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ginhawatranslations · 27 days ago

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The Story of Unit 24-C - Chapter 17

Read the previous chapters here.

DELIKS BY JOHN ROA

We dropped Darius off at the UV terminal going to Puerto Princesa since that’s where his flight was. His vacation here in El Nido was only three days, but judging by his tanned skin, he clearly enjoyed it.

“Damn it, back to normal again.” He let out a heavy sigh, and both Noah and I shook our heads. “I still want to stay. There are so many islands I want to visit.”

“Is it the islands you’ll miss, or the nightly bar hopping?” I asked him with a smirk.

“Both,” the jerk answered.

We stayed with Darius until the van was full and it started its trip. He'll suffer another five-hour ride back to Puerto Princesa. That’s a pain in the butt.

I looked at Noah. “You? Still not planning to go home? I’m getting tired of taking care of you.”

“Oh come on, I know you’re enjoying my company here in El Nido, Kelvs,” he said smugly.

“You wish. You’re a nuisance.” I handed him the keys to the motorcycle since he was driving us home.

This guy was really feeling like a local now, especially after riding the motorcycle by himself yesterday. Good for me, because I got to nap in the afternoon.

I just brushed off what I felt the other day. I mean, that idiot started talking about safe spaces and all. As someone with a very blunt personality, that was actually a big compliment to me.

That’s all it was.

We got home and saw Mama sweeping. “Did you drop your friend off?” she asked.

“Yes, Ma. He’s on his way to Puerto Princesa now,” I replied.

“Anyway, your Uncle Goyo is asking what you want for your birthday?”

“Just a simple meal, Ma. And if anyone’s giving gifts, tell them something I can use often.” I’d been so busy with the morons that I didn’t even realize my birthday was coming up. Then again, it’s not that special to me anymore. The older I get, the more I just want to celebrate it simply.

“Your birthday?” Noah asked curiously.

“Yeah, it’s Caloy’s birthday on August 20. How long are you staying, Noah?” Mama asked him.

“Until the 17th only,” he replied. I looked at him and felt a little guilty for not telling him my birthday was near. But it’s his fault! He never asked.

“Too bad you won’t be here to celebrate Caloy’s birthday with us,” Mama said, sounding disappointed.

I scratched my head. “Ma, it’s okay. Noah also needs to go back to Manila. It’s just a birthday.”

I walked inside and went to my room to turn on the aircon. Finally, some relief after being out all day.

Noah followed and sat on the mattress on the floor. “You didn’t say your birthday’s coming up on the 20th,” he said seriously.

“Well, it never came up,” I replied while scrolling through TikTok.

“But my flight’s on the 17th. I won’t be able to celebrate it with you.” I paused and looked at him. He went quiet for a few seconds before continuing, “Of course, you were there during my lowest moments. I just want to be there for your special day.”

“It’s not really a special day. Just a simple meal with relatives, and that’s it. Birthday over.” I explained. Why is he making such a big deal out of it? I don’t even care. I could punch his head.

“Whatever,” Noah said and threw himself onto the mattress.

“You're like a toddler,” I muttered under my breath.

**********

I was surprised when Noah didn’t go home on the 17th. He ditched his flight to Manila and booked a new one on the 21st just so he could celebrate my birthday. What an idiot.

At first, I scolded him for wasting money, but of course, he didn’t listen. I'll let him do what he wants.

It looked like he really enjoyed his extended stay in El Nido, going on solo trips to the beach and helping me manage our Airbnb business.

“Where will I put this, Tita?” Noah asked Mama, holding a tray of menudo.

“Just place it on the table, Noah,” Mama replied.

I watched Noah move around, preparing stuff as the guests and my cousins would be arriving soon.

He frowned when our eyes met. “Why are you giving me that judgey look again?”

“You’re pretending. You’re not like that in the condo,” I said bluntly, making him laugh. This guy can’t even clean up his bed or study table, claiming it’s ‘organized mess.’

He placed the menudo on the table. “Why are you so grumpy? It’s your birthday today.”

“Nye nye nye,” I teased like a child.

“Childish,” he shot back.

Apparently, Mama and I have different definitions of a “simple gathering” because this one was much bigger than I expected. There was karaoke in the garage, food lined up on the table, and even a Happy Birthday banner on the wall.

All my relatives came, praising my physical transformation - thanks to the gym at the condo, which I definitely made the most of. Some of my cousins were even surprised that Noah was here; a few recognized him as a player from the Golden Bears.

It was probably only now that Mama realized Noah was kind of a celebrity.

Noah and I sat off to the side, watching my uncles and cousins singing karaoke and drinking.

“Your family is pretty welcoming,” he said with a smile, sipping from a plastic cup.

“Easy on the alcohol. I don’t want to babysit you.” I warned him. He’s the only party-goer I know with such low alcohol tolerance. Weak.

He smiled. “It’s your birthday.”

“I know. And you ditched your flight just to celebrate it here,” I said.

“And I didn’t regret it. I preferred to have fun here than to spend boring days back home,” he replied. “You were the only one who stayed with me when I was at my lowest. I couldn’t miss your special day.”

I paused. I grabbed my half-full cup and downed it in one go. Is this idiot even aware how extra he’s being right now?

I quickly changed the subject. “What time’s your flight tomorrow?”

“Two PM, from Puerto Princesa,” he said. “There's only one UV terminal for that route, right? The one where we dropped off Darius?”

He had no choice but take a cheap flight back to Manila from Puerto. So stubborn.

“I’ll go with you,” I said. He looked at me. “I also have tourists to pick up for the Airbnb check-in, so it works out.” That was true, but Papa was originally supposed to do that. I just volunteered as a token of appreciation for Noah staying. Not that I’d tell that airhead - he might get full of himself.

“Are you serious? Didn’t you say it’s a five-hour trip from El Nido to Puerto Princesa?”

“You talk too much. Just don’t get drunk because we’re leaving early tomorrow.” I reminded him. He kept chatting with my uncles while I just watched, chuckling.

Noah may be annoying, but after a semester of being close, I could say he’s become like a best friend. We’ve shared a lot, and I actually care about him. Just as long as he doesn’t fall stupidly in love again, or I’ll knock some sense into him.

“Hello, guys!” my brother suddenly called out, holding the karaoke mic. He got everyone’s attention. “I just have an announcement to make.”

He called his wife and wrapped his arm around her waist. “A new Santillanes is joining the family.” My eyes widened, waiting for what he’d say next. “Clarisse is pregnant. We’re having a baby!”

Everyone cheered while I just clapped in speechless shock. Damn, Kuya’s going to be a dad. It felt like just yesterday we were fighting over who had to wash the dishes. Mama and Papa were so happy; it would be their first grandchild.

“Congrats, Kuya,” I said.

“You’re next to give Mama a grandchild,” Kuya teased.

“Let Ate go first before pressuring me,” I joked.

Everyone was so happy, so I returned to my seat at the side. This kind of social gathering really drains my battery. Birthdays are exhausting.

“You’re quiet,” Noah said, already a bit red from drinking.

“That’s your last drink. We’re leaving early tomorrow,” I said seriously.

“I couldn’t say no to your uncles. I didn’t want to be a killjoy,” he replied, downing the cup again. My uncles were relentless despite me reminding them Noah had a flight. “Congrats to your family.”

“It’s just my birthday. I’m not the one having a kid.”

“Smartass,” he said, smiling. “How about you, Kelvs? Do you see yourself starting a family someday?”

“Maybe,” I said. “But that’s a long way off. Right now, I’m more worried about where I’ll get money for cooking ingredients next sem and where to do my internship. Starting a family in this economy is tough. If I ever do, I’ll make sure I’m mentally, financially, and physically ready.”

Noah nodded a bit. “How about you? Do you want a family?”

“I still don’t know. Maybe I’ll think about it when I finally migrate to Australia to be with my mom. For now, I’m just enjoying my time here in the Philippines.”

“You’re leaving the country?” I asked curiously. I mean, it’s his life, not my business, but it’s sad to think he might leave after we graduate. We did become good friends, after all.

“Depends on how things go with my career after graduation,” he said. “I need more beer.”

“Nope. That’s enough.” I checked the time on my phone. “It’s already 11:15. Go to sleep.”

I got up to say goodnight to Mama, telling her Noah and I were going up to sleep since we had to leave early. They understood and wished me happy birthday one last time.

When we got to the room, Noah collapsed on the bed. I lightly kicked his leg. “Hey! Don’t sleep yet. Take a shower and change into sleepwear first.”

“You go first. I’m just taking a power nap,” he mumbled into the pillow.

“Power nap, my ass. You go first.” I pulled him up, and he groaned like a child. “I’m not going with you tomorrow if you don’t get your act together.”

He sat up quickly. “Okay, I’m going to clean up now.” He took off his shirt, revealing his body.

I used to see Noah shirtless all the time at the condo, even just wrapped in a towel. I never cared. But this time, for some reason, I looked away and pretended to scroll on my phone.

He grabbed some clothes from his suitcase. “Oh, before this day ends.” He pulled out a small gift box. “Birthday gift for you, bro.”

I frowned. “What’s this?”

“Just open it,” he said and walked out to shower.

At first, I found it weird, but I eventually smiled. The idiot actually put in effort to get me a gift. I opened the box and found a red coral necklace. “Thanks, anyway,” I muttered.

After Noah showered, it was my turn to get clean and wash off the alcohol. Around midnight, I was finally lying down.

I was on my side with my eyes closed when I felt an arm and leg drape over me. “What the hell, Noah. It’s late!” I said irritably. “Go back to your own bed.”

He groaned. “Just let me sleep here tonight. I get dizzy on the floor,” he explained and squeezed himself tighter onto my single bed.

“One…” I warned.

“Two,” he said, then softly laughed. “Just for tonight, Kelvs. I’m pretty sure you’ll miss me since we won’t see each other again until next month.”

“What 'miss' are you saying? Dream on.”

“You won’t miss me? Come on! We’ve been roomies for a year and you still treat me like this,” he guilt-tripped me and casually lay in my bed.

“That’s exactly my point. We’ve been together for a year, so no. I won’t miss you.”

“You’re harsh, Kelvs.”

“Sure,” I replied. “Go to sleep. We have to leave early for Puerto Princesa tomorrow.” I turned away and closed my eyes.

“Good night, Kelvs. Happy birthday,” he said and turned to face the other way too.

I didn’t answer.

“I said good night,” he repeated in a serious tone.

I scratched my head. “Damn it. You’re like a child craving attention. Good night.” I replied.

He chuckled softly. That was Noah’s last night in El Nido.

Translator's Notes

Deliks comes from the word "delikado" (dangerous).

A UV Express is a hybrid of a bus and a taxi. Passengers share a van that travels a pre-determined route or destination such as major transport terminals, malls or offices.

#pinoybl #pinoyblnovels #ginhawatranslations #thestoryofunit24c #penguin20

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toaarcan · 2 months ago

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Y'know, the way Psychic ended up being so broken in Gen I is such a perfect storm of both intentional (but misguided) choices, what can only be oversights, and programming errors.

