous appearance. Believes that it is best to give up something to gain something better. Simi- A robotic monkey that helps Dresk with his plans. Able to produce monsters within itself. Great Powers Season- Guardian- Power- Order received- Lesson- Misc Eltar- Zoltar- Eltar Zord- Movie power- Used to destroy Noxturn forever. MMPR- Billy- Dinozords (all seven)- 19th- Honor the past- used to destroy Thrax once and for all Thunder Spirits- Aisha- Thunder Megazord Slash- 13th- Power can come from unlikely sources Aquitar Rangers- Aquitar Rangers and Ninjor- Falconzord -18th- Unite your mind, body and spirit- It’s revealed that Ninjor survived but had to retreat to his bottle to heal. The Aquitarian Rangers agreed to look after him and his temple. The Pirates seek the power after fighting and loosing against a group of ninjas (Feline Flora Force). It is revealed that there are two types of ninja. Ninjetti uses the power of the ninja beasts (ape, wolf, bear, etc) while Ninjutsu uses the power of the elements (air, water, earth, etc) Ninjor reveals that he is a master of both types and in fact helped form the first Ninja Academy. However neither type is stronger than the other but it is often best to fight fire with fire- Ninjor also uses some of his remaining power to create a Ninjor Ranger Key for Lewis to use. Zeo- Rocky- Zeo Blast (The five zeo crystal shapes come out of the limbs of the megazord and form the zeo icon and blast the enemy)- 12th- No lesson- Nearly stolen by Dresk but saved in time by the Rangers Turbo- Justin- Turbo Megazord Spinout- 6th- Don’t judge a book by its cover In Space- Andros Ashley and child- Mega Voyager Missile- 16th- Adapt to your enemy- Dresk held Andros and Ashley’s child hostage for the power but the Rangers managed to save them- Andros is the main cameo but Ashley appears in the last scene Lost Galaxy- Spirit of the Magna Defender- Galactabeast charge/ Torozord spin for DrillRex Megazord- 7th- Don’t let rage and revenge rule your life Lightspeed Rescue- Dana- Lightspeed slash- 9th- Helping others is good- Dresk tries to steal the power but is stopped by Lucy and Amanda Time Force- Alex, Wes and Jen- Chrono Cannon - 17th- Alex contacts the Pirates and says that one of them won’t survive the next battle, after hesitating the team decide to shape their own future, in the end a conversation between Alex, Wes, and Jen implies that Alex lied to teach them that.- You make your own destiny Wild Force- Cole and Alyssa- Pirate Wild Force Megazord- 4th- Never give up Ninja Storm- Shane, Dustin, Tori- Pirate Ninja Megazord- 10th- Get past your differences to fight a common enemy Dino Thunder- Conner- Pirate Rex Megazord- 11th- Power can come from within anyone SPD- Anubis and Sky- Pirate SPD Megazord- 2nd- The difference between Justice and Revenge- Sky is still a new recruit at the time of their encounter. Mystic Force- Nick- Pirate Mystic Megazord- 1st- Believe in magic Operation Overdrive- Mack- Overdrive sabre- 8th- The thrill of adventure Jungle Fury- Casey -Jungle Spirit rush- 3rd- Never stop training yourself RPM- Dr. K and Ziggy- Condor Speeder/ Pirate RPM Megazord- 14th- Even in darkness there is light- The Condor Speeder is based on unused blueprints for the Eagle Racer- Used to destroy Venjix once and for all.- During the team up with the Bushido Rangers Venjix leaped from Scotts morpher into Professor Cog, however after the battle he had to repair himself. Almost right after she arrived in this universe Doctor K uploaded the Venjix antivirus program to the internet thus preventing the original Venjix from leaving Cog’s body. Bushido Blades- Takeshi/Kiyoko- Pirate Bushido Megazord- 5th- The meaning of teamwork Pirate Legends- 15th- Pirate Ultrazord- People are not judged by the lowest point in their life, they are judged by how they reach their highest.

The Pirate Rangers met many other heroes. The first of which was Power Rider 4-Z Cody Rodgers- A lifelong friend of Lewis, Cody is a friendly and excitable guy. One day he comes to town to show his old friend something amazing. He has the 4Z belt (four zone) Along with his friend they discover that when Edenoi fell to the Empire King Dex fell as well buying his people enough time to escape. With Lewis’s help Cody avenges Dex and destroys the monster that killed him (spider based a fact that scares Lewis greatly given that he has arachnophobia). “3 2 1… Let’s Ride!” “BLAST OFFFFFF!” Power Ranger/ Power Rider Crossover (regular episodes not movies) “RANGERS AND RIDERS” (two parter) Cody and the Rider Club appear in Angel Grove during a school vacation (they all go to Milky Way University) (takes place before Meteor is introduced) Rider Club Ken- Son of the man who made the FZ belt Yolei- Middle School friend of Cody and Lewis Mindy- Head Cheerleader Jake- Gamer and he has an ear to the information highway of the campus. Shawn- Quarterback of the football team and pilot of the Powerdriver armor Tiffany- Goth with a strange sense involving the Cosmic Switches During the crossover the spirit of King Dex reveals that the original king of Edenoi was the first Rider. During the crossover in order to get past the villain’s trap Lewis and Cody switch morphers “LET’S RIDE” Third part (separate episode one parter) More about the fall of Edenoi is revealed It’s revealed that the original King of Edenoi and Zoltar were friends and helped create the alliance between the worlds. The monster that killed King Dex appears on Earth and thrashes everyone Later the spirit of Dex reveals this info to Cody and Lewis and gives Cody a special switch that allows him to access the powers of the original Rider (theme from Kamen Rider plays in the background) Cody uses this power to avenge Dex and his people and finishes the monster off with a Rider Kick. “Movies” “RANGER LEGACY!” Soon after Lewis joins the team Noxturn returns and the Rangers end up fulfilling the ancient prophecy. Noxturn uses his powers to send the rangers to pocket universes until they all break free. He rises an army of defeated monsters and the Ranger Keys create an army of the past Earth Megazords and the Great Power of the Eltar Rangers is used to destroy Noxturn. “TRIBUTE TO HEROES” Crossover of Rangers, Riders, Beetleborgs, Mystic Knights, VR Troopers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Ultraman Tiga A strange new enemy puts five of the rangers out of action. Acting on a vision from N.A.V.I (Find the rider of power, a child who bugged out, a night mystic, a digital warrior, an unnatural ninja and the ultimate man) Lewis gets Cody and the two journey to the Hillworth Mansion (they remember it from their comics which in universe were based on the real deal) Drew is working at the comic book store the two stop at and throws them out. It turns out that during the Ranger War the Rangers asked the Beetleborgs for help but they refused seeing as how they would have been slaughtered. However they do convince him to take him to the mansion. (the beetleborgs defeated their final enemy by gaining a new set of powers that combined the first two into one suit of armor {blue+ gold for example}) Flabber hears them talk about the next part of N.A.V.I’s vision and opens a portal in time.Out of the portal falls Rohan of the Mystic Knights. With a quick translation spell from Flabber they quickly explain the situation. He realizes that they are heroes and offers their aid. (it’s revealed that Lewis and Cody used to go to a Mystic Knight exhibit at the museum all the time as kids) The next hero to get is one of the VR Troopers. It turns out that Drew had Ryan as a professor in college. During a battle a mutant rises from the sewers armed with twin swords. Leonardo joins the team to fight the threat. The six heroes unite and put a stop to the villain. Oh and the villain is IVAN OOZE! (somehow the comet blasted him across the multiverse and he recently freed himself and found himself here.) Lewis comments that there was an in-universe version of the Power Ranger Movie but many found it full of incorrect facts and dated graphics but Lewis still enjoyed it. After Ivan creates new versions of his titans a jet arrives with the G.U.T.S logo on the side. The Ultimate Man has arrived. With a shout Ultraman Tiga enters the battle. The heroes unite and destroy Ivan. “Guardian Legends” The Guardian Spirit Rangers arrive and engage the Pirate Rangers (Lucif cast an illusion to try and get the Pirate Rangers to destroy the Guardian Rangers for him) however during the battle both sides take care to save bystanders revealing the illusion. The two teams unite to destroy Lucif once and for all with Talaa gaining his battlizer to deliver the final blow. As he falls Lucif accuses the Guardian Rangers of dooming Gosei revealing he had cast an illusion shielding the planet from the Empire’s sight. With his destruction the illusion fades and the Empire begins to approach the world. Before leaving to protect their home Talaa mentions that the universe looks at Earth like a shining beacon of hope (Giving Lewis an idea for a plan) Near the end Marvelous and Dresk have a final duel and after striking Dresk down he begged for mercy. At first it appears that Marvelous was going to grant it. Only for the Captain to fire a single shot. A quick death was the only mercy Dresk deserved. Lewis meanwhile has grown tired of the Empire going unpunished for their actions. He comes up with a plan. A plan so dangerous that if a single step goes wrong they will all die. The plan is to destroy Empire facilities on Earth and as many ships in orbit as they can. This causes them to call in reinforcements from other worlds weakening their hold on those worlds. Using the trumpet and with some help from Zinda they manage to make a device to create ranger energy clones.  They use the device to create teams of six rangers (one real 5 clones) of the same color (or equivalent) and target Empire bases and plants. After they short out the device they broadcast a transmission to the universe by highjacking the Empire satellites; telling them that this is the time to stand up and fight for freedom! Lewis at one point says that “the power is on OUR side! No one will ever take us down!” A montage of different planets happens. On Aquitar ninjas rescues members of the Aquirian rebels and they team up to fight the Empire. The rebel leader Mantor  personally saved the life of Cestria at the cost of his own. On a rebel colony a group of cloaked figures approach a group of grunts. They gesture and the grunts go flying. KO-35 fights back. On Miranoi the colonists and natives ambush a group of Zarms and destroy them. On the planet Grifforzar a figure raises a sword in the air and unleashes a war cry and the sky is filled with the wings of golden warriors fighting for their freedom! On Edenoi many different Riders are fighting the Empire to take back the planet. Across Earth the heroes fight back. In Hillworth the Beetleborgs and Vr Troopers buy the civilians enough time to get to a magic shelter created at the mansion by Flabber and his muses. Flabber also uses his magic to allow the monsters to leave the mansion and fight against the alien threat. In the sky above China the forces of G.U.T.S assist Ultraman Tiga in defending the innocent. In the streets of New York a certain group of mutant turtles leap from the shadows and strike down the Zarms. Flabber also opens a portal in time, this time all the Mystic Knights arrive in Ireland and after Rohan explains the situation the knights quickly join the battle. The Rider Club is listening to the speech as well. Cody and his enemies form a temporary truce to fight against the Empire. All across the universe the Empire troops are falling. The final battle approaches… After a long and hard battle in which the Pirate Rangers use every team’s powers the Pirate Rangers win! The Emperor falls. The Empire falls! The universe is free! Days later after resting from the battle the six discover the Greatest Power in the Universe (it’s in the ruins of the Command Center) Inside the strange container is… A second Z-Wave! However unlike the first one this wave doesn’t destroy anything or anyone. This Z-Wave restores the damage caused by the Stellar Empire. Scenes of Triforian pyramids rebuilding themselves, Aquitarian structures repairing, and the fields of Momos are beautiful once more. In his temple Ninjor is fully healed. And on a certain floating island the Red Lion Wildzord wakes up from a nap to find the island populated by Wild Zords again! Captain Marvelous has a new goal, to invade the Empire homeworld and take all the treasure they stole during their invasions. As the Pirate Rangers leave Earth they release all the Ranger Keys and they fly back to their original owners. In an epilogue the RPM Rangers find and unleash the second Z-Wave restoring much of their Earth. Across the universe alliances forged in combat are strengthened by treaties and peace spreads. On Aquitar Cestria becomes the Pink Aquitar Ranger and pledges to honor Mantor signalling a new age. Empire prisons are raided by the SPD and the Space Sheriffs  and those falsely jailed are set free.  However the adventure is not over yet… Morphers- Pirate Morpher/Legacy Morpher Morphing Call- Pirate Power Morphing- The pirate logo hits the ranger creating pieces of the suit. Lewis’s anchor logo does the same but for the final part it hits from behind and his glasses form his visor. (Bios by @dream-chef-flavors and @rosegrl18) RANGER WAR <——–Powerverse——-> Power Rangers Pirate Legends Set Sail

[asdfghjkl1x1]

King of the Monsters | Grace, Kozue, Régine, Lucas

"Hey, Tako" greeted Grace, making the young man groan.

"How are you holding up, Grace-san?"

"Probably better than the ones who tried to kill me, how did you guys get here?"

"Irina. The comms were suspiciously cut off so she made a few guesses and here we are"

Grace smiled to herself. Thank you, Ina.

"The Reds are also here, as matter of fact they're right now fighting the other men"

"Jacques set me free and I went after you" said Kozue before hugging Grace.

The Welsh turned towards the area she was earlier, and indeed, the sound of gunshots and shouts got to where they were.

"Take us there. We have to help them. My cousin... William, he has been captured, I need to go there."

Meanwhile, in land, Régine and Jacques would shoot the captors back to back. There were close to 40 men attacking them. "Mon chére, don't kill them, we need them alive, because I surely have a good amount of questions for them" said the Frenchwoman, changing swiftly of targets until her gun got out of her hands. "I'm going after him" she ran right after a chubby guy.

"Régine, wait!" Jacques called on her, before giving the signal to his subordinates to cover them and clear the area.

"Jacques!" the man stopped when listening to Grace's voice. "Where's Régine?"

"She just went after some guy."

The Welsh looked at the direction he was looking, and remembered that was the same where her cousin was taken. "Stay on guard here. I'll go after her" she ran towards the path were William was taken. Kozue ran behind her.

Grace stopped in her steps at what was in front of her, her eyes went wide. A lavender circle... and a cabin. Her lip shook as she felt about to cry with the memories alone.

She felt steps, but it was late, both her and Kozue were hit on their legs and dragged towards the cabin.

The Welsh could feel how they were surrounding them, but this time they seemed in no hurry to tie them. That's when she saw a familiar pair of boots, and heard the sound of heavy yet calm steps, before looking up.

There he was, with a smile and a shotgun.

"...William"

Grace couldn't believe it, she counted 5 men, and him "William, what are you doing?"

William took a deep breath "How's the lavender suiting you, dear cousin? You and your friend cannot call on your personal monsters to guard you now."

The Welsh was beyond even wanting to call on Marion, but she felt how she was away from her, each second out of her reach to call to defend them.

"You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this moment"

Grace still refusing to believe her senses, asked "Where's Claudette, William?"

"Ah, I think by starting with my wife we could wrap up this better" he scratched his chin slowly and started "Since you write stories, let's make one for you. Once upon a time, there were three youngsters who were friends and supported each other high and low. Two lassies, one lad. Eventually as they grew up, they started to change, the ginger lass started to play Romeo for the blond one, by jumping to her balcony at nights to rescue her from her family. What she didn't know is that the lad had confessed days earlier to the blond girl, and had been courting her for some time without the ginger lass knowing.

Some time passed, and the act became reality, they had a secret relationship for a few days. As the lad wondered if this ginger heroine would ever come to his rescue, from the plans of his family of sending him away, from the constant family pressure of being better than others, waiting for this red heroine to say 'I'm also here for you'. While they made plans, he could foresee all their future falling because of the other girl, so he made a plan, he was going to unmask her, to show her true colours to the blonde and how her secret girlfriend wasn't a hero at all." William smirked and sighed "That's when I hired these guys."

Grace looked at them well, and yes, the mocking man who threw her off the cliff started to seem very familiar now, same for the others, they look like an older version of... She turned to William, with wide eyes, tearing up "No..."

"Yes" William took a breath "I hired these guys to hurt you and Claudette"

"William..." Grace's fists gripped the soil powerless.

"I didn't count that it would turned out the way it would turned out." William clapped "It turned out better than I expected. A werewolf. A beast. So, I insisted on my wife seeing you as a monster until she believed it, it was so easy to do after her shock of that night. And The Red Beast legend was born"

"You...?"

"Yes, I created that rumour of the Red Beast. And these guys returning to their senses after you put half of them into a coma, gave me the upper hand. I just had to be patient, and get to know everything you and Marion were, strengths, weaknesses. Then I showed myself as a good husband to my wife, and took care of everything as she went to med school, I encouraged her to keep going, that she could save you from that evil alter that wanted to damage your life. I offered myself to that time you went out of control, after all, who would suspect of Grace's favourite cousin?  

Then that thing with Lucy happened, I got to know that you were doing your efforts for her, and that this lady didn't have the smallest clue about it, and I just laughed at how good my luck was, now you were going to be emotionally unable to react to whatever everyone threw at you and no one would be there to protect you, because you also saw Marion as a monster, because you couldn't keep my wife's reaction out of your mind. Yes, I used your love for her to my advantage and kept feeding my wife's hate towards Marion.

