#these are actually pretty good for being done entirely in magma…go me!

[sinn-bee]

Drawings from Fingers in Mouth Friday M*gma

-PIDW!Lqg ft. SJ wearing finger guard jewelry

-Merliu Qingge getting a checkup from SY

-Scene from my Android Lqg fic ft. Mag adding sick lighting

[darkx-the-dragon-kn1ght]

Pokémon Reborn Screenshot Let's Play: Chapter 49

Look who’s back by popular (or unpopular) (or indifferent) demand! Or, well, it’s more like I’m back because I actually had time and motivation to work on stuff, finally. 

So, the delay in the making of this chapter- I did kinda expect it as I alluded to in the last chapter, due to TTRPG stuff as stated, but to be honest, the delay wasn’t entirely caused by that. It was part of it, sure, but not because I was working on things in the traditional sense; I was trying to entirely rework some stuff regarding the entire game (for reasons I won’t go into) and it proved to be…really, really difficult. And a bit draining on my brain cells, too. To make matters worse, I got absolutely gripped by an old hyperfixation of mine, a gripping that only intensified in the past week (and a half?)- so with those two things on my mind, I wasn’t exactly in the headspace for Pokémon stuff. I’d already done the play session already and had the screenshots, sure, but actually writing…that was the issue.

Then came another issue with regards to that same play session- it was SUPER long, like way longer than I’d thought it would be, and so…I have once again needed to split what was supposed to be one update into two. But even though that complicated things somewhat, I actually think it kinda works out? The last few chapters have been pretty long themselves, admittedly, so I think having two semi-shorter updates (one being especially meaty in other ways) will be a good way to give myself and you guys a bit of breathing room. Hopefully, this chapter will still be somewhat satisfying despite that, and despite the lengthened wait. And I think it'll help me out too- the RPG session I was supposed to run got postponed because of the issues I was having, and while I do think that was the right decision, I'm still a bit upset at myself about it, so maybe writing about Pokémon will help me feel better.

Now, with all that housekeeping out of the way- let’s get into this chapter. First thing’s first, the recap of everything that happened last time! Not just because of how long’s it’s been, but also because…like I said, a lot went down yet again.

As Vanhanen Castle is in the midst of a blackout, Xera runs into Elias in the foyer, who urges her to follow him to escape from some unseen assailants.

In the front room, Xera is ambushed by a pair of Meteor Grunts as El- or rather, Elias, as is his real name- reveals Radomus’ Hypnosis on him had long worn off. He acknowledges Radomus’ reasons for hypnotizing him: first out of spite, second to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Luna was staying with him of her own free will. Despite this, Elias is now even more determined to get Luna back, and has collaborated with Team Meteor to that end, as he also believes their goal of eradicating Reborn City to be a just cause.

Suddenly, Cain and his Nidoking burst in to knock out the two Grunts. He informs Xera that Luna was captured by none other than Ace, and he stays behind to hold off Elias while Xera, whose team is weakened after the battle with Radomus, escapes the castle. After Xera escapes, Cain remarks that he knows Elias is actually a member of the Elite Four, and he and Elias engage in a battle.

Outside, Xera finds Radomus disguised as a Meteor Grunt. The two find a quiet part of the maze where Radomus admits the flaws in his plan to hypnotize Elias, but he is also able to predict where they’ve taken Luna: 7th Street, Reborn City’s black market. However, one cannot access it normally, and Xera will need the help of someone connected to the city’s criminal underbelly.

Radomus further explains he still cannot give the Amethyst Pendant back to Xera, but before he departs he shows Xera a way of escaping the Grunt-infested labyrinth. Xera follows it, returns to Route 1, and from there goes back to North Obsidia Ward to call in a certain favor. She meets up with Maxwell of the Magma Gang, who happily agrees to set her up with access to 7th Street, said access being in Lapis Ward. 

On the way there, Xera finds Craudburry, the nasty old woman the Magma Gang had stolen from some time ago, speaking with a police officer. Though she tries to (correctly) identify Xera as one of the culprits, the officer was actually someone Xera rescued in Rhodochrine Jungle and thus believes in her character. As an apology for Craudburry’s behavior and as thanks for saving him, he gives Xera a voucher for a normally expensive Bicycle.

Xera arrives at the location specified by Maxwell and arrives in 7th Street, a literal underground haven for illicit materials and black market dealings, with Magma Gang using it as their “squeeze”. As Xera is exploring in search of leads to Luna’s location, she encounters Craudburry again, yelling at Pokémon traffickers before leaving. Maxwell witnesses this and explains his disdain towards a rich woman like her messing with the balance of a place like 7th Street, and decides to commandeer Xera’s help in teaching her some respect.

Before returning to Lapis Ward, Xera checks out the trapped Pokémon, and one of the hustlers is selling a certain “ultra powerful” Pokémon that she’s already well familiar with. But just when it seems like she’s been reunited with her rightfully-owned Magikarp, a thief known as Corin-Rouge swoops in and steals it yet again before vanishing, unlikely to be found again in the near future.

Xera goes back up to Lapis Ward and to Craudburry’s house, with Maxwell standing guard outside. Craudburry is less than pleased to see Xer again, but this time she’s prepared with powerful Pokémon of her own- bought illegally, just like the Buizel Xera stole from her before. However, despite all her wealth, Xera proves to be the better Trainer and defeats her.

Maxwell then comes into the room and tells Craudburry, in no uncertain terms, that she will no longer use her wealth to bully the people of 7th Street, and she should not return. Craudburry, unable to report this incident lest she get arrested for her own shady dealings, can only grumble angrily as Xera and Maxwell leave. Maxwell compliments Xera on a job well done, and the two part ways.

So, yeah, a lot of crime stuff- some committed by Xera, some committed against her, but all in all an eventful time! But now, it’s time to get back to the main reason we found 7th Street to begin with- there’s still a kidnapped girl to save and a magician person to beat up. We have one (1) lead in form of some “watering hole” that Ace was spotted going to, so that’s what we’ll focus on, in addition to finishing up any further exploring. And then…more violence against Meteors!! Hooray!!

*CW: references to drug use

Part 1*

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5*

Part 6

Part 7*

Part 8

Part 9

Part 10

Part 11

[captainsspnanon]

C3E75 - reaction

WHAT an episode!!!

Starts off 'strong', what with the party trying to figure out how to get to a cave entrance....that turned out to be 150-200 feet away. XD AKA - like 30 seconds of walking, a minute if it's consider difficult terrain. Obviously it was more than that considering the vertical climb, but the reveal of the distance was very funny to me.

Honestly, the climb down the tunnel ended up being easier than I expected it to be! I was expecting a few more checks at least, but there were good tactics to get down.

I appreciate that Sam is using Message the way it's intended. I remember at the beginning of the campaign he used it to just send a feeling, rather than words. I think the latest 4SD may have helped him feel more comfortable with reusing things that previous PCs have done without feeling like he's stepping on their toes. I definitely don't think it was WRONG the way he was doing it before, but it's also good that he doesn't feel like he has to Do It Different, even if it makes things More Difficult.

The little fire creatures were so adorable, I can't wait to see the fanart of it! (My mom likened the voices and short lives with Spurt, RIP 11 days)

They got the shard of Rau'shan! Seems like the cast has a similar idea of having Fearne be the one to integrate the shard, but they've got a bit yet before they figure out how to do it (and especially how to awaken both of them).

I miss the more devastating consequences of lava/magma. Vax melted his foot after just a brief dip, meanwhile Ashton is absolutely fine after 18 seconds being fully submerged, same with Fearne even though she was only in for 6. I wonder if this was discussed out of game as feeling too punishing, but I would have loved to see some long term consequences for the trip, rather than just losing some clothes and briefly superheated skin.

I will admit, I do not understand at all why Ludinus is here. What does he need the shard for? The Hells are getting it because of Ashton backstory purposes, how does it tie in to the Ruidus stuff? Also why was Ludinus scrying on the party to begin with? Aside from at the initial combat, they really haven't done anything else to mess with his plans, right? This totally might just be a me thing of missing something obvious.

EPIC combat!!! Liam's turn with the pushing attacks deserved all the table energy it got, and the counterspell-off was PERFECT. (Side note, I'm a bit sad that I know the rules better now. Ludinus didn't need to roll at all for his counterspell, right? Because Laudna only cast at third level, so it should have instantly worked. BUT IT WAS STILL AN EPIC MOMENT even if I'm pretty sure it's against RAW)

also LOL Ashton's just fully Donald Ducking the combat XD I am also looking forwards to fanart of this.

I really appreciated the fact that the table was very tactics heavy with this combat, even if it didn't all play out the way they wanted. Actually, Travis seemed a bit off this entire episode - being a lot more against the first whole initial journey down the tunnel and into the cavern way more than expected, and then getting very upset once he realized he was trying to do two bonus actions. Nothing bad about this, but just off from him typical behavior.

The bit below is going to be a bit negative towards Taliesin, so only click if you want to read it. It definitely gets a bit discourse-y.

Sadly, this episode ended up hitting a lot of my personal pet peeves with Taliesin's play style. Please note that these are my PERSONAL SUBJECTIVE feelings, not some objective truth. They are play style aspects which very much clash with how I play, and so bother me even though I'm not the one playing at the table.

First - I rewatched the section to make sure I didn't miss something. Going down the tunnel, Marisha talks to Matt that she's using Spider Climb, rolls, and gets a bad result. Then Matt turns to Tal to get his number, Taliesin gives his idea of using rage and widening the tunnel (a great idea, don't get me wrong!), Marisha indicates that she's already climbing, and then Tal goes "I thought I was going first"

No. He didn't say before that he was going, I watched the second again! He saw Marisha go, get a bad roll, and then try to make it so that he actually went first so her bad roll wouldn't have impact. I've said this during my C2 rewatch for stuff with other players, including Liam, but if he wanted to go first, he should have interrupted at any point BEFORE Marisha announced her result of failing.

Second - Someone sees something, I think it was Orym with his 31 passive?, but Ashton/Taliesin is the one to react about seeing it. Matt even shut it down this time, making it clear that Ashton didn't see it. He's done this now every campaign, and I'm pretty sure multiple times. It just really hits me the wrong way.

Third - He has Ashton just stand up and go to the lava pool on his own without getting input or waiting for the other players. 100% fine! Everyone does this, and it's in character to do so. BUT then he's like 'i'm doing it, i'm just going off on my own and doing it! but if you wanna help! yeah i'm going off on my own no waiting but yes help me help me cast spells and benefits but i'm just going off of my own no waiting'. Yes, that is clearly exaggerated, but when players go off and do things on their own, I want them to be going off and doing things on their own! Multiple times in all three campaigns, a player will have their PC go off and do something, and usually the verbal conversation is "too late i'm doing it" or "can't stop me I already said it" or something to the equivalent. This? Honestly it doesn't feel like a PC going off and doing something on their own, it feels like Taliesin interrupting the stuff going on at the table and demanding front and center.

And the thing is that Taliesin has had MANY times in the campaigns where his PC has gone off and done something on his own WITHOUT this feeling! But just how it was portrayed here really got to me.

I recognize all of the above is personal nitpicks, and it is their table, and many people will disagree with me. But I just wanted to vent.

[fumingspice]

andante

Pairing: Cordelia Goode x Reader

Prompt: oK so how about like?? Delia x reader and they're both in love af but they think the other has no feelings for them so they're both tripping over themselves to make the other love them and then madison comes in and she's just like 'stop being dumb' and they finally realise how much the other loves them.

I’m sorry but my ed crept back in and im not horny enough to put more thought into writing so just ignore the massive time skip at “---”. enjoy, you strange people xo

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*(*❦ω❦)*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

It's crazy. Falling. You see? We don't say "rising into love". There is in it, the idea of the fall. And it goes back to extremely fundamental things. That there is always a curious tie at some point between the fall and the creation. Taking this ghastly risk is the condition of there being life. You see, for all life is an act of faith and an act of gamble...

Between Cordelia Goode's ears were pretty brown eyes and a mind full of thoughts. Brown eyes were never really your favourite until you saw them on her. You knew yourself that somehow, over the years you got to know Cordelia; working with her, befriending her, carrying her home from the bar one night when she got far too drunk, letting her cry into your shoulder when her job became too real and she could feel her mother's words hanging over her head.

When you started falling for the woman with those beautiful brown eyes.

Somehow, her eyes were now your favourite colour.

Not brown- brown wasn't simply the word for the colour. Cordelia's eyes were the colour of aged whiskey. Sometimes they were the only two safe shots of tequila that you could see. Sometimes they were a beautiful milk chocolate dotted with exposed honeycomb. Once when she had asked you to help her decorate the garden for the Summer Equinox- she had given Zoe enough money to take the girls on a field trip for the day so she could give the girls a little party. You stood watching her in her denim shorts and her white button up. When she had stepped back and put her arm around you to admire both of your handy work you could have sworn her eyes were glowing like fresh magma.

Her hand lay on your waist a split second too long.

You had fallen in love with the Supreme.

"Yo, bitch!" Madison Montgomery's usual entrance phrase disturbed you from your imagination. You raised your brow and smirked.

"Yes, Madison?"

The blonde took her sunglasses off her face and closed them with a slight snap. "The girls want to know if you wanna come to play Pysch! with us," she said. Her lips were curled in what could almost be described as a friendly smile. You were one of the few honoured to know that under Madison's bitchy white girl facade there was actually a very sweet someone lurking under there.

You thought for a moment and put your pen down. "I won't be long- I just have to log these last few names and I'll be there," you tell her. Madison rolled her eyes and waved her hand, the pen lifted itself and wrote the last thirteen names within seconds. "You're done. Let's go, Y/N."

Madison didn't even give you a minute to say anything before she walked out of the room. "Come on, bitch. Don't make me use my powers!" she called from the hallway, finally motivating you to move.

The girls sat in a circle in Zoe's bedroom. Lights off. Candles lit.

Zoe, Queenie, Mallory, and Coco were indulged in their phones for the game. Madison turned to you and held up her phone to show you the question. "What is Zoe's deepest, darkest secret?" she read. "You gotta answer it and the person with the most votes wins. It lasts for ten rounds and it can be fucking hilarious."

Zoe's face was red with laughter at the answers. "She's not actually a witch- that's not even funny," she gasped through cackles. She then sobered slightly. "She likes to watch Danny Devito movies while masturbating and screaming 'I am a dirty man'."

Madison was the only one who chortled at that.

You joined the game and got your best answers ready in your head. "If Madison got arrested tomorrow what would it be for?"

Madison rolled her eyes and muttered something about knowing exactly what everyone was about to answer. You smirked slightly, sensing her slight apprehension.

Prostitution.

Murder. Third-degree.

Fucking up the brakes on a bus full of frat boys.

Public Nudity.

"Gosh, you're so original," she muttered, glaring right at Zoe, who just shrugged.

"It's the rules of the game, bitch. Go all in, don't get offended," she replied.

The game pinged for the next question.

"What is on Y/N's mind right now?"

Coco gave a loud "Ha!" and typed quickly, along with the other girls who were all typing as quickly as possible to get their answers in first.

A quiet knock came from the other side of the door and Cordelia poked her head around. "Sorry to interrupt, girls. Y/N, could I borrow you for a moment?" she asked, voice sweet and angelic. You bounced up as soon as she finished the sentence and obliged straight away. You were met with a sweet smile.

Madison flicked her brows. "Speak of the devil," she muttered, winking at Delia's slightly confused face. As you left, your phone pinged to announce the results just before you left the game.

Cordelia 🥵🥵🥵

Delia. I ship it <3

Getting knuckle deep finger fucked by the HWIC

French fries

You quickly shut off your phone screen before Cordelia could see.

"What's the matter, Delia?" You asked, practically skipping alongside her. There was a vibrant air of satisfaction between you.

Cordelia shook her head, her blonde hair bobbing with her movements. “I just wanted to know if you’d like to go out.”

You felt your heart stop. “Go out?”

Cordelia looked hurt by the confusion on your face.

“Yes. Would you like to join me in the garden?”

“Oh,” you realised, slightly disappointed. “I would love to.”

---

"For the love of Hades. Right, I don’t mean to sound rude or anything because I have some understanding that lesbians are fucking useless because of the fear of appearing to be predatory because the media is an asshole,” Madison continued. “But I don’t really think any of us can eat at this table anymore without choking on the fucking sexual tension between the both of you.”

Cordelia looked shocked. “It’s not that-”

“I’m a fucking mindreader! You do get that I can fucking hear the things that you say in your head about what you want to do to Y/N? I’m one gutter minded bitch and not even I’m creative enough to come up with that shit while I’m eating my fucking apple turnover!”

You blushed hard and chuckled.

Madison’s neck snapped towards you. “Oh, and don’t getting me fucking started on you! Do you know how fucking unsanitary it would be to carry out your little fantasies of fucking Cordy on the kitchen counter? Not even for us but the amount of fucking crumbs that would work into your nooks and crannies would be like trying to spring clean Myrtle's fucking hair! "

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Cordelia chuckled nervously. Her face turning a shade of red. “I’m sure Y/N’s got plenty of better options.”

Madison dropped her face in her hands and rubbed her temples. “God, you bitches are going to put fucking years on my skin.”

“Oh, give me a break, Madison.”

Cordelia stumbled foward slightly, having been tripped up by some unseeable force and sending her tumbling into you. Her hands lay against your chest for that split second too long once more.

Your lips parted for a moment and your breath hitched as you both watched Madison smirk and leave the room. It felt like your heart was beating at a thousand miles an hour. You surroundings were unnoticable to you now; replaced by unidentifiable whirls of colour and light. Your hand rested flat on Cordelia’s cheek. It was different this time. Not the spark, that had been there every time you touched. It was the fact that you were both too slow to ignore the ignition that started in your chests. 

You saw her eyebrows falter from their previously confident expression, like all of her preparation and barriers and walls had fallen down and she was too slow to replace them. Cordelia pursed her lips, presumably trying to figure out what she should say to you. Again, she was too slow as you inhaled sharply and thrust yourself forward to catch her lips.

Delia was quick to mould herself to the curves of your front, hands falling to the small of your back on a collision course as she backed you into the dining room table. You smoothed your hands over the contours of her jaw, her collar bones, breasts, hips like you were a master pianist playing a brilliant concerto. Her body was the only instrument you longed to play; her moans the only melody that you longed to draw from her.

As her lips glided across your own, everything came together like pieces into place. You thought back one of those late nights in the kitchen. The way Delia’s fingers had so enthusiastically laced through yours during the late night in the kitchen when you had both stayed up until the wee hours of the morning talking about life. How the witch had turned the radio on and taken your hand while you danced to some song by REO Speedwagon. Twirling you through the night. “Can’t fight this feeling” was the song. Ironic, now that you thought about it. It seemed as though fighting her feelings was what she had been doing the entire time.

She twirled you around in the light of the dim television and the refrigerator when the songs were upbeat, even going as far as dipping you and pulling you up again. Bare thighs against your own in her shorts and oversized shirt. When the songs that were played were slower, she was more gentle. Until eventually you swayed in a slow two-step, your head against her chest, and hers against yours. The air was thick with something pure. Something untouched. 

You had no idea why you ever just thought this was something two best friends did. More so, you had no idea why you didn’t lean back and dip into her lips and allow your souls to dance the waltz that they were so clearly destined for. 