They made the highly questionable decision to make Special a single stat that was both offense and defense, which meant that Pokemon that were supposed to be glass cannons take a bunch of hits from half the types in the game.

A lot of the Psychic Pokemon that aren't Alakazam get crazy type diversity with their moves, which lets Pokemon like Starmie check basically everything in the game.

Making half the Pokedex part-Poison for no reason, one of the types that is weak to Psychic, ensuring that Alakazam can hit most opponents in the game for super-effective.

Poison itself is a really bad type with no worthwhile moves, so most of the Pokemon that are part-poison would genuinely benefit from not being it.

Two Poison-type boss trainers, three if you count Giovanni and his Nidos.

Majority of the villain team uses Poison. Some of them also use Fighting.

Intended weaknesses are Bug and Ghost, which both have shit for damage-dealing moves.

Bug has Pin Missile and Twin Needle. Pin Missile is only learned by Jolteon (not a Bug type, easily missable, not a physical attacker) and Beedrill, and is also shit. Twin Needle is slightly better, but is only learned by Beedrill.

Also Beedrill is part-Poison and has crap stats, so it 100% dies to Alakazam before it can get a move off.

There are good Bugs in this game, Scyther and Pinsir. Neither gets a single damage-dealing Bug move before Gen II. Neither gets a good damage-dealing Bug move before Gen IV, when both get X-Scissor and Scyther also gets U-Turn.

Ghost has Night Shade, a fixed damage attack that hits equal to the user's level, and thus can never do more 100 damage, even against Pokemon weak to Ghost, and Lick, a 30 power move.

Ghost is physical, which should allow it to hit Psychics' usually bad Defense stat (though as noted above, 30 base power isn't gonna kill even the frailest Psychic-type), but the only Ghost-types in the game, Gengar and Haunter (who is what people without friends have instead of Gengar), are Special attackers and can't really make any good use of their STAB.

Also Gengar and Haunter are both part-Poison so they get oneshot by Alakazam anyway lol.

Also there's a programming bug in the game that makes Psychic immune to Ghost anyway.

They didn't fix that in JP Blue.

They didn't fix that in the worldwide Red/Blue release.

They didn't fix that in Yellow.

There's a really-easy-to-perform bug that lets players spawn a Lv.12 Mew as early as Cerulean, giving you the best Pokemon in the game (Mewtwo is technically better but you're not getting him before the league. I mean theoretically you could summon him with the Mew Glitch, since it can spawn any Pokemon in the list if you hit the right trainer, but most people only know the options that fetch Mew), whose base 100/100/100/100/100 stats and bottomless TM pool make it unstoppable.

And then a lot of this stuff isn't really fixed in the Gen III remakes. Like yeah, sure, Dark and Steel exist now. There are no Dark-types pre-credits without cheating. There are Pokemon that get Dark moves like Blastoise and the Eeveelutions, but Dark is a Special type so plenty of Psychics can tank hits from Bite. Steel has one representative, Magneton, who is decent. The Pokedex is still 80% Poison and Poison still sucks. Scyther and Pinsir still have no moves. Beedrill still sucks.

#Pokemon #Pokemon Red & Blue #Pokemon Red #Pokemon Blue #Pokemon Red & Green #Pokemon Green #Pokemon Yellow #Pokemon Gen I

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danicanicolesantos · 2 years ago

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"My unforgettable vacation"

By: Danica Samantha Nicole Santos

"I was only 6 when me and my family went to Plawan because it was my birthday,

Palawan is a paradise! The white sandy beaches and clear waters are breathtaking. The journey to the Underground River is an adventure, with a boat ride through a cave of stunning rock formations. Island hopping in El Nido is a must, each island is unique with vibrant coral reefs. The local cuisine is a delight, especially the fresh seafood. The nights under the starlit sky, with the sound of waves, are magical. The locals are warm and welcoming, making the experience even more memorable. Many people were kind and helpful! They teach me how to make sandcastles, They even gave me a pearl necklace and it was fun in Palawan, After nights the stars shines and the water splashes calmly, I was always outside looking at the stars and it was a happy vacation, After some weeks, We packed our stuffs because we're going back at Marikina, The people in my vacation gave me some shells, pearls and even a flower crown, We drove away and it was the most fun and best vacation i ever had."

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hunterbahamut · 3 years ago

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Virus: Second Infection

The infection: it’s spreading.

A follow up story to the original Virus story, written back in 2020. Done by request, and uses other characters. Musa and Chlo belong to PictorisAurora. Nido belongs to @subakuryu Lucas belongs to @ mysteriouskaos. Akira belongs to CryogeniX. Byte belongs to @noc-loft. Content warning: Some violence and gore/implied limb loss.

