#Did the Pokémon presents disappointed me? Yes

[maburito]

I know it's annoying but I'm not done thinking about Pokémon, especially Pokémon Legends Arceus. Like the game is already a breath of fresh air in the franchise but what's really frustrating is that I know it could have been the best pokemon game of all time if capitalism wasn't a thing and the Pokémon company let their developers actual time to make good games, rather than prioritizing the numbers of game coming out in short time.

Like they really really didn't need to have the 9th generation coming out this year, Legends Arceus could have had DLCs and I know people would have been all over it.

More than anything though, if Gamefreak developpers had as much time and means for Legends Arceus as the Legend of Zelda team had for Breath of the Wild, there would have been no need for a 9th generation to come out the following months it would have probably made enormous sales

I would rather wait for a well developed game that take me hours to finish then one that was barely scrapped together so the next one could be produced and so on.

#Pokemon #Pokemon Legends Arceus #Did the Pokémon presents disappointed me? Yes #Look I'm just!! I'm not blaming the developpers though!! It's the ceo that's responsible it's those above!! #How are you gonna have one game coming out than barely a month later announces another!! #This is not normal! #Also it's so frustrating because Legends Arceus is great!! #It has so much good in it!! #Many good ideas!! #But it could have been way way better #And no I'm absolutely not talking about the graphism coz frankly I couldn't care less about them #I have so many ideas of things I had wished had happened in Pokemon Legends Arceus #Like mainly in terms of scenarios and even quest for legendaries #Like seriously you could have made a whole scenario where Darkrai had put someone into a nightmare #And thanks to Cyrus's grandma Abra you could enter the dream and maybe even have some horror elements added to it! #And the fucking distorsion world !!!!!! Why didn't we got a moment in the story where we were taken to the distorsion world with Volo!!! #And an evil possessed Arceus or maybe just a fight between Arceus and Giratina! #OK I'll stop aidbakxbzl #Burito talk

[artikgato]

2023 Retrospective

Welp, it's that time yet again. Time to go back through my social media and recount all of the weird shit that happened this year. How does this keep happening? Well, at least I'll have a little bit less work to do this year, since I stopped using Twitter pretty early on...

January:

Look, I'm just gonna say it. I geniunely miss how Twitter was before it got nuked by the muskrat. Going back through my (scarce) tweets from the early part of the year is making me sad.

Vox Machina season 2 dropped, and I got to see Victor the black powder merchant in all his animated glory

Valentines Mallow in Pokémas!

Ah yes, the onslaught of porn bots on Tumblr

Mccarthy losing the house speaker vote repeatedly was actually very funny

Wizards of the Coast pulling some Shit(tm)

Polls!

Animated Mighty Nein was announced

Tumblr sexyman polls

February:

Nintendo Direct! Highlights included the new Fantasy Life and Gameboy/GBA games on NSO

Vanilla Extract

Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne nendoroid (still no idea when it'll be up for preorders)

I did a series of polls to determine who everyone's favorite Pokémon gym leaders/elite 4/etc are

I posted the first edited down video from the Type Moon D&D campaign I'm playing in, Fate Dreams End

Pokémon Presents on the 27th was...disappointing (but not as disappointing as the one in the fall for sure)

#2023 retrospective

[itsbenedict]

I didn’t post about everything I played this year, so here’s my opinions on the stuff I played that I didn’t make a rec post for:

Raging Loop 

Raging Loop is one of them twisty meta Zero Escape-y branching-path visual novels where an ensemble cast is trapped in a mysterious circumstance where people are dying gruesomely, and you have to find out what’s happening and stop it by looping a bunch. 

I can’t wholeheartedly recommend it, because... it tries to have its cake and eat it too with the supernatural elements. Clearly magic is real and has important impacts on the scenario, but then other parts are trickery you’re supposed to see through, and it’s entirely uninterested in cluing you in to how that trickery was accomplished. Not exactly a fair play mystery, in that regard- you have to kind of just be along for the ride, rather than try to figure it out.

That said, it’s a good ride- pretty strong character writing, and the central conceit of the Werewolf/Mafia-style murder scenario creates really interesting drama. It’s more concerned with making itself feel clever than letting the player feel clever, but it’s still well-paced and gripping and has a pretty decent resolution.

Detective Grimoire

I recommended Tangle Tower, the sequel, pretty strongly- and this one, while obviously a little rougher around the edges with the art and mechanics (the suspicion tracker system is a total dud; I didn’t even realize it existed until I realized I was missing an achievement for using it), it’s still pretty darn good. Really fun character designs and animations, fully-voiced, and a solid whodunit backing it all. Plus- while the two are more or less self-contained, the continuity threads with Tangle Tower raised some really interesting questions.

Contradiction - the all-video murder mystery

This one was pretty fun, largely on the strength of the actors. The main mechanic of interrogating people on evidence and using their own statements against each other was some good stuff, too. Definitely had that Phoenix Wright quality to the deductions, and Jenks is a really fun character. (Had a few points where progression was just linked to standing in a certain previously-abandoned area of the map where a clue was suddenly there for no reason, there- good thing it had a hint system.)

As a mystery, it could use a little work- most of what you end up finding out is sequel bait (for a sequel that never actually came together, unfortunately), and the actual whodunit is just sort of hiding in the cracks of all that. And... cornering the culprit just sort of happens out of nowhere once you’ve got your hands on the right piece of evidence, without much fanfare. You’re following up on leads like usual, you find a little lie in someone’s testimony, and then- oh, shit, they’re just confessing everything! Unlike all the previous times you questioned them and they were super evasive like everyone else! And then the game is over. 

All in all, it’s pretty meaty and entertaining and I’d recommend it, but unfortunately the creators have moved on to other things, so there’s not going to be any follow-up on the stuff it left unresolved.

Ikenfell

Ikenfell is a tightly-designed RPG about kids at a magic school, with Paper Mario-style action command mechanics and a battle system that makes a big deal out of careful positioning and movement, which was really enjoyable. The difficulty’s a little high (I recommend always always always speccing into max damage because killing things before they kill you is worth more than any amount of defense, speed doesn’t work, and healing is cheap), but I found it really satisfying.

There’s... something... off? About... I don’t know how to put it, it’s... doing that “yes, everyone is queer and mentally ill, deal with it” thing, which, sure, okay. But for a lot of them it’s such a background thing, like... half the playable cast is unambiguously nonbinary, but like... I don’t know if it’s trying to make some statement on how there are no rules to being NB and you can 100% perform a particular binary gender presentation but still count, or if they wrote the whole story and then changed the pronouns of some of the characters for Representation Points, or what. Probably the former? I dunno, it just feels weird. Maybe I’m just not woke enough to Get It.

(unrelatedly: why the heck is the official art they use everywhere so... off-model? none of them look like they do in-game- they look like the creator commissioned someone to draw a group shot with one reference image each and didn’t tell them anything about the characters. how much you wanna bet they commissioned a friend and it came out wrong but they were too polite to say “sorry, no, this is wrong, can you do it over?”)

Trails of Cold Steel IV

Hoo boy. It’s... not great, and it’s not great in a pretty predictable way for an even-numbered entry in the Trails series. It happens every time- first there’s a game in a new engine with new characters and a new world to explore, and it’s really nice and does interesting things... and then it ends on a cliffhanger, and then there’s a sequel game in the same engine with the same characters and the same world, reusing as many assets as possible. Also the League Of Generically Evil Anime Supervillains is there causing trouble for reasons they refuse to explain, and the plot is a storm of magicbabble and macguffin-chasing that makes little to no sense. 

Cold Steel IV is that for Cold Steel III, full stop. Welcome back to all the same places you visited last game, except this time there’s some stupid magic apocalypse happening (not that it stops you from taking the time to do random sidequests constantly, of course). The whole “oh, the evil curse mind controls people and that’s why they do stupid bullshit that’s in no one’s interest” plot point is leaned on super hard, and it’s just a big yawn the whole way through.

It’s still really fun, though, because the battle system remains really well-designed. (The same battle system that was just as fun in Cold Steel III, mind you, but it hasn’t gotten old.) And- though they’re struggling to square it with the dumb mind control apocalypse plot, the NPC dialogue continues to make the world feel believable and lived-in. They don’t slack on the parts that make Trails good- it’s just the parts that make Trails bad are making themselves more evident than ever.

did finally get to date Towa though so that’s a win

One Step From Eden

OSFE is... uh. It’s fucking hard is what it is. It’s sort of a deckbuilding roguelike, and there’s this combat that takes place on a grid, and- wait, it’s like Mega Man Battle Network, it’s exactly like Mega Man Battle Network. Man, I forgot about that, but the mechanical influence is extremely obvious. It’s MMBN meets Slay the Spire.

Except it’s super duper hard as hell, because unlike MMBN you can’t pause and swap out chips or anything- everything is just always happening so much, all at once, everywhere, and you have no recourse but to git gud and learn all the enemy patterns and the behavior of your own spells and develop the twitch reflexes necessary to not fucking die from all the shit that’s on the screen always.

(What’s the story? Uhhhh, there was some kind of magic apocalypse, and some anime girls are trying to reach a city for some reason that doesn’t really get explained ever. The game doesn’t really care to build its world at all- it’s all mechanics plus a little token character dialogue that doesn’t say much.)

The point is it’s really frickin’ hard but I am an epic pro gamer and I got ALL THE ACHIEVEMENTS, MOTHERFUCKER. If you’ve played it, I expect you to be really god damn impressed with me, okay???

A Short Hike

This one was really relaxing! It’s a platformer where you explore an Animal Crossing-y island of cartoon animal people, collecting mobility upgrades- but like, mainly it’s about straight chillin’. The flight controls are fun and there’s lots of little secrets to find and it’s just a nice time that doesn’t drag on too long. Not too much to say about this one.

Pokémon Sword

Ehhhhh.

I’m not here for the hot takes about how Dexit is good actually. Development hell happened, they had to make cuts for time, I get it. It’s disappointing and makes the game a little bit worse, but it’s not the end of the world.

Apart from that... perfectly serviceable? The Wild Area could’ve used a little more technical polish (as could most things in the game, really) but was a step in the right direction, giving the player a wider array of early-game team-building options than ever before. No HMs is good. Story and characters were kind of nothing, but that’s par for the course. “At least this time they’re not shoehorning in some kind of stupid evil-team-wants-legendary-pokemon-to-destroy-the-world apocalypse plot”, I thought to myself before they managed to shoehorn one in at the last minute with zero buildup- but, hey, beats wasting half the game on it.

It’s nothing special and it’s missing a lot of polish, but its problems are mainly due to being rushed, and presumably next gen they’ll be able to reuse a lot of the models and animations (maybe even improve the animations so they’re not so boring??? a man can dream) and make something interesting. SwSh seem like they were testing the waters for something else, and not taking too many chances in the meantime. 

(yo why would you sell all these cosmetic items and then turn them all off during gym battles, though) 

Hades

Hades is- oh, who am I kidding? Everyone knows Hades, it’s the game of the year, greatest thing since sliced bread, Supergiant are heroes, yada yada yada. I’ve played almost 300 hours of it and I’ve completed everything except all the Resources Director levels (currently a Sigma Wraith), it’s extremely fun and you don’t need me to tell you that.

Petal Crash

It was that thing the Paranatural creator helped on? It’s, uh. It’s a block-sliding puzzle game thing, sort of in a Puyo Puyo vein. It has fun character designs and some good dialogue, like you’d expect from Zack’s involvement, but it didn’t really leave an impression otherwise (besides how got dang infuriating some of its Turn Trial puzzles can be.) The story is... kinda heartwarming, kinda didactic, kinda childish, not especially deep or interesting. Hard for it to be, when it’s told through little bits of fluffy character dialogue that exist to set up a puzzle battle as quickly as possible. Not super recommended unless you really really like block-sliding puzzles.

Hollow Knight

Man, why’d I sleep on this for so long? It’s a metroidvania platformer with heavy Dark Souls inspiration, in terms of tone and difficulty and death mechanics and environmental storytelling. And it’s... apart from all that, just really good as a game, with tight controls and juicy movement and great animation. Progression is linked as much to mastery as it is to upgrades collected- I found myself in lategame areas facing down things that would’ve killed me ten times over at the start- not because I had the best gear, but because I’d learned the game’s language and understood how to move in ways that wouldn’t get me killed.

(Usually. Sometimes I’d walk into a room and sit on a bench and suddenly there’d be a boss fight and I’d get slaughtered. Ain’t that just the way it goes?)

Anyway, on top of all that it’s just charming as hell, with a really unique and well-realized world full of little bug people. I love how, like, your character is clearly some kind of eldritch abomination, but it’s small and cute and so everyone (besides enemies that attack you on sight because they’re possessed by some kinda evil mold) is like “awww, who’s this little guy? want some help, little guy?”

(except Zote, who is just an ass hole. i love him.)

#game rec #also some game non recs #long post

[shinyacademy]

Is it Legit: Part 2

Today we’re going to look at a shiny Oranguru that was traded to me via Wonder Trade in Pokémon Sun. I’ve since moved him to Pokémon Shield which is risky business for a Pokémon of uncertain origin but I was fairly certain that he was the real deal (or close enough but we’ll get to that later). Since I wasn’t banned or suspended from Pokémon Bank or Pokémon Home, I can assume with confidence that my assumptions were correct. But how did I know?

Quick Note About Pokerus

Pokerus is often an indicator, or at least an orange flag, that a Pokémon has been hacked. However, it’s important to note what type of Pokerus. Active Pokerus is much more of an orange flag than latent Pokerus, which is what my Oranguru has.

Here’s my Dragapult who has active Pokerus, which means she could spread it to other Pokémon in the party with her. This is what hackers typically add to Pokémon because it’s more valuable to be able to spread Pokerus to other Pokémon. A quick note for those who don’t know, Pokerus is a rare but beneficial virus that Pokémon can suddenly develop or catch from other infected Pokémon.

In this case I exposed my Oranguru to Pokerus so there’s no worries either way. Now we’re going to go through the same steps in my last post to confirm his legitimacy.

1. Is it met on an impossible date?

It seems that bringing him to Galar has lost the date that he was captured on but it was not impossible.

2. Did it meet the OT in an impossible place?

Again, we’re not given a lot of information here but that’s ok. A lot of hacked Pokémon will say that they were met in a “fateful encounter”. This is reserved for event Pokémon and some wild Mythical Pokémon. Event Pokémon will often also state that they were an online present but not always.

3. Is it inside a Ball Combination that could not exist for the game the Pokémon came from?

No, Luxury balls are accessible in Pokémon Sun and Moon.

4. Was the Pokémon met at an illegal level?

I haven’t changed my Oranguru’s level so we can assume it was met somewhere around the level it’s at. However, shiny Oranguru who are caught by SOS chaining can be level 17 in Lush Jungle, so this makes sense.

5. Does it have perfect IVs?

As you can see, Oranguru’s IVs are less than impressive. If someone was chaining in hopes of finding a competitive ready Pokémon they would see this and be disappointed, which might explain why his original trainer decided to part with him in the first place.

6. Does it have an illegal moveset?

Pokémon Home has a feature where it will remove any moves from a Pokémon that are not legal for the game that it’s porting into (this is for game balance mostly because some legit moves are not supported in the newer games but it would also alter a hacked Pokémon’s moveset potentially). Oranguru kept all of his moves that he had in Alola though so he’s fine.

7. Does the Pokémon have the name of a streaming website or words that would normally be censored?

Nope! He’s just Oranguru.

Analyzing the Information

All signs point to Oranguru having been shiny hunted, probably via SOS chain, and then discarded for whatever reason (my guess is stats). We can only guess at the OT’s motives but nothing stands out as being suspicious for Oranguru.

Does that mean he’s legit?

People in the Pokémon community use the word “legit” to describe a Pokémon who definitely entered the game through legitimate means. What a lot of people don’t realize is there are no definitive ways to identify whether a Pokémon is legit or not outside of the knowledge of your own Pokémon that you get from your own games. Every time you do a high value trade with another trainer you are trusting that the Pokémon is legitimate (unless of course they are forthcoming about it being otherwise).

But I thought you said Oranguru isn’t hacked?

I don’t think he is based on our criteria and the fact that I wasn’t banned from using Pokémon services after putting him there. But he still could be cloned. A clone is a complete and perfect copy of an original Pokémon. Some streamers will utilize them to do mass giveaways and some people will utilize them to make multiple high value trades (after all, there are some Pokémon like Marshadow that sell for actual money). The thing is, you can identify if a Pokémon is hacked but there’s no way to identify a clone because it would just look like a normal Pokémon!

Should I worry about clones?

This is more of a personal opinion. Some people really agonize over whether their Pokémon are legit or not and some people don’t care. The only reason I care personally is because hacked Pokémon can get you banned from Pokémon services. Would I use those Pokémon? Probably not because I appreciate the value of working hard to achieve a desired result and it seems cheap to go into competitive with a hacked shiny. As for clones, why worry about something you can’t control? Maybe the Articuno I won in a contest recently is a clone? I’ll never know! But he makes me happy so why stress?

So Oranguru and my Articuno both fall into a class of Pokémon that people call “legal”, which means that they are accepted by Pokémon services as being okay for competitive and other services. Could they be legitimate too? Yes but we can’t prove that, so if I were thinking of trading either one I would need to list them as “legal” if I were communicating directly with the person I was trading with and not “legitimate” because I didn’t catch them myself.

If you are worried about clones you essentially cannot trade online with confidence, which will greatly limit your experience with Pokémon in general. So in my opinion: don’t stress out, play the game and have fun!

As a follow up to this post, soon I’ll be writing, “How to Navigate a High Value Trade.” Look out for that post in the future! Until then, happy hunting! ✨

#pokémon #shiny pokemon #shiny hunting #shiny pokémon #shinyhunters #pokemon #pokémon go #pokémon sword and shield #pokémon sun and moon #pokémon home

[zekejeagrs]

Hi friend! This is mha-adore; I'm on my main blog because my mha blog is a side blog and I can't send a question from that blog. Just to prove it's me - you came to me asking about a matchup exchange and I asked you to explain what it is and I agreed, and the day after I wrote my side matching you with Shoto, and in our personal messages your recent message is, "I'm so excited to do your matchup!" something to that idea. I hope that's enough to prove it's me.

I'm asking for a matchup with mha please.

I'm a quiet and well mannered person who strives to appeal to everyone I meet. I happen to have a personality disorder and as such, some people get a different idea of who I am. I consider myself friendly but emotionally distant, a friend of mine has accused me of not caring at all because I'm naturally a distant person. I'm mostly very respectful and try to avoid any conflict or fights, but the moment someone insults or fights a friend of mine or my partner I drop my friendly exterior and hone in on the person, insulting them, spilling any tea I know about them, I say whatever comes to mind that I know will make them feel terrible, and I end it by stomping on their foot. With close friends or my partner I'm more talkative - not loud or boisterous, just more talkative. I insert my opinions more, I hold a conversation and I openly give my thoughts about different topics without worrying that I'll upset them.

I'm a trans male who uses he/him and they/them pronouns; I'm pansexual. I'm 19 and a Leo sun, Aquarius moon, Virgo rising. The only characters I don't feel comfortable being matched with are Endeavor, Dabi and All Might.

My hobbies involve drawing (I'm working on a comic), I love to play both Pokemon and Animal Crossing, I enjoy writing fan fiction, studying and playing card games. (Like Old Maid, Go Fish, Crazy 8s, Blackjack, Solitaire, you get the idea.)

My love language is to show my love in subtle ways. Cooking someone a meal they love without being asked to, spending time with them doing whatever they want, giving them hand made gifts and giving them cute pet names like love bug, sweetheart, sweet tea (a different way of saying sweetie). I offer genuine advice to them, even if I know it'll hurt or upset them. I want the best for my partner, even if it means taking the path of most resistance. I want someone who can aim an arrow into my heart. I look for someone who shares my taste in music and who will listen to music we both enjoy together. I like the area of Melanie Martinez, Billie Eilish, Ricky Montgomery, lofi beats and some of the older country music, like from the 80s and 90s. Generic, I know.

As for anything specific, perhaps my matchup's opinion on having children? I'd really like to have a child someday.

Thank you again so much for the matchup exchange offer, it's very kind of you 💗

— matchup exchange

ty sm again for doing this exchange with me! you seem so nice i’m v down to be mutuals/friends with you (only if you want ofc)! also, what would your quirk be? i’m v interested in what it would be since i mentioned what mine would be on my submission to you. i hope you enjoy your match! 

i match you with...

fatgum

| hi yes i matched you with a human marshmallow. one of the reasons why i matched you with taishiro is because of the difference in your personalities and the way he would work well with your personality because of how much he cares. the way you’d meet him would probably be by working at his office. he’d find you to be so sweet that he wants to get to know you better. he actually doesn’t mind how proper and emotionally distant you are because he understands that everyone is different and present themselves differently.

| you’d take some time to open up to him and become friends but he’s completely fine with that! he understands reserved people because of tamaki & only wants you to feel comfortable around him. because of that,,, taishiro definitely always starts the conversations. “how’s your day?” “what did you do over the weekend?” “what did you think of that movie?” once you become more talkative with him and have your conversations, he’d be so happy because he sees it as a new level of friendship.

| that’s when he starts realizing he actually has a crush on you. he’d confess at the end of a long work day and explain that he’d like to be your partner,, “i really enjoy your company and i want to be your partner for a long time- oh i just realized what i said, only if you also want to be my partner- or i mean would like to give me a chance to prove myself-“ idk how he managed to get himself out of that one but it would end with you accepting to have dinner at his house.

| like i’ve said before, taishiro doesn’t mind that you’re emotionally distant. he knows you care and just show it differently than others. the first time he saw you angry at someone he was very scared & shocked because he’s never seen you that way before. he just stood behind you as you absolutely slaughtered the person you were angry at and watched with wide eyes before trying to diffuse the situation. he asked if you were okay and that it wasn’t a big deal that that person was insulting him but he expressed how grateful he was for you standing up for him. he never wants to see you like that again but he’s glad he got to see every part you.

| HE IS VERY RESPECTFUL ABOUT PRONOUNS!! that was probably the first thing he asked you! “oh! he/him and they/them? i go by he/him too!” he’d even write it down to remember because he doesn’t want to make any mistakes or offend anyone.

| taishiro would be so supportive of your comic! he’d check up on you when you’re working on it and bring you cut fruit and water. he’d genuinely be so interested in your drawings and writings— he’s not artistic so seeing it come so easily to someone would be so cool to him. he’d only read and look at what you’re comfortable with sharing though! if you ever ask for any creative help, he’d be 100% down to help you. he comes up with the coolest ideas too and you wonder why he says he’s not artistic.

| on his days off you guys either stay indoors and play animal crossing or walk around and collect pokémon. his island would be so messy so he’d always try to copy your island. island visits & he always leave you gifts. he’d have so many pokémon because he plays when he’s on parole (oops!). he’d jokingly brag about it to you and would offer to take you with him next time but he doesn’t want you to get hurt. he seems like the type to be secretly very good at card games?? he’d just surprise you with how good and competitive he is when you play together and with other people.

| taishiro listens to old country music. he knows every lyric to every dolly parton song and sings when he thinks he’s alone. you’d have to introduce him to your other favorite artists & he’d absolutely love their songs! ricky montgomery makes him cry a little but he’s fine! he swears! even though there’s tears rolling down face!

| PLEASE COOK HIM FOOD! the first time you cook him food to show your love he just blushes and smiles the whole time. he can’t. HE CAN’T! HE JUST LOVES YOU SO MUCH ALREADY HOW IS IT POSSIBLE FOR HIM TO LOVE YOU EVEN MORE??? every other food is ruined for him after you cook for him because your cooking is the absolute best to him.

| he’d love the small gifts you give him, he’d treasure every single one of them and display them around the house. sweet tea would be a perfect pet name for him- he loves it so much. he’d call you love bug in return and cook you dinner and give you small gifts. he’s definitely an acts of service and quality time guy. just being in the same room as you doing separate work is good enough for him. your presence just soothes him and he has a blast!

| taishiro values your opinions very much. he always tries to be the best partner for you and listen to you because you have so much insight. he also trusts you so much and knows you mean well when giving him advice. he just loves you so much, he doesn’t want to disappoint!

his opinion on having children

| he basically already adopted tamaki & kirishima, of course he wants kids!

| you’d have to be the one to bring it up because he doesn’t want to seem like he’s forcing you into anything.

| he’s so relieved once you do bring it up though! “yes! i want to have a family with you!”

| it doesn’t matter if you have them biologically, adopt, or have a surrogate— he loves his child so much and cried because he was so overwhelmed with love and finally being a dad.

| he’d be the best dad! (although a bit clueless) he wouldn’t imagine having a family with anyone other than you. you’re just perfect for him.

| he’d also ask if you could adopt a dog

| he is so protective over his family too. if anything were to happen to either of you, he would be so upset because you’re his life.

| overall, taishiro would try to give you and the child the best life!

i hope you enjoyed! pls lmk if anything is inaccurate or if you want me to make it longer.

@mha-adore @space-cowbop

#iidastiddiesmatchups #iidastiddieshcs #mha matchup #bnha matchup #mha #bnha #fatgum #taishiro toyomitsu #fatgum headcanons #bnha taishiro

[thebladeblaster]

Pokémon: the Dark Circuit (aka Vanguard Descends season 2)

Chapter 3 New Allies

Aichi’s current team

Level 79 Wingal (Lycanroc (dusk)) rock

Moves:

Stealth rock

Crunch

Stone edge

Play rough

Level 77 Llew (Golisopod) water/bug

Moves:

Sucker punch

Blizzard

Liquidation

First impression

Level 78 Gancelot (Lucario) fighting/steel

Moves:

Focus blast

Stone edge

Meteor mash

Dragon pulse

Level 85 Soul Saver (Haxorus) dragon

Moves:

Outrage

Iron tail

Dragon dance

Scale shot

Level 100 Alfred (Aegislash) ghost/steel

Moves:

Sacred sword

King’s shield

Iron head

Shadow Claw

“We are sending you over to Kanto. There’s strong trainers there that can help you find Aichi.”, Takuto said.

In Kanto…

Misaki, Kamui, Miwa, and Kourin had just come upon the coast of Kanto.

“So, this is the Kanto region. Hopefully, these guys will be worth coming all the way out here.”, Kamui commented.

“I don’t think they would send us here for nothing.”, Miwa replied.

The dock looked heavily guarded which made them feel a bit nervous. Countless Pokémon and military trainers lined the edge. They could also see several powerful water type Pokémon circling the waters. The flag on their ship was Kakusa’s: Their flag was green with Arceus’s golden ring on it with gold circular streaks along the ring. Kamui and Miwa had some trouble hiding the nervousness they felt. They were entering in through Pallet town, which was where the trainers they were waiting for resided. Their ship stopped before the dock. Misaki was in front, keeping the coolest expression she could. One of the people sent with them on the ship put the plank down so they could cross. One of the government agents came by and showed an ID confirming that they are from Kakusa which one of the guards looked at before nodding. The guards cleared a path for them. One by one they stepped onto Kanto. They were mostly quiet as the agent led them along.

They entered the once small town of Pallet town which has seen quite a bit of growth in the last few years. They were not sure exactly which building they would be led to. But, they certainly didn’t expect it to be a small game shop.

In Alola…

They had defeated some of the many bloodthirsty Pokémon who had attacked them and Gancelot gave Aichi back their Poké balls. They then had met back up with Alfred, Wingal, and Llew.

“Wingal what are you doing out like this? You look very hurt.”, Aichi said, before he scooped up Wingal protectively in his arms.

