#nothing like seeing something you made 4 years ago to bonk you on the head and make you see sense

[4giorno]

oh my god. i just saw some of my OLD OLD digital art like before i made my art blog and holy fuck. suddenly faith in myself completely restored

[dyke-remy]

Live And Let Die, part 4

Part 1    Part 2    Part 3   Part 5   Part 6

Description: Agent 008 and Agent 009, professional spies for the MI6 with liscense to kill. Partners in both work and love. After an agent goes missing the partners have to once more go out into the field. (It’s a James Bond AU)

You don’t need to know anything about James Bond to be able to read this fic, trust me

Note: If anyone tags this as r/mr/m I will hunt them for sport

Words: 4853

6 years ago

Remus looked out of the car window. He felt like he wasn't supposed to be here. This was the wrong place. The wrong time. Maybe he should make the car turn around.

"You still here bro?"

A hand landed on Remus' shoulder making him jump in his seat. He looked over to the driver. To Roman.

His brother sent him a smile before looking back at the road "Seriously you good? You looked like you were going to mars"

"Just kinda zoning out" Remus replied.

"You took your meds right? I don't want you nearly getting us killed because you were too busy daydreaming about Beetlejuice again"

"He's the man of my dreams Ro-bro!!!.....and yes I have taken them"

"Re-Re I gotta get you a date once we get back. I can Not let Beetlejuice be your standard of men!"  Roman playfully poked his elbow into his ribs "Hey that new Q assistant has been staring at us even since they read our files. I'm sure all it'll take is asking them out and they'll fall head over heels for you"

"They would probably only be interested 'cause of dad" Remus muttered out while crossing his arms "It's always like that. Either that or 'cause of mom"

"At least It's definitely not because of your horribly ugly monster you call a mustache" Roman got a bonk on the head for that.

"Whatever. You go and get yet anotha fling once we get home why dont you. One day you're either gonna get cannibalised or get syphilis. Or both!!!"

Roman let out a gasp "I am far too clean and princely to get syphilis you dirty heathen!!!" He smacked his brother with one arm while driving with the other.

Remus smacked him back "No-oh. Syphilis and gonorre and some weird blue stuff!!"

The smacking got more intense and the prince's gasps and shrieks of defence even louder and nasalier with every sex joke. Until he finally stood on the brakes. The car stopped so suddenly Remus had to hold himself back from flying out the windshield.

"We're here" He simply stated.

Remus let out an overly extra breathe of relief "Finally! Thought my skin was gonna rot off my bones before we got here!"

Roman leaned back and took out his usual weapons from the box sitting in the backseat while continuing to talk.

"Remember: this is a serious mission! Not just some ol' dragon we gotta arrest. Army of fire breathing dragon witches levels of serious. No unnecessary fighting and absolutely no inspecting dead bodies!!"

"You know I can't promise that" Remus replied while stuffing the biggest handgun he'd been able to get his hands (heh) on into the holster stuck onto the side of his waist.

"I know far too frick fracking well"

"PLEase just say fuck!"

"No. Fuck you!!"

They got out of the car. Their feet sank down into the sand the moment they stepped off the gravel road. For dozens of miles around them there was nothing but them, sand and a few even sandier hills.

And of course the statue. That goshdarn statue.

Enfuel, a company with ties to both energy and oil distrubution, had recently bought this random piece of land in the middle of the desert. A statue was placed in the middle of it a year or so later. It looked similar to one of the old egyptic statues and when they looked up information about it all sites said it had been around for hundreds of years. Of course MI6 had satellite pictures to show otherwise.

MI6 had been keeping check on Enfuel for a while. An anonymous worker had been selling them information for months. Even without the leaked information the vast buying of land and spikes of Enfuel employees dying in 'accidents' was enough to rise suspicion.

The agents made their way towards the statue. Guns ready in their hands. No one was around. It was a large one. Over 20 feet wide and at least 15 feet high.

Roman hunched down in the shade from the statue and took out a mechanical gadget he'd gotten from Q. It was a scanner. He placed it on the ground and activated it.

"And now we wait"

"Time to rant and or infodump?" Remus asked.

"Yes but not from you. You got to infodump the last time. It is my time to rant to kill time on a mission!"

He rolled his eyes "Yeah sure go ahead"

His brother instantly went on a long rant about the local theater production he'd landed a role in. It was the first time he'd ever acted. Aside from exercising and his special interest (disney) the theater was the first time he'd ever had a real hobby. His (now ex) boyfriend had been the one to take him to audition after introducing him to (and accidentally making him instantly hyperfixate on) musicals.

"And I just can't wait to-"

He stopped midsentence when the machine made a sound. He was still happy stimming as he checked it.

"Holy zeus" He gasped out.

He showed it to Remus. The scanner had created a blueprint of everything within a 10 feet radius. It clearly showed that there was something built under the ground. There was also an entrance built into the statue.

Remus went over and clicked on a specific point on the statue like the blueprint showed. A keypad appeared. They sent a photo of it to Q. Within minutes he'd somehow been able to come up with the correct code.

He put in the code and a hidden door nearly obscured between two pillars opened up. The brother sent each other excited smiles before entering.

There was a short staircase that led down into a corridor. The walls looked like something they'd find in a mourge and the dim lights shone a cold blue. Roman buttoned up the shirt he had on that was supposed to look like the uniform many Enfuel employees wore.

"Sure doesn't look ancient" Remus muttered.

It was practically a maze of corridors and rooms. Everywhere that cold blue light was the same. None of the rooms they passed seemed to have any important information in them. Having a secret facility wasn't enough for an investigation! It was just aesthetic as fuck!

They aimleesly stumbled around for at least half an hour as they got to the parts the blueprints hadn't showed. They probably walked in circles a few times too. Roman was about to suggest they call up Q when he saw guards, armed guards, out of the corner of his eyes.

He threw out his arm to stop Remus and dragged him back to hide behind a wall. He peeked out and saw how the 2 guards were staying outside a door.

"Bingo" He whispered. He turned to his twin "Wherever there are guards are the important things"

"The juicy secrets!" Remus agreed.

The brothers got out from their hidingspot at the same time. They tried to look casual while walking up to the guards. Right when one of the guards moved to stop them, to ask who they were, Roman took out his gun and shot them in the knee.

Remus elbowed the other guard right between his ribs before pulling his arm around the guard's neck. It didn't take long before he let the guard collapse onto the ground after choking him to unconsciousness.

The other guard feeble sat on the ground with their hands pressed to the wound on their knee. Roman held his gun to their head "Give us the key to the room"

They didn't even hesitate to throw the key over to Remus. They looked up at Roman with pleading eyes. With one swift kick they too laid on the ground knocked out.

The brothers pushed the guards to a good hiding spot in silence. The door opened reveleaing a quite small room but it was filled with computers, databases and of course at least 10 people working on those computers.

All it took was Roman holding up his gun to one of them to make the others freeze in fear. It was very clear that they were just doing their job so Remus tried to go as nice on them as possible when he knocked them out.

"Remind me to request instant sleeping pills from Q" He said after the last one laid still on the ground.

"Noted" Roman replied while barricading the door so no one could get in.

Remus glared at the computer with the biggest screen. He tried to read what was on it but only got a headache and some scattered words. Roman gently pushed him aside.

"It's probably better if I try to find what these guys are up to and you stand guard. Please try to not let me get shot"

"I'll do my worst! Maybe I'll even shoot you myself!" Remus joked.

He looked through the room while hearing Roman mumbling to Q about decoding and taking down firewalls. It didn't take long to realize there was actually a second door in the room. He wasn't sure where it lead but decided to barricade it as well.

"You're still free on Saturday right?" Roman suddenly asked while waiting for Q to hack into the database for him.

Remus rolled his eyes "Nah dude I suddenly got loads of friends and we're all gonna go raid a cemetery and create a zombie army. Supa busy that day sorry"

"Ha Ha" He let out druly "Well the new mission impossible movie is coming out so I kinda thought we could go see it. Y'know cinema caturday like we used to do"

"Oh yeah using our free time away from our spy work to watch a spy movie. Real smart decision Ro-bro"

"It can some other movie! I just wanted to do something" Roman slumped back against the desk so he was leaning on it "I know I've been kinda busy like whenever we're not on missions with the whole theater work-"

"Kinda?!" Remus let out a scratchy laugh "Bro you've been going to that theater like you'll turn to dust if you're not there all the time"

Roman plucked at the green bead bracelet on his wrist "Well it's exciting! I never really thought I could wokr with anything that didn't involve fighting or smugling. It's...nice..getting to do something else. I can't wait until it's time for the premiere and I'll actually get to hear the audience"

"Let's just hope no villain decides to try and take over the world during your perfomance nights" Remus joked. Roman's expression went from excitement to worry "Ro-bro I was kidding. I'm sure if anything happens I can just go with 0012 or something- or I mean like I'll come see you of course I just- It'll be chill!"

There came a silence. There always came a silence after talking about the theater thing. Spending an entire childhood learning about jewel smuggling, self defense and the innerworks of crime made any kind of work that didn't involve any of those shocking enough to warrant silence. Especially after it was Roman's idea to start working at the MI6 as soon as they moved away from their mom and the floating palace at 18.

He'd wanted to be a hero. Remus had just wanted to stay close with his brother.

"But yeah I guess I'm free on Saturday if you wanna go see that movie or whatever" Remus muttered while glancing over to his brother "More surprised that you're not busy honestly"

"Oh I was! Some friends from the theater heard I would get back from 'work' soon and wanted to hang out and I still got that guy who wants to go on a date with me as soon as possible and some guys from the Q branch asked me to test some gadgets for them. But I made sure to clear time in case you said yes" Roman replied with a smile.

"That's....That's....Ro-bro you're a sappy dork you know that right?"

"Of course! That's part of my everlasting and undying charm!"

The conversation was forcibly stopped as Q announced that the code was cracked. Roman flapped his hands in excitement to see the movie, Remus flapped back. They both turned back to what they were doing.

The duke to his surprise noticed a small crack in the wall right next to the door. He couldn't stop his curiosity from taking the better of him and looking through.

On the other side was a big room. There was a long dinner table in the middle with excessive amounts of expensive food on it. There were crystal candelabras hanging from the ceiling. The walls were white just like the floor but there were old paintings decorating the walls.

Most importantly there were 4 people in it. 3 men who looked to be at least 40. All of them were wearing suits but one of them was sitting in a chair by the luxurious table in a glistening dark purple suit. The other two were standing by the table with briefcases gripped in their shaking hands. Remus could see the sweat from nervousness dripping down their neck all the way from where he stood.

Last and least was the fourth person. A young boy, he was at the most 9 years old, sat on another chair by the table. He was holding the hand of the older man. His eyes were hidden by his hair and he had a large hoodie on.

"-So even though there has been someone selling important information about my company you two are 100% certaint that neither of you have destroyed my trust?" The man clad in purple asked.

The two men quickly shook their head. The purple clad man, who happened to be the leader of the Enfuel company, shone up into a wide grin. It was too wide. Too eerie. Not happy. Just sinister.

"How wonderful! I knew I could trust you both!" The leader took out a gun and shot one of the men in the leg.

He fell down on the ground and writhed in pain. The young boy let out a scream and flinched away. The other man bolted for the closest door which instantly made Remus take out a knife and get ready to defend Roman. But before he could get anywhere the leader had pressed a button on his chair which made all doors lock.

"I heard that the MI6 were on to us because of you fools running your mouths" The leader said while standing up. Remus nearly chuckled at how right he was.

The shot man simply cried while the other got down on his knees and begged "Please please I'll do anything. I have a family. I have 2 kids. I can- please don't kill me"

"How funny, I have a kid too" The leader held out his hand "Son come here"

The young boy quickly ran over and took his dad's hand. He was already crying. When the gun was reloaded he turned his head to look away. It resulted in the leader grabbing onto his son's head and dragging in it so he was forced to look at the helpless men, soon to be corpses. Remus could hear the boy whimper from pain.

"Do I-I h-have to see ev-every time?" He cried out.

"Until you learn to stop crying over some insect's death, Yes. These people are traitors. They're beneath us because they have hurt us. You have to see what we do to people who hurt us"

A bullet went off. One of the men collapsed dead on the floor. The other desperately crawled away until he hit the wall. The young boy's crying turned into sobs.

"You should be used to it by now" His dad said in a calm tone.

The leader forced the gun into his son's shaking hands. He held onto his hands so he couldn't let go. He moved his hands for him, reloaded the gun for him, held the gun to the living man's forehead for him. The young boy's entire body was shaking from fear. He closed his eyes. Pretended like the cold metal wasn't in his hands. Pretended like he wasn't one move of his finger away from taking a life.

"Open your eyes son" The leader commanded "You have to see. See the fear in his eyes. That is the look of a dead man. We could ask anything of him"

"I-I want him t-to live. P-Please dad w-we can send-d him to the b-bad room instead"

"The bad rooms are for those who are of use to us. This man has nothing for us"

A hand landed on Remus' shoulder. He turned around and pointed the knife at the person's neck. Thankfully it was just Roman.

"The files are all here" Ro informed while holding up an USB drive. He had on a strained expression "It's sick. Q told you they made it so Enfuel was the only company avaible for like an entire part of Latvia right?"

"I wasn't listening but probably yeah"

"They're planning to make all electricy and fuel unaviable for those cities for months. And they're going to make it look like an accident so they won't even have to take accountability. They're planning to try and completely cut them off from the rest of the world"

"People are gonna die" Remus concluded.

"Bet"

"Why the fuck would someone even do that?"

Roman shrugged "Said nothing about that. At least we can stop it if we know it will happen. All we have to do is get out of here and get it to M"

Remus was about to nod but then he heard muffled sounds from the other room. He closed his hands into fists. There was a cold lump stuck in his throat.

"There's a kid here. Like 8? 9 maybe? Being made to hold a gun" He whispered.

"Mom teached us how to use pistols at 12" Roman replied with a shrug.

"She made us shoot at targets" Their mom is a very powerful lady so they had to know how to defend themself since so many people wanted to hurt them to get to their mom "This is-"

A gunshot went off. Gutwrenching screaming followed. It sounded like it came from the boy. Soon sobbing took over.

"Don't cry like that. You weren't even the one pulling the trigger" His dad snarled out.

The brothers at looked each other. They both knew that the mission was hundreds of times more important than one kid but....with that one look they both knew they had to do something.

"Okay new mission" Remus said "Protect the kid"

They searched the room and found an entrance to the vents in the roof. They climbed in and crawled as quietly as possible until they could see down into the other room. The leader had gone back to sitting by the table, he was drinking some wine. The son was still sitting by one of the corpses. His sobs was racking his whole body as he held onto the dead body. Quiet beggings to wake up could be heard.

The brothers took out their guns in anticipation. Remus slammed his foot down into the vent panel and jumped down onto the ground. He jumped back up on his feet and held the gun to the leader's head.

Roman was just as quick with getting down. He went over to the kid and hunched down in front of him, half to comfort him and half to be a human shield.

"It's okay now kid. We won't hurt you. We'll get you out of here. I promise" He whispered to him while sending him a warm smile.