Cordelia’s thumb and finger lay on either side of your jaw as she continued to kiss you as if her soul depended on it. Her fingers interlocked with yours against the table.

She broke away, tears had fallen down her cheeks and made your heart melt. “Oh-ho,” you chuckled, mouth agape at her sight. “Why the tears, my love?”

Cordelia laughed, wiping away her tears. “I’ve longed to do that for so long,” she replied. “So, so long.”

You chuckled at her sweetness and the display of pure love that you were so unaccustomed to.

“I fell in love with you, Y/N. I don’t think I will ever stop falling in love with you. You’ve created this storm of beautiful chaos in me,” she continued. “Do you remember that night where I was really sleepy, so you let me just stay in your room? How I had fallen asleep on top of you by accident and you wrapped your arms around me and hummed a lullaby?”

You nodded, remember the feeling of waking up with the Supreme in your arms.

“I was wide awake,” she told you. A delicate smile arose.

You chuckled into her touch.

“Oh, sweetheart,” you replied, drawing her closer, her blonde hair twirled in your fingers. “I know you were.”

[ribbononline]

When the joke AU gets out of hand and now its like, a whole thing

SO uhm here is the post about the fake marriage on Pasio au! Where the whole fake marriage thing ended up becoming more of a B plot more then anything, oops. The premise kind of got lost on me as I went along.

First things first, here’s the information I gathered from the Hoenn timeline in Pokemas itself so yall know what im working with (and as a side note, if you have no idea about the basic story of Pokemon Masters, the rest of this entire post might be a little confusing);

-Brendan is Normans son, and May the daughter of professor Birch. Brendan has at least defeated Normans gym, and neither of them have met Aqua or Magma, nor Archie or Maxie.

-Magma and Aqua don’t seem to be publicly known as bad in any way.

-The meteor with Zinnia has already happened, and someone else took that destiny from her. (I’ll be honest- I never end up really explaining this here. I had no idea how to even begin making sense of this considering this is post game stuff and Brendan never even seems to have made it to the Elite Four as far as we know)

And with that ! Here’s the actual story I managed to make out of that.

-The backstories for Archie and Maxie are the same as they’d normally be. Things only get different once the ORAS plots would normally start.

Magma and Aqua both don’t commit crimes (such as orb or submarine stealing) with their uniforms on and under their team names. As such, they’re still seen as regular, legit environment organisations trying to better the region.

May and Brendan never get involved with them either. Between no meddling kids and their crimes not being tied back to them, things end up going pretty fast on their end.

-Their crimes aren’t connected nor is anyone looking into them as something bigger- right up until the orbs get stolen. Those are considered important enough artifacts to raise some attention, and so, Steven and Wallace brought on the case to investigate as the Hoenn champions.

-It’s a lot easier said then done, and while they start to suspect Aqua and Magma have something to do with it, they have no concrete proof. Still, they do their best to figure out if it’s them and what their intentions with it would be.

-Regrettably for them they are too slow. Maxie and Archie both make it to the sea cavern , and both raise their respective legendaries. Kyogre is there, Groudon is there, as a result even Rayquaza shows up. There’s a lot going on— and then, within a couple of minutes, there isn’t. All legendaries vanish into thin air, so fast that the population of Hoenn never even realised what was happening out on sea. Except for some unfortunate swimmers who never end up being believed.

Maxie and Archie feel devestated, and the Hoenn League who did notice what happened is very alarmed. Keeping the incident quiet as to not incite a panic, Steven and Wallace are pushed onto this case instead now- to locate the missing legendaries, and ensure they won’t cause any harm- and maybe figure out what caused them to awaken in the first place.

Wallace and Steven immediately link that to the orbs, and as such, Aqua and Magma. Still, they have no actual proof- no one outside their teams saw Archie or Maxie doing anything.

-The reason behind the sudden disappearances turns out to be Hoopa! Who brought all of them to Pasio. The legendaries immediately went from fighting mode into very confused mode. They don’t know where they are or what happened. Groudon ends up hiding in the volcano on the island, while Kyogre keeps to the bottom of the water surrounding the island. -Rayquaza however doesn’t hide itself- and instead, floats around on a mountain top on the island. Rumors start floating around about it, and before long Zinnia shows up and becomes a sync pair with it.

-Steven and Wallace hear Rayquaza is over in Pasio, and figure the other two might be as well- so they go over to investigate. They also talk some with Zinnia about Rayquaza, but since it appears to be fine and calm and Zinnia is not planning on giving it up, she ends up keeping it and they leave her be to search for Groudon and Kyogre instead.

-Magma and Aqua also catch wind of Rayquaza being over there, and even hear about some sightings of what appear to be Kyogre and Groudon around the island. Now the plan is to get over there and get them…. but the problem is that Steven and Wallace are both there, and they’re well aware those two suspect them- and that suddenly showing up for no reason would probably only worsen those suspicions. While the both of them have complete faith in their power as a team, they’d rather not pick a fight with two champions if they can avoid it- especially when they’re on an island full of other champions and elite four members who would probably back them up if asked.

-Going with their entire team would definitely be too suspicious. That’s out. Going with their admins might still be risky- Plus, they can’t exactly leave their teams unattended back in Hoenn. So, Maxie and Archie end up figuring that the best course of action would be for them to go alone, at least for the time being. Scout out if they can locate the legendaries and a way to get to them- and then call backup if needed.

…But if they both go alone at the same time and end up fighting each other while they’re there… it wouldn’t help their case.

-And so, after some thinking things over, Maxie ends up deciding it’d be best if they went together under a temporary truce. So off to Aqua to talk it over with Archie he goes! There, they come up with their plan; faking a marriage, and going to Pasio under the excuse of being on honeymoon. Steven and Wallace wouldn’t be expecting it, so maybe it’d throw them off track! And for the rest of the trainers on Pasio- well, who isn’t happy for a couple living their best life? With a little luck it’d immediately make people trust them a bit more.

-So to Pasio they go! Maxie takes Camerupt as his sync partner, Archie partners with his Sharpedo. They rent a little vacation home- for obvious reasons, they’ll have to live together for a while, but with a little luck they can just avoid each other most of the time. Besides, at least the ad specified there being two beds.

-They misread the ad. There’s one single two person bed. Archie is promptly demoted to sleeping on the couch.

In general, while they do well enough at faking being very affectionate and loving in front of people, the moment they’re back in their house it’s a lot of fighting.

-Steven and Wallace are not stupid, and are immediately wary when Maxie and Archie suddenly show up no matter how well they’re putting on an act. Still, there’s not a lot they can do except keep an eye on them and ensure they stay away from the areas Kyogre and Groudon are spotted.

-The rest of the island however thinks they’re nice! Look at the cute couple having fun. Good for them.

-Overall, while things are going decently okay for Archie and Maxie, Steven and Wallace constantly blocking off areas where they could gather intel and trailing their every move is really hindering their ability to be able to do much of anything. And so the four of them enter an awkward stand still, where neither can really get the other off the island.

-For a while, Maxie and Archie just try to put on the act as best as they can, to hopefully get Steven and Wallace to lower their guard. They go on ‚dates‘ together, hang out with the other people around the island, attend events together, etc. Steven and Wallace still don’t trust them for shit however, and end up pushing May and Brendan towards them in the hopes that they might be able to spot something off.

-Brendan and May have no idea what anyone is trying to do here, and actually really like Archie and Maxie. They help show them all there is on Pasio and introduce them to new people time and time again.

-Eventually, Maxie and Archie realise that this is going to take a lot longer then they were hoping for- between Steven and Wallace not budging, and the trainers on Pasio constantly keeping them busy- they’re going to need an excuse to keep staying here. And they don’t actually need to wait long! -While being a lot less aggressive and in people’s face about it, Archie still talks about the environmental impact the island has on the ocean around it a good bit to some of the other trainers there- he is leader of an environmental group focused on the sea back at home, after all! People actually start agreeing with him, to a point it even reaches Lear. Conceding something should be done, Sawyer starts working on putting a team together that would help undo the damage they’ve caused by making the oceans around the island more habitable for the Pokemon that were made homeless because of them. Archie is one of the first people to get asked to join the team- and having a job there makes a great excuse to stay a while longer. Besides, it’s still working towards his goal to some extent, so he’s down! -A bit after that Maxie ends up joining the team that made the island and is currently in charge of keeping it thriving. Same for him- the job still aligns with his ideals, so he doesn’t mind doing it.

-This was also the time Archie started having serious back pain from sleeping on the couch each night, so he took the bed as well. Maxie threatened to kick him out, Archie wished him luck with that and… well, they both just keep to their side of the bed now.

-Back at home, Magma and Aqua are being good legit environmental groups working within the law. It’s been gaining them a great reputation, and being fully legitimate and not having to fear getting charged for crimes is also very nice for the teens working as grunts there.

-And so back in Pasio, Maxie and Archie forcefully have to take a step back from their plans… to live relatively normal lives instead. Surprise surprise, it’s not actually that bad! They enjoy their jobs, they actually start making some friends, half the kids on the island seem to have adopted them as cool new uncles… and they even start fighting less in private! They can actually get along sometimes.

Eventually the realisation hits that they’re living out the lives they wanted- before they ever joined Rocket and everything went so terribly wrong. Except their marriage being ‚fake‘, this was more or less the future they envisioned… and it’s very weird to think about.

-For Maxie, he does get sad reminiscing, and reminisce he does- but as long as Archie keeps going , he’d never give up his plans. While originally raising Groudon was truly out of his ideals, over time (and when their original breakup happened) it became less about that- and more about ‚winning‘ - winning out over Archie, and proving to both himself and the other he’d been right all along. Even when the evidence started pointing towards that not being the case and Tabitha only agreeing this was a bad idea, he was so caught up in not being able to lose now he never backed down- and just reassured himself the science had to be wrong.

As long as Archie is going, so is he.

-Archie however…. Archie’s plans of flooding the world to reset it- undo the damage humanity caused by ending it entirely- were born out of feeling like there truly was no other option, truly was no other good left. Being focused on that goal every day, it wasn’t hard to stay in that mindset. But now, having to forcibly take a step back- suddenly getting to live a normal life again, with a way to help that doesn’t require death and a support system outside of Aqua… Suddenly the hope returns that maybe there is more out there- maybe there is another way to go about this.

And so, after a lot of thinking, and a lot of doubting every answer he came up with- finally he rang up Shelly and Matt to talk things over, and talk about leaving Kyogre be. Shelly was thrilled- at the end she didn’t trust his plans with Kyogre anymore anways and seeing Archie finally with agree with her on that was a big relief to her. Matt didn’t entirely understand, but Archie seemed happier with this idea, and Shelly definitely seemed happier with this idea- so he certainly didn’t mind.

Afterwards, Shelly ends up privately talking to Archie some more, where he confided a lot in her about stuff he never told her before. It was a lot to take in, and she definitely wasn’t happy about his plans having always been to more or less commit genocide on humanity without ever having told them- but at the end of the day, he’s still her friend, no damage has actually been done, and he’s finally talking to her about it so they can work it out. As such, with some help from her, Archie ends up going to therapy on the regular to help keep him in a better headset.

-After all of this, Archie pulls Maxie aside to let him know he’s giving up on Kyogre, and Maxie… just doesn’t know how to feel about it at all- doesn’t even know if he can trust him. He certainly wasn’t expecting this either way. For a while, Archie just goes about his day on Pasio, while Maxie went very very quiet, just watching him from a distance.

They both spend so much time on this- suddenly given up was something he never thought would be an option, and it’s a lot to process. Besides, Archie could be lying. ….But truthfully, he’s known the other way too long to believe that. Archie is serious about this, and it’s not particularly hard to tell.

So, after a lot of hemming and hawing, he too finally rings up Courtney and Tabitha and calls of their mission with Groudon.

Magma and Aqua are both just legit regular environmental organisations now.

-Now with that decision made, they end up talking a lot over between each other themselves. About their past, about their teams, and about what they want to do now. This is where they finally decide to actually give their relationship another chance as well. Not necessarily as a romantic relationship- thought not strictly as just friends either. They decide to just take it slow, see what they’re comfortable with, and see where it takes them from there.

(A lot of trainers in Pasio actually worry this is when they got into a fight- since they stop acting overly affectionate to put on an act, and instead get to have awkward conversations trying to rekindle their relationship. Everyone is so worried about what happened. Sorry guys, they’ll be okay)

-Though they fully intent on going back to Hoenn and their teams, they’re not in a hurry to leave and stick out their job contract which only were for about half a year total anyways. During this, even Steven and Wallace start noticing a change in them and finally lower their guard a bit. They never do end up attempting to get to the legendaries- they’re just enjoying their time here now.

-When they do finally get back to Hoenn, they merge the teams and help the land and the sea together now. Archie also ends up convincing Maxie to join him for therapy sometimes- even without them almost ending the world, they do still both have their things to work trough.

-Groudon and Kyogre just vibe on Pasio now. They let kids battle them for fun sometimes. They’re doing alright.

-Brendan and May end up visiting Archie and Maxie a lot! That’s their cool gay uncles now.

-Somewhere along the way, as time passes, they actually end up legitimising the marriage documents they faked at the very start. And they still return to Pasio from time to time to meet up with the friends they made there. :]

Apologies if any of this was messy or unclear! it was a lot to try and condense down into a single post and I did my best, but ykno. if there did appear to be smth missing feel free to shoot me a message or an ask orz also this is my second time writing this post- first time i made the stupid mistake of typing it up in browser. And after over an hour of typing this all up…. tumblr refreshed for no reason, and deleted all of it. so writing this all a second time has been even harder then the first. ;; it hurt so bad.

Also, I do have a lot of thoughts n ideas abt the actual relationships they end up having w other characters on the island, but I’m saving that for another post! With the premise of Pasio there’s just so much potential to stuff all these diff characters from diff games into a place togehter and i want to make the most of that- so its prolly gonna b another long post lmao. i wont make this one even longer then it already is, so diff post it is

just know that they did in fact once see Giovanni on the island, and they almost ended up throwing hands.

(bonus; the link to the page where I keep all my oras HC posts and comics sorted)

[lostonehero]

Becoming less human

It was a week after the near end of the world by two men who had good intentions but no common sense. The teams Aqua and Magma merged and started on trying to help without the use of extreme measures. Both teams thankfully were pardoned and nobody died, but the orbs the orbs were absorbed into both leaders flesh, and as far as anyone knows nothing came of it except the two leaders getting together.

Maxie gave a frustrated sigh as he tried to put his shoe on again, for some reason it felt too small. He was 35 he was well past growing stuck at 5ft 5in for the rest of his life. He never complained though his height never defined him, and he could beat Archie in a fist fight no problem, growing up in a orphanage where everyone hated would make someone tough. Granted Archie would never admit to loosing, well it wasn't like anyone would belive Maxie either to the world he was a weak skinny nerd. He wore the long sleeves and stocking to cover up scars from past abuse he didn't want to show the world.

"Leader Maxie? I mean Maxie." Tabitha stutters out.

Maxie sighs "Archie isn't in here Tabitha." He heard a sigh of relief as his former admin walked in. "And I told you you didn't have to stay, you can get a better job and not be stuck with the crazy man who almost ended the world." He cursed under his breath again and tossed his shoes to the side.

"Le- Maxie I want to help with your new vision, and even if it involves Aqua what you have drawn out is pretty amazing sir...." he trails off as he watches Maxie. "Sir are you alright."

Maxie sighs. "I think I must of hurt my feet and they are swollen my shoes seem too tight." His feet look perfectly fine except for his nails that look like they are turning black.

"Oh I see do you want me to call for a doctor?"

"No Tabitha I'm fine I'll just steal Archie's shoes he left here." Maxie sighs seeing Tabitha scowl at the former Aqua leader. "I don't need you judging my love life Tabitha."

Tabitha huffs. "You can do better sir."

"Tabitha I appreciate the sentiment but I'm pretty hated right now."

"W-well you are still liked."

"I know you have feelings for Matt, and besides I'm 10 years older then you and Courtney so my answer would still be no."

Tabitha tries to hide his red face, Maxie knew him too well at this point. "R-Right sir uh today is your day off I came to remind you no work."

Maxie curses under his breath Tabitha knew him well as well. "Right very well then I think I'll visit Archie."

Tabitha sighs but didn't argue he knew Maxie wouldn't overwork himself around that pirate.

.......

"If you keep staring at your hands I will smack the back of your head Archie." Shelly huffed

Archie was in casual clothes and nit his wet suit today. He felt naked without it on, but fir some reason his gloves couldn't go all the way down, and it seemed as if the webbing on his fingers had gotten deeper and his nails longer. He kept thinking back to the blue orb absorbing into his skin filing his blood with ice and the legendary beast staring at him seemingly to say "you survived you'll be rewarded" he really didn't know why that was in his head. He even asked Maxie about it and he said the same thing when in regards to his encounter.

"Archibald you're boyfriend is here." Shelly sneered rolling her eyes.

Archie sighs and gives a look to Shelly and she just raises her hands and left. Archie knew Shelly hated Maxie, and he knew Shelly didn't approve but he made him happy.

"Archie? Are you alright." Maxie asks as he plops down into a chair wearing longs sleeves and pants.

Archie frowns he knew the real reason why Maxie covered up and hell it had been only a short time but he wish he could see more of him more often then the bedroom. He shook his head. "I don't know I couldn't put on my gloves today."

Maxie leans back. "Funny I couldn't put on my shoes today I had to wear yours, well the pair you forgot to get when Courtney chased you put of my bedroom."

Archie grimaced at the memory but looked confused. "Maxie I'm like three sizes bigger then you how have you not tripped?"

"They fit perfectly." Macie says calmly but his shaking hands gave him away. "Is this the reward." He whispered fear lacing his tone.

Archie has never seen Maxie truly scared, sure he had startled him but the man was ready to punch him in the face rather then run away. His nerves were starting to eat away at his confidence. "I-i don't know Max. Are we taking there place?"

Maxie shivers. "I never wanted that, I don't think I could stand to loose you now." He frowns. "Could I stay with you tonight...." he trails off.

Archie nods frowning, Maxie never asked he always just stayed and was so dominate in his ways. He decided he didn't like seeing Maxie scared. "Have you gone back to..." he didn't finish his sentence when Maxie looked him in the eye.

"Yes once, it was for closure to make sure they were gone...." he stopped seemingly recalling something. "I heard something though."

"What?"

"Uh I think you've been blessed by the gods your body will change to accept it.... I thought I was just hearing things." He looked down biting his lip.

Archie sighs and looks at Maxie. "I don't want to talk about this anymore..."

"Neither do I." Maxie gets up and offers Archie his hand. "Shall we get some ice cream and try to forget with bad movies."

Archie smiled softly nodding getting up. "Aye that sounds great."

.....3 months later.....

Maxie tried to wrestle Archie's shoes onto his feet but he had little to no luck, it's been months and he was comfortable wearing them this was like being a teenager in a growthspurt all over. "Fuck this!" he threw the shoes across the room and finally noticed his pants were short that doused his frustration with fear.

Archie rushed in right out of the shower his towel haphazardly around his waist. "Maxie are you alright."

Maxie in a quiet voice. "My pants are too short and slightly tight."

Archie furrows his brow and actually looks down and to his astonishment Maxie was right. "I know you've gained weight Maxie, but uh you gained height."