“Lycanroc. Lycanroc. Lycanroc. Lycanroc. Lycanroc. Lycanroc. Lycanroc.(Sorry about that, I just wanted to help out. I don’t want to be a burden. )”, Wingal apologized, looking down seeing how worried he made his trainer.

Aichi looked surprised at this and Soul Saver tilted her head in confusion.

“You’re not a burden! What made you think that?!”, Aichi questioned.

“Golisopod. Golisopod. Golisopod. (See I’m not the only one, Wingal.)”, Llew said.

“Lucario. Lucario. Lucario. Lucario. Lucario. Lucario. Lucario. Lucario. Lucario. Lucario. (None of us thinks you're a burden, Wingal. You're an important member of the party.)”, Gancelot assured.

“Haxorus! (Yeah definitely!)”, Soul Saver agreed and Alfred nodded in agreement.

Aichi looked down at Wingal and gave him a warm smile. Wingal just blushed lightly and buried himself in Aichi’s arms.

“The castle is that way.”, Alfred said as ‘pointed’ with his cloth-like arms.

They all started towards that direction. Little did they know Team Asteroid’s elite squad was coming to Alola and that they were being watched.

In Kanto…

A short old man with spiky silver hair came up to Kai and the boy with the necklace.

“Some people have come to see you, Yugi.”, the old man said.

The boy with the necklace now known as Yugi turned to see Misaki, Kamui, Kourin, and Miwa. Their eyes widened in shock seeing Kai and Miwa gasped.

“Hey, Kai it’s you! Long time no see!”, Miwa greeted.

Kai looked over to them a bit surprised, but he didn’t show it.

“What’s he doing here?”, Kamui questioned.

“You guys know Kai?”, Yugi questioned, pointing towards Kai.

“Yes, and you must be Mutou Yugi right?”, Misaki replied.

“Ah! Yes! That’s me. Who are you guys exactly?”, Yugi replied in a sheepish manner reminding them of Aichi.

“I am Tokura Misaki. I am the psychic type gym leader of the Kakusa region.”, Misaki replied.

“I’m the whirlwind fighter with 8 gym badges! The great Katsuragi Kamui!”, Kamui introduced himself boastfully puffing out his chest.

That made Yugi sweat drop a bit.

“He’s just like Jonouchi”, Yugi thought.

“I’m Taishi Miwa. Nice to meet you.”, Miwa introduced.

“Kourin.”, Kourin introduced simply.

“The Kakusa region…”, Yugi trailed off, the region wasn’t super well known though he’s felt like he’s heard of it before.

“Weren’t they the one with that Christmas thing?”, the ghost? Translucent person? Questioned next to him.

The others didn’t react to this at all as if they couldn’t see or hear the mysterious specter.

“Oh, yeah that was Kakusa wasn’t it?”, Yugi gasped in realization.

Flashback

Christmas Eve

Yugi was carrying around boxes in his grandpa’s game shop. A blond teen with brown eyes wearing a jean jacket, a white shirt , and jeans was laying on his coach flipping through channels. His name was Katsuya Jonouchi. Sitting in one of the other chairs was a boy with brown hair and brown eyes he had on a black jacket, a white shirt, and jeans. His name was Hiroto Honda. In another chair was a girl with brown hair and blue eyes she wore a light pink dress shirt with a pink choker and jeans. Her name was Mazaki Anzu.

“You need help with that Yugi?”, Anzul asked.

The screen on the tv turned to a certain Christmas broadcast.

A massive parade went through the Kakusa region. The floats were big and boisterous with massive Santa, Reindeer, and other Christmas blow ups. Golden bells rang and on one of the platforms Ultra Rare performed. Many citizens came out to watch the parade come by. Aichi was a part of the parade dressed as Santa Claus. Soul Saver and Wingal had reindeer costumes. Ahmes, Gancelot, Llew, and Alfred had elf costumes. The media’s cameramen all focused their attention on the boy and Ultra Rare.

“For those of you who don’t know this is our newest champion, Sendou Aichi! He became our champion and hero after defeating Suzugamori Ren and driving away Team Asteroid!”, a reporter on the tv said.

Yugi gasped in shock, turning his attention to the tv along with the others.

“W-what somebody actually beat one of those guys?!”, Jonouchi gasped in shock, sitting up.

“That can’t be true.”, Honda commented.

Anzu quickly got out her phone.

“It’s real!”, Anzu gasped, showing them her phone.

It was an article from the Kakusa region a few months ago. It told about how Suzugamori Ren became champion of the region and how Team Asteroid started to take over. Yugi walked over reading the article shocked. They hadn’t heard of the take over here because sadly many news outlets didn’t see Team Asteroid taking over or attacking other regions as big news anymore. It had very sadly become the norm.

“That’s amazing! They were able to completely drive away Team Asteroid like that!”, Yugi gasped in awe.

“So...what exactly are they doing?”, Jonouchi asked, pointing at the screen.

Yugi’s grandpa, Mutou Solomon, the old man from before, froze when he looked at the broadcast. Yugi looked over to him with a bit of confusion as he saw tears in his eyes.

“Is something wrong grandpa?”, Yugi asked a bit concerned, putting the box down.

“It’s Christmas.”, Solomon replied sounding a bit emotional.

“Christmas? What’s that?”, Honda asked.

“It’s a holiday, a certain day of the year where you hold some sort of celebration. We used to celebrate it here every year before the war. You give presents to your loved ones and have something like a party.”, Solomon explained.

“So, that’s Christmas? It sounds like a nice holiday.”, Yugi replied.

“I never thought I would see a Christmas celebration again in my lifetime. Like many of the other holidays we used to have it’s no longer celebrated because people are too scared of Team Asteroid attacking during it.”, Solomon continued.

“Maybe we should stop letting ourselves live in fear and celebrate Christmas. That would be nice wouldn’t it grandpa. We can have a small celebration here.”, Yugi suggested, smiling at his grandpa glad that the broadcast was making him happy.

“Oh Yugi we couldn’t…”, Solomon replied.

“Why not? Nobody has to know.”, Jonouchi replied, with a grin.

Flashback end

Yugi didn’t exactly know what they wanted with him, but he was thankful for the bit of happiness Kakusa was able to give his grandfather.

“...anyway. We’re here because we need your help to find our friend Sendou Aichi.”, Misaki explained.

“Sendou Aichi...he’s the one who defeated Suzugamori Ren, 001q.”, Yugi thought.

“Aichi’s missing?”, Kai questioned.

“Yeah, it’s weird a massive tsunami suddenly hit Sanctuary town out of nowhere and he was gone.”, Miwa explained.

Kai looked down feeling a bit worried. His fists shook. He had a feeling that was no normal tsunami.

“I don’t know how I could help you. I can battle, but I don’t really have anyway to find someone.”, Yugi replied, looking down.

The others looked a bit disappointed.

“You might be able to. You were able to sense 004a right?”, Kai said and they looked at him.

“Yeah, but that was 004a. I don’t think I could sense a normal person with the puzzle.”, Yugi replied, before Kamui, Miwa, and Kourin suddenly smiled at the last part.

“Good thing bros no normie then.”, Kamui replied.

“What?”, Yugi questioned.

“Remember what I told you and the others Yugi. Sendou Aichi is 003v.”, Kai reminded Yugi who then gasped.

“That’s right! Okay, I think I might be able to help then. Though, I will warn you I don’t really know how to use this thing.”, Yugi replied as she gestured his necklace much to the others' confusion.

In Kanto…

They went back to Solomon’s small game shop and waited while Yugi went to get his friends to help out. He came back into the game shop with Jonouchi, Anzu, and Honda.

“These are my friends. They can offer some extra help if things get dicey while we look for Aichi.”, Yugi said.

“I’m Katsuya Jonouchi. Nice to meet ya.”, Jonouchi introduced.

“I am Hiroto Honda. What Jonouchi said.”, Honda introduced waving at them.

“I am Mazaki Anzu. It’s a honor.”, Anzu introduced politely with a light bow.

“I am Tokura Misaki. I am the psychic type gym leader of the Kakusa region.”, Misaki replied.

“I’m the whirlwind fighter with 8 gym badges! The great Katsuragi Kamui!”, Kamui introduced himself boastfully puffing out his chest.

“I like this kids style.”, Jonouchi commented with a grin as the others with him sweat dropped.

“Not another Jonouchi…”, Honda grumbled, rubbing his temples.

“What’s that supposed to mean Honda?!”, Jonouchi question, putting Honda into a headlock.

“Does he even need to say it?”, Anzu questioned with a chuckle.

“I’m Taishi Miwa. Nice to meet you.”, Miwa introduced.

“Kourin.”, Kourin introduced simply.

“Okay, now let’s see…”, Yugi said as he sat down and put his hands over his necklace much to the Kakusans' confusion.

“You sense anything, Yami? Someone like 004a?”, Yugi thought.

The ghost? Now known as Yami closed his eyes focusing. A golden eye symbol eerily similar to the one that the rare hunter had glowed on his forehead.

Yami felt a malicious searing heat not too far away which worried him a bit. The aura felt wild and untamed like it would lash out at anyone that crossed it.

“004a...that’s not him. He’s worryingly close to here, I think he’s in Johto. I don’t know if he’ll attack.”, Yami thought as he focused more.

Yami then felt an aura that felt like a powerful maelstrom near Galar. It cackled thunderously full of power and pride. It was like an unrelenting tide.

Then another in some place he wasn’t really familiar with. It seemed very faint like the person was deliberately trying to hide themselves. It was too faint for him to really make out.

Though, a commonality that he felt in all the auras was a supreme darkness that they all carried on them restricting them like invisible collars. There was one that was different very different. He thinks he’s felt it once when that mysterious blast of energy flashed through the Kanto region purifying the corrupted Pokémon. It carried darkness sure, but everyone did in some capacity. The darkness within him was like the leash-like darkness of the others. However despite that the aura was still full of light and warmth. It shined like the sun giving life to those around it, but still dangerous in its own right. Though, the danger it posed wasn’t exactly intentional. The aura was in…

Yami froze, actually recognizing where the aura was and raised his eyebrow in surprise.

“Uhh...why is he just sitting there?”, Kamui questioned.

“Perhaps he’s like a psychic or something?”, Miwa questioned.

“Not exactly...but sort of…”, Anzu replied, not sounding sure of what he was herself.

“Is something wrong, Yami?”, Yugi asked.

#cardfight vanguard #pokémon #aichi sendou #kai toshiki #misaki tokura #kamui katsuragi #kourin tatsunagi #taishi miwa #yugioh duel monsters #ygo dm #yugi mutou #katsuya jonouchi #joey wheeler #anzu mazaki #tea gardner #honda hiroto #tristan taylor #golisopod #lucario #haxorus #aegislash #lycanroc dusk form #wingal #llew #gancelot #soul saver dragon #king of knights alfred #yami yugi #atem #my crappy writing

[msbowser]

My Top Games of the Last Decade

The year 2020 is here, ushering in a new decade to live in. Instead of looking at the bad events that occurred over the years, I instead want to look at my favorite games over the last 10 years. It’s crazy that back in 2010, I was only in my second half of the fifth grade. Oh how young and naïve I was and an even worse gamer. Now in 2020, I am in the second semester of my second year of university, studying in the psychology field. I feel how I was raised over the last years shaped of how I am as a person and I am still learning, no one is perfect. Those developments shaped even the gamer I am now. Back when I was younger, I just liked games that were fun to play. But now I am a person who puts Character Development and Story before Gameplay. You will see this shift as the years go by.

Well let’s start with 2010. And I will try to limit how much I write each game to about a paragraph each. Don’t want to make this post too long. I can give a more detailed explanation at a future date if someone is interested. 

PS. All the games are Nintendo Games. I’m only a Nintendo gamer so sorry if you don’t see like Persona 5 or Last of Us.

2010: Kirby’s Epic Yarn

Gosh this game is too freaking cute for words. I remember the stories about how much I wanted this game when I was younger, even the embarrassing ones. While this game is easy even for Kirby standards, this game is so fun to play. The levels are enjoyable to play, you can get lost hours doing minigames and playing music (Frosty Wheel is still the best), and is just cute. This game is cute incarnate. And if you don't want to play the original version, you can play a port of it on the 3DS with even more goodies on it.

2011: Pokémon Black and White

My favorite Pokémon games and generation even if I started with Pearl. Gen 5 of Pokémon is super special to me as I know it is for many others, being the first game I bought the day of release. I was also pretty blind in my playthrough, finding new discoveries as they came along and finding new Pokémon that I might have not liked at first but became my favorites. Pokémon like the Krookodile line, Emolga, the Leavanny line and so much more. The game also first brought to my attention to how characters can be written well and still is my favorite story in a mainline Pokémon game. 

2012: Rhythm Thief and the Emperor's Treasure

So I’m kinda cheating with this one since I didn’t play it until 2013 but damn it, I don’t care! This game is awesome. I am super terrible with rhythm games but this game is one that is very enjoyable with an excellent story and characters. Phantom R is such a cool guy that you just want to hang out with and go dancing with and not the fact he’s a gentleman. The rhythm minigames are mostly enjoyable and have a wide variety to play so you can't bored very easily (the gyroscope one can go die in a fire though). All I want to know is where is the damn sequel already Sega?! It’s been 8 freaking years with that teaser you showed at the ending of the game and no I don't count that bad IOS game you made a year later. We fans need our fix and answers now. 

2013: Mario and Luigi Dream Team

Bowser’s Inside Story will always be my favorite Mario and Luigi game but this game comes to a close second. As part of Year of Luigi, this game did not disappoint. Luigi is front and center and he is the best of the part of game, with his dream abilities and overall character. The story is also very good with the adventures the bro’s have on Pi’illo Island and the soundtrack of the game is my video game soundtrack of all time. There is also the fact that giant battles return and if anyone knows me, knows I love me those giants <3

I also have two honorable mentions for 2013 that I will give a brief note while I like them

Fire Emblem Awakening 

First Fire Emblem game, got me in the series. Characters are great and story left me generally shocked at points. Make a yearly tradition to one playthrough each year

Super Mario 3D World

Favorite Mario platformer, Peach being playable and being a cat. Yes please

2014: Kirby Triple Deluxe 

I freaking love Kirby games :D Triple Deluxe was the first Kirby game on the 3DS, using an engine that looks beautiful on the 3DS that was used for the next game they did. The game is super colorful with its vibrate worlds and use of pastel colors. The new abilities is super fun to play with as well, Archer being my favorite. Supernova is also a neat gimmick for the game and glad it was present in many of the levels and used in new ways to solve puzzles. 

2015: Dragon Ball Z Dokkan Battle

Surprise! I said favorite games of the decade and mobile games count. This game means so much to me, being the one of the mobile games I keep track of everyday, even looking at what the JP version gets. I am proud of my account and how far it has come over these past years. Though I was not there right when it released, it has felt like that long as I have had my account for over 4 years now and don’t plan to quit now. One day I will have my full husband team, just you watch <3

2016: Dragon Ball Fusions

This game was my answer to a playable Dragon Ball RPG to play on Nintendo consoles (before Xenoverse 2 got ported over on the Switch). The chibi artstyle gave this game its own identify from other games like it. The gameplay was fun as you can make your own character and fly all across the world fighting characters from the Dragon Ball timeline. The game is all about the fusion mechanic, but with an expanded roster of characters to fuse and the ability to fuse your favorites is a blast. 

Brief Honorable Mention to Pokémon Sun and Moon for a fun region to explore, new pokemon to love and pretty good story.

(Lillie is so precious for this world I swear. And Snowy as well :D))

2017: Miitopia

A lot of people would write off this game as a simple Mii game, but it is so much more than that. This game has much more personality than one might think, with its class system, characters even when you chose who is what role and the story as well. The story and characters allows many possibilities of ideas for stories and art for creators to make and enjoy, as this game and Tomodachi Life was used as a template for a rp that me and my bf do. And this game can get hard, like wanting to rage quit hard, so be prepared for grinding. The OST is also a charm of the game, being one of my favorite OSTs ever. 

Like with 2013, I have two honorable mentions that I will give a short comment on.

Splatoon 2

Love it more than the original, Aerospray is still the master race and Off The Hook is better than Squid Sisters, don’ t @ me XD

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia 

Amazing story, characters and unique experience from other games I have played. Berkut x Rinea OTP

2018: Dragon Ball FighterZ

As much as I like the Super Smash Bros games, I was more excited for this game to come out. I was glad it did come to Switch so I can play it. FighterZ was my first proper fighting game with button inputs and it threw me for a loop, but eventually I got the hang of it and is still learning. The story is a fun experience if you don’t think too much about it, me loving Android 21. And of course I main my husband that is in the gif above <3

2019: Pokémon Sword/Shield and Super Dragon Ball Heroes World Mission (That’s right, a tie)

I was excited for SwSh since day 1 and was not disappointed even with the dex cuts. The Wild Area has been a blast exploring, finding all the new raid Pokémon to catch and train. The new Pokémon are super fun to use, some of my favorites being Ponyta, Scorebunny and Dreepy. My baby Eevee also got a GMax form and she is super freaking fluffy, big and I want to hug her <3 I’m excited for the Isle of Armor and Crown Tundra DLC when they come out.

This game was huge to us USA fans of the series as this was the first time we ever got anything DB Heroes related here. The cards were fun to make teams with and make even custom cards. It was a full experience without to play the irl game, which would still be fun. Though the game is slow to add updates, I will be waiting for what will be coming. I am glad the game came out so we can finally enjoy all of what the game has to offer. (Though I played the previous game in the series being Ultimate Mission X through Citra, so I got a headstart XD)

This is it for this post. Even though I am late at posting it, better late than never. If anyone is interested, I’m glad to give more detailed descriptions. I realize I have to do better at explain my opinions in a more detailed matter.

Thank you so much for reading :D

#kirby epic yarn #pokemon black and white #rhythm thief #mario and luigi dream team #fire embem awakening #super mario 3d world #kirby triple deluxe #dragon ball z dokkan battle #dragon ball fighterz #dragon ball fusions #pokemon sun and moon #miitopia #splatoon 2 #fire emblem echoes #pokemon sword and shield #super dragon ball heroes #video gaming in the last decade #thanks for reading

[oops-prow-did-it-again]

Pokémon: The World Where Ghetsis Won

Oneshot about the alternate reality where Ghetsis was victorious over Unova in his first attempt. Based on his Rainbow Rocket persona as seen in Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. 

Warnings: Violence

Notes: Based on my version of Hilbert as presented in my novelization of Pokemon Black (Tumblr, AO3, FFN)

Find it on AO3 and FFN

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Hil clutched the stone tightly against his chest. It emanated a soft, yellow glow from its smooth, silvery-white surface that warmed his fingertips to the touch. Yet, with the warmth came a cold feeling of dread that crept through his veins and slowly turned them to ice. His hands began to shiver. He overlooked a lake with round, wide brown eyes. Noodle, his trusty Servine, nuzzled his hand and tilted his head. His red eyes were upturned in concern. Hil took one look at him and then hugged his knees close to his face. His hand that held the stone fell limp at his right side.

“I can’t do it, Noodle,” he blubbered to him through the fabric of his pants. “I’m not strong enough. I’m no h-hero.”

Noodle nosed his way between Hil’s chest and his thights. Hil left go of his legs a little to give the Servine more room. As Noodle curled up in his lap, Hil’s eyes watered something fierce and he slowly let go of the Light Stone in his right hand, turning his attention instead to the Pokémon curled up in his lap. Noodle’s comfort was warm and welcome; it tore him from the dark, sinister reality that he would have to face Team Plasma’s leader, N, alone, as a hero of Unova. He hugged Noodle tighter and tighter, feeling the cool touch of his leafy body against his own.

Then he felt his right hand brush the Light Stone to his right, and he watched in horror as it started to roll, away toward the lake, and then plopped into its depths. In a blind panic, he shoved Noodle out of his lap and staggered over to the shore, plunging his head into the bitterly cold water. A Basculin then rushed at his face and caused him to jump away from the water. He had been upset, but he had intended to at least give fighting N a try! Had he really lost the Light Stone in such a stupid way?

Noodle dove at the water and shot several volleys of Razor Leaf attacks below the water, but it was no match for the swarm of Basculin that soon began to nibble at its leafy body. He hobbled back out of the water with chunks of flesh missing from his tail and his upper back. He looked up at Hil apologetically and Hil scooped him up, holding him tightly again. “No, no, Noodle,” he whispered, “it’s okay. This is not your fault at all. I shouldn’t have ever come here, I should have gone straight to the League, and…” he gave a shuddery breath. “It’ll be okay… It’ll be okay…”

He pulled his Xtransceiver free from his other pocket and frantically dialed for Cheren, Bianca, and Professor Juniper. He was going to need all the help he could get.

 ------------------------------

The castle was far too quiet. The sprawling room in front of him was eerily empty save for the gentle trickling sounds of water from the pools below the main floor and from the occasional shuffling of feet that came from the small group of grunts gathered, as well as the three Sages, Ghetsis, Bronius, and Giallo. Disappointed, N had to admit he had hoped for better than this. He had hoped somebody, anybody, would have showed up to the castle and try to stop him. Someone to show him that there was another way. As he shifted in the throne overlooking the castle, Zekrom standing proudly at his side, his mind wandered. He thought of the many Pokémon he had met along the way of his recent excursions into Unova’s heartland who enjoyed their trainers’ company and as he had told Hil back in Mistralton, it did break his heart somewhat that he would have to separate Pokémon from trainers who were good friends to their Pokémon.

So, he had hoped Cheren, or anyone, really, would have arrived to prove him wrong. But if nobody could even reach the throne room of the castle, then nobody had the convictions to prove him wrong. It was a sad but not unexpected realization. He knew what he had to do was right, however solemn it made him feel.

The sound of staggering, shuffling footsteps pulled him from his thoughts. He and Zekrom turned their heads slightly to look at the approaching figure. A man cloaked in violet and gold robes, a gleaming, angular red monocle, a lame arm; this was N’s adoptive father, Ghetsis. His failing body was a dastardly disguise. N could speak from experience Ghetsis was many things, but frail was not something one could even fantasize about describing him as. “Our Lord N,” Ghetsis said sharply, “it seems your chosen hero will not make it.”

“It would seem nobody has the conviction necessary to oppose me,” N said in melancholy agreement as he nodded. “I knew there had been a probability, a chance, of that happening. I had just hoped somebody would…”

Even from his throne high above the main floor, N could see Ghetsis’ lip twitch. “You are to give your inaugural speech now,” Ghetsis said calmly. “Our scientists have assumed control over all of Unova’s television stations. Today, Lord N, you set Pokémon free of their suffering by telling all of Unova to release them.”

N raised his chin and narrowed his eyes with noble determination. “Yes, Father,” he said softly as he rose from his throne. Although N’s attention had been drawn elsewhere and so he did not notice, upon being called ‘Father,’ Ghetsis’s lips twisted into a horrible, lopsided grimace thanks to his partially paralyzed face. The elderly man’s body shivered in an anger none of the rest of Team Plasma would have understood. Not N nor even any of the Seven Sages. Ghetsis had been waiting decades for his plan to come to fruition and now that it was finally reaching its success, he found it harder and harder to keep a lid on his true intentions, and his true feelings toward N.

But he knew he could not divulge his true desires just yet. He needed N just a little longer to guilt the people of Unova to release their Pokémon through convincing words. As much as it angered him, he understood that nobody would release their Pokémon willingly if they used force. N’s gentle, passionate words would get him results, regardless of whether he truly understood why or not.

Despite the hero N had chosen not showing up here, however, Ghetsis knew better than to assume that thorn in his side was gone for good. After N was led to the appropriate room in the castle to broadcast his speech by Bronius and Giallo, Ghetsis watched with careful calculation. Once N was out of earshot, he gave the familiar, yet still eerie command: “Shadow Triad, come to me.”

Within seconds the trio of bodyguards appeared, and they flanked him on all sides except directly in front of him. “Yes, Lord Ghetsis?” one of them asked tentatively.

“Find the hero and his friends that N was hoping would show up here,” Ghetsis said coldly, “and kill them. Leave no possible opposition alive.”

“Understood,” a different member of the Triad whispered. Just like that, they were gone again. Ghetsis followed N to the room where he would make his live speech across all of Unova’s television channels. He wanted to oversee the speech and ensure that N stuck to the script. Now, as the true ‘king’ of Team Plasma, Ghetsis was a little worried N would grow bolder and attempt to buck Ghetsis’ control. It would take far more careful manipulation from this point forward to keep his tool in check.

  Within two weeks of Team Plasma seizing control of Unova, they had traversed the region, hitting almost every established town and making more public speeches, and trainers were releasing Pokémon by the dozens. All Pokémon in the computerized storage system had been seized by Team Plasma’s scientists and stored in a private system of their own. N appeared at each and every speech as the face of the movement. His voice, quick and efficient, was punctuated by a determined and triumphant air that permeated gathered crowds like an airborne virus, swaying them to his view easily. N should have felt victorious. Yet, everywhere he traveled, all he saw was devastation.

Gym Leaders had all but disappeared overnight. In Nacrene City, nobody could find Lenora, despite a raid made by Team Plasma members on her museum in a bid to draw her out. The triplets in Striaton City had done a similar disappearing act. Burgh had been spotted but had escaped their grasp by disappearing into the Castelia Sewers, along with quite a few other frightened civilians. Team Plasma agents had been sent within to hunt them down and draw them out, but to no avail as of yet. Elesa had stood her ground and then escaped on her Zebstrika while the Team Plasma agents sent after her recovered. Clay merely locked his city up and waged a nearly one-man war on Team Plasma’s efforts, utilizing a terrifying mix of machinery and Pokémon. Skyla had fled with her airplane and nobody had seen her since. Brycen, much like Lenora and the triplets, had all but vanished, and Drayden, his apprentice Iris, and former champion Alder had retreated along with most of Opelucid City to a small but well-defended village north of Opelucid that primarily used Dragon-type Pokémon as its choice weaponry.

Not only did the Gym Leaders’ refusal to cooperate cause unrest and inflict unnecessary pain on Pokémon, but watching regular trainers release their Pokémon had been far more difficult than he could imagine. Everywhere he went, he was assailed with the thoughts and feelings of distraught, devastated Pokémon. Some had even sought him out and made sure he knew of their anger and pain. How could he feel victorious about saving Pokémon if he had so many telling him every single day he had done the exact opposite? That he had ruined their lives? He could tell his personal partners felt the same. Zoroark was disappointed in the state of the world. Zekrom began to grow angry at Team Plasma and primarily, Ghetsis, feeling they were betraying the ideal Zekrom and N had sought. N couldn’t help but agree.

Every time the king of Team Plasma observed his father, however, a heavy stone weighed in his stomach. His mouth would feel like cotton and words became difficult to string together. Having learned common tongues as a secondhand language anyway, they were already difficult to assemble, and the nervousness that flowed whenever he spoke to Ghetsis only exacerbated the issue. He tried to ignore it at first. Consider it growing pains, he had told himself. But the misery didn’t seem to end…

Within a few short months of Team Plasma’s ownership, almost every citizen in Unova no longer had personal Pokémon except for those involved in Team Plasma’s affairs, which was to say most people within Team Plasma still had partner Pokémon of some sort. N had finally been driven to anger when he discovered secretive Team Plasma agents, dressed in more modest, black outfits that almost resembled the Shadow Triad’s except they didn’t show skin, were re-capturing most of the freed Pokémon that wandered into Unova’s hinterland. This had not been the future he had fought for!

He had confronted Ghetsis once they returned to the castle surrounding the Pokémon League. Aside from Colress, who had been handing Ghetsis a deep black staff with a draconian sculpture on its handle, they had been completely alone in that room. The throne room often remained empty except for Ghetsis and N and whoever they wished to see. N stormed up to Ghetsis with purpose, thoroughly fed up with what had become increasingly more and more apparent as a lie.