He was full on hyperventilating "No. No. Please. Get out. I don't- dad will- I don't want to have to see anyone else die- I don't want to hurt anyone- please- NoNoNoNo"

"Shhh. No one will be hurt. Just focus on my breathing okay. In and out. Deep breathes. You'll be safe soon" Roman assured. He kept one hand on the young boy's shoulder and the other hand on his gun.

Remus held the gun as still as possible against the leader's forehead. The older man didn't look away even for a second. His cold blue eyes stared at him until it felt like he was digging into him. The agent tried to glance around for a clear exit. At best he saw another entrance to the vents close to the wall on the side of the room.

"I've buried people like you before" The leader let out in a dry emotionless tone. "Even if you do get anyway it won't do much. All of the evidence will be gone except for a meek little plan I can easily manipulate away in court. You're really just delaying the inevitable"

"Not letting people die isn't doing nothing" Remus snarled back.

A smile crept up on his face "Letting people die does just a little"

He pressed down on a hidden panel on his chair. All Remus could see was that it was some sort of controller before hearing a muffled shout. He spun around in time to see Roman sitting with his arms around the kid. Blood was seeping out of his shoulder.

By the press of a button a panel on the wall had turned around and a mechanic gun had become visible, useable too via the panel. The gun head moved again, readjusting it's line of sight.

Logically Remus should have moved his gun back towards the leader's head. Logically he should have shot his brains out. Logically he shouldn't have made a single sound. Logically he shouldn't have shown any ounce of care or emotion (weakness), it'd been drilled into them during training after all.

But Remus wasn't thinking logically. His brother was hurt. His brother was in danger. He had to protect him.

A guttural sound of terror left his throat. It sounded like something close to his brother's name. He wasn't fast enough. There was nothing he could. He watched as the bullet went into Roman's chest.

Remus didn't reach him. There was a hit to the back of his head. The hit was hard enough to make it feel like his brain split apart. He was already unconscious as he fell down on the ground. He was just close enough so the blood from his brother reached him.

--

The moment Remus awakened again his heart immediately began to beat fast enough so he could hear it. He wanted to yell out for his brother before he'd even had time to open his eyes.

The fear calmed won just a bit when he did look up and saw Roman, thank god he saw Roman, laying next to him. He didn't calm down completely because his brother was visibly hurt. Hurt badly.

There were swelling on his cheeks from soon to be bruises and his right eye had closed completely from a black eye. Blood had dried around the wound on his shoulder and the one on his chest was still bleeding. Thankfully it hadn't hit his heart but it was still heavily bleeding. The kid's hoodie had been pressed against the wound. His left leg from the knee down had been mangled and turned the wrong way.

Remus had rope tied around his wrists and ankles. They hadn't even bothered to tie Roman's ankles. Even with all the injuries his twin tried to send him a weak smile.

"don't speak too loudly" He whispered out. His breathing was uneven and raspy.

Normally Remus would have screeched in defiance. Now he glanced around the room while making his every move as quiet as possible.

The leader and his son were still in the room. The leader was polishing a knife. There were multiple knives and other gratuitous tools laid out across the table. Oh god he'd only kept them alive to make them suffer until death as much as possible.

When he turned back to Roman there were tears in his brother's eyes. His smile was strained.

"I was going to resign"

Roman let out a sob as his smile disappeared. It only left an expression filled with pain.

"I-I never really wanted t-this! I just- I didn't know what else I would be. Re I was planning to make this my last mission. I don't know if I want to be an actor. But fuck at least I-I want to be an actor ten times more than I want to be an agent"

Remus tried to move closer. He wanted to reach out and hold his brother. Comfort him. Tell him half the things he said didn't make sense.

"You- What-" He let out a nervous chuckle "Ro-bro what are you talking about?"

At first there was no reply. Just a choked back sob. Roman moved closer and stared at the ropes around Remus' wrists. Anything was better than looking at his face. He moved his hands to try and untangle the ropes.

"You have to hug mom for me. And tell her I love her. And hug Lucy a-and Macey and Amita-" Roman closed his eyes, tried to force back another wave of tears "-And Everyone on the island. All of them. And the people at the theater. A-And everyone in Q branch a-and Oh god Q. Please hug Q- Logan. Hug Logan for me. Please. And Patton and M even though he will hate it. Please. I wish I'd known. I just want to be able to say goodbye at least. I just-"

"Shut up you dork. We're getting out of here. I'll just carry you. What's some old weak boned guy and some kid gonna do against us"

Roman glanced up at him, just for a moment, before going back to the ropes.

"Remus I-"

He coughed. His entire body shook and writhed in pain. He ignored it and continued with the ropes. Blood was coming down his lips. He was coughing up blood.

"Remus-"

Roman met his eyes this time. He didn't have to say anything more. They both knew it. Even if one of them didn't want to accept it. It'd taken at least an hour to drive here. He wasn't going to make it unless he got medical help within the next minutes. He wasn't going to- He wasn't-

Roman wasn't going to make it.

"You can't- I- I'm sure- I can-" Remus stuttered out.

"You need to take the information and get back to M alive" He pulled the ropes away from Remus' wrists "There's a vent right above us. The bitchass dragon witch is too busy with torture devices to look at us. If you go now you can-"

"You will-"

"Remus I'm already dead! The kid isn't being saved either! He's stuck here! We failed! The least you can do is try to stop more death!"

"But you will-"

"Please I need you to survive" Roman pressed the USB drive into his hands. His hands were shaking "I-I'm trying to stay strong to make this easier for you b-but-" He let out a shakey sob "I just want to hug mom again. I want us to-to- I- I need you to survive. I need you to stay alive. Please. If I know you survive I can attempt to die in peace. I can't- I can't-" It continued into incoherent sobbing.

They couldn't hug each other, the leader would realize they were awake if they did. All they could do was press their hands together. They held onto each other's hands so tightly it hurt. Neither wanted to let go.

"....I love you...I wish- I don't- I just want you to- I love you" Remus choked out through tears.

Somehow Roman mustered a smile "I love you too" He wiped a tear away from his twin's cheek "I'm sorry. I wish I could stay with you. Please go. Please survive"

Remus tightened his grip on his hand for one last second. He wished he could drag it out. Even Continuing to exists in this moment of misery sounded better than spending the rest of his life without him.

He forced his hands away and sat up. Heuntied the ropes around his ancles in one rushed pull. He heard a yell from behind him. He jumped up and grabbed onto the vent. A bullet went past him as he climbed in.

He continued to cry as he hurried away. He kept the USB drive in his mouth. It felt like a part of him had been ripped out. A big part. A part he needed to live.

(He wished he'd never noticed the crack in the wall. He wished he'd just left the kid to be abused. He was horrible. He just wanted his brother to be okay)

It should have been him who was left for dead. Roman had so many more people who would mourn him. He had had a future. Goals. Dreams. Relationships. Remus was replacable.

Remus pushed himself out of the vent. His lungs were burning. He was numb. There were so many emotions he'd overloaded. He couldn't even feel the cold against his skin. Only the tears against his cheeks.

He escaped the facility and ran. In the distance he could see the car. He wanted to die. He couldn't imagine a life without his brother. Roman was the one who was supposed to come back with the information to save people. Roman was the hero! It wasn't fair!

Remus wanted to stop and let the guards catch up to him. Wanted to let himself scream and sob and be killed. Wanted to hug his brother again even if the only way to hug him was if they were both dead.

Instead he forced himself survive but only because it'd been Roman's wish.

[writemymemoir]

Stowaway  Pt 5. (The Mandalorian x fem!reader)

SUMMARY: A start of a plan

A/N:

Going my own way away from the series, but i still want to keep it true to it. So real big plot things will occur when they come out each week. While I’m waiting, I’ll try and do character and relationship 𝒹𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓁𝑜𝓅𝓂𝑒𝓃𝓉

T/W:

Adult language

Part 4

The walk back to the ship was done in silence. Mando carried your limp body as if it was nothing.

Even through Mando’s best efforts, you were still dripping from the rain as he settled you on a seat in the ship’s corridor. Your head rested on the back wall, unable to hold its own weight. Mando lifted the child off your lap and turned to put him to bed.

“Why didn’t you tell me the kid had a tracking chip,” You asked, voice quiet.

Mando stilled, just finishing putting the kid to bed.

“I thought this port would be quiet enough,” He said, you scoffed in response.

“You thought? You don’t seem like the type of person to have actual good thoughts,” You were angry, “You withheld vital information, without it the kid and myself could have been killed.”

Mando’s back was still to you.

“I knew you could handle it,” Was all he said.

You bared your teeth at him.

“You don’t even know me, we met days ago,” You felt energy return to your body, the anger fuelling you.

“I knew because of what you did when we fought,” he paused. Turning he finally looked at you. “I was confident you would be ok. I knew you would protect him.”

Springing to action, you stuck out your hand towards your staff. It flew into your hand. Jumping up from your seat, you ran towards Mando. Your first hit landed across his helmet.

“How dare you,” You punctuated your words by hitting him again each time. “I could’ve been killed!” You swung again, aiming now at his gut. He wasn’t defending himself, letting you take your anger out on him.

 “At least tell me I’m in some kind of danger! I walked into that cantina as blind as ever,” Your hits were getting weaker, the energy being spent as soon as it entered your body. He caught your last swing.

“I’m sorry,” He said, a hint of sincerity in him voice, “I had no choice.”

Yanking your staff out of his grip, you turned away from him and made your way back to your seat.

“You always have a choice if you have trust.”

He walked towards the med kit. Sighing, you slouched. “This should be enough to fix up your cut.” Handing you an ointment, he stepped back assessing you.

Turning, he walked to the bed. He opened one of the cabinets inside the bed’s area. Spending some time quietly shuffling around in it, he found what he was looking for and made his way back to you, holding a bundle of clothing.

“You can change into this if you want, and let your clothes dry out,” He said, handing you the bundle. You nodded to him and he turned and made his way up to the cockpit.

Resting your head in your hands, you rubbed you head. A headache was forming.

Getting up from your seat, you stripped and put on the clothes. The pants were way too big for you, making you have to roll up the pant legs, tighten the drawer strings. The shirt was loose as well, sleeve coming over your hands.

Climbing up the ladder to the cockpit, you joined Mando.

“So, why exactly does the kid have a bounty?” You asked, looking out the window to space.

“I don’t know,” He said, and you turned your head to look at him.

“You don’t know?” You said, confused. “Do you have an idea?”

“The people who want him, I think they’re with the Empire,” He said. Fear ran through you.

“What makes you think that?”

“The person who set the bounty was guarded by Stormtroopers,”

“You know who set the bounty?” You asked, someone who still had allegiance to the Empire would want to have the utmost secrecy.

Mando sighed.

“I took the bounty in the first place,” He said. You chuckled.

“Big bad bounty hunter couldn’t bring in a kid, huh?”

“I did bring him in,” He said, you squinted your eyes, “I just changed my mind after I got paid.”

“You are the dumbest person I have ever met, and I’m saying that,” You said shaking your head. “So, what has been your plan? And why haven’t you taken out his tracking chip?”

“Plans been quite simple. Find a planet that is quiet, and leave the kid there,” he said. You whipped you staff out and bonked him on the head. He tried to swipe at you staff, but you pulled it away from him quickly. Turning his head, he seemed to glare at you through his helmet.

“I am coming up to the limit of how much stupidness I can take Mr Mando,” You said, “If the Empire wants that kid, there are a lot of bigger things at play here.”

Turning back around, Mando slouched a touch.

“What about the tracking chip? I feel that would assist you somewhat in your dumb plan,” You asked, resting your staff next to you for quick access.

“I don’t know what he is, I couldn’t safely perform surgery on him without knowing his species vitals.”

“Wow,” you said breathlessly, Mando turned to look at you, “You do think.”

Scoffing, he turned around again.

“Were you with the rebellion?” You asked. Mando didn’t respond. After a while you continued.

“Well, as you may have figured, I don’t know many things. I don’t even know what you are.”

Mando looked at you.

“I am a Mandalorian, I come from a clan of mercenaries whose history dates back years,” He said, “I feel it is time for you to expand your knowledge.”

You pursed your lisps. Rude. You thought about the information.

“So Mando isn’t even your real name?”

Mando chuckled.

“That is what you get out of that? The mere thought of a Mandalorian is enough to put fear into the hearts of millions and yet you’re focused on my name?”

“Well I told you mine, its only fair you tell me yours,” you said, crossing your arms.

“You’ll find out my name when you need to,” He said, you rolled your eyes.

“I just killed two people to protect your child, and you wont even tell me your name,” You said, leaning back in your chair.

“He’s not my child.”

“Not biologically,” You said smirking. “Now, I think we need to get a better plan. And if you think its because your current plans completely sucks, then you would be correct.”

“Well then, what do you think we should do?” He asked.

“Find out what’s so important about the kid, then destroy the person who put the bounty up,” He said, it was quite simple in your head.

“I did some reading at the port-“

“When I was fighting for my life?” You cut in.

He sighed.

“Yes.” After a pause.

“So, what did you find,” You asked, interest piqued.

“You know how the Empire was destroyed right?” He asked.

“Yeah, the rebels blew up the Death Star,” You’d never seen the Death Star, but you had heard rumours. Evens those made it sound like the most terrifying thing.

“Well, have you heard of the Jedi?” He said, you looked up to him.

“You don’t hear much of them in the outer rim, but yes, I have heard a thing or two,” You said, Jedi were kids stories. Stories of the Empire tracking them down and killing them for going against it. You shivered.

“Mustn’t have heard a lot, since you didn’t recognise one of their most notable traits.”

“And that is?” You asked.

“Use of the Force,” He said plainly.

“The Force?” You hadn’t heard of it before, the most you had heard of the Jedi were lightsabers, acrobats and one blew up the Death Star himself.

“What is it?” you asked.

“It’s what the kid used once,” Mando pause, “And what you did when you fought me.” You looked at him in confusion.

“I’m a Jedi?” You were dumbstruck.

“No, you’re what they call, force sensitive,” He said.

“Well, there’s an obvious explanation here,” You said after some thought, “The Empire killed the Jedi, they would want to kill force sensitive people as well.”

“The kids different, they were offering the kind of money you’d never see for a bounty,”

You looked down into the corridor to the bed. You knew you were getting into something big. Galactic Empire big, but you knew this was important.

“Well, we should try and did for some information about this underground Empire,” You said, “Lets try and get this ball rolling.”

“We’ll start at the last place you saw him,” You continued. Mando looked at you.

“That would not be a good idea, I left that place in a worse social standing then when I found it,” He said.

“How annoying. That really doesn’t make this easier.”

“How about we come back to your plan at a later date, we need to do a job.”

“We? Last time I checked you were the bounty hunter and I was the babysitter,” You said, “I’ve been doing my job, only fair you do yours.” Mando sighed.

“Great,” he said, none too enthusiastically, “Guess I’ll go make some money.”

Tags:

@lamnothome​

@aeryntheofficial​

@maldo559

@benakenalove​

@avengersgirllorianna​

@thefandomzoneisdangerous​

@n-black

@writexgirlxwrite

@littlelolly98

@sempiternal-queen

@kaelyn-lobrutto24

[another-miracle]

between redemption and living, a Kyoru fic

AO3

1. redemption

It takes two steps to reach out to her.