Maxie sighs. "I thought it was I eating more I gained weight, and I didn't mind that but.... but " he stops and takes a deep breath. "Archie we never did stop did we?"

"My legs aren't fusing if that's what your asking." Archie tried to joke but he was starting to get scared too.

Maxie sat down on the bed. "I need to get new clothes." He sighs laying down. "We probably should tell Steven."

Archie frowns and moves to lay down next to him. "Maybe we should start with our former admins, or current ones they really never stopped doing their jobs."

"I don't know which one would be worse." Maxie chuckles covering his face. "Tabithia and Courtney will be the worse mother hens."

"You think that's bad Matt once carried me to bed when I had the sniffles." Archie gives a small laugh.

"When did our lives get so messed up? Wait don't answer that I know why." Maxie huffs looking at Archie.

Archie couldn't hold it in and started to laugh.

Maxie threw a pillow at him.

..... 6 months later......

Archie frowns looking at the large blanket Matt bought for him and Maxie. "Is this really necessary? Maxie only grew 6inches."

"Bro you need to think long term, you're changing too." Matt puffs out his chest. "Even if you become another kyoger I want to make sure you're warm."

Archie sighs scratching his beard. "I don't think that's what I'm becoming Matt, but uh thanks." Matt was like his brother, he was just a tad over protective.

Matt shakes his head. "No matter what happens Archie I will be by your side no matter what."

Archie smiles softly. "Thanks Matt, but uh I think we are good on blankets, Maxie is like a furnace..."

"Does he have a fever, I know I was rude and mean when you started dating but he really loves you can I help?" Matt rattles off

Archie chuckles. "No Bro like how my body temperature lowered Maxie's went up."

"Ohhh ok so you guys cancel each other out just like them. Maybe they are dating too."

Archie covers his face with his hands trying to get that image put of his head as Matt rattles on about the many plans he has to help.

.....4 months later.....

"This is insulting at this point." Archie huffs laying on his stomach.

Maxie matching Archie's position. "I didn't want a tail either but here we are. It's not even fully formed yet and it's so sensitive." He sighs. "I honestly thought you would be upset because I'm taller then you now."

"Not gonna lie Max that kinds of turns me on." Archie chuckles hearing Maxie scoff.

"We aren't even entirely human anymore and you are thinking about bedroom activities." He tries and fails to look offended. "I can't say it hasn't crossed my mind Archie but I want to wait till we are done changing."

"Agreed, so how are your feet doing I know they were killing you." Archie hums trying to keep conversation to distract from the pain.

Maxie looks away. "Scales and bone spur on my heel...they feel a lot better but I'm worried I might hurt you while we sleep."

Archie has wide eyes. "Matching your claws."

Maxie looks back raising his brow. "Seriously Archie? What about your neck?"

"Gills got matching ones on my waist as well, I don't need my wetsuit anymore." He smiles.

Maxie smiles "swimming with Bruce is in your future right." He grimaced as a soft crack is heard. "F-fun with your p-pokemon."

Archie held onto Maxie's hand. "Its ok you don't need to be tough around me I love you."

Maxie held on tightly to Archie's hand. "I love you too." It was the first time they exchanged those words.

....1 month later....

Archie was chasing down Maxie with a bucket of soapy water. "Maxie I swear to arceus that you need to stop you're shedding let me help."

"Fuck off Archie, and leave that fucking hell brush in the trash." Maxie growls a red glowed from his eyes.

"Maxie it's just a brush stop being a baby." Archie tries to tackle him but misses. "I swear I will call Courtney and Tabitha."

"You wouldn't dare." Maxie hisses.

"I would you human lizard just get in the medicated bath." Archie crosses his arms.

Maxie grumbles and walks back to the large bath with bubbles and a medical oder he hated. He got in crossing his arms. "Only because I don't want them to see me naked again."

Archie sighs and begins to scrub softly at Maxie's scales helping them shed. "Look I don't like this either but I refuse to be covered in your shed again. I don't care if we are still changing you will take a bath when you shed."

Maxie scowls. "You don't have to baby me Archie. You know why I don't like baths."

Archie pauses. "I know Max, but you'll feel better we both know that. I'm sorry but I don't want the shower spray to hurt you like last time when you first shed."

Maxie looks away and nods. "I know I know, could you.... maybe uh come in with me?"

Archie chuckles and plops into the bath with Maxie splashing him.

Maxie spits out the soapy water at Archie. "You know what I changed my mind get out."

Archie laughs harder. "Love you too Maxie."

......1 year later....

Maxie was sitting at his desk Archie was late to their meeting, Tabitha and Courtney were both waiting along with Shelly and Matt. It was an uncomfortable silence. Maxie tapped his claw against the wood not realizing he was creating a small hole. "He's the one who called the damn meeting why is he running late."

Tabitha sighs knowing Maxie's temper was high by the smell of burning coming from his tail that slapped the floor in annoyance. "Maxie he probably forgot something."

"We share a home Tabitha he seemed perfectly put together." Maxie glares at Matt who looked guilty.

Matt Maxie knew was awful at keeping secrets and a glare from Maxie was enough to set him off. "ARCHIE IS GOING TO PROPOSE." Matt yells breaking all tension. "I promised I wouldn't tell but I just can't. He is late because the ring is taking longer to make then he realized." He covers his face in shame.

Shelly curses. "Fucking hell Matt he told us in confidence."

"I know I know but Maxie looks so upset." Matt whimpers

Shelly groans and leans back.

Courtney was laughing softly a rare sound.

Tabitha gave a look to Matt saying you're on the couch tonight.

Maxie slams his hands on the table startling everyone. "That fucking bastard" he gets up quickly. "I already bought a fucking ring."

The four stared at Maxie connecting the dots and everyone realized that maybe that their collective bosses were both actually so deeply in love they had the same idea.

At that moment Archie walked in hearing Maxie yell. "You bought a ring?"

"Of course I did you dumb pirate I love you." Maxie huffs. "I was waiting for the full moon because you like the moon's reflection on the water."

Archie looks like he was about to cry. "Maxie I love you so much woukd you marry me?"

Maxie threw his own black box at Archie. "Make an educated guess you college graduate."

Archie burst out laughing and runs to tackle Maxie into a hug. "Damn right Maxie I will marry you."

"And I will marry you Archie." Maxie smiles

[bunni-bino]

Hiiiii hope ur doing well❤. I was wondering if i could get Shanks with a female who he leave at the village the same day he leave luffy. And after a few year s/o was done waiting and decided to leave and become a pirate captain of a very dangerous crew with a very high bounty has all three Haki types [ A bout a Billion]. And s/o meets Shanks at the Marineford but s/o is all cold hearted and bitter. She still loves him but would never forgive for leaving her.

Have a good day/night❤❤❤

Shanks With An Old S/O From Years Ago

A/N : Oi, I hope y’all aren’t expecting an angsty ending 😖 no way am I going to do that.

note : originally, I was going to make this two parters, or at least begin with reader and Shanks before he left, but then it’d take even longer and I still have tons of requests to do.. and this is pretty short.

I changed it a bit too—

warning : MARINEFORD SPOILER * also, this is pretty different from the actual scene, I wrote my own scene because I can’t remember nor did I want to search it up.. so it’s my own scene but still contains spoilers!

Summary : Once lovers, now strangers, Shanks meets his significant other once more in a unexpected time and feelings are returned from the past.

-

Why now?

The old sinking feeling of your heart dropping down to your stomach was enough to make your blood run cold.

The sight of one of the four powerful emperors made you frozen in the spot.

Eyes widened in shock with mixed feelings bubbling up inside you, lips parted but no words could even begin to form. Not with him around, no.

Thoughts were interrupted by a deep voice.

“I think we’ve shed enough blood. Why don’t we end this war?”

Saving the young and brave, pink-haired marine from a tragic death from Akainu, Emperor, Akagami no Shanks had his signature smile present, hand gripping his sword and successfully blocking Akainu’s fist.

“I-It’s Red-Haired Shanks!”

“What is another Emperor doing here?!”

“Emperor, Red Hair Shanks. This war has nothing to do with you. What is your reason for your arrival?” Akainu scowls, raising his fist that was currently boiling with magma.

Shanks takes a small look around to see the damage done from the war that has just occurred, and amidst his scan, his eyes fall onto you.

His eyes turn wide from shock, while yours quickly turned away from him, to avoid his lingering stare and attention from the others.

Before anyone could notice the sudden awkward silence in the air, you began to walk off, your crew following suit.

Clearing his throat, Shanks turns back away, recovering from the shock of seeing you at a place like this before speaking.

“I believe we have had enough of this war. Many lives have been lost. What do you say, Sengoku?” Shanks then pulls a smirk on his face as he pulls back his sword from Akainu and held it out suggestively.

“Unless, you truly would like to continue it?”

Behind Shanks was his entire crew, Beckman smoking, Lucky Rue eating meat, Yasopp with his gun rest on his shoulder, etc.

Sengoku closes his eyes and remained silent before turning away. “We shall call it an end.”

Shanks nods as he sheathes his sword. “Very well. At least allow his family to give him and his son a proper burial as well. It’s the least you could offer.”

Referring to Whitebeard and the fallen Ace, you pause in your tracks after hearing Shanks.

Sengoku ponders for a minute before sighing. “I’ll allow that. But nothing else. Now, leave. Before I find myself a reason to start attacking you now.” Sengoku commands.

With that, the marines began to gather the injured, with the command of Sengoku, whilst the Whitebeard Pirates started to retreat, a few lingering back to recover their fallen people and the now deceased.

“[Name]. What should we do? The war has ended, and Straw Hat Luffy has retreated and being saved by Worst Generation Pirate, Trafalgar Law.” Your first mate reports, walking up to your side.

You look around the navy headquarters, seeing the mass destruction that has been caused and the pained and tearful expressions of the Whitebeard Pirates.

Though relief filled you from the thought of Luffy being saved, the overbearing pain you felt from seeing someone was taking over.

“..We’re done here.. let’s get—“

“[Name].”

That voice.

The familiar voice was nearly enough to make you stop, to think back on the many memories you had with him, to actually wait and see what the man wanted to say.

But you didn’t. You didn’t stop. You kept walking.

“[Name], wait. Can we please talk, for even just a minute?”

Reaching for your wrist, you instinctively tried pulling back but the Emperor’s grip was tight. But almost immediately, he let go and pulled his hands back to his sides.

You look at him, staring at his eyes that were filled with hurt and even the smallest hint of regret.

The sound of a blade un-sheathing from its scabbard interrupted your thoughts and you put a hand out, successfully stopping your first mate from harming the Red-Haired.

“Don’t. You’ll only cause unnecessary trouble.” You tell them, making them exhale and reluctantly turn away.

“What should we do, Cap?”

Exchanging glances with Benn and Yasopp, you receive a nod from the two of them and Benn faces the Red-Haired Pirates.

“Let’s head back to the ship.”

You turn to your own crew and directed your head in the direction of your own vessel. “We shall as well.”

Just as the others began walking, you stop, feeling Shank’s eyes lingering on you, waiting for your answer.

“.... Let’s talk then... we’ll talk on my ship and I’ll take you back to yours afterwards.”

Though you couldn’t see it, you could see the grateful smile that was forming on Shank’s lips as he nods at you. “Thank you.”

-

... Tension was eating away at the silence.

The two of you sat alone in the office. Your office. You stood behind your desk, next to your chair while Shanks stood in center of the room.

However, fortunately Shanks cut the silence by speaking.

“You’ve grown.”

“I have..”

Nodding once absentmindedly threw Shanks off for a second before he recovered.

“.. you’ve made quite a name for yourself. I’m surprised you became involved with this war though.” Shanks starts and you sigh, turning away.

“Someone had to watch over Luffy. Otherwise he would have gotten himself killed. God knows he needs someone to look after him after the person he idolized so much left him.”

You didn’t mean to start off so blunt and rude right off the bat, but it seemed to slip out.

However, Shanks wasn’t fazed but his expression merely softened and saddened at your words.

“Look..I didn’t have a choice, I-“

“Don’t give me that, you know damn well you perfectly had a choice.”

Shanks stammered for a second before letting out a heavy sigh. “[Name]. You have to understand..”

His gentle tone.

The way his body was striding over to you.

The way he slowly raised a hand to bring to your face.

And the way you just let him do as he pleased.

And you wish you didn’t feel it. But you did.

The same sparks.

You wanted to jump into his arms. Lean into his touch and let him hold you for all the years that went by.

But you couldn’t. You didn’t. You weren’t willing to make the same mistake twice.

You pulled away and pushing his hand aside, you walk around the desk and away from Shanks, arms at your side and practically hugging yourself.

Pain was evident in the two of you.

“Shanks, stop...”

Looking up at Shanks sorrowfully, you feel your chest ache and you knew Shanks did too. He felt the same sparks after all.

He knew he wasn’t the only one who was still having feelings.

“[Name]..” Shanks spoke in a hushed tone, carefully making his way around the desk to go back to you. This time, you didn’t stop him.

“Hey, look at me.. please.”

And you did.

“Believe me when I say this, I have never stopped loving you. You are the only one that has been on my mind all these years. I watched your bounties rise.. I checked in on the news on your growing fame and powerful crew by your side.. there has never been a time where I stopped thinking about you.”

Cupping your cheeks gently, caressing your skin with his thumbs, he leaned closer and closer until your noses touched together.

“I still love you, [Name]..”

He whispers out, staring into the abyss of your [ e/c ] just seconds before closing in on the space between you both.

Pressing his lips to yours, you felt the aching in your heart start to swell and fill it’s emptiness with the tiniest bit of warmth Shanks offered.

And you couldn’t help but kiss him back. Wrapping your arms around him, you let yourself just lean into his hold and all the pain you felt disappeared in seconds. You couldn’t even tell how much you longed to feel his lips against yours once more.

Eventually, you did pull away and look down, but felt Shanks press his forehead against yours and moved his hands down to intertwined them with your hands.

“You felt it too, right?..”

You couldn’t tell if you what you were feeling but regardless, you knew what he meant.

Nodding slowly, you breathe out softly and close your eyes.

“Still.. I can’t do this.. I’m afraid it’ll break again.”

“I promise I’ll fix it enough so it’s unbreakable. This time, I’ll make sure to stick around, and never leave your side again.... what do you say?”

Whether you were going to end up regretting it or not, you just couldn’t let this opportunity slip. Especially knowing Shanks was being genuine on his part.

“Fine.. Don’t ever leave me again.”

Feeling a uncontainable grin spreading across his face, he holds your hand tight and pulls them to his lips to kiss gently before smiling softly at you.

“I’m truly one lucky bastard, if I get another chance from you.”

-

A/N : hope you liked it and it was okay!! Thanks for requesting!

definitely rushed, I’m losing some motivation, and stressing from school ;-; soo, yeah. I’ll try to keeps these long but I’ll mainly be doing headcannons now ( sadly ) and they might be short.

Thank you for continuing to being supportive of me and I wish you all a great day / night! :)) 🤍

[anothermcytblog]

do not ask why i made this but here is the entire transcript of “Wilbur talking about eating Sand for 14 minutes...” I wrote in two hours for no reason other then boredom.

Phil, farming sand in minecraft: -it is similar to how the 0 tick farms work where it pushes pistons underneath and on top. 

Wilbur, donating with Text To Speech: Phil have you ever eaten sand? 

Phil, laughing: No. I don't think I have. I might have when I was a kid I guess. Why Wilbur? Whas- wuah wuh wuh What is this? 

TTS Wilbur: Could eat the sand. 

Phil, silent for a second: 

Phil: I could the...

Phil: 

Phil: I could? 

TTS Wilbur: Might be faster. 

Phil, laughing again: Inhaled sand. Okay. Into my body, then what? I need to place it dude, what do you mean? I'm just gonna shit out bricks. I'm just gonna shit out- I'm just gonna shit out sandstone is that it? 

TTS Wilbur: Then you put sand somewhere better. 

Phil, wheezily chuckling: Wil I have- I have actually no idea where you are going with this. I'm legit just as confused as some people in chat. I don't- *laughing* 

TTS Wilbur: Well if the sand is somewhere better then it's not in your way anymore. 

Phil: You okay WIl? You alright mate? We were playing Civ for a long time last night. Are you okay mate? You’re not gonna start worrying me are you? We’re pretty close to each other. 

TTS Wilbur: Yeah I’m fine. If you eat the sand and move it then you won’t have to keep shoveling it. 

Phil, sighing like a disappointed dad: Brilliant. Chat I don’t know he’s gone off the- he’s gone off *gasp* Oh my fucking god dude he was so quiet. That is a threat they make no noise when they’re on lava. Jesus. I was like “What’s hit me!?” It was like a single hit that made me think it was a player or something cause it was silent. I was just like- there was no noise. Okay dually noted, magma cubes don’t make any noise on lava. 

TTS Wilbur: Magma cubes are boring Phil. Let’s talk about eating sand again. 

Phil, laughing: Wil have you- have you ate sand is this what you are talking about *hears a ghast* fucking hell. 

TTS Wilbur: Yes I have. 

Phil, softly: What is this conversation… *Normal tone* Was it nice? 

TTS Wilbur: It gets between your teeth and is fun to crunch in the car ride home. 

[ Phil, grossed out and letting out various forms of Nope and nooo in funny tones of voice ]

Phil: Ooohhh that was a horrible vision. That was a horrible visual. You had a strange childhood Wilbur I’m just gonna say it wasn’t my fault though. *Laughing* Did you just pocket sand and start going- *mimickings eating sand* 

TTS Wilbur: Then when I get home I put it in my mouse. I successfully move the sand. 

[ Phil sighs disappointedly ] 

Phil: Chat I don’t know what we’re going to do with Wil. 

TTS Wilbur: I would sometimes put it in my pockets too yes. 

Phil: I don’t know what we’re going to do with Wil he’s a lost cause chat. Genuinely worried for my dude. It’s not five head. 

TTS Wilbur: This wasn’t in my childhood, Phil. 

[ Phil is silent in disappointed dad™ for a solid like, seven seconds]

Phil: Wil when I come to visit you, uhhh, later this year we’re going to have talks about this. We’re going to have talks, son.

TTS Wilbur: Why? 

Phil: Stop eating sand son. *Laughing* It’s not good for you. 

TTS Wilbur: What’s in it that’s bad for me? 

Phil: It is literal rocks! *Sighing* Oohh I can’t. Chattt. Tell him pleaaase. 

TTS Wilbur: So is salt. 

Phil: Oooohhh I knew he was gonna pull some weird sh- I fucking knew- *chuckling* Not the same dude. *Laughing* Not edible. Please he does not have a point do not give him any sort of leeway here chat. 

TTS Wilbur: Please enlighten me on what makes salt edible and sand inedible. 

[ Phil is silent in disappointed dad™ part 2 electric boogalo]

A TTS Donation: Human biology college major here. I do not recommend eating sand. 

Phil, cackling: Ohh… god. 

TTS Wilbur: Why not? 

Phil: Wil does sand- does sand dissolve in water Wil? I don’t think it does, does it? 

TTS Wilbur: Any further questions? Or have I persuaded you? 

[ Phil Laughs ]

A different TTS Donation: Now I know why Wilbur’s humor is so dry. It’s from all the sand he’s been eating.

Phil, losing his mind laughing: Ohhhh- *cackles* Nice Trixtin.  