“Father!” N declared as he stopped just a few feet away. “This is not the future I had promised!”

Ghetsis and Colress exchanged a look. Ghetsis took the staff from Colress and waved him away. The scientist shot Ghetsis a dirty glare but pushed his glasses up smugly and stepped away. Ghetsis took a deep breath and licked his lips as he looked N over. N didn’t like the calculating look in his father’s eyes. “Yes, Lord N?” Ghetsis asked quietly.

“Do not call me that!” N huffed. “I am no Lord, I am not your hero, this is not the future I fought for. I allowed Pokémon to be hurt for this future and instead of liberation, Pokémon are being hurt more and more by the day and your subordinates are catching them for their own personal use still!”

“N, this is a process,” Ghetsis said through gritted teeth. His crimson eyes narrowed darkly. “It’s not easy right now, but in the future, Pokémon will be entirely free of humans.”

“Your subordinates catching and using Pokémon that have been forced to sever from their beloved trainers is not a necessary part of the process!” N spat as he squared his shoulders. A terrible truth was slowly dawning on him, but he didn’t want to believe it. He wanted to believe anything other than what he was worried was happening. “Father…” N paused and breathed deeply. “Is Team Plasma working to liberate Pokémon for their sake, or for Team Plasma’s—or more specifically, your—gain?”

Colress clicked his tongue and N glanced at him, and then back at Ghetsis.

“Perhaps the education I gave you was too much,” Ghetsis mused. He gripped his staff tightly in his unscathed and uncovered arm, and then rapidly raised and slammed it to the floor again. N felt a strange burst of energy overcome him, but not a pleasant one; rather, it felt like a small electrical shock that made his muscles heavy and difficult to move. Ghetsis glowered at N knowingly. “As our king, perhaps it is best I advise you honestly from now on.” Ghetsis then smirked. “There is no reason to separate people from Pokémon, N. People and Pokémon together can achieve great things they cannot do alone. That is fact.”

N gasped and took a step back. He tried to find something to say, but no words would leave his mouth.

“And truth be told,” Ghetsis continued, “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with people having Pokémon. Except for the fact it gives them an avenue to rise up and fight me. I have spent far too much of my life working at this for a freak without a human heart such as you to ruin it for me.” Ghetsis suddenly pushed away part of his cloak, revealing his partially mangled arm; it trembled and convulsed in his attempt to raise it, but Ghetsis was able to grab hold of N’s necklace all the same, pulling him until Ghetsis had his mouth inches from N’s ear. N staggered in surprise, but his intense stare never wavered. “This is my world, and you are just a tool living in it, like every other Pokémon in the world,” Ghetsis growled. “Is that clear?”

N’s mind was reeling, but he writhed under Ghetsis’ grasp, and when he couldn’t break free of Ghetsis’ frighteningly strong hold, N kicked away Ghetsis’ newfound cane. It destabilized him enough to force him to let go and N stumbled backward. He heaved for breath and shook his head at Ghetsis. “That’s not true!” N hollered. “You can’t be serious!”

But N knew he was serious. Ghetsis did not joke. Colress looked N over analytically as he came to terms with the truth. Ghetsis managed to haul himself back to his feet after a few seconds and he practically bared his teeth at N. “You!” he snarled in a breathless voice, “You are nothing more but my tool! You have no control now! You are no hero! There are no heroes! Zekrom, Reshiram, they are just Pokémon all the same! You are a disrespectful, horrible excuse for a human being—because you’re the same as them!” Ghetsis hissed.

N straightened himself out and regained his composure. He set his jaw as he looked at his father. “You are wrong,” N said in a quivering tone. It felt so strange and difficult to tell Ghetsis that he was wrong. Keenly, he became aware that he had never said anything remotely like this to his father before. “Zekrom chose me! We are friends! Zekrom recognized me as Unova’s new hero!”

“What or who it chooses means nothing,” Ghetsis jeered, “because it’s a tool! Anyone with the right training can use a tool! Even a freak like you!”

N tensed at the words but stood strong. “You led me to believe the words of all people were lies besides yours, but yours are no better!” N retorted. “You tried to make it look like the rest of the world was full of abuse, and yet you stand here before me, and lie for your own gain!” N stomped a foot. The gravity of the situation was taking a moment to sink in, but as it settled, he couldn’t begin to describe the hatred that washed over him. He had been utterly and completely used, and Pokémon were suffering because of it!

…And people, good people, were suffering as well…

“What happened to the other hero?” N demanded. “And his friends? Cheren, Hil, that girl Bianca? What became of them?”

Colress gave a snicker that tore both N and Ghetsis’ attention away. He blinked at their stares and shrugged. “Oh, no, don’t let me drag you out of this lovely father-son moment,” he laughed, “I am just surprised the great Lord N here has not yet figured it out.”

“Keep your mouth shut, or else!” Ghetsis threatened him.

Colress merely rolled his eyes. “We don’t go there, Ghetsis, and you know why.”

“What became of them?” N demanded again.

“They were dealt with like the threats to Team Plasma they were,” Ghetsis answered dryly.

N felt as if he had been struck with a physical blow with the way the wind left his lungs. He swallowed hard and shook his head. “Y-you can’t mean that you—”

“Yes,” Ghetsis snapped, “yes, I did. Threats to Team Plasma are taken seriously.” Ghetsis gave a slack-jawed, crazed grin that unsettled N deeply. “Do you want to be a threat to Team Plasma, freak?”

N thought about it for a minute. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t scared. No, it would be downright foolish to say he wasn’t; Ghetsis was terrifying in every sense of the word. Even before his discoveries in the recent months, he had known not to disobey his father from a very young age. He had ignored all the warning signs over the years for the sake of getting to help his true friends, the Pokémon who had raised him, and the broken creatures that he had come to know over the years—the ones whose hearts were so scarred they would never heal. On top of the fear from confronting Ghetsis, he also had mountainous guilt that practically suffocated him. He had helped Ghetsis build this world, after all; how could he have been so blind?

All of that, however, was precisely why he couldn’t stand down. N blinked and drew in a long breath. “Yes,” N growled, “I do. I am Unova’s hero whether you like it or not, Father, and I will fight you on that until my last breath if I must. I am done being your tool!”

“Then you will fight me until your last breath!” Ghetsis shouted. He slammed that cane again, taking a considerable amount of effort to raise in the first place, and added hoarsely, “Shadow Triad, come to me!”

“Zekrom, help me!” N exclaimed as he reached for the dragon’s Poké Ball. He tossed it, but it did not open, and his friend did not appear in front of him. Alarmed, N dove to try to grab the Poké Ball back, to prevent Ghetsis or any of his goons from grabbing hold of it, but he felt an intense pressure on his back and his shirt became a collar as it yanked him away from where the Poké Ball had landed. He landed on his rear and looked up to see the imposing figures of the Shadow Triad looming over him.

N’s eyes darted around the room until they locked onto Ghetsis’ cane. Colress had been fiddling with it moments before N had walked into the room. N turned his attention to Colress. “Why are you helping him do this?” N asked desperately. “What do you possibly have to gain from this?”

“More funding and time to research,” Colress answered with a non-committal shrug.

N glared at them all as he tried to get back to his feet. A member of the Shadow Triad retrieved Zekrom’s Poké Ball from the floor and handed it to Ghetsis. The other two members latched onto one of N’s arms each and held him so tightly he could feel their nails digging at his skin. Just like that, the surroundings of the castle left them, and Ghetsis, N, and the Shadow Triad were alone in an eerie, chilly forest of pine trees. N saw a couple of Absol curiously peak out from some bushes nearby. He shook his head vigorously at them and begged them in an inhuman chuffing sound to leave. Alarmed at his warning, they took him at his word and fled. The rustling of leaves and snapping of twigs told him that more Pokémon had been around nearby and had also decided to leave at his warning.

“Team Plasma has no more need of your speeches,” Ghetsis sneered, “no more need of your ridiculous parlor trick. Shadow Triad! Execute him!”

N threw all his weight into a flipping motion that ripped him free of the two Shadow Triad members’ holds on his arms, and he wildly kicked his legs as he rolled away from them. “Shadow Triad, listen to me! I am N, Team Plasma’s king and Ghetsis’ son! You take orders from me as well, remember?” N howled as the Triad descended upon him. N’s exclamation gave them all pause. They stopped in their tracks and exchanged slow looks amongst one another, and then finally looked to Ghetsis.

“Don’t just stand there!” Ghetsis barked. “Take care of him!”

“We cannot,” one of them answered softly and shook his head.

“He carries your blood,” another whispered.

N blinked incredulously at that Shadow Triad member. “What do you mean?” N asked anxiously. “He found me and he is my father, but we are not blood-related…” N trailed off as he realized the only proof he had of that statement were words Ghetsis and his other two ‘adoptive’ children—N’s childhood caretakers and sisters—Anthea and Concordia, who were likely equally as duped as he was. N panted for breath as the situation continued to get more and more dire, more and more upsetting. “Father, are we related by blood?”

“Yes,” Ghetsis answered swiftly, “but I am not your father, you freak of nature! Shadow Triad, your oath is with me and me only, I renounce the extension of my mastery to N!”

The Shadow Triad still did not budge. It was the third who spoke this time. “This does not change the fact that he carries your blood,” he said pointedly. “We cannot bring harm to him.”

“Then I’ll just have to finish the job myself!” Ghetsis spat after the Triad. The three men simply took a few steps back and watched with the usual, deadpan expression. N had to wonder how he intended to do that but found his question answered when that Ghetsis lunged at him and that cane found N’s open mouth, striking him in the teeth. N yelped and hit the ground on his back. He didn’t have time to assess the damage because in seconds, Ghetsis clambered on top of him and pressed the staff against N’s throat. His frail right arm shook and twitched under the pressure, and N scrabbled at Ghetsis’ face and hands with his own, writhing beneath him. Ghetsis gave a furious yell as N continued to fight him and managed to succeed and pushing the cane up and off his trachea enough to allow himself air again. “I created you and I will destroy you here!” Ghetsis screamed.

N, hands clutching at the staff for dear life, curled his lips into a snarl. “I cannot let the world fall into the hands of someone such as you!” he hissed through gritted teeth. With a surge of strength, he managed to throw Ghetsis off of himself altogether. He seized his father’s cane and held it out threateningly. N’s throat throbbed with pain and he was panting heavily, but he was still alive, and now he had the staff. Ghetsis’ crippled frame would surely give up on him before he managed to overpower him, wouldn’t it…?

Ghetsis seemed intent to prove N wrong as he rushed at him again, this time with his hands outstretched and going for N’s throat. N slapped his arms away with the cane and staggered away from him, turning in circles. N shook his head. This was insane. “Father, listen to me!” N demanded breathlessly. “We can still fix this! We can truly release Pokemon, and release the ones that Team Plasma holds captive! It is not too late!”

Ghetsis stalked about N in a way that reminded N of a Liepard circling its prey. “I have come too far to let you destroy everything I have built!” Ghetsis snarled. He abruptly launched himself at N in a way that shouldered N to the ground and there they wrestled again. Ghetsis took a fistful of his gold and violet cloak and plastered it across N’s face. He used his left hand to stuff a significant amount of the fabric into N’s mouth and was able to use it as a restraint. N may have been swifter, stronger, and younger, but he had almost never been in a physical altercation in his life. His lack of experience painfully showed.

Ghetsis planted his knees on N’s thighs, keeping him from being able to get up, and his arms were gripping the cloth over N’s face, which as a consequence made N’s hands disoriented as he scrabbled and fought to try to throw Ghetsis back off. “You are no hero and you will not die like a hero!” Ghetsis boasted as he gripped the cloth tighter and tighter around N’s face. N dug nails into Ghetsis’ arms until they drew blood. “Maybe if you would beg…” Ghetsis grinned.

“No, I will… will not… At least… I… fought for… making the world better…” N puffed through ragged, pained breaths, muffled by the cloth in his mouth. “My… only regret is… helping you!”

“Even in death, you mock me!” Ghetsis snarled. “How dare you continue to speak as if you have won, you freak!”

“You’re the… freak without… the human heart,” N hissed in his dying breath. He knew he was defeated and there was no way out of it for him at this point. His head swam and blackness deliriously circled his vision. Admittedly, he was quite upset he had not managed to stop Ghetsis as he had intended, but he would not let Ghetsis know that. Maybe he couldn’t actually win, but if he could get under Ghetsis’ skin, then perhaps he could destabilize Ghetsis’ control.

Ghetsis screamed and clamped both his hands around N’s neck, the cloth of his cloak still covering N’s face, and he squeezed. He squeezed as hard as he could, all the while howling at the top of his lungs in an inhuman expression of rage and didn’t stop until N’s body fell still below him and he felt something give way in N’s throat. He then collapsed on top of N in a heap.

He had won, and yet, fury still made Ghetsis’ heart pound wildly. He couldn’t believe N’s audacity to call HIM the freak without a human heart! N was the freak! He was the mistake, the tool used to carve out his new world! He had raised him from nothing and made him king and rather than accept that cushy lifestyle, N had chosen to fight him to… to the death! He growled as he shakily tried to pick himself up off of N. He had been unable to force N into submission, even as he was strangling the life from him, and that made his blood boil. “Shadow Triad, help me!” Ghetsis gasped when he found he could not get up. The fight with N had sapped all of his strength.

He noted that they moved slowly over to him and when they hauled him from the ground, they did so by his partially paralyzed arm, sending waves of pain firing through Ghetsis’ body. He howled in pain and glowered at them once to his feet. “How dare you! You know better!” Ghetsis shot at them.

The three members of the Shadow Triad simply looked at him. Their usual deadpanned expression was different somehow. In their narrow eyes he thought he saw for the first time contempt. Ghetsis curled his lips and said, “Know your place, Shadow Triad! Now, take me back to the castle. Leave him here. We’re out in the wilderness beyond the Giant Chasm, nobody will find him here anyway.”

“As you command,” a member of the Shadow Triad whispered. He spoke so quietly it was almost difficult for Ghetsis to understand him. The three members of the Shadow Triad descended upon Ghetsis and then teleported him back to the castle as he had asked.

#pokemon #pokemon black and white #pokemon bw #bw #pokemon black #pokemon white #pokemon black 2 and white 2 #pokemon bw2 #pokemon b2w2 #bw2 #b2w2 #pokemon black 2 #pokemon white 2 #team plasma #ghetsis #ghetsis harmonia gropius #harmonia #gropius #n #natural harmonia gropius #colress #achromia #g-cis harmonia #rainbow rocket #team rainbow rocket #team RR #RR #Rainbow Rocket Ghetsis #RR Ghetsis #AU

[hazzasgayvodka]

mister long term booty call chapter two “If I bust my ass, I’m gonna bust yours”

August 21st, 2011

Despite asking your new friend Jacob in your class for directions, you can’t seem to find your way around anywhere. You look down the row of classrooms and once again don’t see the room number you’re looking for. You huff in frustration before turning back the way you came and trying the other hallway, maybe you’ve just got it backwards, again. It’s hard enough starting middle school and being sorted into nearly all eighth-grade classes but doing so alone after moving to a new city was something else entirely.

You’re just about to duck into the nearest classroom and ask for some directions when suddenly two boys come barreling down the hallway. You try to dodge them against the wall but end up smacking straight into one of them, dropping all of your books to the ground in front of you and scraping your knees against the pavement. You look up to meet the face of the boy who nearly trampled you, expecting him to help you up and maybe even gather your books like in the movies.

“Dude, watch it.” He laughs, standing up and brushing himself off before taking back off after his friend down the hall.

You roll your eyes as you stack your books back up and pull yourself to your feet, wincing a little as you stand on your ankle. The teacher from the room in front of you steps out for a minute to ask if you’re okay and you have to withdraw from making a snide remark about how you’re doing just fucking peachy, instead electing to ask for directions so you can just get to your class already.  

After walking back down the rest of the hall and taking the first right as instructed, your eyes finally land on the room you’ve been looking for. You take a deep breath as you twist the handle of room D-145, preparing yourself to stalk to the back and pray no one notices you.

“Oh, tardy on the first day, are we?” Ms. Barger asks as soon as you step in the room.

“I um, couldn’t find the room, I’m new.” You say quietly, wishing you could crawl into a hole.

“Ah, you must be the sixth grader,” She nods, “Why don’t you go take a seat behind Harry.”

You look in the direction of her pointing finger and see none other than the unruly haired boy that knocked you to the ground in the hallway earlier. He’s giving you a giant lopsided grin now, pointing at the seat behind him. You inwardly groan, dragging your feet over to the empty desk and dropping your books at your feet. You slide into your seat and he immediately turns around as Ms. Barger goes on to take role.

“Hey, what’s your name?” He asks, fully leaning on your desk.

You don’t answer him, trying to wrap your head around why the hell he’s interested in talking to you now when he couldn’t even help you up off the pavement earlier.

“Alright nameless girl,” He sighs, visibly annoyed, “Do you play Pokémon?”

“Styles?” Ms. Barger asks, cutting him off with a certain tone to her voice.

“Yes, Winona?” He grins, clearly pleased with himself and you have to bite your lip to conceal your laugh.

“What have I said about calling me by my first name?” Ms. Barger scolds, “Do you really want to start off this school year with detention?”

“Personally, I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate the coming of a new year of bullshit in this ward.” He smirks, kicking his feet up on his desk in front of him to which Ms. Barger rolls her eyes and turns to the board to start teaching.

“So, as I was saying,” He grins, turning back around and taking out a deck of cards, “You play Pokémon?”

 Present Day

 “Harry, Harry! I’m falling!”

“You’re not falling, Jesus Christ,” He laughs, wrapping his arms around your waist to hold you in place, “Besides you’re on a skateboard a few inches off the ground, not plummeting to your death.”

“Why did I allow you to put me on this death trap again?” You groan, wobbling slightly as he pulls you along by your hips.

“Because it’s a trade, we do something I want to do and then we do something you want to do.” He explains, helping you off the board.

As soon as your feet touch solid ground again you puff out a breath of relief. He laughs as he easily flips the board upside down and flips it back over with his feet, landing right on top of it and skating back around you in circle.

“Show off.” You scoff, trying to shove him off but he grabs your hands and pulls you on instead.

“What were you saying?” He smirks, hopping off the board and leaving you standing on it once again, holding onto his hand for dear life.

“Wait, Harry-“

“You got this,” He laughs, squeezing your hand and walking beside you, “Just try pushing off with your right foot.”

You give him a glare and he grins, reaching up to take his hat off and brush his hair out of his face before putting it back on backwards. He’s totally in his element here in his ridiculously skinny jeans and giant oversized t-shirt. You look back up to meet his face and he’s got his eyebrows raised waiting for you to push off by yourself.

“If I bust my ass, I’m gonna bust yours.” You say definitively, pointing your finger into his chest.

“I don’t doubt that for a second,” He laughs, “Now come on, just try.”

You bite your lip as you transfer all your weight to your left foot and lean over, pushing off on your right foot. He nearly trips to catch up with you as you push off and skate a good distance.

“See!” He grins, grabbing both your hands to stop you, “You did just fine.”

“Okay, okay,” You breathe, trying to catch your breath after holding it the whole time you were skating, “Let’s do it again.”

“Yeah?” He asks eagerly, positioning himself on your left side again, “Whenever you’re ready.”

You do it again, grabbing his right hand in a death grip as you push off and skate even further with him jogging beside you to keep up. You do it a couple more times, getting even more adventurous each time and skating even further across the pavement.

“Okay, now this time, when you get to the end of the pavement, don’t stop, try to turn.” He instructs.

“Try to turn?” You scoff, “How?”

“Here, hop off,” He says, getting on the board himself and pushing off with ease, skating to the end of the pavement, and then leaning on his back foot and jutting the board to the left before pushing off again and skating back over to you, “Did you see it?”

“Kinda?” You say but it comes out sounding more like a question.

“Come on, you got this.” He nods, getting back off the board and rolling it over to you.

You roll your eyes as you grab his hand again and carefully step back on the board. He’s holding your hand nice and tight as you lean over and push off once again, skating towards the end of the pavement.

“See you’ve got it down,” He chuckles, “Now just lean back on your right foot and turn.”

You try to do what you watched him do but the board beneath you is rocking side to side under your wobbly legs and suddenly you’re stumbling right off it and into his arms. He’s laughing his ass off as you nearly trip over your own feet and the board but grabs you in his arms, stabilizing you anyways. You finally allow yourself to laugh with him when you look up and see the giant grin on his face as you lean back in his arms.

“Wanna take a break?” He laughs, letting you go and snapping his board back up into his hand.

“Yeah, besides, it’s my turn.” You smirk, grabbing his hand and tugging him behind you.

In a matter of an hour before you’re both back at your apartment after he showed off a bit more around the skate park hitting the rails. You have no idea how he’s able to grind the board down the slope of the rail without hitting the pavement face first but he’s certainly good at it and likes to remind you of that.

“Y/N, it’s burning, is it supposed to be burning?” He winces, attempting to crane his neck to see his face in the mirror.

“Stop moving,” You giggle, grabbing him by the jaw and turning his face back to yours as he wiggles around on the lid of the toilet seat, “I’m almost done, and the burning means it’s working.”

“What is it supposed to be doing? Melting off my top layer of skin?” He groans as you scoop out more of the purple shimmery face mask and paint it on his chin.

“Yes, exactly.” You nod and the horrified look on his face makes you laugh so hard you bury your face in his chest before standing back up to admire your work.

His hair is pushed back off his forehead with a zebra print headband that perfectly matches the santa cruz t-shirt on his shoulders and his entire face is painted a bright shimmery purple to match my own. He finally stands up off the toilet lid when you tell him you’re finished, and he nearly jumps when he catches a glimpse of his face in the mirror.

“Holy shit I look like a fucking alien,” He chuckles, leaning closer to the mirror, “How long till I can wash this shit off?”

“You don’t wash it off,” You explain, swatting his hands away from his face, “You peel it off in like twenty minutes.”

“Peel it?” He scoffs, turning around to face you, “I can’t peel it off! It’s gonna rip out my stubble!”

“What stubble,” You laugh, shoving him out of the way to walk back to the kitchen, “You have the facial hair of a prepubescent twelve-year-old.”

“Do not,” He huffs, following you to the pantry and grabbing the bag of chips right over your head, “I could totally grow a beard if I wanted to.”

“Oh, sure.” You mock sarcastically, following him over to the couch and immediately shoving your feet in his lap.

“I could!” He huffs through a mouthful of chips, “This shit isn’t going to like dye my face purple is it; I’ve got to get to work in like an hour.”

“You work tonight?” You groan, leaning back against the couch and folding your arms over your chest.

“Five to ten,” He shrugs, cautiously wiping his mouth with the back of his hand to not smear purple everywhere, “Why? You wanna do something?”

“No, just thought we were hanging out tonight since you’re here.” You say nonchalantly, masking your disappointment.

He opens his mouth to speak just as his phone starts ringing in his pocket and he sits up quickly, digging it out of his jeans. He rolls his eyes when they land on the caller ID but he answers it anyways and presses his phone to his ear.

“What’s up?” He asks, sounding less than enthused, “Yeah, yeah I can, I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

He ends the call and you perk up a bit, waiting for him to fill you in but suddenly he’s shoving your feet off of him and jogging over to the door to slide on his Vans.

“Who was that?” You ask.

“Work,” He groans, “Austin never came in so now I have to go in early to cover him.”

“Oh no, whatever shall Zumiez do with one less salesperson on the floor.” You sigh dramatically to which he gives you a pointed look.

“Hey, I’ll have you know I happen to be the top salesperson on that floor.” He smirks, grabbing his backpack and slinging it over his shoulder.

“I’m sure you’re their pride and joy, H,” You laugh, pointing to the purple face mask smeared all over his face, “But aren’t you forgetting something.”

“Oh shit! Yeah, get it off.” He says, leaning down so his face is level with yours.

You lift up the mask around his mouth and he winces all the while as you drag it off his skin little by little. You can’t help but laugh as he sucks in a breath when you rip the last bit off his tiny bit of mustache.

“Jesus Y/N, just do it like a Band-Aid this shit hurts.” He whines and you roll your eyes as you do as he requested and peel the rest off in one swift motion.

He scrunches his face up as you do so, gasping as you rip the last bit off his nose and toss the discarded mask in the trash. He opens his eyes once again and runs a hand over his face feeling his skin.

“Am I purple?”  He laughs.

“You’re absolutely glowing.” You tease as he leans down and grabs his skateboard.

“Awesome, I’m never doing that shit again,” He jokes, “I gotta go, I’ll text you.”

You’re surprised when he opens the door and just before walking through it turns back around and lands a quick peck to your lips. You hardly have any time to react before he’s pulling away, dropping his board onto the sidewalk, and skating off.

You close the door almost hesitantly, waiting for him to look back over his shoulder or something but you know he’s not going to. What the hell was that? A kiss goodbye? Whatever it was for some reason it managed to make your knees weak.

You pull yourself away from leaning your back against the door and into the confines of your bedroom, plopping yourself right down at your desk. It’s about an hour later that you’re still mind-numbingly reading through your calculus book and imagining where that goodbye kiss could have headed if he didn’t have to go to work when your phone buzzes beside you and you’re surprised to see his name pop up on your screen.

H: wyd

Y/N: calc reading

H: rough

Y/N: tell me about it

H: finals coming up yeah?

Y/N: next week, super stressed

H: you know there’s a pretty easy way to destress

H: only requires like two fingers

Y/N: omg shut up

H: just stating some facts

Y/N: didn’t ask for your “facts”

H: fine but don’t say I didn’t try to help

H: brb gotta work

You set your phone back down and sigh, inadvertently clenching your thighs together as your mind goes to the last place you want it to. If he wants to make jokes about you getting off maybe he should have offered to help while he was here. You huff in frustration as you get up out of your chair and retreat to your bathroom instead, turning the water on as cold as you think you can take it and stepping in behind the curtain. You try to clear your head as you stand under the freezing water and suds yourself up with vanilla scented body wash. You rinse yourself off one more time before escaping the cold and wrapping up in a warm towel before walking back into your bedroom to hear your phone buzzing on your desk.

H: I’m back

H: wow love it when you don’t text back

H: it turns me on

H: ignore me harder

Y/N: well if you insist

H: kidding

H: come back

Y/N: that’s what I thought

H: where did you go

Y/N: shower

H: ah someone took my advice

Y/N: no dipshit, someone took a shower

H: oh good

H: I was worried you only lasted fifteen minutes

Y/N: oh shut up

H: you shut up

Y/N: make me loser

H: I definitely can

H: but you might moan a little

Y/N: HARRY

H: see, told you

Y/N: the only moaning you’re getting out of me is in sheer annoyance dumbass

H: there we go

H: who needs flirting and affection when you can just have blind hatred

Y/N: you’re such an idiot

H: mmmmm say it again

Y/N: oh shut up

H: are we really going down that road again

Y/N: I don’t know

Y/N: I quite liked where we were headed before

H: you did?

Y/N: are you really going to make me spell it out for you?

H: fucking hell

H: I’m at work woman

Y/N: and now that’s an issue?

Y/N: you were talking pretty big game there Styles

H: okay fine

H: you have exactly three minutes to be naked on your bed while I get to the storage closet

H: and don’t you dare start without me

Your heart is absolutely hammering in your chest when your eyes read over the words as they pop up on your screen. Are you really doing this? While he’s at work? What the hell are you thinking? You know you should stop this right here before things get carried away but something else has already come over you and before you can think straight, you’re stripped of all your clothing, lying back against your headboard. The cold air oscillating from your ceiling fan has you covered in goosebumps nearly instantly, every hair on your body standing up and your jittering hands reaching for your phone to see if he’s texted back just as it starts to ring in your hand.