However, you can't lie to someone forever, Claudette started to realize something wrong was going on, and I played the good counsellor role, I made her believe her ideas were out of her constant obsession to heal you, and I had the teacher card under my sleeve, so she believed me, until she confessed me she was still in love with you, and that she never loved me pass a friend, she just learned to see me as an extension of you since your mother wouldn't allow both of you to marry. That was the night when... well, I took her to bed."

Grace saw him with horror, her voice cracked at her question. "Please... tell me you didn't do that..."

William sighed "I did... and while it was annoying to hear her calling your name, it was quite a pleasure to know that she was feeling the same thing I felt those years ago: abandoned." He giggled "So, she proceeded studying you, without saying a thing, after all, she didn't have the full picture and now she was tied to me because of the baby." Then groaned "Still, she tried to lose her baby a few times. So, I fed her with your same medicine: lavender. Then she had the baby, but I took care of the girl for her to not escape. I told Aunt Adelaide that Claudette wasn't feeling well, and that she had something similar to post-partum depression, so your mother wouldn't let her approach either."

"But she still escaped, right?"

"She did. I don't know how, and days later you showed up at my place. While I thought it was a good chance, I didn't count with the wolves, especially with them becoming your friends, so I gathered these guys and we decided to go with your plan, help you until you got rid of the animals. And here we are. Also, I wouldn't count with solving this by escaping and calling the cops, I have your very weakness on watch"

"I have her well protected, you won't get very far with it" Grace's breath went heavy with anger "You won't get to Lucille, you hear me!"

William blinked and tilted his head "Who said I was after her? No, dear cousin, your true weakness is someone small and red."

Grace stood up enraged and tried to charged after William in realization "You fucking bastard!" but got hit on the back with a bat. "She's just a child, dammit!"

"You won't have time to worry anyway, this will probably end soon. Which is bad, I was warming up to that boy" William said getting ready to shoot.

**

Régine, where are you? Grace and Kozue are in trouble.

“Relax, chérie, they have Marion and Sadako on their side.”

I'm not joking! Something is happening where they are!

“What do you know?”

It's... oh, god... It's her cousin. Her cousin is doing this

"Irina, relax."

How can I fucking relax?! If she does something, he'll kill the girl.

"What girl?" Régine could hear Irina's difficult breathing

It's Nancy! He has Nancy! I-I-I'm going to activate the emergency protocol.

"Wait, Irina, that hasn't been tested."

Claudette did it for an emergency.

"How do we know we can trust her?"

I can't sit here knowing I can do something!

"What if that formula kills them both?" Régine could listen how Irina started to type fast, and then heard the system warning, and the lady reciting the password.

Reveal your face to me, guide me though the Stygian fields. Enthral my soul to Sepedet's beams to serve Your will.

Ready to launch.

**

William then noticed something, Kozue wasn't anymore next to Grace, and his 5 men were on the floor, hurting. "How did you...?"

"I'm immune to lavender" Kozue said with pride, then got dizzy, her body went to the sides, but came up immediately to her senses.

Kozue?

Sadako?

William took the advantage of Kozue's confusion to shoot her first, but thee was one problem, he no longer had his weapon, and a hand was choking him, he turned to see his cousin holding him, his fear shoot when he saw her eyes going dark. "M-Mons...ter...."

"I'll be back" a low voice came out of Grace's lips, then took William to the very same cliff she was before, her smirk grew wider as they got closer to the edge.

Communication activated.

"Let me go, monster..." William said before Grace held him in the air, at the edge of the cliff.

"Do you repent?"

"Grace... don't kill me... I'm your cousin. Family comes first, remember?"

"We do" then she let him go, and watched as he fell.

One jerk in the oven.

What are you doing?

Locked up now. Over and out. Good job.

"Thanks, Gretchen"

I'm one of your knights, King.

"Long live the King" she heard Sadako's voice behind her.

Marion hugged her gently "Are you okay?"

Sadako nodded "I am, also your... Grace's other knights took care of the 5 guys"

"They're here?"

"One of them told me your mom had a bad feeling and sent them after you, then they communicated with Irina and Régine."

"Isn't she a great mom?" Marion smiled.

**

They went all back Grace's home.  The Welsh's father was back as well and was the first to run to hug his daughter.

"Ugh, daddy, please, don't hug me that hard"

"I'm sorry, lassie" then he carried her inside the cabin.

Her mother was next who asked about Marion and her, then all her trip, so she told her everything. Both her parents were sad, they never expected William would do something like that. Then looked at the baby "What's going to happen to you?"

Florence spoke up "Ma'am, Claudette sent me an email yesterday, she will give up on the baby, so yes, I'm here to take her away to be adopted by a family, especially now that William will be taken to jail."

Adopted by another family? Grace got close to the baby and held her. What if...? Her hands started to shake and her mother held the baby for her before turning to her husband.

"Richard, let's keep the baby. Let's give her a good life, and let's have a second chance to do what with couldn't do with Grace, I think we deserve that." Grace teared up out of joy.

Richard approached and hugged his wife, before resting his big hand on his daughter's shoulder "How should we name her?"

Grace looked at the baby for a few seconds before smiling "Juniper. Juniper Margaret"

"Juniper Margaret Morgan, it is"

"I know what you're trying to do Grace, so I'm not going to admit that middle name. I'll make that the name of the woman who truly loved me: Rachel Morgan"

"What?" Grace's father was astonished.

"Oh, please, Richard. It was obvious. Why you think I grew fond of you so fast?"

"Because I'm good looking?" Richard joked.

Adelaide giggled "Because you reminded me of her. Grace, too. Especially that rebel phase she had when she was younger" she rolled her eyes.

Grace gasped "Mom, you rolled your eyes?"

"Dear, where are your manners?" Richard joked again and received a slap on his arm from his wife.

"Well, then is set" Florence said.  "I'll be in touch with you for the paper work." Then left.

"Mom? Would you help me with this hair? I can't go back like this"

Adelaide looked for the scissors and cut the hair of her daughter real short. "You look good" then looked at Kozue "You need a haircut too?"

"No, ma'am. Thank you, I think I'm going to enjoy this hair for a while, after all, it's not as long as Grace's"

After they all ate, Gretchen came in with news. "William is in jail" but her worried face didn't say it was good. "He said he had an insider, and that part of the plan was still going on, despite her wife's efforts for hiding the child. He also said that something somewhere else was going to blow."

Jacques came inside the cabin "Régine, you got to see this"

On the tracker, two things were showing, a man going to what it seemed a house, with two people inside a house. And, another going at full speed with a package in another direction.

"That's..."

"Ira is the insider"

"He's going to your place. Luckily, you're not there"

Régine's worse fears came true "Eva is there! I need to go. Let's split up, Grace, Kozue, go with Tako to Wales and get the kid. I'll go with Jacques to my house. Wallace, take Lucas home. We'll rendezvous at Grace's place in Surrey."

[mspowerverse]

Power Rangers Pirate Legends

(Logo by @masterpikachu6)

I just want to say that I came up with the majority of this while Gokaiger was still airing. Using his suit’s cloaking feature Zoltar turned his armor red to honor his original suit. Zoltar pretended to be a mere pirate in order to fool the Stellar Empire, it worked and he was allowed to search the universe for the orbs which formed into Ranger Keys. He soon got a crew together to help in his search. The first was a rogue named Dresk who Zoltar saw great power in. He had hoped to help Dresk use this power to help others. The second was a wanderer in Red looking for a purpose named Marvelous. Zoltar saw greatness in him too. Zoltar had become known as the Red Phantom by this point and he told his crew that the Ranger Keys were the key to the “greatest power” though he did not tell what the power was. Finally after months the trio managed to gather all the Ranger Keys together. Tragically Dresk betrayed the others to the Empire in order to gain the Greatest Power. Zoltar managed to buy Marvelous enough time to flee with the Keys however he suffered too much damage. His Eltarian spirit began to fade. He used his final bursts of power to teleport himself back to Eltar, back to Zordon’s lab where everything began so long ago. Surrounded by the spirits of his brother and his team Zoltar finally entered the light as his spirit washed over the ruins of Eltar. Meanwhile Marvelous swore a grim vow, that he would not die until Dresk laid dead before him. Now Captain Marvelous he continued to search for the Greatest Power. Weeks later while resupplying on a planet he came across a squadron of Empire troops attacking a swordsman in Blue. He came to the man’s aid and gained his second mate. Less than a month later the two found a bandit in Yellow trying to steal from them. They had the third member of the crew. After a trip through an asteroid belt the ship was damaged and they needed the help of a scientist in Green. Another member joined the crew. The fifth member joined after they came across an escape ship containing a princess in Pink. The crew was complete for the time being. It wasn’t until months after they arrive on Earth and meet an Earthling in Silver…

Red Pirate Ranger- Captain Marvelous- 28- When he was a small boy he and his father lived a quiet peaceful life on their home world of Akarn.  One day a cowardly crook broke into their home, the father and son caught him trying to steal a lock locket this was the only thing left of the boy’s mother. The father wouldn’t let this man take it from them. A struggle ensued and the father was shot.  The boy picked up the fallen weapon and shot the intruder. As his father was dying he told his son that one day “you’ll be marvelous” and from that day on the boy went by that name. As he grew older he stole what he needed to survive.  Marvelous is eccentric and will stop at nothing to find the Power. Before battle he will tell his team “Let’s make this a show!” and is known for leaping before looking.  Before the final battle he reveals his real name to the team “Markel” At three points (near the start, middle, and end) he reveals his growth. Each time involves him forgetting his change at a market. The first time he accuses the clerk of stealing from him. The second time he mutters his thanks and takes his change. The third time he smiles, thanks the clerk, and tells them to keep the change. Face Claim: Frank Dillane

Blue Pirate Ranger- John- 29- This young man hails from the planet Aosa. His parents urged him to join the Empire army and make them proud (on a planet controlled by the empire there was no greater honor) and looking for a challenge in his life he agreed. He soon regretted it. The training nearly killed him and if it were not for a man named Silias he would have perished. Both Silias and John realized that they wanted nothing to do with the empire and their wars and the two started to plan to desert. However on one mission John was ordered to do the unthinkable and slaughter a group of children found by the empire. He refused and struck back against his commanders. For this treason he was scheduled to be killed however Silias saved him and seemingly gave his own life to save John. Fleeing from planet to planet John met a strange captain named Marvelous. The man in red helped him fight off his pursuers and helped him destroy the tracking device they used to find him. In gratitude he swore his service to the man. In return Marvelous handed him a Pirate Morpher and a Blue Ranger Key and made him his first mate. John is the only one of the rangers able to physically stand up to the captain when the latter is acting irrationally. His skills with the sword are unmatched. Stoic and strong he will keep to his vow and help Marvelous find the greatest power. For his parents role in his experiences with the Empire he severed all ties with them. Face Claim: Stephan James

Yellow Pirate Ranger- Lucy- 27- A young street urchin who made a living stealing from the Empire on the planet Kirn. One day her young sister Lilian died while sneaking into a ruined building to gather supplies which then collapsed and the event left a mark on her. She would dream of getting enough money to help all the orphans made by the empire. One day she snuck onboard a strange craft and was soon discovered by two men. One in red and one in blue. The two men were impressed with her skills and offered her a place on their crew. Asking what was in it for her the man in red replied “the greatest power” with that Lucy accepted the Pirate Morpher and yellow Ranger Key.  As the ships lookout she trains her eyesight by spotting shooting stars every night. Refusing to let anyone tell her what to do she often is right next to Marvelous charging into battle without looking first. Face Claim: Tiffany Alvord

Green Pirate Ranger- “Doc” Doug- 26- At the Intergalactic Institute of Science Doug was among the top in his class. He was the favorite pupil of the head master Professor Midon. Midon had discovered a formula that would allow for endless power and instantly he thought of all the good this could do for the universe. However the Empire found out about the formula and wanted it to power their weapons. The attacked the IIoS and laid waste to it. Midon and Doug were trapped in his office when Midon revealed a weapon from his desk. He ordered his friend and student to flee to an escape pod but Doug didn’t want to leave him. Finally he forced Doug to flee. As Doug ran a single shot rang out. Midon took the formula to his grave. Making his way to a safe planet Doug set up a small repair shop where one day he was approached by three people. They said their ship had a problem and Doug offered to help. After he fixed the ship they gave him a Pirate Morpher and green Ranger Key (it would be handy to have him around in case the ship broke again). The rest of the crew usually call him Doc. In battle he uses unusual methods and is the most cautious of the rangers. Face Claim: Fady Elsayed

Pink Pirate Ranger- Princess Amanda of Momos- 21- Momos was a peaceful planet ruled by the Queen and King equally (the Queen was head justice and made the laws, the King was the head of the army and police) The royal family was known as the Sun (queen) Moon (king) and Star (Princess) of Momos.  When the Empire started their attacks on peaceful worlds Momos sent aid to them. Finally the empire came to Momos and demanded their loyalty. The royal family as well as the people refused. In response the Empire laid waste to the people and destroyed much of the planet. The Queen and King were victims of this attack but Princess Amanda managed to flee off world. However some scout ships from the empire started to attack her escape ship. As Amanda thought she was going to die a large red ship appeared and blasted the scouts out of the stars. After they brought her on board she recognized them as the pirates who gave the empire so much trouble. Wanting to be a light to her people she asked to join. With a shrug the captain gave her a Pirate Morpher and a pink ranger key. Amanda is the peacekeeper among the crew. Face Claim: Aleisha Allen

Silver Pirate Ranger- Lewis Karlson- 25- When Lewis was a little boy he and his parents were in the park when they were attacked by a monster. They were saved by the White Tiger Ranger (Tommy) and from then on Lewis loved anything and everything to do with the Power Rangers. The child of a firefighter and a doctor Lewis realized when he grew a little older that just because he didn’t have powers didn’t mean he couldn’t be a hero too. So he dedicated his time and effort to helping others (volunteered, helped out, gave a homeless man his jacket) One day he was going for a walk when he saw a child run into the street after a ball just as a truck was speeding down the street. Without hesitation Lewis ran and pushed the child out of the trucks path but was unable to get out of the way himself. After the truck sped away (the driver was never caught) Lewis was taken to the hospital in a coma. While in this coma he had a vision where he met an old man in flowing white robes. The kind man introduced himself “Hello Lewis.  My name is Zordon” This was the spirit of Zordon. He saw the goodness and potential in Lewis and created the Legacy Morpher and Silver ranger key for him to help the Pirate Rangers. Telling Lewis that the Pirate Rangers needed a reason to care about Earth and its people. They needed an Anchor, Lewis was to be that anchor. Waking up from his coma he ran home and told his parents everything. He then went to find the Pirate Rangers. And soon enough he was the sixth member of the team. Lewis discovers he has the ability to combine certain Ranger Keys. He uses this to combine the RPM Silver and Gold keys. As well as all the sixth rangers to create the Gold Anchor Key. After challenging Dresk Lewis manages to recover the Jungle Fury Spirit Ranger Keys and combines them into the TriSpirit Ranger Key. Face Claim: Daniel Radcliffe On Earth Doc met up with his close friend from the IIoS Zinda when the Megazord needed repairs. She had arrived on Earth following the attack on the IloS. She would go on to be invaluable to the Rangers.  N.A.V.I- Built by the Red Phantom to help in the quest for the keys and powers and the greatest treasure in the universe. Navigation and Vision Interface. His visions lead the rangers in their quest. When Lewis joins the hints become easier to understand. Ranger Keys are the condensed form of the Power contained by the suits. Regarding extra powers, the general rule is, if the original Ranger could use the ability while unmorphed the Ranger Key cannot use it. However if the ability can only be used while morphed then the Ranger Key can use it. (the OO abilities are an example of the former while the RPM abilities are an example of the latter)

The Pirate Rangers each have their own zord Red- Pirate Galleon Zord- A red pirate ship which doubles as the base for the crew Blue- Pirate Jet Zord Yellow- Pirate Truck Zord Green- Pirate Racer Zord Pink- Pirate Sub Zord Pirate Megazord R-Torso/Head/Weapons BG- Arms (the hat comes from B) YP- Legs Main attack is Pirate Cannon Burst When the team begin to collect Great Powers they sometimes gain a new zord to combine with. Pirate Mystic Megazord Formed from the Mystic Force Great Power- Mystic Dragon Pirate SPD Megazord Formed from the SPD Great Power- SPD Zord 1 Pirate Wild Megazord Formed from the Wild Force Great Power- Red Lion Pirate Bushido Megazord Formed from the Bushido Great Power- Red Lion Pirate Ninja Megazord Formed from the Ninja Storm Great Power- Minizord Pirate Rex Megazord Combination of Pirate Megazord and DrillRex Megazord- Formed from Dino Thunder Great Power Pirate RPM Megazord Formed from the RPM Great Power- Condor Speeder Pirate Ultrazord Formed from the Pirate Legends Great Power- Combines Pirate MZ, DrillRex, and CS DrillRex Megazord- Lewis’s personal zord- Has three modes- Drilljet, Dinosaur (nicknamed “Awesomesaurus” by Lewis), and Megazord- When inactive it is kept in the 30th century and maintained by Time Force- Is implied to have some form of sentience on occasion and once even moves its arm to catch Lewis after he is thrown from the cockpit during one of the final battles Stellar Empire- Controls over 90% of the universe. Emperor Zang- The ruthless ruler of the Empire. Prince Waru- The prince who constantly seeks his father’s approval Damaras- A battle hardened general who is in charge of the Prince’s safety Drorg- A robotic swordsman, in reality is Silias converted into a cyborg and reprogrammed to protect and serve the Prince. Inscine- The top science officer of the Empire Smasage- A hammer wielding guard of the Emperor