TTS Wilbur: So we’re relying that sand isn’t contaminated with dog piss or something. Sand physically can not harm you if you eat it. It’s fun to chew like chewing blades of grass in fields. A simple pastime. No nutritional value like salt. 

[ Phil is silent in disappointed dad™ part 3: Batman returns ]

Phil: A simp-

[ Notification that Niachu is raiding ]

Phil, laughing and losing his mind: I didn’t even get to finish my sentence I just said “A simp” and then Niachu shows up with a raid. Niachu get your man, he’s fucking being weird. Thank you so much for the raid. *Laughing*

A different TTS Donation: Chewing sand is basically inviting fiberglass into your system. 

Phil: Yes- uh Nikki, Wil is boasting about eating sand and saying that there is nothing wrong with it. 

TTS Wilbur: I invite fiberglass into my system. Formally. 

[ Phil is silent in disappointed dad™ part 4: This time it’s personal ]

Phil: He’s lost dude. Oh nooo *chuckles*  

TTS Wilbur: My teeth grow perpetually like a hamster. Akin to a hamster I must chew sand so the teeth don’t puncture my skull and kill me. 

Phil, laughing: WHAT?! Bro you’re on some fucking shit what the fuck am I hearing? 

TTS Wilbur: It’s quite similar to the taste of pretzels. 

Phil, sighing but trying not to laugh: You need to stop- You need to stop conca- *wheezing* You need to stop comparing sand to food. He has infinite text to speech chat. I’m giving- I’m applying- I’m giving him a platform of 5.8 thousand. Dude, dangerous information he is spreading. This is the thing right chat? This is not- This is not Wil on any sort of drug at all- this is Wils natural state. Sometimes he just does this. 

TTS Wilbur: Chat. Say 1 if you’re gonna go and try some sand now. Say 2 if you aren’t and also hate anyone who looks different to you. 

Phil: Ohh my god you did not just- just rig the vote dude. You just fucking rigged the vote. *Laughing* Wil, do you just want to get on a call and discuss this? 

Phil, presumably after calling Wilbur on discord: Explain yourself. 

Phil, after a moment of silence: Guys he’s silent I’m scared. *laughing*

TTS Wilbur: Oh fuck wait. 

[ Phil, losing his mind ]

Wilbur, now on call and verbally talking: No I’d like to know- I’d like to- I’d like to genuinely know what’s wrong with what I’m saying. 

Phil: What is wrong with eating sand? 

Wilbur: Yeah. 

Phil: Bro it’s sand.

Wilbur: Well actually I’m not saying chewing- I’m not actually swallowing the sand I’m pretty sure. Might be a couple you know? Might be doin’ a couple of swallows… but. 

[ Phil laughs but in the disappointed dad kind of way ] 

Wilbur: Like you know you chew plastic pen caps. Probably something wrong about that but no one gets angry at you for doing that. As long as the sand is clean I don’t see anything wrong with chewing on some sand. Maybe you’ll swallow some as well you know it’s not- it’s not my business. 

Phil: It’s gonna ffffuck up your teeth what do you mean? 

Wilbur: What do you mean fuck up- so is chewing pen lids. 

Phil: That is nothing compared to sand!

Wilbur: Have you ever had a pretzel, Phil? 

Phil, laughing: Shut the fuck up. Yes. 

Wilbur: Nonono listen, yeah so you know- have you ever bitten the salt off of the pretzel? Have you ever done that?

Phil: Not really no. 

Wilbur: Oh. Well you can do that. Would that fuck up your teeth do you think? 

Phil, a little confused: No I don’t think it woullld. Unless… 

Wilbur: No it’s quite the same consistency as sand.

Phil: Is it thoughhhh…? Is it though? It’s sodium. 

Wilbur: As someone who- As someone who eats sand I’d say it is quite consistent- 

Phil, laughing: Shut up! Stop saying sand is okay to eat please. 

Wilbur: It’s fine to eat- literally I’ll google it. I’ve never had to google it because it’s just so intrinzic in my knowledge that is is okay to eat. 

[ Phil is silent in disappointed dad™ part 5: who raised this man? ]

Wilbur: Goodness! I didn’t realize this was an actual question. I’m obviously just so shocked that one would wonder because it’s so obviously is okay. “So I am curious, under what category does a sand cuisine fall under and why does the fascination-” This person is just being rude, I’m going to skip them. 

Phil, wheezing a little and lightly mocking Wilbur: “I’m going to skip people who don’t agree with me.” 

Wilbur: Uh this person- nonono I’m going to read out this person- This person says “At least not in a good way. It contains quartz which is harmful for your tooth enamel and over time it may harm your teeth although I know of many food recipes which consain- contain sand. There is not much problem for your gut unless you eat to much of it of course.” So basically it’s the quartz that is bad for your tooth enamel but the problem is I don’t have tooth enamel. I- I gave it up for Lentso I’m perfectly fine. 

Phil: What are you talking about? What are- *Laughing* What are you-? Wait hold up go back a sec. 

Wilbur: Yeah? I mean I don’t- I don’t know what recipes include sand but I’d love to try some. 

Phil: Go back to what you just said before. 

Wilbur: What, I gave it up for lent? Why are you laughing? 

Phil, mumbling a little: I don’t… 

Wilbur: Okay around the time of easter uhhh Christan people are supposed to give up something that means a lot to them that’s called lent.

Phil: And you gave up your enamel?  

Wilbur: Well it means a lot to me.

Phil: You can’t give up your enamel. 

Wilbur:  Wilbur: Wh- Well what have I been doing? 

Phil, laughing a little: I don’t know what you’ve been doing. That’s like saying “I gave up my bones for lent.” 

Wilbur: I think- I think we’re going off track here. The point is sand is perfectly fine to eat and that- that the quartz in it that damages your teeth I’m sure- I’m sure you guys can do fine without it. 

Phil: I think we’re going to have to agree to disagree here. I- 

Wilbur: That’s fine I’m not- I’m not saying you should enjoy eating it I’m just you should be happy with me eating it- I mean there is a lot of prejudice in this chat. 

Phil: O-ohh… I should respect your choices to eat sand and damage your teeth?  

Wilbur: Yeah. I know you’re saying that sarcastically but you really should. You should think about this one- you knowing chewing hay? Like- Like a blade of grass if you’re walking? You must have done it, hanging out the right hand side of your mouth. Maybe have a bajo with you as well. 

Phil, laughing: I think- I agree with Trixtion, “Being happy with- for you is a bit much. The most you can expect is tolerance.” 

Wilbur: That’s fine. Do you tolerate me eating sand Phil? 

Phil: Where are you getting sand from to begin with now that I think about it. You live- you live in Londen there’s just- fucking tems dude. 

Wilbur: Any convenient store, construction sites-

Phil: Ooooookay. 

Wilbur: Hour glasses-

Phil: OOOOhhh okay. 

Wilbur: Fish tanks- 

Phil, laughing: Nooooo- stop what you are doing right now. 

Wilbur: Crematoriums-

Phil: Bruhhhhhhh- *Cackling* This conversation is over. 

Wilbur: Okay, bye bye phil. 

Phil, wheezing: You know sometimes I don’t know what I expect from Wil when he’s in one of these moods- uhhh- I was not expecting that though. 

TTS Wilbur: Phil call me back. I have something important to tell you.

Phil, now on call again with Wilbur: Hey mate. 

Wilbur: So um, uh, on my minecraft did you know that concrete is made out of sand- and glass, a lot of glass is made out of sand. There is only certain kind of sand you can use for making concrete and glass right? And the thing is we’re actually uh, having a little bit of shortatage in the sand you can use to make concrete and glass so uh, due to that you can’t just use it just from like, like the desert you have to take it from like, the beach. Um, so what- there is a sand mafia that exists. 

Phil, losing his mind: Shuttt- I hung up on him- I fucking hung up on him. 

TTS Wilbur: Phil I wasn’t finished I think you hung up my accident. 

TTS Wilbur: Phil I’m going to need you to call me back. Phil, on call again with Wilbur: So there’s an actual sand mafia, you fucking-

Wilbur: Yeah yeah it’s apart of a resource depletion uh, sand is having an extreme amount of resource depletion compared to a lot of things in the world, there is a serious lack of sand- let me send you some sources of what I’m talking about here. This is national geographic and this is uh-

Phil, after a cut: I thought you were fucking with me. 

Wilbur: I am not fucking with you Phil. 

Phil, laughing: What the fuck is this? 

Wilbur: So basically the reason we need to mine so much sand is that we need to extract certain elements like titanium and zirconium. Their mineral, uh, is usually found in sand deposits due to pressure and, um, erosion. So it’s really important that you can uh- that that amount is kept under control and there is a lot of money in the sand business and where there is a lot of money there is- theres a short amount of supply, you know, you find organized crime and that’s why we have the sand mafia. I’m not going to say my eating of sand is contributing to the resource depletion because that would be uh- that would be- what’s the word… irresponsible of me but-

Phil: Mhm? 

Wilbur: I’m just saying if you wanna get into trying sand, it’s sooner rather than later. 

[ Phil cackles]

Wilbur: You think- I’m really not- I haven’t spoken a single lie this entire stream. I’ve just been talking the truth and everyone has been getting angry at me. I feel like- I feel like Jesus Christ right now Phil. 

Phil, laughing: Ohhhh-Kay alright. 

Wilbur, now sounding like he’s trying not to smile: I’ve been preaching nothing but the good word

Phil, still dying: Shut- 

Wilbur, very close to smiling: And you’re trying to crucify me. Phil: Shut- Shhhhhhhhhhhhshh. 

Wilbur, almost laughing: You’re tryna hang me on a cross, Phil. Just like the romans, dude. 

Phil: Was this the payoff? Was this the fucking- *Wheeze*

Wilbur, now back to a more calm tone: You’re tryna crucify me. You’re tryna kill Sand Jesus. 

Phil: Okay- 

Wilbur: It’s not a joke. 

Phil, laughing: I can literally hear the smile in your voice. 

Wilbur: I’m not smiling, I’ll turn on my webcam for you Phil. 

Phil, looking at Wilbur off screen: Jesus that’s horrifying. What is this- what is this angle? Oh I saw- *Laughing.*

[ Wilbur starts laughing as well ]

[ Both of them lose it ]

Phil: Oh my god I tipped over my water. I saw it- Okay okay- I’m gonna hang up. He cracked chat he cracked. Ohh fuck. *Wheezing*

[felidaefighter]

Our Metaphorical Get-Along Sweater

In which Wilbur thinks of Ranboo as an arch-nemesis while Ranboo is just There Vibing and also, Phil has adopted Ranboo, making for two very different siblings and a very interesting relationship 

[Fluff, comedy, fix-it fic, some light angst that is immediately softened, work in progress; every chapter will swap POV]

Chapter Two: A Second Chance From The Second Son

     For Ranboo, coming home empty-handed was always the worst part about his trips, second only to not seeing Michael for a while. So, before even stopping at home to unload, the moment he got back to familiar lands he headed to Snowchester, spending the entire afternoon with his son and only heading back to his own house as the sun was beginning to set. In truth, he had been grateful for the accidental timing regarding his trip. It allowed him time to think. Although he and Phil had discussed Wilbur before, he hadn’t been alive during that, and Ranboo honestly felt a prick of guilt at how he knew that might’ve changed things-- he highly doubted Phil would’ve adopted him had Wilbur still been alive, after all.

     It definitely didn’t help, either, the way Tommy had spoken about Wilbur-- though Ranboo had known Ghostbur, and knew that in some ways they were likely similar, they weren’t the same-- it made him wary of Wilbur; not just for himself, but for Tommy and Tubbo’s sake as well. Still, he believed in second chances, and a second chance at life was something pretty rare. He wanted to be optimistic. And although Phil was going to be biased, because Wilbur was his son-- his son that he had raised from birth, especially-- Ranboo trusted Phil’s judgement on people more than nearly anyone else save for his husband. He wanted to get to know the man. Not the man he used to be, not the man he was, but the man he is now.

     After putting away the small amount of trinkets and excess materials Ranboo had picked up on his adventure, he checked his memory book to see if it had anything to offer in terms of what his next step was. Oh, right! He’d wanted to give Wilbur a proper tour of what had changed; Tommy had succeeded in showing him around, after all, but if Ranboo knew Tommy (and he did, very well), there was no way Tommy had actually given a good explanation of the events behind the changes to the man. Now he just had to offer. He just… had to do it. Yeah. Noting that the sun had only just set, it was reasonable to assume that Wilbur and Phil were still awake. Very very awkwardly for someone who had every right to be there given his adoption, Ranboo knocked on the door to Phil’s house.

     Phil let him in with an easy smile. “Ranboo, mate, you don’t have to knock y’know.” It kind of felt strange not to though? Considering the recent change in situation. “Yeah, but with Wilbur here, I don’t wanna interrupt anything, y’know?” He asked Phil with an awkward laugh. “You’re just as much part of the family as he is,” Phil assured, and Ranboo felt himself untense a little. “Welcome back from your adventure, by the way! Were you successful?” Phil asked, realizing he hadn’t yet. “I don’t wanna talk about it,” Ranboo moaned miserably, and Phil laughed. “Not well then! Got it.” Ranboo shook his head. “Everything else I can find no problem! Like, come on, man, this one isn’t even for me.” The two stood in a pleasant moment together.

     Right. The reason he was here. He had to get it over with one way or the other. “Hey Phil, I was wondering actually, is Wilbur around…?” He asked before he could convince himself not to. Phil looked at him quizzically. “Yeah, he’s upstairs. Wil!” Phil called, and Wilbur immediately stuck his torso out the ladder hole, looking like he very much would rather be elsewheres. “Ranboo wanted to speak to you,” Phil explained, and Wilbur disappeared for a moment before climbing down the ladder properly. “Okay, I’m here, I see you. What’s up?” Wilbur asked, and although he looked like he’d been interrupted genuine curiosity colored his words. Admittedly, it was a little intimidating to have Wilbur’s attention. Ranboo had just… heard so much about him.

     “Oh, well uh… you got a tour of what had changed from Tommy, right?” He started. Wilbur tilted his head. “Yeah, you could call it that.” Ranboo nodded; he’d expected something like that. “Well, I was wondering-- if you’re free tomorrow, would you like a proper tour? I know Tommy is horrible at being straightforward and explaining things like that, so it might be nice to have an actual explanation right?” Ranboo asked. There it was, the big, awkward sibling bonding question. Huoagh. Ranboo turned to Phil. “No offense, Phil, but you and Techno don’t really…” Ranboo trailed off, but he didn’t need to finish his sentence. Phil shook his head. “None taken, you’re right. Aw that sounds nice eh Wil? It’d be good to get you all caught up.” Wilbur looked a bit taken aback, but not unpleasantly so. That was good! That seemed like a good thing.

     “You know what? Sure, Ranboo. I’m down to try that.” Ranboo grinned in excitement. “Awesome! Okay, tomorrow, I’ll give you the grand tour.” Wilbur nodded, continuing. “I’ll admit Tommy left some holes in his stories-- almost as big as the one I apparently left in L’Manberg,” Wilbur added with dark chuckle. Ooohhh okay that didn’t seem like the greatest sign but dark humor wasn’t necessarily indicative of anything bad-- though it did, admittedly, make Ranboo feel a little wary. Caution would probably be best when handling everything. But that was okay! Ranboo was a cautious guy. He felt confident in his ability to, well, be cautious. “Yeahhh that’ll happen with Tommy,” Phil said to Wilbur in agreement, and Ranboo nodded in turn. The three chatted idly for a short bit, and then Ranboo left for the night, ready to sleep in his own bed after a week of travel, with the plans for tomorrow secured.

------

     Ranboo woke up and did his morning routine, bracing himself for the plans he’d made for the day. In truth, he wasn’t really sure what to make of Wilbur still. He’d had an entire week to think about it, but it just seemed so complicated. He’d heard good things from Phil and terrible things from Tommy, about the man who had created a nation and also was now his older brother. It would be good to get to know him, though, Ranboo reasoned-- so the tour was a good idea. Ranboo found Wilbur tinkering with some things in Phil’s house, having very clearly been awake for quite some time. “You’ve been up a while,” Ranboo said, and Wilbur looked about to scowl at the intrusion before settling himself into a more neutral expression and nodding. “The sunrise; It’s beautiful,” he explained-- and suddenly Ranboo felt as if Wilbur might be okay after all. They headed off in relative silence aside from a passing remark from Wilbur about the magma cubes that consistently jumped to their deaths; the only thing of note about the nether was the vaguely safer renovation of the community portal.

     “The community house looks different,” Wilbur commented, and Ranboo grimaced. “Oohhh yeah. It got blown up. Dream--” At least, as far as anyone knew it was Dream-- “Blew it up and framed Tommy for it while he was in exile. He used it as an excuse to blow up L’Manberg. With uh, Phil and Techno’s help actually, but y’know.” An unreadable expression crossed over Wilbur’s face, and he nodded. “Dream’s a tricky bastard, that doesn’t surprise me. I do remember Tommy’s exile, now, by the way, it--” Rage flashed across Wilbur’s face, almost too quickly for Ranboo to take note, but not quite quick enough-- before he took a breath and looked calm again. “It was rough,” He surmised instead. Ranboo nodded. That had been a horrible time. He’d tried writing letters, but, well. Ranboo decided to focus on the tour before the queasy feeling in his gut grew too big.

     “Over therrrre is Kinoko Kingdom or whatever it’s called-- Sapnap and Karl live there I think? Also George maybe but that guy is always asleep so honestly who knows,” Ranboo said, gesturing to their right/the East. Wilbur looked like he was calculating something. “So there are new nations here after all?” Ranboo shrugged. “I mean I wouldn’t really call it a nation-- I don’t think there’s a government so much as a lot of buildings that nobody even lives in honestly.” Wilbur just frowned at that, despite it being true. Ranboo was beginning to think that maybe it’d be a lot harder to get on his good side than he’d initially hoped.

     Ranboo walked out the other side of the community house and Wilbur trailed behind idly, long-legged stride making up for his casual pace. His dark eyes flitted about, searching for things the passage of time had and hadn’t touched. “The prime path is pretty much the same,” Ranboo said, desperately hoping the shift away from nation-talk would lighten Wilbur’s mood. “Oh! On the right there is Captain Puffy’s therapy office. I’ve heard about it from--” Actually, that was none of Wilbur’s business, no offense to him. “--From somewhere. That’s why it says ‘therapuffy’ on the sign.” Personally, Ranboo was very pleased with that pun. Puffy had done a good job with it. And Wilbur-- Wilbur actually quirked an eyebrow. “She’s started a therapy office, has she?” He mused, and Ranboo hummed in affirmation. “I s’ppose that’s useful. I’m sure a lot of people around here need it.”

     “Apparently there’s a discreet box you can drop a note into to make an appointment,” Ranboo said, which was about as close as he was going to get to saying his real thoughts which were more along the lines of oh my god PLEASE get therapy you of all people need it especially considering you made your dad help you kill yourself and have been dead and gone for years in what you essentially described as hell. “That’s cool,” Wilbur said, and Ranboo nearly wilted a little, but he did take a small victory in the lingering glance that he noticed Wilbur left it towards it. Ranboo allowed himself to hope just a teensy bit that maybe Wilbur would visit again after the tour with nobody else around.