“Shit, shit, shit,” You swear under your breath, staring at your ceiling as your phone rings in your hand and you try to force yourself to answer it, “Fuck it.”

You answer the call and immediately want to slap yourself for doing so, trying to regulate your breathing as your heart threatens to beat out of your chest.

“You naked, sweetheart?” He breathes through the phone, instantly making your thighs clench together.

“Maybe.” You say, your voice barely a whisper.

“Oh, come on,” He laughs, “Don’t start with that shy shit now, Y/N.”

“Who said I’m being shy?” You smirk, trying to be just as equally witty as he always is, “Perhaps I’m teasing.”

“And we all know just how good you are at that.” He chuckles, trying to break through the awkward tension between the two of you.

What is it about talking dirty to each other over the phone rather than in person that makes it so much harder?

“Surely I have no idea what you’re talking about.” You sigh sarcastically, adjusting the pillows underneath you to get comfortable.

“This innocent act isn’t gonna last sweetheart.”

“Oh, isn’t it?” You giggle, “What makes you so sure?”

“Well we could start with the soaking spot I’m sure you have in your underwear,” He says and you picture the proud smirk on his face when you let your eyes flutter closed, “And end with the fact that you’re on your bed naked for me right now if you’d like.”

“Now come on Styles,” You muse, sounding a lot braver than you feel, “I think we both know I’m the one running the show here, I’ve got you in a supply closet after all.”

“That you do babygirl,” He laughs, and you just know he’s shaking his head at you, “Now sit up against your headboard and spread your legs for me.”

“Way ahead of you.” You smirk, balancing the phone between your ear and your shoulder as you let your fingers lightly circle your opening, making your thighs clench.

“Fuck, of course you are,” He breathes, and you hear the clink of his belt buckle as he undoes it, “Do you have music playing?”

“Mhm,” You hum, “Brockhampton.”

“Jesus,” He pants, “I wanna fuck you to so many songs.”

“Oh yeah?” You hum once again, trying to not let your moans sound too pornstar as you slip your fingers past your entrance, “Like what?”

“I’ll tell you later, promise,” He grunts, “But right now I need you to move your hips as sinfully as you can and imagine it’s my face you’re riding instead of your fingers.”

“Ahead of you again,” You grin, trying to keep your panting in check as your fingers speed up, “You have really got to learn to catch up, H.”

“Fuck off.” He chuckles.

“Tell me what you want to do to me.” You breathe, shocking yourself as the words fall past your lips.

“Christ,” He hisses, and you can picture him biting his lip purple, “I want to tie you down and make you beg, fuck you till you can’t walk straight,” He pants, moans spilling out of his mouth in between every word, “Fuck, please tell me you’re touching yourself cause god knows I am.”

“Way past touching, Harry.” You laugh, your left hand reaching to your chest to tweak your nipples.

“What are you thinking about right now?” He asks.

“You.”

“What about me?” He inquires further.

“Riding you,” You gasp, nearly choking on the end of the word as you hit that perfect spot, “Pushing you down against my bed and climbing on top of you, sliding onto you, marking up your neck with my mouth.”

“Holy fuck,” He groans in the back of his throat, “I want to bend you over my bed and smack your ass so hard you can’t sit for two days.”

“But you’ll handcuff me first of course,” You tease, trying to get a rise out of him, “Right, Harry?”

“Fuck, I’ll chain you to the bed if you want.” He chuckles.

“Is that a threat or a promise?” You bait him, whimpering as your left hand moves from your nipples back to your clit.

“Sweetheart, it can be whatever the hell you want it to be.”

Your stomach does a series of backflips when the words come out of his mouth in that deep gravelly tone and you find yourself beaming ear to ear as your head relaxes against the pillow behind you.

“You still stressed about calculus?” He teases.

“Funny,” You pant, “Can’t say calculus is necessarily in the forefront of my mind at the current moment, no.”

“Then I’d say I’m doing a pretty good job, huh?”

“Do you think you could get over here and put your mouth to better use than patting yourself on the back?” You suggest, biting your lip as you await his response.

“Don’t tease a weak man, Y/N,” He groans, a small chuckle escaping his mouth, “I don’t get off for another three hours.”

“It’ll be a lot sooner than that if I have anything to do with it.” You grin, an idea coming to fruition in your head.

“What? Y/N?”

You don’t answer any of his questions or respond to your name. Instead, you hang up hastily and climb off your bed, shimmying your underwear back up your legs followed by a pair of jeans and his plain yellow hoodie hanging in your closet.

You slip your phone in your back pocket as you shove your feet into a pair of sneakers and grab your keys, rushing out your bedroom door and nearly coming face to face with your roommate Matt. He has an all assuming smirk on his face as he takes a sip of the can of mountain dew in his hand, eyeing your haphazard outfit and messy hair.

“Heading out?” He laughs.

“Something like that,” You say quickly, heading for the front door, “How long have you uh, been home exactly?”

“Not long,” He shrugs, taking a seat on the couch as you open the door, “Of course it was long enough to hear you screaming, Oh Harry! Harry!”

You turn around with a start, shooting daggers at him as he moans obnoxiously loud, mocking the sounds you were undoubtedly making only minutes ago.

“Fuck off!” You shout, your face burning as you close the door behind you and collapse in the front seat of your car.

You start your car, swearing under your breath as you back out of your parking spot, your hands shaking nervously as you reluctantly make good on your promise, he’ll surely be getting off in a lot sooner than three hours.

 HARRY

 The call drops and he’s swearing under his breath as he fumbles with his phone trying to call you back, but it just rings over and over, angering him further. What kind of game are you trying to play? Getting him this worked up at work and then vanishing right when he’s at the edge.

He takes out his earbuds and tosses his phone back in his pocket with a huff of frustration, rubbing the back of his hand over his now sweaty forehead and lifting his damp hair out of his eyes. He grabs himself in his other hand once again, pumping his hand over his throbbing cock but without your breathy moans surrounding him through his headphones he just ends up frustrating himself even further.

“Fucking hell.” He pants under his breath, finally giving up and leaning against the storage room wall behind him.

He squeezes his eyes shut and tries to imagine your picture perfect chest right in front of him, your eyes rolled back in your head as you bounce on him, biting your lip to stifle your moans before he grabs your jaw and reminds you to be loud for him. The images running through his head are tantalizing for sure, but they’re nothing compared to the whimpers and mewls and filthy words you were spewing straight into his ears only a few minutes ago.

“Fuck it.” He huffs, standing back up straight and stuffing himself in his boxers.

When he buttons his jeans and does up his zipper, he’s thankful for the baggy t-shirt he decided to wear today. He adjusts himself another three times trying to get comfortable with his rock-hard cock straining against the confines of his clothes but once again he gives up and decides to just try and get through the rest of his shift already.

He unlocks the storage room door and emerges quietly, hoping he doesn’t raise any red flags with his other associate considering he was in there at least twenty minutes.

“Oh, there you are man,” Cody laughs, straightening the shirts on the front table, “Thought you might have went to get some food or something.”

“Nope,” He chuckles nervously, “Just uh, straightening all the shoes back there, it was a mess.” He explains, mentally slapping himself when he realizes he’s actually going to have to do that later now.

Cody goes on to complain about some other aspect of the store that’s equally messy but Harry doesn’t hear a word he says as his gaze lands on none other than Y/N, walking hurriedly down the aisle of stores and making a b-line for him as soon as they lock eyes.

“Hey um,” Harry speaks up, cutting Cody off, “Did you want to get out of here early tonight? I can close up myself, we’ve had like three people all night.”

“Serious dude?” Cody grins, “That would be awesome.”

“Yeah, don’t sweat it,” He shrugs, sending you a very pointed look warning you to stay outside, “Grab your stuff and clock out.”

“Thanks, Harry.” He smiles, patting him on the back as he passes him to the back room.

Harry beckons you over quickly, shushing you when you start to speak and nearly dragging you over to the door to the small storage closet.

“Stay in here and don’t make a fucking sound,” He says, his voice pure gravel, “You better be ready for me when I get back.”

Your legs clench on their own accord at the needy tone of his voice before he opens the door and shoves you inside, closing it once again. His head is a clouded, fuzzy mess as he drags his feet back over to the computer at the register and manually clocks Cody out so he can fucking get out of here already.

“Alright, I’m out of here man-“

“Already clocked you out, you’re all good dude.” Harry grins nearly painfully, leaning back against the counter.

“Oh, awesome, thanks,” Cody nods, hiking his skateboard up under his arm and walking towards the front of the store, “See you later.”

Harry lets out the biggest sigh of relief when Cody finally turns the corner and he runs to the entrance of the store, jumping up to grab the gate and pull it down to the floor, kicking the lock closed and nearly running back to the storage room where you’re waiting for him.

He throws the door open roughly and instantly grabs your face in his hands, smashing his lips onto yours as you reach out to grab the door handle and yank it closed. Your hands immediately reach for his belt buckle under his t-shirt, followed by the button and the zipper on his pants. You start to sink down to your knees, but he grabs your arms and stands you back up, lifting his hoodie up off you and biting back a moan as your full chest he was trying to picture earlier is now right in front of him.

“Wanna fuck you,” He grinds out, undoing your jeans as well, “Not gonna last if you try to blow me.”

You try not to laugh at how needy he is, already teetering on the edge. He sucks in a breath as you untuck him from his boxers, just barely pumping your hand over him while his cup your chest, making you whimper.

“You’re not gonna last either, huh?” He smirks proudly, giving your right nipple a pinch and making your knees wobble.

“Well I’m assuming we should be rather quick about this,” You breathe, stepping out of your jeans, “Can’t hide in here all night.”

“Fucking wish we could,” He pants, pressing his thumb against your center, “Lot more fun than folding t-shirts.”

You’re nearly doubling over in pleasure as he rubs his thumb against your clit over your soaking panties. He’s got that cocky smirk on his face as he eases them out of your slit and eases a finger inside you, making you gasp. He circles your clit, spreading your arousal before delving back inside you and making you lean against the wall behind you.

“Harry,” You breathe, “I could have fingered myself at home.”

You let your eyes flutter back open to catch the look on his face as he gives you a teasing glare, withdrawing his fingers from you once again and pushing them past his lips instead, hollowing his cheeks and sucking them clean.

“As you wish, princess.” He mocks, grabbing you in his arms roughly and pressing you against the wall with your legs wrapped around his waist.

You don’t even have time to worry about if you’re too heavy for him to be holding you up like this before he’s sliding into you and filling you to the hilt. You both gasp at the sudden contact, his head instantly falling to your shoulder, his lips messily sponging kisses down your jaw.

“Fuck how are you always,” He pants, pulling out and rutting into you again, “So tight.”

You can’t even comprehend the words coming out of his mouth as your hands thread through his hair, your head leaning back against the wall behind you as your back arches further with every thrust. He’s already so close, desperately thrusting into you at a punishing pace that has you moaning carelessly, nearly screaming his name despite the two of you being locked in a thin-walled closet.

“Please tell me you’re close.” He begs, his nails threatening to dig into the underside of your thighs as he grips you even tighter.

“So close, H,” You pant, grabbing desperately at his back and hardly noticing as you rake your nails across his skin, “Fuck, so close.”

“Cum with me then,” He groans, his moans purely guttural, “Come on Y/N, cum with me babygirl.”

His words are just enough to push you over the edge, squeezing your walls around him as your head rolls back against the wall behind you. Your eyes threaten to flutter closed as your orgasm washes over you, but you force yourself to watch him, relishing in the way his swollen pink lips part perfectly, his eyes screwing shut, and a colorful string of swears falling past his trembling lips. You feel him release inside you, making you clench around him again earning you a gravelly moan from the back of his throat.

He carefully sets you back on the ground, pulling out of you and the empty aching feeling between your thighs returns. He lifts up his t-shirt to wipe his forehead and you want to slap yourself when you feel your thighs still clenching together when you get a quick look at his hardened stomach, his jutting hips and very visible v-line making your mouth water. He pulls his shirt back down, snapping you out of your daze as he pulls his jeans back up and you stumble over yourself as you realize you should be doing the same.

“So, what are your plans for the rest of tonight?” He asks, running a hand through his thoroughly fucked out hair.

“Um,” You think aloud, “Not sure, might have a date with my couch and the ice cream in my freezer.”

“You want to organize some shoes instead?” He laughs, gesturing to the wall of shoe boxes beside you, “After I’ll take you out for all the ice cream you can eat.”

#harry #harry styles smut #harry styles #harry smut #harry styles au #harry styles imagine #harry styles blurb #harry styles writing #harry styles oneshot #harry styles fic #harry styles fanfiction #mltbc #fuckboyrry

[samsonet]

I can find my way home without you (the rightful king remix)

Leon always gives Chairman Rose what he wants.

Sometimes he has no fricking idea what that is, though.

Title from In the Heights' "Blackout."

~

Leon is ten when they meet for the first time.

Rose sees talent in this nobody kid from a nowhere town. Rose puts a hand on his shoulder, pats it seven times. Rose endorses him for the gym challenge.

Leon is sure that it is his own incredible talent that drew Rose’s attention, but he hears the gossip same as everyone. Rose likes playing philanthropist. Rose likes acting the fairy godfather to people in poverty. This airheaded purple-haired boy is just another in a long line of charity cases. There’s nothing special about him.

But they’re wrong, in Leon’s case. He really is that special, and he’s strong enough to prove it.

When he wins the Champion Cup, Leon waves to the chairman and takes some pride in the smile on Rose’s face.

*

When Leon is twelve, Rose gives him a present: a cape, dark velvet, the same color as the blouses Oleana wears. It’s trimmed with Wooloo wool, and the smell reminds him of Postwick and Hop.

Leon slings it over his scrawny shoulders and nearly stumbles under the weight. “I don’t know if I can wear this.”

But Rose only smiles. “You’ll grow into it.”

He doesn’t know what Rose is thinking.

He wears the cape to his next press event. Some reporters call it tacky, but the fandom eats it up. They call him King Leon and talk like he’s got the entire region in the palm of his hand. It’s a good feeling. Leon lets himself enjoy it.

(Later, he jokes about putting sponsor logos on the back of the cape. Then he goes and does it, because nobody can stop him.)

*

“Happy birthday,” Rose says. “You’re thirteen now, yes?”

Leon is not thirteen anymore, but he doesn’t know how to correct it without accidentally insulting the chairman.

Luckily for them both, Oleana knows everything. She murmurs: “He turned fourteen, sir.”

That makes Rose smile, his eyes shining. “Wonderful! Fourteen is a good number. Seven times two. It’s good luck. This will be a good year.”

Leon doesn’t understand Rose’s thing about sevens, but if it makes him feel better, that’s fine.

“Hammerlocke will be introducing their new gym leader next Tuesday. I would like you to be there to meet him. Can you find your way without me?”

“Definitely!”

(It turns out he can’t. He ends up calling Rose for help, and Oleana sends a taxi.)

*

By the time Leon turns sixteen, his legend as the “unbeatable champion” seems firmly written in Galar’s history.

He wins the champion cup -- again -- and Rose shakes his hand in front of the cameras.

“Where’d your challenger for this year go?” Leon asks, barely moving his lips. This is something he doesn’t want the press to overhear. (Probably should’ve waited, then, and asked later. Oh well.) “The kid you endorsed. I didn’t see her.”

“Oh, the girl?” (Surely Rose remembers her name, right?) “She went home after losing. I’d like it if you could train with her sometime, actually. She still does have a bright future, even if she won’t replace my favorite champion.”

I’m your only champion, Leon thinks.

Then, feeling a bit petty: and I won’t be so easily replaced.

“Anything for you.”

“Can you find your way to the Pokémon Center later tonight?”

“Of course.”

(A Macro Cosmos employee finds him later and has to bring him there personally.)

*

Contrary to the internet rumor mill, Leon does have a father. Dad is out of the region frequently, but he exists. He loves Leon and Hop. He’s a good dad.

It’s Leon’s seventeenth birthday, and he invites his father to the league party.

“Chairman Rose, this is my father. Dad, this is Chairman Rose.”

The men examine each other. What they’re looking for, Leon doesn’t know. (Should he suggest a battle? That’s always a good way to get to know someone. But then, Leon is always thinking about battling, and he knows some people find it annoying—)

His father blinks first, offering his hand to shake. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for my son.”

“He’s talented. All I did was clear the way.”

*

When Leon turns eighteen, Rose invites him to his private rooms in the Rose Tower.

The suite is glamorous, of course.The couch in the living room is immeasurably comfortable, probably immeasurably expensive, too. There are seven lights on the ceiling, shining blue like a foggy morning. Leon examines the pictures on the walls. Eight individual shots of the gym leaders. Himself, back when he was the newly-crowned child champion. Oleana. An older woman who is probably Rose’s mother. Two of Rose’s former endorsees.

The last one, Leon has no clue about. It shows a child with fluffy white hair. She -- he? -- is smiling, but not at the camera. No, that smile is aimed at the tiny pink Pokemon in their arms.

“He’s cute, isn’t he?”

Rose appears out of nowhere. He’s still in his suit, but he’s taken off the jacket and loosened the tie.

(Suddenly, the collar of the champion uniform feels a bit tight.)

Rose stands beside him, looking at the picture. “That’s Bede. He’s my ward, now; in a few years, I will be endorsing him for the challenge. He’s talented.”

“More talented than me?”

That earns him a laugh. “You don’t have to worry about him right now. Let’s talk about you. I have plans for you, you know. Even now.”

And, damn, if that doesn’t sound like something from an adult movie.

Leon has been wondering if this would ever happen. He’s an energetic teenager, and Rose is very attractive and does seem to be fond of him. They’re close, right? Rose has met his parents. Rose has held his baby brother. Rose isn’t going to hurt him.

He can’t figure out what Rose is thinking.

Whatever the chairman asks, Leon will do. It’s the least he can do to repay the debt, and if he doesn’t think too hard, the anxiety is almost the same as excitement —

Rose reaches up, pats Leon’s shoulder seven times. “Have you ever heard of the Darkest Day?”

Everything freezes.

All of a sudden, Leon realizes three things:

First, that he’s been taller than Rose for some time now.

Second, that for all the calm, steel-specialist persona, Rose is an incredibly anxious person.

Third, that they’re not actually going to have sex.

He’s not sure whether to be relieved or disappointed.

“I think I’ve heard that story,” he says. “The Fairy King, the Hero of Many Battles, right?”

“Yes. The ancient Hero fought the monster and saved Galar. You know I have been assisting Professor Magnolia with her research, yes? Well, I have come to a surprising conclusion.”

“Oh, yeah?” All Leon knows about Magnolia’s research is that Dynamaxing makes Pokemon bigger and the crowd loves to see a Charizard the size of a building. The more academic side has always bored him. (Sorry, Sonia.)

Rose walks to the window and pushes open the curtains. It’s dark outside. Below them, Galar shines like a jewel. “Do you know how much energy it takes to power a stadium, Leon?”

Bold of him to assume Leon knows anything, really.

But Rose doesn’t wait for an answer. “One thousand, five hundred megawatts. That’s enough electricity to power ten thousand homes. Heating, cooling, all the devices and appliances. And we use it for simple entertainment.”

Entertainment that Leon has dedicated his life to. “Are you getting tired of the league?”

“What? No, of course not. But lately it’s made me think… our energy supply isn’t infinite. In a thousand years, we won’t have any more resources. The day will come that Galar will go dark, forever. It gets closer every day, every minute. I confess I lie awake at night thinking about it.”

Rose raps his knuckles against the windowpane, knock knock knock knock knock knock knock.

“But I have a plan.”

“I’m all ears,” Leon says. If talking helps the chairman feel better about a disaster that will happen long after they’re both dead, so be it. He turns back to the pictures on the wall. (Piers’ looks more glam rock than his usual punk; did Rose specifically seek out this one to fit an aesthetic?)

“I intend to resurrect the Pokémon that brought about the Darkest Day and befriend it so it will provide for Galar’s future.”

“That sounds like a good plan.”

There’s a short silence. Then Rose says, “Champion, did you hear me?”

Mentally, Leon backtracks. Wait a second. That does not sound like a good plan. “You’re going to resurrect the thing that nearly destroyed Galar?”

“Yes. That is the surprising conclusion I mentioned earlier: that the Pokémon could be a source of infinite energy. I am still figuring out how to awaken it, but when I do, I will need a champion to fight for me and capture it. Can you do that, Leon?”

Leon studies him. Notes the fearful note in his eyes, the way his shoulders are tensed, and even the way he curls and uncurls his fingers.

“Of course I can. I’m your unbeatable champion, after all.”

And that was fine.

But then —

*

Leon is twenty-one when Rose decides to bring about the Darkest Day.

Leon told him to wait one more day, just one. He hopes Rose tried to wait, that the timing was only because he couldn’t bear to hold back any longer.

But he never knows what Rose is thinking.

(Of course, after the match it turns out there’s a new champion. Did Rose suspect that would happen? Or was he too worried about the far future to care about the near?)

Rose calls for help, and his champion rushes to answer.

They stare at each other. It only takes a moment, but it’s a moment too long while Eternatus rages above.

“I’m glad you came to help me,” Rose says.

I didn’t come for you. I’m here for Hammerlocke. I’m here for Galar.

“I don’t want anyone to get hurt,” Leon replies.

“Can you find your way up without me?”

“Don’t mock me, Rose.”

(Going up he has no problems. Going down is another story.

Hop and Gloria are the ones who help him get back, afterwards. He doesn’t remember it, but apparently they half-supported, half-carried him into the lift. Those two. Always sharing their burdens.)

Leon will realize, later, that that’s the last time he actually saw Rose.

*

Gloria develops a habit of bouncing on one foot, then the other. One bounce, two bounce. One bounce, two bounce.

“Why do you hop like that?” Leon asks. “One champion to another.”

She blinks, like she’s never really thought about it. “Oh… I have to. Twice on each foot makes four. Four is good luck!”

“Good luck, huh?”

Leon touches his Dynamax band. It’s warm around his wrist.

He taps a finger against it, seven times.

#pokemon swsh fanfic #IWAFORK

[catflowerqueen]

Hidden In Plain Sight

Don’t expect any fast updates on this (or any of my other stories, really), because classes restart for me today, and I already spent a lot longer working on this than I really should have at the moment, considering that I still have some paperwork I really need to do, which I probably should have done a few days ago, but... please enjoy another part of my “What if...?” series.

Summary:  Wherein Uxie takes his role as the Being of Knowledge the slightest bit more seriously, and an offer to help Laura with her amnesia leads to the Wigglytuff Guild taking temporary custody of the Time Gear of Fogbound Lake. Grovyle is not amused. Also, Chatot contemplates the merits of establishing better intraguild communications, or, at the very least, instituting a minimum age for admittance into the Wigglytuff Guild.

Hidden in Plain Sight

Chapter One:           

   “I shall not take away your memories of this place. You have earned my trust. But I must ask that you keep this place a secret,” Uxie declared, to the relief of the Wigglytuff Guild whose members gathered by the lakeshore, drinking in its stunning sights. Sure, after seeing what exactly the treasure of Fogbound Lake was they all completely understood why the Being of Knowledge resorted to such extreme measures in the first place in order to protect it, and in the back of their minds they had already resigned themselves to losing some of their memories in order to help protect the Time Gear… but the sight of the lake before them really was beautiful, and it would have been a shame to lose such precious memories. But just before Guildmaster Wigglytuff was about to open his mouth to give his assurances that his guild would keep their silence, as well as to give thanks to Uxie for his generosity, the Being of Knowledge spoke again.

                “Speaking of memories, however… I do believe we have some unfinished memories in regards to yours, Laura,” he said, surprising everyone present, if not for quite the same reasons.

                “Huh? But I thought that you said you didn’t know anything about what caused her memory loss?” Paula asked.

                “That is true,” Uxie confirmed, completely ignoring everyone else’s confusion and sudden intakes of shock over this bit of knowledge about their friend. “But as I was about to say before the rest of your fellow guildmates appeared… while I have, lately, been more focused on erasing memories, it is also possible for me to help people regain them as well.” Upon seeing the dual hopeful looks that started to spring up on Team Rainbow’s faces, he hastened to add, “It is not always foolproof, as memories and the mind are complex things. Depending on the actual cause of your friend’s amnesia, it may not be possible for me to do much. Laura’s unique circumstances in regards to her species might also complicate things.”

                “That’s perfectly all right!” Paula exclaimed. “Any little bit would be a big help. Right, Laura?”

                But before the treecko had the chance to give her opinion, Loudred interjected, loudly demanding “WHOA, WHOA, WHOA! Just… HOLD ON there for a second. What… what are you TALKING about? Laura has AMNESIA? Since WHEN?”

                Laura blinked at this before cringing a bit and blushing upon realizing that she’d never actually shared this piece of information with any of the other guildmembers. “Um… Ever since I met Paula,” she confessed.

                “Yeah,” Paula gave a nervous chuckle, sheepishly rubbing her neck, “that’s actually why she agreed to form an exploration team with me in the first place—I thought that since the Wigglytuff Guild was so well known and had so many resources, you might be able to help her figure out her past.”

                “…And the reason you never informed us of this so that we could, actually try and help you with this is because…?” Chatot asked, his eye developing a mild twitch at the fact that, first of all, this pair of recruits had neglected to inform anyone of the serious issues that were plaguing Laura, and, secondly, that this neglect occurred in spite of the hope for help being one of their main goals for joining in the first place.

                “I mean… we were really busy settling in those first few days… and then there was that whole thing with Azurill… and then by that point it just felt kind of… awkward, I guess?” Paula shrugged, a blush rising to her face as well.

                “Especially since you didn’t seem to know much about the other issue I had, when I asked,” Laura added quietly.

                “What ‘other issue?’” Diglett asked.

                “Indeed, what could be a more pressing issue than the fact that you have amnesia?” his father inquired.

                Wigglytuff, meanwhile, who was just as surprised as everyone else by this turn of events but was trying to be a bit more rational, for once—as he realized that this explained a lot about some of the more concerning things he’d noticed about his precious apprentice, and was trying to do some preliminary planning on what he could do to help her once they got back home, especially if Uxie wasn’t able to help her retrieve any of her memories—suddenly recalled a conversation the guild had participated in shortly after Team Rainbow’s first major exploration. “Oh! Does it have something to do with humans?” he asked.

                That jogged Chatot’s memories, which he had been searching through in an attempt to recall any questions Laura had asked him recently that he hadn’t been able to answer that seemed particularly strange or out of the ordinary at the time. “Ah, yes!” he exclaimed. “Thank you for the reminder, Guildmaster! If I recall correctly… you and Paula were curious about their stories, yes? Specifically, if there were any about humans who were turned into—” he cut the thought off as something suddenly clicked, and then he sputtered, “SQUAWK! Wh-what?! You can’t be serious! Are you… are you seriously trying to imply that Laura, our Laura who is obviously a treecko, at one point used to be a human?!”

                “WHAT?!” the remaining guildmembers, sans Paula, Laura, and Wigglytuff, screamed. “YOU USED TO BE HUMAN?!”

                Laura rubbed her arm nervously as she gave a quiet affirmation.

                This just shocked everyone even more. “But… how is that POSSIBLE?!” Loudred demanded. But then he, too, recalled that conversation and remembered something that Croagunk had brought up during it in regards to legends about humans. “Unless… did Laura maybe PULL on a ninetales’ TAIL?”

                “Oh my gosh, Loudred, how could you even think something like that?” Sunflora demanded, sounding affronted on her friend’s behalf. “No way would Laura do something that cruel!”