The autumn wind blows against them, tossing the sheets surrounding them through the air. Her voice trembles through the cloth, and Kyo listens with a breaking heart as she recounts the childish actions she took upon her mother’s death. She chokes on her words, as if them escaping her is a sin, and Kyo scarcely can take it any longer.

His fingers find purchase on her shoulders through the sheet, grasping them gently. She lets out a soft gasp that has his blood thrumming through his veins. He swallows past the lump in his throat.

“I’m sure your mother understood without a doubt,” he murmurs into the blanket. His head leans against what he only assumes to be hers, and he feels her stiffen in his arms.

“D-do you think so?”

He grips her tighter. Not worth comforting.

“Definitely. Believe me.”

And then, “Say as much as you want. I won’t be disillusioned.”

She falls heavily on his shoulder and grips the blanket between them in her hands. Kyo closes his eyes.

This must be a redemption of some sort, he thinks, a kindness the world has bestowed upon him. The guilt tormenting his heart for years eases some, and for a breath, he thinks she may forgive him.

But as quickly as it arrives, the feeling disappears in a puff of smoke.

2.

Desperation claws at his throat. Talons in his hair pull and swing him against the nearest wall. He chokes out an apology to a sin he did not commit, trembling on the floor, and cowers away from the man who holds the meaning to his existence.

Putrid. Disgusting. Monster. A mantra, every day.

The door to his cage slides shut. Footsteps resound outside before fading away. Kyo sits up and cradles his arm against his body. Dazedly he wonders how many days like these it will take for his debt to be repaid.

It is on days like these he remembers Kyoko, blood seeping out of her mouth, eyes dead, speaking words that will sear his soul for years to come. It is on days like these Kyo relaxes into the security that he is only getting what he deserves.

I’m sorry, he speaks to no one. I’m sorry I couldn’t keep your promise.

It must be hysteria that clouds his mind, however, because from one breath to the next, Kyo releases the words he has been dreading to offer for more than three years.

I’ll take care of her better next time.

3.

It’s like she does not want me to forget, his mind shouts angrily as he eyes the slight girl leaving the room with that damned rat. At the corner of his eye, Kyo sees Shigure scratch his head and look at the roof. With a sigh, the man walks out of the room without so much of a glance at Kyo.

The nonchalance of the action pierces through Kyo, reminding him of his place among the zodiacs. Even worse, it reminds him of the child he is being - the lack of growth he has shown since then.

Her voice continues to echo in him. Remember our promise, it mocks. Don’t forget.

A scoff leaves his mouth as he makes his way downstairs, ready to banish the girl from his life within the shortest goddamned notice.

If this is how Kyoko is going to play, he sure as hell wants out of the game.

4.

Her fingers brush against his ears. In the quiet of dawn, it is only the two of them that exist in a field of dew-stained grass. He is perched on her knees, paws draped over her thighs. She calls out his name once, her voice soft in the early morning.

Sunlight peeks past his eyelids, but he is nary a care as she picks him up along with his discarded clothes and cradles him to her chest. Belatedly, he zeroes in on the memory of her lonesome form he’d seen through the window of her childhood home, and marvels at how she has somehow navigated her way here; where remption lays, where loneliness ends, where together begins.

Kyo doesn’t believe in miracles. Still doesn’t.

But hell if the girl; whose hands cup against a body he loathes, whose entire being trembled as it held onto him, whose words brought him out of darkness into a new dawn; isn’t going to help him try.

5.

It is easy to forget when they sit together like this. They talk about the mundane - you don’t know how to swim? - and tease at the other’s expense - you haven’t learnt how to breathe? They laugh and the warmth in Kyo’s chest swells.

It is simple, so simple, to be with her. With every word, she reminds him of the life worth living, hinting at a future beautiful and ideal. Kyo cherishes what he can get, hope still balancing on the pinpoint of a deal made seemingly eons ago that he may someday emerge victorious in.

Shishou returns soon after, a fond smile on his face that Kyo is minutely embarrassed by while Tohru stands at the side with a smile reminiscent of when Shishou bested him before calling him ‘son’. Kyo gathers all these smiles, goes home and burnishes them. He uses them as fuel to stoke a fire to spur him towards living-

-however futile it may be.

6.

“-till death,” Akito tells him.

7.

Vaguely, he wonders if this is what Yuki went through in his childhood. At the thought, his stomach churns, bile rising up his throat. Misery seeks company, but not like this. The thought of a child - barring one he has resented his whole life- going through the same torment as this is absolutely insane.

Renewed hate for Akito ignites in Kyo, but with no outlet, it stews and simmers, and eventually dies. There is no room for hate. There is no room for anyone either. Only Akito. His worth is Akito.

Picking apart his memories, he begins to forget. What was the walk back to Shigure’s house like? Were there flowers that grew on the sidewalk? He would’ve picked them for her. He should have.

How did Tohru call his name? What was the exact cadence of her voice? Does she remember him? Does she wish to see him? Does she miss him?

Closing his eyes, he lets himself indulge in a memory of her.

They sit on the roof of Shigure’s house under a blanket of stars, her warmth next to him. She turns to him, distant city lights casting shadows on her face. Her eyes crinkle and Kyo reaches up to poke at the dimples indenting her cheeks. She giggles in response and Kyo laughs along, brushing her fringe from her forehead and leaning in-

The door slides open with a loud bang.

Choking on reality, Kyo gasps for breath, trying- and failing to return. His fingers search for the comforting roughness of roof tiles, but all that greets him is the scratch of cold tatami against his nails.

He looks up, vision blurry, as a kimono-clad figure walks through the door.

“Hello, monster,” Akito calls. “How is my favourite creature today?”

8.

The walk home is potent with silence, their footsteps the only sounds amidst bouts of shuffling, catching-up, turning around to check on the other. Kyo glances at Tohru for the umpteenth time, only to immediately swing back around after finding that her face is entirely flushed. His own cheeks heat in response.

In the heat of the moment, he didn’t think- couldn’t think of how she might have felt when he leaned his head on her shoulder. All he knew was that she was waiting for him while he was being an idiot. And Yuki was right; he made her worry.

Now as they awkwardly attempt to have a very normal walk back to Shigure’s house, Kyo can’t help but groan at the audacity he had to do something like that to a poor innocent girl like Tohru. Is he a pervert? God. What was he thinking?

Suddenly, a soft giggle sounds from behind him. Kyo’s hand falls from his head-when did it get there? -and turns to look at Tohru. A little clenched fist balances over her lips where an amused smile plays at. Tohru glances up at him, cheeks still flushed, before her gaze shyly retreats again.

Kyo feels his lips purse into an annoyed pout.

“What’s so funny,” he grumbles under his breath.

Tohru giggles again. “Nothing, Kyo-kun. You just look so distressed over what is probably a small matter.” She smiles sweetly at him, hand falling to grasp the straps of her bag.

“Back in classroom,” her eyes avert away for a moment, “I-I didn’t mind. It was sweet of you to think of me.”

Kyo slams a hand against the wall, fingernails trying to find purchase on the concrete. Goddammit, it should be illegal to be that cute. Fuck.

His head hangs away from Tohru, missing the probably flustered look on her face, judging by the little shouts of surprise coming from her. Kyo clenches his eyes, before braving a look at her.

Fuck, still cute. Dammit.

With a huff, his hand leaves the wall to bonk her on the head. His ears are burning. She looks up at him in surprise, eyes wide and questioning.

“It’s nothing,” he says.

Then quieter, “Thanks for waiting for me.”

9.

“I’ll just need to wait for you,” she whispers.

Kyo almost misses it over the sound of the television. He turns in his seat and is greeted by the sight of Tohru crying into a washcloth, tears streaming down her face and onto the tabletop.

“H-hey,” Kyo starts, quickly lumbering over to her side of the table. He begins to take her hands from her face, but she abruptly pulls away. Helplessly, he chokes out a soft, “Don’t cry.”

At this, she seems to sob even more, her knees coming up to bury her face in. Kyo watches her break down, words of comfort drying up in his throat.

He…doesn’t know what to say. He told her a few months before graduation - about the cat’s fate, the bet with Akito - and to his surprise and horror, she told him she already knew. Akito had informed her about everything during his visit to the summer vacation home, fabricating stories of an endless banquet and the zodiacs never leaving his side. It was cruel and strange and absolutely foreign. She didn’t want to believe it then.

But with tomorrow looming, it no longer matters what Tohru thinks. Kyo lost the bet and from tomorrow onwards, he will take up new residence in the Sohma estate, a corner reserved only for him - in the Cat’s room.

Once before, in the days leading up to his mother’s funeral, his father brought him there.

“This is where you will live to pay for your sins,” he said, dragging Kyo towards the door. “All I need is the head’s approval, and I will be rid of you forever, you filthy scum.”

Now, ten years on, Kyo lives in one of the warmest households he’s been in, where he lets time pass wastefully, only to have it snatched away by a fate he knows is a long time coming.

Kyo sighs. “It was only a matter of time,” he tells her. “There’s no use crying over something that can’t be changed.”

He feels her grip onto his beads, her fingers slipping under before reaching for his pulse.

“It wasn’t wasted,” she says with finality, determination glinting in her eyes. “Your time outside wasn’t wasted.”

The next day, they send him off at the fringes of the Sohma estate. Tohru holds his hand until the last moment and tangles their fingers tight together.  Selfishly, he grips back, closes his eyes and imagines a future that will never be, holds onto hope.

He squeezes once, twice- breathes, then lets go.

10.

He wonders what it will be like to have something like that DVD. Of course, it’ll be nice to have something to record all the quiet moments, all the happy times. But if it plays back things like that, she might not survive the fall.

And he’s afraid- that she won’t let go, that she’ll wait on him forever. Replaying the memories over and over, he’s scared that she won’t let herself forget. It’s one thing for him to be subject to this fate, but a person as bright, as innocent and pure as her, should not be saddled with a burden such as he. The curse was never meant to extend beyond the family, yet he selfishly allowed it to be so.

In a way, there isn’t much he can do at this point. What she said during the play- that awkward interruption, paired with a devastated grimace- he heard it loud and clear. Kyo lies sedately on the floor, arm under his head. This is absolutely not what he wanted. He was supposed to leave from the beginning, a mere sojourner passing through her earth. He didn’t intend for this to happen. He didn’t intend to leave things behind.

He didn’t intend for her to fall in love as well.

11.

It comes like a seabreeze from a distant shore, a memory from a long, long time ago.

Tears fall from his eyes without his consent. They dribble down his cheek, dripping off his unshaven chin. Kyo sits up and looks around.

In an instant, nothing makes sense. Nothing about where he is, why he is here, who he is, makes sense. Why are there walls confining him? What was his purpose here? What held him back from leaving?

Why did he not go to where she was?

Suddenly, the door to the room slides open. Kyo bristles and readies himself, an instinct ingrained in his body. But strangely, he no longer feels fear.

Shigure steps into the room, yukata-clad as Kyo has always remembered him to be, and faces him. He smiles briefly, eyes lacking the pity Kyo is used to seeing from him.

“Hey,” Shigure says.

Stunned, Kyo gives a confused wave.

Shigure laughs. It comes out slightly choked, with a tinge of hysteria. He comes up to Kyo and clamps his hand over Kyo’s shoulder. Shaking him, the tears fall as well.

Kyo looks up at him, cheeks still wet.

It’s over.

12.

Kyo stands in front of the mirror and gazes at his reflection. He doesn’t know how long he’s been in the Cat’s room, but the beard growing out of the sides of his face betrays the amount of time he’s been alone. Picking up the razor balanced precariously on the edge of the sink, he slowly begins to shave. His fingers stutter in their grip, and Kyo almost cuts himself.

“Do you need help?” Hatori asks, an eye peeking out through the fall of his hair. Absently, Kyo stares at the man a little longer, noticing the lack of pity he has grown accustomed to in his voice.

“N-no.” Kyo looks down and washes the razor for the umpteenth time. “I’m good.”

It’s difficult- witnessing all these changes firsthand. There is so much to say, yet there is nothing to say at all. It seems like they have all come to an agreement without voicing anything, and everyone around him has accepted it, including himself.

Hatori passes him a face towel and Kyo takes it, murmuring a soft noise of gratitude. He wipes his face, before staring at the mirror once more. There is something unrecognizable in his reflection. It’s him, yet it isn’t.

In an instant, Kyo’s gaze is drawn to the beads encircling his left wrist. He slips his fingers under them for a moment, thumb and forefinger playing with one of them. Slowly, finger by finger, he grasps the beads- string and all- in a fist, and pulls.

They drop to the floor like marbles, bouncing once, then rolling away.

And Kyo is already crouched on the ground, sobbing. He curls himself up next to the bathtub, burying his head in his knees. A part of him is waiting for the inevitable, and yet a part of him knows that it will never come and haunt him again.

He’s…free.

Hatori comes down to crouch next to him, and in a rare act of comfort from the man, wraps his arm around Kyo’s head and begins patting his hair. After existing so long without the warmth of another, Kyo clutches onto Hatori’s shirt and cries. In that moment, he grieves for what both of them have lost, and grieves for what both of them have gained. Kyo is lost, and found. Confused, yet so, so secure. He is empty, therefore he is full.

After about ten minutes of full-on sobbing into the shirt of a man whom he has barely spoken more than a few sentences to in his life, Kyo awkwardly removes himself from Hatori’s chest. To his embarrassment, all Hatori does is give him a small smile, cheeks slightly damp, and pats his head once more. Shyly, he scratches the back of his head before moving to stand, Hatori following suit. As he looks around the bathroom, Kyo finds himself at a loss. He has so many questions, but they get lodged in his throat when he attempts to ask.

Hatori must see the look in his eyes because he clasps his shoulder and says, “Ask Honda-kun. She’ll tell you everything.”

13. living

Kyo can’t wait.

No, of course he can. It’s been years.

It’s been years, that’s why he can’t wait, dammit.

He can’t do this. This is too much. What if she’s forgotten? What if she no longer wants anything to do with him? He did leave her once before- what if she decides she can’t take another person leaving and being left behind again?

And what about him? Does he still want to see her? Does he still want her? What about her did he like? What did he use to do with her? What was their life like when they lived together? What if-

A smack sounds across the back of his head. Kyo’s hands immediately go up to cradle his head, only to be met with the annoyed glare of one Yuki Sohma.

“Get it together, you stupid cat,” Yuki bites out. “She’ll be here soon.”

A snarl almost makes it past his throat, but Kyo remembers that…they don’t need to do this anymore.

For a moment, Kyo is baffled by the rivalry manufactured so intently between them. He’s layered hate upon hate on this man before him without even realizing how foreign the idea was in the first place. The anger fizzles out in his chest, and all that’s left is guilt. Guilt of tormenting Yuki since the first time they met, right until the moment before he left. Guilt of pushing the blame onto Yuki every time something upset his seemingly miserable life. Yuki had it hard as well, he knows. He just refused to acknowledge it.