     “On the left here is Niki and Puffy’s flowershop and bakery, and Fundy and I’s icecream shop we made to compete with them. Ours is just a little bit taller,” Ranboo added smugly. “They’re both kind of abandoned though, because--” Oh, that was not a good look on Wilbur’s face. It passed almost immediately, which was almost even more concerning. “Go on, Ranboo, what were you saying?” Wilbur prompted softly, and Ranboo hesitated but it was clear he wasn’t going to get anything out of that look. It was also, frankly, not something he was willing to unpack with the older man. “They’re both kind of abandoned, because I haven’t seen Fundy in a long while and I think Niki and Puffy kind of drifted apart? They were dating at one point I think,” He rambled, and relaxed a bit as Wilbur smirked, easily caught up in gossip and drama.

     They passed by Church Prime-- Wilbur declining to go in for personal reasons-- Punz’s house, the karaoke stage, and the weird, pale-checked building, which had all been there since long before Ranboo’s time and thus didn’t earn anything more than a passing, melodramatic comment from Wilbur about familiarity and stagnation and how sometimes even the land couldn’t change. Ranboo didn’t really think that was a fair assessment, though. Basalt columns supported chunks of Punz’s house that bore visible fire damage. Nearly every time he’d passed by the checked building the inside had been renovated. He was pretty sure even the karaoke stage had been patched up a few times. But to be honest, being around Wilbur was awkward. Even the idea that he knew things that Wilbur didn’t didn’t seem quite right, since Wilbur had been there first-- with both L’Manberg and being Phil’s son-- even if he’d missed some time. So for now, Ranboo would just stick to the facts.

     “That’s a Christmas building,” Wilbur said, aghast, pulling Ranboo out of his thoughts. “Hm? Oh! Yeah, that’s-- I think somebody lives there but I’m not sure actually. It’s definitely--” Ranboo made a noise, and Wilbur nodded his head at the noise. “Yeah. See, that’s something you and I can agree upon, Ranboo.” Wilbur then swivelled his head around and did a double-take. “Is that gay Target? ...Didn’t that used to be a walmart?” They passed the Targay, beginning the steep climb up the mountain, and Ranboo nodded, bemused. “It’s Targay, I think. Puffy renovated the walmart. It’s kinda been ‘opening soon’ since before I even got here though so I think it’s effectively abandoned. Tommy and I were talking about that the other day, actually.”

     Speaking of, they reached the top of the mountain and Tommy’s plot of land-- “Tommy’s shit-fucking-shack is the same,” Wilbur said dryly, fake disgust in his voice betrayed by the fondness on his face. And there it was-- proof. Not for anybody other than Ranboo himself, of course, but it was there. Wilbur did care about something. Or someone, at least. Someone that Ranboo cared about, too. That was enough to get Ranboo’s confidence in his plan back up a bit. Good, actually. He liked being optimistic. Preferred it without a doubt to anxiety spirals and the idea that everything was doomed. “Pretty much,” Ranboo admitted, “But there’s a bunch of flowers and stuff around that were planted when-- when he was gone for a bit. He took down everything else. I guess he likes it looking like a hole in the hill.” Wilbur rolled his eyes.

     “Do you want to see the hotel and the prison and Snowchester next, or would you like to visit L’Manberg?” Ranboo asked, hoping Wilbur wouldn’t realize the near-slip-up had been alluding to Tommy’s death. The mischievous, conniving look in Wilbur’s eyes clouded, and the man looked thoughtful. Ranboo waited anxiously, fiddling with his hands. “Let’s go visit L’Manberg,” He said, taking the lead, and Ranboo followed behind. The man’s strides were purposeful, and though Ranboo did think that Wilbur could change, something about the way he was moving hinted at… lingering ideologies about the former nation. Also, Ranboo was internally pouting a bit about Wilbur taking charge now. It was meant to be his tour.

     “I haven’t seen L’Manberg since I blew it all to kingdom come,” Wilbur remarked, Ranboo trailing nervously behind him. Confusion temporarily overrode his nerves, and Ranoo tilted his head. “Are you su-- really? I thought you said you remembered stuff that happened when you were-- Ghostbur?” Wilbur downright scowled at the mention of Ghostbur, and waved off the mention like he was shooing away a pesky fly. “I don’t see what Ghostbur has to do with that,” Wilbur huffed, and Ranboo was silent for a moment. Maybe-- hm, that would be interesting wouldn’t it? Because Ghostbur couldn’t remember the bad things, and the only example Wilbur had given of remembering Ghostbur’s memories was how awful exile had been for Tommy.

     Ranboo was so focused on theorizing and figuring out how he might propose said theory to Wilbur that he nearly careened right into the man, who had stopped dead right at the end of the prime path. Luckily, he saved himself the dignity and Wilbur his dramatic moment right at the last second. If Wilbur noticed, he didn’t comment on it. He was staring out over the massive crater. “Wow,” Wilbur breathed mournfully, “I really did do a number on this place, huh.” He stepped off the prime path, minding the pockets where fire and explosives had scarred the earth. Ranboo watched him walk across the glass-- eerily, like a ghost taking long-forgotten trails, the transparent glass helping the illusion. Except, no, Wilbur was alive, and more importantly--

     “You didn’t, actually,” Ranboo said bluntly, and Wilbur snapped out of whatever daze he had been in, the illusion shattered as the contradictory statement made him virulent and very much alive. “What?” Ranboo admittedly reeled a little at the tone, but come on. He didn’t. “You didn’t,” Ranboo reiterated; “Techno, Phil, and Dream were the ones to blow it to bedrock. Your explosion didn’t get anywhere close. And the reason I know that is because it flooded afterwards, but it didn’t even flood that deep. It’s why L’Manberg-- the one I knew at least-- was rebuilt on stilts,” Ranboo explained, carefully watching the expression on Wilbur’s face. The disdain on Wilbur’s face was slowly blotted out by confusion.

     “What do you mean rebuilt on stilts?” Wilbur asked, and it was definitely visible on Ranboo’s face when it clicked for him that his theory had been correct. Wilbur didn’t actually remember Ghostbur’s memories-- not all of them, at least. He only thought he did because he, well, couldn’t remember the rest. Ranboo knew the feeling. “And what does that look mean?” Wilbur scoffed. “Well, you--” Ranboo felt his face get hot, the center of attention and eyes being on him never really the best for his enderman instincts. Ranboo opted instead to glance down at the bedrock, visible through the glass. “After-- after you died. L’Manberg was rebuilt. Tubbo said the land was still good, so when it started flooding they built it up on stilts and platforms. It was mainly Ghostbur that did the rebuilding, actually!” With the last fact, Ranboo glanced back up at Wilbur, who was just staring, trying to process what he’d just heard.

     “So, you’re saying… I didn’t have a big impact on this place.” Wilbur prompted. Ranboo just sighed. “Well, you did. It just wasn’t all one thing, y’know? I know Tubbo-- I know Tubbo liked having L’Manberg around and so did Tommy. They were devastated when, well--” Ranboo gestured to the visible bedrock deep, deep below them-- “That happened. And Ghostbur rebuilt it, he made it beautiful, with the lanterns.” Ranboo paused. “Phil told me a bit about the lanterns, actually.” Something indiscernible crossed over Wilbur’s face. Then he looked almost bitter-- then-- Wilbur sighed. “See, Ranboo, I appreciate your trying to ‘tell me I’m not a bad guy’ or whatever,” Wilbur said, emphasizing the quotations with a false, mocking tone, and gesturing dramatically, “But it doesn’t really matter. This is my legacy! This crater. Everyone knows I’m a bad person. That’s just fact.”

     “...I don’t think you’re a bad person,” Ranboo said quietly, wincing at how unconvincing that must sound even as genuine as he meant it. Wilbur scowled. “Why? Because Phil said?” Ranboo immediately countered, offended that Wilbur thought he couldn’t have his own opinions. “...No, not because Phil said. Because I don’t know you at all. We haven’t gotten a chance to meet. And I think that maybe you were a bad person, if you blew up L’Manberg, but I also think that you were going through some things that affected you and I think that people can change. Even if it’s only been a few years for us, it’s been thirteen years for you. You aren’t going to be the same person as before. And you deserve a second chance. Everyone does.”

     Wilbur was the one to turn away this time, and Ranboo politely pretended not to notice the way his eyes had become more reflective and puffy. He seemed like he had something he wanted to say, and Ranboo would’ve let him, really-- but instead he looked out over the glass at the bedrock and rubble and dead vines that hadn’t yet been reclaimed by nature. Wilbur took a deep breath, and Ranboo waited in nervous anticipation. “What do you mean it’s ‘only been a few years for you’, Ranboo?” Wilbur asked. Oh. That had not been-- but he did have a good point. That was probably some important information that Tommy had apparently also left out.

     “Tommy… didn’t tell you that either. Figures,” Ranboo muttered. “Okay so, when Tommy came back and said he’d been gone for months, it had only been two days, so…” Ranboo began, and Wilbur held up a hand, signalling him to pause for a moment. “Thank you for the tour, Ranboo,” Wilbur said, “But this has been a lot. Let’s walk and talk on this one, eh?” He sniffed, not in a cry-y way, in his usual talking way, (even if one would think it’d be in a cry-y way-- Ranboo tried to not let his thoughts wander too far, though), and said softly, “I’d like to go home.” It did catch Ranboo a little off-guard. There was still more to the tour! But… well, it did make sense, L’Manberg being what it was. Yeah. That seemed reasonable. “Alright, yeah,” Ranboo said, and the two found their way back to the prime path. “So since Tommy had been gone for two days but lived-- or unlived I guess?-- for months-- we figured time moves differently in the afterlife or whatever it is, right?” Ranboo explained the time differential to Wilbur as they walked, and the man was surprisingly free of snarky commentary the rest of the way home.

-----

     They had trudged through the snow in complete silence, leaving Ranboo to his swirling thoughts about how he felt about Wilbur being his brother. He was trying hard to not think about it actually. The mix of the family thoughts and the snow on the ground did remind him that they never went to Snowchester for the tour. Honestly? Ranboo was okay with that. He hated to admit it, but he did not trust Wilbur around Michael. Okay, in all fairness, he didn’t really trust anyone other than Tubbo around Michael. Call it paranoia, or maybe “an awareness of what the rest of the people in the realm were like”. It was hard enough dealing with having a sibling when he’d only just gained a parent-- Ranboo really didn’t need to deal with whatever thoughts might come with Wilbur technically being Michael’s uncle. He shuddered to himself, and Wilbur glanced over questioningly, but Ranboo muttered about the cold and the man seemed to buy it.

     Phil was waiting for them when they got home, and opened the door warmly to both of them. He shot Ranboo a questioning look when he didn’t immediately come inside, but Ranboo subtly shook his head-- Phil giving an almost unnoticeable tilt upwards of his head in acknowledgement. Talk later. “Sooo how’d it go?” Phil asked conversationally from the doorway, and Wilbur was startled out of his own thoughts. Luckily he didn’t catch the exchange they’d had. “Huh? Oh.” Wilbur turned to Ranboo thoughtfully. “The tour was lovely, thank you. You definitely did a better job than Tommy, at least. And cleared some things up for me.” Something about Wilbur, Ranboo had noticed, was always guarded. He guessed that’d be the paranoia. Or maybe old habits from being sneaky-- Phil had told some stories of when Wilbur was younger.

     “I’m glad,” Ranboo said sheepishly though, “I’m glad I could do that and, clear some things up for you, yeah. And it was nice getting to hear your stories about the things that had been there for a while, too,” Ranboo offered, an open invitation for reconciliation, even if he still wasn’t sure what he’d done that made him and Wilbur get off on such a strange foot. Wherever Wilbur’s thoughts had been drifting to, they quickly snapped back at Ranboo’s softer tone. “Yes,” Wilbur said curtly, “Thank you for the tour, see you around.” And he promptly slipped past Phil, who was muttering baffled protests, into his room upstairs.

     “What?” Phil squawked out as the door shut, and then turned to Ranboo. “I don’t-- what-- I’m sorry Ranboo I genuinely don’t know what that was about.” And Ranboo laughed, relieved to have someone else sharing in his confusion, feeling at home with Phil for the first time in a while since it was just the two of them. “I don’t either!” He admitted, sharing in Phil’s trait for giggling in confusion. “But I think I said something that maybe he thought was nice and he doesn’t like the fact that he thought it was nice…?” Phil sighed, and then laughed. “Yeah, yep, that’d do it. Wil’s-- He’ll come around. He’ll come around. He just needs some time to adjust to the situation properly.” Phil narrowed his eyes at Ranboo. Uh-Oh. It was his dad mode.

     “And so do you. You can’t let him bully you around just ‘cuz he’s older or you think he gets more rights as my son due to seniority.” Ranboo flushed, feeling very caught-in-the-act. “Okay well hey wait a minute you didn’t have to call me out that hard,” he fake-complained nervously, and the two of them laughed. “I did though! It’s true!” Phil protested. “You’re as much family as he is,” Phil continued softly, and Ranboo desperately tried to not let his eyes water.

     Phil, either due to his allergies for prolonged contact with softer emotions, or sensing the need for a mood change out of worry for Ranboo’s allergies to water, decided to change the subject back to Wilbur’s style of siblinghood. “--And Wilbur will bully you around ‘cuz he’s older. And you can’t let him get away with it or he’s gonna get away with it forever,” Phil scolded, “Ranboo, you have to grow a backbone.” Well that just hurt. “I have one, that’s not fair!” Phil, however, put his hands on his hips and looked sternly at Ranboo, who was thoroughly pouting. Then he sighed and laughed softly. “Fair enough, fair enough. That’s a start.”

     They stood on the porch together for a moment, enjoying one another’s company. Phil sighed again. “How did the tour actually go? How was Wil?” He asked finally. Right! Now this was something Ranboo was prepared for. He straightened up, much to Phil’s dismay (because Phil was much shorter than Ranboo as it was). Ranboo laughed a little internally at that, but he was rather proud of his observation skills in this matter, so he was all business on the outside (not that this was business). “He was kinda melodramatic, honestly,” Ranboo explained, and Phil nodded; it did make sense that that wasn’t out of the ordinary. “I did point out to him where therapy was,” He added, Phil bursting out laughing in response to that with a sort of ‘bwahahaha’ sound. “Good,” Phil said, before letting Ranboo continue.

     “He did… he did get a bit weird when it came to L’Manberg,” Ranboo admitted, and Phil sobered some at that. “He took over the tour and started talking about how it was his fault. Phil, I don’t--” Ranboo leaned down in a conspiratorial whisper, Phil drawing him closer to the door and away from any windows or line of sight. “--I don’t think he actually remembers Ghostbur’s memories. He just thinks he does. He only remembers the bad things from Ghostbur’s memories.” Phil paused. “Ghostbur had bad memories?” His eyes widened. “Oh.”

     Ranboo nodded. “Yeah. I did clear up some stuff-- like how the bedrock leveling was you and Techno and Dream and not him, and he’d only been gone for a few years as opposed to thirteen like on his end.” Phil nodded some more, thoughtfully. “Ah, yeah. Thank you for clearing that up, Ranboo, I honestly-- time for me is, well, y’know.” He made a so-so gesture with his hand and Ranboo understood. “I do feel kinda bad about that, but uh-- I still stand by it. It had to be done. That government was corrupt.” Ranboo nodded. He had complicated feelings about that-- he supposed most of his feelings were complicated, actually-- but ultimately he respected Phil’s decision, and liked where he’d ended up because of it.

     “And I take it you didn’t show him Snowchester.” Ranboo grimaced. “Yeahhh I didn’t really want to have that conversation. Plus it was in the opposite direction of L’Manberg, so…” Phil nodded once again. “Good thinking. We can chat some more later, yeah? When you’re comfortable doing so in a place that isn’t the freezing cold.” Ranboo nodded, grateful that Phil understood his hesitations even if he didn’t agree with them. Phil patted Ranboo’s arm softly as Ranboo headed off and he went back inside, and Ranboo was grateful for the time alone to think. Because a lot had happened, but he did want to think through that particular scenario, since it was important. Even if the family aspect was strange. Even with Ranboo being particularly protective. And especially with his relationship to Tubbo being what it was. So the question was this: How did Ranboo want to go about introducing Wilbur to his nephew, Michael?

-

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[Until I publish this to AO3, anyone is welcome to ask to be tagged when the fic updates!] @enternalempires

[ask-professor-laurel]

You’ve mentioned Team Rocket before, but what are your thoughts on some of the other criminal organizations and teams around? Does Galar have any, or is it just Team Yell bothering Gym Challengers specifically.

Frankly I can't stand any of them. I'm gonna exclude Team Skull and Team Yell from that, because they're more... nuisances, really, than anything, and Team Yell hasn't really been around since the end of the last Gym Challenge. Team Skull doesn't seem to really be doing much besides causing a hassle for some trainers, but they're pretty chill, as far as I've been told.

I really do just personally hate Team Rocket, which I think I'm very fair to do. I think Kanto and Johto need to get it together and stop sitting back and letting trainers deal with them- seriously, between their Elite 4 system and their champions, they shouldn't be letting regular trainers deal with these very dangerous people. Someone's going to get themselves killed when they run into a grunt or an admin who actually knows what they're doing and isn't a low-level grunt. Speaking from experience.

Team Aqua and Team Magma, I'll admit, sent me into hysterics when I read about their whole thing. It happened when I was quite a bit younger, so I don't remember the broadcasts and such, but reading about it after? I cannot begin to describe how stupid they were. Legendaries shouldn't be bothered for many reasons, especially legendaries as powerful as Groudon, Kyogre, and Rayquaza, so I don't know what they were thinking going after them. Pure arrogance, really, thinking anyone could control a legendary. As if Kyogre wouldn't eat them all without noticing. I think it's hilarious they've all but disbanded.

Team Galactic presents much more of a threat and I hear they're still crawling around Sinnoh, even without their leader. Cyrus? I think? His admins are probably still around. Anyways, they literally wanted to destroy the entire world, and had access to the perfect legendaries to do so. The fact that they're still around makes me nervous, in all honesty, because Sinnoh is host to... a lot of legendaries. With a lot of power. If they get close like that again, I just hope they don't rely on trainers to take care of it. Sinnoh has the same problem as Kanto and Johto; leave it to the trainers to do it, even though their champion is RIGHT THERE.

Team Plasma. I mean, they seem to be doing fine now, what's left of them anyways. Hard not to hear about that one when, what was it, didn't an entire castle just emerge from the ground? I don't know what's up with Unova but they're another region with a surplus of regional legendaries who can cause a lot of very real problems if taken under the wrong hands. I hope they don't start crawling out of the woodwork again, they're like Team Galactic to me. They make me nervous.

I know Kalos' presented a big threat but I'll be real, they were very... forgettable. They didn't really get anywhere, if I remember right. I mean, sure, Xerneas and Yveltal are terrifying forces of nature, but they didn't get too far with trying to get their hands on them.

Team Skull are just a nuisance. They're more funny than they are a threat, really, and their leader reigns them in when they're being too much. They've done a good job of sweeping it under the rug, but that Aether Foundation was definitely up to no good, and personally I think they had a lot more involvement with those Ultra Beasts showing up than they want to admit. Haven't been able to actually look into it, it's all covered up behind so many classified stickers and passwords that it's about impossible to get to from the outside.