                “But how would we even KNOW?” Loudred asked, his face becoming pinched as he actually stopped for a moment to contemplate the possibility. He suddenly turned his gaze towards Laura, and she cringed under the scrutiny. “If you REALLY don’t remember anything about your past, then for all we, OR you, know… maybe you actually WERE a really mean person!”

                Sunflora and Chimecho gasped in shock at his audacity, and Paula’s expression became enraged. But before she had the chance to lay into him, Dugtrio barked out “Loudred! That is crossing a line! Apologize to Laura at once!”

                “I—” Loudred looked around at the disappointed faces of his fellow apprentices and superiors, cringing when he saw the unhappy frown on Wigglytuff’s face, and then cringing even harder when he saw that Laura had withdrawn even further into herself than usual and was clutching her arm tightly in a trembling grip. “I—that’s—ugh… You’re RIGHT. That was WAY out line… I’m really, REALLY sorry, Laura.”

                “Well, whether she had the capacity for that sort of thing or not, we can definitely confirm—without even having to look into her memories, actually—that Laura was not the human in that particular legend,” Uxie suddenly piped up, making many of the assembled jump slightly in surprise, as they had momentarily forgotten his presence. He seemed rather amused by the whole situation, really. “Despite there being many iterations of that particular legend, all of them do share the same detail in common: the human was to be reborn as a pokémon. This implies that after spending an entire life as a human, they would then die and reincarnate—and it is this reincarnation which would be a pokémon. In Laura’s case, however, she was born a human and then changed into a pokémon during this lifetime. Therefore, she does not fit the requirements set by this specific legend,” he explained. Sunflora crossed her leaves and raised a brow at Loudred in an “I-told-you-so” sort of way, and he shrunk back under the scrutiny.

 “Furthermore,” Uxie added, “it’s my experience that when memory loss is involved, it typically does not result in drastic personality changes. Therefore, if your friend’s current attitude and demeanor indicates that she is incapable of that sort of cruelty, then it is highly likely that this held true in the past as well. If there was some sort of major personality difference, then it indicates a much larger problem.” He then gave everyone a moment to absorb that information, taking special of note of Laura and ensuring that she was able to regain a bit of her confidence before he switched back to the actual matter at hand. “In any case… as I was trying to explain, the fact that your natural species is a human might complicate things in regards to how much help I can ultimately give you. Though, that is not so much because you were a human, but more because it is unclear what caused you to switch species in the first place.”

                Laura gave a slow, thoughtful nod. It made perfect sense… though it also made her a little nervous. What if he couldn’t restore all of her memories? It would be one thing if he just couldn’t help at all—a bit disappointing, maybe, but it would ultimately leave her no worse off than she already was—but given how maddening it was to be in this place, and to have these vague feelings of familiarity with no clear explanation as for why… if a partial recall led to such scenarios becoming even more common, then she thought that might actually be worse. But at the same time… it really did bother her that she couldn’t remember anything about her past, even if she didn’t express those sentiments too often. Or at all, really, since no one else outside of Paula had any clue there was even an issue until today.

                Wigglytuff noticed her nervousness. “It’s okay if you don’t want to do this, Laura,” he told her, moving to be closer to her. He placed his hands on her shoulders, and looked directly into her eyes. “Whether you get your memories back or not, you’re still our friendly-friend, and we’ll always do our best to support you,” he assured her, giving her shoulders a comforting squeeze.

                “Yes,” Uxie agreed. “It is entirely your decision whether you want me to try and use my powers or not; memories are intensely personal things, and the process would still be rather invasive, even though I would be trying to help you regain your memories, rather than take them away. Also: even if you do decide that you would rather forgo my help at the moment… that doesn’t mean you can’t change your mind and return at a later date.”

                Laura took a moment to think it over. “I think…” she paused, taking in everyone’s encouraging faces. Then she took in a deep breath to steady herself, and declared, “I think I do want you to try. Even if it turns out that you can’t help much… I think I would regret it if I didn’t at least make the attempt.”

                Uxie nodded. “Very well. In that case, I suggest that you sit down—the process shouldn’t hurt, but it might leave you a bit dizzy, or disoriented.”

                Laura nodded, and Wigglytuff pulled her into a brief hug before he helped her settle on the ground. Uxie floated over and placed his hands on her temples. “Close your eyes,” he instructed her. Once she complied, he continued, “I will begin on the count of three. One… two… three.”

                At that, his eyes, though still shut, began to glow slightly, and Laura’s expression became a little pinched. But neither of them made a sound. The members of the Wigglytuff Guild waited with baited breath, but as the minutes ticked by with nothing happening, they began getting a bit restless. Before anyone could say something to break the silence, however, Uxie gave a small “Hm,” and lifted his hands from Laura’s head. Laura, in turn, scrunched her face up even more before relaxing and blinking her eyes open, her expression a bit dazed.

                “So… did it work?” Corphish asked, looking between the two of them. The other apprentices were eager to know as well… but their hearts sank when Laura frowned and gave a disappointed shake of her head.

                “Unfortunately, I was unable to uncover any concrete memories,” Uxie informed the crowd. Their hearts sank even more, and they tried to prepare themselves to give him thanks for trying, or to comfort Laura over the failure, but before they could, Uxie said something else which brought a bit of hope back. “However, that in itself, Laura, gives me some clues to your past.”

                “R-Really? That’s great! Paula exclaimed. “What does it tell you?”

                “First, I should explain a bit what I look for when I delve into someone’s mind,” Uxie said, settling down on the ground himself so that he would be more comfortable while he explained. He waited for everyone else to follow suit before continuing, ”When I delve into someone’s mind to manipulate their memories, I typically don’t do so with intent to pry—even when my goal is to erase memories of Fogbound Lake, I try not to look beyond the surface level since, frankly, it isn’t any of my business. So, what I do instead is to search for certain impressions which I either draw closer to the surface to make them easier to look at, or push farther back into the subconscious, rendering them nearly inaccessible. In truth… when I erase someone’s memories, I typically don’t actually remove them so much as I simply push the contents down deep within their minds,” he admitted. “After all, it is far more likely that people would become suspicious and attempt to come back and search the area if there was actually a chunk of their memories missing, rather than if they still retained some memory of an exploration, but no memories of actually reaching Fogbound Lake.”

                “I see! So, then they would assume that they really had searched everywhere, but just hadn’t been able to find anything, right?” Chimecho guessed.

                “Correct,” Uxie affirmed, a proud grin on his face. “And this is typically the case with amnesiacs as well—it isn’t that their memories are gone, it’s just that they are inaccessible for some reason. Typically, what I would see in these instances is a sort of… fog, almost.” He paused here, considering something, and then gave an amused shake of the head. “It’s actually a little like Fogbound Lake, in a way—the mental fog obscures the paths that one would typically use to find and access their memories, much like the fog here obscures access to the path one needs to take in order to reach the Time Gear. So what I do in this sort of situation is to, essentially, clear away the fog of one’s mind.”

                “But if you couldn’t do that this time, then what does it mean for Laura?” Paula asked, glancing between Uxie and her partner—who actually seemed more interested in the explanation on the mechanics of memory retrieval than disappointed that it hadn’t worked for her.

                “In Laura’s case… there really isn’t any fog to sift through,” Uxie shrugged. “There is a little bit, yes, and some dim impressions and recollections—which is likely why you felt this place was familiar to you—but for the most part… the area of your mind where memories are stored is just… blank. As if it was empty, or locked behind some sort of impenetrable door.”

              “If that’s the case, then… hey, hey! How does that give you any clues to hercpast?” Corphish wondered.

                “Ah, because you see… this is not the first time I have come across such a condition in humans.”

                Paula frowned. “But… hold on a minute. Uxie, didn’t you say that humans had never come to the lake before? If that’s the case, then how…?”

                “I see your confusion, but while it is true that humans have never come here, that doesn’t mean I’ve never met any—it simply means that in order to interact with the ones I know of, it meant that I had to leave my lake for a while. I actually used to visit with a group of them fairly regularly, but something changed roughly a millennia ago and I haven’t really gone out much since.” Uxie paused here with a sigh, sounding almost nostalgic. But then he shook his head, continuing, “Ah… in any case, this particular condition is rather rare, and is typically found only in one specific… subset, shall we say.”

                “OH! I get it NOW! So you’re saying that since Laura has the condition too… then it means SHE’S probably part of that subset!” Loudred exclaimed, feeling pleased with himself for putting all that together when Uxie nodded.

                “Exactly right. Mind you, this is only a guess at this point—circumstances being what they are at the moment, and especially with the transformation, I cannot say for sure… but the probability is high.”

                “So… what are these people like?” Laura finally piped up and asked. “If you’re right, and I was one of them… what does that mean for me?”

                Uxie turned back to her, and she blinked upon seeing a bit more warmth in his expression than had been there previously. It wasn’t as though he’d looked unfriendly or mean or anything, but his expression before sifting through her mind had been more placid, full of a more neutral sort of geniality.

 “Well,” he began, “I suppose that the most important thing would probably be—”

 But he abruptly cut himself off, tilting his head in consideration and looking between her and the lake. “Hm… Now there’s and interesting idea… and since I’m the one doing it, it shouldn’t have any negative effects…” he mumbled before turning to the group as a whole. “Please wait here for a moment,” he requested.

 Everyone was confused at the abrupt topic change, but readily complied. They watched as Uxie swiftly flew over towards the middle of the lake until he was right above the Time Gear… and then their jaws dropped in complete and utter shock when he suddenly ducked down beneath the water and re-emerged with the Time Gear in his arms. The light dimmed around the Time Gear’s holding place, and they all looked around wildly, fearful of time stopping around them… but nothing else happened.

 “There is no need for alarm,” Uxie told them as he flew back to the shore, easily detecting their panic and immediately guessing its source. “I am the guardian of this particular Time Gear, so the area shouldn’t experience any negative effects of time stopping so long as it is in my possession.” Everyone gave a sigh of relief, and they watched curiously as he came to a stop before Laura. “That being said, however… would the Wigglytuff Guild mind doing a favor for me?”

 Wigglytuff tilted his head, “A favor? Sure! We’d be glad to help you, friendly-friend! And it would only be right after all you’ve done to help us!”

 “Good. Then… would you please hold on to this Time Gear for me?” he asked, offering the precious treasure to the treecko in front of him. Her eyes—along with everyone else’s, honestly—widened in shock and she quickly backed up, holding her hands out as if to ward him away… even as a tiny part of her screamed out that she should take it from him, now, right now, she needed it…!

 But she didn’t betray any of these inner thoughts, instead offering a breathless “Wh-what?!”

 This exclamation was echoed by a much louder “WHAT?!” from Chatot. “F-Far be it for our humble guild to question your judgement, Uxie, but why in the world would you ask us such a thing?! For us to take this Time Gear, when another has already been stolen—!”

 “Yes… but that very threat is why I wish you to take it with you, and protect it at your guild.” That cut the panicking off short, and Uxie further explained, “The Time Gear that has already been stolen, it is the one from Treeshroud Forest. Unlike the Time Gear here at Fogbound Lake, or the one in Limestone Cavern which your esteemed guildmaster has seen,” at this everyone jolted and looked to Wigglytuff in surprise—both at the fact that he’d apparently seen a Time Gear before this one and because Uxie apparently knew about it, “that particular location has no secondary defenses. There is no puzzle to solve, or guardian to best. There is only the dungeon itself, which, while perhaps a little larger than most others, is just as ordinary at it appears to be. In that sense, one could say that its best defense was the fact that the Time Gear was, essentially, hidden in plain sight.”

 “I see, I see… and because it is so ordinary and plain-seeming, no one would think it hid such an important treasure. As a consequence, no one would go looking for one,” Dugtrio nodded, thinking the reasoning through.

 Paula frowned. “In that case… isn’t it possible that the thief just didn’t realize it was a Time Gear? I mean, I didn’t know what Time Gears looked like until you told us about this one, Uxie, so if they just thought it was some other sort of treasure… then maybe everyone is worrying over nothing? I mean… the fact that it’s gone is still really bad, but if it was just an accident, maybe we don’t need to worry about any others being taken.”

 “I wouldn’t count on it, meh heh heh,” Croagunk shook his head. “Even if they did initially take it without realizing what it was, the fact that time stopped after it was removed would have been a big tip-off that something was wrong.”

 “Oh, yeah, good point.”

 “Indeed,” Uxie concurred. “That leads me to believe that someone stole it deliberately. And the fact that they even knew to check Treeshroud Forest in the first place…”

 “…Means that it’s possible they might look for others as well… and that they may already know where some are located,” Wigglytuff finished for him, his face grim.

 “Exactly. Which is why, if the thief does already have information on the other Time Gear locations… by moving one of them to a completely different area, it would hopefully throw them off the trail. Or, at the very least, give us more time to try and stop them,” Uxie reasoned.

 “Okay, I reckon I can understand that,” Bidoof said, “but why choose our guild, then? We get tons of pokémon coming in and out every day… wouldn’t that just make it more likely for someone to find out about it?”

 “…No,” Laura said quietly, the reasoning dawning on her. “Because they wouldn’t expect that we had it… right? Our reputation would protect us… and also the Time Gear… because it would hidden in plain sight, just like the one in Treeshroud Forest. Right?”

 Uxie smiled at her cleverness. “Indeed, and that very reputation is one of the reasons why I know I could trust you with this task. Your renown and notoriety are such that even I, who spends much of my time alone, have heard of it… and added to that, another guardian has already proved that your leader, Guildmaster Wigglytuff, is trustworthy.”

 “Oh, oh? You heard from Ditto?” Wigglytuff asked, growing excited at the thought of his old friend.

 Uxie nodded, this time fondly as he recalled the younger pokémon. “Yes. Ditto is probably the most… proactive of the guardians, seconded only by my brother, Azelf, and he always lets us know whenever someone seems to be extremely persistent in regards to finding the ‘treasure’ of Limestone Cavern… or, in your case, when someone actually manages to figure out the secret in its entirety.”

 “So, um… what’s the other reason?” Chimecho asked. “You said there was more than one… right?”

 “Yes,” Uxie confirmed, “and that actually brings us back to you, Laura.”

 Laura blinked in surprise, and her partner asked, “Huh? What does Laura have to do with anything?”

 “Just a moment ago, you asked what the people whom I suspect you are a part of are like… the most important thing to know about them is probably the fact that they worship a deity known as ‘Relatia’… and that this deity is the one responsible for bringing the Time Gears to our world.” Laura’s eyes widened. “As such, if you truly do belong to those people… then you would be more entitled than most to deal with the Time Gear, and to act as its protector.”

 “But… but you said that you weren’t certain that I was actually a member of that group,” Laura pointed out. “So in that case…”

 Uxie merely shrugged. “In that case, my first line of reasoning still holds. But I truly do believe that when you were a human, that you worshipped Relatia; it would certainly explain why this place felt familiar to you—despite never having been here before—as Relatia’s people are some of the few who know the locations of the Time Gears,” He allowed everyone a moment to let that sink in, before he asked again, “So, having explained all that… will you, the Wigglytuff Guild, undertake the task of guarding my Time Gear? At least until this crisis has passed?”

 The guild turned towards their guildmaster, who had a serious expression on his face once more. He looked at Uxie, with his patient expression; at Laura, with an expression that was half scared, half hopeful; at the Time Gear, which, as an inanimate object, had no expression, but which still looked so vulnerable nonetheless, especially now that it was out in the open, and not surrounded by an intricate pattern of light and energy. The he looked back at Uxie, and his mouth widened into a big grin. “Of course we will, friendly-friend!”

 Uxie tried to hide a sigh of relief—it wouldn’t have been a big deal if Wigglytuff hadn’t agreed, and he wouldn’t have blamed him one bit for opting out of such an important and potentially dangerous task, but the fact that there was now this extra measure of safety in a situation as dire as this current crisis already made him feel a lot more hopeful about the situation. “In that case, this next part may be a bit tricky; while there are safeties in place that allows a Time Gear’s guardian to remove it from its area with no ill consequences, it is not certain what happens when one of them willingly gives it up to another. So we all should be prepared to run as soon as this Time Gear leaves my hands.”

 “Understood,” Chatot said, nodding decisively. Then he turned to the recruits and squawked, “Well? You heard the pokémon! Get ready to run!”

 “Yes, sir!” the apprentices all cheered as they put their weight in their front feet (or whatever the equivalent action was, for those whose appendages and methods of locomotion didn’t quite fit that description) and turned towards the exit—but only slightly, as they were all still supremely curious and wanted to see the actual hand off for themselves.

 Uxie moved even closer to Laura, and once more offered her the Time Gear. “Are you ready, Laura?”

 Laura started to reach her hands out for the precious artifact… but then she hesitated momentarily, still wary of the feelings that looking at it invoked. She took a deep breath, centering herself, before trying again. This time she was successful, and placed her hands on the Time Gear in a secure grip. It felt surprisingly warm beneath her fingers, for something which had just been residing at the bottom of a lake, and rather than feeling metallic, like she would have expected, it felt almost like… stone? But smooth stone, rather than crumbly or rough. But more than anything, it almost felt like… like it was alive, in a way. Or that it at least had some sort of emotional ability. Because as she stared into it, and into the light it pulsated… she could swear it emanated some sort of feeling of… joy? Relief? Holding it felt like… like she was coming home, for the first time in… in so, so long…

 Laura was so absorbed in the sensation of touching the Time Gear that she almost didn’t notice when Uxie let go. Actually, she wouldn’t have noticed it at all if not for the unexpected weight change causing her to stumble. The Time Gear was a bit heavier than it looked, though not so heavy as one would assume based on its composition. But before she could devote any more time into inspecting it, there was a bright flash of light, and she felt a surge of energy that sent her tumbling to her knees. Luckily, though, she managed to keep her tight grip on the Time Gear. Unluckily, however, it meant that she was now in a position where she wouldn’t easily be able to escape if something did end up happening to the flow of time in the area. But once the light died down and she was able to blink away the spots in her vision… nothing really happened. She looked around a little, but nothing seemed to have changed. Maybe it was a bit darker in the area? But that could easily be attributed to the late hour, or the fact that most of the volbeat and illumise had finished their dances above the water and were headed home. She glanced back towards the entrance to see her fellow guild members slowly relaxing from their tensed positions and also look around in confusion.

 “Hm… I suppose that was rather anticlimactic,” Uxie said from in front of her, causing her to jolt in surprise and whip her head back towards him, since she hadn’t realized he was there. “I’ll admit, that was not what I expected to happen… but it is a potentially useful situation, if someone else does end up coming here in search of the Time Gear.” He floated a bit away from her, slowly turning around and taking in all the sights before turning his gaze back on the artifact in her arms. “Of course, the fact that the Time Gear is still in close proximity to the lake, despite no longer being in my possession, might be affecting things somewhat…” He hummed again before coming closer again and offering her a hand up, which she took, before leading her towards the rest of the guild. “Come—I will join you for a bit of your journey back down, in order that I might observe the effects of distance on the lake.”

 It was, admittedly, a little awkward to be sharing the presence with a legendary, especially one who was treating the endeavor as an almost scientific curiosity. The fact that no one really had the chance to discuss what had just happened—whether in regards to the revelations about their teammate or the ramification of the task they’d just been given—didn’t help much either. Although, speaking of recent events…

 “So, um, Uxie… I know that you couldn’t help Laura out with regaining any of her actual memories… but do you know of anything else we can do to try and help?” Paula asked on behalf of her partner—who seemed too absorbed in hugging the bag now holding the Time Gear close to her chest to pay much attention to the attempts at small talk going on around her. She’d had enough presence of mind to put it out of sight once Loudred made a joke about the possibility that she was the real Time Gear thief all along, with how much focus she was putting on it and the way she’d refused to let anyone carry it, but she hadn’t noticed when Sunflora subsequently exploded on him, scolding him for the tasteless joke—especially since she hadn’t let him off the hook yet for how mean he’d been to her over the whole ninetales thing.

 “Hm?” Uxie replied, rather distracted, as he glanced at her from where he was floating—backwards, so that he could keep an eye on the lake as it seemed to grow smaller and smaller the farther they moved away from it. But the change in perspectives seemed to be the only change afflicting Fogbound Lake; it was otherwise perfectly normal, despite its lack of Time Gear. “Oh, right…” Uxie said once Paula’s words finally registered. He tilted his head, thinking through some possibilities. “I suppose that using an aura crystal might help, but those are extremely rare. Especially lately, for some reason,” he mulled things over a bit more before shaking his head. “Unfortunately, there typically isn’t much that can be done about this specific condition. However… I believe in Laura’s specific case that the issue will resolve itself when she’s a bit older.”

 “Oh wow, really?” Paula asked, excited, before shaking her friend’s shoulder in an attempt to get her attention. Once she caught the treecko’s gaze, she smiled widely at her. “Hear that, Laura? Uxie thinks that you just need a little patience, and that you’ll get your memories back when you’re older!”

 “Golly, that really is great news!” Bidoof, who had evidently been listening in on the conversation—like most everyone else had been, actually, even if some were better at hiding the fact than others—said from Paula’s other side. “How long do you reckon she’ll have to wait?”

 “Not too long—if my theory is correct, then things should become clearer for you once you turn thirteen.”

 Everything screeched to a halt.

 “What?” Chatot asked, sounding scandalized. “What do you mean, once she turns thirteen? How… how old is she now?”

 “Based on how developed your mind seemed to be… I would estimate somewhere around ten, maybe eleven years of age. Possibly twelve, at maximum.”

 “WHAT?! YOU’RE ONLY HOW OLD?!” everyone demanded, absolutely flabbergasted by the revelation of how young she actually was.

 Everyone except Paula, however, who was significantly calmer as she said, “Huh. I thought you were a bit closer to my age, but it looks like you’re actually a few years younger than me!”

 Chatot’s eye started to twitch. “And… dare I ask exactly how old you are?” he said in a strangled voice, extremely wary of the answer.

 “Thirteen,” was Paula’s matter-of-fact reply.

 “WHAAAAAAAAT?!”

#pokemon mystery dungeon #explorers of sky #what if...? #writing #fanfiction #sleep is for the weak

[coolkidstable]

guess who’s back!

it’s been like a week but i am BACK BABY! as you can guess i have mixed feelings about that entire series, which were amplified by the fact that i actually went to that game - yes, game 4 - as a (slightly early) birthday present from my brother. this is truly just 2.3k words of me being emo and getting personal, but it helped me process everything. and sorry for the lack of a read more but i’m on mobile lmao

i made it clear to both family and friends that i wanted this series to be a close one, for the home team to win each game, and for it to be a hard fought series that shows just how good both of these teams are. (maybe this wasn’t as clear on tumblr, but the decision to step away was made abruptly, though i’m very glad i did it.) that, well, didn’t happen. the canes are a great team, and their success wasn’t a fluke. don’t even try to suggest that. but this series didn’t work for them, for reasons that i really don’t know but may be revealed with time. who knows. regardless, it was a fantastic run and while i wish the ending wasn’t so bitter, i’m so proud of this team and all that they accomplished this season. the future is bright, and this time “next year will be better” isn’t just a hope - it’s a promise.

i really wanted them to score a goal, though. i love tuukka, and i want him to win those two trophies so badly, but i was really hoping he’d give up a goal. obviously, the canes’ chances of coming back to win the series were slim to none, but one last goal would’ve been a way to end the season on a somewhat promising note. and it’s weird and a bit sad that i went to 3 home games this season, and didn’t even get to hear raise up in person - two shutouts and a whalers night for which brass bonanza played instead.

that’s not the main reason, though. i was at this game with my brother, whose main team is the canes, who just got back into hockey late last season, opting to root for his local team over his childhood rangers and getting to see such an incredible run. he just wanted to see a goal to ease the blow, and i was right there with him. it was expected, though, and he’s not crushed or anything. he went to some pretty special games this season, including both the first storm surge and the first playoff win, and he knows that the rest of our family is happy. and really, that’s what it all comes back to - family.

the first bruins game that i have even the vaguest of memories of watching is the 2010 winter classic against the flyers. i’m not even 100% sure if i watched any of it; i just remember asking my dad why they were playing outside and catching glimpses of the game while he watched. he and my mom, once diehard bruins fans, had become fairweather fans upon moving to north carolina in 2003. the bruins, quite frankly, sucked, and games were rarely on tv. meanwhile, the patriots were quite the opposite. the bruins soon started to improve and began to creep back into our lives. i remember the 2011 cup finals, and not knowing a single player other than zdeno chara - the Tall One - and tim thomas - the Brick Wall. i don’t remember much else, but i was there in some capacity.

then came 2013. a series against the leafs. a historical game 7 comeback from a 4-1 deficit. i remember watching bits and pieces of this game on two different TVs - first the main one downstairs, where my dad was watching, only because it was the playoffs. he didn’t watch or care about regular season hockey - i didn’t even know there’d just been a lockout. when he gave up on this game, he went upstairs to go to bed and turned on the tv for background noise while i hung around to say goodnight. we were almost done when nathan horton scored the first goal, and from there, we watched history unfold. i was losing my mind - was this what i’d been missing out on?

from there, i watched the rest of the playoffs, and i haven’t looked back since. first i watched this young undersized rookie defenseman by the name of torey krug take the rangers by storm, then i watched the bruins hand the penguins‘ asses to them in a swift 4-game sweep that began with a shutout on my birthday, and then i watched the bruins lose a hard-fought series against the chicago racistlogos in the blink of an eye. it was a rollercoaster of a postseason, and i spent most of my free time learning about the game and my new favorite player, who i must regretfully admit was seguin. every game brought me closer to my dad, as before the game 7 comeback, i’d never join him to watch sports, or anything, really. in turn, it allowed him to reconnect with the sport he’d once loved most of all.

the next season was a good one as well: my first full season, the first game i ever attended in person, and the bruins winning the president’s trophy. that season ended in disappointment, but it was a good run, and i grew an appreciation for every single member of that bruins team. (nowadays, i guess that attitude is what the kids would call my brand.)

halfway through that season, i discovered hockey tumblr. i didn’t really make content or liveblog or even talk in the tags, and i never made any lasting connections, but still, it was a community that i greatly enjoyed. it also opened my eyes to other teams, and i started to experiment with the whole having more than one team thing - yeah, those were my stars fan days, among other questionable choices that aren’t important right now. this is also where the canes first came into my life, though not as a true second team until much more recently. things were changing, and not always for the better.

the 2014-15 season was fun, though i wasn’t able to watch as many games due to not knowing about r/NHLStreams or anything of that nature. regardless, the bruins just simply weren’t very good, and the season ended in disappointment. a few months later, hockey became very disappointing for reasons i won’t get into, and this coincided with my second emo phase (see: my current url). i ended up jumping ship for bandom tumblr and the life of a panic! at the disco stan.

still, i kept up with the 2015-16 season a little. it kinda sucked, but it was fine. i still loved the team - i just wasn’t really invested anymore. and maybe it was for the best given how busy school was that year. the next season went much the same, only this time, the bruins made the playoffs, i had just about given up on using tumblr at all, and there was this new kid on the team named sean kuraly.

the 2017 playoffs were odd. i hadn’t watched many games that season, and i hadn’t watched a bruins playoff game since the last time i was truly invested in hockey. still, it wasn’t like a switch flipped and i suddenly stanned the bruins again. i spent all the games in that series playing pokémon moon while occasionally glancing at the screen to see what was happening. i wasn’t even truly playing the game; i’d already beaten it and was merely trying my hand at shiny hunting a jangmo’o by hatching dozens and dozens and dozens and dozens and dozens of eggs, nicknaming them, and randomly trading them over the internet. it was mindless enough to pay attention, and pay attention i did.