--- The ship broke into the smoggy atmosphere and started to fly over a large mushroom forest down below. Chlo looked out through the window and to the greenish landscape down below and she let out a heavy sigh. “I really have a hard time coming to Swog.” Musa let out a grumbling sigh as she watched the pilot controls, taking them in. “So you keep saying.” Chlo twitched; she recognized that tone in her Needlix companion's voice. “I know it's your home and everything, it's just-” “I know full well how you feel about my homeworld.” Musa said, cutting her off. This was not the first time they had this talk, and as patient as Musa could be, it didn't exactly make her feel comfortable. “But this is a job, and we really could use the extra funds right now.” “We do?” Chlo asked and looked over, “But I thought-” “Someone wanted to stop over at Hygron last week.” Musa spoke up, interrupting the Shkeel. “And I warned you, being that far out it was going to eat into our reserves. So, here we are.” Chlo frowned a little at that and sighed. “Okay, okay...so...what are we doing here?” “Someone asked for help regarding some kind of research base here.” Musa explained; knowing full well Chlo hadn't read the mission brief. “Not sure on the details just yet, just that a few researchers were here doing some work, but it sounds like a recent storm has caused some trouble so they wanted some additional help.” “Research?” Chlo perked up a little at that and looked over. “What kind of research?” “They didn't say.” Musa answered, “Being this far out in the forest, my guess would be either some cleanup stuff, or xeno-stuff, most likely xeno-biology stuff. “Oooo!” Chlo smiled, almost immediately perking up at that. Musa sighed, “Figured that would get your attention.” She shook her head and turned back to the ship controls, activating the ship comms. “Contacting Station Echo, requesting landing permissions.” Chlo did seem to perk up a little at that and she started to go over her equipment and her wetsuit to make sure she was ready to head out. As she did, Musa waited for a reply, but after a few moments, there was just silence. Musa looked over the communications before trying again. “Station Echo, do you ready?” “Is something wrong?” Musa rubbed her head. “I don't know...not getting a reply from the facility.” She frowned, “Well...like it or not, we're gonna have to go in for a landing.” She maneuvered the ship around the domed building and headed for the open landing pad behind it. “What the?” She spoke up, “Looks like there's another ship here. And geez...looks more of a clunker than ours.” “Maybe it's something one of the researchers own?” Musa shook her head. “No way, I'm sure they have much nicer looking ships than this. We might have to be careful, just in case we have some uninvited company. Chlo gulped, “Uh, yeah. Sure. You got this.” She gave the Needlix a reassuring smile. Musa just sighed and shook her head before she moved the ship in and landed next to the other ship before she got up from her seat. She rechecked her armor as well as her cybernetic arm, making sure that the arm cannon was in working order before she headed for the hatch. As their usual order, Musa was the first one out, moving down the ramp and holding her arm canon out as she scouted the area. “Hmm...coast seems to be clear so far.” There was a 'thud' from the ship, followed by some grumblings from the Shkeel, making her sigh and turn to watch as Chlo struggled with her walker platform before it finally activated, springing it's six insect-like legs out. “You know, if you didn't want to visit so many places, we might have the money to actually get that thing replaced.” Chlo huffed as she climbed onto the platform as it started to move out. “But it works fine!” “We had to repair that thing three times just this week.” Musa said. She was about to say more, but a new voice joined in. “Howdy.” Chlo yipped out as Musa turned around, holding her arm cannon out at the newcomer. It was another Needlix, though he certainly didn't look like a member of the facility or some kind of raider or trouble-maker. His clothing was simple, heavy boots, and what looked like some kind of headphones that were actually spiked, the whole thing seemingly keeping his messy green hair in some sort of order. “Whoa now, take it easy.” He said, “That thing might go off.” Musa raised a brow. “Nido?” The male smiled. “Nice to see you two again. Not greatest time to meetup again, but it is what it is.” Musa raised an eyebrow. “What are you doing here?” “Got a call this morning and was asked to come along here and give you two a hand.” Nido just shrugged, “I didn't know it was going to be you two, but I'm glad it is, should make this a lot easier. Whatever we're doing here.” “Oh, I don't think we even know.” Chlo said. “I don't think.” Musa sighed, “I suspected that we were going to get more details when we arrived. All I know is that they were working on something here and wanted a transport, but beyond that, I have no idea.” “That's weird.” Nido rubbed his stubbled chin, “Wonder why they asked me to come along?” “Were you able to talk with anyone?” Chlo asked. “Nope.” Nido said, “Been quiet since I got here, but it's only been, like, ten minutes.” Musa sighed, “Alright, well...in that case, if we're ready, then lets get inside and see what's going on.” She took the lead and the three of them approached the entry on the landing pad. The automatic doors opened up for them and they stepped inside. “Looks like the power is still on.” Nido commented as he looked around. “That's good.” “I don't like how quiet it is though.” Musa replied, “This feels too...empty. I feel like we should be hearing something; footsteps, voices, something other than the air circulation.” Chlo stepped a bit closer, the legs of her platform tapping at the metal floor. “Well...maybe they're just in a lounge or rec room or something?” “Maybe...” Musa didn't sound convinced. “At least they have directional signs here, getting around shouldn't be a problem.” Nido nodded, “Think we should split up?” Before Musa had time to consider it, Chlo spoke up, “That's a terrible idea! Something always happens when a group splits up!” Musa sighed, “I don't think we have anything to worry about. We don't even know if anything is actually wrong here.” She turned to the Shkeel, “How about you go and try to find like a computer room or control center? We might be able to find others there, or at least maybe gain access to their computers or something.” Chlo shifted on her walker. “Well...I guess that sounds good.” “I can take a look around the hanger areas here.” Nido said, “Check and see if transports or such are missing, maybe see if they have any records or something.” Musa nodded, “Alright, I will scout around and see if I can find anything. This facility shouldn't be too big so it shouldn't take a lot of time. When we find the control center, we can meet up there.” Chlo huffed a little, “I still think this is a bad idea!” The three went their different ways; Chlo following the colored directional line and heading in deeper into the facility. It seemed kind of nice, or at least better than some of the other places the two had been into before. The power was on and the place was downright clean, much different from what she would normally think of a polluted planet like Swog. Thankfully, she didn't have to go far before she found a control center of some kind; a small room with several computer terminals with the screens on, but empty. Chlo activated her communicator. “Okay, I think I found it! There's no one else here though.” “Pretty quiet on my end too.” Nido reported. “From the looks of things, their ships are all here, but there's also this weird look wreck.” “Wreck?” Chlo asked. “It's obviously a ship of some kind.” Nido continued, “But it ain't one I've seen before, and it's in such a state that there's no way she's flying any time soon.” “Weird.” The Shkeel walked over to one of the terminals. “Maybe I can find something in their database? It doesn't look like their system is locked, so I might be able to find something. How about you, Musa?” “It's been empty so far.” She said, “Going through some kind of lab storage area. For some reason the power seems to be out here, the lights are barely working. No one seems to be h-whoa!” Musa's voice was suddenly cut off and the sound of something falling or crashing could be heard. Chlo tensed up, “Musa! Musa are you okay?” They didn't get a reply right away, but finally they could hear her voice coming back. “Son of a...yeah I'm fine, I'm fine. Just tripped over something.” “You hurt?” Nido asked. “No, but I seem to have landed in something.” Musa sighed, “Yeesh...looks like some kind of purple goo got spilled over the floor here.” “Sure it ain't some Mucker slime?” “I'm quite sure, I don't think they had a spur-of-the-moment turf battle in here.” Musa grumbled. “Did you find anything else?” “Not really.” Nido said, “Logs are very simple, last time a ship was out was about a week or so ago. Guessing they went out sometime after the storm.” “Oh yeah, there was a storm recently?” “Yeah, a massive storm rolled through here a couple weeks ago. Given the location and everything, I figured they just needed some stuff repaired afterwards here.” “Maybe that was how it started, but then where is everyone?” Musa huffed out, starting to sound a little strained. “Did you find anything yet, Chlo?” “I'm searching through their database now.” Chlo said, “Looks like they've been busy fairly recently and-” She stopped sudden. “Oh...oh! You guys! You're not gonna believe this!” “What? What is it?” Nido asked. “According to their reports and stuff in here, the researchers here found some kind of weird wreck in the forest sometime after the storm, and they actually found a survivor! It's some kind of alien! You guys should see this! It's like a...well it's kind of like a yellow Aqualine!” “Alien, huh?” Nido said. “Guess that might explain the wreck then. I'll make my way to you. You good Musa?” There wasn't a response for a long moment. “Huh? Oh. Yeah, right. I'll...I'll start making my way there.” Nido hurried out of the small hanger and through the halls until he reached the control room. “So, found anything else?” “Yeah!” Chlo said, opening up window after window of information. “This happened sometime after this storm you mentioned. They found the wreck in the swamp, and after they pulled it out, ended up finding a survivor!” “An alien you said?” “Yeah!” Chlo touched one of the windows and expanded it. It showed what did appear to be a yellow feline creature with green and purple markings, very similar to an Aqualine in some aspects, but lacking the gills or third eye. Instead they had what looked like ridged spines on their head. Their tail also seemed strange, it looked like it had a maw there as well. Nido raised an eyebrow when he saw the tail, while it wasn't exact, it did remind him of his frequent employer. “According to the information here, they were in pretty bad shape.” Chlo said, continuing as she brought up several more screens. “Aliens are kinda hard to work on I imagine, but they did their best. It just looks like some injuries were beyond repair.” It looked like the Shkeel was avoiding some of the more 'graphic' images as she dug in deeper. “Thankfully, he seemed to be okay with Gorm technology, so they augmented him to help with the recovery.” Before she could continue, there was a thump coming from the entrance, causing her to jump. The two would turn and see Musa at the doorway, though for some reason she was looking worn. “Ya okay there?” Nido asked, “You look kinda haggard.” “I'm fine.” Musa replied, her response sounding rather short. “You sure? You look like you ran-” “I said I'm fine!” Musa snapped this time, walking into the room. “What else did you find? Anything on this awful purple sludge?” Nido raised a brow while Chlo hesitated; she had seen Musa mad, but there was usually a good reason for it. “Uh...oh yeah.” She turned back to the screen, “The wreckage seemed to be coated in something the couldn't identify; it wasn't a natural substance from the swamp itself, so they gathered some of it up for study.” “Great, so what the hell is it?” Musa asked sharply. “I don't know.” Before Chlo could say anymore, Musa actually slammed her cybernetic arm into the side of the desk, leaving an indent. “Whoa, take it easy there.” Nido said, though that seemed to just earn him a nasty look from Musa. Before anything else was said though, Chlo spoke up. “Oh...uh oh...” “What is it?” Nido asked. “Uhm...I think I'm starting to see what may have happened...” Chlo brought up some more windows. “This little alien; apparently his name is Lucas, they gave him some Gorm cybers when he was recovering. It looks like they used some plans from a Gorm that's living on Swog, someone named Zane. It seemed ike everything was going fine, but...” “But?” Chlo squinted at the screen. “It's...hard to tell. Some of the reports here are incomplete or just missing. There's stuff that were never recorded, but a lot of it also seems like it was corrupted.” She tapped at the computer, “It...looks like something happened, there are reports of this Lucas starting to act strangely. Then there was some kind of accident, and then he started to actually attack the others! The station went into lockdown, but...but that's all. There's nothing else left.” Musa just snorted out. “Right, then this should be pretty easy. Find the freak, take him out and then we can get the hell out of here.” Both Nido and Chlo looked over to her. “What are talking about?” Chlo asked, sounding shocked. “I don't think it's that simple.” Nido said, “Gotta find the researchers first, they might be hiding away here somewhere.” Musa just snorted, “I doubt it. If this little gremlin went crazy, and is souped-up with Gorm tech, then you gotta assume that there aren't any survivors. Stomp out the pest and we can leave.” “That's not like you!” Chlo said, “The researchers here were trying to figure out what was wrong with him, I think we can try and help him!” “This isn't some kind of new pet for you to obsess over!” Musa spat out, her anger clearly showing. “This thing has killed so we just deal with him! End of story!” “You don't know that.” Nido started to protest, but Musa just growled out. “Fine! You both can just hide away in here for all I care! I'm getting this bastard!” With that, she turned and stormed off. Both Chlo and Nido were left speechless as they watched her leave. Finally the Needlix spoke up. “What was that?” Chlo shook a little, the look of worry heavy on her face. “I don't know... this isn't like her at all.” She rubbed her head, “I mean...I've seen Musa angry before, but there was...you know...a reason for it.” This just came out of no where.” Nido rubbed his chin, trying to think. “Think this has anything to do with that sludge? She did say she fell into some.” “I don't know, maybe?” Chlo twitched before she turned around and accessed the computers