Team Yell are hilarious. I'll say it; I thought they were hilarious whenever I ran into them, though I'm sure the Gym challengers hated their guts. I would've hated them when I was doing my own Gym Challenge, to be fair, but as someone on the outside? Hilarious. I hope they keep doing it. As for Macro Cosmos, I don't really consider them evil, it was really just Rose and Oleana doing wildly unethical things. Can't stand either of them, but with Rose it's a bit more personal.

I don't know what other regions are doing, but they really need to get it together. I think the Elite 4 and champion system they have just don't work- the Elite 4 is clearly just four of the strongest trainers they can find, across the region, and the champion is just the "strongest" trainer in the region. The champion also doesn't do much in those regions besides battle, same with the Elite 4. Here, being champion is a much more political position, with a lot of responsibility attached. When things go wrong, it's the champion's responsibility to step up. It's why we have long-reigning champions and why the tournament itself is so hard- you really have to prove your strength. Though I wish they'd stop letting kids compete- a 10 year old has no business being champion.

We have a much more effective method than a lot of other regions. And we've proven it- Team Rocket hasn't tried to come back for years after Leon scared the living daylights out of all of them. Rose is in jail, he would've been arrested even if he hadn't turned himself in. We crack down harder on bad people here, and there's a lot more involvement than just... regular trainers. I personally get involved in plenty of cases, everything from people trying to make their own bad guy teams, to shitty trainers who abuse their Pokemon. Honestly, other regions could learn a lot from how we handle things here. There's more to being a champion than keeping your title, and run of the mill trainers aren't an effective substitute for actual justice.

This got long, sorry, I just have a lot of opinions on these teams and organizations and how there's a lot of failings in how they've been dealt with.

[qhazomb]

I keep pinballing between monster Gordon designs in my head, and the most common contenders have been and owlbeast form like from The Owl House (bc him fluffy), that one humanoid design where his hair is super long and floaty and full of eyes, or a spiky dragon with near geometric scale spikes (bc the irony that his monster form is all sharp and pointy but his human form and personality are so soft and cuddly)

Bubby is usually the fire type of the group, so i always imagine monster Gordon with magma or plasma? Plasma maybe better, fits a celestial theme.

ooooh, that’s neat! i like the idea of monster gordon with plasma and lightning powers might have to incorporate that with the one i’m picturing. imagine electricity arching between his mane tendrils and whiskers and stuff, which signifies that something is about to get plasma breath’d also OOPS THIS PROMPTED ME TO SHARE A LOT OF THOUGHTS SO THIS GOT LONG, putting the rest under a read more ha ha

another thing about the monster gordon au i’ve been thinking about is that he’s not a straight-up cosmic entity like i picture benrey being, but more of just an alien from another dimension, like the critters from xen (he’s not from xen, though. whole ‘nother place entirely!) in this au, i still have gordon and benrey having known eachother as children, only this time gordon was the lil monster kid living in the woods, of course. and also, kid benrey actually saw his monster friend get carted off by black mesa! he saw the company’s logo on a vehicle or equipment or something, and never forgot it. benrey and his folks move to new mexico when he’s like, 13, and ends up befriending their new neighbor- a twenty-something guy named tommy. eventually, benrey learns that tommy’s working for this lab called black mesa, and when he sees the place’s logo he’s just !!!!!! and immediately decides he needs to try and get in that place. he doesn’t know shit or fuck about science, so trying to get a scientist job there is out. but maybe they’re hiring for like, a janitorial or security position? he’s pretty fit, and knows how to mop a floor and shoot a gun. so he goes for that. gordon still completely forgets his human childhood friend, though, awww. though that might be partially blamed on some of the experiments conducted on him. speaking of his time as a research specimen, he actually had it a tiny bit better than benrey did. didn’t take until he was in his teens before a much more caring scientist showed up to make sure he had good mental, emotional, and physical enrichment. and instead of that scientist being tommy, like for benrey... for gordon, it’s coomer. dad coomer momence :) they find gordon much more willing to cooperate after he imprints on coomer, too. and also take note of how active his curiosity is, with the alien asking so many questions and looking for so many answers for about how things work, especially when he hits his teens. somewhere along the line, some ‘mesa higher ups decide to let this xenoguy indulge his apparently scientific mind, and give him a job (he’s still required to check in for tests on himself, and not allowed to leave the facility, though). even tho he’s not an eldritch horror, he’s still got shape-shifting powers, and takes on a human form, both because all the spaces he’d work in were made with humans in mind, and to reduce the number of weird looks from literally everyone outside of sector E. and because he looked human, benrey didn’t recognize gordon at all, but also couldn’t shake this weird vibe he was getting from him. vibe increases after he sees this guy heading to do a dangerous test without one of the fancy hazard suits (being near-indestructable, he doesn’t need one). just before they get to where the test chamber is, and benrey asks him again why he doesn’t have a HEV suit if he’s really supposed to be here, gordon yells “BECAUSE I’M NOT FUCKING HUMAN, OKAY?? Now will you PLEASE let me go do my fucking job, I’m running so god damn late, christ...” the “not human” part is emphasized by gordon briefly showing a glimpse of his true form. which benrey instantly recognizes. ...aaaand then feels bad about the “i need to make sure you’re nice or not, everybody here’s afraid of you” thing. in this case, some of the other employees in sector C were afraid of gordon, as they knew what he was. benrey was a new hire and didn’t (obviously) and didn’t get why some of the scientists and guards were acting nervous around this seemingly friendly (if short-tempered) guy. but now he does. as well as why gordon looked a little self-conscious about it when benrey brought it up. whoops. even though monster!gordon doesn’t wear a HEV suit, he still has trackers that the military use to hunt the science team down. the trackers are just, y’know, in him. and unfortunately, nobody on the team knows exactly where they were stuck in him, and he doesn’t wanna just go clawing himself open everywhere to find the damn things. so the betrayal still happens, though benrey is def not feeling it as much, cause like, he JUST found his old alien friend and was gonna bust him out!! which obviously he can’t do if the fuckin’ military gets a hold of him. but then, he also can’t bust gordon out if he himself gets killed by the military... so turning gordon in is the lesser of two evils. turn him in now, and then try to free him again later. that’s the plan. of course, the bootboys ambushing gordon aren’t at all prepared. they weren’t properly informed on everything about gordon, and for about this whole time, gordon’s been taking on a human form. said form being considerably smaller than his true one. gordon does not black out and get tossed in (the wrong part of) a trash compactor. he does still get pissed at bubby and benrey, though. but this time, he forgives benrey first, as the guy gets way, WAY more emotional over this all than gordon’s ever seen from him. showing off a ton of genuine guilt and regret over it, and also explains why he did it right away (even tho gordon’s still convinced he and benrey never met until the test). bubby mostly just seems scared shitless, oops. but gordo does forgive him before it’s all said and done. they still run into coomer clones and less-than-stable bubby prototypes (which are now just clones as well because reasons). bubby’s not a genetically engineered perfect organism, but a regular/realistic ‘test-tube baby.’ he’s still got a bionic heart, though. coomer’s still a cyborg, too, but not really a super-powered one. his robotic limbs are just advanced in that they’re as dexterous as his old natural limbs, and have artificial touch receptors. they’re also made out of materials that are sturdy as all fuck. they’re just a couple of dudes, as far as physical abilities go. their clones, however? still very fucked up. possibly a little bit more fucked up. this au is also another “not a game” one, and there’s a different reason for why coomer’s clones seem to have a weird connection with gordon/gordon’s brain. bubby’s do, too. those clones aren’t just clones, but also results of genetic splicing experiments. i’ll let you guess where the other non-coomer/bubby genes that were spliced in came from. go on. guess. i haven’t thought about what happens when they get to xen too much. probably just that they fight the nihilanth, since i headcanon that it was indeed still the cause of the xen portals, but benrey ate it to steal its sick boss arena. gordon however wouldn’t do that, as he doesn’t get pissed at any of the team to, y’know, wanna go final boss on them. still gotta be the big hero man (even when he’s not technically a ‘man’). after they get back from xen, tommy prob manages to convince his dad to convince his employers to NOT lock gordon up in a lab again, as it would both mean a lot to his best friend benrey (who is like a little brother to him), and because he’s become fast friends with gordon himself and thus cares about him. i’m also trying to decide if i still want mr. coolatta to be an eldritch being or make him human, too. kinda leaning towards letting him stay non-human, though this time tommy doesn’t have any of the ‘buffs’ i say his adoptive dad gives him in my other not-a-game aus. aaaand that’s all the thoughts i’ve had on this thus far!

[ramblings-of-a-mad-cat]

You say the story of Rescue Team frustrates you? How come?

Rant ahead. Rant ahead about a game I unironically love, but I spend far too much time overthinking the plot of, hence my grievances.

Maybe I just held it to unfair standards on account of playing it for the first time after Explorers of Sky. Which is easily the greatest pokemon game ever made, accept no substitutes. Nah, Rescue Team DX is addicting, the music is incredible as always in these games, and the gameplay has been massively overhauled and made far superior to the original, which while fun, was pretty buggy. And the game does have some pretty cool characters, too. Like...whatever I may yell to the heavens about Albus Dumbledore from HP, make no mistake that he’s an exceptional and three-dimensional character. Same goes for Snape. And that applies to this game as well. 

The main reason this game’s story irritates me comes down to Gengar and Alakazam. Again, they’re very well written characters...but I hate them. I despise both of them. I don’t know what it is, but Alakazam rubbed me the wrong way right from the start. Him and his whole team are so self-important, so arrogant. They condescend the MC and act like they’re the ruling body of the town square. Alakazam goes around telling people that he knows everything. That’s a god complex if you ask me. At several points, the characters make decisions based on the assumption that he is stronger than the MC, which you as a player never get to challenge. (Think of Leon from Sword/Shield, but a million times worse.) The Partner character is so in awe of them, so enamored by them. Yet behind MC’s back, Alakazam knows (or suspects) them to be the human of legend and doesn’t tell them “for their sake.” Which gives me strong Nozomi (SMT IV: Apocalypse) vibes, since later on he ignores all responsibility for having been "complicit" with the MC's secret. 

The Fugitive Arc doesn't make any damn sense. First of all, Xatu claims that the disasters, all of the trouble, are being caused by the Human from the Ninetales Legend. Ninetales later debunks this. When I first played this game, I legitimately thought Xatu would wind up being some kind of secret villain, that he had lied, and that the Fugitive Arc was all started by him. This doesn't wind up being true, and we never get an answer for why he thought the Human of Legend was responsible for the state of affairs, nor did anyone question his being wrong or acknowledge his role in all this. But the one who really started everything was Gengar. He doesn't really annoy me until the Post-Game (I'll get to that) but everyone else's reactions to Gengar's story bother me. He is a known liar, a known trouble-maker who no one likes. It's well known that he has a vendetta against the MC. He has no proof whatsoever of his allegations. And everyone just buys it, despite MC now having a great reputation, because...I guess MC didn't actively deny it? Which the player was given no agency in? And it doesn't stop the accusation from being ridiculous? 

Enter Alakazam. Apparently, everyone held a town meeting that must have taken all of ten seconds, to decide what to do about MC. They held this meeting without MC or the Partner present, because having them there would make too much sense I guess. Team A.C.T. prepares to...I guess kill MC? As well as the Partner, even though they're completely innocent. Before Alakazam hesitates and decides to give the MC a day to run away. Hold on, if he is so convinced that MC has to die to save the world, how do he justify letting them go? I guess the same way he justifies how he "knew" MC was the human of legend this whole time and said nothing about it? He bids MC to run, and throughout the entire Fugitive Arc, his team is the looming threat. Which was quite frustrating for me, already a Diamond Rank and probably higher leveled than Team A.C.T, because I would have been happy to settle things with Alakazam right then and there. It is beyond frustrating that the story denies me this chance. Not to mention, half of the town shows up to say goodbye when MC and the Partner take off. Like...okay, at least half of the town believes in MC. How in the hell is this even happening? Why do we have to flee when so many characters are on our side? When there's no proof? Why is Alakazam's word just considered law? If he “knows everything” how come he doesn’t know that Gengar is human as well, if he could sense MC’s humanity? 

You don't know how badly I wish there was a fight with Team A.C.T. when all was said and done. And the game could have done it, too! Just have it take place at the top of the Mt. Freeze, before Ninetales shows up. They have a skirmish that takes place in a cutscene, but even in the remake - there's no boss battle. Why not? It's not like this dungeon has a boss battle otherwise. Wouldn't it have been a fitting conclusion to this arc? Maybe I'm biased, maybe I just think it would have been cathartic to kick Alakazam's ass, to make him put his money where his mouth is...because again, the arrogance. He demands Ninetales tell him what happened, and that "depending on your answer, I may be forced to eliminate MC" Ah, slow your roll there, buddy. Ninetales already broke up the fight and made it clear that it's not going to happen. You're a guest in their domain. On top of that, Team A.C.T. basically forbids you from going to Magma Cavern to challenge Groudon. As if you haven't just proven yourself capable of braving dangerous dungeons. As if, after they chased you halfway around the world and were proven completely wrong, they have any right to talk down to you or tell you what to do. Again, I so, so wish we could have fought them and taught them a lesson. 

In general, this is a consistent thing with the other characters, following the Fugitive Arc. Everyone focuses on how happy MC and the Partner must be to have their names cleared, (Again, the Partner was accused of nothing. Like, literally nothing.) and no one stops to address that everyone in the Town Square should be falling to their knees and begging our forgiveness for what they put us through. Several of them tried to kill us. Upon returning to the Town Square, Gengar acts like MC is turning them-self in because they don't have any proof, even though he never had any proof to begin with, and it's only after MC is "cleared" by Team A.C.T. that everyone remembers that Gengar is untrustworthy. Reading the words "under the watchful eye of Alakazam" has always made me extremely salty. I don't have much to say about the Mankey brothers but they irritated me as well. Maybe I was just out of patience after the Fugitive Arc but I found myself wondering why we appeased them at all. Initially, we give them the chestnuts because they attack us if we don't. No matter how many times we beat them, they keep attacking if they're told no. I realize it's a staple in Pokemon games to have false yes/no choices, but those are especially noticeable in the games that focus on story. And sometimes the excuses are just pathetic. Meanwhile, the other pokemon continue to treat you as rookies, as kids. You are once again "forbidden" by...um, the other townsfolk, from going on the Rescue Mission until you talk them into it. It's like...guys. You put us through hell. We could have died a dozen times over, because you bought into the mob mentality for no good reason. How does everything just go back to normal after that? 

I don't mind Gengar at first. He's a villain, and a well-written one. He's got a clear personality and there's hidden depth in there as well. He's one of my favorite characters in the game, easily. And all of the stuff he does in the main story? Stealing the mail, manipulating Caterpie, and the stuff during the Fugitive Arc? That weird psychedelic sequence where he's dragging MC down to hell at the end? (Or whatever that was?) All fine by me. He's a villain. He's doing bad things. But sweet Arceus is Gengar annoying in the Post-Game. I wonder if this must be how Merula Snyde Antis feel, over in the HPHM Fandom. Because the MC has absolutely no motivation or reason to help him out. He just demands that they act as his bodyguard, offers nothing in return, and won't leave you alone until you say yes. Buddy, my team has like thirty pokemon at this point and they're all hanging out in the Friend Areas a few feet away. You think you can intimidate me? The only reason I'm helping is to progress the storyline. And throughout this entire storyline, you have to help Gengar even though he hasn't earned it. 

He does not deserve forgiveness, or a reconciliation with Gardevoir. What if I don't want to help him because I don't think Gardevoir would want to see him? What if I think that it would do her no good to see him? He's unrepentant and awful, the story does the bare minimum to suggest that he's changed. Now I will admit one thing: I love the moment that Ninetales first appears, sees Gengar, and simply goes "...What do you want." Like. Like that was the moment that I put it together, before he went on to tell the rest of the story. I love simple moments that make the big reveal crystal clear without needing to directly tell or show the audience. I've always dug that. But everything that happens after that is frustrating. Gengar demands the curse be lifted, despite having no justification to offer Ninetales. He threatens to attack them, but then clarifies that MC will be the one doing the fighting. Excuse me? Why would I ever do that? MC just found out the truth about Gengar, what he did to Gardevoir, and then how he pinned it all on them during the fugitive arc. Gengar, why would I attack Ninetales after this, instead of attacking you? Tell me I don't initiate battle against you right now? Thankfully MC doesn't have to actually fight Ninetales, but they are still forced to testify at Gengar's "trial" and it's a forgone conclusion because no matter what answers you give, it's treated as MC acknowledging his growth and he is forgiven at the end. 

Oh, I’ve just thought of something else. MC isn’t given a reason for why they have to leave the Pokemon world, or why they were able to return. Explorers gave a reason. Gates to Infinity and Super Mystery Dungeon made a whole post-game story out of their reasons. Here? We get nothing. MC’s “role” has finished and so they have to return to the human world. Never mind what they want. Not until after the dramatic moment where they have to leave has passed, anyway. That voice at the end who suggests that we may be able to see our partner again just by “wishing.” Who the hell was that? What did they mean? Look, by Pokemon standards, the Rescue Team story is quite substantial. By Pokemon Mystery Dungeon standards? It’s...probably the weakest story. I mean, to be fair, Super Mystery Dungeon had the endless schoolhouse arc that added up to nothing in the second act. But hell, that was still fun. And I suppose the Fugitive Arc and Gengar’s “redemption” were fun too. Just frustrating as well. 

[fandom-thingies]

This is an unfinished draft of a long, in depth analysis I’m planning of everything we know about Silksong. The final draft will have detailed analysis of enemies, areas, names, and many, many attempts to draw parallels with Hollow Knight. Without further ado, here’s the draft!

Will Hornet have her memories? Or will the winds of the Wastes have swept them away?

Prequel or sequel? (I’m thinking sequel, based on the implied presence of weavers in the trailer)

Lace fights Hornet (at least) twice, doesn’t call her by name, and knows things. IS SHE A HORNET PARALLEL AND HOW MUCH

What awful thing is going to happen to the flea-collecting village? Will they all die, or will they turn out to be evil? (My money’s on the latter)

Is the bell cult good, bad, or something else?

Who is the main villain?

Is Lace an antagonist or a Hornet parallel?

Lesbians???

Everything in Silksong seems much more vibrant than Hallownest. Instead of muted colors and effectively blank backgrounds, all of the areas we’ve been shown seem to be very saturated, and the design feels like everything is there for a reason. It’s a stark contrast to Hollow Knight’s busy backgrounds and dour themes, and is it possible the story reflects/is intended to reflect this?

Why does that one enemy look so much like steel soul Jinn?

Is Lace void??

Seriously though, she covers almost all of her body and her face is very similar to that of a shade’s. The existence of the shade trap room in the Colosseum of Fools implies the existence of other void creatures, though of course it could simply have been built for THK. We know void creatures are capable of having voices, as evidenced by the Collector, so IS LACE VOID???

That one area has a lovely juxtaposition between the white roses carpeting the ground and the industrial style pipes in the background, and knowing team Cherry, there’s definitely a reason for this.

Who kidnapped a Hornet and why?

Who sent the butterfly that breaks the seal of binding on her cage? Lace knows about Hornet’s imprisonment- could it have been her? Though she admittedly doesn’t seem to have much motivation to keep Hornet alive...