it was kind of like the rangers series, on a smaller and less successful scale. much like torey krug before him, sean kuraly came out with a bang and made bruins fans love hockey again - or maybe i’m just projecting. regardless, you know he scored the 2OT winner, and you know about the kuraleap. i don’t remember how many jangmo’os named sean, kuraly, and sean kuraly i traded to the lucky people of pokémon sun and moon wondertrade, but the humber was definitely higher than 52. the bruins did lose the series, but i was interested again.

when the 2017 draft happened, i felt a special connection to it by virtue of these boys being the right age to be in the same high school graduating class as me. this draft piqued my interest in a way no other since 2014 truly had (unpopular opinion on 2015, i know, especially considering my favorite player was drafted fourteenth that year), and you know what? it had been a few months since i’d been active on tumblr, but i searched a few tags and started peaking back at hockey tumblr. i was almost convinced i should dive back in and redo my account for the second time, but i had college orientation to worry about, and by the time i returned, the motivation was lost.

until the 2017-18 home opener. you all know i love jake debrusk, and you probably know he scored his first nhl goal in that game (alongside charlie mac). you’ve seen the video and/or gifs of his dad crying. but beyond all that, it was just a damn good game. i had so much fun watching it - in boston, no less, because finally, after all those years trapped in my hometown, i was where i wanted to be - that i just had to get involved with hockey tumblr again. watching on my own wasn’t going to be enough, i knew.

and so, tumblr user @david-pastrnak returned. honestly, that season was fun, but the first half felt like a blur - likely just because it was my first semester of college. i even went to my first bruins home game in november, and though it wasn’t a good one, it was fun. they picked up the season with a win against tampa on the day i met my favorite band, and somehow, that seemed important. soon i saw my first live bruins win on td garden ice, and even went to a few more games, during which i watched as my grandma grew to love hockey and the bruins, bringing us closer together. it was around this time that i truly embraced the hurricanes, too, and having that second team that i truly care about and love has made being a hockey fan so much fun. it was also around this time that i rediscovered my love for writing. things were changing for the better, but they were only getting started. even when the bruins lost in disappointing fashion to the lightning, i knew things were going to be okay - better, even.

the off-season was mostly uneventful, but towards the end and into the beginning of the season, i ended up in a few group chats with others on here. some of these are still active while others are not, but regardless, i connected with a lot more people, got better at making conversation, and, most importantly, found some of the best friends i’ve ever had. you don’t really expect to meet a lifelong friend on the internet, never mind several, but i’ve gotten incredibly lucky!

this season has been special. i started going to games more often, grew to care about every member of this team more than i’ve probably ever cared about the entire team, and made some incredible friends who i’m blessed to know. and beyond me, this season has been incredible. you know that if you’re reading this, so i won’t get into it all. there were ups and downs, there were moments we thought we’d be golfing in april, and now we’re going to the stanley cup final. the last time this happened, i had just started watching hockey and was still learning. i was also a literal child who still thought i was straight. a lot has changed since then, and somehow, this stanley cup final feels like a culmination of everything i’ve been through with and because of this team. winning the cup isn’t just about how happy it would make jake, how much tuukka deserves it, or whether sean would hand it to danton or vice versa. it’s not about watching to see who helps wags lift it without damaging his injured hand further. it’s not even about watching the look of pure joy on pasta’s face and thinking back to his draft day and my bold, unwarranted, yet correct claim that he would be one of, if not the best player to come out of the 2014 draft. no matter how much they mean to me, winning the cup isn’t about the players.

winning the cup this season would be a celebration of all the friends i’ve made, the stories we’ve shared, and the connections we’ve made. winning the cup would be a celebration of how much closer hockey has brought me to my family. shit, winning the cup would be a celebration of kureinen and all our fun memes because why the hell not?

winning the cup isn’t about the players, or the team, or the parade, or the bragging rights for fans of boston sports. winning the cup is about the deeply meaningful and even just the fun ways in which hockey and the community on here have positively impacted our lives.

and even if we don’t, it’s okay. this season has been by far the best i’ve ever watched, and no matter what happens, it’s one i’ll always remember.

but hey, if we do, i’ll get my first tattoo to commemorate it. speaking of playoff promises, from now on, i’m going to have to talk like anders bjork on here so checkurohhhhhhhh

#now that that’s out of my system: i cannot believe ive been to two series winning games what the fuck #and i need to finish the fic i promised but once i get home it’ll be my priority! #personal #also i won’t be fully back until tomorrow in reality bc i’m busy today lmao #long post

[jacobdicki95-blog]

Pokemon Games’ Online World

Whenever I come to talk about my thesis, I begin worldwide in this way:"I really do a thesis on Pokémon". This does not miss entertain my interlocutor. It has to be said that a priori, it's not. Those of my generation normally feel nostalgic. Others, elderly, consider Pokémon GO, using diverse attitudes. For my own part, if I played Pokémon a lot in my childhood, my interest for the franchise was renewed by nostalgia due to the emulators, and that I became again what you can predict a lover of Pokémon. But my academic curiosity about franchising started at the start of my Master 1, even once I chose to compose a memoir on"ROM hacking" in a community of Pokémon lovers. A brief record of this Pokémon franchise . Even the Pokemon franchise had been born in 1996 at Japan as a video game published by Nintendo on the Gameboy console. The Pokémon Green / Red matches (Blue and Red at the rest of earth, one to two years after, in a slightly redesigned variant ) have laid the basis of a franchise which has appeared on a lot of media: cartoon, playing cards and graphics... airplanes. To fly into skies including Team Rocket. In the event the franchise has its own ups and downs especially concerning game sales, revenue are usually in thousands of millions around the world, at least to the games of this"primary series", which is to say say people who follow the version of the very first games. Indeed, despite having a constant renewal of their franchise and video games over the years (which will be one of the things of my thesis), the recipe remains the same: a 11-year-old boy goes on an adventure in a universe populated by animals known as pokémons (yes, I compose pokémons to discuss the creatures, it's my blog and Nintendo has no energy here, well, maybe not on that). He captures it into form a group and meet his Pokédex, a sort of digital encyclopedia, so participating in a quest for scientific crowdsourcing to get a professor who exploits his job (after all, it is he who gave him his first pokemon). But above all, he leaves them fight badges and take the battle ofPokémon League, that is composed of defeating an elite to turn into a Pokémon Master. And during his adventure, he is forced to thwart an evil organization's plans. The leaders of the several malicious organizations modeled to imitate the best way to maneuver the"Team Skull" caricature of"thugs" present in the hottest games. Regarding the recent history of Pokémon, even the less skillful have heard about the occurrence of summer 2016, I do not speak of the song Lean , but obviously Pokémon GO. This match will not necessarily occupy a significant position in my thesis, however, has demonstrated that the craze for the franchise is still present (and perhaps a small cleavage). Pokemon and the hunt. When I first decided to work on Pokémon at the end of the summer of 2016, one of the first things that I did was go to Google Scholar to"buy" academic posts that talk about doing it. Imagine my surprise when I found the very initial links were about a receptor involved in the maturation of certain cancers (Nintendo also put pressure on investigators to change the title, they didn't had to appreciate their brand is related to cancer). Then my disappointment when I realized there was virtually no guide or book about Pokemon. Finally though, some posts on Pokémon GOwithin the business of public healthlaw, and , at the time, it had been mostly proto-articles of 2 pages. Additional research has made me discover the occurrence of one academic publication about Pokémon edited by Joseph Tobin, who, visionary, announced in 2004 the fall of Pokémon (I do not care, but kidding aside, I highly recommend it, it is in references at the conclusion of the essay ). Oh, and an article too, if we place people on Pokémon GO aside . How can it be, the very best franchise in the entire world doesn't interest the academic world whatsoever? Needless to say, this isn't a valid cultural function, but cultural studies, particularly the fan studies which followed, together with authors like Henri Jenkins about front lines, are interested in much more popular cultural objects, have tried with more or less success to legitimize them. An individual can get a persuasive excuse in my view in the report of a communication by Vincianne Zabban, Samuel Coavoux and Manuel Boutet, that, starting from the observation that"game studies" (in social sciences) are in reality virtually"WoW research (studies on World of Warcraft), proposes that the very minimal range of games analyzed is mainly due to two factors. The investigators also study the games that interest themto start with, and for that reason the games they played, and the"path dependence", which is to say within this context the greater ease of analyzing the object / subject already well researched by research instead of advance kindly, which divides the position of WoW. One more factor is the fact that, by its own MMORPG status, WoW is a privileged thing to the social sciences. I believe this justification can be expanded to"enthusiast studies", particularly considering that, initially, they were the work of passionate people who wished to defend the legitimacy of their own object. Also, if I'm now studyingPokémon is partly because I grew up with it and I am a fan of this. So maybe if Pokémonwas studied very little up to now, it is because the (ex) Pokémon fans were mainly still analyzing. This could be evidenced by the recent thesis of Fanny Barnabé of this University of Liège, which deals quite extensively with activities and productions of Pokémon lovers (available at the close of the guide, and that I strongly advise you, it's extremely nice to read). Pokémon lovers on the internet. It's just to the productions and the activity of the fans and the broader public (a distinction that I will develop after ) of all Pokémon online that I particularly want to be interested. Because I have the belief it is central in its diffusion and in this franchise's creation. When I was somewhat detached myself from the internet world Pokémon being interested in clinics Pokémon in drama , on a handheld, mainly in adolescents to begin, the part of the net and especially the lovers productions is becoming central again. Pokémon is everywhere. Not in the feeling that we might have heard it throughout the Pokémon GO hype . But in the sense that we can locate Pokémon everywhere, and that as long as we're involved in some social networks very youthful, references are rather common. Anthology.

article source :

pokemon detective pikachu full movie

#pokemon #2019

[restlessmaknae]

when petals fall, we move on // pt. 2

♦ Words: 26.5k in total

♦ Parts: 3 // Part 1 - present day; Part 3 - back to present day

♦ Pairing: Wong Yukhei x Kim Yena (OC)

♦ Genre: angst, fluff, slice of life

♦ Summary: A story about childhood best friends growing up and battling their own demons. A story about forgiveness, guilt and self-love. A story about mistakes, endings and new beginnings.

♦ A/N: Special thanks to my beta @dat-town! ♥

Chapter warning: childhood emotional neglect, emotional manipulation, minor character death

Past

Yukhei’s first day at school

“Everyone, please welcome our new transfer student, Wong Yukhei. From now on, he’ll be your classmate. Please, be patient with him as he’s recently started learning Korean.”

The homeroom teacher announced with a tender smile, her hands resting on the little boy’s shoulders. Yena tilted her head out of curiosity and tried to look over the other students who were seated in front of her. She hated how small and tiny she was, almost the shortest in their class. She hoped she would grow up well and grow really tall.

“Nice to meet you, everyone.” The little boy waved in every direction and then bowed politely. Nervousness was evident on his face, his smile was still a bit forced and unnatural.

“Nice to meet you, Yukhei.” The students said in unison, their childish voices filling the silence of the classroom. Upon hearing their response, Yukhei got even more embarrassed and his face turned scarlet red in a matter of seconds.

After fidgeting awkwardly for a few more seconds, the boy was shown his desk by the homeroom teacher who then went back to the board and started their class. Yena was taken aback by the fact that the transfer pupil was now sitting beside her, their desks only a few inches apart. She coyly looked in Yukhei’s direction, trying to remember his features when the other caught her staring at him. She gulped and nervously looked away. She didn’t know how to react. Even though it was exciting that they had a new classmate, she was never taught how to make friends and start a conversation. It was something that nor the school, nor her mother taught her.

The class soon finished and little Yena found herself looking at the transfer student. Again. Yukhei was already staring at her when she locked eyes with him, small wonder they both reddened to their ears when they caught each other red-handed.

Yena blinked nervously, trying to avert her eyes but his face was like a magnet. Besides, he was so peculiar to her. There was something unusual about his features and his skin-colour. Maybe he wasn’t fully Korean? She didn’t know, he just seemed a bit different than other kids she knew.

Then, Yukhei broke into a childish giggle and bowed respectfully in the girl’s direction. Her eyes widened in astonishment as she tried to process what she had just seen. Even though she was shocked that the transfer student was so polite from the start, she mirrored his action and bowed back.

“Can you speak English?” The little boy asked with a hopeful smile that grew wider the moment she nodded. She was tutored by a private teacher because her mother wanted her to be the most intelligent and sophisticated student in her class, thus she was forced to attend special classes even before she started elementary school. She was taught how to read, how to write and how to articulate well, plus she was taught basic English. At first, she found it all very exciting; finally she had people who praised her and encouraged her to do well, not merely reprimanded her or yelled at her when she made mistakes. However, as time went by and she started attending public school, she found it boring because she had already known most of the things the teachers were talking about.

Even though she didn’t think that her English skills would come in handy so soon, she couldn’t hide a tiny little smile when Yukhei asked the question. It was the first time she finally felt like her efforts paid off.

“Do you like Pokémon?” The little boy asked with eyes that resembled hidden treasures on a deserted island and the Sun – the brightest star on the sky – among the constantly dying stars. His smile was hidden under his curious, child-like gaze and his big doe eyes. Not until she nodded in agreement, did she finally see that smile of his in full swing.

“Do you want to see my sticker collection?” His hazel eyes lit up at her reaction, one that she found both endearing and adorable.

“Yes.”

Yukhei soon fished a folder out of his school bag and eagerly opened it to reveal a massive amount of stickers in all shapes and sizes. Yena didn’t need to look through all of them to know that every single major and minor character could be found in his collection which was absolutely breathtaking in her opinion. She had never seen so many stickers before.

“Do you have Clefable too?” She looked up at the boy, tilting her head in curiosity. Yukhei boasted a boyish grin and immediately pointed at one of the figures in his collection.

“Do you want to keep it?” He averted his huge eyes back to the girl who was blushing deeply at his question. She was never allowed to buy any of the stickers because her mother protested and said that buying anything like this was a waste of time, thus she was never able to trade stickers like her classmates did. Oh how she wished she could!

Yet, her mother wouldn’t have to know about this one, right?

“If you don’t mind…” She fluttered her eyelashes as she was trying to deal with the heat that was going through her body. She felt like she was on fire. Was she breaking the rules? Was it really that exciting to do something her mother wouldn’t approve of?

“No, I don’t. Here…” Yukhei carefully removed the little figure and placed it on her pencil case. Looking at her plain white pencil case being decorated with something so colourful and cute made her heart leap. Joy was rushing through her veins. “Clefable has a new home now.” He grinned at her, his chocolate-brown hair falling into his eyes.

“I love it.” Yena whispered, mesmerized by the sight in front of her.

“Me too.” The transfer student added beamingly and when they locked eyes, something magical happened.

An innocent, pure and simple friendship was born amidst the excitements of new school days, colourful stickers and bright smiles that were so familiar yet so mesmerizing at the same time.

The day Lucas’ home became her own

“Breathe in… and breathe out… breathe in… breathe out.” Yukhei’s mother instructed as the girl was sitting in front of her, her eyes closed and her heart shattered to pieces. The boy was sitting beside her on the couch, his hands resting on top of hers, his eyes full of unanswered questions and sparkling fireworks that were bound to explode anytime soon.

Yena was young and innocent enough not to understand that she had just walked in on her mother making love with another man but the incident was as shocking as it could be for someone her age. On top of that, her mother did the exact same thing she always did when she felt like her daughter was the one to blame for something; she started yelling at her. As a result, the little girl slammed the bedroom’s door and ran down the stairs, out of the house and down the streets until she arrived at Yukhei’s house.

She didn’t know what she was doing. She didn’t even know what she was supposed to do under the circumstances. She may have acquired outstanding education and possessed a certain level of knowledge in all fields but she was never shown a good example. She only got to know affection, care and love because she met Yukhei. The boy gave her a sense of warmth she had never felt before. He was her safe haven; the church in which she found peace and serenity when she wanted to run away from who she was. He was a sheltering tree under which she felt like a lost girl who finally found her place in the world. Though one who doesn’t know what love is may not know whom she should trust, she trusted Yukhei. She was cautious around others, always seeking their approval or disapproval, always waiting to be reprimanded and always striving to be better, constantly wanting to do better. On the other hand, beside Yukhei, she was herself. The most honest, sassy and raw version of herself. The most silly, girlish and beaming version of herself. And Yukhei… oh boy, he was also being himself.

Being the dork he was, he never failed to make her smile with his multilingual remarks, undying love for stickers and newfound passion for everything that was sports. Whenever she could, she sat on the school field watching him play football, volleyball or whatever he was trying out. He was constantly searching for something that he could call his. He tried everything and if something didn’t live up to his expectations, he didn’t get discouraged, let alone give up on searching for his place in the world. He was as unpredictable as a sudden downpour in the middle of a hot summer night. Yena never knew what she should expect from the boy but she sure knew that he would either make her laugh, smile or giggle because of second-hand embarrassment. There were times when he complimented her and she blushed so hard that she was sure a brand new shade of red tinted her cheeks; there were times when he promised that he would marry her and be the best husband in the world, his firm statement turning her into an emotional mess. He was her best friend and she was sure she doesn’t need to take him seriously but she couldn’t help her face from flushing when he said those lovely words.

Whatever might have happened to her – let it be disappointing her mother with her academic achievement, a sudden jolt of fear concerning her future or the early stages of puberty leaving its mark on her mood –, he was there like the star that’s always accompanying you to your midnight star-gazing. This time was no difference.

As soon as Yukhei opened the door with that smile that could make the early rays of sunshine during sunrise jealous, he knew something was off. Yena was short of breath, her hands were shaking and her hair was a mess from running non-stop. Yukhei’s young heart clenched at the sight of the usually composed girl and he found himself reaching out for her hands the moment he invited her into the house and started inquiring what had happened.

Then, as she was about to answer, the boy’s mother arrived to welcome the guest and stayed to calm her down because apparently, she needed her. Yukhei’s mom was a therapist, in fact a licensed marriage and family therapist, and she was working at a special care centre based in Busan for Thai families. Small wonder she kept an eye on Yena in case she needed her support. Though she had to admit that her son was being the perfect support for the girl with his laid-back and positive attitude that made her feel at ease. She had witnessed cases like Yena’s and not all of them ended well. She tried her best to talk to Yena’s mother but she was as ignorant as one could possibly be – not admitting her mistakes, not making effort to change her behaviour and not finding a flaw in her upbringing of the child. Plus, she looked down on her because her Korean wasn’t the best the first time they met even though she was improving day by day.

It’s true that it wasn’t a therapist job’s to take care of everyone’s physical and mental health out of her office but Yena was an exception. Not only because she was her son’s best friend and she owned her a lot for helping him out since the first day of school but also because she was such a pure and amicable soul. One that was extremely rare to find, especially after what Yena had been through since her father left them and she was stuck with one emotionally unavailable parent. She may have been given everything she needed materially but her mother was never assisting her through the storms and falls of her life. Upon observing Yena and the relationship between them through open days at schools, parent-teacher conferences or when they accidentally bumped into each other, she assumed it was a case of CEN – Childhood Emotional Neglect.

However, it was even more difficult this time to be the mother Yena never had. Talking about intimate relationship and sexual desires was something that was either Yena’s mother or the school’s nurse job. Of course, she was capable of talking about it in a way that wouldn’t upset her and threw her off the edge but it wasn’t easy. Yukhei was a curious and ever so eager kid, so they had already discussed the basic facts he needed to know about intercourses because it was better to hear it from a parent than from the movie he had accidentally started watching. Needless to say, she almost had a heart attack when she caught him switching to a porn channel one day.

The frightened and utterly confused little girl’s mumbling was enough for Yukhei’s mom to get the basic idea of what she had witnessed, so after some breathing exercises, the woman started talking to her calmly and slowly, making sure that she was ready to hear what she was about to hear. As with Yukhei, she dealt with the topic professionally and made it easy to comprehend by kids.

As minutes passed, Yena ‒ who was known to be an intellectual ‒ shyly started asking questions, obviously able to grasp the topic better after getting the answers for her question. It may have been fifteen minutes or an hour, none of them knew, but she finally seemed to feel at ease again. Her chest didn’t rise as frantically as it did when she appeared on their porch and her hands stopped shaking somewhere along the way.

A comfortable silence covered them like a soft cotton blanket as she ran out of questions and neither Yukhei, nor his mother knew what to say next. Instead of adding anything more, the woman offered to bring a cup of water for her to which she happily agreed.

“Do you want to colour with me?” Yukhei broke the silence with his slightly high voice which was still the voice of a child. His big hazel eyes were glowing like the flowers that could only be seen at night, his dark orbs completing his whites like the yin to the yang; seemingly opposite yet interconnected as you dig deeper. Despite the fact that he could be a moodmaker, he didn’t hesitate to put his jokes aside if he took notice of something bothering the one he was talking to. In this case, it was Yena whom he wanted to comfort.

However, the girl was taken aback by his abrupt question. It had been quite a long time since they last coloured together. Not that she considered it a childish activity, more like because they found other activities with which they could pass the time.

“Colour with you?” She raised an eyebrow in question, her eyes squinted in curiosity. She knew that expression on Yukhei’s face that signalled that he was being serious yet she never knew what to expect from him. He was like a character of an anime; always showing a new side of him, always coming up with extraordinary ideas and always looking like he had the time of his life, no matter what he did.

“Yes.” The boy nodded without any hint of frivolity in his voice. “My mom got me a colouring book and I use it whenever I’m upset.” He confessed quietly, his lips quivering a bit at the sudden sincerity of his words. A tiny coy smile was hiding in the corner of his lips, not wanting to be seen yet being prominent enough to be noticeable. Yena rarely saw him like this.

“You’ve never showed it to me.” The girl remarked absent-mindedly, her gaze landing at their intertwined hands. She didn’t know when but she felt her fingers being captivated by the already longer yet delicate fingers of her best friend. His touch soothed her nerves like an organic cream that you put on a searing scar when you hurt yourself while wandering through the forest. The heat of his body warmed not only her body but her soul as well.

Yukhei was always like a wild horse that couldn’t be kept inside its stable. He yearned for the world, he was burning like a fire, igniting from nothing and avoiding becoming one with ashes and complete numbness at all costs. He wanted to set the world on fire, making sure that everyone felt alive around him; hearts that were tired of the weary and monotonous workload, souls that left their bodies after not being properly taken care of and minds that were too preoccupied with the future tangled by fears and doubts. His heart was so full of love that he wanted to mend everyone’s broken heart by giving away a piece of him.

“It’s because I’m never upset around you.” Yukhei turned to face her, his eyes searching for the doubt or uneasiness in her onyx-black orbs. Yet, none of this happened because she was slightly dumbstruck by the seriousness of his words, so he took this opportunity to explain further. “Mom says it’s a good stress reliever.”

Words could be swords against people we love and against people we dislike. Words could be serenades being chanted in the middle of the night, only being interrupted by the first ray of sunshine creeping onto the horizon. Words could be scars that we can’t get rid of and whenever we look at the marks on our skin, we are being reminded of what we had done. Last but not least, words could be a form of medicine that heals the scars that others had left. In Yena’s case, her best friend’s words were more than medicine; Yukhei not only gave her hope that her situation would get better but he proved again that he would be there for her no matter what ordeal comes their way.

“Then, let’s colour together!” She said gently, her voice barely a whisper. The boy looked relieved after seeing the newly born stars in her onyx-black eyes and gave her a reassuring squeeze before they went to his room hand in hand, their hearts closer than ever before.

Friendship blooms in the most unexpected places at the most unexpected times and such magic can only happen to those who aren’t afraid to be themselves and give their all to the most intense and ground-breaking power in the world; that is love itself.

The day the flowers bloomed and so did their love

Summer cheekily asked spring out to a dance and they never looked back since, leaving the cold, bone-cracking days of winter behind and invading warmth and life into the awakening nature.

Years passed by like the autumn leaves falling from the almost bare tree; languidly yet swiftly. Years didn’t ask for their permission, nor did they wait for them to realize how many years they had spent together because time wasn’t one to deal with foolish human’s wishes. During this time that felt annoyingly long and heart-wrenchingly short at the same time, Yukhei and Yena both grew – both physically and mentally – and neither of them could see how much they had actually changed.

Yukhei was now taller than her, towering over her whenever they were walking side by side. The boy couldn’t get enough of teasing her with their height difference; whenever he had the chance, he stole one of her books and held it above his head, cheekily grinning down at her who was fuming like a volcano. Not to mention the boy’s overflowing confidence and changing teenage body that was more and more packed with muscles and strength that seemed inhuman to her. He was working out quite frequently and even joined the school’s football team, earning a few admirers who drooled over his manly physique. Even though they were already sixteen years old, Yena found the behaviour of Yukhei’s newfound fans quite infantile.

Truth to be told, she was very well aware of her best friend’s fit body. Oh boy, how couldn’t she when all Yukhei did was flexing his muscles in front of her or sleeping shirtless when she was at his place? He knew… oh he knew well that Yena didn’t fancy his behaviour yet he wouldn’t change a thing. Deep down, he knew that it was all just her trying to mess with him when she didn’t find anything else to point out on him. Plus, he enjoyed seeing her flushed face too much whenever he got rid of his shirt in front of her without warning. Why would he tell her what he was about to do? It was more fun if she didn’t know about it.

Regardless of everything that changed him appearance-wise, he was still the same witty and odd kid whom she met years ago. As Yukhei became more and more easy-going and found his place at his new school, his Korean also improved dramatically, thus it was a lot easier for him to be his most genuine and authentic self. He didn’t act like he was someone else, never for a second did he pretend to be anyone else but Yukhei to please others. Even if people threw disgusted or outright horrified glances at him, he didn’t intend to stop joking around, speaking in his own multinational language or letting others hear that high-pitched laugh of his that didn’t match his deep ass voice.

Out of all the things she loved about him, his sincerity was the one she loved the most. When her life seemed like a fake tv show with all that drama and gossips about her mother, her constantly changing boyfriends and Yena’s grandparents, Yukhei was not a copy, neither a replica, he was simply being Wong Yukhei with all his windshield laughs, toothy smiles, strong muscles and that big, big heart of his. That was more than enough for her. He was like a breeze of fresh air after a sandstorm; nothing could be compared to the way she felt around him. She felt safe and sound, it was as if his presence put her in a bundle of blankets with a cup of warm tea and singing lullabies to her to make her fall asleep (which happened a couple of times when rainy or stormy nights came). She felt like everything would be alright when she was beside him. He was the home she never had and the home she never knew she had from the moment he showed her his Pokémon sticker collection. He was also the one who taught her that:

“To be yourself is to be courageous. To love someone is to be bold.”

Yet, as soon as roses bloom, thorns come too. Life is like a card game; you have to deal with what you get, you can’t decide which cards you want, you can only decide how much you bet on your win. They both had hardships that they didn’t see coming and ones that put their friendship to the test.

As for Yukhei, with his passion for football and working out, there came the haters and clingy admirers who wanted to flirt with him. Nothing too crazy as they were only sixteen years old but the amount of (sometimes unwanted) attention he got only for his appearance drove him crazy.

“It’s weird how many people start talking to you after you join the football team and start working out. I’m glad you are still here with me. At least I know you love me for who I am, not for how I look.” Yukhei pondered once while they were having lunch together, a piece of rice cake stuck between his chopsticks as he came to a halt while eating.

A sudden rush of warmth spread through Yena’s body as she was listening to his words. The boy may have been an actual jokester who couldn’t shut up for a minute but he had a serious (and surprisingly mature) side to him. It was because he didn’t show this side of him a lot, only when they were having a heart-to-heart talk at the break of dawn when neither of them could sleep, let it be a sleepover at Yukhei’s, a school trip or one of those nights when nothing seemed to put them to sleep.

Hearing him say those words out loud in the cafeteria without any antecedents meant more to her than she would have admitted. Yena was truly thankful though she tried not to show it. Yukhei would think too highly of himself if she did.