Zarms- Grey- The standard foot solider of the Empire Zargs- Blue- Larger brutes with blaster arms Zards- Red- The elite foot soldiers of the Emperor himself. Dresk- The former crew mate of Marvelous and the Red Phantom. Hides his true monstrous appearance. Believes that it is best to give up something to gain something better. Simi- A robotic monkey that helps Dresk with his plans. Able to produce monsters within itself. Great Powers Season- Guardian- Power- Order received- Lesson- Misc Eltar- Zoltar- Eltar Zord- Movie power- Used to destroy Noxturn forever. MMPR- Billy- Dinozords (all seven)- 19th- Honor the past- used to destroy Thrax once and for all Thunder Spirits- Aisha- Thunder Megazord Slash- 13th- Power can come from unlikely sources Aquitar Rangers- Aquitar Rangers and Ninjor- Falconzord -18th- Unite your mind, body and spirit- It’s revealed that Ninjor survived but had to retreat to his bottle to heal. The Aquitarian Rangers agreed to look after him and his temple. The Pirates seek the power after fighting and loosing against a group of ninjas (Feline Flora Force). It is revealed that there are two types of ninja. Ninjetti uses the power of the ninja beasts (ape, wolf, bear, etc) while Ninjutsu uses the power of the elements (air, water, earth, etc) Ninjor reveals that he is a master of both types and in fact helped form the first Ninja Academy. However neither type is stronger than the other but it is often best to fight fire with fire- Ninjor also uses some of his remaining power to create a Ninjor Ranger Key for Lewis to use. Zeo- Rocky- Zeo Blast (The five zeo crystal shapes come out of the limbs of the megazord and form the zeo icon and blast the enemy)- 12th- No lesson- Nearly stolen by Dresk but saved in time by the Rangers Turbo- Justin- Turbo Megazord Spinout- 6th- Don’t judge a book by its cover In Space- Andros Ashley and child- Mega Voyager Missile- 16th- Adapt to your enemy- Dresk held Andros and Ashley’s child hostage for the power but the Rangers managed to save them- Andros is the main cameo but Ashley appears in the last scene Lost Galaxy- Spirit of the Magna Defender- Galactabeast charge/ Torozord spin for DrillRex Megazord- 7th- Don’t let rage and revenge rule your life Lightspeed Rescue- Dana- Lightspeed slash- 9th- Helping others is good- Dresk tries to steal the power but is stopped by Lucy and Amanda Time Force- Alex, Wes and Jen- Chrono Cannon - 17th- Alex contacts the Pirates and says that one of them won’t survive the next battle, after hesitating the team decide to shape their own future, in the end a conversation between Alex, Wes, and Jen implies that Alex lied to teach them that.- You make your own destiny Wild Force- Cole and Alyssa- Pirate Wild Force Megazord- 4th- Never give up Ninja Storm- Shane, Dustin, Tori- Pirate Ninja Megazord- 10th- Get past your differences to fight a common enemy Dino Thunder- Conner- Pirate Rex Megazord- 11th- Power can come from within anyone SPD- Anubis and Sky- Pirate SPD Megazord- 2nd- The difference between Justice and Revenge- Sky is still a new recruit at the time of their encounter. Mystic Force- Nick- Pirate Mystic Megazord- 1st- Believe in magic Operation Overdrive- Mack- Overdrive sabre- 8th- The thrill of adventure Jungle Fury- Casey -Jungle Spirit rush- 3rd- Never stop training yourself RPM- Dr. K and Ziggy- Condor Speeder/ Pirate RPM Megazord- 14th- Even in darkness there is light- The Condor Speeder is based on unused blueprints for the Eagle Racer- Used to destroy Venjix once and for all.- During the team up with the Bushido Rangers Venjix leaped from Scotts morpher into Professor Cog, however after the battle he had to repair himself. Almost right after she arrived in this universe Doctor K uploaded the Venjix antivirus program to the internet thus preventing the original Venjix from leaving Cog’s body. Bushido Blades- Takeshi/Kiyoko- Pirate Bushido Megazord- 5th- The meaning of teamwork Pirate Legends- 15th- Pirate Ultrazord- People are not judged by the lowest point in their life, they are judged by how they reach their highest.

The Pirate Rangers met many other heroes. The first of which was Power Rider 4-Z Cody Rodgers- A lifelong friend of Lewis, Cody is a friendly and excitable guy. One day he comes to town to show his old friend something amazing. He has the 4Z belt (four zone) Along with his friend they discover that when Edenoi fell to the Empire King Dex fell as well buying his people enough time to escape. With Lewis’s help Cody avenges Dex and destroys the monster that killed him (spider based a fact that scares Lewis greatly given that he has arachnophobia). “3 2 1… Let’s Ride!” “BLAST OFFFFFF!” Power Ranger/ Power Rider Crossover (regular episodes not movies) “RANGERS AND RIDERS” (two parter) Cody and the Rider Club appear in Angel Grove during a school vacation (they all go to Milky Way University) (takes place before Meteor is introduced) Rider Club Ken- Son of the man who made the FZ belt Yolei- Middle School friend of Cody and Lewis Mindy- Head Cheerleader Jake- Gamer and he has an ear to the information highway of the campus. Shawn- Quarterback of the football team and pilot of the Powerdriver armor Tiffany- Goth with a strange sense involving the Cosmic Switches During the crossover the spirit of King Dex reveals that the original king of Edenoi was the first Rider. During the crossover in order to get past the villain’s trap Lewis and Cody switch morphers “LET’S RIDE” Third part (separate episode one parter) More about the fall of Edenoi is revealed It’s revealed that the original King of Edenoi and Zoltar were friends and helped create the alliance between the worlds. The monster that killed King Dex appears on Earth and thrashes everyone Later the spirit of Dex reveals this info to Cody and Lewis and gives Cody a special switch that allows him to access the powers of the original Rider (theme from Kamen Rider plays in the background) Cody uses this power to avenge Dex and his people and finishes the monster off with a Rider Kick. “Movies” “RANGER LEGACY!” Soon after Lewis joins the team Noxturn returns and the Rangers end up fulfilling the ancient prophecy. Noxturn uses his powers to send the rangers to pocket universes until they all break free. He rises an army of defeated monsters and the Ranger Keys create an army of the past Earth Megazords and the Great Power of the Eltar Rangers is used to destroy Noxturn. “TRIBUTE TO HEROES” Crossover of Rangers, Riders, Beetleborgs, Mystic Knights, VR Troopers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Ultraman Tiga A strange new enemy puts five of the rangers out of action. Acting on a vision from N.A.V.I (Find the rider of power, a child who bugged out, a night mystic, a digital warrior, an unnatural ninja and the ultimate man) Lewis gets Cody and the two journey to the Hillworth Mansion (they remember it from their comics which in universe were based on the real deal) Drew is working at the comic book store the two stop at and throws them out. It turns out that during the Ranger War the Rangers asked the Beetleborgs for help but they refused seeing as how they would have been slaughtered. However they do convince him to take him to the mansion. (the beetleborgs defeated their final enemy by gaining a new set of powers that combined the first two into one suit of armor {blue+ gold for example}) Flabber hears them talk about the next part of N.A.V.I’s vision and opens a portal in time.Out of the portal falls Rohan of the Mystic Knights. With a quick translation spell from Flabber they quickly explain the situation. He realizes that they are heroes and offers their aid. (it’s revealed that Lewis and Cody used to go to a Mystic Knight exhibit at the museum all the time as kids) The next hero to get is one of the VR Troopers. It turns out that Drew had Ryan as a professor in college. During a battle a mutant rises from the sewers armed with twin swords. Leonardo joins the team to fight the threat. The six heroes unite and put a stop to the villain. Oh and the villain is IVAN OOZE! (somehow the comet blasted him across the multiverse and he recently freed himself and found himself here.) Lewis comments that there was an in-universe version of the Power Ranger Movie but many found it full of incorrect facts and dated graphics but Lewis still enjoyed it. After Ivan creates new versions of his titans a jet arrives with the G.U.T.S logo on the side. The Ultimate Man has arrived. With a shout Ultraman Tiga enters the battle. The heroes unite and destroy Ivan. “Guardian Legends” The Guardian Spirit Rangers arrive and engage the Pirate Rangers (Lucif cast an illusion to try and get the Pirate Rangers to destroy the Guardian Rangers for him) however during the battle both sides take care to save bystanders revealing the illusion. The two teams unite to destroy Lucif once and for all with Talaa gaining his battlizer to deliver the final blow. As he falls Lucif accuses the Guardian Rangers of dooming Gosei revealing he had cast an illusion shielding the planet from the Empire’s sight. With his destruction the illusion fades and the Empire begins to approach the world. Before leaving to protect their home Talaa mentions that the universe looks at Earth like a shining beacon of hope (Giving Lewis an idea for a plan) Near the end Marvelous and Dresk have a final duel and after striking Dresk down he begged for mercy. At first it appears that Marvelous was going to grant it. Only for the Captain to fire a single shot. A quick death was the only mercy Dresk deserved. Lewis meanwhile has grown tired of the Empire going unpunished for their actions. He comes up with a plan. A plan so dangerous that if a single step goes wrong they will all die. The plan is to destroy Empire facilities on Earth and as many ships in orbit as they can. This causes them to call in reinforcements from other worlds weakening their hold on those worlds. Using the trumpet and with some help from Zinda they manage to make a device to create ranger energy clones.  They use the device to create teams of six rangers (one real 5 clones) of the same color (or equivalent) and target Empire bases and plants. After they short out the device they broadcast a transmission to the universe by highjacking the Empire satellites; telling them that this is the time to stand up and fight for freedom! Lewis at one point says that “the power is on OUR side! No one will ever take us down!” A montage of different planets happens. On Aquitar ninjas rescues members of the Aquirian rebels and they team up to fight the Empire. The rebel leader Mantor  personally saved the life of Cestria at the cost of his own. On a rebel colony a group of cloaked figures approach a group of grunts. They gesture and the grunts go flying. KO-35 fights back. On Miranoi the colonists and natives ambush a group of Zarms and destroy them. On the planet Grifforzar a figure raises a sword in the air and unleashes a war cry and the sky is filled with the wings of golden warriors fighting for their freedom! On Edenoi many different Riders are fighting the Empire to take back the planet. Across Earth the heroes fight back. In Hillworth the Beetleborgs and Vr Troopers buy the civilians enough time to get to a magic shelter created at the mansion by Flabber and his muses. Flabber also uses his magic to allow the monsters to leave the mansion and fight against the alien threat. In the sky above China the forces of G.U.T.S assist Ultraman Tiga in defending the innocent. In the streets of New York a certain group of mutant turtles leap from the shadows and strike down the Zarms. Flabber also opens a portal in time, this time all the Mystic Knights arrive in Ireland and after Rohan explains the situation the knights quickly join the battle. The Rider Club is listening to the speech as well. Cody and his enemies form a temporary truce to fight against the Empire. All across the universe the Empire troops are falling. The final battle approaches… After a long and hard battle in which the Pirate Rangers use every team’s powers the Pirate Rangers win! The Emperor falls. The Empire falls! The universe is free! Days later after resting from the battle the six discover the Greatest Power in the Universe (it’s in the ruins of the Command Center) Inside the strange container is… A second Z-Wave! However unlike the first one this wave doesn’t destroy anything or anyone. This Z-Wave restores the damage caused by the Stellar Empire. Scenes of Triforian pyramids rebuilding themselves, Aquitarian structures repairing, and the fields of Momos are beautiful once more. In his temple Ninjor is fully healed. And on a certain floating island the Red Lion Wildzord wakes up from a nap to find the island populated by Wild Zords again! Captain Marvelous has a new goal, to invade the Empire homeworld and take all the treasure they stole during their invasions. As the Pirate Rangers leave Earth they release all the Ranger Keys and they fly back to their original owners. In an epilogue the RPM Rangers find and unleash the second Z-Wave restoring much of their Earth. Across the universe alliances forged in combat are strengthened by treaties and peace spreads. On Aquitar Cestria becomes the Pink Aquitar Ranger and pledges to honor Mantor signalling a new age. Empire prisons are raided by the SPD and the Space Sheriffs  and those falsely jailed are set free.  However the adventure is not over yet… Morphers- Pirate Morpher/Legacy Morpher Morphing Call- Pirate Power Morphing- The pirate logo hits the ranger creating pieces of the suit. Lewis’s anchor logo does the same but for the final part it hits from behind and his glasses form his visor. (Bios by @dream-chef-flavors and @rosegrl18) RANGER WAR <——–Powerverse——-> Power Rangers Pirate Legends Set Sail

[theinquisitivej]

SteamHeart Episode 15 Reactions

Chapter Fifteen: A Short Cut to…

You can listen to the full episode here.

James approaches a lake where Raven sits nearby. His manner of walking into the lake and submerging himself in the water instead of taking the clothes off to wash them by hand is a little unusual, but foreshadows what James will be doing later on in the chapter; he is immersing himself in an element, or environment, or whatever you would call the cosmic and ethereal place his mind takes him to later on, and that element renders him weightless. It’s a very different sensation to walking on solid ground through familiar air. James coming out of the water and sitting next to Raven as he drips potentially alludes to him coming down after his experience, as he’s returned to Earth, but remnants of the space that he was just immersed in still cling to him, running off of him as either drops of water, or impressions of ideas and abstract concepts.

         James begins a conversation with an initially unresponsive Raven, sharing his hypothesis that he might be able to understand and make better use of his Endowment if he reaches the correct mental and/or spiritual state. James eventually gets to what he had come here to ask Raven, which is whether he knows any Native American shamans who might be experienced in guiding people through spiritual matters. James usually speaks very quickly, as he is often voicing his thoughts at the same rapid rate that his mind processes them. At this point of the conversation with Raven, however, he says each word with an uncertain and apologetic pause –  he doesn’t want to make unfounded assumptions about Native American culture and cause offense, but he also wants to explore every potential avenue that could help further their mission. James places a lot of importance in the act of making progress, but he’s not so narrowly focused on that that he loses perspective and doesn’t take these things into consideration and display genuine signs of internal conflict at approaching Raven to ask him this.

         Raven realises that this was Arlington’s hidden motive for including him on this mission. He didn’t just want him there to document this journey, he knew that Raven was a shaman and had placed him next to James and Abigail in the hopes that this would lead to more progress in understanding their Endowment. After venting his frustrations over this, James admits that he had suspected this but did not want to presume, but, in any case, this is most fortunate. The exchange that follows is one of the first glimpses we were given of SteamHeart after The Princess Thieves had wrapped up. James asks if Raven will teach him to better understand the power inside him, Raven says he will and feigns a dramatic revelation that James is “the child of the prophecy!”, which James momentarily believes and asks if that’s true, to which Raven irritably responds “No!”, scoffs, and calls James a jackass. It’s a delightful and memorable excerpt that charms you into wanting to see more characterful interactions like this, and conveys the playful irreverence this series and the author has towards ‘Chosen One’ narratives which have become rather tiring in recent years.

         They continue their conversation as Raven turns the idea over in his head. He doesn’t have a high opinion of his own abilities as a shaman, meaning there’s only so much he can help James and Abigail. This is a wise development, as it stops Raven from being the all-knowing mystic minority, as he’s informed enough about this aspect of his culture that he can lend perspective, but his ethnicity doesn’t mean he’s fully versed in every part of Native American culture. Still, he may be out of his depth when it comes to offering spiritual guidance on a matter that none of them have any familiarity with, but he knows that this is important enough that he should nevertheless try. He suggests they either wait until they find a shaman who’s more suited to this, or they try some mushrooms he’s got in his bag that might help James and Abigail tap into whatever it is they need to tap into. In Raven’s words, “they’ll get you pretty fucked up”.