In Hollow Knight, the name of the game is also the name of the final boss. Could this also be true to an extent for Silksong? I doubt the boss would be named that explicitly, but perhaps someone who holds an association to both?

Multiple endings?

Will the final boss actually be the final boss? In Hollow Knight, the Radiance acts as a sort of hidden boss. Will this also be true in Silksong?

Will there be godseekers or the Grimm Troupe?

Will Ghost or THK be mentioned?

Will this focus more on expanding Hallownest’s lore or introducing Pharloom’s?

Points of interest:

1. Hornet appears to be performing a move similar to a great slash or dash slash here, which the enemy appears to be attempting (succeeding?) to deflect with their scissors

2. 2. In Hollow Knight, almost every fence or wall in Hallownest had the repeated motif of the king’s seal. This design looks a lot like a godseeker’s mask, as well as some of the enemies that have been revealed so far.

3. These appear to be at least four massive spools of silk. We know for a fact that there are weavers in Pharloom, and the sheer amount of silk here is more than we ever see in one place in Hallownest. Could it be possible that weaversilk is being farmed somehow?

4. It’s difficult to see, but this appears to be a massive control wheel, like you’d see on a valve. It’s much bigger than any standard bug could take advantage of, but we already know that Silksong is going to have some massive enemies, so it’s possible one of these also acts or acted as an overseer for this area.

5. This wall design heavily reminds me of both the walls in the Resting Grounds and the Birthplace. Are these corpses, or simply made to look like them? Either way, there’s definitely lore attached.

As well as all that, note how thin the support struts are, and how they appear wooden and cobbled together. I propose that what Hornet is climbing on here is the scaffolding around a massive silk related machine of some sort. Maybe an automatic loom?

Points of interest:

1. You’ll note that the enemy is holding a gilded pin, which is the same weapon Lace uses and is described as “the traditional weapon of Pharloom” by Team Cherry. I take this to mean that this bug has probably been in this place for a while.

2. This isn’t big or anything, but it’s very interesting to me that both Hallownest and Pharloom use lumafly lanterns for light. This implies some interesting things either about Hallownest and Pharloom’s proximity or the ubiquity of lumaflies.

3. This is clearly a graveyard. I find it very interesting that the stones seem to be entirely plain of embellishment or text except for the bell symbol. Also, I wonder if the graveyard being here means that we’re close to the Citadel?

4. This appears to be a fallen elevator. I’m not sure what else I could draw from it, but it definitely adds to the dilapidated and abandoned feel of this area.

5. This enemy has three golden straight pins. It’s very possible that you gain the ability to throw three at once after vanquishing one of these enemies. Another interesting thing to note is that the enemy isn’t holding these pins. If you look closely, their hand is at their side. The pins are instead seemingly fastened to their head somehow.

6. This is difficult to see properly, but the design on the fence here appears to be similar to the shape of the fallen elevator. It could also be read as a representation of the Citadel.

A few other things to note are that the colors here are almost identical to those of the resting grounds, including the enemies. This is unusual as far as Silksong goes, as most of the areas are far more intensely saturated.

These enemies appear to be wearing cloaks. It’s difficult to tell whether it’s the shadow of the hood that’s hiding their faces or whether that’s simply what they look like.

Also, Greymoor is a very interesting name and I’d like to explore what precisely a “moor” is, because I think this may give more clues as to the nature of the area.

Moors are defined as highland areas with acidic soil and low vegetation. The fact that moors are specifically highland areas makes me suspect even more that Greymoor connects directly to the Citadel, as Silksong appears to be a game mostly focused on going up, so where better to transition from the ground to the Citadel than highland?

1. We know from the Resting Grounds that this is how Ari draws mummified corpses. The fact that this corpse is walking around definitely implies some shenanigans. It brings to mind the description of Greymoor as “haunted”.

2. The fact that this corpse is lying on the ground makes me wonder if most of these mummified bugs will lie still on the ground until they notice Hornet, which would be an interesting enemy mechanic.

3. This lumafly lantern is tinted green, which I’m pretty sure we never saw in Hollow Knight. (Correct me if I’m wrong) It makes me wonder if something special was done to the lantern to achieve this.

4. Team Cherry has said that Hornet’s silk and soul are “inseparably intertwined”. It’s a very nice design touch to see that healing creates both kinds of particle.

5. See those motes in the air? They look very similar to the spores of the Fungal Wastes, and I suspect they may be the reason moss covers everything here.

What I lined in dark blue is the visible boning beneath the moss, and what I lined in cyan is the places where the moss grows too regularly, implying yet more boning just beneath.

I’m not sure whether this is deliberate or whether the moss grew over already existing structures to cause this, but another thing to note is that the way this moss grows is very reminiscent of moss balls, or marimo balls, an aquatic plant that grows in freshwater lakes.

The reason this interests me isn’t because I think these *are* moss balls, but rather because of how natural grottos form.

Most natural grottos are formed by water eroding soft rock like limestone into large caves. It’s common for them to either be flooded or to flood at high tide, which when combined with the aquatic vegetation in this area, could imply that it will be flooded for part of the game or at intervals. It’s possible Team Cherry would use this to echo the way that the Forgotten Crossroads turn into the Infected Crossroads, or it could be a way of gating the first area behind you until you get more movement capabilities similar to the Howling Cliffs.

Lastly, one of the root words for Grotto is the Latin word for “crypt”. Combined with the mummified corpses here, it makes me wonder.

Points of interest:

1. Confirmation that Hornet can look up! I don’t think anyone was worried about it, but it’s good to know we’ll still be able to do that.

2. You’ll note, first of all, that this is unusually bare for Ari’s backgrounds. The designs are smooth with little shading and there are massive dark areas. This leads me to believe that this isn’t the finished background, nor the one we’ll see in game.

3. The two strange objects at the corners of the screen are difficult to identify. Personally, I think they look like plugs of some sort, though I have no idea what they might be plugging. Maybe magma?

4. What is it with Team Cherry and throwing dead bodies everywhere? That’s litter, it’s illegal. Anyway, what might have killed these bugs?

5. You’ll note the massive misshapen mountain of bones in the background. Where did all of these come from? Also, the fact that they are bones means that this is probably Bonebottom. I’d like to call your attention to the fact that bugs don’t actually have bones, just exoskeletons, which makes the source of these even more dubious.

6. There are several ember particle effects, which I take to mean that there’s a whole bunch of magma nearby.

7. There are a few links of chain attached to each plug. Likely this is to allow them to be dragged open. I’m very curious whether this is just a design detail or whether opening these plugs will be used as a mechanic somehow.

Circled in blue are the (brass?) rings on Shakra’s arms as well as a similar ring on the ground. I’m not sure why one of her arm rings would be on the ground, but maybe it’s similar to Cornifer’s pages?

[punz4lyfe]

Now you've been asked what you do like about him what about the opposite what don't you like about goh?

Aw man, this is gonna hurt.

TL;DR - Goh’s a completely lovable character, but I have three particular issues with him that I feel could become worse if not taken care of properly.

First off, DISCLAIMERS!! To all my fellow Goh fans, please know that writing this, I do not mean any hatred to Goh in anyway. I LOVE Goh, and if you’ve seen literally ANY of my past anipoke posts, you would already know that. These are just issues I find with his character that I want to be changed for the best.

Now with that outta the way, here’s what I don’t like about Goh:

1. His iffy character development. While he’s doing fine in becoming more open to people and more willing to help Pokemon, his fighting skills are what I have trouble with it. Let’s go back to his first ever official battle.

It was at Hoenn’s Frontier Cup where he used Scorbunny and Scyther against a trainer’s Mightyena. Despite having a type advantage with Scyther, he lost horribly, which is completely understandable. He’s a beginner and doesn’t possess the same kind of street smarts and experience Ash and many other trainers have. Alright then, so maybe this will lead to a change in character of wanting to become better in battles by getting some training with Ash, who made quick work of that Mightyena trainer. Surely we’ll get some development over this topic after this episode!

He beats Saffron City’s Karate Master and scores a free Hitmonchan.

...Okaaaay, I mean, we’ve never seen the Karate Master in battle before, so perhaps it was just another fodder trainer the anime is filled of. I sure we’ll get some more Goh development after thi-

He easily defeats and captures a powerful Flygon.

.....Alright, alright, it was only a wild Pokemon. Everyone can beat those, right? Heck, in the next episode, he technically suffers a curbstomp loss against Kiawe and admits he only battles Ash every so often. Perhaps this loss will encourage Goh to train more with Ash so he could become a stronger trainer. I mean, despite his good luck with Pokeballs, he’s gonna need to be as strong as he can be for tougher mons, like Legendaries. I’m 100% sure we’ll get something out of thi-

He takes down a wild Zapdos and NEARLY captures it.

.........Uh, okie dokes, it wasn’t a successful capture, and who knows? Even though we have not seen him battle/train that much on-screen, maybe he just got a little lucky. Even in the games, it happens to the best of us. Perhaps this barely missed victory will finally give Goh the time to actually development more on-screen so that he could have a better chance agai-

He defeats Oleana’s Milotic, using his fire-type Raboot who only wanted to use a weak fire-type move.

..............Allllriiiiight, maybe Oleana just got a little cocky later on. Plus, Raboot finished Milotic by evolving in Cinderace and finishing it off with Pyro Ball. With this powerful evolution in hand, maybe Goh will finally realize that, in order for Cinderace to reach its greatest potential, he must start training for once and obtain some proper development for a chance against stronger threa-

Cinderace fights decently well against Mewtwo, even lasting longer than Pikachu and being on-par with the more trained Lucario.

....................At this point, I’m all out of excuses for him. Overall, Goh’s development as a trainer is very rushed to the point seeing him achieve numerous victories despite all odds being against his favor to be iffy.

2. Slightly touchy topic, but there are some negatives with his whole catching all Pokemon goal. So Goh wants to catch every single mon he can in order to reach up to Mew, as he said to Mewtwo in episode 46. And yes, this includes Legendaries as well. Unfortunately, this is where my issues with his goal starts. First off, where in the world will Goh keep any Legendary he encounters? Cerise’s glorified garden dome? Yeah, keep Dialga and Palkia, literal beings of space and time, inside a glass dome with a bunch of weaker mons. And speaking of which, wouldn’t catching mons like the Creation Trio or the Island Guardians cause quite the upset in, well, y’know, the natural balance of things? Sure, Goh technically hasn’t caught a single Legendary yet (Eternatus doesn’t count because it had to be sealed away), with how the anime is playing out, issues like this will surely rise throughout the series.

And yes, the anime is playing it out for Goh to indeed catch every single mon before reaching Mew. If you pay attention to the openings as well as many of Goh’s own character moments, such as episode 46, then you can easily see the signs telling us that Goh is bound to catch them all, just as Ash is bound on defeating Leon. In the past, pretty much all of Ash’s traveling companions had their own goals as well, but it’s usually because of those goals is why they leave Ash by the end of their journeys, like May and Dawn pursuing contests in other regions, Brock wanting to become a doctor, Iris wanting to find more Dragon types, Kiawe wanting to become an Island Kahuna etc. Because of that, it becomes up to the audience’s interpretation (and fanfics) on how they achieve their dreams and what challenges they could face throughout the way. With Goh, there will a lot more focus and emphasis placed on his goal, and while this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s too bad there aren’t really any stakes or obstacles in Goh’s journey!

Really now, another glaring issue with Goh’s goal is that he has NO trouble going through with it at all. From his very first fodder capture, all he has to do is get a good throw and then PING! Pokemon caught. Guess the thing of having to weaken a Pokemon first before capturing it has been retconned out of the anime forever. With that said, there’s absolutely no struggle for Goh to overcome in his journey, which kinda makes things boring. Where’s the challenge? Where are his rivals? Are there any doubts? Does he have any issue of having to catch and connect every single mon in existence? No, well then good for him I guess! Sad thing too is that he catches so many Pokemon with so much potential, but they then disappear completely after their debut.

Remember that free Hitmonchan he scored from Saffron’s Fighting Dojo who seemed completely willing to train with Riolu and Farfetch’d? Never seen again. That female Raichu who loves giving berries? Completely forgotten about. That Aerodactyl Goh resurrected and bonded with before catching? Thanos snapped. The Heracross Goh obtained from a trade at the cost of a second Pinsir he worked hard to find? Literally who?

3. And my biggest issue with Goh. The fact he’s somehow on the same scale as Ash.

Don’t believe me? Well, let’s go back to the ending of episode 46. After Mewtwo teleported him, Ash, Pikachu, Lucario, and Cinderace back home, Goh said this: “We’ve still got a long way to go.”

Excuse me, but WHAT?!?!?!

You BOTH got a long way to go, even though you both suffered a complete curbstomp from a mon that would probably even make the likes of Lance, Cynthia, and Leon comparable to Youngster Joey?!?! What the Distortion World?!?! Why is Goh and, by extension, the writers implying he and Ash are on even terms when it comes to being a trainer? Goh, as a reminder, you literally only began your trainer career 45 episodes ago!!

Alright, let’s talk about Ash for a second and what he’s been through since he started his trainer career. Ash started in Kanto, and while he really only fairly achieved three out of his eight badges (Brock and Misty’s were givens, Erika’s was a thank-you gift, Sabrina’s was all Haunter’s doing, and Jessie and James are complete jokes that no one should take seriously), he still partook in as many battles as he could against tough trainers while getting some pointers from the much more experienced Misty and Brock. After that, he went on to become a much more impressive trainer in later journeys. Instead of a full recap, I’ll just list two impressive things Ash has done in each region he’s journeyed through after losing in the Kanto League.

Orange Islands: Won his first official double battle with Pikachu and Charizard despite neither initially getting along at first and then defeated the Orange League champ, Drake.

Johto: Survived an entire forest of bloodthirsty Ursaring with his friends and defeated Gary’s Blastoise with his Charizard.

Hoenn: Helped stopped both Team Magma and Team Aqua’s elemental threats and reached Top 8 in the Hoenn League despite only two of his mons being fully evolved with one being a glass cannon bird.

Kanto again: Conquered the Battle Frontier and tied with May in his first ever contest.

Sinnoh: Helped protect a Riolu from the famed Hunter J and knocked out two of Tobias’ Legendary Pokemon.

Unova: Defeated Iris’ Dragonite twice (Charizard pretty much had the high ground in their fight) and helped protect Meloetta.

Kalos: Defeated four Mega Evolutions (Lucario, Abomasnow, Absol, and Sceptile) and was one of the main heroes against Lysandre.

Alola: Became an Ultra Guardian and conquered the Alola League.

And right now as of Journeys: Defeated Korinna’s Mienfoo and Mega Lucario with only Dragonite right after the two curbstomped Gengar and defeated Chairman Rose.

And this isn’t even scratching the surface, and yet, somehow, Ash is still on the same scale of Goh. This doesn’t make any logical sense, it completely negates Ash’s experience while over-wanking Goh’s, and it ruins any semblance of power scaling between the two. Logically, Ash should be leagues above Goh and the latter should always confide to Ash whenever he needs assistance or pointers, not “Oh, we both lost to a powerful legendary, guess that means we both have stuff to learn and we’re both beginners lul”. It’s like Deku and All Might both losing a villain that’s beyond both of their capabilities, and then Deku saying that they BOTH have much to learn afterwards! Does it make sense? HECK NO.

If they had to have Goh comment about their loss, why couldn’t he say something that would’ve made more sense? Maybe say something like “Wow, I can’t believe I lasted that long, honestly.” And then Ash would say, “Hey, you’re only getting better. And me and my team will always be there in case you need more training.” Have the two acknowledge the fact that even trainers like Leon wouldn’t fare any better than them against Mewtwo. Just absolutely anything that doesn’t completely ruin what we know of these characters to the point the two are considered equals, despite all the evidence saying otherwise.

I’m getting a little exhausted now, so I’m done, but thanks for asking, anon!

And for anyone reading, please feel free to agree or disagree. I’m completely acceptable to anyone else’s thoughts/opinions over Goh and would love to hear them.

[friendlyfrat-boy]

The Straw-Hat Among Us Ch2

Red: Shanks

Something was up. He was coming along alright on the Shuttle, but…

Marco hadn’t come by for a second round. Zoro had been by a while ago to fix up some wiring, and that was the last time Shanks had seen anyone. He could probably continue working for a good while longer, but something told him that something had happened.

Something bad.

Right. Before Shanks left, he scribbled a little note for himself to know where he left off, and then he was off. He could probably have gone into the darkness immediately, but that was just not something he wanted to try. Instead, he went into the West Wing. A quick look into the CCTV room ensured that Kizaru was indeed still there, lazily flipping through the different cameras.

“Oh hiiiii Shanks, what’s uuuuuup?” he asked without even turning around, and Shanks recalled noticing a camera above the entrance. Effective.

“I’m looking for Marco, have you seen him?”

“The chieeeef?” Kizaru drawled out, tapping his chin with a thoughtful expression. “Nnnnnot in a while? Last I saw, he headed past Northeaaast.” Kizaru quickly hopped through the cameras, finally settling on one showing the northern entrance to the Laboratory. Nobody was there or anything, but tracks in the snow showed that somebody had been there alright.

“Thank you. Keep an eye on me while I head there,” Shanks said, already heading towards O2 to seek up an old friend.

Kizaru watched him leave, finally slurring out a “okayyyyyy, I’ll watch your back, Shaaanks.”

Shanks smiled. He’d better.

“So, what you’re trying to say is, the kind of water you use actually matters? How the hell can the plant tell?? It’s braindead!” someone all-too-familiar to Shanks said.

“Well, um, it’s not like they can actually tell, they just kinda absorb whatever they get? And if they die, it makes me sad,” someone Shanks could only assume was Usopp replied. The young boy, young compared to the rest of them that is, was apparently telling Buggy about how to raise trees. “Furthermore, while they don’t have a brain like we do, they certainly do have-, ACK!!”

Upon noticing Shanks, Usopp jumped three feet into the air, proceeded to throw himself at Buggy and clung around the older man like a little kid around their father.

While Usopp whimpered, Buggy’s eyes widened in recognition. “Shanks!”

Shanks smiled. “The one and only, Buggy!”

“You… you’ll follow me to Hell and back, won’t you?!” Just as Shanks was about to respond, Buggy noticed Usopp clinging to him like gum to the bottom of desks. “You-, GET OFF OF ME, KID!” Hence, Usopp was unceremoniously cast off, whining both at the rough treatment and his own fear.

Shanks, however, had very little time to waste. “Buggy, I need your help. You’re the only guy I trust around here.”

Buggy blushed. “I-, you, you trust me?? I don’t trust you, why the hell would you-”

“It’s unimportant, I just need your help to find Marco.”

“Huh? The Chief? What for, is he dead or something?” Buggy asked while Usopp nervously got up on two feet. “I mean, sure, I’ll come along or whatever, but is there some reason?”

Shanks shrugged. “I just haven’t seen him in a while.” For some reason, Shanks caught Usopp’s gaze. “-If you’re afraid of being alone, you can come along as well.” Shanks scoffed. “Though we really shouldn’t be bringing any wimps, hah!”

Usopp growled. “Hey, I’ve got every right to be afraid! There’s murdery killers out there! Probably!” He was right, but Shanks still couldn’t help but find his cowardice somewhat endearing.

“Alright, alright. Let’s get going, fellows,” Shanks said. Usopp and Buggy shared a glance, and followed him.