“I’m…sorry,” Kyo tells him, looking up with furrowed brows. The words taste unfamiliar on his tongue. Yuki narrows his eyes at him, before taking a seat adjacent to him in the kotatsu.

He sighs.

“We’ve been terrible to each other, haven’t we?” Yuki starts.

Kyo places his hand back on the table in front of him, finger spreading out before clenching once more. “Yeah, we have.”

“What were we even mad at each other about anyway?”

“I don’t know. I think we were just always being pitched against each other. It pissed me off.”

“Yeah, well. You were being quite an idiot about it too.”

“Hey-“

“Don’t worry,” Yuki puts up his hands in surrender. “I was a pretty big dick to you too.”

Then softer, “I’m sorry.”

At the words, Kyo finds himself being released from a crime he has spent so long believing he had done. He thinks back on what Kyoko said, about not having a designated person to hate and blame, and finally sees the beauty that she was trying to convey. All he needed was an outlet for all the hurt he experienced in his life, and when he realized that there was hope, that there was redemption somewhere, it began to dig him deeper and deeper into a cycle of rehearsed loathing, fashioned it into something so grotesque, Kyo couldn’t recognize it in himself anymore. He couldn’t even recognize himself anymore.

All the wasted years, Kyo briefly laments. But it brings comfort that the bridge between Yuki and him has not been completely burned. Kyo knows who to thank for that.

The front door suddenly slams open and footsteps sound through the hall into the kitchen. In a flurry of brown hair and pink dress, she appears before him, panting heavily and looking straight into his eyes.

His eyes widen. “Tohru-“

Her arms are around him before he has the chance to say anything else. She squeezes him tight, burying her face into his neck. The ends of her hair tickle his jawline, and Kyo feels a dampness against his skin. She shakes in her hold, shifting her face back and forth into the cloth at his shoulder.

Kyo continues to stare in shock at the wall in front of him. The door to the room slides shut quietly, and he realizes that Yuki has left the room.

Slowly, his hand reaches up to the back of her head before sliding down the length of her hair. He repeats the action over and over, his fingers tangling in the soft strands. He combs through her hair, his other hand coming up to rest against her waist. She sobs harder and harder, her words incomprehensible.

“K-kyo-kun,” Tohru whimpers. She clenches a fist in the back his shirt and tightens her grip.

Immediately, something in his chest cracks. Kyo buries his fingers in earnest in her hair, clutching her tightly against him. His arms band around her frame and the tears that were held at bay fall from the corner of his eyes down his nose. He turns his neck and places his lips at her pulse, each beat thrumming through him, signalling to him that she’s here and she’s real.

How many times had he imagined this moment? The smell of her hair, the softness of her skin? No matter how much he polishes every memory of her till they shine, it can never compare to how she feels in his arms right now. The senses that have shut down so long ago from repeated rejection from others in his life, the loss of hope that someone, someday, will hold him like this, like they never want to let go, explode to life and Kyo takes in whatever he can greedily, selfishly, and as much as he wants. He steeps in the luxury of a hug from a girl he cares about most, and soaks in every detail, every sensation he has missed out on in the past few years stolen from his life.

They hold each other a while longer, before slowly separating to look into the other’s eyes. Tohru lifts a hand to Kyo’s cheek, and he leans into it, nosing her palm and brushing his lips across her wrist. She runs a finger repeatedly under his eyes, catching the tears there. Kyo does the same to her, cradling her face gently while brushing her fringe away. They lean their foreheads against each other, broken smiles playing at their lips.

“Kyo-kun,” Tohru calls him.

“Yeah,” he replies, voice cracking.

“I missed you.”

“I-“ inhale, “I missed you too.”

“Kyo-kun,” she calls again.

“Y-yeah.”

She laughs and places a kiss on his forehead. He closes his eyes and grips her tighter. In the deepest corners of his heart, there is a smidge of doubt, an inkling of fear, that rejection will come sooner or later. But when Kyo opens his eyes and sees Tohru smiling through her tears, he is strong, and brave, and fearless, and ready to love and to love and to love. Then, she tells him the words that overwrite the pain he’s gone through, that cancel out the unforgiveness he bears within himself, that make him feel stronger than he has ever been before.

“Kyo-kun, look,” she places a hand on his left wrist, leave a kiss there, and smiles.

“You’re free.”

———————————————

Inspired by a line in @sariedust ‘s fic, If Only:

"This would be a memory he’d polish over and over during the years.”

Do check it out (:

[takokola]

Plot: Canyon Conquest - Epilogue

((The epilogue story is taking place, 5 days ago. After rescuing the Great Zapfish by the two agents that Marie recruited, Inkopolis is in peace once again. Now, where are they now after this?))

Eimie (mentioned) belongs to marchant-girls

Aqua (mentioned) belongs to askthesquidfamily

Agent 7 belongs to agent-7-at-your-service

Dawn was getting dressed in her room, preparing to go out to play some Turf Wars. After venturing through Octo Canyon, she's gotten better with her Heavy Splatling Deco. She was happy than Sheldon gave her back the weapon with a few new adjustments.

Once Dawn was finished, she steps out to the living room to see her parents: Cheryl and Raymond Sparks. Appearently, her dad has the day off from shipping bonuses for egg collectors at the docks. "I'm heading out, now to play!" She says, before giving them the biggest hugs ever.

"Be careful out there, sweetie! Make mama proud with your Splatling!" Cheryl couldn't help, but smile. Not only her daughter left the house some more, but she made friends with Sage from next door. Once Dawn left, she wraps her arms around her husband and smiles. "I can't believe my advice really works! I was worried that she would go back to watching supernatural TV shows, all night long."

Ray lets out a hearty chuckle. "Dawn wanted to have a fresh start in Inkoplis Square after a week. It brings a tear in my eye to see her grow up." He couldn't be any more happier to see his son and daughter, all grown up.

It was a 20 minute walk from her apartment to Inkopolis Square. She would take the bus, but she prefers walking by herself. Once she arrives the center of Inkopolis Square, she took a minute to breathe in the fresh summer air until fall comes. That means, she's going to be attending at a new high school. Suddenly, her relaxation was interrupted when she heard a loud slap from here. She turns to see a girl, leaving a red hand mark on Hanzo.

"Ugh! In your dreams, jerk!!" The random Inkling girl said, before storming off. She must've slapped poor Hanzo in the face from all of that flirting.

Hanzo winced from the stinging pain on his left cheek, where the red hand mark is placed. "Geez.. Even some of the pretty girl are fiesty in Square.. No matter, it was worth it.. Ow.." the hybrid held his cheek with his left palm for a brief moment until he notices Dawn, walking towards him.

"Another rejection, Hanz? Some things never change." She couldn't help but giggle at the hand mark on his face.

"Great to see you again, Dawn! I haven't heard from you in month! How ya been?" The pain subsides as he gave Dawn, a friendly hug. After Skyla's disbandment of the squad, Hanzo's been moving to another part of town with his mother. The Takoshi Grill family restaurant opened for business near the harbor of the Manta Maria.

Dawn returns the hug before letting go of him. It's been a few months since the squad team broke up. Dawn also notices the Skull Bandana around his neck. "Hanz, is that what I think it is..?"

"Oh, this?" Hanzo revealed the bandana to Dawn and smiles. "Scorpia gave her own bandana to me.. Now that she's attending college for 4 years.. She's not afraid to show her scar in public, thanks to Sky by her side.." Hanzo really missed his fellow team member, so much. She's the one who comforts him after another rejection. "She told me to take good care of it before she left.."

Dawn's smile fades, the moment she thinks about Scorpia. She can never forget the time she spent with her. She looked intimidating to Dawn at first, but it didn't take long for Dawn to open up to her. Her last moment with her was visiting an abandoned apartment in Bluefin Depot on last Halloween. She thought there was an actual ghost, but it was none other than Scopria's sister. ("Speaking of which, where is Azalea...? She hasn't called me since we returned the Great Zapfish...?") Not only she misses Scorpia, but she also worries about Azalea's absence.

"Dawn? Hey, Dawn? Are you alright? You're kinda spacing out.." Hanzo interrupts by waving a hand in front of her.

"H-Huh..?" Dawn snapped back to reality and stared at Hanzo. She was daydreaming about Azalea, she acts like she didn't see Hanzo in front of her. "Sorry about that.. I tend to do that.." Dawn giggled, rubbing the back of her head with one hand. She'll worry about Azalea, another time. First, she's planning on battling in Turf Wars but she's waiting on a certain someone. "That reminds me.. Remember when I told you about Sage, yesterday? He's coming to join us for some matches.. Of course, he'll be arriving late.."

"Yeah, you did mentioned me about that guy. What is he? Your boyfriend, or something?" Hanzo couldn't help, but smirk at her. Dawn has been thinking about Sage, the moment she arrived to the Square.

Dawn rolls her eyes and gave him, a playful jab on the arm. "Shaddup, Hanz.. We're just starting over to become friends after I was being such a prude since I moved here. Nothing more.." She wondered how Sage is doing after they saved the Great Zapfish, together.

Meanwhile in Octo Valley...

"Ugh.. Can we take a break now...?" Alexandra said, finished with mopping the floors from top to bottom. The two reformed Octolings were busy with sprucing up Tundra's battle dojo. The damage wasn't as extreme, but the entire dojo was a hot mess.

Tundra was sitting at the dining room table with Agent 7 and Eris. And of course, Fynn is also here to help out with the cleaning. "Alright, take 10! You too, Fynn!" The one-eyed Octoling called out the two of them from the dining room. She turns back to face Agent 7 with a smile. "So.. What can I do you for, Mr. Seven? I haven't heard from you in a while."

Agent 7 clears his throat, before he could explain the details. "I've come here to take your associate for some questioning. Not a lot, but it has something to do with Callie and Fynn's disappearance.. It appears that a couple of new recruits that Marie hired, restored the Great Zapfish again. Correct?"

Eris hung her her down in shame and defeat. She was responsible for the creation of the Hypno Chamber and the kidnapping of Fynn. "Yes.. I honestly, don't remember a thing, after that I woke up.. That was until Alex explained about my madness.. But, there's no point in resisting your request. I'll come with you to give you the answers, you need. Starting now, I'm no longer working for Lord Octavio."

Agent 7 was happy to hear Eris's response. "Splendid! It long take you that long. Give or take about 30 minutes of your time. We could take this outside, if you want."

Eris looks over to Alex and Fynn. The pink Inkling was talking about his plans for the future. He recently, quit his dishwashing job at Aqua's Diner for just one reason. He wanted to become a photographer and start his own photography business. His supervisor, Aqua Blau understood all of this and relieved him from his duties. As for Alexandra, she's not sure what to do after the Great Zapfish was restored.

The blue-ringed Octoling made her decision and stood up from her seat. She knows that everything will be fine. As long as Alex is safe and sound. "30 minutes, right?" She asked.

Agent 7 got up from his seat. He escorted her to the exit, while Tundra was sitting by herself. "Like I said, it won't take long. Just be honest with yourself and you're free to go." Before he opens the door, Agent 7 looks directly at Fynn. "Fynn. It's great to have you back.. For real, this time. Whoever these agents are, they've fought well enough to bring you back to reality." With one last smile, he stepped outside with Eris to talk.

"I'm planning on staying that way.. Give grandma Marie, my regards. Kay?" Fynn was leaning against the wall with Alex. He brought his guitar with him to play a few tunes during his break. He mostly plays his guitar during the fall season.

"What are you going to do now, Fynn? When this is over, I mean.." This is the first time that Alex said his own name, instead of "inkrat". That doesn't change her attitude towards Fynn.

Fynn continued playing the guitar while listening to her question. "My girl, Eimie is taking me to a bar called McWoomie's. I've never heard or been to this place, before.. Man... What have I been missing while I was gone..?" Sooner or later, Fynn will be new in Inkopolis Square after a week ago.

"And then what, huh? Are you going to 'ink her splat zones'? Or is that what you Inklings call it.." Alex smirks at Fynn. She often jokes around people who are already taken. She nudges him on his shoulder, but Tundra shuts it down by bonking her head with a rolled up newspaper. "Hey..!! I was pullin' his leg..!!" She cried.

"That question remains unanswered." Tundra shook her head in response. She sat down in the middle of the group. "Don't listen to her.. You've earned this night for yourself and your girlfriend. It won't hurt to try out this bar. Trust me, I've gotten wasted there once."

Ignoring Alex's nudging, he agrees with his person trainer. He hasn't taken Eimie out to dinner in a long time. Their last dinner was at their favorite restaurant, which involves a ton of shrimp. "Alright then. I guess, I'll eat over there. It has been a while.

The door opens while the three were chatting up a storm. Agent 7 steps in with a sobbing blue-ringed Octoling next to him. Eris kept apologizing for what she did to Fynn and Alex until the agent gives her a pat on the shoulder. "I-I'm... sorry.. I'm so very sorry..!!" Eris cried.

"Whoa, Eris... " Fynn was surprised by this. If it's about the kidnapping, he was over it. He couldn't even stay mad at her after they were reformed. "It's okay, man.. I know it must be hard, leaving the base for good and all.." Fynn hugs the sobbing Octoling. He wraps his arms around her torso to comfort her. "But this isn't your fault.. I told you, I'm over the whole kidnapping and brainwashing thing.. You need to just let go of your dark past and start anew. If I can do it, you and Alex can.. Can you do it for a friend..? You did say, we're friends. Right..?"

Eris was a bit surprised by the hug. No one has ever hugged the former commander. To her, it felt very nice. "O-Okay..." Eris hugged him back, tightly.

The entire went silent while Fynn was still comforting the blue-ringed Octoling. It felt like hours of embracing until they let go of each other. And then, Alex steps in a grabbed Eris's hand. "How about I take you to the guest bedroom.. You need some rest.." Alex escorted her upstairs, leaving the three cephalopods behind.

"Agent 7.." Fynn broke the silence as he got 7's attention. "What were you asking Eris about...? Does it have anything to do with the hypno chamber....?" Fynn couldn't bare to ignore the only place, he remembered last.

Agent 7 lets out a deep sigh and nods. "Yes... Truth is, Eris is the one who created the hypno chamber when Octavio developed the hypnoshades for all units.. She did a test on herself and it went well for Octavio but for her.... She was a different person..." Agent 7 takes off his hat. "That was when she was in anguish.."

"I see..." Maybe it follows up of Eris finding out about Agent 11's whereabouts. He doesn't want to think too much into it, now.

Tundra looks back to hear a light sob from the reformed blue-ringed Octling. She turns back to them, rubbing her head in response. "Well, carp.. I guess, I'll go upstairs to check on Eris.. I would ask Fynn for more work around the house, but he's done enough. You know you're way out, right?"

Agent 7 and Fynn both nodded. Fynn will be the one who can navigate their way out of Octo Valley and back in Inkopolis Plaza. Right now, it's fairly deserted. It used to be hip for 2 years until everyone moved to Inkopolis Square. "I'm sure, Fynn will take us back to the surface."

"I should go back home before it's time to go out tonight. Eimie said, she has something special to give me and I can't turn down an offer like this." Fynn checks the time. It's about 4 in the afternoon. "Yeah, I better get ready before the bar gets crowded. I'll text you later in the morning, teach." Fynn wastes no time to leave the dojo.