          That afternoon, James makes his case to Annie, who is firmly opposed to the idea. Her remark that she’s aware of the dangers of eating mushrooms from the forest reminds us of Annie’s extensive familiarity with woodland environments that we saw in Chapter Eleven. She asks Raven for more information, and he shows her the bag of mushrooms, which he points out was fuller when he first acquired them, which is Raven’s way or assuring her that he’s taken a fair few of these himself and they didn’t kill him. They are Teonanácatl, “flesh of the Gods”, and Raven claims they will bring things which are locked away to the surface. This is perhaps why this is the chapter where James tells the rest of the group about their past with Lucy. Annie asks if it can hurt them, and Raven says truthfully that it might make them sick, or even overwhelm their senses, which, given the uncertain nature of what it is that James and Abigail’s new eyes allow them to “sense”, could be so overpowering that it results in a deep trauma that stays with them. Annie eventually relents, and when Abigail approaches the group as they discuss this, she’s told what it is they’re planning to do, which she takes on board relatively quickly and without much objection, apart from pointing out that this could lead to them inadvertently opening up more portals. James admits that he’s half-hoping that this is exactly what happens, because at least then they’ll know. It seems that James is growing increasingly perturbed at his lack of progress with this Endowment, and wants some proof that he’s gained something from losing one of his eyes, even if something disastrous has to happen for him to get this proof.

         Most of the rest of the episode is a series of recordings of their experiment with the Teonanácatl that evening. James and Abigail are sat besides a campfire with Annie, Butler, and Raven, and the atmospheric sounds of the fire and the night-time chirps of the unseen animals inhabiting the deserted countryside make this an engaging sensory experience.

         At 10:20, the effects begin to show themselves, with the light of the fire looking particularly intense to Abigail, and, from the sounds of James’ low mumbles of agreement, I’d wager he’s experiencing something similar. This would be what Raven was talking about when he mentioned the mushrooms overwhelming the senses, as they seem to make everything more pronounced. Abigail’s mention of “much brighter spots shining out of the darkness” makes me think of stars and the other worlds out there represented by the lights that her Endowed eye can see.

         At 10:30, James notes some geometric shapes in the air, believing them to be significant. If the mushrooms do indeed help people reach a deeper understanding of the universe around them, then perhaps this is James’ mathematical brain breaking down his surroundings to their most elemental, fundamental shapes which act as building blocks for the universe. Abigail, meanwhile, is seeing the stars even more brightly. She has been able to see lights through her starlit eye more easily than James, so it makes sense that these lights would be especially dazzling for her. Though James does tell her that he sees them too – maybe he’s able to see what she sees through her, through the perspective she brings to his life. Abigail wants “to grow things”, hinting at her recent thoughts on the natural world that she reflected on in Chapter Fourteen.

         At 10:40, James has taken off his eyepatch, giving his starlit eye the chance to take in whatever it can see and surrendering himself to his senses. His words begin to fail him as he loses the thread of what he was describing, a rare thing for James. He is blown away by the uncountable number of edges, corners, and borders of the shapes around him, as is Abigail by the millions of connections she feels to other people. The picture this paints is similar to how Cerebro is sometimes depicted in X-Men media, with countless lights infinitely reflected and refracted, with each one representing another living person that you can connect with. Both Abigail and James touch on the idea of their world being linked with multiple worlds they don’t even know about, whether it’s the notion that “we can feel all the other directions, we just can’t name them”, or Abigail’s remark that “we think we’re alone in all of this, but we’re together … always”. For as often as Abigail brings up her difficulties with social interaction, her soul reaches out to form relationships with so many people, from James, to Lucy, to Tabitha, to Annie, to Harry, to her parents, and to any number of people she might meet in the future. In this moment, Abigail understands just how connected they all are with one another.

         At 10:50, Abigail tells James that she’s in love with him. She says she was afraid to tell him before, and James gently tells her not to be, before telling her in a moment of honest vulnerability that he loves her too. They both know in this moment of complete clarity that they truly feel this way about one another. It’s when the weight of their past resurfaces to pull them back to Earth later on that this one unrestrained moment of love becomes an unreachable reality to them.

         After that moment of intensity, we hear James’ amusing revelations about carrots at 11:00. Meanwhile, Abigail demonstrates her compassion for others by telling Annie she loves her as well, and for a moment, she seems to have plans to tell Harry the same thing. Butler agrees with her comments about Annie being beautiful, but cuts Abigail short after she mentions kissing Annie on the lips, perhaps less so to do with being concerned about his wife being kissed by another person and more to do with making sure that the recording doesn’t pick up anything that Abigail might regret having said later. James talks about seeing through the world, like seeing a window pane, with the people of the world leaving faint finger prints on the glass. But James can only see them, he can’t interact with them (the Cerebro parallels grow stronger). In a note of dejected resignation, James says “it’s not going to happen”, and the recording ends. He could be talking about how this experiment won’t help him tap into his powers, or how the mission isn’t going to succeed, or that humanity isn’t going to make it through this, or all of that at once. Whatever the case, we’re hearing James feel truly feels powerless in this moment.

         An hour later, at midnight, we overhear parts of Abigail’s conversation with an unseen figure. As soon as she says “if you’re so wise”, I had an inkling that she had somehow established a connection with Merlaine from The Princess Thieves. Abigail mentions the impossibility of crossing oceans in SteamHeart, which could mean Merlaine suggested that Team Steam come to Britain to meet her there. Abigail describes Merlaine’s appearance to the rest of the group, all but confirming to fans of The Princess Thieves who this is while giving the uninitiated another mysterious aspect to this chapter. Abigail’s kind remarks to ‘M’ (which incidentally cements the mental image I have of Merlaine resembling Judi Dench) and her genuine sadness at seeing her go shows Abigail forming yet another connection. I’m both intrigued and delighted to hear M promise that they will meet again. This pleasantness is short-lived, however, as James has a sudden fit of vomiting, which sets Abigail off, and we’re treated to a combination of squelching sound effects and retching vocal noises that, quite frankly, is enough to make a queasy listener feel sick themselves. The pair are beginning to come down hard.

         Half an hour later, at 12:30, Abigail is sobbing. I’m not sure if this means she’s necessarily crying or not, but it sounds like she’s pretty tearful as her sudden fall back to Earth floods her emotions. Abigail hasn’t been able to cry for many years, so this is as close as she’s ever gotten, which is pretty significant. It emphasises just how hard she’s fallen after feeling freed from all the hardships and painful parts of life, and how impossible facing that seems after knowing what it feels like to be weightless, even if just for a little while. Raven urges Abigail to understand that the images, the illusions that she experienced which felt so real are still “constructs we make for ourselves. That freedom you felt? You bring it with you.” I think there are several ways you can take this advice or interpret it, but the way I see it, it seems that Raven is saying that the sensation she experienced when she felt weightless wasn’t an ethereal truth outside of her reach, but was instead a realisation of her way of viewing and understanding the world. The “freedom” that comes from that understanding feels so clear when you’re detached from reality, and when you come back to face the everyday hardships of life, it can be hard to hold onto that ideal understanding of what it means to be free. It’s up to you to try and take that understanding and incorporate it into how you navigate the conflicts of life and the world.

         At 12:45, we check in on James, whose grief for Lucy is resurfacing. James quietly says with shame and horror that “I killed her. Both of us did”, showing that he still blames himself for what happened, and that his and Abigail’s connection to this traumatic event still has a hold on both of them. It seems he and Abigail still believe what she said at Lucy’s funeral all those years ago, that “this will never not be our fault”. This section ends with James asking that the recording device be switched off. This is likely the moment where the two of them tell Annie and Butler about the events of Weirwood. This marks the end of the recordings documenting this experiment.

         James records his feelings the next morning in a journal entry, confirming his mournful resignation over his inability to control his Endowment and the impossibility for him and Abigail to ever move past their guilt over what happened to Lucy. He could neither talk with Abigail nor relisten to the recordings that day, the emotional collapse of the last parts of the experiment being too difficult to confront. The next day they continued with their journey, stopping at the military encampment at the edge of Columbus. We hear some details of the new geographic layout of the territories controlled by the Reunified States and those that have been granted to Seth. But none of that matters once the group reaches the telegraph centre and receive word from Washington of the deaths of Thomas and Sarah Arlington. The telegraph is read to us by a deeply shaken Truth who is forcing herself to carry on in her duties, and the episode ends with her asking Annie not to tell Harry yet.

         The epilogue turns towards M as she tells her brusque horse over breakfast about her conversation with Abigail. Their agreement that the next few months (and we know that this timescale refers to the calendar that our world is familiar with due to the deliberate inclusion of “Gregorian”) will be a period of great change builds up the anticipation for the rest of the book as well as whatever comes next, but the remark that this will affect AT LEAST five worlds gets the mind whirring. Alex Shaw has alluded to at least Ten Worlds playing an important role in New Century’s story, and, if my count and memory is correct, we only know of five worlds at this point. There’s Centrum, the world Team Steam lives in, Rama, Hrao’s purple world, Celador and Hannoth, the worlds of the Duart and Akka respectively, and Earth, the world that has been hypothesized by a few inhabitants of Centrum to be an alternate version of their world that was unaffected by the appearance of these Wind Doors to different worlds (this is more or less the world that we, the audience, inhabit). So, which of these worlds will experience great change? Is it possible that Earth will be affected as well? Are we to discover other worlds over the course of SteamHeart that will be affected by the events of the next few months? After all, we still don’t know what world the Wendigos came from – could that be one of the worlds affected? There are a lot of questions and a great deal of uncertainty lies ahead for both the audience and Team Steam.

[savagearchangelforthewin2-0]

Burning Doves - Ch. 3

Fandom: Supernatural (The Last of Us AU) Main Pairing: Ducifer Chapter Title: Human Word Count: 3, 956 Warnings: Blood/Gore, Swearing Summary: While travelling, The Demons and Men of Letters come across a hoard of the infected. Lucifer, not thinking straight, does the unimaginable, forcing himself to open up about things in his life.

Ao3 Link: http://archiveofourown.org/works/12336633/chapters/28947048

Sam and Eileen stuck to the back of the group for the sake of Charlie, who needed help walking along at a slow pace. While she had enough strength to walk in twenty minute intervals, there were multiple occasions where Sam or Eileen would have to full-on carry her. It was a tiring process but the two didn’t complain about helping their injured friend.

Meg also hung around them, mostly because she wanted to try to strike up a conversation with Charlie. She tried speaking with her multiple times but every time she did, the only response she got was a quiet grunt or a sleepy glare. After being turned down over a dozen times, she slowly drifted away and begrudgingly dragged her feet as she walked over to be beside the people of her group.

“Nice job trying to flirt with the lady you shot.” Ruby sneered teasingly, nudging Meg with her hip.

Meg huffed softly and crossed her arms, “I only wanted to talk to her but she’s probably too tired.”

“Or maybe she just doesn’t want to talk to the person who nearly killed her.” Lilith threw in, earning a glare.

“Geez,” Meg pouted, “It wasn’t that bad. Plus, it’s not like I was trying to shoot her. I just saw a figure and I shot at it.”

“Really?” Ruby quirked an eyebrow, “I could’ve sworn that I heard you say ‘hey, see that a redhead over there? I’ll shoot her’.” She said jokingly, shaking her head, “We know you weren’t trying to, you’ll just have to convince her of that. Good luck, by the way.”

“Thanks,” Meg sighed, “I’ll try again later.”

Ruby smiled and shrugged, “Hit me up if you need a hype man-”

“Heads up, there’s a group headed our way!” Ellen shouted, grabbing the shotgun that was being handed to her by Bobby.

“So early?” Lilith groaned.

Ellen continued speaking, “Lots of runners and a few clickers.” She cocked her gun and turned to Lucifer. “You ready?”

“More than you are, trust me.” With that, Lucifer sprinted to Ruby, Meg, and Lilith, calling Azazel, Dagon, and Ramiel over as well. “Listen, guys, don’t waste your bullets on them, okay?” Lucifer began, “Just kill the infected ones if they get too close to you or anyone else in our team.”

Everyone nodded.

“Alright, stick together.” Lucifer stalked back over to the front (Ruby and Lilith followed while Meg stayed back) where several shots were already fired. He pulled his pistol from its holster and began firing at any of the runners coming his way. He didn’t bother trying to take down a clicker as that would truly be a waste of bullets; he left that job to Ellen.

The two main categories of the infected ones were clickers and runners. The clickers were the ones that had been infected for a long time; fungus grew on their arms, legs, and face, protecting them but also blocking their vision. Their only sense of direction was echolocation. They could and would react to the smallest of sounds and, when aggravated, they were hard to kill. Runners, on the other hand, moved faster but were significantly easier to kill. One shot to the head would take care of them.

The head is exactly where Lucifer was aiming with each of his shots. He had enough practice in his lifetime to hit his target almost each time he pulled that trigger. “How many does it look like to you?” he shouted over to Ellen.

She shook her head, squinting as she shot the heavy gun. “Not sure. Too many. I’m not sure if we’ll be able to get rid of all of them.”

Lucifer snorted, “I don’t think we have much of a choice now.” He shot a runner right in between the eyes while it stumbled towards him. “Such a fucking waste of bullets.” He muttered to himself. He put multiple rounds into a clicker before Ellen finished it off.

“If we’re lucky, we can keep them at that distance away from us so none of us get hurt.” Ellen stated, starting to shoot at a faster pace.

In a split second, Dean showed up beside her, pumping bullets into a few of the infected ones. “Ellen, we have a problem.” He grunted, “There are more showing up near the back of the group. Like, a lot more. I need back up.”

“Take whoever you need.”

Dean wrinkled his nose and glanced at the options in front of him: Ruby, Lilith, and Lucifer. He groaned quietly and nodded at them, “You three, come with me.” He returned to the back of the group, helping Sam and Eileen to kill a few more.

“Don’t waste the bullets,” Lucifer reminded his people in a quiet voice, following the older Winchester.

Dean wasn’t lying when he said there was a lot more of the infected near the back. The clickers and runners were slowly surrounding them and everyone was clearly struggling to fight them off.

Meanwhile, The Demons mostly pretended to be helping. When they felt as though too many eyes were on them, they would shoot their guns; otherwise, they weren’t doing much to participate in the fight.

Little by little, it seemed like the hoard was growing thin. Things slowed down and Dean took a split second to catch his breath – that was just enough time for a runner to grab a hold of him, trying to wrap its arms around his neck. The older Winchester did his best to keep from being bitten but the angle he was at made it difficult.

Lucifer took a step away from the situation, reminding himself not to waste bullets. If he died, that was his problem and he should’ve been more careful.

But what if I don’t need to waste any bullets for this?

Not thinking straight, Lucifer clutched the back of the runner’s torn shirt and pulled it, forcing it onto the ground. Dean was knocked down as well but at least the infected one wasn’t holding on to him anymore. Now what? Lucifer dropped on to the ground; partially on purpose and partially by force. The runner had taken a hold of his ankle and pulled him to the ground. Whatever. He wanted to be on the ground anyways.

Lucifer moved quickly and jumped on top of the infected person, knees on either side of it to pin it to the ground. He got a few good punches in before the sick individual overthrew him again. It began to savagely bite his arm as well as scratch at his flesh. In the next few seconds, a bullet was in its head, causing it to slowly release.

Lucifer rolled over on to his back once he was free, crying out in pain as he gripped his bleeding arm and rocked back and forth.

Dean scrambled to get to his feet, collecting his own gun from the ground. He immediately pointed it at the blonde man.

“Fucking shoot him and you won’t see another day!” Meg shouted at him, grabbing his wrist and redirecting his aim towards the sky.

“Are you insane?” Dean shrieked, pushing past her and putting his gun to Lucifer’s face once again, “He’s been bitten,” he growled, “he’s infected and you’ll thank me later when you won’t have to deal with a rabid animal.”

Lucifer, shaking violently, tried to sit up. Tears were streaming down his face, smudging away some of the dirt and blood that had dried there quite a while ago. He looked Dean right in the eyes then shifted his gaze over to the gun that was inches away from his face. As he was in too much pain, he made no attempts to move.

He sneered quietly, “S-Screw you.” His voice faltered, “I thought I knew better than to t-t-try helping people,” he spat.

“I’m doing this for the sake of everybody.” Dean whispered in response. Before he was about to pull the trigger, he felt the warm muzzle of a recently used gun against the back of his head.

“What did I say?” Meg hissed into his ear, “I don’t play when it comes to my family.”

Slowly, Dean pulled his finger away from the trigger and clicked the safety back into place.

“Now, put it in the holster where it can’t hurt anyone.”

Dean complied.

“Now get the fuck away from him.” Meg shoved Dean away and knelt down by Lucifer’s side. “Hey, Luc,” she said quietly, “c’mon you’re gonna be okay. Let me help you.” She stretched his arm out to get a better view of the wound; it went deep and the blood was coming out fast. “Alcohol.” She whispered softly to herself, standing up and facing Ellen (who had come to see what all the commotion was about). “I need alcohol to keep it from getting infected.” She said quickly.

Ellen opened her mouth to protest only to be cut off by Meg:

“I don’t have time to explain, just give me the damn alcohol!”