The wind seemed to have picked up somewhat since Shanks left the Shuttle, seeing as how it was almost harsh enough to pick the young Usopp right off of his feet. Then again, Buggy seemed quite watchful of him, enough to place a grounding hand on his shoulder whenever the wind swept him off his feet, so Shanks didn’t think there was anything to worry about. They quickly rounded around the Main Building, made sure to wave at Kizaru once they got to the cameras, and continued their trek.

The lavapool stood out like a wolf among sheep, bubbling and churning with acidic magma. Beside it, a large figure sat hunched, back to them. It was hard to see in the darkness, but considering there was barely an outline of him apart from the white snow that had collected upon his shoulders, Shanks could only assume that it was Teach. “Hey, Teach! Everything alri-,”

Teach turned around. In the dim light, Shanks could barely make out the wetness on his cheeks. But what he did make out, in all-too-clear detail, was the body of Marco.

“GAAAAHH!!” Usopp screamed, falling back into the snow. “Wh-, what-, he’s DEAD!!”

Teach stammered for a moment, his wide, panicked eyes darting between the body he was cradling and his witnesses. “N-, no! I didn’t!”

Shanks stepped closer, his eyes burrowing into Teach’s. “Step away from the body, Teach.”

“N-, no, I-”

“Step. Away,” Shanks hissed through gritted teeth, trying his damned hardest not to throw himself at the larger man.

Teach’s jaw snapped shut and he slowly loosened his grip on the body, letting it fall into the blood-soaked snow. Oddly enough, Shanks could notice that although the ground was thoroughly soaked with blood, snowy white roses painted red, Teach didn’t have a drop on him. The body wasn’t bleeding either.

Slowly, Teach rose to his feet, legs shaking as he attempted to steady himself against a rocky stalagmite. While he did that, Shanks stepped up to the body.

The snow around his body was almost entirely unmoved, with all tracks apart from theirs and Teach’s already being covered up by the snow. Even then, The killing wound, a stab-wound to the chest, was clean and almost professional. Only the part actually stabbed was harmed, meaning that Marco couldn’t have struggled much before his departure. The murder-weapon was nowehere to be found.

Teach sniffled, and Shanks realized that they had things to do apart from analyzing the body. He reached over to the side of the head, found the button signifying the death of the crewmate, and pressed it three times, twice in quick succession and once a beat after.

From the way Usopp stumbled back, part of his helmet visor flashing red, Shanks knew the message had been sent out.

With that, he headed inside the Office, noting how the blinking red light on the security cameras went out as Kizaru left them. Usopp, Buggy and Teach all trailed behind him. There was something abnormally heavy about the way Teach walked, his spirit seemingly so broken that his body could barely house it properly. Once they got to the Office, they found Smoker and Zoro already there, waiting impatiently for the rest of the group to join.

“What happened?” Smoker asked, letting his gaze fall on the black sheep of the group, namely Teach. “Is he… crying?...”

“N-, no!” Teach quickly swiped at his eyes, “I’m not! And even if I was, is it so wrong for a man to mourn his brother?!”

Silence passed through the group. Smoker’s eyes widened, but Shanks didn’t let him say anything. “Hold on, let’s leave discussion for once everyone arrives.”

The door opened. “Aaaaaahh, am I laaate?” Kizaru smiled sheepishly as he scratched his head. Upon seeing Shanks, his smile widened a little bit. “I saw you waaaaving, it was pretty nice of youuu~” he said happily, giving a little wave to demonstrate the occasion. Shanks returned the wave, even though the situation was hardly right for it.

Within only a minute or so Caesar and Doflamingo arrived, but Shanks could hear them coming from miles, chattering like a pair of cockatrices. It mostly seemed to be Doflamingo barrating Caesar for some minor mishap, with the scientist growing disproportionately offended with each tease, his defences growing weaker as well. “-I’m telling you, it was all that no-good Smoker’s fault! If his poor ventilation hadn’t set me back, I’d-”

“You’d be done by now, sure. And I’m the queen of Spain!”

Caesar scowled unhappily. “-You’re not royalty in the least, a crown figure would surely have more tact than you!”

“Everyone, please take a seat,” Shanks said, cutting off Caesar before he could say anything further.

“Hey, I was-,” the second Caesar saw what kind of atmosphere lingered in the office, he shut up, and sat down. Doflamingo followed along, snickering at the livid scientist. After a few moments, everybody was seated, staring expectantly at the only one who was still standing, namely Shanks himself.

“Marco is dead.” The only ones seemingly surprised by this was Doflamingo and Caesar, who both took it with wildly different kinds of emotion. While Doflamingo showed a childish glee at the game finally getting started, Caesar gasped, what little colour he had draining from his face in an instant. Zoro and Smoker both showed apparent indifference, as if they’d expected this, but one would be a fool not to notice the way their eyes sharpened. “-We found his body by the lava pit, just out of sight for both cameras.”

“We?” Smoker asked.

Shanks nodded. “I suspected something might have happened to him and went to fetch someone to find him with. As I trusted Buggy, I got him to follow along, with Usopp hanging with us as extra security. When we found his body, Teach was cradling it.” All eyes possibly able to be suspicious at this moment turned to Teach, whose expression was that of poorly-kept sorrow.

“Yeah, I was with ‘im! I found his body, and,” a sob clawed through his throat, “and I had ‘ta mourn him for a second! Is that so weird?!” Teach recounted, face twisting into a glowering grimace.

Shanks didn’t take this with anything but mild curiosity. “Why would you mourn a man you barely knew?”

“Barely knew? ZEHAHAH! He was my brother! Perhaps not by blood, but by HEART!”

“And when you found him, he was already dead?”

Teach glanced away, a shadow passing through his eyes. “Yeah, dead he was. Dead as dust.”

That was that.

Smoker leaned forwards, resting his chin on his folded hands. “-In other words, the biggest suspect would be Teach.” Teach seemed to take this with no little ire, but Smoker continued before he could argue. “Him, and…” he turned a calm eye to Shanks, “-you.”

“And why do you think I did it?” Shanks asked, wise enough not to take Smoker’s suspicion as anything personal.

Smoker shrugged. “Let’s say you killed him. Nobody else was in the Shuttle, you evaded the cameras and found him, killed him and left him there. You return to the shuttle, wait for a bit, go find a few crewmates to go ‘find the Chief’ with, and then you’re automatically absolved of all guilt. With witnesses, and two of them, to boot, there would be little reason for anyone to suspect you.”

He made a good point.

A murmur passed through the collected members before Shanks raised his hand, bringing the rest to silence. “-Of course, a perfectly valid theory.” He let his gaze fall on Teach, his eyes still red and haunted. “-Then again, when we found the body, it was already cold. If I wished to absolve myself of all guilt, shouldn’t I have made sure to find it while it was still warm, to ensure it was clear I hadn’t done it myself?”

Smoker nodded silently. “Suppose so. Forgive my suspicions, it’s second nature.” His eyes narrowed. “I got a good nose for odd people.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Caesar raised his hand. Shanks nodded at him, giving the word to him. “I, uh, so there isn’t any concrete evidence? Or anything? No footprints, no scribbling in blood, just a bunch of hunches?”

Doflamigo grinned. “Is there anything better?”

Caesar’s eyes went wide and outraged. “Yeah! Evidence, damn it! If we don’t have any proper empirical data, how can we possibly go about yapping that you think the guy in red seems suspicious for finding the damn body?!” At that, Caesar stood up, hands planted on the table in a show of confidence, despite his brows being deeply furrowed. “Red, no, Shanks. I say we just skip this whole damn thing.”

“Y-, yeah!” Usopp squawked. “Let’s not kill someone for-, for finding a body or mourning their brother, it just-,”

Zoro placed a hand on Usopp’s shoulder. “Don’t be so naïve, Usopp. If you can’t make tough calls…” his eyes grew sad, “I don’t think I can trust you in the least.”

“Hey, hey!” Buggy called out, standing up to grab everyone’s attention. “Cool it, you flashy idiots! Before we go making wild assumptions, let’s just take a look at who’s safe and isn’t.” Buggy turned to Usopp and flashed a reassuring smile. “Usopp is safe. Until Shanks picked us up, we were together ever since Marco held the first meeting. Is there anybody else who can say something similar?”

Doflamingo raised his hand. “I and hornhead here have been in the Laboratory since the very start.” A disappointed frown quickly marred his countenance. “Shame we couldn’t see the fireworks.”

Shanks nodded, satisfied with knowing who were undisputedly safe and who weren’t. “Who saw Marco last?”

Caesar, Doflamingo, Smoker and Zoro all gave each other a look. In the end, Smoker was the one to speak. “Purple ‘n Pink called me over to the Laboratory to fix a faulty vent. While we were arguing, Marco and Zoro entered. Zoro went to fix some wires in the stalls while I left to fix the lower decontamination room. Marco came with Zoro but left without him.”

Caesar suddenly seemed thoughtful. “Wait, I didn’t see you leave, Zoro?” Although it was more of a statement than anything, it was really a question.

Zoro paused for a moment. “...Are you suspecting me?” he growled, eyes turning dark.

“N-, no, I just-,”

“Zoro,” Shanks affixed the green-haired man with a glare, “answer the question.”

Zoro shrugged in a huff. “I left through the decontamination rooms. I even met Smoker on the way out, in Admin.”

Smoker nodded, affirming that he’d seen Zoro as well.

Doflamingo leaned in closer to the table, an amused glance thrown Teach’s way. “You’re being rather quiet, brother dear. Cat got your tongue?” A toothy grin settled on his face. “Or should I say bird~?”

“DON’T YA DARE SPEAK OF ‘IM!!” Teach practically threw himself at the skinnier man, face flushed in angry red hues. “YA DON’T KNOW NUTHIN’!”

Shanks and Smoker both stepped in between them, Smoker grabbing Teach’s wrists while Shanks prepared to assist him. Teach was a big man, easily the tallest in there, as broad as he was tall, most of his weight being muscle. Still, Smoker stopped him. A less attentive man than Shanks might have thought that this meant Smoker was simply stronger than Teach, but not so. If Teach had wanted to, he could easily have plowed through both Smoker and Shanks, and yet, he was stopped, merely because he wanted to be.

“Not another step,” Smoker rumbled in a low, guttural voice.

Teach stopped, glanced between Smoker and the rest of the people assembled, and proceeded to break down into a pile of sobs on the floor.

Shanks stepped away from Teach and looked out at the people assembled. Nobody was without suspicion, be it towards their crewmates or directed towards themselves. “-We need to vote.”

“-Vote?” Usopp asked, brows squashed together.

Shanks nodded. “Everybody will vote on the person they deem the most suspicious, or you will choose to skip. The option with the most votes gets-,”

“Ah, what does this do?” Usopp wondered aloud as he pressed a red button. Blip. “...What did I just do?...”

A little tiny wave of panic washed up on the shores of Shank’s heart. “I-, um, I think you might have voted for someone? But, but don’t tell us who. Right, so, now that you all-”

Blip. Blip. ...Blip.

Alright. Since everybody had already gotten to voting, hopefully doing so with more tact than Usopp did, Shanks also voted. Suspecting Teach would be the easy option. They found him with the body, he’s been acting almost too emotional ever since… Still, Shanks just couldn’t find it in him to suspect him. Neither could he suspect himself, of course. Smoker and Zoro saw each other in Admin, Doflamingo and Caesar were with each other, Kizaru was in the CCTV room…

In the end, Shanks chose to skip the vote. Hopefully, a few others would do so as well. A few more blips ring out, and then, all the votes were counted.

Now, they would be tallied. The projector at the end of the Meeting room turned on, showing a list of their names and the people who voted for who.

The little wave of panic in Shanks’ heart rose to a tidal wave as three votes against him were counted.

The only other person with that many votes was Teach. Two people skipped, and one person voted for Zoro of all damn people.

Doflamingo, Teach and Usopp voted for Shanks.

Caesar, Buggy and Zoro voted for Teach.

Shanks and Kizaru skipped voting.

Smoker voted for Zoro.

“-Oi!” Zoro called out.

Smoker shrugged. “Could’ve been one clever ruse, what with following and leaving him.”

“Calm down, calm down!” Shanks said, mostly just to himself. Looking at these results…Although he should have been extremely unsettled knowing three people had voted for him, he knew Usopp had only done so by mistake. The thing is, if Usopp hadn’t voted for him…

Teach might have been killed.

It was a strange way of seeing it, but it calmed Shanks quite a lot.

“So, uh, what happens now?...” Usopp asked timidly.

“Noooooow,” Kizaru said slowly, rising from his chair. “Now I return to my dutieeeess.” He waited a moment before leaving, the cogs in his head turning slowly. “Haha, duutiess… like doodyyyyyy~.”

Nobody laughed at his joke, but his sentiment was right. “Return to completing your tasks,” Shanks said, translating Kizaru-ese into human.

People glanced at each other, and the next second, they were gone. Usopp went with Buggy, Caesar went with Doflamingo, and the last four remaining were the people with lonesome duties. Teach left without speaking a single word to anybody. Zoro turned to Shanks. “I don’t trust you, but I’ve got business in the Shuttle.”

Shanks nodded, smiled warily, and left the office, Zoro trailing alongside him. It was strange. So much had happened, and yet the sky was the very same muddy black colour.

The Shuttle wasn’t far away, and by this point, just the sight of it made Shanks feel a whole lot better. He didn’t have much left to do, so as long as he wasn’t disturbed for a while, he’d be fine. Before he actually got to work, he took a seat in one of the many landing chairs fastened to the wall, watching as Zoro fixed up the wiring. After a few minutes, Zoro was done with his work and left to go work elsewhere.

But before Shanks could get to work, he heard something odd. Some odd sound out there that rung out above the crackling electricity and howling winds and whirring reactors.

A human sort of sound. “-Not already!”

Shanks instantly cast aside all other work and ran out of the shuttle. He’d be a dead man before those damn killers could get their hand on someone else! Zoro only left a minute ago, so they must be after him!

Panting, Shanks finally came to a stop, standing right in front of the entrance to Electrical. The camera above the door was flashing red. Shanks smiled and gave it a hesitant wave. But this isn’t where the sound came from. A little further down. Shanks reluctantly headed south, the crackle of electricity, snow hitting exposed wires, grew louder with each step he took, until it completely drowned out the sound of his boots hitting snow.

The sound was like the growling crackle of the fence, but louder, as if someone had thrown a bucket of water on it.

Soon, Shanks found the reason for the sound.

A little snowman, adorable in composition, had been tipped over, causing the electric fence to crackle and pop with noise, far above what it would usually sound like.

Shanks let out a deep sigh. Jesus Christ. That had been quite the thing to see.

...That is, until he noticed the footsteps he was standing in. There was a bootprint in the snowman. Someone had been here. Only recently. They tipped over the snowman. Caused this buzz of noise. Caused an alarming sound. Gave someone something to investigate. Something to come check out.

Shanks’ heart was engulfed and drowned in icy cold panic, and the next moment, his neck was snapped 180 degrees.

There was an odd look in his killer’s eyes.

[itsthestutterforme]

Past Loves (Haikyu!)

Y/N and Kageyama meet for the first time since their relationship in middle school.

--

One of Y/N's teammates arranged for a practice game at Karasuno high school. On the drive there, she could have sworn that she saw someone who looked just like Kageyama. Y/N and Kageyama used to date in junior high, and it was a cute relationship. They actually met through volleyball, but Kageyama was alot more serious about it.

He sacrificed everything to be great at volleyball, even Y/N. She decided it was best if they went their separate ways and that was the end of it. Y/N and her teammates parked at the high school and walked to the gym. "This school is pretty small compared to ours," one of her teammates said. "Yeah, but I've heard good things about their boys volleyball team," Y/N states.

"Really?" "Oh yeah, their quicks are killer." Y/N says. "Well so is ours," her best friend, Y/F/N, said with a wink. Y/N smiled back at her and they all walked into the gym. They find an open court and set their stuff down along the wall. They put on their knee and elbow guards before going on to the court.

Y/N and her best friend were practicing their infamous magma spike when Kageyama and his team walked in. When one of Y/N's team mates threw a back toss, Y/N jumped and hit the ball right into the back right corner. "Alright, Y/N!" Kageyama froze when he heard Y/N's name. "What's wrong, Kageyama?" Hinata asks.

Kageyama doesn't say anything, he just looks over at Y/N in her normal squatting position, ready to receive the ball. "Do you know her?" Tanaka asks him. Y/N's best friend noticed Kageyama and tapped her on the shoulder. She motioned behind her and Y/N froze as soon as she saw Kageyama.

Y/F/N shoves Y/N and encourages her to talk to him "After the game," Y/N says. "He'll probably be gone," Y/F/N says. "Exactly," Y/F/N slaps Y/N's back, making her wince. "What the hell was that for!" Y/N snaps.

"We're going to spend a lot more time here. It's only going to get more awkward. Just rip off the band-aid now. I'll just call a time out." Y/F/N explains. "Ugh, I hate it when you're right." Y/N looks over to see the entire team staring at her. She got over the nerves and walked over to them.

The team had no idea how to react, so they all just stare at her with their cheeks glowing as red as tomatoes. "Kageyama, I-" "I'm sorry!" Kageyama shouts as he bowed before her respectfully. Y/N was taken aback at this. That wasn't something that the Kageyama she knew would have done.

The Kageyama she knew would have looked at her and walked away. Not to be rude, but because he didn't know how to cope with his guilt. Y/N bowed and said, "I'm sorry too," Her head accidentally touched his, and their bodies both shot upwards. Their cheeks glowed red and Kageyama scratches the back of his head nervously.

"I heard that your quicks are killer," Y/N states. "Where do you think I learned that from?" He asks. "Uh, Oikawa?" Kageyama's face scrunched with anger and Y/N had fear in her eyes. "No, I, uh.. I actually learned it from you," Kageyama stated. "Wh--" "Hey, Kageyama! How's it going?" Y/F/N interrupts.

"I'm alright," "We should head back to the game." Y/N says. "You okay?" Y/F/N whispers. Y/N nodded and when she turned to walk away, Kageyama says, "I wasn't mad at you. I was... Oikawa was a--" "I know, and he still is. Sorry that I brought it up." Y/N walked away and Kageyama watched her.

"You still have feelings for her, don't you?" Tanaka says as he nudges Kageyama in his side. Kageyama doesn't respond, he just continues to stares at Y/N.

**

Kageyama has been thinking about Y/N a lot more than he would like. But they haven't talked much. Y/N was practicing her sets when Kuroo from Nekoma approached her. He's always thought she was cute since the first time he saw her. "Has anyone ever told you how majestic you look when you jump into the air?"

"Nope," "Great, that means that I'm the first." Kuroo and Y/N continued to talk as Kageyama walks in. His blood boils as he sees Y/N laughing and smiling. He picks up a volleyball and spikes it towards Kuroo. Y/N blocked it and looked at Kageyama in disbelief. She stomped over to Kageyama and says, "What the hell was that?"

"I--" "You could have hurt someone," Y/N states. "He wanted to," Kuroo said as he approached them. "What?" "He wanted to send a message. That you were his," Kuroo says with his arms crossed. "Excuse me? I am not anyone's besides my own. And I'm not some object to have. I'm a human being."

"Now, let's keep this about volleyball." She adds before leaving them. "You heard her. Keep it about volleyball." Kuroo winks at Kageyama before going back to his team.