Agent 7 looks back to see Fynn being in such a hurry. He turns back to Tundra and tips his hat to her. "I must be off, then. Please comfort Eris as soon as possible. Farewell for now." With that said, he closed the door behind him.

As the two Inklings left the dojo, Tundra walked up the stairs to find Alex and Eris the the guest room. She entered the room to see Eris, sleeping peacefully in the room with Alex. The blue-ringed Octoling has calmed down for a bit and she decides to take a long nap. Alex purrs cutely in her sleep. She was so exhausted from cleaning, she had it sleep here with Eris for the time being.

"Cute." Tundra smiles at the two sleeping Octlings. She slowly closed the door to leave them in peace. Once she descended down the stairs, she takes off her eyepatch again. She sat down on the sofa with a cold beer on the table. She was happy that she finally got herself out of a jam.

Back in Inkopolis Square...

"You wanted to do what?" Hanzo asked, leaning closer to what Dawn has to say. They've been waiting for Sage for 20 minutes at the table.

"I wanted to form a squad. Skyla already quit the team with Scorpia and there's only two of us. It's about time, I take matters into my own hands and form one." Dawn has been doing well on her cousin's team. Also she saved Inkopolis from losing power. She just don't know where to start.

"Well, if you wanted to do this... We need like 2 players who has a B- rank or higher for tryouts. It could be anyone.." Hanzo wouldn't mind joining her newly formed team.

"Maybe it's someone I know for a while ..." While Dawn was thinking of a better ideal teammate, Sage appears in front of them. He arrived, 15 minutes late and he had to run to get to the Square. "Well, look who the Judd dragged in." Dawn smiles, looking at her next door neighbor.

"H-Hey... Sorry for the delay.. heh.. I had to see my brother, since he was leaving the hospital after a whole week.." Sage was running out of breath after he sprinted to the main entrance to Inkopolis Square. "I got some great news, Dawn! While Gale, Mareena, and Chilli were getting back from the hospital, I explained to him about my improvement in Ranked. After I recently showed my rank to my brother, he decides to add me as the fourth member since that no one else was recruited. I'm part of the Elemental Four, now!!" Sage recovered from the 30 minute run and he was so excited to start his first day as the new recruit.

Dawn was both surprised and extremely happy for Sage. Unfortunately, she was about to ask him to ask her new squad. "That's great, Sage! Your goal is finally coming true, at last! I'm proud of you, champ!" Dawn gives her a playful jab at his arm and smiled. For a split second, Dawn realized that she forgot to introduce him to Hanzo who was listening in one conversation. "Oh! I'd like for you to meet Hanzo. He's a friend of mine and a new recruit to my new team."

The Inktoling extends a hand to Sage, giving him a warm welcome. "Pleasure to make your aquaintance. Sage, was it? We've know each other since Sky Splash got started. Right now, we're searching 2 new recuits." Hanzo shakes his hand in response.

"It's great to meet you, Hanzo! And I hope you two find what you're looking for." Sage smiles and returns the enthusiastic handshake. They both let go after a few seconds. "To make up for my tardiness, how about we all eat at the Crust Bucket after some battles? I want to show you, how much I improved since then." After the rescue mission in Octo Canyon, he's changed into a different person.

"Better late than never, y'know." Dawn gets up from her seat. She stretches her arms to get ready for battle. Before she could go to the lobby, she wanted to ask him about something. "Hey, uh.. Sage?" Dawn asks, a bit shyly. She can act as tough as her big brother, but she's still a sweet after two years. "Can you help me with something? I was wondering if you can teach me how to use the Dualies. The thing is, I bought the Dapple Dualies and still sucked." She was fiddling with her short tentacles, before looking into Sage's eyes.

"Really? No one has ever asked me for any advice before.. It's like you're asking me out on a date or something." Sage joked, a bit until he cleared his throat. "Sure thing! Since school is starting next week, how about I tutor you after classes. So, how about it?"

After hearing Sage's response, Dawn's magenta eyes were sparkling like diamonds. "For eel?! Thank you, thank you!" In return, she surprised him with a hug. She was a bit shorter than him and her face was against his chest. After a few seconds of her embrace, she lets go of him and grins. "Alright, now can go out there and kick some ass!" Dawn was back to her spunky attitude and marched over to the Deca Tower lobby.

While Sage was standing still and his face blushing, Hanzo nudges at him. "You're lucky to have a nice girl like her. Make sure, you don't break her heart." Hanzo catches up to her, leaving Sage behind.

"H-Hey, wait up!" Sage can finally move, but he was still flushed from the suden hug. He's glad that she's getting along very well with him since their successful mission.

While the trio was entering the lobby to play, someone was listening from the corner near the lobby and the cafe where a certain sea urchin was killing time on the laptop. A dark violet vampire inkling was standing there and curious about this new team, Dawn was talking about. "2 new recruits, huh..? Interesting.." This could be a good idea to make new friends by joining a squad just like her older sister said to her. But for now, the lonely vampire squid sit back to her corner. She's not use to crowds, just yet.

THE END

[lnstinctive]

☪

5x1 things ➡ SELECTIVELY ACCEPTING

         ✧ @valorazul​

☪  five times our muses almost hold hands, and the one time they do.

1.

It’s DARK in the caverns their mission has taken them to, and the faint light from their armor is not quite enough to light the space. They’re mostly traipsing through by FEEL ALONE, grateful their destination is a supposed straight shot ahead.

                                 ��Keep up,” Keith urges, glancing over his shoulder                                  in time to catch Lance MOCKING him, mouthing                                  the words with a SNEER.

Expression drops to a VEXED look, and Keith rolls his eyes before facing forward again.FINE, if Lance wants to be difficult, Keith’s got no problems IGNORING him.At least, that’s the PLAN—but it’s tossed to SHIT when he hears a GRUNT behind him,and then the wavering cry of someone who sounds like he’s about to topple over—–

          and even though Lance DESERVES it, Keith still swivels around,          quick as a whip in order to throw his hands out.

                     “What’d you DO?” He questions as they collide,                       helmets knocking with a teeth-jarring CRASH,                      two arms locked between them as the other                       two tangle, fingers catching and locking,                      desperate for something to hold onto so                      they BOTH don’t fall.

                              “I tripped over something!” Lance retorts, voice raising                               in pitch to match the exasperated tone of Keith’s.

                                      “Well—watch where you’re going!”

                                           “Yeah, cause THAT’S do-able in here—”

Keith just B A R E L Y contains the childish desire to BONKLance’s helmet with his own, and instead huffs LOUDLYbefore tearing himself away, feeling only the FAINTEST bit smug when he hears the shifting of Lance trying toregain his balance after his support has abandoned him.

                                      “—Just KEEP UP or I’m leaving you BEHIND.”

2.

                            PSA:

the particles wafting in the air secreted by the Turzak flower pods                               cause TEMPORARY BLINDNESS

Lance learned THAT the HARD WAY.

                       Not TWO MINUTES ago had Keith been chastising                       Lance for wasting time stopping and inspecting plants,                        only to have the latter snort;

                                        “Come on, Keith. Stop and smell the alien roses!”

                        Well the ALIEN ROSES seemed to take KEITH’S side in this,                        trying to get Lance to move along by discharging a plume of                        vibrant vapor that filtered through the opening of Lance’s helmet.

         Moments later there’d been a shrill CRY,         followed by panicked inquiries over the comms,         and finally Coran speaking up to assure them there         was a SIMPLE solution, an easy fix to be made once         they returned to the castle.

A soft SMIRK quirked at Keith’s lips,but when he remembered that Lancecouldn’t actually SEE his expression,he allowed it to spread into it’s full glory—        with a barely-there TOUCH of fondness.

                  “Come on, doofus.” Reaching out, he grabbed for one of                   Lance’s flailing wrists, using the hold to tug him along;                  “What are we supposed to do with a BLIND sharpshooter?”

3.

YOU KNOW WHAT,Keith’s starting to wonder why Shiro keeps pairing HIM&LANCE together for missions. Were this NOT for the sake of the universe, he’d imagine his brother’s just trying to be his UNWELCOME WING-MAN—              but it IS for the sake of the universe, so why didn’t Shiro match up                                    two teammates who DIDN’T banter so much?

SURE, they work WELL together, but Keith also works wellwith Pidge and Hunk—or even Shiro himself. 

                        BUT NOPE.

Again and AGAIN is he paired off with Lance, and while theyalways manage to get the job DONE it’s never without a bitof SNARK shot back and forth between them.

              …That’s not to mean he dislikes it. In fact, he’s grown used to it;                    grown to EXPECT it. Hell, he’d even say it’s FUN at times.

He’s had all sorts of connections with people,but a RIVAL is something new. Although, Keithdoesn’t exactly consider them even THAT anymore—it’s not like he’s trying to one-up Lance, he’s just… trying to inspire the Blue Paladin to IMPROVE.

                             He’s not quite sure where Lance stands on the whole thing,                                                   but he HOPES the feeling is MUTUAL.

BACK ON TRACK—they bicker so much during missions,mindless quips back&forth, that it’s becomeweirdly uncomfortable when they’re QUIET.

Though it’s not exactly by CHOICE——their current mission has them stalking through old ruins on a planet cast eternally into the night. The darkness around them is discomforting, a sense of DREAD enough to inspire them in keeping quiet, so as to put off any CREATURES from finding them.

                                   But their silence FAILS them, and as they round                                   a corner it’s to be met with the SHOCK of a beast,                                   hunched over against the wall up ahead.

Startled noises form and die in their throats,and with the SURPRISE they reach for each other,hands finding each other and grasping TIGHT,both yanking backwards as they slip away.

                Keith tries to recover from his PANIC as Lance whispers                 their find and location into the commlink, playing off his                 thudding heart-rate as due to the shock, and NOT the                 fact that Lance has gripped tighter to ensure Keith                 stays CLOSE.

                               It’s not holding hands, he tells himself, if it’s to stay ALIVE.

4.

When he stops to really THINK about it, he and Lance have had QUITE a lot of contact over the past few months—Nothing GROUNDBREAKING, but enough to send his heart STUTTERING every time it happens - a nudge to his shoulder, a pat on the back, or - most common - a brush of their hands.

           Though Keith tries HARD not to focus too hard,            or THINK TOO MUCH on all the little touches,              his ♥HEART♥ doesn’t quite get the memo.

HOURS after Lance has touched him he’ll STILL be reliving the memory in his head, finally acquiescing that MAYBE it means something. That MAYBE he FEELS something.

                  But accepting there’s something there and accepting it                  for what it is are two different things——                             SURE, there are emotions for Lance that differ                             from how he feels about everyone else, but there’s                             NO WAY he’s going to MAKE something of it.

   It could—it could compromise VOLTRON, or something.                           The UNREQUITED PIING will remain                                         as such until it PASSES.

              No matter how long it takes.

…It’ll probably take a WHILE.

               ESPECIALLY because during an earlier instance in which Lance                 nearly FELL OUT of a pod, Keith was there to grasp his hand,                    grip strong enough to yank him back to safety.                                And even though it had happened HOURS ago,                                Keith’s still stuck on the smile Lance had given,                                        fingers squeezing around Keith’s as he                                                                  gave his thanks.

5.

It’s RARE for Keith to see Lance with his defenses down,vulnerable and open with his troubles. It’s an occurrencethat’s happened only once or twice before, always spurredby the topic of H O M E.

From where he stands behind him Keith watches blue-clad shoulders SLUMP, overlooking the reunion of a group of captives and their families.It’s a TOUCHING scene, but for Lance Keith’s sure it hits too close.                               The somber set of Lance’s shoulders inspire the                                Red Paladin to step closer, reaching a hand up                               to settle it upon his companion’s bicep.

                                                             No reaction.

A beat, and then his palm slides down until his fingers nudgeat Lance’s own. THAT has the Blue Paladin lifting his gaze,and Keith offers as much of a PROMISING look as he can.

                        “Hey.” He starts softly, catching Lance’s pinky                         between the knuckles of his index and middle fingers;                                     “That’ll be you and your family someday.”

                                                    He’ll make SURE of it.

1.

Four years later Keith makes GOOD on his promise,and now he stands at 5am on the soft white sand ofthe beach Lance tells him is pronounced ‘VARADERO.’

       The sun BARELY scrapes over the horizon behind them,       and although Keith’s seen COUNTLESS suns by this point,       there’s none he finds as pleasing as THIS one,       especially as it paints the world in soft golden hues,       even with the shadows cast by lions perched in the sea behind.

           At his side stands Lance, his—                       cliche as it may be—                          his UNIVERSE.

In his hand fits his lovers, and upon his face spreads a smileas he feels the slight TREMOR wracking the fingers entwinedwith his own. He can’t help that he finds it CUTE.

                            “Lance.” Keith speaks, barely louder                             than the waves lapping around their feet—                                                 “I want to meet them.                                                            Your family.”

         Perhaps… they could become HIS family, too.

The smile that earns is shaky,but brighter than the collectionof suns Keith been witness to.

                               The hand wrapped ‘round his tightens,                                     and Keith RETURNS the action,                                            vowing to never let go.

[mayoprty]

Here's something I wrote

(Mario) The legend of the crystal star shards ~ARC~ Written by Sean O’Sullivan Book 1 of 6

Prologue

Hello Pisano’s and residents of the Mushroom Kingdom, Sasarilla land, oh and of course the Bean Bean kingdom! It’s a ‘me Luigi, player two, the green bean machine. Anyway today is a very important day as you should all know. It’s the 64th anniversary of the Mushroom Kingdom today. I thought I’d take advantage of this moment to tell you a story. A story about a mustachio man known as Mario (My brother). My brother and I, 20 years ago defeated Bowser, the evil yellow mutant turtle monster, who sported a hefty spiked shell on his scaly back and a sharp, narrow ended tail lined with spikes; trust me I know, and set peace all over the Mushroom Kingdom and all other universes out there. Sit tight this is going to take a while and feel free to eat all the Mushcorn you all want but make sure you save some for me! But without further ado here’s the story of the legend of the crystal shards...

Chapter 1

A blast from the past!

40 years ago...

It was dark and gloomy the night Bowser was doomed to fall. The floor was fully lit by bright amber fire and the harsh hint of anguish. With help from Bombet, Goombario, Watt and so many others, Bowser saw his decline into failure once again. “I’ll get you one day brothers no matter what it takes I’ll come back so powerful there will be no turning back for help! Bwahhhhhhh!” Bowser screamed falling for what seemed as an eternity. Next to Mario, across the stage, stood his loyal brother and the pink wearing princess. “Incredible! Well done you defeated that tyrant once again!!” They both shouted applauding. Goombario looked up to Mario's side, “Well congrats Mario but I have feelings that that monster will rise again and terrorise us to wits end!” Said Goombario quivering with fear. “Well,” Mario said, “he’ll have to do it without this stupid stick!” Continued Mario snapping the crystal shard star rod into teeny tiny little pieces never to be used again.

…

Or so he thought….

Chapter 2

A late wakeup call

20 years later...