again, looking through files. “Some of the researchers here were trying to study this stuff. I mean, it could just be something from that ship or-” She stopped. “What?” Nido asked. “What is it?” Chlo looked at the screen and shivered a bit. “I'm...I'm not sure.” She brought up a few screens, “According to some of these reports, it sounds like this stuff was...'behaving strangely'.” “Uh, what does that mean exactly?” Chlo looked through a few more files. “Well, it seemed to be...making more of itself? Like they only had like half a liter of the stuff, but the next day it more than doubled. They started to experiment with it, but things started to get weird. Equipment started to fail, some of the samples ended up getting destroyed for some reason.” Chlo stopped again when she opened up the next file. “Oh...uh...okay, this looks bad. It says here that they had Lucas in a room to run some tests on him, but they also had a sample of the stuff in he same place, but apparently the beaker holding the stuff broke in the lab. It was evacuated for safety, but with the timing of everything...” “Doesn't sound like a coincidence then.” Nido said. “Musa's acting weird, so it might be connected to this stuff.” Chlo frowned; she was clearly worried for her friend. “What do we do?” Nido sighed, “I dunno. I guess the best thing to do would be to get her outta here and over to a medical facility. There's a chance that this stuff has messed up her arm and armor, so they need to be dealt with. As for this Lucas guy...I dunno, maybe we can do the same for him.” “But if he's as dangerous as we're thinking, what can we do to stop him? Or Musa for that matter?” Before the two could continue, the lights in the room suddenly went out, only the lights of the computer screens were left as power suddenly failed, and the whir from the power generators went out. Nido looked up and grunted. “Okay...that's bad.” Chlo looked around nervously. “What the? What the heck happened?” “Not sure, but I can take a guess.” Nido frowned as he looked around. “Need to check out the power center to know for sure.” The Shkeel looked over to the green Needlix with a concerned look. “What should we do?” The two looked at each other, both seemed a little lost for ideas. “We can go and check the generators.” Nido said, “I'm worried that this was done by the Lucas character...” “What about Musa?” Chlo frowned, “I'm worried about her. Maybe I should go and try and find her...” Nido raised a brow. “Weren't you the one saying splitting up was a bad idea?” “Don't remind me.” Chlo sighed, “But...” The Needlix nodded before he reached to his side and pulled out blaster and handed it over to her. “Wait, you're giving me a weapon?” Chlo seemed apprehensive. “Don't want you to be completely defenseless. Hopefully you won't need it.” Chlo hesitated, but she did take it, fumbling with it a little. “What about you?” “Don't you worry, I got a little something.” Nido pulled out another weapon, though Chlo looked at it with some confusion. “You...brought an umbrella?” “Of a sort.” Nido said. “Alright, well...if you want to do this, then let's do it. Keep comms open, and call for help if you need it.” Chlo frowned, but she nodded. “Alright...be careful.” Nido nodded. “You too.” He said before he turned and headed out. Chlo hesitated, watching him run out before she looked down at the blaster in her hands. “Oh...oh boy...” She took in a deep breath before she slowly made her way out. “I really hope you're okay Musa.” ---- The facility took on a whole new feel now that main power was out. Auxiliary power was one and the halls were lit with emergency lights, but that was only a small comfort. There were still plenty of shadows being thrown about, and the lack of any sound now made everything so much more imposing, the gentle rumble from the air circulation was now replaced with silence. Nido took out his flashlight, even with the minor lighting, he needed to see the signage to know where he was going. He felt that a facility of this size wouldn't need a very large power room, yet in the dark it felt like it was a lot more immense than it really was. And he really wasn't sure if the quiet was a good thing or not. He continued to move, his steps echoing through the empty halls until he finally reached the entrance to the power center. “Whew, here we are.” He said and reached for the door's manual release, giving the heavy handle a pull before there was a hiss and the door would release and he could push it open. He shone his light inside, showing off the large power generators that flanked each side of the room and the control panel in the rear of the room. There was an unpleasant smell filling the room; the familiar scent of smoke and ozone made the Needlix grumble. “Hmm...that's not a good sign.” He headed in, shining his light around to look at the generators. The smell must have meant that something got damaged, but he was not ready for the kind of damage he would find. Towards the end of one of the generators, it was completely trashed. The metal cover had been ripped open and much of the wires and components had been completely wrecked, blackened burn marks could be seen against the metal from where electrical sparks once spewed out, filling the room with the faint electrical smoke. Nido huffed out, “What the heck caused this?” He asked to himself, waving a hand to clear the air a little to get a better look. “Well, this is not a good sign...” He said before checking the next generator. Thankfully, that once seemed to be intact. “Right...think, Nido.” He said to himself, tapping his arms. “Backup power should keep the computer system up, maybe I can find something that I can bypass the damaged generator. It's not perfect, but some power is better than none.” He headed to the rear console, setting the 'umbrella' down before he started to tap at the interface. Thankfully, the screens would activate, though it was clear to see that the power was indeed limited. “Alright, let's see what we can do.” He started to tap away, checking through the options, but then he stopped suddenly, his ears twitching when he thought he heard something. At first, he thought it was just his tapping echoing off the walls, but then that tapping started to turn into creaking, and then turned into tearing. He slowly started to turn, looking back behind him. In the ambient light, he could see something coming from the ceiling. At first it looks like a cable, but with how it was moving, it was easy to see that it wasn't. It was more like a tendril or a tail... A tail. With a maw. “Oh...oh crap.” Nido watched the tail-maw as it started to bite into the other power generator, tearing away at the metal casing like wrapping paper. But Nido knew that the tail had to be attached to something...or someone in this case. His eyes slowly started to look up, and he spotted it, hanging from the ceiling. A yellow feline-like creature with green ridge-plates, wearing Gorm-style armor of white, black and green. There was something wrong though, even in the dark Nido could see what could only be described as patches of darker color on the alien's body, it was like his furred body was being...transformed? It almost looked like he was being forcibly changed into a Gorm? That was crazy, there was no way... His thoughts stopped quite suddenly though as his eyes met with the red eyes of the alien, suddenly seeming to notice he was there. Nido stood still, watching the alien as the tail stopped its tearing. “Lucas, wasn't it?” Nido said, keeping his voice calm and steady. “You okay there? Heard you been through a lot.” The alien looked at him before he gave him a wide, unsettling grin, showing off his sharp teeth. He laughed, sending a chill down the Needlix's back. “GEE-heeehHEHEEHeheheh...you could say that. But I'm gonna be fiiiiine.” “Ya sure there?” Nido asked as he slowly started to move a hand closer to the umbrella. “Yeeeeah.” The feline said, snickering. Suddenly, without warning, he pushed himself off the support beam and launched himself at him! Nido reacted quickly, grabbing a hold of the umbrella and opened the canopy up like a shield. Lucas was not expecting that, and he crashed into the surprisingly touch canopy, his claws trying to tear into the strong nanoweave fabric. Nido had to use the back console for support, bracing himself against it as he held the improvised shield up against the attacking alien. He thought he would be able to hold him off, but that was when a wire from his shoulder started to squirm and move around rather erratically before it focused a laser on the canopy, trying to burn through. Nido grunted, “Oh crap-!” He didn't know if his 'brella was going to hold up against something like that. He had to do something and quick; he never gave this a proper test, so now was as best a time as ever. He pulled a trigger on the handle and, quite suddenly, the canopy of the umbrella shot off with a surprising amount of force, actually launching itself and the attacker up into the air, causing both to crashing against the wrecked generator with a a loud crash. The needlix didn't wait, old Muck Warfare instincts kicked in and he ran for the door as the alien struggled to recover. He could hear him clawing away at the canopy and the wreckage as he ran for the door. He quickly spun around, trying to force the door closed as Lucas was soon back up, rushing for the door. Nido grunted and huffed out, pushing as hard and as fast as he could before- CLUNK! Nido let out a heavy breath as the door slammed closed and the latch reengaged. He let out a breath, “Right...right...okay. That did not go the way I would have hoped. But-” He was stopped mid-sentence when he heard a thud coming from the door, followed by another one, and then the sound of metal creaking. “Oh...oh come one, you have got to be kidding me!” His first instinct was to try and leave and get some distance, but he stopped. Given the tech he had now, that may not be the best idea. Instead...maybe he could get in the first strike. It was certainly dangerous, but none of the options available were exactly 'safe'. His choice was made and Nido moved to the far wall, going to one knee and brought up his umbrella and took aim. It was what he referred to as an 'undercover 'brella'; more of a defensive weapon in disguise. With the constant tweaks he made to it, it should pack enough of a punch to knock out even a Gorm. Once again, old Mucker instincts came up as he sat and waited in ambush, watching as the door started to twist and warp. Nido waited and watched, finger on the trigger, until the door was wretched open. He pulled the trigger and fired; a pulsewave of energy shot out and slammed into the revealed Lucas. While not a point-blank shot, the alien feline let out a loud cry of pain as he flew backwards from the door and crashed. Nido himself was pushed back a little from the shot, not expecting a recoil that powerful. He quickly recovered and got ready for another shot, but he could hear scrambling from the room, followed by a screech of metal and then a crash. Nido stayed put for a moment, expecting to see him come running out, but instead it was just silence. He finally got up and cautiously peeked inside. The room was empty. He made a quick scan of the room before he spotted some more twisted metal in the middle of the room. “Dangit...he must have broke into the ventilation system.” He sighed and stood back. “Who knows where he could be now... He instinctively looked up at the ceiling overhead before he started to move. “Right...I think we might have to consider getting out of here after all. Gotta get to Chlo.” He activated his comm, “Chlo, do you hear me? I'm headed over to you, I think we need a change of plan.” He didn't get a reply back, all he got was static. “Chlo?” He checked his communicator again before he frowned. “Dangit...alright, guess we're running now.” ---- The spider-like legs of her mobile platform clicked against the metal floor, causing strange echoes to bounce around the Shkeel as she moved down the hall. It really didn't help her nerves, looking around nervously. “It...is way too quiet in here.” She said, actually whispering to herself. She had attached her light to one of her head tendrils, using the light to look around. Her mind was racing with worry, now tinged with fear. What was wrong with Musa? Could she actually talk her down so they could get out of here? If not...then what? She really hated the idea of actually...shooting her... Chlo shook her head. No, there had to be an alternative she could consider. She stopped and took a quick look around the hallway; looking for any kind of room or lab she might be able to use. Her light would land on one of the directional signs, pointing to a nearby door. “Ah ha! There!” She smiled and quickly hurried over, stepping inside slowly and finding herself in what was clearly some kind of laboratory. “Alright Chlo, let's think.” She started to look around the room, “Okay, so...clearly I have no idea what half of this stuff is, but...maybe...” She tried to think, but that was when her light landed on a first aid station. “Oh hey! Okay, maybe this will work!” She hurried over to the station and opened it up, looking at what was inside: a lot of it was just the usual, mundane items like bandages and sprays, but there seemed to be a few other items, including some special medicine. “Okay! Right, so...maybe if I...” While Chlo was a researcher, chemistry wasn't exactly her strong suit, but this was the best alternative she had other than shooting Musa. She activated her wrist computer and quickly started to look through some information before she discovered a formula and started to put it together. “Okay...that should be it. This tranquilizer should be strong enough to knock her out. But it's only enough for one dose. It should be enough, I hope.” She loaded the concoction into a hypospray just as her communicator activated. “Chl-...u hear m...?” She jumped a little, hearing the static from her comms. “Nido? Nido is that you?” “...eaded ov... nee... nge of pla....” She frowned. “Nido? Can you hear? I didn't catch any of that. Nido? Nido! Oh come on, what is going on now?” This did feel strangely familiar to her; there was one time whee she and Musa had to rig up a way to block communications during a previous mission, was Musa actually doing something like that now, or was something else causing the interference? “Oh great...” Chlo took in a breath, trying to calm herself down. “Right...right...okay...well...I hope you get here quick, Nido. I could use the help...” She headed out of the lab and once again started to down the hallway, shining her light around for any sign of her friend. The hall seemed to lead to what seemed to be the facility's recreational room, only this place was in complete disarray. The furniture had been piled up against the walls, at one point they must have been used to form barricades, but have since been pushed away. The food machines had been smashed apart and the tv monitors