Ellen glanced at Bobby skeptically before handing her the flask of whiskey that rested on her hip. Once Meg snatched the flask away from her, she dropped back down to her knees and pulled off her faded leather jacket, “Here, hold this in your mouth.”

Without question, as he already knew what was about to happen, Lucifer shoved the sleeve of the jacket into his mouth and shut his eyes tightly.

Meg took a deep breath, opened the flask of whiskey, and began to slowly pour it over the deep wound in his arm.

Lucifer let out a sharp cry and buried his face deeper into the jacket. He was having a hard time holding his arm in place and tried pulling away from Meg’s grip a few times.

“C’mon, Luci, you’re alright.” She muttered, shaking her head, “Not like you haven’t done this before.”

The pain was unbearable and Lucifer was practically convulsing by the time she finished pouring about half of the whiskey in the flask over his arm. Meg released his arm and began to ease his flannel shirt off of him.

“I need this to stop the blood,” Meg explained though, chances were, he probably couldn’t focus on what she was saying. Once she managed to slip the flannel off of him, she began to tightly wrap it around his arm.  When she turned away from Lucifer, she was met face to face with dozens of the Men of Letters. She stood up, crossed her arms, and straightened out her back in order to reach her full height. “What do you want?” She demanded to know. She noticed that they were restraining Lilith, Ruby, and all the other Demons from seeing what was going on. “You all seriously couldn’t wait for three whole minutes for us to explain, could you?”

“Three whole minutes is all a person needs to change into one of them.” Dean responded with a snarl, pointing to all of the infected they had just finished killing.

Meg scoffed, “You’re disgusting. You really think he would’ve risked becoming one of those things to save your sorry ass?” She chuckled, “You think too highly of yourself. Trust me; he won’t be turning anytime soon. If he was going to, I would’ve shot him myself.”

Dean stared at her. He didn’t know whether to believe her or not… she didn’t look like she was lying but, then again, looks could be deceiving. “You better have an explanation for us in fifteen minutes.”

“Make it an hour.” Meg said casually, “He should explain it himself and isn’t in any shape to do so right now,” She paused, “or in fifteen minutes.”

Dean clenched his jaw, stealing a glance at the shaking man. A tight feeling grew in his chest. Was he really feeling guilty? He cursed under his breath; why did Lucifer try and save him? Taking a sharp breath, he nodded at Meg, “Fine, one hour. He turns into one of those things and he’s dead.”

Now that Lucifer’s flannel was off and his arms were exposed, Dean could see that his arms were also riddled with the same burns he had on his face. Along with that were multiple scars that loosely looked like dog bites. Dean had no doubt that those scars and burns would be in the explanation.

Lucifer held on to Meg’s jacket tighter than before, so tight that his knuckles turned white. He sat with his knees tucked up to his chest, rocking back and forth. Meg sat beside him.

An hour finally passed but time seemed to be moving slow for Lucifer. The only thing he found himself being able to focus on was the throbbing pain in his arm; the dramatic part of him was convinced that this was the end and that he was going to finally die. However, Meg being at his side made him feel significantly better.

While the people waited, they decided it would be a good time to search nearby buildings for food and ration out the cans of food they already had in their bags. Ten minutes after the one hour mark, Dean began heading in Lucifer’s direction, a small portion of bread in his hand. Despite his protests, many of The Men of Letters had convinced him to go take some food to Lucifer considering he had just saved his life. So he did… With a heavy sigh, Dean sat down in front of him under the careful watch of Meg.

The Winchester, without saying anything, stretched out his hand and offered the bread to him.

Lucifer wrinkled his nose and inched back, “Aren’t you scared I’m going to try and bite you?” He huffed, turning his head away.

Dean rolled his eyes, his arm still extended, “We’re passed that.” He paused for about ten seconds, “Why did you do it?” He said in a quiet voice, almost scared to ask. “I fucking hate you and you fucking hate me.” He said flatly.

“A thank you would be nice.” Lucifer hissed in response, suddenly snatching the piece of bread from Dean’s hand. He winced and silently cursed himself for moving his injured arm in such a quick motion.

Dean put his hands together, “Right, well, you seem fine now. Care to start explaining as to why you shouldn’t be dead by now?”

Lucifer gave a sarcastic smile, “Gladly. Doesn’t the rest of your group want to hear the gossip? At least the old man and his wife, no?”

Once Ellen and Bobby gathered around, Lucifer was somewhat ready to begin. “So, try not to flip your shit when I tell you this but,” he paused, glanced around, and lowered his voice, “I’m a wizard.”

Dean, Bobby, and Ellen exchanged glances, none of them looking amused.

“Okay, anyways,” Lucifer cleared his throat, “I have better genes than anyone here.” He shrugged, “That’s it. Something’s wrong with me.” He pointed to the different bite scars he had, “All of these are the spots where I’ve been bitten, which now adds up to about… four.”

“How did you first find out you were immune?” Jo, who was now listening, called out.

Lucifer laughed, “Obviously I just went up to the nearest clicker and asked it to bite me. Y’know, in the name of science. As it turns out, I can’t be changed! Wild, am I right?” He dropped the fake smiles along with the laughter and rolled his eyes. “So if you haven’t pieced it together,” he inhaled sharply, “that’s probably why The Angels want me. Those bastards want a cure.”

“Don’t you?” Dean quirked an eyebrow.

Lucifer coughed, “Oh, yeah, sure… No, not really. I really don’t, um, care.” He gave another short, fake smile, “The world would probably be better if we all just blew away.”

Dean snorted and let out a laugh, a genuine laugh, “Okay, calm down, you little ray of sunshine.” He said sarcastically. “Great, so you’re immune to the virus.” He started to stand up.

Lucifer nodded, “Yup, I’m pretty sure that’s what I said.”

“It still doesn’t explain why you jumped in front of the infected one to save Dean.” Jo said.

“Maybe because sometimes I like to show just a little bit of humanity but maybe I just won’t next time.” Lucifer snapped, looking over to Ellen, “If you don’t mind, I’d like to start moving now.” Still holding his arm, he tried to stand up; however, he got tangled up in Meg’s jacket and managed to trip. Fortunately, he didn’t land face first on the ground like he thought he would. Instead, a pair of strong hands caught him by his arms. He howled in pain as the hands dug into his wound. He tried pulling away but when he felt himself beginning to lose his balance again, he snatched a hold of the person’s shirt, pulled them closer, and held on tight as if they were an anchor. He stared down at his feet and breathed heavily. When he looked up, he was met face to face with Dean.

“Oh how intimate.” Lucifer purred, shoving Dean away and wobbling slightly. He snatched the jacket up from the ground and handed it to Meg. “Like I said, can we get moving?” He asked Ellen again, ignoring everyone else at this point.

They hit the road again, being careful this time around as to avoid bumping into another hoard. Along with Charlie, Sam, and Eileen, Lucifer took to the back of the group. The pain pulsing through his arm made him want to move at a very slow pace, but hey, at least it wasn’t his leg that was bitten.

Every so often, Meg would come around to take a look at his wounded arm and, when she saw it fit to do so, she would pour more whiskey over it to keep it from infection. Every chance she got, she would look through the medicine cabinets in abandoned homes in hopes of finding some antibiotics. She had no luck in that aspect.

Anyways, Lucifer seemed to be doing okay; in fact, he was actually happier in the back of the group. The night before, he had been wondering why Eileen and Sam were communicating by sign language. Today, he found out that Eileen was deaf and, though she was an excellent lip-reader, felt more comfortable speaking in sign language.

If Lucifer remembered correctly, he once read a book about ASL for beginners. He used his minimal knowledge in the art to talk to and understand Eileen. He was surprised to see how much he still remembered and she appreciated the effort.

Their conversation would switch from ASL to english every time Lucifer could no longer understand what was happening or whenever his cut up arm hurt too much to move around.

“You’re actually pretty good at signing.” Sam told him encouragingly, Lucifer shrugged, “Do you know any other languages?”

What looked like a small smile played at the corner of Lucifer’s mouth, “Um… yeah, actually. There’s this old, dead language used in ancient times. It was called the ‘language of God and his angels’.”

“Latin?” Sam questioned.

Lucifer shook his head quickly, “Goodness, no. In my opinion, that’s considered to be the language from hell.” He huffed, “It’s called Enochian. I, uh, remember my father teaching it to me as I was growing up. I think the language was passed down throughout my family.”

Sam opened his mouth to ask another question before Dean interjected.

“How are things holding up back here?” The older Winchester asked.

Lucifer gave an unenthusiastic thumbs up.

“Ellen is thinking of calling it a night a little earlier than usual since it’s been a pretty busy day. What do you think?” Dean asked his brother.

Sam shook his head slightly, glancing at the small, folded map he had in his hand, “I think we should at least travel for another one or two, Charlie should hold up ‘til then since she’s doing much better than earlier.”

“Oh, and what am I, chopped liver? Goodness, just kill me.” Lucifer uttered, applying a small amount of pressure to his arm.

“I’m sorry?” Dean asked, watching him skeptically.

Lucifer blinked a few times and looked over at Dean, “Did I say that out loud?”

“ ‘fraid you did.” Sam snorted, “I only figured because you hadn’t been shot in the leg…”

“Well you figured wrong.” Lucifer retorted. “I’m exhausted, lightheaded, and feel like shit, but it’s fine, let’s just keep going. The sooner we get to the Angels, the better.” He let out a long, shaky breath, “Where are their headquarters anyways?”

“… Washington DC.” Sam coughed quietly.

“What!?” Lucifer stopped dead in his tracks, “That’s ridiculous! Do they really expect us to walk that distance?”

“I doubt it. Once we get word to them that we found you, they’ll probably send us a faster form of transportation.”

“The amount of faith you have in them is wild.” Lucifer shook his head and continued walking again. “In that case, we should keep moving for another two hours. Hell, make it three.”

After speaking with Ellen, the plan was to keep moving for two more hours. Some time passed and Lucifer’s pride didn’t allow him to tell anyone how lightheaded he felt but Meg could tell how he was barely holding on. She weaved her way past the handful of people in her way to talk to Bobby.

“Look, man, we gotta stop. I can tell Luc is ready to pass out. You think we can stop for the night already?” She asked though it wasn’t much of a question as she had no intentions of taking no for an answer.

Bobby nodded, “I’ll talk to Ellen about it.”

Soon after, the announcement was made and everyone began setting up camp.

Lucifer sent Meg an appreciative look and mouthed ‘thank you’ to her before he slowly sat down on the dying grass underneath him. He slid his backpack off and leaned against it, shivering as a short gust of wind blew against him; he had a feeling that this night was going to be colder than the last one.

Apparently another person, Adam, had the same feeling. He crawled over to be in the center of the group with some twigs, rocks, and box of matches. In no time, he had a medium sized fire going and it radiated enough heat to warm anyone close enough.

Lucifer, on the other hand, was not close enough to it. He chose to stay separate from the group though mostly everyone that was a part of his own team neared the fire. He carefully unraveled the shirt from around his sleeve, cursing softly as some dried blood got peeled away as well. He was surprised to see that, so far, the wound wasn’t infected. Wanting to keep it that way, he grabbed the flask of whiskey Meg had earlier and poured the last bit of it over his arm. It didn’t sting as much. Afterwards, he dug through his bag to find another piece of cloth that wasn’t soaked in his blood. When he found a roll of bandages (which he had completely forgotten about), he patched his arm up and hoped for the best.

A large amount of chatter was coming from the group by the fire. The Demons and Men of Letters were all talking and laughing with each other.

It’s nice, Lucifer thought, that they don’t hate the Men of Letters as much as I do.

The chatting didn’t last long since everyone began to wind down and fall asleep. Lucifer dozed off before he could hear who was taking first watch.

[archerazzure]

In Time

He was old enough to be their father, or even grandfather in some cases, they all knew the day would come eventually. But they never could have been prepared, especially not one man.

Fandom: Bungou Stray Dogs

Length: 2,344 words

Pairings: None

Ao3 Link

He lay quietly, his eyes closed and breathing shallow. Silent figures filled the space around him, some seated in chairs, some on the floor, and others standing various places around the room. The room itself echoed with nothing more than an uneasy silence paired with the quiet rhythmic beeping from one of the many machines surrounding the bed, an uncomfortable tension lingering in the air until the soft click of the door took its place.

All eyes turned to watch the blond man who stumbled inside, winded and out of breath, his hair windswept in several directions. “Is he…?”

“He’s still alive. For the moment anyway.” Hawthorne was leaning against the far wall, one arm crossed over his chest, the other propped up and holding open the small book he was presently  engrossed in, or at least pretending to be.

“Thank god.” Tossing his coat and briefcase to the side, Francis knelt next to the bed, taking the older man’s hand in his own. “How’s he doing?”

“Well, he’s not hurting.” Louisa bit her lip from where she sat in the chair beside the bed, “The doctor said it likely won’t be long now though.” She shied away at the look of horror that crossed his face. “I…I’m sorry! It’s just…” She hesitated and looked away. “H…he’s old. He can’t last forever.”

Francis opened his mouth to say something when a weak cough caught his attention, and he looked back to see Herman watching him through half closed eyes. Gently he squeezed the man’s hand. “How are you doing, Old Sport?”

Herman raised an eyebrow. “I thought you were supposed to be in a meeting right now.” He glanced around the room. “In fact, I’m almost sure there’s somewhere else all of you should be.”

Francis waved him off. “Yes well, things came up you know. We had to reschedule. It’ll all be there for us to handle tomorrow.” While you might not be. The unspoken words hung overhead like an impending dark cloud, and he cleared his throat uneasily. “Anyways, Zelda stopped by over lunch. She asked me to invite you over for dinner this Saturday. It’s been a while since you’ve been over and she’s dying to see you.” He froze as several of the others around him shifted uncomfortably. Cue another uneasy clearing of his throat. “S…so what do you say, Old Sport?”

Herman chuckled. “I appreciate the offer, but I’m afraid I’m going to have to decline your invitation.”

Francis shifted uncomfortably. “Why so?”

“I think we both know I won’t be around that long.”

Francis felt his blood run cold and he chuckled nervously. “N…now come on Old Sport, don’t say things like that. Surely you can hang around just a little-”

“Francis.” He stopped abruptly at the sound of his name, but he couldn’t bring himself to meet Herman’s eyes.

“You survived the fall inside a giant metal whale, can’t you hang on just a little longer now?”

“That event isn’t really comparable with the current situat-”

“I don’t give a damn!” Francis slammed his fist against the wall, interrupting the soft-spoken voice from elsewhere in the room. Poe jumped several feet in the air before hurriedly ducking behind John’s chair to avoid any other retaliation. But none came, as Francis just buried his face in his hands and drew in a deep breath. Meanwhile Louisa slowly rose to her feet, several of the others following her example.

“We’ll just step outside for a minute, give you two a little space.”

Through the gaps in his fingers he saw Herman nod. “That sounds like a good idea. Go get a drink and take a walk, I’ll be here until you come back.” Francis listened as they quietly filed out of the room, waiting until the door clicked shut to finally lower his hands from his face. Herman just smiled. “So.”

“So what?” He scowled. “So you’re just going to leave me. Like she did.”

“Francis.”

He could feel himself tearing up. “Does it make you happy? Knowing I just got over her and now I have to deal with this?”

“I couldn’t have planned that.”

“Bull.” He buried his face in his hands again. “I just don’t get it. How can you be so calm about all this?”

Herman sighed, still watching him. “Everything has its time.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” Francis glared at him through the space between his fingers, “Because it doesn’t.”

“It’ll make you feel however it makes you feel, but that doesn’t change the fact that it still happens.” He smiled. “I’ve lived a long life, and done many things with many people. I have no fear about death.”

“Well just because you’ve accepted it doesn’t mean that I have to.” Francis crossed his arms over his chest with a scowl but Herman just shook his head.

“We’ve talked about this; there are some things in life you just have to accept.”

“Bull.”

“You always have been stubborn.” Herman sighed and looked the other way, his gaze staring out the window towards the sea on the horizon. “I can’t make you do anything, especially not after I’m gone. But I will ask that you think about what happened last time, and whether you really want to go through all that again.” Francis didn’t reply, instead staring down at his hands in an attempt to pretend they weren’t having this conversation.

Of course he didn’t want things to turn out like last time, but this wasn’t something that he could just give up on. He scowled again, at least until he heard Herman give a gentle sigh.

Glancing back up, he felt his heart stop in his chest at how still the man seemed, how pale he looked, and how his chest suddenly didn’t look like it was moving. His voice came out choked and panicked. “Herman!?”

The door behind him slammed open and the others rushed back in, though it went almost unnoticed as he watched in fear and rising panic until Herman’s eyes slowly opened again. “Not to worry, just resting my eyes.”

A collective sigh rang through the group, and Francis fell back against the bed as the others quietly took up places around the room again. Though some of the younger members especially looked a bit shaken.