“Beep beep beep!” Went Luigi’s alarm clock. It was 9:30 on a Saturday morning. The sun was shining bright as usual. The grass was a lush shade of green slightly yellowed by the turning of autumn. Leaves fell of trees to then be shot up in the air by the twirling wind.

There in the middle of the leaves, was a small hut with wood-like lining across the roof. The wood was bark brown and hat even darker grooves engraved, spiralling, spindling around. The hut sported a stand out sign with 5 big red words upon it. ‘M’ ‘A’ ‘R’ ‘I’ and ‘O’ sat on it flush with the metal plate it sat on. The words shone as bright as the deep red moons of the far west of the kingdom.

Inside the calm, isolated, small hut, laid one brother in his light blue nightcap and his light green PJ’s. The hat had darker blue stars with a yellow ring surrounding. The brim was silver, the only thing separating his from Mario’s. He snored loudly and tuned over. He bonked his head on his side counter what’s wood matched the exterior, carved to perfection.

This made Luigi sit up and wipe his eyes. He then took a glance at the alarm clock. “Arg slept in again hopefully there’s nothing important going on today” said Luigi stretching and sleepily walking over to his calendar. “Saturday the 22nd!” Luigi shouted mouth wide open. “Mama Mia! Were late, Mario MARIO!” Luigi continued running into Mario’s room half dressed. Mario sat up with a start and looked around. ”What were we ... oh Weegi don’t do that what’s wrong bro?” Said Mario still a bit startled by the abrupt end to his dream. Luigi sat down on the side of Mario’s bed looking concerned. “Mario you don’t remember it’s the 44th anniversary of the Mushroom Kingdom!!!”Said Luigi still shouting. Mario’s face changed instantly. Oh crumbs, Weegi get dressed and meet me at the door.” Mario said jumping out of bed.

Chapter 3

Expected Visitors

Not too far away outside Princess Peach’s castle, all the residence of the Mushroom Kingdom were arriving to the ceremony and were greeted by the Princess herself, Peach. “Ah the Mario brothers late as usual nothing new there but they have to hurry up I have to shut the gates soon.” Peach said looking disappointed. Out from the behind of the Princess a small elderly Toad stuck out his head; it was Toadsworth looking worried “The Mario brothers aren’t going to make it at this rate” said Toadsworth looking down.

Back outside Mario’s house Luigi, wearing his flashy green T-shirt and blue overalls, stood outside impatiently. “Mario hurry up were going to be even later then we already are!” Said Luigi shouting up the stairs to Mario. All of a sudden the door swung open and almost hit Luigi on the nose.” Watch were your swinging that door Mario you startled me!” Said Luigi shocked. “Come on Weegi lets ‘a’ go!” Shouted Mario calling Luigi.

5 minutes past and finally the castle was in sight.

The streets were filled with flowers and banners. Everyone was hyped up for the occasion. The streets were lined with flowers petals and leaves that had fallen from their beholder. Mario, being the nostalgia driven guy he is, ran to the overhang of NorthToad Town Bridge. It was a beautiful sight that even drew Mario to a tear. However Luigi was a tad bit inpatient and shoved his red wearing brother. “Come on bro the ceremony has started! Stop daydreaming!” Luigi proclaimed. The cool air shot the leaves spiralling, brushing the brother’s overalls like a ghost’s hand. “Hmm? Oh yes lets ago bro!” Mario shouted whilst jumping in a puddle and running chasing the wind.

In no time, the bros were closing on the entrance. “PRINCESS!” shouted Mario and Luigi waving their hands to signal the Princess. It must have worked as Peach waved back and she greeted the brothers inside. “What took you so long?” asked Peach. “Just living up to name, always late!” Said Mario chuckling to himself. “Well you’re not wrong there but please be on time next time.” Said Toadsworth shuffling uncomfortably.

Chapter 4

The unexpected visitor

About 5 uninterrupted hours into the celebrations, the residence of the Mushroom Kingdom was just tiding up when the sky turned a gloomy, dingy shade of grey and all the clouds in the sky turned coal black. “Huh? By Toadsworth’s moustache what happened to the sky?” Asked Peach. An electric light blue lightning bolt hit the centre of the stage.” Mama Mia, wait there’s something wrong here there’s thunder but there’s no rain!” Shouted Luigi pointing at the struck stage. All of a sudden a black hole appeared above the stage and Bowser popped out and snatched the Princess and Luigi. “WHAT?! NO!” shouted Mario reaching out to Peach.

“Bwahhahahahaaaaaaaa!” Said Bowser roaring, “stupid Mario brothers I can’t believe you haven’t enforced an attack /defence plan like come on I expect more from such ‘amazing characters’ well I’ve got the princess and your brother want em come get em!” Continued Bowser.

The black hole disappeared back into the sky with a bang so loud it shook the ground. “Oh no!” Shouted Mario. He was still shocked looked around to see what damage was caused. Mario and the swarm of crowds in the ruins of the Mushroom Kingdom investigated, Mario looked in horror lands he once ventured were now in utter ruins Mario began thinking whom could he go to? His brother’s whereabouts mystery and where the Princess is. All of a sudden Mario’s pocket vibrated it was his Dualscream, as he picked it out he’d realised he had put on Luigi’s overalls instead of his own, he sighed answering E.gadd’s call.

Chapter 5

An Ally once forgotten.

“Yello E.gadd.” Said Mario answering. “Oh it’s you my boy it’s been to long how’s it going?” Asked E.gadd. Mario sat down on a piece of debris and answered “DIDNT YOU SEE THAT MASSIVE BLACK HOLE APEAR OUT OF THE SKY!?” Asked Mario shouting because he could not believe that E.gadd was asking such a stupid question. “Calm down sunny don’t get your overalls in a twist I only meant to a sure you didn’t get sucked up into it any way where’s Luigi I called to tell him about my new invention but your Mario don’t you need to be saving the Princess now?” Said E.gadd. “The Princess, wait an invention what is it?” Asked Mario. “Well sunny this invention might be the answer to your problems, come see me in my lab we’ll speak then.” Said E.gadd. Full of anticipation, Mario shut the Dualscream and started his voyage to E.gadd lab.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*insert chapter 6*name*here~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 6

E.gadd’s lab

After a bit of running, Mario, panting slightly as he is not used to running this fast, came to Luigi’s creepy forgotten mansion he “won” back in 2003. “Wow I can’t believe I was sucked into a painting and held prisoner by that blasted King Boo 15 years ago!” Said Mario shocked by how long it’s been,” it’s still creepy doe” Continued Mario.

Mario looked around to see a familiar looking lab; it was there bright as day. E.gadd’s lab. It was a small well lit bunker full of great inventions. Mario walked up to the door and performed his traditional knock. “Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock.” Mario played with his knuckle. After couple of seconds, a short almost bald man in a scientist coat and funny clown shoes answered the door.

“Ah sonny, come in!” Said the short, trench coat wearing man. Mario was greeted by E.gadd, the Mushroom Kingdoms one and only scientist who helped in his brothers deep and dark adventure to rescue his brother all them years ago. E.gadd rushed Mario inside his lab. Mario was amazed on how much science a guy can fit in one room. There were clear test tubes all over the place with transparent tubing attached to the ceiling. “Wow you’ve really done this place up.” Said Mario looking around at all of the pipes.” Well that’s not the reason I brought you here, come” said E.gadd pointing at a familiar looking machine. “THE ODYSSEY!” Shouted Mario running to the red top hat looking machine. The Odyssey stood tall in the only open space in the whole entire lab. It was shiny and a glossy shade of red, it looked amazing! “Impressed sunny well I added some cool new abilities to this flying machine...” E.gadd started pointing his finger to the chrome roof of the techno hut.

Chapter 7

The time Odyssey

“The Odyssey, as you said Mario, has had some incredible improvements since you last ventured in it; well get in, check it out , I did not build it as a display model for someone to take a screen capture with.” Said E.gadd pointing at the towering, red machine. Mario ran forward to his nostalgic red beast and hugged it. “Ah the adventures I had in this, good memories!” screamed Mario.

After a lot of emotional moments, Mario braised himself for the interior and walked through the bark brown door. The interior was well lit, was very nice, polished, posh, all fabulous looking. All the cushions were plumped up and floofy, all the electronics were sparkling and gleaming a metallic turquoise like the gentle blue waves that rush the world and even the old wooden table (for tea and biscuits) had been refurbished however it now sported a thick manual with a snazzy front cover of E.gadd’s smirking face. “You like it sonny?” Asked E.gadd. Mario turned around smiling, “do I like it? I LOVE IT, E.gadd you never fail to impress me.” Said Mario still beaming. “Well goodie, now comes the hard part explaining time travel see that book, open it.” Said E.gadd pointing to the book. Mario took the book and turned the first page.

Chapter 8

“Port Space”, “Buttons” and “Crystal shards?”

After a few useless introduction pages, Mario fell upon page 12. “Port Space?” Mario asked confused. E.gadd skimmed the page and gave him the answer. “Ah Port Space, yes well a very interesting topic, where do I start?” E.gadd said clearing his throat. “Well you see when there is a time travelling device present in the world, one of said Port Space holes appear.” E.gadd continued. Mario raised an eye brow and scratched his head with his red hat. “Wait so when Weegi and I fell in to that warp hole back in 2007ish, that was a Port Space hole!?” Shouted Mario dumfounded by these scientific terms. “Yes correct well our understanding on port space is very different than what is was 11 years ago, so if you shall fall down one you’ll be stuck there until the time travelling device moves and were ever it moves to said thing will also go there so be CAREFUL ok.” Said E.gadd. Mario (dumfounded still) nodded and turned the page.

“Oh and did I mention that this machine can teleport as well; as you go in through the door way, like we just did, on your left you will see 3 buttons, a red one for time travelling, a yellow one for teleporting and a green one, um well I don’t exactly know what that does so don’t press it un till I do more research.” Said E.gadd. “Wait? What do you mean “more research” didn’t you build this thing?” Asked Mario. “Well when I said new project earlier I really meant a new and improved project as well this machines core is the same core as my last one I built in 2007 and I lost the blue prints but I had the Odyssey’s blue prints on hand thus the machine is born, but I’m wasting time, first destination to hut the evil Bowser down is Dinosaur Island, date 1991, I’ll make sure everything looks good then I will signify you and tell you what button to press.” Said E.gadd stepping out of the Odyssey’s silver rimed door way.

“Oh and before I go out and set up this red beast, remember that when you press the yellow button it will reset the destination and time to default but for whatever reason the destination get randomised so DON’T PRESS THE YELLOW BUTTON UNLESS I TELL YOU!!!!” Shouted E.gadd “Oh and last thing do you remember crystal shards?” Asked E.gadd. Mario stood there silent. “Oh well I guess by your muteness you don’t well these things are VERY important, the actual reason I wanted you here! These things are a sort if residual from that’s special staff you snapped all them years ago! Remember when Bowser was doomed to fall?” Asked E.gadd. Mario’s smile turned into horror. “YOU CAN’T BE SERIOUS!!!!!! Oh no the world is in grave danger! That rod has the power to destroy dimensions!!!”Shouted Mario extremely loud. “Yes that’s why I need to send you to the first crystal shard location! Immediately!!!!” Continued E.gadd.

Chapter 9

“THE WRONG BUTTON”

E.gadd stepped out of the beast of a machine and went round the back to then open a hatch that held the deep electronics. There were red wires and blue wires. “If I cross the red wire with the blue wire and shazam!” Shouted E.gadd. The Odyssey vibrated and the turbine fins started to spin excessively, the balloon inflated, as the odyssey began to ascend, Mario gazed at the world below his polished mud brown shoes, the odyssey was in the upper air and ready to be set on course to, the one and only, dinosaur island, 1991 specifically.

Now hovering like a humming bird, all that Mario had to press the right button like he was instructed to do in E.gadd’s explanation. “Ok, right, now, the important part, the right button um so...” Started E.gadd. He was cut off by noise of the sheer power of the Odyssey what was now over heating (it is not built to just simply hover.) “WHAT DID YOU SAY???”Asked Mario. “UM, PRESS THE YELL- NO NO WAIT THE RED ONE!!!”Stuttered the short scientist E.gadd.

Mario did what first hit his ears. From inside the anxious brother sat down as the Odyssey shook. However E.gadd had accidentally said the wrong colour button! The Odyssey shrunk and pulled against Mother Nature’s walls and disappeared into the unknown. “Oh no, oh no oh no.” Said E.gadd looking spooked out. “This is terrible!! What will the Mush-people say!?” E.gadd said shaking slightly. The Odyssey was sent spiralling into grave danger...

Chapter10

... Miles away

A long, long way away, the odyssey was tumbling through time. It had been at least 5 minutes since Mario saw life and ground other than the odyssey and himself. “AHHHHHH SOME ONE HALP MEEE!!!!” Screamed Mario holding on to his hat like his life depended on it. Mario didn’t care, he wanted to escape, he has had enough. “GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!!!” Shouted Mario pleading for his life clutching his beloved red hat.

Like someone was listening, there was a thud that shook the odyssey and caused Mario to fall. Mario, after straitening his hat, hopped up and hobbled over to the window. He saw a vast, lush green field covered in flowers; however everything seemed off. Everything was slightly hexagonal and symmetric. The trees, the plants, the bird, everything. “Were in the sweet peperoni am I? “Asked Mario scratching his forehead. Mario was miles away from his pasta and human civilisation. “E.GADD! You messed it up! You said the wro…” Started Mario. He was cut off by a vibration in his overall’s right pocket. It vibrated 3 times then its ringtone kicked in. Mario knew in an instant, it was E.gadd. His face lit up with cardinal shade and his face twitched slightly.

Chapter 11

E.gadd’s explanation

Mario took the Duelscream (still vibrating violently) and flipped over the lid and answered. “Yello E.gadd how’s the sending me to the wrong place going huh?” Asked Mario sarcastically slightly razing his tone of voice to show his temper has run out of fuse. “Um about that, so sorry about that sunny I may have said the wrong button but where are you?” Asked E.gadd. Mario looked up from the 3ds and looked back.” Err um well err jeez I dunno you tell me! I didn’t see this in the koopa blasting book!” Said Mario. “Ok ok well what does the landscape look like Mario?” Said E.gadd continuing to ask questions. “Ok so everything is hexagonal! And it’s so over exaggerated in colour a kid koopa could colour better, there’s no shading!” Said Mario answering E.gadd.

There was a moment of silence; even E.gadd was puzzled by this description. Finally he spoke. “Wow um ok it seems you’re in another dimension or somewhere over the Rainbow Road!” Concluded E.gadd. Mario’s jaw dropped to the ground. He dropped the 3DS like it was garbage. It fell with a small thud. “YOU WHAT!!!!!!!!!! YOUR TELLING, ME……..” Started Mario. He finished his sentence early because of something he saw out of the corner of his eye. “Um… I’ll call you back.” Mario hesitated hanging up. He closed the Duelscream and popped it in his back overall pocket and walked towards the red oak door.