hung crooked on the walls, their screens broken and lifeless. Chlo scanned the room, nearly jumping when she finally saw Musa standing in the middle of the room. She was just...standing there, completely unmoving. She gulped. “Musa? I'm really glad I found you.” At first, there was no response, but as Chlo kept talking, she started to turn her head. “Nido's gone off to try and find out what happened to the power, but I think we need to get out of h-” She stopped and gasped as she looked at the Needlix, completely surprised when she realized that she was watching her, and that one of her eyes had changed to a dark, glowing red. “I'm not going anywhere.” Musa said, her voice trembling with what sounded like barely contained rage. “Not until I find the little bastard and I kill it.” Chlo gulped. “I...I don't think it's worth it now. We...we're way in over our heads here. I think we-” She stopped short when she watched as Musa spun around, holding her arm cannon up and pointed it right at her. “We wouldn't even be here if it weren't for you!” Musa shouted out, “If you would stop being a spoiled and frivolous child, we wouldn't need to be here at all!” Chlo froze, terror starting to grip her. “So you know what?” Musa continued, staring at the Shkeel as a wicked grin started to grow on her face. “I think it's time to put an end to this. Once and for all.” Chlo whimpered, loosing her voice for a moment as she looked at the weapon aimed at her. “M-Musa, hold it...I know this isn't like you.” She said, trying to talk while looking for some kind of cover. “You wouldn't do this. Let's get out of here and-” “SHUT UP!” Musa yelled out. “I have HAD it with you!” Everything happened so fast. Chlo could see the arm cannon powering up, about to fire. Without thinking, she dove off of her walker just as the blast struck the walker, sending it and some of the legs flying off. The Shkeel landed heavily, sending the blaster skittering off to the side while she scrambled to pull herself over behind a turned-over couch. “Musa!” Chlo gasped out, fear taking over as he tried desperately to reach to her friend while frantically fumbling with her pouch to get the hypo. “Musa please! Don't do this! I don't know what's happening, but-” She let out a yelp as the Needlix was standing over of her, slamming a foot down on her tail as she held her cannon to the Shkeel's head; her expression showed nothing but rage. “Now, for the last time. Shut. Up!” Chlo whimpered out, too afraid to move or do anything, fearing that this was the end. She trembled and looked into the unnatural face of her friend... But suddenly there was the sound of a shrill growl. Before either of them knew what was happening, something slammed into Musa, knocking her back into the middle of the room. It took the Shkeel several moments to get enough sense back for her to move, digging her claws into the couch and hid behind it as she watched what was happening. Musa was struggling against something, or someone. Chlo gasped, realizing that it was the alien, Lucas! Musa stumbled around and struggled as Lucas was trying to claw at the armor, he tail starting to snap and bite at it, actually getting some purchase on her leg before The Needlix was able to dislodge him and threw him off. The alien was quick to react, his Gorm-legs activated, creating a hovering field that let him slow his impact against the wall and landed to his feet. “You!” Musa hissed out. “It's about time you showed up! I'm going destroy you!” The feline hissed and laughed. “ Y̶o̵u̷ ̸c̶a̴n̶ ̷c̷e̶r̷t̵a̵i̶n̷l̶y̴ ̵t̴r̷y̵ !” There was a loud clash as Lucas launched himself forward into Musa, though she was prepared for it this time and she held her arms up, catching him as he started to claw away at her. The laser tendril on his shoulder whipped out and fired a blast at her, catching her off guard as the laser glanced off her arm and bounced off, shooting through her ear. Musa yelled out in pain before she kicked the alien back, lifting her arm cannon up and taking several shots, forcing Lucas to duck and run avoid to avoid the attacks. “Stay still you little-” Musa's energy blasts were getting stronger as she built up the energy levels; the bigger blasts were much harder to dodge for the feline. But he was edging closer, and when he was close enough, he lunged forward, one of his arms actually crackling with electrical energy. He was able to grab hold of Musa's armor and an extreme electrical blast shot through her. Her armor did it's best to absorb and mitigate the blast, but it was extreme, causing much of the armor's electrical defenses to start frying. Chlo hid behind the couch, her only means of cover, watching with wide-eyes at the fight taking place. Her mind was racing; what was she going to do?! They were going crazy like this, someone was going to get killed! Energy blasts shot everywhere, blasting against the walls and the remains of the furniture, while bodies collided, the dull thud of claws and fists against metal echoing in the room. Nido could hear the commotion down the hall and he rushed forward, but he stopped short at the door when he saw the fight that was taking place. He stood there in stunned silence. “Holy...” Chlo gasped and turned, seeing the green Needlix and she let out a yelp. “Nido! Get to cover! Quick!” Nido was shook out of his stupor and he looked around, spotting the helpless researcher to the side. “Chlo!” With his attention diverted though, he didn't realize that Musa was able to kick Lucas and sent the smaller form flying, and then crashing into Nido, knocking him to the ground. His umbrella weapon clattered to the ground and slid, stopping short of the Shkeel. “Agh! Hey-!” Nido struggled against Lucas, trying to get him off and move away, but the feline refused to budge. Now that his first target was her, he dug his claws into his chest while the tail maw snapped down onto his leg, causing him to yell out in pain. “Get...off!” Lucas hissed and he raised his hand up, electrical energy surging through his hand, but before he could strike, his arm was suddenly grabbed and he was yanked off. “Got you this time!” Musa growled out as she held onto the thrashing Lucas, energy charging up in her arm cannon. She was preparing to blast him point blank, but the shoulder mounted laser tendril started to whip around again. It fired, blasting into Musa's armor as she tried to take aim. The energy blast fired, and Lucas let out a horrible scream of pain as the blast blasted through his leg, causing the now damaged cybernetic limb to fly off and clatter against the wall and sending a rush of pain through him. Musa didn't hesitate this time, taking the feline and then slammed him down into the ground several times like a ragdoll, until he wasn't moving anymore. Chlo watched in horror as Musa stood there, her armor damaged and arm cannon smoking. By the door, she could see Nido struggling to get up, clearly injured and clearly injured. But Musa also seemed to notice him and she turned and started to approach him, his arm cannon once again starting to hum with energy. Chlo gulped, her voice catching in her throat as she knew she had to do something! “M-Musa...” Nido was struggling to get up, watching as the damaged Needlix was starting to approach her. “Listen...” Musa didn't say anything, instead she just stared down at him, her infected eye seeming to glow as she approached him, raising her arm cannon up at him. “MUSA!” Chlo let out a loud yell, catching her off guard. Musa turned around, just in time to see that the Shkeel had managed to force herself closeer, holding the umbrella weapon awkwardly, but enough that she was able to pull the trigger. The energy blast shot out, catching Musa's arm in the blast. That combined with the charging energy and there was a brief, but intense explosion, sending the two backwards with the force. Musa howled out in a combination of pain and rage, holding the remains of her arm and shoulder as she thrashed on the ground. “YOU STUPID BITCH! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!” Chlo whimpered out as she fell to the floor, clearly shaken and injured by the blast. She was panting hard, but she tossed the hypo over to Nido. “Hurry! U-use that on her! Take her out!” Nido huffed out, managing the catch the hypo. He ignored the pain in his leg and he rushed over to the thrashing Needlix, pinning her down and injecting the hypo into her. Slowly, the enraged Musa started to calm down, and soon she fell unconcious. Silence fell over the facility once more. ---- It felt like she was climbing out of a long, dark tunnel, only to be greeted by pain. Musa let out a groan as she started to come around. Her body ached, and she was disorientated, taking her a few moments to realize that she was laying in a bed in a Needlix hospital. Everything hurt, and she realized that her arm and eye were bandaged. “Wha...what the...?” She tried to speak up, her voice straining as she coughed. “Well hello there. Welcome back.” Musa twitched an ear, “Nido?” She twitched as she looked over to the green Needlix next to her bed. “Nice to see you again.” He said, offering a faint smile. “It...is you, yes?” “What? Of course...” Musa groaned, trying to sit up. “How...how did I end up here? What the heck happened?” “You don't remember?” She sighed, “Obviously not.” Nido sighed out, “What was the last thing that you remember?” Musa sighed in frustration, but she was starting to realize how difficult that was to answer. “I...we were...in the mushroom forest, on an job. And...you were there. And...” She hesitated. “Good grief...what happened? I can't remember anything.” “Normally, that would be for the best, but...” There was some clear hesitation in his voice, but he spent some time briefly going over what happened. As he told the story, Musa was slowly starting to remember, getting fragmented memories coming up. She felt her stomach twitch. “Oh god...I...I tried to kill you guys...” Nido twitched an ear. “You certainly tried.” Musa winced. “Chlo! What abut Chlo?! Is she-?” “She's fine.” Nido said, “She's in a different area of the hospital here, more friendly to aquatics here. But she's fine, only took some minor burns from that big blast. But, sad to say, you're arm is toast.” Musa frowned and looked down. “What about that alien, Lucas?” Nido frowned next. “Far as I know, he's in a special ward here. Being an alien, he was needing some special treatment. And because of his augmentation, they had to get in touch with several Gorm to help. Interesting lot too, one tall green one and a bigger slate colored one. Uhm...Akira and Byte I think they said their names were. But, last I heard, it sounded like he was going to be okay.” Musa closed her eye and put his head back against the pillow. “Hell...this went all kinds of bad. I...don't even know what to say...” “Nothing to say I think.” Nido said. “You weren't yourself, and it sounds like that, whatever was in that lab, infected you and started to mess with your head. Can't blame yourself for something you had no control over. “Doesn't make me feel too good...” She sighed. “...were there any survivors from the laboratory?” “Oh yeah, they're all fine. They had barricaded themselves into one of the smaller lab rooms. When they heard the commotion from the fight, they came to investigate and found the lot of us. Funny enough, they ended up helping us instead of the other-way around.” “I guess that's good.” Musa fell silent. “...Nido, I'm just...” “Don't need to say sorry.” Nido reminded her. “Just get some rest. When you're feeling up for it, you can give Chlo a visit, I'm sure she will be happy to see you're back to normal.” Musa was quiet. She wasn't sure if she could see Chlo after all of that. “Now I have to wonder what we should do now...” “Well, I for one plan on asking some questions.” Nido said, slowly standing up. “I'm gonna get in touch with my one employer; since he sent me over to help, he might have some idea of what was going on, and he certainly owes me an explanation or two.” He looked over to the blue Needlix and smiled, “I'll be back to visit you two though, so don't worry. Heck, I'll look around and see if I can find you a new one. Get you a better one than the one you had there before.” Musa just let out a groan. “Later, Nido. I...really don't think I can do this now.” Nido let out a chuckle. “I'm teasing, don't worry. Just get some rest, yeah?” “Yeah...” ---- “It's the same virus.” The green Gorm was talking to the slate blue Gorm over his holo-interface as he looked at the small yellow alien as he was put in the hospital's isolation ward. The small feline was, thankfully, fully unconscious and resting, though completely without his cybernetic limbs. “Are you absolutely sure?” The blue Gorm asked. “It's impossible to mistake.” Akira replied, looking over the patient information. Byte sighed out. “Damn...I was hoping this would have been an isolated incident. I guess it's not now. Is there any information on this facility?” “It's an independent group.” Akira replied, “Not associated with anyone we are. From what information I was able to get, they've been privately funded by several sources. Rezla, Grizz Co, Ez Corp, and so on.” The blue Gorm grumbled. “Well...I suppose we should send in a team to clean up and investigate.” “I wouldn't recommend that.” Akira said, “Not without some heavy protection. This virus was specifically designed to target us, and we have no idea how bad it could be inside that place. And now we know that this thing can also infect other species, so no one is really safe. We may have to quarantine the area for now.” “I know it's bad, but is it really that much worse?” “Certainly seems like it.” Akira said, “We know how bad it was for Zane, and this alien's been augmented with our tech, and from what I've seen, the stuff he had were all based on Zane's gear. For all we know, that may have been the source of the infection, but the others were inside there mentioned something about some kind of slime or sludge-” “Which is similar to what Kaz told us as well.” Byte frowned as he looked down. “Well...how is this little alien? Lucas was it?” “So far, so good.” Akira replied. “He's gonna need to have all of the tech cleaned out before he can have anything new installed. But as for him, as well as the Needlix, the virus thankfully didn't infect their biology like it would have done with a Gorm, so getting it out of their system is a lot easier.” “Thank goodness for small favors then.” Byte sighed and nodded. “Very well...get what information you can and keep at it. This virus has some of us worried for a while now. I want to get it dealt with as soon as possible. In the meantime, we'll get the area quarantined, then we can see about getting proper protection before we can send a clean team into this facility.” Akira nodded before he closed the channel and looked back at the sleep feline. “You're pretty lucky kid, could have been a whole lot worse.” He sighed, Still, I would like to find the bastard responsible for this...”