“Don’t do things like that.” Mark frowned from where he sat next to John’s chair, nervously running his hand through his hair. “You freak us out when you do things like that.”

Herman stared over at him curiously. “I wasn’t aware that sleeping was suddenly something to be afraid of.”

“More like I’m afraid of you not waking up again after.” The young man bit his lip and buried his face in his arms as John stared down at him sympathetically from above.

Herman just smiled, that far too common patient smile. “I’ll never really be gone, you know; you’ll always have the memories.”

“Memories can’t stop us from making stupid mistakes in the future.” Lucy was staring off into the corner.

“Neither can people if you don’t let them. You may not believe me, but memories can help a lot more than you realize, should you give them the chance.” The girl nodded glumly but didn’t reply.

Sighing, Herman carefully folded his hands over his chest. “None of you understand it now, but someday you’ll see death as nothing more than a natural step to the next phase.” He gazed around the room at their faces. “Whatever you believe that may be.” Smiling he closed his eyes, “Just do your best with the time you have, and in the end you’ll see that’s all that matters.”

His calm rhythmic breathing and peaceful expression caused a lump to form in the back of Francis’s throat and he slowly reached forward, wrapping his hand around Herman’s own. The man’s smile seemed a little bigger as Francis felt his gentle squeeze. Then his grip went slack and the steady beeping abruptly turned into a shrill whine.

All around him he could hear voices and panic. The yells for doctors  mixed with cries of horror and sobs. But all he could do was stare at the small translucent rainbow whale who rose from the smiling man laying still on the bed. Tears ran down his face, unnoticed, as he watched it circle the room once before floating out the window and out towards the sea.

It was silent all for the quiet voice of the middle-aged minister directed towards the small crowd, who stood before him. He spoke for several minutes, his voice firm until the last couple sentences, when it finally faltered as a single tear rolled down his cheek. As he finished talking and stepped back, a teary eyed woman attached herself to his arm without a word, as a pair of young men slowly lowered the casket into the ground. All the while no one paid any mind to the old man standing next to a nearby gravestone a few feet away.

As the small crowd started to disperse, his gaze lingered on the last couple to leave. They stayed for several minutes, silently watching, but finally the woman took her husband’s hand and squeezed it gently before moving away. He watched the lone man still standing at the gravestone, until a soft voice from behind caught him off guard.

“Do you think he’s going to be alright?”

Herman didn’t say anything at first, watching from the corner of his eye as a little girl came up beside him, taking a seat on the gravestone. The two watched silently as Francis finally turned away. He was slow at first, brushing the tears away from his reddened eyes as he started back towards the road. Every couple of steps he would stop and look back over his shoulder for a moment, as though trying to convince himself it was all real. “It’s hard to say.”

The girl looked up at him again, concerned, but Herman didn’t look away from the broken man before him. He’d seen this man before, many years ago, after another, more tragic, loss. And he’d seen what’d happened afterward.

Grief was a powerful emotion; without something to keep it in check, it could bring even the strongest to do something they might regret later. He’d done his best to keep Francis on the best path he could last time, but he couldn’t do everything. Even back then he’d gone along with Francis’s bizarre scheme, if for no other reason than to prevent the man from taking a more drastic option. He’d come a long way since then, of course; though the pain was still there, both he and Zelda had managed to heal, the others playing no small role in that development. But to heal from that wound had taken too many years as it was, even with his own guidance, and if history were to repeat itself now…

He paused mid-thought, distracted by the sight of Lucy pushing her way through the small crowd still waiting by the cars. Francis was still a good distance, away but Herman saw her hesitate for only a moment before breaking into a run and throwing herself at him, immediately burying her face in his shirt. The man froze for a split second before he dropped to his knees and pulled her closer, both of them crying again. He watched Zelda, leaning against Louisa, dab at her watering eyes before passing the handkerchief to the other woman, who did the same.

Mark was beginning to tear up again, trembling and attaching himself to the nearest person, who just happened to be Hawthorne. The minister stood stoically even with a teary Mark on one arm and Margaret on the other, but Herman could feel the emotions hidden away, and he didn’t miss the way the man seemed to pull both of them closer. Poe stood off beside John, his face partly buried in the fur of the raccoon he held in his arms. Herman took in the whole scene and felt his heart sink. He felt his fears slowly returning, but then it happened.

Wordless, Herman watched as John broke away from the group and approached Francis, silently offering his hand to the man who was still stroking Lucy’s hair as she sobbed into his shoulder. The two exchanged some sort of unspoken understanding before Francis slowly stood up, holding tight to Lucy in one hand and taking John’s offered hand with the other.

He watched as Zelda and Louisa approached, Zelda wrapping her free arm around Lucy’s shoulders and pulling the girl closer, as Louisa spoke softly from the other side.

He watched as the others slowly moved over until all present had formed a chain of connection, with Francis close to the center. And then he knew.

Reaching over, he stroked the golden hair of the little girl sitting beside him, her head slowly tipping upwards until he was staring down into her bright blue eyes. “What do you think?”

Those curious blue eyes turned back for a moment, before she looked up at him with a smile. “I think he’ll be alright; he’s not alone this time.”

“No.” Herman looked back with a smile. “No he’s not.”

They watched the group for another minute before Herman turned away. “We should go.” Silence was his only reply, and he looked back to see the girl still perched on the gravestone. Moving back over, he placed his hand gently on her shoulder. “He’ll be fine. And you’ll see him again before you know it.”

“You think so?”

“I know it, and until then we’ll just have to wait for him together.”

Nodding, the girl jumped off the gravestone, taking his offered hand with a smile. “Do you think someday I can meet his other friends too?”

Herman chuckled. “I think they’d love that.”

The girl leaned against him with a relieved sigh. “I’ve missed you, Mr. Herman.”

“I’ve missed you too, Miss Daisy.”

[randomgirltalking]

Real Housewives of Beverly Hills S09E01 Review

I have a confession - I love trashy TV. As much as I love watching docos and education programs and movies - I just love a trashy Telly series. And there’s nothing more ghastly than reality TV. And The Real Housewives of “insert city here” are the creme de la creme of trashy TV.

So here we are, for those who are into The Real Housewives, let me know if you agree/disagree with my opinions. If you detest the shows like my fiancé (who bitches and moans about it but yet still knows who’s “the bitch” and who’s “down to earth”) then scroll on!

So we open the series with Lisa V and Kyle (who I would describe as frenemies) in the middle of an almighty row. We do not get to see the beginning or even the middle of this fight but the tail end where Lisa V is accusing Kyle of calling her a liar and Kyle accusing Lisa V of caring more about her image than her friendships. Let’s not forget Ken’s finger jab in Kyle’s face about not being a good friend to Lisa V. I always get annoyed when husbands of Housewives get involved in their wives affairs but I adore Ken so I will turn a blind eye and say he is doing it for the love of his wife. Anyway, at the end of this scene Kyle is storming off over a big welcome rug which reads “Vila Rosa” and huffing up and over the mini bridge which houses Lisa V’s scary geese. This is after Lisa V furiously demands Kyle to “Get the fuck out of my house. I’m done with it!”

As much as these two gripe and make up, bitch and kiss, fall out and get up, I’m worried (yes worried, despite my partner’s disdain that I care about these rich assholes) that this episode (which we as viewers have no idea what the catalyst for it was) will be the straw that breaks this friendship’s back! Anyway, the scene fades to black where the viewers are told that the following events procede this epic fight by two months.

We open to beautiful scenes around LA which showcase the incredible and different (or staged) houses of each housewife. Kyle is having a pool party that Saturday and excitedly texts each lady an invite which includes their families. Okay so can we talk about Teddy’s house? It’s amazing, of course. I love how a new housewife seems to upgrade her house (or husband) when the next season rolls around. Hello pay rise! Her kids are so cute and I’m happy that Teddy’s business has taken off so well (big props to Kyle not so subtly plugging Teddy’s husband’s business). Lisa R is trying out goat yoga with her two daughters (I’m not even going to go there cos after seeing Heather from RHOC’s bleeding stomach from leeches nothing surprises me anymore) and gleefully anticipating her daughter’s move from NYC back to California. I blinked and missed Dorit and Erika’s journey into friendship. I mean, I know last season they tried to make a real go of it but now Dorit was going out of her way to drive to Pasadena for champagne and “decadent” food. But, as much as I dislike Dorit, I am happy that these ladies have moved on from the drama and (seemingly) have a cordial friendship. Also, for those playing at home, take your first shot of the series as we hear Dorit mention George’s name.

Lisa V is sadly coming to terms with her brother’s suicide. We can see how genuinely upset Lisa V still is and how much she is grieving. My heart goes out to her.

Okay, now the drama. So we (the fans) had all read snippets in the press leading up to Season 9 about Dorit and the dog she had adopted from Vanderpump Dogs. We learn from tea sipping John, who works at Vanderpump Dogs, that Dorit had adopted Lucy Juicy Goosy Something (only a rich person would name their pets ridiculous names like this) and for some reason had changed her mind and returned it to a shelter - yes, not back to Vanderpump Dogs but another shelter. This tidbit is gleefully shared by a wound up John to Teddy (who was already in the know) and Kyle. All the while Lisa V is sternly attempting to shut the story down - “Stop.” “I’m not doing this”. “I don’t want to talk about it.” “She genuinely did not mean it” are all phrases she cuttingly states in between John frantically shoving Lucy Juicy in Kyle and Teddy’s faces and claiming that he’s “super pissed because he’s had to deal with this for weeks.” Okay, while I do believe that Lisa V really did not want to bring this story up, I think she could have tried harder to shut it down if she wanted. She’s the boss and could have told John to piss off or warned him in advance not to go there. But of course, I am under no illusion that the producers do not get a say in what is shared. I think this is why Lisa V is rumored to be leaving the series and why she seems to not give a fuck anymore. I mean she was always a bad ass boss bitch but her tolerance for pettiness seems to have reached a limit the past season.

Meanwhile, Dorit is relaying her side of the story to Erika. Lucy Juicy Goosy Boosy had bitten her kids a few times and taken a “big chunk” out of PK. In this instance, I can understand that this dog is not a fit for their family but I could not understand why she dropped it off at a shelter. Dorit later explains to Lisa V and Ken that she had found a lady to take the dog in and had thought the dog was going to an incredible home. Not sure how she ended up in the shelter but I guess we’ll get to that later in the series. If this is true, as much as I dislike Dorit, shes not so much a villain in this story as I thought. But I still think she should have come to Lisa V first and given Lucy back to Vanderpump Dogs. Why she didn’t do this, hopefully we will find out later on.

Anyway moving on from Lucy Goosy, things at the shelter get heated between sometimes good friends Lisa V and Kyle when Lisa V jokingly (or not) chastises Kyle for not showing up to her new restaurant opening. Kyle immediately takes offense explaining that she had just landed from a long haul flight which Lisa V knew about and heatedly questioned why she keeps trying to make her look like a bad friend. We are reminded of the drama that was last season where Kyle jealously wondered why Lisa V constantly stuck up for Dorit at the expense of Lisa V and Kyle’s friendship. I agreed with Kyle’s statement about Lisa V giving leeway to Dorit’s doggy drama yet gives out to Kyle for missing her party. Things escalate to the point where stiff upper lip Lisa V crumbles in tears and confesses that she’s depressed over her brother’s death. Meanwhile I am hoping that Slate and Portia (Teddy and Kyle’s daughters, respectively) are out of earshot from all this. You can tell I’m a Mum now that my biggest concern are little ears hearing things that they shouldn’t haha.

We are introduced to the latest housewife, Denise Richards. Those of us that grew up in the 90s know who she is and I’m sure most men dedicated one to her during that infamous scene in Wild Things. She’s most known now as Charlie Sheen’s classy ex wife. We meet Denise at a casual gathering at Lisa R’s house. Also present are Dorit and Erika. After announcing that she is a hugger and greeting each Housewives as such, Denise sits down and happily fields questions and jibes about Charlie Sheen. I’m sure it’s written into her contract that she could only join the cast if she can grit her teeth and bear the curiosity surrounding her marriage to the infamous actor. I also learned that you are always six degrees separated from everyone if you live in Hollywood.

Finally we are at Kyle’s BBQ pool party where Lisa R tries to convince us that she loves eating by ordering a burger and a hotdog. I forgot to mention that Lisa V had warned Dorit that Teddy knows about their dog drama. Dorit and Teddy do not like each other, of course. A pity, since Dorit was the link that brought Teddy into the inner circle. I mean, one minute they were bonding with their kids at a playgroup and the next they were arguing about how many minutes late Dorit was to a lunch date. Much to Dorit’s surprise, Teddy is as pleasant as ever to Dorit, not once mentioning that she has one up on her. Now, we all know that if the tables were turned Dorit would probably find a dog to pick up near Teddy and casually drop in with her Anglo American accent “Oh, Teddy, speaking of dogs, I just heard the most ghastly thing about you..!” Of course, Teddy has more class than this and informs the viewers that she did not wish to bring up negativity in front of their kids. Not that that’s stopped other housewives in the past. Nothing else particularly interesting happens at this party apart from Denise Richards dodging more Charlie jokes. The most laughable moment, though, is when Kyle jokingly reminds Teddy that Lisa V does not follow Teddy on Insta. And neither does Dorit. Snigger. We are given a snapshot of the upcoming season with a juicy trailer. And I must say, I am looking forward to this season very much!

[tsaralance]

Chapter 4 Oregon Trail - Timeless fanfiction

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3

Lucy knocked on the dark green door she had knocked on before she knew he was a part of Rittenhouse. She finally found out who her birth father was after she realized Lucy had a different father than Amy, and now she knew he wasn’t being honest.

The door opened and Lucy stood face to face with her father. “Come…” Lucy bumped past him into his house. She wanted to make sure she would let her birth father know she was not ever going to be part of Rittenhouse.

“I know you are a part of Rittenhouse, but I want to let you know that I will never be a part of it, you hear me.” 

Lucy pointed her finger at the man she now hated with her whole soul. She was so angry that she clinched her teeth and didn’t even raise her voice.

“It is a part of you. It’s in your blood.” Benjamin said. “It is not like Jews. It is not a religion that is passed down on children.” Lucy said bitterly.

“No, it is not religion based, but it has the same exact way. You are my daughter. A part of my DNA flows in your veins, is part of your DNA, and that makes you a member of Rittenhouse even if you like it or not. You can’t change that.”

Lucy stormed at him. “Watch me be the first who will not be a part of it!” Lucy wanted to leave. Her emotions started to get the better of her. “I’m leaving.” Lucy was ready to walk away and never to return here.

“At least let me show you one thing before you leave.” Benjamin spoke as he walked to an old photograph that was hanging above the fireplace.

The man had a beard and a nice coat. It was someone that was wealthy in that time period. She didn’t know the color of his hair other that it must be dark. His nose was a big one, but it suited well with his face. The woman had light hair from under her hat and worn a nice looking defined dress. She had a symmetrical face what made her look absolute stunning.

“This are two of your ancestors. William Lowber, the great-grandson of David Rittenhous. He was married with Annabeth Lola Maria Brandon Lowber, his wife.”

“How nice.” Lucy said sarcastically. But deep down inside herself did she felt a kind of spark fly. Because of these people she was who she was. Even if her ancestors were alive two centuries ago, it still was her blood. If she wanted to or not, there was nothing she could do about that now. Not when it would result in her not being born. 

This all was shit and she wished she didn’t get into this mess, but there was no going back, only going forward. Meanwhile, in the car did she got a phone call. She didn’t recognize but she picked it up anyway. “Hello?” “Hello Lucy.” Flynn was on the other side of the line.

“What do you want?” Lucy said bitterly through the phone. If she was there Flynn was able to see her face full of anger right now.

“I have a plan to destroy a part of Rittenhouse. Follow me and meet me on the trail. You will not miss me, because I know exactly the trail that will be used. Remember that time that I killed Rittenhouse. We were a great team. We can work together again.”

“And to try to kill innocent people in the process again? I won’t be a part of that again.” Lucy replied.

“Those people are not innocent. They are part of an organization that needs to be destroyed. I’ll see you near Fort Hall, Lucy.” 

And with that Flynn broke up the line. A few minutes passed before her phone rang again, but this time it was Denise Christopher. Flynn had used the mother ship again.

“I’m on my way.”

______________________________________________________________

“Jiya were did they go?” Rufus asked his friend. “1831 in Idaho.” Wyatt spoke. “Doesn’t that has to do something with immigration?”

Lucy looked surprised at him. “I’m impressed.” “Thank you ma’am.” Wyatt smiled at Lucy.

“But what is so important about that, if you don’t mind me asking? History wasn’t really a class I paid attention in. What I regret now.” Rufus confessed. “The Oregon trail. It was a trail that was 2.170 miles long and started in the state of Missouri until Oregon City. At first people had to walk all those miles the foot or on horse backs before in 1869 when the first complete railroad was made.”