Chapter 12

The blue blur

“Who’s there?” asked Mario trembling; one hand on his hat and one on the Odyssey’s door. There was no answer. Mario slowly edged the door open. There was someone there, but no human or anything close. He wasn’t very tall only about 4”9. He was blue a very rich blue in fact. He had rose red shoes tinted with one yellow buckle outlined with White. Mario’s eyes moved up the blue things body. He was slim and had a good 15+ year old build. Mario’s eyes met the blue creature. He had a longish pointed nose (black) and emerald green eyes unmissable some would say.

“S... Sonic?” Asked Mario eyes wide open like a door. “That’s me alright! What brings you here Chum it’s not time for the Olympics yet it’s only been like 2 years!” Sonic smiling, “but any way what’s going on man?” Continued Sonic giving Mario a light hit on the shoulder. Mario, still stunned, said, “Um hard question I kinda, just maybe time/teleported here with the Odyssey! Oh wait you don’t know what that is well it is basically a time machine, look it’s behind me!” Sonic stood there starring into Oblivion. “Well ya kinda lost me at the word time bro, but hmm… let me see… ah! I know! Lemme show this to a lil buddy of mine. He’ll know what the heck this thing is.” Said Sonic winking. Sonic and Mario stepped off the Odyssey’s blinding white, fenced front porch and headed to somewhere Mario had never been...

Chapter 13

A foxes hut

After a longish walk across the vast lush fields of, where ever they were, Sonic and Mario came across a smallish wooden hut totally isolated from anything other than itself. The hut looked on east to a roll of hexagonal hills. It had a small edge part, like a garage, which had a spikey point roof made out of sleek metal. Sonic stepped up to the door and knocked gently on the fragile looking door. “Ay foxy boy! I’ve brought a friend!” Said Sonic smirking. There was a light pitter patter on the other side of the door. A small yellow fox with two long Tails and shiny blue eyes opened the door. “Sonic how many times do I have to tell u don’t call me... Oh Mario? Good to see you? Um how did u get on the lost hex?” The fox asked. Mario smiled, he knew who this was immediately. “Tails! Good to see you too well now I got here somehow well how’s bout I come in and explain everything.” Said Mario. Tails nodded and turned around, Tails flailing in the light breeze, and led them inside.

After allot of explaining

“Oh so your here by mistake! I get it so I have no idea on how you’re going to get home I...” Said Tails getting cut off by a vibration in Mario’s pocket. Mario got out the 3ds and answered. “Yello E.gadd I know where I am! I’m in a place called...” started Mario. “The lost hex I know I searched the position of the Odyssey! Apparently there’s a crystal shard nearby!” Said E.gadd Enlighted by this remark. “What how the hex did one get here?” Asked Mario. “No clue ill update your maps on your 3ds, open the sensory director and press maps you will find all you need! Got that?” asked E.gadd. Mario did what was instructed and opened maps to see a glowing red dot. “Okay I see the marker or location you marked!” Said Mario. “Ok well go there; call me when you are there toodles!” Said E.gadd finishing the call. “Well it seem we need to get there quick these shards sound important!” Said Tails not questioning who the old man was on the other side of the screen. Mario looked up and noticed something over the hill outside. “Um I didn’t know shadow knew I was here to.” Said Mario confused. “Wah???” Said Sonic and Tails simultaneously.

Chapter 14

The black blur?

Mario saw right there was shadow on the hill. “What’s he doin up there?” Asked Sonic. Tails, Sonic and Mario ran out of the hut to confront him. “Ay what’s up shads how’s G.U.N going and the president is safe?” Asked Sonic winking at shadow. Out of no were, Shadow whips out his wispon blue pump shotgun and points it at Sonics nose. “I swear to Omega if you call me that ever again I’ll shove this up your damn nose kupish?!” Said Shadow all edgy. “Ay ay chill shadow I’m joking wat brings you here?” Asked Sonic. Shadow shuffled uncomfortably. “Well umm I saw a machine thing it looks like a top hat do any of you know what it is?” Asked shadow still oblivious of Mario’s presence.

Mario spoke up, “Oh yes that will be fine that’s how I got here it’s a time machine or teleporter or I don’t even know!” Said Mario. Shadow (now noticing Mario) rolled his eyes and dismissed it. “Fine we’re are you going then huh?” Asked Shadow. “Oh um actually we could use your chaos power I have a plan!” Said Tails pointing at the garage like side add on to the hut. “Oh so you’re hinting on using MY chaos power to get to where YOU want. Right?” Said Shadow looking in disgust, “Oh forget it just get out of my face, what do you want me for and where is it you’re going? If it has to do with that Egg head, sign me up.” Continued shadow.

Tails scratched his head and shuffled forward. “Well you see my trackers have seen a sudden black spired building appear. My thought is that Eggman has been camping out there and what I have worked out from Mario’s explanation on why he’s here leads me to believe there’s foreign power sources in action!” Tails shouted all hyper. Mario’s face sunk in at the sudden realization of the crystal shard power and its possible effects to his friendly rival’s world. “We need to eradicate this immediately!” Bellowed Mario taking off his hat and brushing his hair.

Shadow nodded. And played with the ring circling his thin wrist. Tails run past the wonderers and rushed back into the desolate hut. He grabbed a pile of jingling metal cut to perfection. The metal was attached to a photo of Tails and sonic at Sonics last birthday. He clutched it and went towards the left wall. He shoved into it and the wall shifted slightly exposing the content of the side room. He smiled and lifted the door of the room. Everyone herd the rusty door snap upwards and swivelled round. “Come quick fellows, we must foil Eggman’s plan before he does something stupid!” Tails waved and shouted. They swivelled shrugged their shoulders and walked forward. Mario adjusted his bright, saturated hat, took a deep breath and looked at his furry companions once again.

Chapter 15

A tornado of preparations

In no time the legends where suited up for the “plan”. Tails grabbed his helmet and brown googles and looked Mario dead in the eye. Mario dazed back and his eyes darted left to look main part of this plan.

Tails’ plane, tornado 2, had a grand back wing showing off its harsh eye bleeding yellow and blue colour palette. It shone really bright in the sun’s refraction. It stuck out like a sore thumb. It was sleek and fin down to the cot pit where it thickened to fit the furry ally. Next to the cot pit was a broad span of two sliced wings with a hook-up on both lined with red and green like lights that’s purpose was to warn the opposition of their presence. At the tip top was a flailing thin propeller that span round like a tornado hence the name. The propellers where polished and a bright shiny platinum that shot light dancing.

Mario then looked back at Tails, who’s Tails where spinning implying flight. “This will be a flight of fancy!” Shouted Tails obviously happy with himself. Mario smiled and brushed his moustache. He then proceeded to put on a helmet, left to Sonic. The helmet had spikes on it with green tips and a light blue base. Mario chuckled and put it on. He tightened the straps holding it on his head.

“Well now, all suited up? Good well now safety first as always. Remember to hold on to the vessel as hard as you can because it might get bumpy!” Tails said flailing his arms in motion displaying the “travel” that will ensue. Sonic, now sporting his Team Sonic helmet, and Shadow, wearing his biker helmet (black… very black), looked to their furry companion with mixed emotions across the board. Sonic smirked, “Tails since when did I take the safety precautions?” Asked Sonic with a cocky undertone to his voice. Shadow nodded and reloaded his shotgun and cocked it upwards. “Hmm I think I’m ready, well, my gun is.” Said Shadow pointing his shotgun to the floor.

Chapter 16

Setting up for a trip of elegancy

After Tails flew over the safety precautions again, Mario cracked his knuckle and jumped into the cockpits second seat; the yellow fox followed suit but landed in the first seat. Shadow looked at his royal blue ally and scoffed at his feet. “Hmm couldn’t even find some riding shoes? Ha, mine are much better than yours.” Shadow exclaimed mocking the blue hedgehog. Sonic showed no effect and jumped on the right wing of the star platinum plane and brushed the bridge of his nose. “Hmm well I do have better shoes, I just take too much pride in my babies’.” Sonic said looking to a box full of old retro attire. Shadow sighed and jumped on the left wing what was yellow contrasting with the rest of the sapphire body. Mario straitened his hat and grinned. “Wow I haven’t rode a plain since the 1990s!” Mario chuckled in joy.

Tails put his left furry hand on the gear stick and shifted into gear 1 and the grand turbines began to spin at a high velocity, it was so fast in fact the blades looked like one solid block of white. “Hmm…I…..can…..you….?” Tails tried say but his voice was swept away by the spiralling fins. “What!!!!” Everyone shouted to no response. The garage door rose up into the sealing and contracted into the small space it originally resided.

The outside, hexagonal world stood still awaiting the plane sneaking in the cover of the shed. The sun had changed to a south west position since Mario had gone inside. It still shone bright like a lantern in the thick depths of rolling clouds. The slight wind blow brushed by Mario making his moustache twitch and bounce.

The engine roared louder as Tails turned on the gear shift assist. “Right that feels better prepare for lift off!” Tails shouted at the top of his foxy little lungs so the others could hear. All the passengers put there glove-covered thumbs up and the plane started to move out onto the overgrown drag strip that laid in front of the old garage. Mario and Tails sat back readying for lift off. Sonic and Shadow on the other hand. Turned on their high suction boots as they knew there would be trouble. “Hmm nice shoes Sonic.” Shadow smirks bending down, tapping his left shoes heel. This uncovered a secret compartment with a glimmering green emerald. It was one of the 7 legendary chaos emeralds. “Hmm I bet Eggman would prefer my shoes Sonic.” He chuckled. Sonic scoffed and shook his head. Tails cracked his knuckles. “Prepare for hyper lift!” Tails shouted.