#bahamut writing #virus #second infection #team prototype #halloween #needlix #shkeel #dragon kitty #gorm #musa #chlo #nido #akira #byte #lucas

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archangeldraws · 4 years ago

Text

Explanation why Shadow Chaser is like this

So, I had a conversation with @jazzthemusician, talking about Shadow Chaser and his insanity and I really liked how I explained why is he the way he is, what happened to him and why he is so hellbent on killing his own son, King Ghidorah.

Including some possibilities of Shadow maybe, “maybe”, being able to reconsile with his family.

Maybe prepare some tissues, I actually cried myself typing this (copy pasted out conversation here)

jazzthemusician

Now it makes me wonder what would happen if crimson let him you know

Like because of him being sick or suffering from being in the egg to long or something

archangeldraws

If she had let him kill Ghidorah and try again?

jazzthemusician

Yea…pretty much

Because he was sick or something like that

I don’t see her just letting him kill him just because he was weak

But see might

*she

archangeldraws

Well, if she had complied, I think... Shadow might still not be ok

jazzthemusician

Sorry it’s like 4 am here and my mind is racing

archangeldraws

He would tell himself that it was the right thing to do, to free the cub of it's misery

jazzthemusician

Would she try and help him? Or would it end in…death..

archangeldraws

But he would feel so guilty for ending his own baby's life. He would feel guilty for the rest of his life. Maybe he would be cold towards the next cub. OR he would be so attached to it and spoiling it, as an apology to the first one, since the first didn't get any of this

And his relationship with his mate would be strained, since he killd her son

jazzthemusician

Dang makes me see him in a whole new light

archangeldraws

The only thing that would have changed all this, would be if San had never been stuck in the first place. That was the trigger

jazzthemusician

archangeldraws

A father's fear of losing his child before it had a chance to live and it made him tear himself apart because he couldn't handle it

It is not San's fault, it never was

jazzthemusician

Yea don’t blame the head he wasn’t the fault here it was shadow’s mental health that kinda put him into a spiral

archangeldraws

Shadow is a monster, yes. But no one fear hims more... than himself

jazzthemusician

Yea

archangeldraws

Strong emotions can do weird things to someone's psyche

Like a parent having such a strong love for their child, it can be a negative thing sometimes

jazzthemusician

Yea I remember scaring the crap out of someone and they did better because of it lol Yea never letting them leave the house and stuff like that

archangeldraws

The fear, the pain, the anger, the love. All those things mixed together into a toxic cocktail. Both parents felt lost at that moment and both acted differently

If anything, Shadow was the weak one here

jazzthemusician

Dang he is isn’t he

He was drinking down that cocktail like no other I’m sorry

archangeldraws

Empress wanted to fight for her cub's life, at least try to get it to love. Shadow was so scared of her getting hurt if it didn't work, of himself getting hurt, he just couldn't see the possibility of it surviving anymore

jazzthemusician

He should have had more faith in his son

Because he probably would have been probably unstoppable

archangeldraws

If Shadow could have a clear moment while with Ghidorah... he would crumble at his son's feet and cry

jazzthemusician

Aww and ahhh at the same time

archangeldraws

He would cry and apologize and accept that that his son maybe could never forgive him and it's ok if he doesn't want him in his life. Shadow would promise to stay away, but please Ghidorah, please, just stay alive. He doesn't want his child dead, he wants him alive and healthy and happy, that's all he really wants for his son

jazzthemusician

Makes me wanna cry

archangeldraws

That's what his FATHER wants, not the monster he's become

Dude I am crying myelf right now X'D

jazzthemusician

We a good dad arc 😂

archangeldraws

His last words might be "I always wanted you. But I couldn't bear the thought of losing you, so I lost myself instead. I'm sorry, my child. None of this is your fault. Just mine"

jazzthemusician

Sorry this is the one I meant 😢

archangeldraws

So sad, isn't it?

Man, I do wish I could make them have a father-son relationship. But would it be possible and logical?

jazzthemusician

Hmmm

Maybe

But probably would have to have him breaking down in front of his son like you said

jazzthemusician

But it’s still has the possibility that ghidorah would kill him

archangeldraws

If they meet, they would fight. Shadow, in his insane state, is out to kill Ghidorah. He is the source of their misery. He thinks killing Ghidorah will free him. Since that was the goal from the beginning

Maybe, if Shadow is losing the fight but clearing his mind in the process, maybe he can tell his son the truth before he perishes

That, or, if there was an attack from another kaiju or from humans and Ghidorah is already weak from their fight.... Maybe he'll try to protect his son instead, taking the killing blow

jazzthemusician

Yea….but what if he comes back like ghidorah? Ooo probably mess him up more

Oooo

I like that one

Mines a little slow on reply’s lol

archangeldraws

Or maybe he survives, sees his son fight, she's Ghidorah, really SEES him.... alive and strong... that maybe this dark curtain that has been blinding him for so long fall from his eyes. Ghidorah is alive. He's strong. He lives! His child lives! He's not dying, Shadow doesn't have to fear that anymore. They are both alive and free!

jazzthemusician

Awwwww yes

archangeldraws

That's alright. If you're too tired, you should go to sleep

No no I’m alright

I fell asleep early

It just shows it up right after I send it

jazzthemusician

Oh that going to make me cry a little more

archangeldraws

So I guess you could say.... Shadow Chaser is stuck. Stuck in the moment where his son was on the brink of death. And his wish, his desire to kill Ghidorah is, because in his twisted, twisted mind, his son, his BABY, is still suffering and dying

And he wants to end his misery. Kind of a dark version of trying to safe him?

jazzthemusician

Man

It makes sense

Sadly enough it makes sense

archangeldraws

Kinda, right?

jazzthemusician

Right and all o can see is shadow crying their eyes out saying ‘that’s my son’ to themselves as they use their wing to hid themselves as they be proud of they’re son

archangeldraws

He'd be so proud, yes. It wouldn't matter to him anymore that his's son's nest isn't terraformed. As long as he's alive and happy

jazzthemusician

-Nods in agreement- yes!

jazzthemusician

I’m sorry but I thought of something funny

Do you mind if I tell you?

archangeldraws

Go ahead

jazzthemusician

Now let’s say that shadow is on the path to be a good dad

Now ghidorah probably still doesn’t trust him enough to be around his own kids so…

In comes the practice kid

Void

jazzthemusician

Ghidorah being like ‘ one hour! With this kid and he better not be dead! Then we might maybe let you see your grand Cubs from two islands over if you have good vision

archangeldraws

So Ghidorah will just push Void towards Shadow, see how that goes?

jazzthemusician

Yea pretty much

And Nido is the only one that’s not scared of him

archangeldraws

Hmm, could be a win-win for them

jazzthemusician

Lol

archangeldraws

They get to see if Shadow really means it AND get rid of Void

jazzthemusician

At the same time!

jazzthemusician

Bruh shadow teaches them how to be chaotic

archangeldraws

Maybe

jazzthemusician

They come back the island is completely disappeared into the ocean and all you hear from shadow is how to destroy crap

archangeldraws

Or Shadow will just... mellow out and become really docile after billions of years of fear and rage

jazzthemusician

Yea probably that too

archangeldraws

Maybe he'll become super quiet and lounge all day, doing nothing at all

He must be really tired from all that

I mean, that was a real strain on his psyches and he could really use some rest to heal from it. Might take another million years, who knows?

jazzthemusician

Void would probably follow them for a while just watching them

I forgot about that

archangeldraws

I guess Shadow could teach them something about their species and all that

But the most logical thing that could happen after becoming "free" again is to rest. Maybe hybernate, let his minds heals until he's ready to wake up again and be ok

jazzthemusician

Yea

Still I thought it was a funny idea

jazzthemusician

But the old guy needs rest

archangeldraws

Yep, that's an old man

jazzthemusician

‘Get off my lawn’ old man or the closed off one or the one who give out hard candy and words of wisdom😂

archangeldraws

The lonely silent man that just wants to sleep but likes watching others have fun through his window

And wishes his family would visit more often

jazzthemusician

Aww

That would be sweet

archangeldraws

Yep

jazzthemusician

But this is your au you can do what ever you like to happen lol it is sweet tho

Wait!

Would crimson and shadow get back together??!??!

archangeldraws

Maybe

She still loves him and he still loves her

jazzthemusician

Gasp

I like the maybe lol

archangeldraws

And technically, since he never died and she didn't oficially leave him...

They are still mates

jazzthemusician

Aw.. she probably won’t believe him ahhh 😱

But it’s still cute!

archangeldraws

Well, Mahri and Isah are open to the possibility. They do miss their mate. It's Rana who can't easily forgive

jazzthemusician

Aww sorry I just think they’re a cute Chaotic Couple

archangeldraws

They are ^^

jazzthemusician

Would shadow not like realize that they’re technically still mates and in like the dead of night he’s like wait a min almost Immediately goes to go find her

archangeldraws

Oh he knows it the whole time. But he doesn't want to return to her until he freed his son from his misery

jazzthemusician

Oooh

archangeldraws

Like, how could he go to his mate and ignore their suffering baby like that? No no, he has to kill him and free him first. And then they can attempt to have a cub again

jazzthemusician

Dang

Hmm 🤔 what if he tries to explain himself to her like how he thinks that ghidorah is suffering and all that

And her being like he’s not suffering!

archangeldraws

That would only end up in a fight again

You can't reason with him in this state

jazzthemusician

Yea no not even himself

archangeldraws

Nope

Even if one brother is of clear mind, the other two will just suck him back into their madness

jazzthemusician

He feels like he could actually save ghidorah from suffering he’s just slowly killing himself from the inside out

Dang

jazzthemusician

It’s sad to see

But angst

archangeldraws

Pretty much, yeah

#Godzilla #King Ghidorah #Shadow Chaser #Godzilla OC #King Ghidorah's father #Main au #Space Hydra #My OC #my characters #Conversation with a friend

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unholyseattle · 4 years ago

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WEST SEATTLE

West Seattle is a laid-back residential area. The sandy strip of Alki Beach is popular with volleyball players, kayakers and sunbathers, while its coastal path has views of Puget Sound and the Seattle skyline. West Seattle Junction is the area’s commercial heart, with casual eateries, coffeehouses and funky shops. Lincoln Park has walking and biking trails on a bluff above the Sound, plus a heated saltwater pool.

MAP OF WEST SEATTLE

Grab a morning latte beachside at Ampersand Cafe on Alki (2536 Alki Ave SW) and a pastry from beloved Bakery Nouveau (4737 California Ave SW), where twice-baked croissants are just the tip of the iceberg. At shoebox-size butcher shop The Swinery (3207 California Ave SW), try the Cubano sandwich. Don’t miss two Hawaiian-fusion favorites in this neighborhood: Ma’ono (4437 California Ave SW), where the fried chicken is the stuff of legend, and waterfront mainstay Marination Ma Kai (*1660 Harbor Ave SW), whose Spam sliders go great with kimchi fried rice. And if Vashon Island is your next stop, grab a signature roast beef from Wildwood Market (9214 45th Ave SW) before catching the ferry. Make a reservation at sleek Raccolto (4147 California Ave SW) or beautiful new Il Nido (2717 61st Ave SW) if you’re in the mood for Italian, and for a late-night bite, tuck into Chinese-American dishes at decidedly kitschy New Luck Toy (5905 California Ave SW). Treat yourself to a slice from A La Mode Pies (4225 Alaska St), where flavors span classic apple to coconut cream to peanut butter mousse, or stop in at longstanding Husky Deli (4721 California Ave SW) for a scoop of one of dozens of house-made ice cream flavors, like French orange or rum truffle. For a Prohibition-inspired nightcap, knock three times at The Alley (4509 California Ave SW), the speakeasy secreted behind unassuming breakfast spot Be’s Restaurant (4509 California Ave SW).

The heart of the neighborhood’s retail district is the Junction, a lively three-block stretch that has something for everyone, whether you’re looking for vintage, vinyl, or locally made. Boutiques abound, from gift shop Capers (4525 California Ave SW) to Click! Design that Fits (4540 California Ave SW), housing an array of Pacific Northwest-centric offerings. Spruce Apothecary (4156 California Ave SW) is all about mindfully curated wellness and beauty products (think CBD lotion and botanical tinctures), and Fleurt Collective (4536 California Ave SW) follows suit with a collection of indoor plants and intentionally sourced goods. Easy Street Records (4559 California Ave SW) is a draw for record aficionados and casual browsers alike, and also has a popular cafe.