“Thanks for the history lesson.” Rufus implied. Lucy smiled at her friend. A – you’re welcome – smile.

“Now let’s go.” When they walked away from Mason Wyatt whispered to his friends. “And destroy Rittenhouse once and for all.” Rufus whispered back. “Good that you didn’t say that out loud.”

The three had gotten dressed in the same clothes they had worn in Te Alamo. It was close to the same time period so it was good enough to wear again. And most of all it wouldn’t make them look like forgers. Before Wyatt and Rufus got the chance did Lucy stop them.

“Flynn contacted me.” Lucy said with a low voice. “What, why?” Wyatt asked her. “He wanted to let me know he would meet us there.”

“Where?” Wyatt asked again. “Close to Fort Hall.” Lucy replied.

“Let’s go get Flynn and meet him there.” Wyatt said. “I have a bad feeling about this.” Lucy had to agree on Rufus with that, but they had no other options, nor a choice in the matter.

The trio walked on the trail, without anything on them except their clothes and the gun. It would look strange for other people, unless Flynn had arranged a horse and wagon or at least some supplies.

“I do not like this idea. We get to far away from the Lifeboat.” Rufus whispered to Lucy. 

“I know.” Lucy replied without much worry about that. They would find the lifeboat again. Follow the trail back and they would find the tree-line it was hidden in. 

“We have no choice other than to find members of Rittenhouse and try to not let them get to the West Coast. If they do not get there that guy who threatened your family wouldn’t be alive.” Wyatt said as he looked out for Flynn and his comrades.

Lucy knew that if Wyatt succeeded, if they succeeded in finding members of Rittenhouse on the Oregon trail, Lucy would be gone. Would be gone from existence just like her younger sister Amy. She couldn’t let that happen. Amy didn’t deserve to be forgotten and if Lucy was gone, her sister would forever be lost just like herself.

Lucy didn’t notice that Wyatt tried to get her attention. “Lucy?” Lucy got pulled out of her own thoughts.

“Sorry, I was thinking.” Lucy closed her eyes. “Are you okay?” Wyatt asked her concerned. While Rufus looked concerned. “Yeah… just tired.”

“Just search for Flynn, the faster we can let this all behind us. Hopefully.” Wyatt said as she walked up a steep hill. His gun ready to shoot. Everything was worth it for being careful.

“Hello there.” Flynn and his men had them all surrounded. It were three in total, with Flynn four. “Glad you could make it.”

Wyatt lowered his gun. “Follow me.” Flynn said calmly. “The horses and wagons are on the other side of this hill.” Lucy wanted to know how he got them. “How did you get it?”

“Killing people and taking it. Don’t look at me like I’m some psychopath. I do what needs to be done. Believe me I don’t want this either.”

“Then why are you doing it?” Lucy asked him. “To blend in.”

“He’s seriously fucking crazy.” Rufus whispered to Wyatt. “Crazy and a psychopath.” Wyatt whispered back while he kept an eye out.

When they got over the hill they gathered together. Two horses and one wagon. Lucy climbed in the back seat and saw a doll. “Please don’t tell me you killed a child.” Lucy asked Flynn as she picked up the doll. “I like to say that I didn’t, but I’m not going to lie.”

Lucy couldn’t believe it. He really did everything to bring down Rittenhouse. She couldn’t blame him for that, but doing it the certain way he did was just not right and unacceptable. Killing innocent lives is always unacceptable, even in war time. Innocent victims are casualties.

An hour later they came to a fresh new build campsite full of wagons, horses, tents and people. Even children ran through the grass while playing. “Now let’s see if they are here.” Flynn said as he searched through the people from above the wagon.

“Just take it slow. There are around fifth teen people here gathering together. It is not an easy task.” Wyatt spoke. Flynn jumped of the wagon and pointed with his knife towards the direction of a couple.

“See that lady and that man.”

All of them followed his pointing knife. “That are the members I was looking for.”

Dark hair, long pointy nose. The wife’s blonde hair. Lucy remembered them.

They were the people on the photograph that her birth father had showed her yesterday, but now the lady was obviously pregnant.

Her brown hazel colored eyes got wide. Lucy had to do something. She knew if Flynn or any of them would kill William or his wife, or both, Lucy would be gone from existence. This was bad. Very bad.

All the guys around her tried to come up with a plan to kill Rittenhouse’s great-grandson while Lucy tried to prevent that from happening.

“I can shoot him right now.” Flynn said as he started slicing an apple. “Don’t do anything reckless.” Wyatt said, keeping a close eye on Flynn.

“I’ll never do that. I’m really offended.” His voice low and full of sarcasm.

Lucy just looked at Rufus, and Rufus back at her. “I still can’t believe we work with him again after that one time.” Rufus whispered to Lucy. “Yeah… me neither.”

“Let me talk to them.” Lucy said all of sudden. She didn’t think this through, but she had to protect them.

“Lucy.” Wyatt grabbed her arm as she stood up. He did let go of her when she looked at him. Her eyes told him to let her to do it and that he should watch over Flynn and his guys. Same for Rufus.

Lucy walked towards her great ancestors, trying to be her normal self. “Hello.” Lucy said as she stood before them. “Hello.” Annabeth said back as she had her hand on her big belly.

“My name’s Lucy.” “Hello lady Lucy.” William said as he stood up, offering his place to her, near the campfire. “Where are you headed?” He asked her.

“The North West, like you I believe.” Lucy answered him as she sat down, trying to be comfortable.

“Sorry to dissapoint you, but we are heading to the South West.” Annabeth told her. “The Californian Trail.” Lucy said.

“Yes. We want to get to San Francisco. It is a great place to start a family and to build a life and a home for generations to come.”

You have to be kidding me. Lucy thought. Because of them Lucy was most likely born there in San Francisco, it had to be. There seemed to be nothing wrong with William and Annabeth, and yet they were members of Rittenhouse and because of that Flynn wanted them dead.

“That’s… uhm… a nice thought.” Lucy said. “Thank you for the little chat.” “The what?” William and Annabeth asked confused. 

“Oh sorry that’s a word… me and my cousin… uhm… came up with for a short conversation. So, thank you. Have a good night.” And with that Lucy left them to return to her friends.

“And any good stuff?” Rufus asked curious. “They are heading South West after Fort Hall.” Lucy answered her friend.

“So San Francisco?” Rufus asked confused. Lucy nodded slightly. “Great, no wonder they are ruining us now, you know, back in our time.”

“Yeah she get’s it.” Wyatt said. I’ll take the first watch. Someone needs to keep an eye on Flynn.” Wyatt said. “I’ll wake you, Rufus in a few hours.” 

“Seriously?” Rufus eyes got big.

Okay, I got it.” Rufus said.

______________________________________________________________

The next morning when everyone was making themselves ready to continue the trip to the West did Flynn saw his change. The Rittenhouse members where, next to them, the last ones to leave.

He pulled out his hand gun from under his coat, aimed it, ready to shoot and kill.

Annabeth started to scream when she saw the gun pointed at her and her husband. She turned around trying to protect her unborn child.

The other two Rittenhouse members that were with them tried to protect the great-grandson and his wife from danger.

They shot at them. Lucy screamed, Rufus ducked away behind the wagon and was praying to no one in particular. He didn’t want to die.

Flynn ducked away, rolling over the sandy ground. He got back up on his feet again and was ready to shoot. Lucy couldn’t let it happen. She couldn’t let her ancestors get murdered. It had big consequences for her, for her sister, for everything they fought for so far.

“Don’t!” Lucy pushed herself into Flynn while trying to take the gun out of his strong hands. Flynn wasn’t going to let go. He had a stern grip on the weapon he so gladly wanted to use to kill Rittenhouse members one by one.

“Lucy stop!” Wyatt ran up to Flynn and Lucy fighting and pulled her away from him. “Lucy!”

“Please don’t do this! If you kill one of them I will be rid from existence! Then I will not a part of this anymore!” Lucy was screaming with tears falling from her eyes while she tried to break free from Wyatt’s arms.

“I’m very sorry Lucy, but it needs to be done.”

“If you do this you will change the present. There are to many members, killing my ancestors, I beg you Flynn don’t do it! I never asked for any of this, but I deserve to live. I am not meant to die. Not here, not now!”

“This… is seriously fucking crazy!” Rufus burst out. “They are her freaking ancestors!”

“Rufus this is not helping!” Wyatt yelled at him.

Lucy was hysterical. “Flynn stop. Do it for Lucy, we will find another way, but we need Lucy and you damn know it!” Wyatt yelled at Flynn. It sounded like an order.

Flynn wanted to shoot them so badly, try everything he could to bring his wife and daughter back, but he knew he needed Lucy to succeed. He knew Lucy despised Rittenhouse, almost as much as he did, and they would work together eventually.

He had read that in her future journal after all. They already had and they would again. He knew that if he would shoot them now and kill them, he damn sure knew that all would be lost even if he wanted to or not.

“Fine!” Flynn yelled full of frustration. His eyes full of rage, but he let his mind lead, not his emotion nor grudges.

Flynn and his comrades started to climb as fast as they could onto the wagon and made the two horses run super fast. He was ditching Rufus, Wyatt and Lucy. The bastard.

“Capture them!” William ordered the two men. “No we are not the enemy! No need to arrest us!” Rufus yelled with his hands still in the air. “This was a bad plan.” Rufus said under his breath. “Well think of something, scientist.” Wyatt whispered back at his friend.

Lucy spoke without thinking it through. “My servant is speaking nothing but the truth sir Lowber. We mean you no harm. My cousin and I traveled on the Oregon trail, but lost our horses next to one of our other servants.”

Lucy stood face to face with one of her great grandfathers, even if she liked to or not. Rufus looked offended, Wyatt nodded at him that it was alright and all for the act.

Lucy looked at Wyatt for help after she was lost for words.

“Yes, my dear niece is telling the complete and honest truth. We lost our horses and we got a lift from that man and his friends. Sad to see a good man that obviously is a lot cause slip further away. God bless his soul.”

“Why did he say ancestors?” William wanted to know. “You, speak.” William walked to Rufus, while Rufus was getting nervous.

“I… uhm… I freaked out and just yelled random things. Not smart, I know.” Rufus tried to talk himself out of it.

William was looking at the three of them. “If you lie to me I’ll kill you.” Was all he said as he lowered his pistol.

“He has those moments. It’s fine.” Wyatt said to make the tension go away. No one said anything. “Follow me.” William said rather charming.

“Thank you.” Lucy said to William. “I’m not a person, so of course I wouldn’t let someone die who is innocent.” He said

Rufus was not believing that. Rittenhouse in his time period treated him with endangering his family, and murder was something that could definitely be meant by that. “I don’t believe him either.” Wyatt whispered to Rufus while they walked behind all the others.

“But I have one question. Why would you yell something so insane to that man?” Lucy didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t tell them.

“I… uhm…” Lucy started to freak out.

“Sorry if I interrupt but when my cousin was little she saw her parents get murdered. It was very traumatic, and she has kind of flashbacks from it sometimes. That is why we have our servant with us, to keep a close eye on her.” Wyatt was telling an unbelievable story.

“Seriously?” Rufus whispered.

“Sir Lowber, I prefer not to talk about that experience.” Lucy said, trying to stop the conversation. “Of course no problem dear. Let’s travel together to Fort Hall. It’s somewhere down the road.” Annabeth changed the subject, and Lucy was glad for that.

After a while, around thirty minutes, did they came to Fort Hall.

“Maybe someone can give you some supplies. We go to the South. Good luck.” “You to sir.” Wyatt replied to William.

They saw them leave. “I should have told you two, but I couldn’t. I realized it yesterday. I don’t know why but I… I…”

Lucy got four arms around her, held into a hug. “It’s okay. We’ll forgive you.” Wyatt said. “Yeah, we do.” Rufus said too.

Lucy smiled slightly. She had luck with them, she cared for her friends. They felt like family.

______________________________________________________________ They got out of the time machine. Nothing had changed.

“Thank God nothing has changed this time.” Lucy said relieved. 

She was still here and everything seemed to be the same. She had saved herself. Even if that meant her biological father and all those other members in and near San Francisco got saved too.

“Yeah. Or we would have missed you.” Rufus said as he smiled at Lucy. “Having our historian out of our team is not what we want. You are to precious for that ma’am.” Wyatt said with a smile.

He looked at Lucy with love in his eyes, and Lucy felt charmed.

[ibringyouasong89]

On your post about Lucifer and Chloe, i actually agree with you. The last episode felt really awkward and out of place. At first i was so excited about the kiss and then i realised how ooc it was for Chloe. The fact that Luci talked about proving his worth but did nothing to actually prove it was stupid as he was still checking out women while trying to tell Chloe that they could work. Luci is still a man-whore who would probably get bored of Chloe in a week and Chloe deserves better than that.

Whoever you are, THANK YOU! Seriously, one out of two of my favorite messages!And this new episode just further confirms how they’re trying to rewrite Chloe’s character - suddenly and unexpectedly - right after fleshing-out her character for the past season and a half (while not providing more insight or flashbacks about her past or how she came to be the person that she is).I promised myself I wouldn’t watch the new episode, but I wanted to give the writers the benefit of the doubt. Which I did and now I’m even more disappointed.First of all, I’m glad the sex scene turned out to be a dream, but if you ask me, again, it was WAY too early and rushed for this kind of thing to occur between them. If anything, I would’ve preferred to have seen a sex-dream (that either Chloe or Lucifer was having) and have had her/him woken up in confusion and terror because it was about her and Lucifer: two people who are still in denial about their growing attraction towards the other. Something which would’ve been acceptable as a Season 3 event instead of what we just got…cause now, after a whole season and a half of finding him repulsive and turned-off by his sexual escapades and lack-of-emotional-knowledge and overall immaturity, she’s suddenly attracted to him and finding him to be…boyfriend material? Meanwhile, he’s still belittling her CHILD, you know, TRIXIE?! And there has been little-to-no screen-time/bonding between Lucifer and Trixie. But now, if he becomes Chloe’s boyfriend by the end of this season, they’ll have all the time in the world to bond…because that, apparently, is the ONLY way it CAN happen. *heavy sarcasm.*Secondly, as much as I love Maze and her awesomeness, Chloe listening to her advice about “loosening up” was really immature and impractical. Two things that Chloe is not supposed to be. And I know Maze meant well, in her own way, but why does Chloe have to get laid in order to be happy or “loosened up?” Sure, sex is sex, and I guess for some people, they can get off on having “some fun” with people and leave it at that. But I had estimated Chloe’s character to be more level-headed than that, especially from an emotionally-intelligent and emotionally-mature perspective. But now, Chloe is being awkward in trying to be “seductive or sexy” in trying to get Lucifer to pay romantic-attention to her (and he STILL wasn’t getting it, which wasn’t a surprise) after heeding Maze’s advice…what?! Slapping him on the ass - which was just weird and unnecessary, but I suppose a change of pace from a female-empowering point-of-view - and then giggling loudly at something he said (which wasn’t that funny) and then remarking how romantic it is to make out with someone in a library (meanwhile, Lucifer is all “yeah, been there, done that.”). When, exactly, did Chloe suddenly decide to change her entire personality over-night and revert to acting like a teenage girl/young adult? And why does she have to change at all? I suppose people do act immaturely, in certain respects, in relationships or while around their “crush,” but this just seems…juvenilely stupid.Then there’s the whole unprofessional-angle where she goes ahead and antagonizes a serial killer…what the hell was that?! She suddenly decides to be impulsive, listens to Lucifer about attacking the professor’s ego, and causes said-psychopath a “trigger moment,” which results in a deadlier situation. Granted, he was already involving those two innocent young men in his “experimentation,” but now the conclusion is that she got herself poisoned because she attacked said-criminal’s ego based on an impulsive-suggestion (which wound up in driving an escalating situation skyward and she had to get into a fast, violent, physical confrontation with the psycho-professor who stabbed her with a poison-needle when he punched her in her side). How is that professional and protocol-based, especially for a seasoned detective/cop? The only time I’ve seen a detective/cop/federal agent antagonize a psycho serial-killer into a showdown is generally when there’s some personal vendetta that each character is striving to solve, yet is mirrored/paralleled by their opponent, who also happens to be their “opposite.” And all of that usually takes place in a high-profile blockbuster movie…not some TV cop-procedure-drama show that airs weekly. And as such a badly sketched-out episode as this one was.Another moment that I had a problem with is happening in two areas of this episode. When Chloe bursts into the room at the frat house/dorm - where the party is taking place - and sees Lucifer lying around, surrounded by all of these drunk, obviously-sexually-active, young, beautiful college girls. Chloe immediately jumps down his throat and assumes that he was going to have sex with them. Then, later on, when he asks her point blank (and honestly, he STILL needs her to tell him that she trusts him - like she hasn’t been proving that all along, especially given what she did in a certain courtroom for him), if she trusts him, she says yes and runs off after the professor in pursuit. I found that to be SO hypocritical. She trusts him to watch her six and back her up - even to be good/noble enough to save innocent people - but not to be around other people and talking to them without her supervision or without feeling threatened? How is that trust? And okay, fine, you can blame insecurity on her behalf…but that still doesn’t mean that she trusts him to be around other attractive people (and let’s face it, he finds everyone attractive, which is cool) unless she’s there to watch/check him.What’s even worse is that the writers are pushing them into this early “relationship” scenario in order to have it be an even bigger impact for when Lucifer finds the truth about Chloe. (Which he does in this latest episode.) But it’s SO unnecessary. You don’t HAVE to be in a relationship with someone (romantically-inclined or not) in order to find something heartbreaking. HELL, you could just be really good friends with someone and STILL have your heart shattered by them. And the sad part is, Lucifer turns right around and accuses Chloe for being part of this whole “Divine Plan,” as if she had a clue about what was going on or what he was even rambling on about. Remember, she still doesn’t believe that he’s the “Devil,” and again, that’s mostly because he refuses to admit/show the truth to her (because he’s afraid to lose her trust, which comes from the big part of his nature that is SELFISH). But for Lucifer to turn on Chloe, after she’s done EVERYTHING under the sun to prove that she is trustworthy and not out to get him, just speaks EVEN MORE about how much Lucifer DOESN’T TRUST CHLOE. And now he’ll probably even consider that a justified notion since anything that was developing between them - especially this newly-rushed romantic-entanglement *gag* - wasn’t “real.”Not to mention the awkward stare-down that went on between Dan and Lucifer. Seemed to me that Dan’s still-having-feelings-for-ex-wife-who-is-becoming-involved-with-you-whom-I’m-starting-to-consider-as-a-friend-though-I-hate-to-admit-it stare completely flew over Lucifer’s head…*sigh* It all just seems out-of-sorts and sporadic, if you ask me. A lot of people say this has all been building up, since day one, because of all the moments these two share. I, for one, did not see a whole lot of romantic undertone to those moments. I saw romantic POTENTIAL, which differs ENTIRELY from undertone, but thought that the moments between Lucifer and Chloe spoke of genuine (albeit tentative) bonding scenarios. Bonding moments that would help them develop a healthy, deep friendship that could then take flight and soar off into romantic-UST-unspoken communication-deep bond-tentative touching-more RECIPROCATED touching-eventual unexpected kiss land…but whatever. I laughed at the right moments, I even thought when Chloe hugged him and said she was “glad that he was okay” was sweet and cute…but for the most part, I still feel unfulfilled and disappointed by this episode. My faith and trust in the writers is dwindling more, day by day. I usually like to record the episodes on my DVD player so I can go back and re-watch them (so I can speed through the commercials instead of waiting for ads to finish like you have to do on Hulu), but I did not feel the need to do so tonight and right now, I’m kind of glad that I didn’t.I, personally, did not care for the whole “I’m not worthy of you” speech that Lucifer gave Chloe at the end of the 2x11. For one thing, Lucifer has VERY low-self esteem. We see that with how he regards himself and how he talks about himself. The only time he seems to have anything good to say about himself usually involves his sexual deeds and how good he is in bed. We also see how low of an opinion he has of himself when he went ahead and tried to commit suicide via being-murdered while in close proximity to Chloe, which would’ve resulted in an immediate death. He genuinely does not accept himself. Lucifer constantly needs people to accept him in order for him to be able to accept HIMSELF.