The long awaited lift off was just about to happen when Mario noticed tiny black dots in the sky…

~~~~~~~~ (insert chapter 17 flight of fancy here) ~~~~~~~~

Chapter 17

Luigi???

Miles away from Tail’s hut stood a massive, ominous building; it was mat black and shiny, totally abstract from its surroundings. It was triangular and very big. It was also surprisingly hollo in the dead centre on the building. Inside the vast building devious actions were taking place. There was a massive glass, glowing, green dome hung on to the top of the building. It held the one and only Luigi! However there was something much more sinister going on inside.

Mario and his furry friends landed inside the green dome to be greeted by horror. There, withheld in the sky, hung Luigi tied up by electric blue wearing. He was unconscious. It was a scaring sight for Mario. “AHHH LUIGI I’M HERE BROTHER!!” Shouted Mario at the top of his lungs; they were on fire. There was a massive bang slightly from there left. All the heroes shook; their spines tingled like if someone was tickling them. Mario turned his head slightly to see what being belonged to the noise.

A gloomy dark shadow was casted were the noise was created. It was a figure, quite tall and top heavy. They stepped out of the dark and immediately the heroes knew who it was. He had black shiny shoes, pointy enough to stab through anything. He also had matching silky black tight trousers. Finally (on the top half) he was wearing a snazzy red waist coat, it looked very similar to the famous Mushroom Kingdom sing star, Michle Toadsaxion as like it was inspired by him. His head was averagely round besides his extremely pointy nose and bushy moustache browner than the dirt below. “EGGMAN!?” Shouted everyone with surprise.

Chapter 18

Eggman’s plan…

Everyone swivelled into an offensive position, such position that the mushroom kingdoms Nickle back would make, this couldn’t be a good sign. “AHHHH HA HA HA, HO HO HO, HEHE! Wow Sonic…. Mario? Missing your brother huh?” Asked Eggman with a sinister tone. Mario looked even more scared, “EGGMAN what have you done to him!!!” Mario shouted. Sonic stepped forward, “Now look ‘ere Eggman what do you think you are doin huh? Let’m go NOW!” He shouted. Shadow pointed his blue Wispon shotgun forward. “You really want THIS!” Shouted Shadow pointing his gun at him. Eggman flinched and raised an eye brow. “Ok then if you truly wish…” Eggman said.

He then clicked his fingers and the electric wires around Luigi disappeared. He fell. Luigi landed with a sickening, ear splitting crunch on the marble floor. He quivered and trembled. “LUUUUUIIIIIGGIIII!” Mario shouted running towards him. “Hahaha you see it’s a distraction it was all part of the plan. Tails looked up, “plan huh what is it?” He asked. Eggman stepped to the side. “This, my newest invention, the Evilinator, funded by the koopa himself.” Eggman smirked.

To the side of him was a massive cannon like shape the “Evilinator” was sleek and very black with blue cables (similar to the ones that held Luigi in the air) running down the side of it. It was definitely impressive, much more impressive than Eggman previous inventions

Luigi started to sit up, “Mario? Is that really you?” Luigi said looking up in pain. Mario grabbed and hoisted his brother up and hugged him. “Ha my plan has been set! Go evil blast!” Eggman screamed shooting the mega laser out of the invention right a helpless Luigi “Kyhaaaaaaaaaaaa!” Luigi screamed whilst getting launched backwards, twisting and tumbling through the air like a drunken plane piolet. However the beam reflected off Luigi’s left overall button and hit Shadow in the dead centre of forehead. He immediately fell unconscious. “Shadow!” Tails shouted running to his side. “Now this is too far Egghead what did that do!?” Sonic asked urgently. Luigi looked up suddenly. There was something amiss. He had changed.

Chapter 19

MR. L

“Luigi?” Mario asked looking concerned. “That aint Luigi no more!” Eggman taunted scratching his nose. “What do ya mean by that Egghead?” Sonic asked also gaining concern. “Don’t you get it? EVILinator he's my evil minion now awake my evil companion!” Said Eggman continuing to taunt the team of legends. Everyone looked at Luigi and stared immensely. He looked up and his soulless eyes stared up and flickered green. His clothes has changed to a darker shade of what it was before; more sinister than Mario liked. “Mhmhmh.” Luigi chuckled under his breath. There was something menacing about this laugh. “AH HA HA he has awoken.” Shouted Eggman slightly mocking the other brother.

Luigi starts to stand up not even blinking or breaking eye focus with his brother. “Mari... nah my useless understudy, you look shocked.” Said Luigi looking devilishly at Mario and the others. “Your understudy? Bro it’s a’me Mario!” Mario said with a hint of sadness in his voice. “Mario no… who am I? I’m the ultimate Mr L!!!” Said the newly proclaimed “Mr L?” Sonic stood bewildered and scratched his nose lightly. “Luigi snap out of it you know us.” Sonic says continuing to scratch his nose. Mr L stands and steps towards Mario still never breaking focus with his brother. Mario started to step back while Sonic’s team moved forward. Shadow was still on the floor not moving. He just laid not knowing what was happening to him and the friends surrounding.

Chapter 20

Let’s battle brother

Mr L started to pick up pace, dangerously. Mario had run out of stepping back room and was at the edge of the glass, marble, green dome. Sweat trickled down his face as Mr L pinned him against the wall; He was pinned by the might of the brother’s right hand. The on-edge sonic team rushed forward trying to get to Mario. However Mr L had other ideas, he looked round and swiped his left arm in a swift, quick menacing way. He smirked, “tut, you really expect I’m going to let you help? I think not!” And he weren’t kidding, all of a sudden a beam of light shot the darers eyes.

The ground fell ablaze to a grand green stream of fire. A roaring blast of heat and hate hit the Sonic team with a sickening boom. Mario was helpless and cornered. What was Luigi’s hand blew up into flame. A sleek green surrounded and lit up Mario’s feared face. “Eh what the Toadsworth’s devil are you doing? Weegi WAKE UP!” stuttered Mario slapping Mr L in the face knocking spit out of his mouth. Mario looked at his own hand and then back at the more enraged Mr L. Luigi looked down and corrected his hat which now sported a backwards L and black highlights. He was silent. “Bro?” Mario asked concerned.

Behind the wall of flame the Sonic team listened intently. Tails looked down and adjusted his goggles, “Mario you ok?” He asked. He could not be more wrong because at that moment Luigi looked up even more evil looking than before. He slightly shook his wrists and a long sharp fire blade shot out of his right hand, and in his other, a clenched fist ready for battle. “Brother taste my blade! Let’s battle brother!” Luigi said thrusting his blade forward just missing Mario’s shoulder. Mario shivered and dodged. “AY you want a fight? I’ll give you a ride!” Mario’s hand lit up with flame; a red orange ball of power dreaded by all evil sat in his hand. “Let’s ago!”

Chapter 21

A brotherly brawl

Luigi must have knew he was going to fight competition or his reflexes had just been buffed because he reacted perfectly and jabbed his clenched fist forward and hit Mario on the nose. The impact made Mario clutch his nose and yelp. Luigi defiantly, had the upper hand. Luigi shook his wrist to get any strain and pain out of the impact response.

The Sonic team, oblivious to the utter strength and determination of Luigi, stood their ground. Sonic knew he had to do something. “MARIO buddy you ok back dere?” Asked Sonic whose level of concern was rising. Eggman, who was watching the brutal battle unfold, chuckled to himself and rubbed his nose. “Well I’ve got no reason to be here hmm toodles good luck ya furry imbeciles!” Eggman taunted. He snapped his fingers and a sleek silver hovercraft flew in threw a secret hatch that just opened up in the ceiling. “AY no way man get back here!” Tails pleaded as Eggman proceeded to escape. Eggman chuckled as he left. Something glimmered like the harsh sun on the Sahara deserts. It had an odd ridged edge texture that looked slight amber like the floral lining of princess Daisy’s dress. It fell. Like an eternal eclipse it shone tumbling through the air in an anti-clockwise motion. Silently, swiftly, slowly.

The brotherly brawl was still going. Luigi was feeling the heat as Mario had gained ground on him. “Give up Luigi come back to us, the people who care, brother... please.” Mario pleaded a bit scored and saw from the dark flames that surrounded. Luigi had no choice but to stand ground. Luigi, who is Mr L still despite Mario’s pleads, looked for an option. He had an idea.

Chapter 22

On the ropes

His brain kicked into gear. He thrusted his clenched fist forward and hit Mario dead in the stomach and then grabbed his throat. “Mario you have proven strong… but, NOT STRONG ENOUGH!” Shouted Luigi heating up the fight. The temperature was getting to hot for the dome to hold as a gaping hole preceded to open up and send the smoke flurrying through the air like a whirlwind. The floor was at a critical point of collapsing. The unseen powers sucked the atmosphere out of the dome. “Luigi…. Please ……. Stop” Mario struggled as oxygen was running out in his lungs.

Luigi shed a tear and smirked. “Now you see Mario all good things come to an end.” Mr L stated mockingly. The effect seemed to be wearing off as Luigi started to relief grip on his neck. Mario’s skin regained colour and his veins restarted to pulse. His blood flow gave him strength. “Luigi... ah... I’m going to overcome” Mario said still struggling under the pressure from his brother’s right hand. Luigi stared with little emotion.

He just stared. Still, silently, slowly the grip was let go. Mario dropped down limp. He laid in a heap of his own panic and anguish. Luigi retracted his Dina blade and knelt down. He was still smiling despite the horrific state of his brother. Mario just shook and caught his breath. He was on the ropes.

Chapter 23

Through the flames

The sonic team, on the other side, continued to watch the weightless shard tumble through the air. It was light lakipa and the sun glare shot off it in a thousand directions. One beam spiralled past the hedgehogs head and hit the green glass capsule melting another gaping hole in the ground. The glass was beginning to crumble like a rotten cookie.

The shard finally hit the ground cracking the surface. It bounced for then to land again further cracking the floor. Tails ran forward, grabbed it and started to examine.

At this moment a body wars frown through the flames. It was Luigi, chard and burnt. Followed by Mario, also burnt and sore. “Mario! Luigi! Are you ok!?” Tails shouted dropping the shard and running to the brothers sides. Mario quivered under the remaining burns that lay upon his body. Luigi just shook and moaned. “Mmmm ah!” Luigi wined clutching his nose, what now looked like a tomato. Mario rolled over and sat up rubbing his eyes with his scared bloody hands. He reached for his hat, what was lying to his left side, and grabbed it lightly; alas he dropped it. Mario was week, very week. “Tails… my… hat please.” Mario pleaded coughing up ash and soot left from the flames.

Tails looked down at Mario with sorrow and worry. He looked to the left to see the harsh remains of battle. A cut-up, black, soot coated hat with a pail carved “M” slightly elevated with a slight white lining surrounding. The back of the hat was gone, fully eradicated by harsh flame and terror. “Ooh my baby! Nooo!” Mario shouted seeing his tarnished hat. Mario sobbed loudly. Tails tossed him the hat and Mario clutched it tightly.

Luigi rolled over eyes, watering but back to the friendly heart-warming blue everyone knew so well. He lifted his head and shook his head. “M...Mario?” Luigi squirmed quivering. Mario smiled as he heard the cry out. “Luigi, brother!” Mario shouted kneeling up, shaking. Sonic, still tending to the knocked out Shadow, smiled as well. “Shadows fine, his pulse is slower than mine but he’s breathing, he must have been licked by the flame his fur is looks off to me.” Sonic said with a hint of concern in his voice. Tails looked over his shoulder and his eyes widened greatly…

[shroudedrob]

DK200 - 20:59:03

Many people are writing excellent epic race reports on Dirty Kanza 200 this week. I’m going to stick to a simple story… how I would up finishing a 21-hour race with only 57 seconds left. I promise this is my best effort at telling you the truth. It’s important that we start there, because from mile 140 my Dirty Kanza was all about lies.

The first half of DK200 looked like this.

You can jump right in with me after Checkpoint 2 (mile 102) with a couple of quick facts:

Before DK200 my longest gravel ride ever was 102 miles at DK100 last year.

My training plans last winter were shattered by parenting, family illness, and generally being an adult. I managed many late-night hour-long trainer sessions, but I never got the fitness I wanted.

Leaving Checkpoint 2, (Eureka, 102 miles) I was enjoying beautiful conditions, feeling good, on track with an 11.5mph pace and looking forward to an 18-hour finish time.

Feeling good at Checkpoint 2.

Then the hammer fell. From miles 112-122 we slowpokes still on the south end of the route got pummeled by an hour-long thunderstorm. I pulled on my rain jacket and kept riding, even when I couldn’t see beyond 20 feet… what else was there to do? Land Run taught it’s lesson well: don’t stop for rain.

Eventually the rain eased as we turned north, and for the first time I was truly tired. The last hour had been a beating and for the first time I had something really dangerous… an excuse to quit.

The hammer.

Still, I was smiling and still looking forward to a potential 18.5-hour finish time. The groups I had been riding with were scattered to the wind, but a few riders still around when the Jeep club support team started intercepting us to detour around a flash flood.

Trusting another lesson from Land Run I was babying my drivetrain, dodging the post-rain mud bogs and walking as needed. A low water crossing let me to clean things up a bit. Still, even with a clean-looking drivetrain, gravel can be cruel. It was around round mile 140 I heard a horrible thud as my derailleur, without warning, was sucked into my rear wheel. Amazingly, planning for this scenario paid off and I didn’t turn the crank even a single degree as I unclipped and coasted to a stop. I sighed and prepared to convert to single speed, but instead managed to free the spoke that was kissing a jockey wheel and gingerly ease back into riding up with gears. I held my breath but as long as I stayed out of the granny gear the bike was noisy but still rolling.

I could still ride, and if I had to I could still convert to single speed. But now I was armed with excuse #2: the bike is broken.

At the same time, probably because I had opened the door to excuses, two more snuck in. First, the rain had killed my iPhone. I still had a SPOT tracker running and could signal for help if I needed to, but mentally the phone was a big deal. I also realized that my stomach had stopped processing food, and wanted to send back anything I put in. Unpleasant, and potentially a big deal to a diabetic who can literally bonk to death.

So here we are. Mile 140 and I had enough excuses to tell myself the big lie: I could roll into Checkpoint 3 and quit without feeling shame.

Over the next 20 miles I didn’t see any other riders or Jeeps. I did, however, start having to fight my blood sugar down. The Dexcom device that monitors my glucose levels got fouled by mud and failed. I started wondering how safely a diabetic who couldn’t keep food down could survive in the dark without a cellular phone. Excuse #5.

While my mind fed me lies I saw a single red blinking light up the road a mile or more away. Who did that light belong to? I slowly reeled it in to see who else was still riding through this craziness.

Early in the day. Photo credit to Kim Morris @ http://kimmorris.com.

There, at mile 160, was where I met my new best friend Sharon.

When I caught Sharon she was standing at an unmarked dirt road crossing, studying route cards in the dark. It turns out my Wahoo GPS had jumped right back on track after the flood detour, but her Garmin never got back on track. I offered to lead the way the last few miles into Checkpoint 3, and as we got to know each other I realized I was no longer a diabetic alone in the dark.

I was glad for the company, but I saw one of my excuses slipping away. Without the safety issue I could probably go on, but the bike was now shifting itself often. I decided if I could sort out the mechanical issue at the stop I might roll on, but if it was I would probably call it a day.

We rolled in to Checkpoint 3 at 10:12pm, 30 minutes before it would close. Shanon headed off to to find her drop bags, with a promise to regroup soon and figure out what happens next. Once again I was surprised by my wonderful wife. I expected sympathy and concern. That probably would have ended my day. Instead I got a hug and a smile, before she switched into no-nonsense mode. “What do you need? We need to get you moving. The bike has a problem? Just give it to me and take care of yourself… I have a surprise.”

Surprise? It was late, and the Checkpoint was emptying fast. Who could possibly still be around?

The unstoppable Bobby Wintle

Bobby Wintle, of course. Bobby and a pack of the District Bicycles group had hung out after their own last rider had come through, to help and encourage a pair of riders they didn’t know. While I caught my breath, visited the port-o-john, and tried to regroup they swarmed my bike like pirahnas. I know Bobby straightened my bent hanger to get my shifting back in shape, but Bobby wouldn’t stop until it was shifting great and my brakes were adjusted. When Sharon rolled up the jumped on her bike like a Nascar pit crew too.

In just a few minutes metal had been bent, hugs had been given by family and new friends. My excuses were revealed for the lies they were. Then Robin showed me videos my 6-year-old twin boys had sent from home. “We’re pretending bike race, Daddy! Never give up! Never give up!”

What could I say? “Dammit. Come on Sharon. Let’s ride.”

We had lost a lot of time. Still, we had about 4 hours to do about 45 miles. It shouldn’t be a problem. With all the big climbs behind us 11.25 mph would be easy.

Over the next hour Sharon and I got to know each other. I learned about her husband Carlos, her love of riding gravel with him, her pleasure getting to know the Kanza crew at the training camp this year, and how hungry she was to rise to the challenge of DK200. After that hour I I wanted her to finish even more than I wanted myself to.

I could tell she was worried about my blood sugar, and I was worried about her legs that seemed to be running out of steam. I promised I wouldn’t leave her out there, and that we would cross that line together.

But, we had a big problem. Looking at my GPS I could see what she couldn’t: we were going 1-2 mph too slow to beat the clock, and we weren’t getting any faster. My instinct to push the pace by bombing every downhill in the dark was leaving her behind, and the combination of caution and tired legs simply wouldn’t get us there in time.

I could hear in her voice how bad she wanted this. I did too. When her voice cracked I could feel how tired her legs were. Mine weren’t much better. I jumped in front, stayed off the brakes, and promised I’d call out anything wet, loose, or rocky before she crossed it. That helped, but not enough. The computer said we weren’t going to make it. So, I did what anyone would do to encourage their new best friend in the dark.

I lied my ass off.

“13 mph will get us there in time! You’ve done 13 all day!”

She, like me, was right at a 9.6mph average.

“Just another hour! You’ve done this for 19 hours already! One more is nothing!”

We were still nearly 2 hours from the end.

“That’s it! You’re doing 14! 14 will get it you there in time!”

We were turning 16-17mph.

“45 more minutes! You can push it for 45 more minutes!”

One hour, 20 minutes to go.

I did keep repeating one thing that was 100% true: “You are going to do this. We are going to do this together. I’m not crossing that line without you.”

It turns out Sharon is far stronger than she thought she was. I could tell she was hurting in the dark, but she was getting faster. I could hear her hurting. She fell off my wheel, and then clawed right back. But she never, ever stopped.

Just a few miles out of town I realized I had one excuse left. There’s an ugly but real truth about an exercising diabetic: hypoglycemia is a monster. Just walking around my body can run out of glucose and literally bonk to death. I had been riding 19+ hours, and hadn’t been able to keep carbs down for the last 4. Sensors jammed in my side usually give me an early warning system, but the conditions had killed them just like my iPhone, hours ago. I started to get dizzy and just wanted to pull over, shovel sugar in my face, and wait for my body to feel human again.

At this point, however, any stop would end my chance to beat the clock. I could accept coming in a few minutes late, but not unless I had exhausted every option. By now I was soft-pedaling, probably only doing 5mph. I’m sure the spotters were telling the people at the line to start shutting down. I was shouting at Sharon that I was alright and not to stop. I heard my boys’ voices again, singing the song they had sent me earlier. “Never give up, Daddy! Never give up.” I had a few packs of Glukos, water mixed with glucose in a form so simple it hits you near-instantly. That wasn’t for fuel; that was for emergencies. I pounded two, trusting that even if I collapsed it would do it’s job before I passed out, and made myself pick up the pace rolling up the last climb into town and the downhill to the line.

Thanks to whoever captured this and passed it along to my wife.

My vision narrowed to a tunnel. I believed that Sharon had listened I said I was alright and pushed on ahead. I put my head down, trusting that the crowd would be thinned out and those left would stay out of my way, and turned the cranks. I was amazed to see Jim Cummins still at the line, and the clock still running. Our great friends John, Mike, and Kaat helped grab my things and delivered hugs… I’m still grateful they had stayed up after their own long days to see me come in. Of course my partner/crew/best friend Robin was there for me. Just like she had been all day.

I asked and someone assured me Sharon had made it. Then they told me I had made it in with only 43 seconds to spare (the official clock ended up being 51 seconds, but who’s counting). My first thought? I’ll make the midnight club next year.

Then I laid down in the street for a little nap.

20:59:03

P.S. for Sharon. I would have stopped in Madison without you. Your enthusiasm in those last miles before CP3 convinced me I could keep going. Then your drive convinced me I had to keep going. I told you we’d cross that line together in time, and we did. Do you forgive me for lying a bit in those last couple of hours? I told you your legs were lying to you!

Finish