Rent bikes, inline skates, stand-up paddleboards, and kayaks from Alki Kayak Tours (*1660 Harbor Ave SW), or relax with a Sounder Stout at West Seattle Brewing Co. (4415 Fauntleroy Way SW) or a gluten-free flight at Locust Cider (2820 Alki Ave SW). For a waterside stroll, visit Lincoln Park and keep an eye out for seals while enjoying views of the Olympic Mountain Range. On Sundays, sample regional produce at the year-round West Seattle Farmers Market (SW Alaska St & California Ave SW).

#west seattle #west #westseattle #unholy.locations

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purplesurveys · 5 years ago

Text

825

All About the Letter E

Please List! (at least one)

Animals I Like: Elephants! And emus, mostly because of the Emu War I had watched a video about recently.

Foods I Like: Eggs. All kinds of them. I also like Eggs Benedict, empanadas, eggplants, eclairs, escargot, and I loooove eel.

I Know Someone Who’s (jobs): Editor, editorial assistant, editor-in-chief - surprise surprise, I’m a journalism student haha.

I Wouldn’t Mind Visiting: Egypt and Ethiopia. I also want to go back to El Nido in Palawan.

Sometimes I Feel: Excited, enthusiastic, but mostly embarassed.

Music I Listen To: Ed Sheeran, Eraserheads, Ella Fitzgerald.

Movies I’ve Seen: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Eraserhead, Emperor’s New Groove, Evil Dead, The Exorcist, Ex Machina (the first ten minutes of it anyway), Eyes Wide Shut.

Names I Like: Emilia, Emma, Elliott, Ezra, Eden, Elizabeth.

And now, onto the random questions!

Do you believe in equality? Of course. Reeeally big on it too.

Early to bed or early to rise? Mmm, neither honestly. I sleep way too late to the point of it being unhealthy, which means I don’t get up particularly early either.

Are you early or late for appointments? I get to the venue early, then show up exactly on time.

Have you ever had an ear infection? I have not. I imagine that would majorly suck though.

Do you go see an eye doctor? This implies that I do it regularly, so no. I did have to visit one when I still could because my left eye would feel like there was something stuck inside of it and it hurt to blink. The eye drops prescribed to me didn’t really help and would only provide short-term relief, but I never got to go back and have my eye re-checked cause we were under lockdown by then. Occasionally I’d still get spells of being irritated.

How many earrings do you wear? None. I ruined my left ear piercing years ago so I’ve had to stick with clip-ons, but I haven’t worn any in a while because I’ve lost most of them, because I’m terrible at being organized with such tiny things lol.

Do you care about the environment? How do you help the Earth? Yes, I reduce and recycle whenever I can; I’m very particular about segregating my trash; I save on paper by always folding a page in half if I have to fill it up; and as icky as it is I always pick up trash at public places when I see it – I’ve since had Gabie pick up the habit too. How often do you exercise? Do you go to a gym or do it on your own? The only exercise I get is going on short strolls with Kimi. I do it for leisure, not for workout-y purposes. I did have a rigorous PE class last sem where we’d have to do like 50 pushups, 30 pullups, five-minute planks, lifting 80-lb barbells, etc every meeting and it was honestly a lot of fun; but I was never able to maintain the exercises we did once the class ended.

What are your favorite things to eat? Unhealthy things like cheeseburgers and corndogs, ~fancier desserts~ like macarons and eclairs, savory food like ramen and curry, and seafood. My tastes are all over the place, lmao.

Do you know anyone who is pure evil? I know shitty people, but ‘pure evil’ is pushing it.

Do you get along with everyone? Not always because I can be quite vocal and that doesn’t sit well with some people; and it’s usually easy to tell if I don’t like someone even if I act civil. I always try my best to be friendly though.

Do you have a certain routine that you go through every day? Yes. I need my routines otherwise my anxiety will absolutely blow up. Spontaneity is fine with me but not when it comes to this.

Have you ever felt like you’ve lost everything? Yup.

Is there anywhere you’d like to explore? The rest of the world. For the most part, there’s no place I’d say no to going.

Elevators or escalators? Escalators because at least it’s in an open area, and if it breaks down I can just go up or down as if it were stairs.

What do you do in the evening? Dinner, play with Kimi and now Cooper, and I usually take my surveys by evening. Sometimes I’ll make a cup of coffee too.

Have you ever been evaluated for anything before? Yes, both as part of a group and just me, individually.

What’s the worst you’ve ever done on an exam? I got the lowest possible grade that my old school offered once or twice. In college, I once got something like a 40/100 in an economics class HAHAHAH

Are you easily exhausted? No, as long as the weather cooperates. If it were hot and humid I’d be a lot more sluggish.

Do you like visiting exhibits? Depends on the subject. < Same. I wouldn’t go to an exhibit that would get too technical on engineering, for one.

Have you ever felt exiled? I’ve felt that in my home many times.

Have you ever felt like everybody was talking about you? Yeah, but I don’t feel like opening up that can of worms right now since it’s a complicated story lol.

Have you ever entered through an exit sign or exited through an enter sign? I’m sure I have.

How have humans evolved over time? In a lot of ways. We’ve lost some tiny body parts, changed our mindsets on stuff like slavery, changed up our fashion sense, removed and added words from/onto our vocabulary, developed our cuisines, etc. I highly recommend Bill Wurtz’s ‘history of the entire world, i guess’ video haha.

Would you ever consider eloping? No. Not to sound ignorant, but I genuinely mostly don’t know what that entails since it’s not really a part of our culture. One thing’s for sure though, I wanna get married with a bunch of people watching.

If you could erase one mistake from your past, what would it be? I wouldn’t call it a mistake because it was who I am at the time...but I hate the fact that my college experience is forever stained with how much I sulked during my freshman year.

When’s the last time you’ve used email? How about sending something through the mail in an actual envelope? For email, it was like a week ago when I had to reply to a company emailing our org to endorse their internship opportunities. I don’t think I ever sent anything to anyone through mail...? I’ve written handwritten letters, but I personally gave them to the person it was meant for.

Do you dye eggs at Easter time? Nah we only did that once.

Is the glass half empty or half full? Depends on the situation, for me.

Have you ever had elbow macaroni before? Sure! My favorite recipe is Mama Lou’s truffle mac and cheese. Soooooo savory and so, so unfairly good.

Have you ever fractured or dislocated your elbow? Never. That sounds awful. I’ve seen arm wrestling matches go wrong and those were bad enough. Do you know how long an era or an eon is? An era is dependent on events, isn’t it? Like the hippie era, the grunge era, etc. My understanding is that they are socially defined and therefore don’t have a set time period. I believe an eon is an very long but unspecified amount of time. I’m trying to remember this without Googling, so I could be wrong, but those are my interpretations of the words. < There ya go. It’s a little too late in the night for me to be up for defining either in my own words haha.

Do you chew the Extra brand of gum? I don’t think so. I don’t think we have that here.

When was the last time someone showed empathy towards you? Few weeks ago when I was horribly sick and dad willingly took care of me, gave me sponge baths, and listened to every single one of my requests.

Did you have an Elf on the Shelf growing up? No. I’m not sure I know what that is.

Is your bedtime closer to eight or eleven? Eight...AM. :(((

Would you go around the world in eighty days? Nah I’d want to stop in too many places. You can’t see a country in a day. < True. While I was very much in love with my cruise vacation, it also meant that I just had an afternoon to explore as much as I can of South Korea and Japan. And I wish I had more time in both places.

Did you turn eighteen in high school, or afterwards? Shortly afterwards. My graduation was in March, I turned 18 by April.

[a-zebra-is-a-striped-horse]

#survey #surveys

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askmerriauthor · 6 years ago

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Hearing people getting all butthurt at Nintendo and talking about boycotting the new Pokemon Sword/Shield game because of the Pokedex has got me rolling my eyes like mad. Talk below, for spoiler’s sake:

Right off the bat, I should make it clear that anyone is fully entitled to decry a product or a company for their own reasons. If not having the full National Dex available is a lynch pin issue for you then go right ahead and vote with your wallet. More power to you. That being said: I get the distinct feeling y’all are being really damn hasty. Is 50% of the Pokemon in the National Dex not being available in the game a big deal? Sure, but I don’t think for a moment that’s the end of it right there.

New Region, Who Dis? To begin with, this is a brand new game on a new system in a brand new region with brand new Pokemon, for a brand new audience. This game is being hyped directly at the “Pokemon Go/Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu!/Eevee!” fans picked up in these recent years. Younger or just inexperienced fans who didn’t necessarily play all the older games and thus have no strong attachments to the older generations of Pokemon the rest of us grew up with, at least not in the same manner. “Pokemon Go” is only up to, what, Gen 4 at the latest? “Pokemon Sword/Shield”’s new cast of critters would end up completely overshadowed by the vast crowd of older generation Pokemon and not even be able to star in their own debut title if everyone was there. Why would the designers want to cut the legs out from underneath themselves in that way?

Online Distribution “Pokemon Sword/Shield” is going to make pretty heavy use of the Switch’s online functionality and Nintendo’s subscription service access. Sure, Grandpa Nintendo is slow on figuring out how all this newfangled internet stuff works, but it’s not like Pokemon has been offline in ages now. Pokemon has been using online connectivity to enhance and improve the games for a long time now. X/Y/ORAS had Poke Miles and the Global Link system where you could sync your game, hop online to the official website, and use your accrued Poke Miles (gained by walking in-game or trading Pokemon from other global regions) to get useful items for your inventory. Not to mention all the Online Events Pokemon have been running for ages now. There was an entire year where they distributed a Legendary (or potentially several) each month. Check Serebii’s event section - it’s loaded with huge list of all sorts of distribution events that occurred all the damn time all over the world; online events, local download events, special locations, themed downloads, and so forth. Do y’all really think Nintendo isn’t going to make use of their well-established history of offering Pokemon for download or the Switch’s capacity for patching in large amounts of game content after launch?

Who’s There and Who’s Not Taking the prior two points into consideration, look at the supposed leaked PokeDex and check which Pokemon are present and which didn’t make the cut. Pokemon highlighted in green are present in SwSH, while the ones highlighted in white are not. Does anything seem odd about the ratio to you?

It is quite safe to note that the Starters, the Legendaries, and the Mythics of each generation are not Pokemon that Nintendo would ignore. Yet all of them, with the specific exceptions of the Charmander line and Mew, somehow didn’t make the cut? A lot of the Pokemon who did make the cut are popular enough and well-liked by the fans, plus there’s a handful of really iconic critters. Though there’s some questionable choices to get priority. Fan-favorite Lucario is there, of course, but Zoroark isn’t? I love Maractus, but I’m genuinely surprised to see it on the roster over Metagross, Lopunny, Scyther, Absol, or Dragonite? Baby Pokemon like Mime Jr. and Pichu are present, but Elekid isn’t? The entire iconic Nido line is out? The Charmander line gets to be in the game because of the Galarian Champion but no other starter is allowed? Mew is the one-and-only Legendary/Mythical Pokemon present of the entire PokeDex just for funsies?