He showed his true face to Linda once and used her as his human-yard-stick to see if others could handle the undeniable truth about his existence/identity. But he doesn’t show his face proudly, like Maze did with Trixie during Halloween’s episode (while admittedly holding her breath to see if she’d be rejected or not). He does so out of FEAR. Because he knows that his true appearance causes humans to be truly terrified-out-of-their-minds and disgusted-to-the-core-of-their-filthy-souls. All of those eons of having the same reaction from people has taught/shown him that he is something to be reviled and shunned and truly grotesque. Something that is worth being feared. And for most of the time, he has used it to his advantage, especially in being Hell’s #1 Punisher and King. But he has never shown his true face/self in order to gain true connections with other (to really open up to other people) because he already expects to be rejected. (People always reject and fear what they don’t understand, after all.) And again, this is all a big issue that he refuses to address or acknowledge. It’s a continual and cyclical topic that he, point-blank, refuses to share with Chloe.What also bothered me about that moment was the fact that, after Lucifer spells out how he’s totally “unworthy” of Chloe, she does nothing to correct that assessment. She just says “yeah, you’re right” and then kisses him. Is that supposed to be a statement of “Yes, you are unworthy and yes, you are right about WHY you are unworthy, but I’m going to kiss you and choose you anyway, despite your unworthiness.”?!?! And sure, yeah, you can take the kiss as a sign of affection and that she TOTALLY finds him worthy…but why couldn’t she have argued against his claims and TOLD HIM THAT HE WAS WORTHY?! Why couldn’t she have listed as many reasons for his worthiness as he did for his “unworthiness?” Lucifer is someone who constantly NEEDS affirmation that he is a good, kind, lovable, misunderstood soul. That he will be cared about/for and that he won’t be abandoned. Instead of giving him a meaningful speech about ANY of those attributes or issues, she just goes ahead and kisses him. That kiss wasn’t necessary to get any of that across. It was just…ambiguous-filler and very anti-climatic and disappointing.In regards to your other point about Lucifer getting bored with Chloe, I don’t know about that. The fact of the matter is, we don’t know if this is Lucifer’s first committed relationship or not. Maybe he had tried experimenting with “commitment” in the past with someone else (a demon, another supernatural being, or another human) and didn’t care too much for it or found it hard to be committed to that individual. Or maybe this IS his first, true, tentative approach to being in a committed relationship with someone. If it is, he may treat it as an experiment or the new shiny toy in his life. Will he stay with Chloe, after learning all there is to know about her (her deepest desires and all the twists and turns that exist in her soul), and accept that she is both mortal (if she does stay human) AND someone who was handcrafted by Dad/God in order to be in his “path?” That I can’t say. The writers obviously thrive on being unpredictable and are purposely going out of their way to make everything unpredictable, even already-carved-out character personalities.So…*blows out a breath* yeah. I’m going to suck it up and torment myself by watching the “winter-finale.” I will not have hopeful expectations and will be anticipating disappointment. Anyways, thank you for your message and glad to know that I’m not the only one who’s finding this sped-up-relationship questionable or lacking. Feel free to message me again!

[mylockholmes]

Reclaimed Crown  ~ Part 4

Authors note: the text post are @deepsexts

Part One  Part Two  Part Three

she sat staring at him “this is so awkward. we are both intelligent people and you can’t even figure out how to be comfortable with the sex talk.”

“Before i get to that i wanted to thank you for being patient with me.  this....has all taken a lot of adjustemtn for everyone involved. and of course last week we dealt with Eurus.” he sighed when he mentioned his sister. “Yopu seem to be the least troubled one in our family.”

“You are not going to convince me to work for the government i want to to do somethign where i can work with Molly and Charlie. I don;t want to be professional dancer it is just a hobby.” 

he looked at her and sighed “I wish i had been so sure of myself when i was your age most of where i am today i fell into by chance due to protecting sherlock from his addictions. Part of the reason i am glad you didn;t come to london until last year because Surelock may have done thigns that would have indirectly harmed you.”  he caressed her cheek. 

He stammered his way through an explantion of human reporduction “Sex isn’t to be taken lightly. One can hope if you ended up in the same situtation you were created from. that young Mister Msdaniel would take responsibility.”

“You’re the anonymous benefactor that paid for me to study in Copenhagen for three months.” he smiled at her “Daddy, i am not an idiot and Charlie isnlt either. we are waiting until it feels right.”

“How about we go somewhere for dinner. my flat is sadly in need of food and i need a change.”  

“as long as you eat a slice of cake i know it is one of your guilty pleasures.” she said as they went to his “By the way for fouture reference i was hte only one who was fully paying attention during human reproduction the only part of the biolgy classes my mind wandered durign was disection.”

“You found the false panel in the back of the cabinet?”

“six weeks ago. you are an adult you shouldnlt pretend you don;t like cake. by the way why did you take charlie to the Diogenes Club.”

“it is where i go to relax i figured he needed a quiet place that wasn’t surrounded by death.” he was also debating admitting younger members to the club and changing things up a little because having his daughter around made him realize he didn;t have to pretend like he didn’t matter.”I spent so much of my life creating a comfort zone. and I didnlt even let anyone in the family into that often.”

“Ifigured that otu the first timei  saw your flat it is a lirrle more closed in than 221B.” she said 

the next day at Charlie’s flat “I think in his way Dad has accepted you into his inner circle.” she started giggling when he kissed her neck

“he really had the sex talk with you i am trying to Imagine Mycroft Holmes.” he said “is this because i am five years older than you and he thinks that since i m guy i bug you for sex.” 

“he;s just trying to be normal dad which is hard considering he controls assassins and is datign hte prime minister.” she laughs as he kisses her neck “at least let me put my phone in the table drawer before you start cuddling it took me an hour to find it last time.”

He nuzzled his face into her neck “I passed my architecture finals.” they both knew Mycroft was the reason reporters weren’t hanging out outside the building he lived in. “My anatomy finals are next week and i think my professor thinks of me as a fluke.”

“Charles Mcdaniel, listen to me. you are beign taught anatomy by one of the most brilliant women in England. You will be able to pass anatomy finals.  After your semester is ove r we can go to Italy for a few weeks.”  

“Why not next week.”

“Because i convinced dad to clear his schedule for a few days so we can go to paris. we havenlt gone on trip at all since i came to London.” she looked at him and giggled as he kissed her nose “Maybe when we go on our trip i will be ready for that next step.” 

“are you sure?”

she nodded.

a week later in paris

“So the real reson you have absolutely no peoper way to act when sherlock shows you pictures of Rosie is it reminds you of all the moments you missed with me?” Lucy said as they stood on the balsony watchign the night life of paris go on below them

“Yes. In part. and it also makes me wish i had lived my life a little more. I love your uncle. But sometimes feelign obligated to watch over him feels like a burden.”

“I figured htere was reason that John is almost the exact same age you are. you needed someone you knew you could trust to balance out sherlock and become his friend withut making him worse.”

“i suppose so. By the way you speak french better than i did when i was your age.”

Meanwhile i nthe St Bart’s Morgue ”Charlie i know you can get this right. we need a break.”  lets play some music 

“You’re right We’ve been goign ovet the information for my exam for 8 hours.”  the turth was he missed Lucy and he knew he could call her but he didnlt want to interrupt her bonding time “i am kind of hungry i forget to eat when LUcy;s not around.”  he takes off his rupbber gloves and washes his hands

“I think sherlock is goign to ask me to Marry him but hels waitign Until Lucy and Mycroft get back. I am sure Lucy is goign to take you the Anniversary party for her Grandparents’ wedding anniversary.”

“Mrs. Holmes invited me. It is hard to believe such sweet people raised Mycoft.” he said

“well if you want to be tchnical Sherlock and Mycroft were what americans call latchkey kids.” Mycroft said as she entered. “I was bringing Rose to the pedtrican for a check up and decided to see if you two needed somethign to eat.”

they both laugh “I fact we were about to take a break. this young man is having hard time focusing on his studied with Lucy in Paris with Mycroft.” Molly said “here is my little god-daughter?”

“She;s being fawned over by the nurses upstairs. they still have hard time beliieving that sherlock Holmes delivered a bab y in the back seat of a car. let alone that I asked him to the be the baby’s godfather.”

Molly “have i ever told you about hte day of Rosie’s christening?” she paused “t a was few months before Lucy came to London and Sherlock was tryign to keep his mind occupoed and he wouldnlt stop texting for like two weeks. I hade to keep tellign him to put his phone away! he finally quit when i elbowed him.”

Charlie laughed ‘Good grief that must have been a sight.” he paused “xan we go somewhere where can get soemthign a bit stronger than tea.  and i am not talking about coffee.”  he respected Lucy;s rule about not drinkign aroudn her but he needed something like scotch or something “Before they left to go on their trip Mycroft invited me to be the first of new genration and new chapter in the History of hte Diogenes Club.”

“I think it means hels taking Lucy;s advise on broadening his social circle the way she described that place to me it is depressing it is all bunch of men who could be sittign around having intelligent conversation but they all just sit around reading and being antisocial in a room together.”

“we could go to my house. because I am not taking Rosie to a pub.” Mary said.

In Paris......Mycroft looked at Lucy :Ican see that looks in your eyes. it is okay with me if you make a Quick Phone call to Charles. He probably misses you. you;ve been apart for three days.”

Lucy goes into the next room and texts charlie

Shrlie reads the text and grins “I’ll be right back.” he steps outside and calls Lucy :”I miss you baby.  how is hte trip going?”

Lucy smiled “I love you, Charlie. I miss you.” she paused “the trip is goign fine Dad saw i was missing you and said it would be alright if i called you.”

he laughed “I was avoiding callign you because I didnlt want to itnerrupt your time with your father.” he texts him a picture of Paris “Maybe someday we can go to Paris together.”

“I havenlt even discussed hte fact that his girlfriend toffered me a Job as an intern in her pr department. i will pay well it and it involves photography.” before the battery in ehr phone die she sends him one ore text 

“Thanks for understanding Dad. I wanted to devote my time to you but seeing the couples along hte river posing for chracatures amd kissing made me think fof Charlie.”

In London......

“Ack, Molly is it insane that i want to marry Lucy.  i even know what i want to say to her.” he pauses “Frget a hicky i want to mark you with my name.”

they squeeled a little “that’s so precious. “ 

“Lucy is very special person. i am not just saying because her mother  is a semi retired CIA agent.  she’s a clever per.” Molly said 

Mary comes into the livign room with Rosie “Rosie is being too stubborn to sleep so i brought her in.”

Charlie “It surprises me that you chose Sherlock as a God father.”

“He is John’s best friend. and Molly and greg balance out Sherlock though.”

Molly “I think it is partly to get Sherlock to spend more time with me.”

“Maybe.” she loved being Mary Watson more than she liked her life as an assassin.”

In Paris

they sit on the couch in their suite. “tell me what Quentin was like as a father. I know you adored the man before you realized i was your father.” lucy rested her head on his chest. 

“i remember whenever i was sick and couldnlt leave collinwood he would have the servants take me to the grand dining room andlet me rest, on the chaise, he would play classical music on his piano until i fell asleep.  on my 13th Birthday he took me to Florida. not to the well known theme parks but to out of way museums.”  

“Did he ever compose and original tune for you? Sherlock mentioned you asked him to compose somethign for your 21sr Birthday.” 

“He never really brought it up but i think he wanted for my 18th Birthday. because found blank sheet music before i met you that said for Lucy, on it.”

“He did have a point. He knew i would never talk to you.  i regret not having the nerve to talk to you sooner. Anastasia was name i suggested..” Mycroft said

“How are things Going between you and Lady Smallwood?”  she said grinning, she knew he would never bring it up “I figured it had to have been suggested from Someone because Olivia was her Grandmother’s name.”

“i am not sure what to say about MY relationship with Lady Smallwood. it is all new to me i;ve never been in a relationship before. I’ve spent most of my life since age age 13 taking care of Sherlock. I need to do somethign for myself and let Sherlock be Sherlock.”

Lucy stands up “I’m going to order Cake from room service you need to Indulge. we are on Vacation.” she said as she called room service and ordered two slices of cake and two glasses of milk. “Merci.”

An hour later “I need to remember to indulge once in while it will always be enriching. You should take hte Job with lady Smallwood. It would be good on future resumes.  It will be a good way for you to stay in London while Charles is studying Medicine.” 

“You knew about that?” 

“she asked me if i thought it would be a good idea. Not many americans get chance to work for the British Government.” he smiled, for the first time in his life he had somethign to be proud of. “You are remarkable young woman. i only wish i had taken part in raising you sooner.”

“You are doing just fine dad. stop dragging yourself down.” she looked at him “You are an amazing personand you are doing your best. I am honestly amazed that all of Sherlock’s friends accepted me.” she said as she started to yawn.  she goes itn othe bathroom to brush her teeth and get ready for bed while Mycroft  places the tray out i nthe hall for housekeeping to pick up.

a few days later when they return to London Charlie is waiting there

“I;ve done some stupid shit. But asking you out was one of the best decisions in my life.” he said as he kissed her “Your dad’s car is waiting outside.”  he smiled “I’m here. I intend to stay.”

Mycroft decided to give them space as they walked out to the car, he honestly liked their energy he spent so much time around serious people

“I missed you so much, Lulu Bell.” he said as they got to the car and he helped the driver put the luggage in the trunk

“I missed you too, Charlie.”  she smiled “How did you do on your final.”

“I don’t know it will take the professor a week to grade everything/ but i was able to study better after i talked to you.” 

Mycroft rolled up the window after he got in..

To Be continued......