“I’ve never said I love you. I just put up with you.” She remarked teasingly, her rosy-coloured lips raising into a child-like smile. It wasn’t uncommon that she acted like a brat when she was around her best friend because he was the only one who accepted her the way she was. Yena would never dare to act this way with any of their classmates, teachers, let alone her mother. She was humble, down-to-earth and quiet when she was around others, she only showed her real self to those who were closest to her. In her case, that person was Yukhei only.

“Very funny.” The guy rolled his eyes like he was hurt but there was a hint of playfulness in his voice. He cooed closer to her, his hazel eyes widening as he was eyeing her, his gaze never leaving hers. She was used to the close proximity, so she didn’t even think of backing away.

Then, Yukhei continued, still not tearing his gaze away.

“I know that deep down, somewhere under that nerdy and unimpressed exterior, you actually love me a lot and even dream about me sometimes.” He wiggled his eyebrows, showing off that oh so boyish and smug grin of his, one that could drive her crazy. Not only because it somehow made him more attractive but also because she couldn’t stop herself from smiling like an idiot when he acted like that.

“You wish.” Yena clicked her tongue as she gently pushed the guy back, so that she could continue eating without her best friend nosing into her food.

On the other hand, Yukhei didn’t turn back to his food, instead he kept looking at her. She almost asked why was he acting so strange when the boy confessed something that he had never shared with her before.

“I do dream about you sometimes.” The words rolled off his tongue like honey; they were smooth and sweet.

To say that she was absolutely dumbfounded would have been an understatement. Despite the fact that she was already used to the duality of the almighty Wong Yukhei, she never thought that she would hear something like this from him.

“What? Really?” She tilted her head in confusion, her eyebrows furrowed in slight shock. Yukhei wasn’t one to open up so abruptly. Even though he could constantly surprise her by sharing something vulnerable with her; something so dull and juvenile to the average eye and maybe even to her at first sight yet it turned out to be another reason why she loved him - despite all those protests -, he was still hard to decipher. His actions, his words, his moves. He was a jewellery box with so many drawers, so that even if she had the key to all of them, she was pretty sure she wouldn’t be able to open them all even if it costed her a lifetime. “And what do I do in your dreams?” She raised an eyebrow as her thoughts were running wildly in her head, her mind wandering off to mysterious forests with maze-like routes and moonlight-filled nights.

Yukhei was reluctant at first, not sure if the words that were on the top of his tongue would do more harm than good. His big doe eyes were scanning her face, examining every bit of her delicate features, afraid that he would might say something – anything – that could ruin everything between them. He didn’t want their relationship to be destroyed by the reckless waves that would wash away the sand castle that they had built with their own hands. A relationship so genuine and so fragile built from nothing can’t turn into ashes because of his foolish greediness. It’s human nature to want more, to strive for more yet he couldn’t risk what they already had between them.

Instead of saying what was on his mind, he went along with what felt right; joking and messing with her like he always did when he got scared by his own raw and bare feelings. Whenever he felt like running away like a coward, he stayed and played the fool instead.

“I won’t tell you.” He cleared his throat, trying to regain his usual bubbly self. “It’s a secret.” He winked at her playfully, earning a weak smack in his chest. No matter how hard Yena tried, Yukhei saw the slight twinkle in her onyx-black orbs, the one that he loved oh so dearly for shining so fondly and brightly especially when she was around him. He never saw it when she was with someone else, so it felt like it was his own reflection in her eyes.

Truth to be told, their friendship was as pure and innocent as one can be when they first met. They started off with drawing and playing together, teaching each other words in their own native language and spending every lunch break together. After a while, it evolved into something fragile, something more vulnerable. Childhood best friends may not stay together forever but they do share a special bond that no other kind of best friends do. When you literally see each other growing up, it really feels like you are closer than family. Concerning Yukhei and Yena, they sure went through that phase of their friendship when they acted like brothers and sisters. For instance, when they went out to have some ice cream at the shop on the corner of the boy’s neighbourhood, the cashier complimented Yukhei for taking care of “his adorable little sister” so well. At first, the said girl wanted to protest and tell that old folk the truth but in the end Yukhei always managed to speak up first and boasted about his good manners instead.

As they grew older, they had been through some changes in every way. Yukhei started growing so tall that she lost count of the centimetres between them, looking nostalgically at the wall in the boy’s bedroom where they used to track their heights year after year. His shoulders were wider, his facial features more defined and mature, his hair longer and messier than ever, though it all made him look oh so handsome. Handsome like a young boy who was on the verge of adulthood while still acting like a little kid sometimes. The way his hazel eyes widened whenever he saw something for the first time or the way he could laugh so freely whenever he heard something immature and inappropriate, not to mention his half-teasing, half-serious remarks about Yena’s changing body; you could tell that he wasn’t one who took responsibility for his actions, nor did he carry the weight of growing up on his shoulders. He was still free like a bird, flying high and trying whatever he could with his wings that took him to place he had never seen before.

Then came a breaking point; it was like a wake-up call for him. Yena already knew that her best friend took her presence for granted even after he had started making new friends who couldn’t get along well with her – to be precise, wouldn’t make an effort to get along well with her – and she was alone. Being beside someone who made you feel lonely was worse than being alone, and she had her fair share of that horrendous feeling.

Despite everything, she was there for him when he received the news of her grandmother’s passing. He was practically in love with her grandmother and it didn’t seem to change no matter how old he got. Although Yena had never met the boy’s grandmother because she was living in Hong Kong, she knew how much he loved his precious relative from the way his eyes sparkled whenever he got a call from her granny or the way his voice was a pitch higher when he was talking about visiting her. When summer came, the Wongs usually went back to his hometown for a week or so, spending their time with their precious family members whom he loved very much despite the distance and language barrier.

Small wonder it was so sorrowful to see him falling apart because of the sudden news. Yukhei might have lived in a more realistic world than a small child’s but his world was still full of hope and optimism, there wasn’t room for remorse and pain. His life wasn’t sunshine and rainbows but until this particular case, he took everyone around him for granted. He slipped into his life as if it was the best and didn’t want to wake up from his beautiful daydream. Yena couldn’t blame him, at least he was able to hope and believe in the small yet beautiful things in the world. On the other hand, aside from Yukhei, her world was all grey and dark.

They were in the library, studying together for their History test, when the boy’s phone beeped. He muted the device because they weren’t allowed to use their phone while they were in the library and he was obedient – only because Yena told her to do so – because he didn’t want to get into trouble. When he saw that the call was from his father, he excused himself and walked out of the library.

Yena didn’t pay much attention to him as Yukhei’s father sometimes asked him to go and grab a few things at the local supermarket before he headed home, so there wasn’t anything odd about his call. However, when her own phone’s screen lit up with a message from Yukhei, saying that he wants to talk to her outside the library, she knew something was up. She immediately rose to her feet and with a bob of her head in the librarian’s direction, she exited the room.

As soon as she was out, her eyes were searching for the familiar fondness of the puppy-like hazel eyes but instead she came in sight with something hurt, something broken. When their eyes met, Yena couldn’t help but gulp. She had never seen her best friend like this before. His features were displaying utter shock and devastation. It was as if he was caught up in a thunderstorm without anything to keep him safe. He had nowhere to run, he was completely trapped.

“Yukhei! What’s wrong?” Yena stumbled to her feet as she made her way to the boy who was leaning against a wall, his eyes staring far ahead after he couldn’t bear the eye contact anymore. He still held his phone in his hands like he was frozen for a few minutes. Like he was trapped in the past. The hourglass was broken and all the sand was flowing between his delicate fingers and he had no other choice than to watch it absent-mindedly, not having any power to stop the inevitable.

Instead of answering her question, he looked at the black screen of his phone in disbelief.

“Yukhei…” She whispered gently, her voice full of doubts and unanswered questions. She didn’t know what happened and she wouldn’t want to think about the possible outcomes. Yet, the way the boy’s hands were shaking like he was possessed by some unknown force was rather worrisome. His messy, sand-like hair was falling into his tearful eyes and he didn’t budge to push it back. When the first pearl-like tear slid down his cheek, Yena’s heart skipped a beat. Apart from some bruises he got when he was younger and being his overly energetic and careless self, she had never seen Yukhei cry or even tear up. The sight was eating her up alive.

She had no idea what to do. She wanted to hug him and tell him that it would be alright but judged by the expression on his face, she might not have been right. He was apparently unable to move and the more tears resurfaced, the more frightened she got. As she reached out to wipe one tear away, Yukhei literally collapsed into her arms, his growing body holding onto her waist like she was the last loose strain that kept him alive. Even though she was smaller than him, she held him with such power she didn’t know she possessed. She was the tree protecting him from the storm, the rain and the sunlight, sheltering him from the reality. Keeping him in a glass bead that was said to be unbreakable yet cracks could be seen on its surface. Despite the internal turmoil that she herself was going through, she tried her best to catch him while he was falling. Falling, falling into the pit of darkness and numbness.

Both of them knew that nothing lasts forever. Both of them knew that people come and go. Both of them knew that humans aren’t immortal. Yet, neither of them was prepared for losing someone so precious and dear to their heart. They were young and naïve. The only way they could deal with the pain was hugging each other; tightly and frantically like a malnourished man who gets his hand on the first piece of bread after weeks of starving. They were both sobbing quietly, the seconds passing by like shooting stars. Yena drew invisible hearts on his back in an attempt to distract herself and Yukhei too.

It was the first time they realised that what others had said was true; you grow through pain and loss, thus only while losing can one gain something else.

Yena was there with him the night after, the week after and the month after. She supported him as much as she could and listened to his heart-wrenching thoughts, even if it meant that she had to pull an all-nighter. She listened to the cacophony of his ragged breathing and the symphony of his quiet sobs. She listened to the heavy beating of his heart, one that resembled ancient pendulums clocks that were about to stop swinging. She let him hold onto her as a crying baby holds onto his mother and let him cry all over her shirts.

The first month was the most difficult one yet his pain became less and less unbearable as time went by. He learned how to breathe again after his grandmother’s funeral and it became easier day by day. His heart that couldn’t be pacified found solace and tranquillity once he remembered that his grandmother was like an angel sent from Heaven and now she could finally go home. The air wasn’t as suffocating as before and after he came back from Hong Kong where the funeral took place, he seemed a bit more at ease. He wasn’t alright, not yet. He was forever scarred from a loss that he had never thought he would have to bear.

While Yukhei was away to attend his grandmother’s funeral in Hong Kong, Yena had to come to terms with the fact that she hadn’t seen her own grandparents for half a year. They lived in Busan like she did but they were never close to begin with. Yena’s mother made sure that she wouldn’t keep in touch with them and they encountered only during Christmas or Chuseok. Nothing too intimate, nothing too personal. A mere dinner at a fancy restaurant that usually ended in a heated quarrel over how Choi Jieun shouldn’t treat her daughter the way she did and that’s exactly why she didn’t want her to see her grandparents. They actually wanted to help her because they knew their daughter was bossy, strict and inconsistent because she never listened to them. That way, Jieun’s parents were practically cut off and Yena could never even receive a letter or a present from them because her mother would totally lose it and throw a tantrum. On top of that, due to the fact that she didn’t even know who her father was, the grandparents on her father’s part were almost dead to her.

She never had a real family but she knew family wasn’t necessarily blood-related, thus she could confidently say that Yukhei was her family. One she never had and one she would never imagine that she would have. One she never thought that she would lose one day.

Yet, as time went by, the Chinese-Thai boy eventually returned back to his usual self and even though life taught him a tough lesson, his boyish grin couldn’t be replaced with a soulless frown or a forced smile. His hazel eyes got back their usual sparkle that challenged the brightest stars on the pitch-black skies and his heart became full of affection once again.

So when the flowers bloomed, so did they love. Yukhei wasn’t stupid, he knew that the loss of his grandmother only brought them closer, yet he didn’t want to risk anything. The fact that he was more vulnerable than ever and had a scar that didn’t heal properly made him ponder. If the death of his grandmother caused such soul-crashing pain, what would he do if he lost Yena too? She was like his second family; the brightest sun on his grey sky, the bittersweet coffee he needed in the morning, the smell of spring lilacs, the touch of little puppies after being bathed, the sight of the sunrise after a storm, the last piece of his puzzle and the other half of his impatiently beating heart.

He didn’t want to think about the possible consequences of losing her, so he stayed quiet and his love for her remained a secret kept at the bottom of his heart, hidden and safe until the time would come when he feels ready to let her in. He didn’t know if she felt the same way but he was more than happy to love her even if it meant that she didn’t love him back.

Just loving her was enough for him.

The day the gap became wider

Growing up and maturing brought about a lot of changes.

There came junior and then senior year. All those responsibilities regarding overly anxious students under the pressure of demanding teachers and parents who expected them to do perfectly on every single test were now a part of their everyday life. The extracurricular activities filled their afternoons and usually stretched into night as well. Those who sought after the best possible results pushed themselves to the best of their abilities and sometimes even further. They never stopped, they never took a break and they never realized that something was clearly wrong about how they handled the pressure.

The competitiveness and the monotonousness of their days seemed to go on forever. It was like a foggy winter afternoon that prevented them from seeing anything around them. They didn’t know how to escape from the vicious cycle because they weren’t supposed to stop. Everyone told them to bear the unbearable and break the unbreakable; they should have gritted their teeth and never think about stopping for a second. Their job was to study and studying always came first.

Of course, not everyone had the same problems and not everyone was affected by the inhumane system as much as Yena was. Her mother was one hell of a woman during those years and no matter how many times Yukhei told Yena to confront her mother and tell her that she didn’t want to be a lawyer, she would have rather opted for creative writing, Yena got upset. Even though the girl told him over and over again that her mother wouldn’t support her and thinks that writing is only for the most talented and most outstanding ones, he wanted Yena to give in and finally let go of the dream of her mother. He hated nothing more than to see her work and sacrifice so much only for her mother. It would have been fine if she did it for her own pleasure, to make her own dreams come true. Nonetheless, when it came to his best friend, she was still playing in Choi Jieun’s marionette-play while the boy knew that it was time to put an end to that stupid play of hers.

On the other hand, Yukhei knew he had it easy. A friend of his father recommended him for a radio programme one summer and despite the fact that he was inexperienced in radio shows, he was accepted after being auditioned. After that, he was taught by his mentors and fellow hosts, yet it never seemed like work because he truly enjoyed it. As opposed to being only a young, inexperienced boy, everyone praised his natural talent for finding the right balance between joking around and digging deep into a topic. Plus, he only had to work during the weekends, so he had other ways to pass the time outside the radio station including hanging out with his new friends and going to football practice. His programme was specifically for the weekends, something between music and movie recommendations and talk shows with special guests on various yet appealing topics to the public, especially to young people.

Initially, he had no intention of being on any radio programme but after working there for the summer, he decided to stay and soon he found himself a new dream. He wished to work at Arirang Radio in Seoul that aimed to connect international fans with their favourite Korean artists – actors, actresses, authors, producers and idols. He had already sent out his demo tapes to multiple radio stations in Seoul – including Arirang’s –, hoping that he would get accepted. If not, he could still stay in Busan and continue working at his current workplace. A degree wasn’t needed to fulfil his dream according to his co-workers, so he rather spent his time enjoying the opportunities he decided to take and working on his skills as much as he could.

However, Yena wasn’t that lucky. Yukhei felt sorry seeing her study so much – too much – and seeing how hard she worked only to be reprimanded by her mother for every little thing she didn’t do – or didn’t do as properly as Choi Jieun wanted – besides studying such as cleaning her room, taking out the rubbish and doing grocery shopping. She usually assisted her mother while she was running errands but it became too much for her while her days were full of extracurricular activities and English classes.

Jieun filled in an application form in her daughter’s name to apply for a scholarship at Yale because she wanted her to continue studying abroad. That’s why Yena was left with all that unnecessary paperwork and even more classes; she didn’t want to let her mother down. Plus, who wouldn’t be intrigued by the possibility of studying at Yale? Yena was as humble as ever and insisted that she would be more than happy to be accepted at one of the SKY universities but Choi Jieun wasn’t one to take others’ opinion into consideration.

Small wonder everything was crumbling down and by the time Yukhei and Yena finally poured their hearts out to each other, the house of cards had already fallen apart.

It was their senior year. The sun was setting on the horizon, the colourfully blooming trees were bathing in the tangerine light and birds were chirping on the branches, letting everyone know that spring was just around the corner. Yukhei and Yena were walking beside each other, both exhausted after the tremendous workload earlier that day, thus silence was no other than a reassuring companion on the road heading home.

Yukhei’s home was first, so when they arrived at the Wong’s house, both of them thought that his goodbye would put an end to their shared path. Nevertheless, as soon as the boy came to a halt and turned to her to bid his farewell, Yena looked up at him with her obsidian-black eyes pleading for their hourglass to stop for a moment.

“Yukhei, we need to talk.” She announced with a heavy sigh, the bags under her eyes ‒ indicating the hours she spent on studying instead of sleeping ‒ turning into a terrifying raven-black shade under the dim light of the setting sun.

Even though he wanted nothing more than to say how he felt about the fact that they spent yet another 30-minutes saying completely nothing to each other, he knew that it wasn’t the best time to start arguing with her. They were both worn out, probably too vulnerable for such a meaningful conversation.

“Is it anything urgent?” He shrugged his shoulders casually, pointing at the watch on his wrist. “ ‘Cause I’ve promised the guys that I would watch their performance.” He explained nonchalantly because he already knew what Yena was thinking of the guys. She didn’t fancy seeing them around because she didn’t know how to shrug off their brotherly teasing and mocking. Yukhei had to admit that they sometimes went too far but that didn’t mean that she needed to avoid them at all costs. Besides, when she wasn’t there with him, with whom he was supposed to hang out? Her abandoning her social life didn’t mean that he had to do the same.

“Well, maybe I’m the only one who feels this way but I feel like something went wrong between us.”

Yena’s eyes were shining apologetically, yet her words were painful like a bullet. They hit his heart hard and despite the enormous pain that came after, he didn’t want to acknowledge that the harm was already done. It may have already hit him but the worst was yet to come.

“What do you mean?” He raised an eyebrow in question, playing dumb as he always did when he wanted to avoid a certain unpleasant, let alone serious situation.

It could be seen that the girl was struggling to phrase how she felt. Yukhei once read some of her stories and knew that she had a unique way with words, she used such vague vocabulary and diverse expressions, he wasn’t even sure that he knew half as much words as she did.

Yet, right now when she needed words the most, she encountered an utter lack of them. Fate was a pitiful creature.

“I don’t feel that special bond anymore.” She spoke up after long, anxiety-filled seconds and let her words fill the tension between them before she reasoned further. “We used to be so close, sharing practically everything with each other and now I don’t even know if I can count on you because you are too busy with everything else.” Her voice trailed off at the end, her eyes wandering far ahead.

She didn’t want to meet his gaze, that oh so familiar, oh so precious yet oh so painful gaze of him. Every single time she looked at her so-called best friend, her heart churned with worry. What if he would fade away like a shadow? What if he would also leave her because she didn’t deserve to be loved and then her mother could boast that she was right? What if he would find happiness without her and sadness only when he’s with her?

Something went downhill the moment she became more reserved and less confident while he was never more content and outgoing. Yukhei made new friends who made fun of her perfect grades, perfect clothes and perfect answers when in fact nothing was perfect about her, except the exterior. The interior was collapsing like shelves in the fire of the Library of Alexandria. Her insides were eaten by the flames, leaving nothing but ashes behind. Nothing vulnerable was left, nothing lovable and nothing precious, only ashes. Yukhei was right there, he witnessed all of it yet he never once asked what was wrong. He wasn’t there to catch her fall yet she was already falling. The worst part was… he also knew well that he wasn’t there when she really needed him.

“Hey!” The boy raised his hands in defeat, clearly hurt by the tone of the girl and the weight her words carried. He was perfectly aware of the fact that he was sometimes the one to blame but not all the time. “I’m not the one who turns down our sleepovers because of studying.”

“I can’t do anything about the fact that I have extracurricular activities until 8pm and evening is the only time I can actually start studying.”

“Well, if it weren’t for your mother, you wouldn’t have done half of it.” Yukhei blurted out carelessly, rage already building up in his body. The moment the first angry thought popped into his mind, he knew he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from attacking her so cruelly.

Nonetheless, Yena merely gulped and lifted her chin up. There was a peculiar sense of determination in her. She may have been the ice princess hiding behind closed doors most of the time but she wasn’t one to back away that day. She was ready to fight.

“You know it’s not easy for me either. I have my own dreams and I want to live my own life but I can’t because my mother is the only one I have. I can’t make money because I don’t have time for that and without money I wouldn’t be able to pay for my tuition fees. Yet, if I accept that I’ll study Law, my mother would pay for it.” She reasoned calmly, acting like an already experienced businesswoman. It was the same when they were debating in class; she never raised her voice but the aura around her was different. Everyone knew that she would say something worthy. Everyone was paying attention to her despite the fact that she was practically invisible any other time.

Yukhei had no intention of looking away when their eyes met. The fire in her eyes was dangerous, almost fatal. He didn’t know if it was cautionary because she was going to stay the exact same throughout their conversation or because she would eventually burst. You never knew when it came to a dormant volcano. Considering what she piled up during their teenage years – both from her mother and her best friend –, she seemed pretty dangerous to him.

He let out an agitated sigh. He didn’t want to argue with her but there was no other way they could solve their problems.

“You know, you broke the rules here and there.” Yukhei reminded her gently, his deep, hoarse voice filling the silence between them. From the moment she met him, she changed for him. She was so radiant and joyful when she was a child and if she had listened to her mother’s warning, she would have never made friends with him. “Where’s that girl who stood up for me in front of her mother when she said that you can’t come over to my place?” He mused nostalgically, a sudden jolt of resignation going through him.

Yena merely gave him a tired, sad smile.

“I grew up, Yukhei. So should you.”

“Excuse me?” His voice rose to a pitch higher than usual. Her words bit into him like a wild animal. He didn’t see such an attack coming but he already felt the excruciating pain engulfing him, especially his heart. His heart that he kept only to himself for so long because he was afraid to be fragile, he was afraid to be weak yet one question of hers at the age of six was enough for him to let her in. Since then, he never let her out. Not even for a second.

“Can’t you see that I feel uncomfortable when I’m around you?” She flung her arms in the arm, frustration written all over her face. “I get it, you have new friends and I’m totally okay with that. Yet, that doesn’t mean that you should act differently when you are around me because you’ve spent too much time with them. I feel lonely when I’m with you.”

“So you think I’ve changed?” He bellowed furiously, taking a step closer to her as he talked to her. He didn’t want to look menacing but he wanted to see if he could still recognize the same old Yena in the obsidian-black abyss of her lifeless orbs. “Well, sorry to break it down to you but you’ve changed too. I can’t even tell you my silly jokes anymore because you either frown or roll your eyes. I can’t even come up with plans because you either have classes or study at home. I know that I also have football practice, work at the station and spend more time with the guys but we just can’t seem to make it work. When I see you, there’s something different about you. You are a different Yena. More reserved, quieter… It seems like you don’t live your life anymore. You just try to survive everything.” He confessed straightforwardly, the words dripping off his tongue like medicine. It felt so reassuring to get everything off his chest yet the outcome was still yet to be seen.

Yena gulped at his last words. Maybe she had felt the same, maybe she didn’t. She was excellent at concealing her emotions, maybe because she was told to do by her mother. However, after a minute or so of keeping an intense eye contact, she snapped. Her eyes suddenly became teary and he also caught sight of the trembling hands by her side. Maybe she didn’t want to keep everything to herself after all. Maybe she wanted to tell him everything.

So she did. Even though he was waiting for the truth, he wasn’t ready for repeated bleedings of his already broken heart.

“Yes, I’m stressed because I’m studying a lot and out of the two of us, I have to study because I will go on to study at a university. However, I’m more stressed because I’ve noticed the shift in our relationship and I’ve tried to save it. You know, I was there for you when your grandmother died or when you were told that you have to take extra classes or else you’ll fail Maths. I was there when you cried or when you doubted yourself. I didn’t feel like I was doing anything wrong. Yet, apparently I did because it wasn’t enough that I’ve tried my best when I was with you, even if it wasn’t much time.”

“It was enough, believe me. I appreciate what you’ve done for me ever since the start and I know we both had our ups and downs and I’m thankful for you. I really am. I know how hard it’s been on you in the beginning yet you seemed to have everything under control in the past years. But what could I do when you didn’t let me in as you used to?” Yukhei shrieked and winced, something that Yena had never seen before. His voice was so desperate for answers, for what ifs and for the precious past memories, it almost made her wish she had never said anything in the first place. However, after a long time, at least she could be honest with somebody. Even if it meant that she hurt her best friend with her confession, she wasn’t ready to let it slide and see what the fire she had just spitted on him had left.

“Because you were just talking and talking about what you did with the guys or how your niece reacted to your present and I was there listening to you and the moment I wanted to open my mouth, the bell rang or you went to talk to the other guys. I genuinely care about you and your days but by listening to you all the time, I held everything in.” Yena huffed fervently, her cheeks tinted scarlet by the frustration that swept her off her feet. She didn’t care that she was being uncharacteristically honest or furious, it was time they showed their cards and decided on the result of their poker game. They were both so good at dealing with the cards of fate but they had to put an end to their suffering. For both of their sake.

Looking back at all the precious memories from the start until the end, Yukhei didn’t regret anything. He had changed but so did Yena. Even though it hurt his heart to see her in such a state because of him, at least he could see her standing up for herself. Even if it meant that she was against him. Karma was indeed a bitch.

“You know…” He started, something unpleasant settling in his stomach. Was it shame, guilt or worry? Was it because of what the girl had said or was it because he knew what was coming? “I’ve noticed that you were having a hard time.” He whispered wholeheartedly, hoping that his best friend wouldn’t doubt his words. Or were they friends anymore?

Yena didn’t doubt him. He held the same loving and fragile universe in his eyes that he did from the moment they met. Yukhei always loved the way her laugh sounded like little bells at Christmas or when her cheeks were pink full of blushful shyness. He adored the way her full lips turned into a mischievous smile when she was about to break a rule. He was so fond of the way her eyes sparkled whenever he gave her one of the polaroids he took of them, albums on top of albums hidden in his drawer that he never revealed to her. He kept so much to himself, hoping that he would be able to keep her with him forever and more. When he wanted to feel her presence but knew he couldn’t reach out to her, he took out an album and looked at their shared memories. The nostalgia tasted bittersweet in his mouth, it was like coffee without any sweetener.

Yena’s lips trembled as she asked the question that was the final stub in his heart. He knew the game was over.

“Then why didn’t you ask about it?”

Yukhei wished to deny everything but he couldn’t do it. Not to her. He knew that both of them were at fault because you need two people to create a bond and you also need two to break it. However, it didn’t mean that it hurt any less. In fact, it hurt like hell, knowing that both of them turned to a nasty war instead of a simple talk in the beginning of the end.

“Because it was easier not to talk about it.” He admitted shamefully, his heart leaping at the sight of Yena’s parted lips.

“Oh I see.” She nodded as if she wanted to understand and accept his decision, a forced smile already making its way onto her rosy-coloured lips. She was putting on a façade for him just as she did when she was with her mother and it tore him apart. What did he do to her?

The moment the first tear escaped Yena’s eyes, she wished she had never let anything slip away. Her friendship with Yukhei was the only thing that kept her together when she had a hard time and even though it was dying right in front of her eyes, she didn’t want to let go. Yet, all the sand in the hourglass landed and their time ran out. The more tears surfaces, the more she hated herself. She should have let Yukhei go sooner instead of holding him back. He deserved better, someone fuller of affection and attention. She couldn’t help how she felt but she didn’t want to pull him into that hole of darkness with her.