I mean, come on. To me, the ratio absolutely reeks of Nintendo holding certain really popular or thematically redundant Pokemon off to the side for later addition to the game. Remember the poster for the upcoming season of the anime that coincides with and promotes the SwSh games? Why would it highlight a bunch of Pokemon that weren’t going to be included in the games? I bet dollars to donuts Nintendo is going to add all these Pokemon into SwSh over time in coordination with their relevancy in the anime. Ash appears to be starting all over back in his hometown and will be traveling with new companions to all of the previously covered regions again. I mean, for goodness’ sake, we see both main characters RIDING ON LUGIA’S BACK in the trailer and y’all think because Lugia isn’t currently in SwSh means it won’t ever be there? Why would Nintendo pass on the chance to capitalize on a built-in marketing campaign that would let them hype both the game and anime, and thus all associated merchandise, off one another?

Yeah, we’re not getting the National Dex in SwSH right off the bat. But between the Switch’s ability to patch in larger content updates after launch, the “Pokemon Home” service being opened to allow for all Pokemon to be gathered there, and the upcoming anime? It sure looks to me like we’re going to get the National Dex sooner or later and people shouting from the rooftops that we don’t have it right out the gate need to chill out.

#pokemon #pokemon swsh #nintendo switch #spoilers #content discussion #pokeani

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ginhawatranslations · 1 month ago

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The Story of Unit 24-C - Chapter 14

Read the previous chapters here.

HAYAAN BY CHRSTN

I don't know what was going through Noah’s head yesterday. What made him kiss me? Was it the alcohol? I mean, he downed four bottles of Smirnoff by himself. Even the endorser on the LED billboard last night probably didn’t see that coming.

It wasn’t my first kiss, though. Back when I used to go out in El Nido, sometimes I’d end up kissing someone because of a dare, or someone would just suddenly pull me in for one. But it never led to anything scandalous. I know my limits when it comes to that sort of thing.

But this is different! Noah’s a guy! He’s the first guy who’s ever kissed me.

“Hey.” I snapped back to reality when I heard his voice. We were sitting across from each other at the table, eating the lugaw I bought. “You’ve been spacing out. Did I do something dumb yesterday?” he asked with a furrowed brow, clearly trying to remember what happened last night.

“Nothing. You stood up to walk and just collapsed. You’re such a pain when you’re drunk,” I said and took a bite. Well, it’s true. I had to drag him by myself down to Unit 24-C. I even went back up to grab all the food containers we used.

“Okay, I’m sorry. Ouch.” He winced, clutching his head.

“Chug more booze,” I said. I decided not to dwell on what happened last night, since it was probably just the booze talking.

Noah grabbed some tofu and spooned some lugaw into his mouth. “But you know, I had a weird dream last night… that felt really real.” He said, and I froze, waiting for what he’d say next. “I kissed Sarah. Weird. It felt so real.”

I let out a sigh of relief. “Then go hit her up. Seems like it’s stuck in your mind.”

“Why are you so grumpy this early in the morning?” he asked, squinting at me. “Let’s just think of it as a goodbye kiss...even if it was only in a dream.” He smiled again.

“You’re nuts,” I muttered.

“What did you say?”

“I said you’re cleaning up the table after this. I was the one who went down to buy this. And I have a 10 AM class,” I explained.

“Oh, perfect. Come with me. I also have a 10 AM class.”

“There are still jeeps outside.”

“Oh come on, Kelvs. Let me make it up to you for being a pain last night.” I didn’t argue anymore. A free ride, and it’s air-conditioned. Why would I hesitate? He was the one insisting anyway.

I quickly got ready, and so did Noah. He slung his T-square and duffle bag over his shoulder. “Your jersey’s still hanging on the veranda,” I reminded him.

“Shit. Right.” He said and headed there. “Thanks for the reminder, Kelvs.”

“Who would suffer if you forgot it? Me again,” I said.

We walked down to the basement parking to get his car. I can say Noah’s not a reckless driver. He’s actually quite considerate on the road. If he were an asshole behind the wheel, I wouldn’t ride with him as often as I do.

The only sound in the car was the band Silent Sanctuary playing on the stereo. He was humming along badly as he drives. Good thing he’s better at basketball.

“No cooking today?” he asked. “No free cupcakes? Or anything homemade tonight?”

“You love free stuff, huh? We’re not baking today. As if you’re the one paying for the ingredients. Always wanting freebies from me,” I said.

“I just don't want them to go to waste. You guys bake so good. Better than that small café near Ardano University,” he said. I couldn’t help but smile at the compliment.

“Your ears perked up.”

“Idiot. I just remembered a meme,” I said, deflecting. “A meme about small coffee shop haters.”

“Let’s hit McDo drive-thru, my treat,” he said, and I looked at him in surprise. He laughed at my expression. “What? I was such a hassle last night. Don’t go giving me the silent treatment for days again.”

“I didn’t say anything. But since it’s your treat, fine.” Free food is free food - I’m not gonna act tough.

There wasn’t much of a line. He bought a burger and a coffee float. I just got a float since I was still full from breakfast.

Good thing we left early, so we weren’t late for class. We were on the road to Ardano University.

“Don’t you find it expensive to drive to Ardano every day?” I asked while sipping coffee. “Gas is pricey. It’s not very practical since you can get there with just one jeep ride.”

“I don’t know how to commute,” he said, and I was surprised. “What? Why are you giving me that judgey look?”

I shook my head. “Wow. I only see rich kid problems like that on TV.”

“Well, growing up, my parents didn’t allow it. So it’s not really my fault I never learned,” he defended.

“How much do you spend on gas weekly?”

“Hmm... around 500 to 1000? Depends if I have other errands.”

“See? For jeeps, it’s 13 pesos one way! That’s 26 pesos roundtrip. Multiply that by five days. Look how much money you could save.” I was trying to point out the huge difference in our expenses.

“Well, I’m spending for comfort,” he said.

“Comfortness my ass. For a 10 to 15-minute trip to school?” I asked, but then paused - right, we’re not the same kind of student at Ardano. “Well, yeah. You’re a basketball player. You’ve got a rep to maintain. It’d be weird to see you riding a jeep.”

I lost that argument. Damn.

“No, actually I like that idea.” He nodded while driving. “When we have morning classes together again, let’s commute. Just to try the experience,” he said. Ugh, rich kids. They just want to experience our daily struggle, commuting.

“Can you hand me the drink?”

I grabbed his coffee from the holder and passed it to him.

“How am I supposed to drink that?” he asked, nodding toward his hands on the wheel.

“Your car’s automatic. Don’t play me for a fool,” I said.

“Oh come on, Kelvs. I can’t drive one-handed. This is for our safety,” he guilt-tripped me.

I sighed.

I grabbed the straw, poked it into the drink, and held it up to his mouth. He immediately took a few sips. I stared at his lips and suddenly remembered the kiss from last night.

What the hell, Kelvin? Why are you remembering that? It wasn’t even a real kiss.

Thankfully, we arrived at school. Noah was confused why I rushed out of the car after he parked. I just said our professor had arrived. But the truth? I suddenly felt hot just remembering what happened when I looked at his lips.

**********

The past few days, Noah and I have been spending a lot of time together. I’d say we’re definitely friends now. I also stopped overthinking the kiss - it would only mess up what we have.

We go to the gym together now, he brings me along on morning jogs, and sometimes we hang out and explore random cafés. Just typical hangouts. Sometimes we even watch series at night. Like tonight.

“Kelvs, is it done yet?” he asked, casually lounging on the couch while waiting for the series to start.

“You feeding tapeworms or something!?” I snapped while grabbing the fries off the stove. I made a sauce with ketchup and mayo, then sprinkled cheese powder onto the fries. “If you helped, we’d both be relaxing by now.”

This jerk thinks he hired a maid, huh.

“The last time I helped in the kitchen, you just yelled at me,” he defended.

Of course I did. He’s such an idiot. Instead of salt, he added sugar to the dish. Then blamed me for not labeling the containers. As if that’s my fault.

“Just accept that basketball is your only talent,” I said and placed the fries and sauces on the table. He played the series and we sat together.

We’re currently watching The Society on Netflix. So far, so good. We’re only on episode 3 but we’re already hooked because of all the issues it tackles.

We’ve discovered a lot about each other lately. Like how he doesn’t like onions in corned beef, how he loves western shows and movies, doesn’t drink milk tea, and hates pineapple on pizza. So picky and spoiled.

“Second sem’s ending soon. Got any plans?” he asked, eyes still on the screen.

“Plans? I haven’t even taken the finals yet,” I replied. “Hmm… Going home to El Nido. I’ll probably stay there for a month before heading back to Manila.”

“When are you leaving?”

“August 10.”

“Should I come with you to El Nido?” he asked, turning to look at me. “I mean, it’s break anyway and I’ve got nothing to do at home.”

“You’ll have nothing to do there either. How many days are you thinking?”

“Just a week. Then I’ll head to Nueva Ecija. I’ve never been to El Nido,” he said. I honestly don’t mind if he vacations there. But damn it, I’ll be the one taking care of everything again.

“Then have a vacation. Ask Darius too if he’s free. So you’ll have someone for the island tours.”

“You're flying CebPac? What time’s your flight?” he asked, and I nodded—it was the only one with a piso fare sale.

“6:30 AM.”

He got busy on his phone while I kept eating and watching. Damn, this series is good.

“Done.” He grinned, showing me the confirmation - he booked the same flight.

“Holy shit, you’re serious?” I asked, shocked by how impulsive he was. We just talked about it and he already booked it.

“Ah yeah? Let’s enjoy Palawan together, roommate. I won’t plan anything. You’re in charge,” he said with a smile, eyes back on the screen.

“Idiot,” I replied. “Just make sure you don’t fail any classes this sem so you don’t have to retake anything during the break.”

“Easy,” he said.

After exams, Noah really did come with me to El Nido.

Translator's Notes

Hayaan means "let (him/her/something be)".

Kelvin said Alak pa ("More booze!") to mock Noah for having an hangover. We translated it to chug more booze to match Kelvin's usual tone.

Filipinos usually shorten the name McDonalds to McDo.

The minimum fare at jeepneys is Php 13 (US$ 0.22) for trips less than four kilometers/2.5 miles.

In the original, Kelvin said "Taeng-tae ka ba?!" (You're in a rush to poop?!) but it doesn't make sense considering the context of the paragraph. We changed it by using the tapeworm as reference.

Cebu Pacific (CebPac) is a low-cost airline that's popular for its Php 1 (US$ 0.02) base fare sales.

#pinoybl #pinoyblnovels #ginhawatranslations #thestoryofunit24c #penguin20

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