Hasty footsteps and ragged breaths were their own bittersweet farewell, untold confessions and proper goodbyes hiding behind its mask.

As the last ray of sunshine escaped the horizon, the light moved to their hearts and left an open scar that would forever remind them of the lost, loved and forgotten.

The day fate decided otherwise

After that day, they have tried time and time again to save their dying friendship but eventually they decided that it would be better if they went on separate ways. It hurt both of them to see the other laughing or smiling but there was a tiny part of them that was happy that the other was also happy. They couldn’t erase ten years full of precious memories, bittersweet moments, salty tears and contagious laughter. They couldn’t throw everything to the wind just because they drifted apart. No. Subtly, they always observed the other one to see if their smile was genuine or if they truly felt comfortable around others.

The words they spitted out on that particular spring day were painful like bullets. Yet, even though the pain was excruciating, the bullets weren’t fatal ones. Both Yena and Yukhei reflected on what they had been told and tried their best to learn from them. If you never make mistakes, you can never learn from them. If you do make mistakes, you can strive to be a better person and find your real self.

Yena was glad that Yukhei was doing well and got a job in Seoul right before they graduated. She had to admit that the boy was doing better without her because she realised she must have been a bad influence on him. Maybe even a toxic one. It was true that she didn’t go out with him, nor did she give in to his beloved ideas such as sleepovers and movie nights. She merely didn’t have time for him and her poor time management skills on top of her packed schedule slowly yet steadily suffocated their friendship. Yukhei must have felt trapped because of her when all he wanted to do was to break out of that cage that the prejudices and expectations towards the once new transfer student built around him. He was literally blooming in front of her and instead of making sure that he grows well, she held him back. She should have let him go so much sooner.

Yukhei blamed himself for not being honest about his feelings and not caring enough about Yena’s. He knew she was going through hell yet he had never asked how she felt or if he could do anything to assist her. He assumed that she was way better without his unnecessary prying and useless questions, so he talked about himself instead. What a fool he was! Having more guy friends killed that sensitive part of him that always nudged him to ask about the girl’s day and to make sure that her smile was genuine. As he was changing, he also lost a part of himself but not the worst one. Later on, he could see that the guys he used to hang out with during his last years of high school abandoned him when he actually moved to Seoul. They didn’t support him nor did they want to keep in touch with him. He couldn’t believe he was so blind to see that they were being with him only because of his popularity.

However, Yukhei’s parents fully supported their son and rented a flat for him in a reserved area of Seoul’s downtown as soon as they got the news of his successful application. The summer was a blur to him; he spent all his time exploring Seoul’s wonders and working as an intern at a small yet cozy radio station in Seoul. He was working on the entertainment segment, gathering information about events all over the city before he could move on to presenting them. He was a night-time radio host which meant that he worked from 10pm to midnight and despite the low expectations towards the number of listeners, his programme quickly exceeded the expectations. Of course, it was still nothing compared to the peak hours but it was better than most of the other radio station’s statistics at such an hour.

Not long after he settled down and started enjoying his life in Seoul, he got a call from Yena’s mother. The moment he saw the name on the screen, he immediately flinched. There were so many things he wished to say to that woman but none of them was actually appropriate and polite. At first, he assumed that Choi Jieun called the wrong person yet seeing that she didn’t hang up after half a minute, he decided to answer the call.

“Hello? It’s Wong Yukhei.” He picked up acting like he didn’t know the caller because he knew Choi Jieun might not remember that she had given him her number. Even though he never made use of the information, he hadn’t deleted her from his contacts either. He didn’t actually know why, maybe he longed to have something that still connected him to Yena.

“Hello Yukhei! It’s Choi Jieun, Yena’s mother.” The woman introduced herself in a business-like manner while Yukhei tried his best not to snort while she was speaking. He hated Jieun so much, it was as if she did something unforgivable to him. Though she never once attacked Yukhei face-to-face ‒ only behind his back ‒ but she made his best friend’s life miserable and that was something he couldn’t forgive.

“Nice to‒”

“Look, Yukhei.” The woman cut him off which threw the boy over the edge. How could she be so bossy right after they started talking? Not like he had any right to rebel against her but the impatient tone in her voice made him uncharacteristically grumpy. “I know you were on good terms with my daughter once, so I assume you wouldn’t have a problem if I asked you a favour. Unfortunately, there was an administrative error with her application to Yale, so she couldn’t be accepted but we only got to know about it a few weeks ago, thus she couldn’t start the spring semester in Seoul. Yet, after dealing with some paperwork, it seems that she can start her studies at the Seoul National University from the fall semester and I know that you’re still looking for a flatmate, so I’ve thought I would ask if you were willing to share your flat with her.”

Unbeknownst to Yukhei, his lips parted slightly upon hearing the news. Ever since they graduated in February, he hadn’t heard from Yena but it came as no surprise since he moved to Seoul pretty quickly. He was pretty sure that the girl was already in New Haven for her fabulous new life and excellent education, he would have never thought that she didn’t get in and had to stay in Seoul. Not to mention that Yena’s mother – the mighty Choi Jieun herself ‒ made a phone call to make sure that she still had a place to go. He knew that Yena’s grandparents lived somewhere close to the capital city but hearing the request, he was convinced that Jieun didn’t want to let her daughter spend more time with them. Yukhei may not have been their last hope but almost the last one. Her life didn’t seem so perfect after all.

“Well, I still don’t have a flatmate, so I‒”

“Perfect! Then I’ll drop her off at your place on Friday and we’ll sign the contract.” Jieun stated matter-of-factly, her remark taking Yukhei by surprise once again.

He couldn’t believe that the woman was trying to control the conversation, so that the boy wouldn’t be able to finish any of his sentences. He didn’t even know what to say because he was still in the state of utter shock after the realization hit him hard that he would be living together with Yena. It was something that they dreamed about when they were younger but nothing seemed more inappropriate under the circumstances.

“Don’t worry! I’ve seen your advertisement, so I know the address and money can’t be a problem either. Thank you for your help! See you on Friday!” With that, the woman hung up, leaving a dumbfounded Yukhei behind who merely gulped at her antics. He was sure that he wouldn’t be able to live a day beside a monster like Choi Jieun and he suddenly felt sorry for Yena.

It’s been a long time since he thought about her so fondly yet after the news of her unsuccessful application, his heart churned with worry. How did she feel about the fact that she had to stay in Seoul? Did she regret that she studied so much, only to be encountered with an administrative problem that costed her chance to study in the US? Did she know what her mother was doing or did Jieun call him without Yena knowing anything about her future flatmate?

Yukhei shook his head in an attempt to get rid of his questions. Questions that he knew he couldn’t answer because the only person who could wasn’t there with him. Yet, soon she would be living with him and despite everything that they had been through, he couldn’t help but feel a sparkle of hope. A hope for a more prosperous and balanced friendship between the two of them.

Despite everything, he couldn’t hate her. He couldn’t hate the way her lips raised into a shy smile or the way she blushed when she heard a compliment. He couldn’t hate the way her eyes lit up when she got an answer right and the way she sipped on her coffee, her heart feeling at ease after the newfound energy. He couldn’t hate the way her locks always seemed so soft and straight no matter if it was raining heavily or snowing fervently. He couldn’t hate the way his heart started racing every time he felt her presence in the room and the way blood rushed through his veins when he heard her voice.

Despite everything, she had still been his best friend for ten years. Despite everything, she was still his first love even though Yena never knew because he didn’t have the courage to confess.

Now… he didn’t know who she was to him. He dreaded founding it out yet he couldn’t wait for Friday to come.

#nctwriters #lucas #nct scenarios #nct imagines #lucas scenarios #lucas imagines #lucas angst #nct angst #nct #yukhei #yukhei imagines #yukhei scenarios #yukhei angst #nct fluff #lucas fluff #yukhei fluff #when petals fall we move on #restlessmaknae #restless_maknae #my story

[seniichi]

Hazy Days

Gift for @catsubun/@beriskara​ - Pokémart Shigeru and Satoshi for Palletshipping day. Also partly inspired by the song Monody. Setting for this one is a tweaked scenario of number six of their cute ideas - post is HERE.

Satoshi usually wasn’t so late helping him out. Shigeru’s lips press into a frown, the young Pokémart worker hefting another box higher so it settles comfortably on his shoulder. He’s halfway to putting it on the shelf when Satoshi finally appears, his usual excited footfalls tinged with a bit of squeakiness.

He’s a little too occupied with putting everything away to actually look at Satoshi until after he’s sure it won’t fall off of the shelf. When he finally does, turning with a faintly exasperated expression, he has to restrain a snicker. Satoshi looked adorably pathetic, dripping water over the tile, fluffy hair dragged down into tangled snarls over slim shoulders.

“Shigeru, it’s not funny.” The shorter boy pouts, arms crossing as water drips off of his hair. “I almost tripped while locking up the Center!” Shigeru’s expression twitches, and Satoshi glares at him, adorable pout firmly in place.

The staring contest lasts for as long as it takes for Satoshi’s hat to fall off of his head, landing with a pathetically wet splat. Shigeru finally gives it up as a lost cause, chuckling richly even as the nurse kneels down to pick up his hat, still pouting.

“You have to admit it’s a little funny.” Shigeru continued chuckling, taking the sodden cap and squeezing it out until it was mostly dry. “I’m actually almost done for the day - all that’s left really is the mopping. Think you can do that without knocking over my display?” Shigeru teases, and Satoshi sticks his nose in the air.

“Of course I can!” He huffs, stomping off. Of course, the effect is ruined by the squeak of his cute little shoes, but Shigeru simply bites back the amused laughter that wanted to bubble up his throat, instead going back to stocking the shelves.

As clumsy as Satoshi was, he was at the very least good at cleaning - no doubt from the sanitary requirements of the Centre. So he’s not too much later than usual - but it’s still enough that the storm is most definitely hideous when they’re stepping out at long last, rain pelting them with warm water, splashing over his skin in sharp contrast to the cool air of the Pokémart, and with a bit of worry, he can see that Satoshi is already starting to shiver. The moment he locks up, the boy reaches out to carefully wrap an arm around his shoulders.

“Can’t have you getting cold now,” Shigeru teases lightly, tugging the boy closer. “Or tripping. I’m sure the path to my house is already muddy enough.” And with that thought, the idea of Satoshi walking the rest of the way to his home, which was somewhere on the outskirts of town, was frankly terrifying. The boy merely shivers, but manages to stick his nose up in the air, trying to fight back against the onslaught of affectionate teasing.

“I’m not that clumsy,” He protests indignantly, before pushing a bit closer. “But I am kinda cold,” He mumbles, and Shigeru tries to ignore how that makes his heart flutter a little against his ribcage.

The walk is silent - rain pouring down hard enough that they would be hard pressed to carry on a conversation, even with how chatty the younger of the two could be.

It was with some relief that he finally steps under the awning of his house, only noticing belatedly that Satoshi hadn’t joined him.

“Where are you going?” He questions, expression incredulous at Satoshi. The boy pushes his hair out of his face - a futile attempt, since it merely slaps back down over his forehead, making him wrinkle his nose adorably.

“Home,” Satoshi pushes the fringe of his hair up again, and again, it hits his face. “I can’t leave Pikachu alone,” Satoshi insists, but Shigeru isn’t having it, pale hand wrapping around a slim wrist and tugging the boy under the shelter of his front porch.

“And what would your starter do if he found out that you got sick silly Satoshi?” He immediately rebuts, cheeks warming at his own forwardness. “You can stay at least until it stops. I still have a spare set of clothes you can borrow.” Saying that aloud was a little embarrassing, but he persists, looking down at his liquid chocolate eyes. The boy’s nose scrunches up slightly, but he can’t deny that his partner would probably get very mad at him for running around like an idiot in this weather. Pikachu wouldn’t shock him, but there would be a lot of rump presentation in his future if he dared walk home in this weather. Sighing, Satoshi agrees.

“Oh, alright,” he accepts Shigeru’s invitation with a slight smile, squishing his way into the darkened house. Eevee immediately scrabbles to the door, squeaking excitedly at the sight of a visitor. The boy’s expression brightens, and he kneels, skirt pooling around his feet as Shigeru closes the door behind them both, darkening the entry hall. As he coos to the soft brown Pokémon, Shigeru turns on the lights.

“You should go take a shower,” Shigeru suggests, watching Eevee lick the boy’s tanned fingers eagerly in open affection. He drags his gaze away from Satoshi’s adorably open expression. “Spare clothes are in the closet in the bathroom - and maybe I can teach you how to cook something that won’t burn,” he adds the last bit with a slightly crooked grin, making Satoshi huff from where he’s spoiling Eevee with scratches to her neck ruff.

“Okay,” He pouts, expression turning soft with disappointment. “I’ll be back pretty girl,” Satoshi promises, the boy hurrying off to shower.

Shigeru in turn, shakes his head. “Pull it together Ookido,” he mutters to himself, ignoring the knowing look his starter gives him.

The shower passes too slowly for Shigeru’s overactive imagination, the boy deliberately not looking at the younger boy on his return, ears pink as he busies himself with setting everything up. The soft touch of a hand to his skin makes him jolt, but it’s just Satoshi, giving him a hesitant smile. He’s just wearing a oversized shirt that Shigeru had loaned him before on one of their days out together. His legs are bare and free for viewing, the smoothness of them a bit new. When he looks up, Satoshi’s cheeks are a bit pink.

“When did you shave?” He asks, nearly slapping himself in the face for asking when it makes Satoshi’s adorable cheeks burn bright pink. “I-I’m going to go shower,” he answers instead, hurrying off towards the shower.

No matter what, this was going to be awkward one way or another. He scrubbed down quickly, doing his best to pretend that Satoshi hadn’t been in here, using the same soap as him... smelling like Shigeru. His face burns, and he flips the water to cold, cursing at the change.

When he emerges in the kitchen, toweling his hair off, Satoshi is blushing, cheeks pink from where he’s looking at his hands. The boy looks up after a moment, before turning even redder and looking back down. Eevee is sitting in Satoshi’s lap, and if there was ever a time for Eevee to not have that smug look on her face now would have been great.

He flushes a little, and Satoshi looks up from where he’s scratching Eevee’s ears. The silence is awkward, but he moves closer anyways.

“I didn’t think you would have noticed...” his skin is so red, but there’s a pleased sort of smile on his lips. Eevee looks between the two of them, before bouncing out of Satoshi’s lap, tail in the air as she smugly gave her owner a look. A tiny paw swipes at his ankle, forcing him to stumble closer to Satoshi, Eevee disappearing into the hall.

“I notice everything about you.” The words are blurted out, but his face is bright red at the words, matching Satoshi’s flushed skin. At that moment, the storm cracked the sky outside, plunging the house into darkness, startling them both. Shigeru can barely see Satoshi, but he knows every inch of his kitchen, steps forward to carefully wrap his hands around Satoshi’s own. “The power will come back on soon,” He promised softly. Trembling, Satoshi stands up, pulling closer to him with clear nerves. His arm slowly wraps around Satoshi’s waist, and the boy doesn’t resist, a far cry from his usually independently stubborn nature. With nothing more than his memory, Shigeru manages to arrange for them to sit on the couch in his living room.

“Did you mean that?” The vulnerable quaver of his voice makes Shigeru’s heart ache slightly for him.

“Yeah. I noticed you, since the first time you knocked over my display.” He teases lowly, getting an embarrassed squeak.

“That was once!” He whines to the rich chuckle of Shigeru’s laughter.

“Oh yes. After that, you knocked over everyone else’s.” A blooming warmth fills him as he realizes that Satoshi, aside from the initial settling into the couch, hadn’t pulled away from him. Satoshi rests against him, and he can feel the soft puff of his cheeks against his collarbone.

“I didn’t...” His protest trails off, cheeks warm against Shigeru’s skin. Shigeru doesn’t want to say anything, instead, pulling back so that he and Satoshi are laid out on the couch. He gets a squeak for his troubles, but it’s so very satisfying to feel Satoshi settle into him rather than pull away. “You’re mean Shigeru,” He huffs against his skin. Shigeru grins, fingers settling into soft hair.

“Maybe you can help me with that,” He teases, the two lapsing into comfortable silence once more.

(He does get Satoshi home eventually. Just... not until he’s had his fill of holding him close. He also finds out Eevee tripped the breaker, but he can be upset later.)

#Palletshipping #Ash Ketchum #Gary Oak #Pokemon AU #catsubun #beriskara #Pokemon #ShiShi #Satoshi #Shigeru Okido

[blueplanettrash]

Day 6: Presents

Even when I’m not busy I’m late, sorry. I was just so tired yesterday for some reason, I’m going to catch up again by tonight though! I hope you enjoy! ❤️

When Allura announced that they would be going to the space mall, everyone was understandably excited. They calculated that it would have been December on Earth even if they couldn’t narrow down the exact date. They could celebrate Christmas whenever they wanted to though. They told Coran and Allura about the holiday and found out that they had a holiday much like it except it was on the opposite time of the year when it would have been around June on Earth; because of it, they opted to celebrate their holiday then and not Christmas with them. Although they were a bit disappointed, it was understandable that they would want to celebrate an Altean holiday.

As they searched through the stores it was easy to pick things out for each of the paladins, things on the shelf just reminded them of each other. By the time they got back to the Castle, they thought that they would be able to make each other’s Christmases with no problems.

However, there was an identical factor between four of the paladins. They all forgot to buy for one of them.

They agreed that they would meet in the lounge after they were finished getting their gifts ready for each other. They couldn’t wait an extra few days to do a Christmas morning and instead wanted to get it done and celebrate as quickly as possible. They agreed and split off to their own rooms.

As they wrapped their gifts, the realization came over them. They only had three gifts each to give to their teammates. They panicked slightly before realizing that the gift they forgot was for Lance. He wouldn’t really mind, as long as he got something for somebody else and they said that they would get something for him later. He only really cared about the money that was spent on it anyway.

It didn’t take them long before they were in the lounge with their piles waiting to start.

“Who wants to go first?” Shiro asked as he sat down. Pidge’s hand immediately shot up earning a chuckled from the rest of them. They agreed and handed over her gifts. She ripped them open quickly, not surprised at the various computer junk that she expected from the team. She stopped when Lance cleared his throat and she looked over at him. He was holding out his present for her to take.

Lance handed her over two gifts though. She ripped open the smaller box first, not sure what Lance could have gotten her. She wasn’t expecting much out of him though. Not until she unwrapped a brand new Nintendo 3DS. Her head whipped up to look at Lance in surprise.

“I found it in the Earth shop, thought you might want something you can carry around with you,” he said with a smile, thoroughly enjoying the excited look on her face. She quickly ripped into the other package, revealing a stack of games including Pokémon, Legend of Zelda, Kirby, and others.

“Lance this is awesome, thanks!” She cheered hopping up and wrapping him in a hug. He laughed and squeezed her back before she plopped herself on the floor and started up the console. They figured that she was going to see how well it worked, when actually she was trying to distract herself from the painful squeezing in her stomach. Guilt came over her like a wave when she remembered that she hadn’t picked anything out for Lance.

“Do you really like it?” Lance asked with a bashful smile directed towards her. She frantically nodded her head. He only smiled and turned his attention back to the group who was deciding who would get their gifts next. Finally, Keith huffed and just pointed to Hunk instead of arguing over it anymore. Before Hunk could try to volunteer someone else, they reached over and plopped their gifts in his lap.

“Oh. Well, okay then,” he relented before he started ripping into the packages. He smiled and thanked the paladins as he unwrapped the gifts. From Shiro, he got lion shaped oven mitts, a new apron from Keith, and a tall chief’s hat from Pidge. When he picked up the small round box from Lance, he immediately felt calm for some reason. He glanced up at Lance and saw that he was excitably wringing his hands together and staring at the box in his hands.

Before he could even open the box, he could feel the guilt rising up in his stomach. Lance was his best friend, and he had forgotten to buy for him, at Christmas no less. He popped the top off and gasped when he saw the glowing stone inside. He carefully lifted it up by the chain for the crystal to dangle in front of his eyes.

“Is-is this from a Balmara?” He asked in awe looking over at Lance who had a big smile on his face. He nodded his head excitably and clapped his hands.

“Where did you find this in the space mall?”

“Oh, I didn’t,” he admitted rubbing his neck as a blush formed on his cheeks.

“I actually got in contact with Shay a little while ago and asked if she could send a piece of a crystal through the Blade so I could make a necklace for you out of it,” he revealed. They gaped at the process that Lance went through, just to give his friend a stone on Christmas.

“Whoa, thanks, Lance,” Hunk said in disbelief looping it around his neck.

“That's not all though, Shay said that if you hold it near your heart the two of you will be able to communicate through the Balmara,” Lance said even more excited as he gestured madly at the pendant. Hunk gaped and clutched the crystal in his fist before holding it tightly to his chest and closing his eyes. His eyes snapped open when he felt a shot of warmth travel through his body.

“Oh my God Lance, thank you so much,” he whispered. Tears were beginning to well up in his eyes. A mix of happiness at beginning able to feel Shay again and the horrible shame that he knew Lance was going to be disappointed when his friend didn’t get anything for him. Although he knew that Lance wasn’t someone that would get angry over something like that, he knew that it would still hurt the blue paladin’s feelings.

They started arguing again when they were trying to decide who they wanted to decide who went next.

“Age before beauty Shiro,” Lance finally said.

“Yeah Shiro,” Keith smirked leaning back on the couch. Shiro rolled his eyes before accepting the gifts that were sent his way. He chuckled at the eyeliner and #1 dad mug from Keith and Pidge and thanked Hunk sincerely for the new boots.

“I’m really sorry I don’t know if I’m crossing a line with this one Shiro,” Lance said as he sheepishly handed over the package to the leader. He quirked his brow at the admission and heaved it onto his lap, it was a lot heavier than he initially thought. He looked up from the wrapped package to look at Lance in confusion. He was looking down at his lap instead and clenching his hands in his pant legs. He nervously tore the paper away from the box and lifted up the lid.

“What the- what the hell is this?” He whispered. The rest of the paladins peered into the box before looking up at Lance with wide eyes.

“Where did you find this?” Shiro asked, tracing his fingers over the white metal fingers of the prosthetic arm.

“Well, actually I made it myself,” he admitted looking up into Shiro’s eyes. He flinched slightly when Shiro tore his fingers away from it as if he had been burned.

“You made this?” Keith asked in awe, still looking flabbergasted down at it.

“Um, yes? I was learning about being a prosthetist instead of a cargo pilot before I was moved to fighter class, I learned all about these kinds of things, and I knew that there were only bad memories attached to your galra one so I wanted to make you this new one,” he told them. They were all shocked and Shiro started tearing up as he looked down at the new arm. The metal on it was matte black and white and shone with blue energy instead of purple.

“I hope I didn’t go too far,” he said ashamed. Shiro’s head whipped up to face him and shook his head frantically.

“No Lance, this is perfect,” he said choking up. He reached up and swiped at his eyes, trying to get rid of the water that was leaking out of them. Lance let out a loud sigh of relief and collapsed back on the couch. As tears rolled down his cheeks he could only feel the guilt well up in his chest, making more tears well up. He could see the happiness on his face, even though he hadn’t received anything and only saw how glad Shiro was for what he got from Lance.

Keith looked over to Lance for a split second before Lance opened his mouth.

“Age before beauty remember?” He said with a grin. Keith rolled his eyes but accepted his presents. He smiled though, as he opened up the presents. From Hunk he got a new pair of gloves, from Pidge a pair of sunglasses that said badass across the lenses, and a stuffed hippo from Shiro.

“I’m going to kill you for this,” he hissed at the grinning leader even as he hugged it to his chest. He took the last package and ripped it open.

“What is this?” Keith asked looking up from the tablet to look at Lance. “Did you just get me a tablet?” After all the things that he had gotten for the rest of his friends, he was kind of disappointed that Lance hadn’t gotten him something as monumental as them. Although, he really shouldn’t think like that since he hadn’t gotten the blue paladin anything either.

“Well, kind of,” he said shrugging his shoulders before getting up and sitting beside Keith instead. He took it from his hands and entered one of the folders before handing it back to him. There was now a picture of a galra facing them. It was a female from what they could tell and she had thick dark hair and bright violet eyes. He looked up at Lance in confusion, waiting for an explanation.

“I started asking Kolivan for some information and told him about you, and he gave me all the information he could on someone named Kara, we think she might be your mother,” he said. Keith’s head whipped up to look at Lance, tears already welling up in his eyes.

“What?” He choked out weakly.

“She had a mission on Earth and didn’t report back for years, when she did they informed her that her position was compromised and she came back to the Blade but she seemed devastated and she was posted at a second base further away then their communications could reach,” he said holding onto Keith trembling hands. He stared into Lance’s eyes, tears falling freely in shock as he took in his words.

“Every Blade has a tracker on them that monitors their health though and it shows that she is still alive, you could visit her if you want to,” Lance said softly. Keith turned to him in shock before collapsing onto him with a sob.

“Thank you so much, you don’t know how much this means to me,” he said clutching onto Lance’s shoulders.

“Well, if I thought about how much I would miss my mamá if she left without an explanation, I couldn’t stand to let you feel that for much longer,” he said softly ruffling Keith hair before they broke apart. Keith couldn’t stand it any longer and threw himself down on the couch beside Lance with a cry.

“I’m sorry!” he wailed clutching onto Lance’s pants. The shame was flowing out of him in waves.

“For what?” He asked threading his fingers gently through Keith’s hair.

“I didn’t get you anything, I’m so sorry,” he wailed pressing his wet eyes into Lance’s thigh. Lance sighed but didn’t let up on his petting.

“It’s okay Keith,” he said. Inwardly he was disappointed though, maybe the other’s gifts would make up for it though. It was obvious that Keith was feeling guilty because of it and he was going through an emotional breakdown right now. It wasn’t the time for him to feel greedy.

“No, it’s not,” Keith argued. “I promise I’ll get you something later, I promise that I’ll make it up to you,” he cried. Lance looked at him sadly for a second before looking at the rest of them with a smile. It dropped quickly though, as he saw that they were all averting their eyes to the floor and various points of the room. His heart quickly sunk in realization.

“Keith wasn’t the only one was he?” They looked up to glance at each other, hoping that at least one of them had a gift for the blue paladin.

“W-we just, I mean we, ah,” they tried to defend themselves. There was visible heart ache on his face though as he looked at them.

“We’re so sorry Lance,” Hunk said looking down at the floor, his hand clutched around the pendant around his neck. He looked at them in shock before pointing his gaze to the floor.

“It’s okay,” he said quietly but it was loud in the silence of the room. They went to argue but Lance held up and hand for them to stop.

“I’m just happy that you liked what I got for you,” he said before he gently stood up away from Keith, who looked up with a devastated expression. “I’m gonna go to bed guys, please don’t come see me until breakfast tomorrow, I really want to be alone,”

With that he turned and walked out of the room. It wasn’t until he got half way there did tears start falling off of his chin and he let out a tiny sob. He tried to stop, thinking that he was being greedy and he shouldn’t be this upset that he didn’t get presents from them. It wasn’t about the gifts though, it was that they forgot about him. Out of all the people on the ship, they forgot about him.

He strode into his room, not even bothering to do his nightly routine or change into his pyjamas before he fell onto his bed. He couldn’t bring himself to get up, the hurt that welled up in his chest and stomach weighed him down.

Don’t be greedy Lance. They didn’t mean to. Don’t be greedy.

#vld #voltron #voltron legendary defender #lance mcclain #lance #hunk garrett #hunk #takashi shirogane #shiro #keith kogane #keith #pidge gunderson #pidge #langst #angst #MerryLangstmas #fanfic